Please
note: Awards have been discontinued until further notice!
Criteria List for the El Capitan Award, Page Two:
Other things to consider:
1. Your site should look OK in both main browsers, and ought
to be fairly cross-platform. I will look at your site on a Mac
(Netscape 4.75, and IE 5) and I might fire up the PC and look at
your site with it as well. It is not difficult to go to one of the
webmastering newsgroups or forums and ask for a "site check".
Mac (or PC) users usually will be more than happy to view your site
and let you know if it looks OK on their systems. Read
more detailed information about my cross-platform/browser criteria
here.
2. There should be some REAL CONTENT. I cannot emphasize
this enough. Your site should be attractive, but if it has no real
content - nothing original or unique to offer, then what's the point?
Would people search for the topic of your content in a search engine?
I think a plain-looking page with quality content is far better
a "glitzy" page with little content. Of course, I'd prefer
to see a page with a pleasant appearance, plus a lot of content!
(Additional hint: most people don't search on Alta Vista for pictures
of your friends, or your dog. You've got to engage
the visitor, and get them interested in your site by offering them
something unique.)
3. Proofread your text. If it is obvious that you have not
sufficiently proofread your pages, I will be less apt to give you
an award. I don't intend to be super picky on this, because most
sites have a few errors here and there. (I am certain mine does!)
But if your site is riddled with such errors - it detracts from
your message, and your content.
4. Your site should have a consistent appearance. I understand
the temptation to show off all of the fabulous graphics and web
page backgrounds you have, but please control yourself. Stick to
a consistent "look", so people know they are still on
your site when they go from page to page. Please bear in mind that
when your site uses the same basic graphics on all pages, it speeds
up download times. (Your browser will store the common graphics
in its cache, and not have to reload them every time they are displayed
on a new page.)
5. It's fine if your site mentions that it's "best viewed
in 800x600 and IE" or whatever. But please don't ask or
imply that your viewer should change any of their computer's settings
to see your site. Trust me, no one ever does. It's silly to even
mention it.
6. Your text should be legible. If you have a background
graphic to your site, make sure it does not clash with your text.
Also, using larger or bolded fonts are not the best way to make
text legible on a loud, clashing background. Find a background color
or graphic that allows your text to be legible at the normal font
size.
7. Make use of the "title" tag on your pages. It's
an important detail. Also, use the graphic size tags on your images
- the page loads more seamlessly when you do.
8. I don't like sites with a "negative" tone. If
you have a political or "issues" site, there's no need
to be real nasty or snippy about the "other side" of the
issue. I respect and admire civility.
9. Alas, I have a s-l-o-w connection. The phone lines around
here only go up to 33.6. I don't expect super-speedy loading pages,
especially if you have a lot of beautiful graphics. But I can only
wait so long for your page to load. Please optimize your graphics.
If you have a graphics-rich page, please try to keep the total of
the whole page (including graphics) to no more than 155 Kb. (Trust
me, that's a generous amount.) Please use thumbnails whenever
possible to direct people to your larger-sized graphic files.
10. Navigation should not be neglected. Each page should
(at the very least) have a link back to the home page, or the site
map. Most pages should have an easy navigational system, with links
to all the "main" pages.
11. No super l-o-n-g pages. Don't cram everything
onto one page. 5-6 browser page scrolls is long enough. If
you feel it is necessary to have a longer page, have "back
to top" links throughout the page. Better yet - split a long
page up into several shorter pages instead.
12. Original
graphics (that you designed, or that someone else designed specifically
for you) are a definite plus, but I don't absolutely
require them. I am pretty familiar with the "canned" look
that the Microsoft FrontPage Themes have, so I usually will know
when you are using them. But, since I used to be quite fond of FrontPage
Themes, I know that occasionally they can be used in an effective
and tasteful way. However, more points will be given to sites that
do their own web graphics.
13. Commercial
sites are welcome, but there must be some sort of content on
the site other than "sell, sell, sell". At least 6 pages
of noncommercial content. "Noncommercial content" could
be product support, history of the company, and general resource
and help pages.
14. No trailing
cursors. Please, I beg you. No trailing cursors!
(They are the things that follow your mouse around the screen. They
were enchanting to me for about 30 seconds. The bloom is definitely
off that rose!)
15. There
should be some way to reach you. An email link, something! On
some obvious places on your site.
16.Congratulations!
You've read this far! I have a favor I'd like to ask of you: If
you apply for my award, in the place where I ask you if you've read
the criteria, write "OK" instead of "yes". I
just want to satisfy my curiosity - I want to know how many applicants
actually read my criteria! Don't get me wrong. No oneis disqualified if they don't write "OK", at least
for the time being. (I may reconsider this policy in the future,
however.)
(I admit -
I got this idea from other Awards programs. I think it's an ingenious
idea, so I thought I'd try it out!)
If
you are interested in seeing my
scoring point
system, see my ratings page.
Take
the Self -Test to give you an idea
if your site will qualify for the El Capitan Award.
