So you think you know how to design a web page?

Well, that may be true. But I give you better than even odds that if you're a "professional web developer" or similar, your sites have several problems

Rationale

A lot of people [you know who you are] say that "I only need to support IE, as that's all that matters", or "I'll support IE and NS5,6, but not NS4 as it's too old", or even worse, "Nobody uses anything other than IE"

1. Some people really don't use IE. Honest. Really. Examples include:
   1. People like me /can't/ use IE, as it doesn't run on Linux.
   2. The visually impaired/disabled, who find that things like IE suck, wheras Lynx can be used easily by a blind person.
   3. People using Palm pilots/other small devices.
2. In this enlightened day & age, some of us still don't have broadband. Perhaps we can't afford it. Perhaps we live in the UK where broadband still isn't very broad, and we still only have 56k anyways. Perhaps we have worse than 56k. Perhaps we're browsing the web on a small device that only has a tiny little link to the rest of the world [eg, my PalmV].
   If your site is 35k, it'll take TEN times as long to load as mine does. And that's /before/ we start on the images.
3. One day, IE may not be the standard. When that day comes, your site will not work in most of the browsers out there. You may say "and when that day comes, I'll change it", but why not just do it The Right Way(TM) the first time, and save yourself all that hassle? And keep /everyone/ happy right now, too?

So what can I do?

Well, several things

Topics we'll be covering today:

• Proper use of Images. This is obvious to me, but some people have trouble with it: Not all people can make use of your amazing images. But with just a couple minutes of your time, your webiste can be made to work just as well with AND WITHOUT images.
  And while you may not believe this, you can be FAR more professional at the same time.
• Proper use of ImageMaps. Just some notes, but also include ways of making your website look more professional if you do use them.
• Tables and Frames. How to achieve decent compatability with both tables and frames. In all browsers.
• Javascript. If you need me to tell you about the evils of Javascript, you're in the wrong place. If you need /anyone/ to tell you the evils of Javascript, you've clearly never been to a website that has any on it. So Instead, here I'll provide a few technical ideas on using it.
• Stylesheets. When you've really gotta have that eye-candy and you want it to be fast & reliable, stylesheets are what you use.
• Validation. What're those links on the bottom of this page and others like it. And how you can get some measure of promise that your webpage is in danger of working in all browsers, even ones you haven't tested it on.
• User-Interfaces. Some simple design concepts for User-Interface design. For making your pages easier to use.
• Java and Flash. If you're using it or considering using it, read this. Enough said.

Just to clarify, again: If your website doesn't work in whatever browser I'm using on any given day [and it varies wildly], I won't buy anything from your website. I won't even bother looking at it. I can't buy what I can't see.

See The Globe - a friend's site, and one of those rare pieces of good web design I like on a shopping site

Finally, a link from someone who had a big hand in making the internet what it is today: JWZ's Gruntle on web design

Really finally, some notes for the smartasses out there [this is a web page for web designers to read, after all]:

• Yes, I'm aware of the irony of my writing these in vanilla text
• Yes, I'm aware that "[my] WEBPAGES SUCK AND ARE UGLY". I'm also aware that I get 4 or 5 e-mails a week from people saying "your webpages are great. I really appreciate it". Clearly my mistake is function over form. Perhaps you need to make similar mistakes. Companies pay you to develop webpages, but how often do random punters compliment you on it?

This page is and

AAA approved at as well as being and

My Website Starts Here

This page last modified: 2005-09-21