Web Development Guide for
beginners, intermediates and advanced users

A comprehensive article explaining what not to do or have on a site along with alternatives and solutions.

Table of Contents

1. Pop-Ups
2. Banner Ads
3. Repeated requests for donations
4. Long Loading Time

1. Pop-Ups

These are annoying and can be replaced with banner ads which are more efficient as they are not closed immediately be most web surfers and there is the advantage that banner ads are not so annoying especially when they are text filled instead of an image (more on banner ads). There is also the factor that pop-ups are getting more useless as Firefox and Internet Explorer (when combined with Windows XP Service Pack 2) both have in-built popup blockers disabling all pop-ups that load automatically or even from mouse-over events. In short, pop-ups are annoying for your users, may deter users from coming back to your site for information, will not be shown on many computers and there is the option of banner ads.

2. Banner Ads

Banner ads are commonly used and if you have a quality site with many unique visitors and are accepted by users usually under the following condition that it is not a flashy, graphic intensive image. Especially for those that use dial-up, it is a pain to wait for these to load and then the problem of waiting for a different one to load every time you go to that page, for many web surfers or for time when you want to go back and forward on your web browser to quickly see something, it is annoying to have the wait for a new random image to take its place. Animated banner ads and error message dialogs are just as much a pest - I am referring to the ones where you supposedly have to kill the monkey or whatever to win a prize or ones that say your computer may be infected with viruses... I only recommend using advertisements if your site gets at least 30+ unique visitors a day and the ad is in text format. Note there is information on earning money through banner ads and recommended reputable programs.

3. Repeated requests for donations

Donations are a great way to earn money from your site as it allows your users to reward you for your content. However, what you don't want to do is ask for donations frustrating most users, simply put a link with the text "Donate" or "Make a donation" or an image like the ones provided by PayPal. People will donate if they appreciate the content and should be offered the chance, not asked, or offered in a pop-up or something just as uninviting.

4. Long Loading Time

A large size for the total content of your site including everything referenced (JavaScript, CSS), included (like in PHP), images and so on get bad responses from many visitors. I have seen sites that mention the 8 second rule and in general, it is an effective guideline, basically if your site doesn't load in 8 seconds on a 56k dial up connection, chances are that the user will simple leave, especially if they are searching for something which usually means they are more impatient than usual, they will just look for an alternative site with the information they need! Tip: Compress your images to make them smaller. If you notice this site, it loads very quickly as the images are compressed and the coding is optimised as it is done mostly without the aid of an HTML editor. Also, it may be worthwhile to mention here that if an (individual) page's content exceeds 75kb, many search engines won't index it. Related article: How to reduce site bandwidth.

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