The following twenty tips
were selected to
- Cascading style sheets. Style sheets,
once supported by all of the common browsers on the
market, will be one of the primary methods of
controlling page style with ease.
- How to generate HTML source code. You
might have asked yourself what the best method of
generating HTML is. There's a lot of information on the
market, and many very good packages.
- Avoid horizontal scroll bars! One of
the more unsightly phenomenon on the Web, the horizontal
scroll bar can be avoided. Read about some of the
methods to design for common-denominator space, and look
at one solution in action.
- Creating margins. All too often, the
text on Web pages runs the full horizon, making it
difficult to read.
- Domain Names. Do you really need one,
how do you get one, and how much do they cost? Learn how
to research and register domain names for your Web
sites.
- ActiveX. Microsoft's heavy contender
into client-side applications. A fun example of ActiveX
in action, plus a discussion on where to study it more.
- Animated GIFs. The current animation
style of choice, animated GIFs can be fast-loading, fun,
and easy to create.
- Client-side image maps.
- Interlaced GIFs. Progressive
rendering of graphics keeps the eye engaged while other
elements on a page are downloaded.
- Consistent design. Have you ever
gotten to a great page and thought the entire site would
be as well designed, only to find bland design behind
the pretty door? Consistent design is an important part
of making the Web visually strong and keeping sites
logical from page to page.
- Tables as design layout tool.
Underlying some of today's best Web sites are tables,
which are being used as the fundamental layout tool on
the Web.
- White space. Having a balance of
space with visual and text elements helps designs flow,
the eyes rest, and the experience of a page more
pleasant—a design essential in any media.
- Designing for the audience. Knowing
your audience is one of the most powerful driving forces
behind good communications, and a foundation of
effective design.
- Promoting Web sites. What if I built
a Web site and nobody came? The effort and money that
went into it is wasted.
- Safe palettes. It's important for Web
designers to understand how to select background colors
that won't dither on less sophisticated systems.
- Link color matching. Just as with
backgrounds, matching link and text colors to design is
going to be more visually stable when selected from a
safe palette.
- Treat space as an entire unit.
Instead of breaking up space, let it flow! See how this
has been done by the designers of the attractive.
- Splash pages. When do you use them?
How can you make them effective?
- RSACi ratings. Put Web site ratings
in the hands of parents and schools, not special
interest groups. RSACi allows for intelligent,
controlled ratings for Web page content.
- Keeping up in an ever-changing Web
world. Where do I go every day to read about what's new
in this rapidly evolving field?
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