Create custom error pages and keep your visitors!

Written by Michael Bloch


Continued from page 1

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 publishrepparttar pages to your web space. You'll only really need to design a couple forrepparttar 134619 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 forrepparttar 134620 visitor to try again or explore a different area ofrepparttar 134621 site. The best custom error pages are those that matchrepparttar 134622 site's other pages in navigation and layout.

-After publishingrepparttar 134623 pages, you'll need to editrepparttar 134624 .htaccess file inrepparttar 134625 root directory of your server based web (not your local copy) . Userepparttar 134626 Edit utility (set to ASCII transfer mode) in your FTP program to viewrepparttar 134627 file. The .htaccess file contains a number of settings to control who can accessrepparttar 134628 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, asrepparttar 134629 .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.

-Addrepparttar 134630 following lines torepparttar 134631 end ofrepparttar 134632 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.  ____________________________

Copyright information....If you wish to reproduce this article, please acknowledge "Tamingrepparttar 134633 Beast" by including a hyperlink reference torepparttar 134634 website (http://www.tamingthebeast.net) & send me an email letting me know. The article must be reproduced in it's entirety & this copyright statement must be included. Thanks. Visit www.tamingthebeast.net to view other great articles FREE for reproduction!

Michael is an Australian Information Technologies trainer and web developer. Many other free web design, ecommerce development and Internet articles, tutorials, tools and resources are available from his award winning site; Taming the Beast.net (http://www.tamingthebeast.net)


Cross Browser Compatibility

Written by Michael Bloch


Continued from page 1

A visit torepparttar W3C site is mind boggling. Many standards that were introduced by this organisation years ago are only just beginning to become accepted. Added to this their tendency to introduce new standards on a regular basis, andrepparttar 134618 complexity of those standards, I feel that they aren't doing themselves too many favours onrepparttar 134619 quick uptake of new technologies.

Onrepparttar 134620 other end ofrepparttar 134621 scale, much ofrepparttar 134622 software used for producing web sites is notorious for creating non-compliant and garbage code. I use FrontPage, but to combat some ofrepparttar 134623 garbage that it creates, I also utilise Notepad. Cleaner coding also makes your pages more search engine friendly. FrontPage is great for rapid application development, but it contains many features that aren't cross-browser compatible. I have also trialled other major packages, but foundrepparttar 134624 same issues. Once again,repparttar 134625 W3C has given many guidelines for software developers to adopt, butrepparttar 134626 industry is very slow onrepparttar 134627 uptake. Perhapsrepparttar 134628 whole process of developing standards needs to be re-examined. While there are many sites that will offer you advice on cross browser compatibility; I still findrepparttar 134629 best way to deal withrepparttar 134630 issue is to run a variety of browsers on a system and test pages as they are being developed under various resolutions. Then experiment; withrepparttar 134631 experimentation will come a great deal of learning....

When first attempting to deal with cross-browser issues on my site, I followed some advice of industry leaders and foundrepparttar 134632 advice to be flawed, and I am still working outrepparttar 134633 bugs in my major site. A word of warning - if you are running a later version of IE on your system, I would advise against attempting to install an earlier version; it can really mess with your system. The best option in this situation is to view your site from another system, or ask an associate with an earlier version to review your site and to send screen captures if a problem appears. Aim to make your site compatible with all IE and Netscape browsers from version 4 onwards.

Ask yourself before implementing that whizz-bang menu system or element that requires a plug-in - "is it really necessary?". Most people surfrepparttar 134634 net for information, not entertainment at this stage - they have a T.V for that. "Eye Candy" may impress visitorsrepparttar 134635 first time around, but after that if it slows downrepparttar 134636 performance of your site, it will serve only to annoy them. The exception to this rule of course is if you are developing an entertainment-centric site.

If you receive emails from angry visitors stating that your site looks like manure; perhaps instead of disregardingrepparttar 134637 comments or firing back a retaliatory note, you should investigate by asking for details. It may prove to be a beneficial exercise. The site may be looking fine to you on your system, but perhaps it's notrepparttar 134638 case withrepparttar 134639 browsers that some visitors are using.

The truth is, tailoring a site for cross browser compatibility is a pain. "Compliancy" by W3C standards by no means indicates compatibility with all browsers. Butrepparttar 134640 benefits of taking that bit of extra time can pay off inrepparttar 134641 long run by allowing you to get your message across, or to secure sales from a wider customer base.

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

Copyright information....If you wish to reproduce this article, please acknowledge "Tamingrepparttar 134642 Beast" by including a hyperlink or reference torepparttar 134643 website (www.tamingthebeast.net) & send me an email letting me know. The article must be reproduced in it's entirety & this copyright statement must be included. Thanks. Visit www.tamingthebeast.net to view other great articles FREE for reproduction!

Michael is an Australian Information Technologies trainer and web developer. Many other free web design, ecommerce development and Internet articles, tutorials, tools and resources are available from his award winning site; Taming the Beast.net (http://www.tamingthebeast.net)


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