On the Bookshelf at O.N.Z.C.D.A™

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So, we have built ourselves a web site! Great - now it's time to get all the guests and awards! We have a fantastic web site, a real world-beater. All our friends say it is and even we believe it's rather 'cool.'

Our prized web site has all the bells and whistles, displays the latest in Java and JavaScript and state of the art animations flashing here, there and everywhere. There is also music to soothe our visitors. Sounds rather good, don't you think?

We crammed the entrance and other pages with as much info, clutter and as many animations and other useless unrelated garbage as we could. Visitors are waiting an age for the entrance page to load and by the time it's even half loaded, they're gone - never to return. But isn't it quantity people seek? Well, we're giving it to them!

We made certain that every page is different in the areas of fonts, text colors ( you know the type of text where each letter or every second paragraph is a different color or font type, ) backgrounds and so on. We provided no consistency in any web site areas including the positioning of links and page styles. In fact, it appears as though no two pages belong in the same web site.

We often wonder if our guests are as confused as we are when we visit our own web site. We puzzle over why that darn hit counter doesn't work correctly? It looks like the counter people have mucked up again!

We really love images! The more the merrier, especially heaps of those state of the art animations that flash and blink all over the pages - ( you know - the ones that instantly destroy your concentration. ) A pity most of them are over 50k each! And photos - at least three huge ones on each page. Our family and pet photos came in handy here. We've got to give guests something to look at - right?

Banners and buttons aplenty as well - all slowing down loading time and linked so that when our guests click on them they take flight, heading off somewhere else and can't get back to where they originally were at our web site.

We like to make our point so we used upper case all over the place and have typo and grammatical errors glaring everywhere. That will make the web site stand out for sure. Who wants to be the same as everyone else anyway? We are - after all, amateurs at this game and people will understand.

JavaScript - there must be a JavaScript navigation system. And not just simple commonly seen JavaScript either but really top rate techno stuff where everything works on timers and the navigation system at the top also controls a banner section at the bottom as well as the music controls at the right hand side of the pages. Well - okay - so the music controls don't always work but no one is perfect - right?

Confused? No more than we are - but we have to keep all that stuff fine tuned and functioning correctly even when we really don't know what we're doing. But our web site will impress award givers and guests. They will appreciate all our efforts - of that there is no doubt.

The fact that guests are unable to find their way through the web site easily is not a factor to consider. Let's just show the world how clever we are. All errors are due to the web site being under construction - guests will understand and be hopefully, considerate. We are professional. We'll tell guests that web site work is ongoing. They're all patient reasonable people and after all, it is the right thing to do. So we throw in the 'Under Construction' signs.

Now hang on a minute! We get awards from a few givers and our heads swell a lot as we sit back dreaming about the superb web site we have built. But wait for it - the big 'crash on the downside' is about to appear from just around the corner.

We apply for top rated awards and our fantasy world comes tumbling down. Our web site is successful - in driving award givers and even our guests away by the multitude so we surely achieved something. And it really didn't take much of an effort either! All we had to do was be stubborn, inconsiderate, filled with false pride and arrogant - and we are on our way to disaster.

Don't think all the above is a 'fairy tale' - it is all fact. I thought my web site was just so brilliant and no one could have had a bigger ego. The web site consisted of all the things that award givers and guests don't like and although some awards flew into the mailbox there was never any personal satisfaction with the web site at all. Perhaps my inner self was telling me something that I really didn't want to hear.

Then came the day when I applied to one of the better known award programs and although they were kind and very nice to me, the web site was basically dumped. My contacting the award giver to seek advice was the best thing I have ever done for what I learned and am still learning will hold me in good stead for the rest of my life.

What should we be doing to keep our visitors coming and to increase our award achieving chances? Here is what I learned the hard way:

- Be considerate - Many surfers are impaired so always use image alt tags. Make a rule of no more than one animation per page to avoid loss of concentration. We're not in the business of supporting opticians so make the text size and color easy to read and compatible ( remember our impaired cyberspace friends. ) To enter bad text size through an entire web site is unacceptable.

- Consistency - Create a theme for the background, text color, fonts used etc - be consistent through the entire web site. Consistency is professional.

- Entrance tempting - If we cannot tempt our guests at the entrance page we have wasted our time - they will be gone. Do not be afraid to be different.

- Page loading time - If a page is going to load slowly tell guests what's happening. Tell them it will be worth their while to be patient but ensure this situation occurs infrequently.

- Page white or clear space - Provide a quality balance of content as opposed to white or clear space on each page. Too much empty space is as bad as a page crammed full of junk.

- User friendly navigation - The web site is our Internet home - be friendly. Make guests feel welcome and comfortable - ensure they can find their way around with ease. Don't let them get lost.

- Content - Try to balance content quality and quantity. Not always easy to achieve but it can be done. Seek outside opinions. Listen to and really hear what people say and apply their suggestions to the web site. So what if we are amateurs? We can still provide the professional touch.

- Image selection - Strike a balance of text and image content on each page. Do the images enhance the textual content? Where do we place images in relation to the applicable text content? Optimize images to the smallest sizes possible without losing quality.

- Table borders - Are they necessary? The simple answer here is 'no'. There are places where borders are acceptable such as forms or where they 'add' to the overall design etc. but even then, thick bulky borders are a negative design aspect.

- Music - Great stuff! Most of us love it but we also like to be able to turn it off. Provide visible user controls.

- Give and offer - Give of yourself - let guests feel your heart and soul from inside the web site. Let them know that you really do care about them. Offer them surf safety, comfort, relaxation and most of all, friendship and respect. Be real and honest. Let the web site tell your guests who and what you are.

- Awards - It's easy to say 'don't worry about awards so much' when there are many pages of them onsite, but it's true. Although the awards and the recognition that comes with them is always flattering the most important thing is the people behind them. Award givers offer us their valuable time, consideration, opinion and respect. They give of themselves and they have earned and deserve our respect.

- Personal balance - What is a web site worth without friends? And I don't mean 'friends' who drop by once a week to keep the hit counter turning over. I mean the friends who respect and value the personality, heart, soul and integrity of the person behind the web site. Let the web site be a vehicle to making lifelong relationships. Then and only then does a web site show true value.

I am grateful to many people who assisted in either the editing of this article or in the creation of my award program 1998 through 2002: Maggi, TR, Don, Lauranna, Bernard, Bob, Jef and Karen. I have been very fortunate to meet these wonderful people who were so generous with their friendship, time and answers to my continual and, at times, very annoying questions. Special thanks also go to all my staff at O.N.Z.C.D.A™ for their dedication and hard work are the backbone of my award program. This article was originally published with permission by Website Awards - ( Article adapted at O.N.Z.C.D.A™ - December 22nd - 2004. )