Compatibility - one of the first things to consider is to make your website compatible with as many browsers as possible.  Bill Gates might want us to believe that the only browser in the world is Internet Explorer but in fact there are several others.  Some consider them even better than IE and browsers such as Netscape, Firefox, and Opera, all of which display web pages slightly differently, are available as free downloads.  A web search will find you the latest versions so try them out on this website - then on others to see what I mean.   Not all websites work with all browsers so they lose visitors.

Some websites have additional features that one can program into a website whilst some will not display even simpler features.  Sometimes this is unavoidable and probably a fault with the particular browser.  The trick is to make your pages readable with all or most browsers - failure to take account of the differences can result in some surprising or even alarming results, especially if you use FrontPage for your web design.  If you create websites, it pays to have at least two other browsers with which to check the results before you upload it to the web - Firefox and Opera would be a good start.

Ease of navigation is most important so make your website easy to navigate.  The simplest way to do this is to offer 'options' usually in the form of a list or 'menu'.  As each option is selected, it should change to indicate which page the visitor is looking at.  In the case of this website, the options on the left change when selected so you know you're looking at a particular page or section.  I tend not to highlight the options for pages that have been visited except on complex websites because it isn't really that useful and adds to the coding overhead.  However it is easily done if required.

Going Backwards - next I like to include a means for the visitor to backtrack and retrace their steps so I almost always include a 'Back' option.  This is a simple 'Java' script that notes the sequence of pages visited and allows the sequence to be reversed.

Top of Page - similarly, there's nothing worse than reading or searching a long page then having to scroll back to the top to get out of it.  Therefore I make sure there's an option and in this case it 'floats' at the bottom of the page on the extreme right.  Not all browsers will display it properly but most will.

Images must be resized for web page use.  If you don't your web pages will be slow to load and your visitors will quickly abandon you so it helps to make use of the 'resize' function in your graphics software or web software.  There's a happy medium that allows sufficient detail but no more.  If your images are intended for download, include a suitable gallery function that allows you to display a small (thumbnail) picture but provide access to a larger one.  FrontPage can do this without additional scripting for basic use.

Always have a privacy policy - it cultivates trust and you should make it clear that any information you have will not be misused.  Google likes to see a privacy policy.

Be Easy to Contact - you should give contact details, especially if you are a business.  For an individual, an email address will be sufficient if all you're doing is a blog, sharing information or personal, family stuff.  For a business or anyone involved in financial transactions, including Ebay, you should have a proper postal address with telephone number(s) and email contact.  I won't touch any web-based trader that doesn't give these details and  neither will others unless they are naive or disreputable, so if you hope to do business online, show your contact details or you won't be trusted.

Search Engines - don't forget that to be acceptable to many search engines, you should also include sitemap.xml or sitemap.xsd and a robot.txt file.  These are special files that are invisible to users and are used specifically to tell search engines which pages are available (or not) for indexing.  They are not essential but they all help in the struggle for ratings and they are a simple task to provide and maintain.

There are other techniques you can employ to enhance any website but they will depend on the particular website.  Just remember that having a website isn't quite as simple as the uninitiated believe and unless you understand this, your web site is doomed to failure.  Don't forget you can contact me if you need to know how all this affects you...

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Last Updated 06/08/2008