So how do you improve your perceived download time?

Simple, you break content of your page down into two or more tables.

You see, web browsers will not start displaying contents of a table until it has compiled entire table to end. Once a table is compiled it will display, and browser will start compiling next table.

That means that if you place entire contents of your page inside one big table, browser will have to compile entire contents of your page before anything will be displayed. The result: your visitor spends all that time staring at a blank screen.

However, by putting some of content towards top of page into a table of its own, rest of page can be downloading farther down, while your visitor is busy studying stuff that's already displayed.

I've used this method to great effect on my own website. I went from an actual download time of up to 20 seconds (staring at a white screen) down to a perceived download time of rarely more than 3 seconds (often as low as 1 second)!

The ironic thing is, my page is now bigger (in terms of Kilobytes) than it was before I made change. That's because 2 tables take more HTML than one.

But boy has that extra bit of HTML paid off!

Make a test page now and try it out. Your hit counter will thank you for it!

12. Make sure your site works well with main browsers and screen resolutions. Verify that you've no broken or outdated links.

13. Check and double-check your spelling and your grammar. Mistakes on this front will kill a sale quicker than you can say "How do you spell disastor?".

14. Don't even consider putting background music on your site. Nothing sends visitors running away faster than a woeful, repetitive midi file tinkling away in background.

15. Avoid overusing gadgets - again if you don't need it and your visitors have nothing to gain from it, leave it out. There are very few gadgets that impress nowadays. If you want to impress your visitors give them clear information on clearly laid-out pages that download quickly.

16. Your navigation bar should contain links to MAIN pages of your site only. Links to additional sub-pages can be made from those main pages. Try to ensure that nothing on your site is farther than three clicks away from your home page.

17. If you're using graphics for your main navigation links, you should consider including text links also (at bottom of page, for example). This will be appreciated by visitors who can't (or don't want to) download graphics. Also, Search Engine Robots can only follow text links, so if you only have graphic links they will not be able to get to other pages of your site.

18. Don't put 'under construction' signs on a page. If it's not finished don't make it accessible.

19. Keep Your Links Honest. Don't put a link that says "Click here for a free gift" that actually sends your visitor to another site that is offering nothing for free.

20. Use CAPITAL LETTERS sparingly to highlight important words. DON'T TYPE LARGE BLOCKS OF TEXT ALL IN CAPITALS. IT MAKES YOUR TEXT HARD TO READ AND LOOKS AWFUL. YOUR VISITORS WILL NOT WANT TO READ IT. IF YOU WANT TO HIGHLIGHT SOMETHING IMPORTANT, TRY USING SPACE OR COLOR INSTEAD.

21. Don't put large blocks of text in BOLD. You should use bold text sparingly, for emphasis or for headings.

22. Don't UNDERLINE any text on your page. People will think it's a link (that isn't working).

23. If you have links incorporated in your text, make sure they're visible. The best way to get your links noticed is to use standard blue-underlined link look.

24. Avoid use of frames (i.e. when screen is broken into two or more parts). These add a whole heap of complications that you can do without.

25. Avoid using one of those 'Click here to enter' entry pages. They're a waste of your visitor's time.

26. Get others (who have some experience with surfing Internet) to check out your site. Did they find it easy to understand? Did they find it appealing to eye? Did they get lost or find themselves stumbling into a dead end? Would they feel confident buying from a site like yours? Leave a message at webmaster forums asking fellow website designers to give a look at your site and make comments.

27. Concentrate on keeping things as simple as possible -- both for you AND for your visitors.

Happy webdesign!