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Web Design Hints and Tips
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Pankaj Kamthan on November 26, 1998 at 01:33:07:This is an important and probably a difficult topic. However, I
am not sure if the article reflects any of that.
There seems to be various "self-justifications", assumptions, sweeping statements, generalities, and some errors. Examples:
"Never use background sound unless you really need it to enhance your page. I listen to music most of the time
I am surfing the web, and some clattery MIDI ruining my CD irritates me. If I do not need to look at the page for
its content I will leave immediately, otherwise I will mute MIDI in the sound control panel. Either way I do not
listen to the sound so its not worthwhile having it there. Unless I really need to view your page for its content
you will have lost a visitor straight away. "
Good. So putting a sound file in the background is not recommended. A whole paragraph of "I this, I that" was
not necessary.
"People who have those little animated links to Netscape and Internet Explorer sites should have their pages taken offline."
Somebody might say that for this article too.
"Most people who posses a computer also have a watch, and if not there is one in the bottom right corner."
Bottom right on which platform? Windows 95/98-based? Not on UNIX/X necessarily.
"Never go over the top with multimedia plug-ins. The plug-ins listed above ..."
Above, where?
"... all slow down the loading of a page considerably so try and achieve what you want in some other way, by JavaScript, CGI or DHTML."
CGI's can also slow downloading. Also, there are various formats
for which none of JavaScript, CGI or DHTML may work or work easily, like serving simple PDF files, for which it might be useful for the user to have a plug-in.
"I hate the Java applets which mirror an image with a lake effect and those fireworks applets you occasionally find. They take ages to load and really are not worth it because they detract from the page. These types of applets ruin pages, they make them look cheap and its obvious that they have been stolen from somewhere."
Fine. So what's the tip? Don't use stolen Java applets? Or don't use Java applets?
"I hardly think that a visitor is going to reboot their machine at the correct resolution and colour depth"
Well, even under Windows 95 one may not have to reboot the
machine to change resolution. (You just have to have the right
Power Toy.)
"Us web professionals believe that people actually know what resolution and colour depth mean ..."
Really? Who's "Us"?
" I can guarantee that less than 10% of the visitors to an average site like Yahoo! will be able to define it ..."
Wow! That's quite a guarantee.
"Its always a good idea to insert target="_blank" at the end of your links so its opened in a new window."
target="_blank" will open each link in a DIFFERENT window.
Do you really want that?
All the "tips" are relevant but mentioned ad hoc; there seems to be a lack of organization. For example, if some reader is looking
for web graphics design, he/she has to wade through the entire article to find relevant sections.
There are NO references, which might give the (false) impression
that the article itself is an authoritative standard on Web Design.
In conclusion, the article can be quite useful but it requires some serious rethinking and modifications.
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