Part 3: Sound Files
If you must put MIDI sound files on your page make them so
that visitors have to ask to hear the filemaybe by
pressing the "start" button. Apart from the fact that
visitors may find the music objectionable, there's a good
chance:
1 they are surfing late at night or early in the morning
when other people are sleeping;
2 they are listening to the radio or a CD and will be
irritated when your sound file drowns it;
3 they may even be trying to look busy during a lull at
work, and the sound could alert the boss. You will be MOST
unpopular.
I'm sure I'm not the only surfer who (unable to reach the
"stop" button because the page is still loading) just bangs
on the close window box until the page goes away. I never
return.
Part 4:
Text; the way it's presented can make or break your page
1. Be consistent with your typeface sizes. Body text
should usually be the same size type throughout and headings
and subheadings should also be consistent. If you keep
jumping from one typeface size to another for no real reason
your page will look ugly and might even be difficult to
follow.
2. It's a good idea to specify type faces throughout
your site so that your pages look the same to visitors as
they do to you. If you stick to, say, Times, Ariel and
Helvetica you can't go wrong: everybody has these. Of
course, most browsers allow visitors to override a
webmaster's choice of type, so your site could still look
ugly to some people. But that's their problem!
3. Never underline text, even headings. On paper
underlining belongs strictly to the typewriter and is
regarded as bad typography. On the Web it indicates a link
unless, of course, the link-underlining feature has been
disabled. I don't know how many times I click on underlined
text only to find it isn't a link!
4. Don't turn whole sentences into links if you can
avoid it. Great chunks of underlined text are difficult to
read, as well as being very ugly.
5. Use text in all capitals only for headings, and then
use it sparingly. Blocks of text in capitals are difficult
to read. Most headings look best with Just Initial Capitals.
Remember: If it looks ugly on paper, it looks just as ugly
on a monitor.
About the Author
Laraine Anne Barker writes fantasy for young people. Visit
her web site at http://lbarker.orcon.net.nz for FREE stories
and novel excerpts. Sign up for the NOVELLA OF THE MONTH
CLUB, absolutely FREE!