Things needed by most sites – part 2.

Lorenzo Hayes    – Phoenix, AZ
123Triad: Web Design & SEO Company

Things needed by most sites – part 2.

In this article I continue discussing the twelve factors that most web sites need. Here I comprehensively discuss the next four requirements.

5. Accessibility that is Passive

I do not intend to bore anyone with some soliloquy. I can say this, though: Ones Website must be accessible. Whether or not one does it for his visitors or for himself is irrelevant. If one does it purely to satisfy his own needs his visitors will also benefit… can not be helped. So, all is good. If one is not familiar with the advantages of having a site that is accessible, maybe this particular presentation may help explain the reason accessibility makes sense. If one is familiar with accessibility of the Web, then he should visit the web and search for: basic information from the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)

6. Markup that is standardized

This, just like offering a navigation menu that is proper, seems obvious, but it’s a big flop across the Web. Just from using tables for layout, to improper use of breaks, and to using a “big-bold” font style in place of a heading. To Use the right markup for its intended purpose, without having to go overboard to stretch its usage, it is useful not to not only usability and accessibility, but the practice of using semantic markup helps to ensure there is forward compatibility. Truthfully, if one is about to build a Website and he is planning to use tables and old practices, fuggedaboutit. He won’t be doing himself or his clients a favor if he does not make peace with CSS as well as valid HTML 4.01 or XHTML 1.0/1.1. (A little accessibility awareness is not going to kill one either.) Web standards are not a joke and his cooperation in adopting them is very important.

7. A Page Weight that is Usable.

It is ironical that in my early years I used to hate the Web. I had a miserable experience with dial-up in my early years. In addition, back in the day it seemed that each site I visited needed some sort of add-on or plugin to make it work. To be frank, the Internet was not the best thing I encountered. But this has changed on some levels. The need for add-ons or plugins is greatly reduced what with operating systems that are pre-loaded with all the support that is necessary. Although some people still have dial-up. For the last few years I have had cable broadband and it is like am living my dream. And it is very easy to forget those who are less fortunate and then go hog wild, loading the pages with heavy graphics. It is also easy to forget how doing this may make for a gloomy experience to dial-up and DSL users.

I’m not claiming here that the Web is not a place for heavyweights, no, it is, but with some consideration. If one wants to offer heavyweight graphics and many other things, one should let visitors navigate to them, in place of offering them on the first page load. And he should warn users if something big is deemed to be coming up. It is also fair to allow those who want to leave the opportunity to have their wish.

According to me, I would aim for an upper limit 100kilobytes per page of combined background and embedded images. One can buy a lot for a 100kb. One can also reduce the over all number of images if he wants to get the most bang for the buck and also optimize them by exporting only flattened, compressed files.

8. An Error Page that is helpful.

If one has ever been lost, it’s always a good feeling to see somebody helpful willing to give directions (that is if one is willing to admit he is lost). On the Web one can be that helpful somebody. Not only, as I have mentioned in the last installment, can one offer a map of the site to proactively guide his visitors, one can offer a styled, friendly,  “404” error page. Ones error page should offer the following at a minimum: a navigation menu, a link home, and at least a link to the map of the site. If one wants to be a really helpful person, though, he should try combing most of his navigation tools and putting them on a single page. He should make a perfect 404 error page offering a map of the site on the page, contact info, even search, and more.

This is not a hard task to do. One should ask his Web host for starters. Specifically one should ask them regarding custom error pages since he will want to provide something that is useful and most server error pages that are default, even styled ones, are not very helpful as such.

123Triad webdesign offers affordable custom website design. Our full service website design company only hires certified website designers. Please contact us today on 1-800-720-0816 for your next web site design project.

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