The "3-click, 6-option" rule

This is a dead simple rule. If you own a website and your visitors can't get everywhere in the WHOLE site within 3 clicks, you need to rethink your navigation strategies. Also if they have to make a choice of more than 6 options (unless it is a hierarchial portal style site) then it is time to change around your policy on site navigation.

The 5x3 cards

Before jumping in on the web design industry, sit down and write on the title and filename of every page of content on your site on to little cards. Now try and lay them out to organise the navigation system on your site. If you can't figure out HOW to organise your own website, then no-body else will be able to understand HOW to get around your website!

The Announcement

If you build a completely funky website but don't tell anyone, you won't get anywhere! You need to go and submit to ALL the search engines. Not just the "top 5". Try the following services: All 3 of them have free versions, and I reccomend you try them out.

• Register-It.com - started independent, but is now owned by Netscape. This site offers a similar program to Submit-it.
• SelfPromotion.com - HUGE! Manically huge. This donationware site asks for $10 or so to help the owner run the site, but once you have paid that you can submit as many sites as you like to their HUGE list of search engines, regional link directories and Yahoo like web directories.
• Submit It - this is run by LinkExchange, now owned by Microsoft. This has to be THE best submission program. You submit by URL, and it has around 400 directories, and a really big guide on how to submit to Yahoo! It will even resubmit your site to the engines every 30 days. 1 URL = FREE! After that you have to pay for URLs.

Life is full of theives.

If you see something vitally interesting and you want to use it on your page, click View / Source in IE or View / Document Source in Navigator. Then you can use a "similar technique" on your page if you know what I mean! Very useful with frame layouts, tables etcetera.

The 3 font rule

Only ever use 3 fonts, as a MAXIMUM. 1 or 2 should usually be enough. Also only use fonts that are suitable for most or all computers such as: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, Georgia, Times New Roman, Courier New, Script and possibly even Wingdings.

Fancy Fonts: image only, not often

Keep your usage of "fancy" fonts to images only, and that includes sites that are mainly English but want to include foriegn languages like Chinese and Japanese. Use them in small typesizes, BLACK on a WHITE background (it's simpler, reduce it to 16 or EVEN 2 colours) and put it in a .GIF format. Or use native Japanese / Chinese language support in your webpage. That will require users either to own a Japanese / Chinese version of Windows / MacOS, or to download IE5 and the Japanese / Chinese language support. The same applies with Russian, Arabic and any other language that does not use Roman script. I refer to Japanese and Chinese as these are probably the most used non-Roman languages on the web.

The 1x1 GIF Trick

To leave blank space around an image make a transparent or YOUR BACKGROUND COLOUR image to resize using HEIGHT and WIDTH. This can make mucky marks on IE3. Test it in ALL browsers before doing it

216, 216-color!!!

Make use of the 216 web-safe color list. These are colours that can be seen on ALL screens. You can find the list here.

Before you go online

For NetConnections v2, when I recentely launched it (they don't call me webmaster for nothin you know), me and my colleagues spent 9 hours each TESTING every single internal link and testing every page on every browser at every screen resolution. That means, make sure that EVERY single link works BEFORE you place it anywhere near the web. Imagine you were a user, who doesn't have the experience of your web site as you do, think, think, think, and ponder. Then set it up on a password protected website and email all your mates and ask em to go check out your website, then once they have approved your site, find a friends computer, load up AOL on to it (ask them politely first) and then go and check out your PW-protected site and check the download times. Then you can put it on the web.

Promote it

Submit your site to NetConnections and then add it to 20 other internet search engines.

You can sign up with one of the many systems like Exchange-It.com who give you advertising credits for every showing of your banner, and every click through. You can even earn downline credits from this one. Another similar program is Free-Banners.com, these guys offer such a good service, paying you with money (which can be turned in to advertising credits) for reffering others, and a percentage of credits from others, as well as extra credits if you have the banner at the top of the page. Both of these are really good, so try them today.