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Here are a few web tips that I have picked up over my years of Internet experience:

  1. Understand the PURPOSE of your web site. What are you trying to do? Sell something? Provide information? Tell the world about yourself? Your purpose should dictate the style, content, and presentation of your web site. You should also take into consideration your audience.
  2. Learn basic HTML. You need to understand the basics of HTML to do those "tweaks" on your web site, even if you use one of those fancy-schmanzy web authoring tools.
  3. Have an easy-to-understand layout. It is frustrating if there are so many things on your web site, and people don't know where they are or how to get to where they want.
  4. Provide a convenient way for people to provide feedback or to email you.
  5. You can have both a visually entertaining AND a visually simple style.
  6. Don't use too many fancy graphics or multimedia effects unless there is a real reason to do so. Many people surf the Internet on less-than-stellar speeds and you need to take this into consideration. If there is too much on your web site, people will leave before loading is finished.
  7. When making links, make it obvious that it is a clickable link.
  8. Test your web site on various browsers and browser versions. The two most popular are Netscape and Microsoft Internet Explorer.
  9. Ensure a consistent format of HTML programming. This will make it a lot easier when you do updates.
  10. Never put automatically-loading music nor other annoyances unless you are sure this is how you want to greet your audience.
  11. Make sure it is easy for the user to get to the menu as well as back to the main page (if you have important information on the main page).
  12. Submit your sites to the MAJOR search engines first. These include Yahoo, AOL, MSN, Inktomi, Altavista, Excite, Google, Open Directory, and Lycos. Learn how the search engines work and how they rate pages. But don't try to spam them. You will lose out in the end.
  13. If you have a personal web site, put your own individuality and style into your pages!
  14. Remember to take a break from your computer every once in a while. I like to dance around in my living room as a break!