5. The other extreme would be sites that are so graphics’ intensive that we spend several minutes waiting for last picture to load. While it may be a very entertaining site, epoch it takes to show us how fantastic those photos/graphics really are may be too long for impatient surfers. Balance pictures with text. Find a way to make photos into thumbnails, or at least decrease size so they don’t take as long to unfold into their full glory.

6. Broken links don’t increase your popularity. Who likes seeing that ‘404 File Not Found’ on their screen? CHECK YOUR LINKS before launching your site.

7. If you need to add music to your site, please have an off switch. That someone will share your taste in music isn’t always going to be case. During weeks before Christmas how many sites did we come upon that played various versions of "Jingle Bells" and other carols? While music can enhance a site, it can also detract from it. I came upon most appalling example of what a web site shouldn’t contain some months ago. The blaring techno music was so relentless that I immediately searched for off button. I never found it. I was next visually assaulted with a growing font that looked like it was going to jump out of my computer. Instead, it froze. The screen, now almost completely lime green with font, had just enough space for me to read words: "...will design a site like this for you." As my speakers were SQUEALING from stuck music and monitor displaying that parody, I shut my computer off. Enough said?

8. Update your site periodically. Signs like ‘last updated 1998’ give clues to surfer that this is a cobweb. The more you freshen your contents, more likely your site is to remain fresh in people’s minds. Plus it helps your rankings in search engines.

Hope you have fun designing your web page. It’s your way to show off what you know.

http://www.tamingthebeast.net/educat/ errcode.htm

Creating custom error pages:

-You may want to check with your hosting service first before creating custom error pages as certain hosting configurations may not allow you to create custom error pages.

-first design and publish pages to your web space. You'll only really need to design a couple for more common errors, for file not found (404) or unauthorised/forbidden (403, 401). Your custom error pages should have a brief summary of what went wrong and an encouragement for visitor to try again or explore a different area of site. The best custom error pages are those that match site's other pages in navigation and layout.

-After publishing pages, you'll need to edit .htaccess file in root directory of your server based web (not your local copy) . Use Edit utility (set to ASCII transfer mode) in your FTP program to view file. The .htaccess file contains a number of settings to control who can access contents of a specific directory and how much access they have. It can also be used to create a "URL Redirect".

-If you have a FrontPage based web, be especially careful, as .htaccess file contains other settings as well.

-If you don't find a .htaccess file, you can create your own, but once again, check with your hosting service first.

-Add following lines to end of file (examples provided as a guideline alter path and file names to point towards your error pages)

ErrorDocument 404 http://blah/blah/404.htm ErrorDocument 403 http://blah/blah/403.htm ErrorDocument 401 http://blah/blah/401.htm

Custom error pages are simple to produce, help you to increase your site traffic and encourage better visitor/customer relations.

Michael Bloch  michael@tamingthebeast.net http://www.tamingthebeast.net Tutorials, web content and tools, software and community. Web Marketing, eCommerce & Development solutions.  ____________________________

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