Thursday, March 4, 2004

The Big Website "Don’t!" List

This is the big website “Don’t!” list for aspiring web developers:

1. Don’t open pop-ups
2. Don’t open pop-unders
3. Don’t describe what you intent to do
4. Don’t tell anyone why you are not updating
5. Don’t show the month and day but not the year
6. Don’t use browser-specific technology
7. Don’t use exotic plug-ins
8. Don’t use Java for effects
9. Don’t put the Flash ads on top of the content
10. Don’t link to PDFs without telling
11. Don’t put PDFs on your website without good reason
12. Don’t remove underlines from links for main body text
13. Don’t decrease the font-size for main body text
14. Don’t design like it’s ’99
15. Don’t use JavaScript for anything crucial
16. Don’t use JavaScript for anything fancy
17. Don’t beat around the bush
18. Don’t hide what you have to offer
19. Don’t waste visitor time
20. Don’t put up self-referential links pointing to the page they are on
21. Don’t spoil the search engines
22. Don’t keep guestbooks unattended
23. Don’t ignore your emails
24. Don’t hide your contact details
25. Don’t blame the browser
26. Don’t ask visitors to update their browser
27. Don’t write silly alt-text just to have alt-text
28. Don’t use bloated table-layout
29. Don’t use table-layout
30. Don’t optimize titles for search engines
31. Don’t optimize anything for search engines alone
32. Don’t forget to mention your sources
33. Don’t give readers your link list and nothing else
34. Don’t use graphics of text, logo excluded
35. Don’t be a portal
36. Don’t mention your cat, dog, or other house pet
37. Don’t be hosted on Geocities, Tripod or Angelfire
38. Don’t target just Internet Explorer
39. Don’t offer downloads without description of target systems
40. Don’t show animated ads
41. Don’t start the HTML with a long navigation
42. Don’t forget hand-phone visitors browsing your site
43. Don’t forget people printing your page
44. Don’t forget people trying to open your links in a new window
45. Don’t forget people arriving with a text-only browser
46. Don’t assume where the reader came from
47. Don’t use “Click here” as link text
48. Don’t open new windows
49. Don’t offer Adobe, Flash, or Internet Explorer for download
50. Don’t do the wrong thing

So do the right thing. You probably already are. If there’s enough of us, we will prove them wrong. 90% of the Web might become good actually.

Your client’s sites specifically excluded. Here, do whatever makes them happy. I guess.

The Big Website "Don’t!" ... by Philipp Lenssen

Google AdSense Wishlist

I read that GoogleGuy was asked about breaking up AdSense statistics by different domains. Here’s my personal feature wishlist, and if you also use AdSense maybe we share some of those wishes (if you think of something else, let me know):

• Stats breakdowns by domain.

• For every click, the URL of the page on which the ad was shown.

• For every click, the referrer (the page that linked to the AdSense containing page, to e.g. spot Google search terms).

• The ability to change the ads font-family and size (you can already change colors, but not the font).

• Ability to include the files directly via scripting (a Web Service similar to the Google Web API) – this would get rid of the current JavaScript/ inline-frame.

• A public list of the top 100 sites with best click-through rates to show off how they do it – of course, you would have to check a box to participate in being shown here.

• And of course... even more relevant links, faster updates on new pages, possibly the ability to show images, and of course, ability to have higher earnings.

Google AdSense Wishlist by Philipp Lenssen

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