Thank god most people understand that blinking characters are not cool (and not supported by Internet Explorer, which is a good thing).

Something which I see all of time is sites which use non-standard fonts. I know that special font which you paid a hundred dollars for is awesome, but believe me I'm not going to pay a hundred dollars just to see your web site display correctly.

You can get away with this, if you include a button to download font and complete instructions for installing it. Be sure to include an alternate, more common font in your font list though, for those people who do not want to download correct one.

You can use downloadable fonts, but be aware that browser support and standards are spotty at best. Even if you do include downloadable fonts, be sure and specify alternates in your tags just in case browser did not do download.

To sum it up, what I do is simple. I write my document, then sit back from screen about 4 feet. If I can still read text without trouble, then I ask my wife to do same thing. If we can both read it, then document is fine. Otherwise, something has to change.

Richard Lowe Jr. is the webmaster of Internet Tips And Secrets. This website includes over 1,000 free articles to improve your internet profits, enjoyment and knowledge. Web Site Address: http://www.internet-tips.net Weekly newsletter: http://www.internet-tips.net/joinlist.htm Daily Tips: mailto:internet-tips@GetResponse.com

Navigation should tell your visitors where they are - The best navigation systems not only allow visitors to get around a site, they inform them as to their location within site. Just look at how Yahoo works as you will see. At top of each page your location is shown like so: "Home > Arts > Art History >", which tells visitor he's looking at "Art History" in directory "Art" under "Home" directory. He can click on any of these to go higher in list at any time.

Some pages should be referenced on every page of your site - You should have a "Home" button on every single page. It's also wise to include a way to sign guestbook and contact webmaster on every page as well. I also like to include a link to privacy policy, copyright notice and legal information at bottom of every page.

Avoid fancy navigation systems - I prefer Yahoo approach of straight HTML links myself, and I tend to surf longer on sites which include these kinds of navigation systems. JavaScript and Java menus look very good but if your visitors surf with these features disabled they will not have access to your menus. And given security scares lately, many people are turning these features off or limiting their use.

Avoid ActiveX and VBScript altogether - I love ActiveX and VBScript on an intranet. This is because on an intranet it is possible to guarantee that everyone who will access site uses Internet Explorer. However, you cannot ensure this on web, so my recommendation is to avoid these entirely. In addition, security scheme of ActiveX is so weak that it's common for many people, especially corporate sites, to completely disallow ActiveX controls downloaded from internet. (Why is ActiveX security weak? Because it depends upon user to make a decision as to security of ActiveX control. I know that when I am presented with a box saying "do I trust xyz control?", I don't usually have any idea. How would I know if code is trustworthy? My tendency is to just say no.)

To sum it all up, if you want your visitors to explore your site, then you have to make it easy for them. The easier and more straightforward you make your navigation, deeper people will tend to surf.