27 Dos and Don'ts in Web Design

General information

You're allowed to distribute this ebook as long as you leave the orginal pdf-file
intact and you don't charge anything for it.
I hope you'll find this styleguide useful
Jan Kampherbeek
101 Do's and Don'ts in Web Design SpiderPro

Index
General information 2
Index 3
Content : 18 do's and don'ts 4
Navigation: 16 do's and don'ts 8
Design: 8 do's and don'ts 11
Bandwidth: 9 do's and don'ts 13
Presenting Text: 16 do's and don'ts 15
Images and colors: 10 do's and don'ts 19
Compatibility: 13 do's and don'ts 21
General: 9 do's and don'ts 24
A concluding don't 26
About SpiderPro 27
Disclaimer 27
Release History 27
100 Do's and Don'ts in Web Design SpiderPro

Do know your audience

It's important to know your audience.
If you write for a site that sells toys you'll use other words, colors,
images etc. compared to a site for online banking.
Write and design with your visitors in mind. Don't get tempted to
write for yourself.
Do write about the subject
Write about the subject.
Saying: This page is about breeding goldfish talks about the page.
Instead, start right away with the subject. Breeding goldfish is a
popular hobby....
Do use short sentences
Use short sentences.
The World Wide Web is fast. Your visitors want to get your info in a
snap. So read and reread your text. Then cut out as many
unnecessary words as possible.
Do use correct spelling
OK, this one will turn against me....
Use correct English or whatever language your site is written in. As
a standard routine use a spelling checker but don't rely completely
on it. Human proof reading is necessary.
This can be difficult - especially if you're not native speaking
English like your Dutch speaking author of this eBook.
100 Do's and Don'ts in Web Design SpiderPro

Don't use meaningless words

Do you have a cool site with hot subjects?
Or a hot site with cool subjects?
On some hype-sensitive sites these kind of words might be useful but on
most sites you'd better refrain from meaningless words.
Don't use jargon
Avoid jargon.
That goes for Internet jargon but also for jargon for any other
subject.
Only if your site is focused on a selective group of specialists
jargon might make sense.
Don't write technical
Don't write technical. Your visitors don't care how you created your
site and that you prefer Perl over TCL/TK (or the other way
around).
Instead write about your subject.
Do use the first screen
Be sure to put important text on the first part of your page, the part
that will show up first on a screen.
Do present the issues right away
Your visitor wants to know immediately what she can find on your
site. Keep that in mind when designing your site.
Present the important issue(s) of your site on the first page.
100 Do's and Don'ts in Web Design SpiderPro

content
Do use a descriptive title
The text for the tag