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access Hints for Creating Your Web page


1. Use the Rule of LCD Publishing: Keep it Simple

LCD (Least Common Denominator): A good rule of Web design is to think about the slowest computer, modem, and link to the Web page a person may have. By designing for the weakest link, the best results are insured for the widest possible audience.

2. Keep your Graphics small

  1. Keep them small (40 K or less)
  2. Decorate, don't dominate a page with graphics. Use lines and buttons, avoid photographs.
  3. Use black and white, or Line Art
  4. Use GIF files if possible

3. Design for the computer screen and slow modems.

Keep your fonts simple and your graphics small. Text doesn't read well on screen, so keep it brief and spice it up with a few small graphics. Waiting for a graphic to redraw on the Web can make someone hit the Stop button. Let them get to your text quickly and easily. Make your main graphic fancy, but keep the rest simple.

4. Invest your time in PR to make people aware.

Get your site noticed by contacting the major search engines (Yahoo, WebCrawler, Lycos, etc.) on the Web and the numerous sites that distribute What's New on the Web information. Give people a way to find your Web.

5. Continually upgrade your home page.

This is electronic publishing; the medium is built to be changed, so don't settle for the same old thing. Show signs of life by updating your page and put a date on the page so it shows. By doing this, you challenge yourself.

6. Focus on content, not technology.

The illusion that this is a technology-driven market is a myth of the techies. Do you know how your television works? Of course not, it just works! The same approach applies to the World Wide Web. Technology should be an unnoticed factor. If they notice it, you're doing something wrong.

7. Test your site out as often as possible.

The best test of a site is ease of use; get friends to try it, ask people on the Web to evaluate, and put up a form that requests feedback. Don't put up a page of mistakes.

8. Get your Provider to set up your Web page on the server.

If you have to learn UNIX code, learn it slowly. This isn't difficult, but first time around get your provider to set up your page. After they show you what to do it's easy, but let them do it first.

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