Reads. Webmaster's Guidelines

June 27, 2008

Endless Realities have a splash of colour in a world of darkness

Here is a guide for webmasters. I believe that this will be of use. After all, who wants an awful website?
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Webmaster's Guidelines

I’m not a pro at making websites, but I still find that tips can always help when you’ve got a website that’s a total flop. Maybe by reading these guidelines, you’ll have ideas on how to improve your website. Also, these are just simple steps to elevate an “A” website to an “A+” website. Please keep that in mind, as you do not have to follow all or even any of these steps if you are not willing to. Basically, this is just a tool that can encourage you to try your best. Gambatte!

Layout: First of all, a centered layout is where it’s at. It just makes your site look so much better, and it works in all resolutions. Don’t make your site too large or too thin, either. If you want some details on tiny layouts, please go to PSGR and read the article about “weborexia”. Thin layouts are overall, just too small, and big layouts are just too big. If a person has a huge screen resolution, why would they want to look at a site with a 300px width, when they have a 1600px widescreen? But, you should also think of those with a resolution of 800x600px, as it wouldn’t make sense for them to stretch their screen across using the horizontal scroll bar to just read a full paragraph. No- that is highly inconvenient.

Text: First of all, small fonts are a complete no-no. Some don’t look good unless they’re put to an excruciatingly tiny setting, in which you can’t even read them since they’re so tiny. Then, if you try to make the fonts a bigger size, they STILL don’t work, since the fonts either a)become pixellated or b)turn out freaking huge on some computers, since not everyone has tiny fonts. Basically, the bottom line is no tiny fonts. Imagine a tiny font in a tiny layout? That would kill people’s eyes. Also, you should pick a simple no-muss-no-fuss font (ie; no fancy curly fonts) such as Arial (and all its variations), Trebuchet and Verdana. Definitely don’t use cursive fonts for main bodies of text, and please, PLEASE use a basic font that everyone has (as mentioned in the tiny font part). Downloaded fonts like “Honey Light” are not downloaded by everyone, so just give it the benefit of doubt and don’t use it. Now for font colours- don’t use white for normal text, since it hurts your eyes. Just find a variation that is almost like white, or a lighter variation of your background colour (unless it’s white, in which you should stick to black or a dark colour variation in your colour scheme).

Grammar: OmG i typ liEk dis on my wbSte bcuZ im wayyyy c00ler den u!!!!! 1 4|50 u53 |337 b3c4u53 17 m4k35 m3 c00|!!! Yeah right. If you want to be taken seriously as a webmaster, you should at least type properly. There’s something called a SHIFT button people. Use it to capitalize your “I’s”, names of proper nouns, and the beginning of sentences. Don’t use it randomly, or press the “CAPS LOCK” button as a substitute, since half the time you forget to turn it off. If you’re over 6 years old, I expect you to at least know such basics. You’re not a “gangsta” or “cool” if you type like that. If you have the energy to create a decent website, you have the energy to type properly. Also, there's a simple rule about slang, chatspeak and leet, which is don't use it, as other people in different parts of the world might not be familiar with such terms. Don’t make up words either, unless you have an explanation of it, since no one would be able to understand what you’re talking about-for example, no one would realize that “yerrbwarts” is “strawberry” backwards with the letters “e” and “rr” inverted unless you tell them. After all, you wouldn’t want to have a bad first impression from visitors due to your lack of ability to type properly, right?

Colours: Okay, picture this. You’re just surfing the internet, and what do you see when you click on a link? A blinding shade of neon green jumping out at you, before proceeding into a seizure-inducing flash of neon orange, neon yellow, neon pink, and white. You jump so high that you spill your pop can in your hand all over your keyboard! Now you have to deal with an eye ache, a sticky keyboard and a screen full of harsh neon colours. People need to use their eyes for better things, such as actually reading what you carefully wrote on your website. Calming colours that compliment each other keep everyone happy. Play around with nice colours to create a palette derived of similar and matching colours. Of course, if you are really in need of a quick fix, you can use color match 5k, which unfortunately, only works on IE. You just pick one colour that you like, and it finds you a beautiful palette automatically!

So, those were some simple guidelines for creating an aesthetically beautiful website. Of course, a nice code, pretty graphics and great presentation will inevitably make or break the success of your website. Finally, don’t put too many big files onto one page, as it can create lag for slow computers. You wouldn’t want to push away visitors because they can’t reach your website!