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Technique of optimising Html pages
This chapter gives some examples to follow and techniques and lines to be avoided on pain
of being boycotted by net surfers. First, we will deal with the basic aspect of pages
before moving on to broader considerations.
Page width, length and size in kilobytes
There are currently a dozen different navigators in use with Windows 3.1, 95, 98 and NT operating systems and Mac, Linux, Unix, systems, etc.. The size of most screens is 14", 15" or 17". Screen resolutions vary from 640 x 480, 800 x 600 and 1024 x 768 pixels in 8, 16 and 24 bits (256, 65536 and million colours). In view of this disparate equipment, you have to ensure that your site can be enjoyed by the greatest number of visitors. So in other words, a site must be designed to be easy to refer to, even at 640 x 480 in 8 or 16 bits.
As far as the size of web pages in kilobytes (disk space) is concerned, the fact has to be taken into consideration that the network is often overloaded and that, at times, the actual speed of a modem may be very slow. So it is wise to make Internet pages as small as possible (a single picture can "weigh" as much as 5 to 10 simple html pages).
Java and Java Script(*)
To be used with care, for the following reasons:
- Programs are designed to run with all navigators, in theory that is. In practice, it turns out not always to be the case.
- A lot of net surfers have disabled the Java Script option on their computers. They really do have to be borne in mind.
- At times they get stuck on one page (sometimes even the initial page!) because the Navigator’s Java Script function has to be enabled to be able to continue the site visit. A net surfer will simply abandon the site without looking at it.
- Running Java can stop the computer for several seconds, which annoys a lot of visitors.
Apparently, there is the solution of making "two sites in one" by using a sub-program to detect the type of navigator and its settings and redirect visitors to the pages suited to their equipment. This is a good solution if you have the necessary resources (three times larger). It is far simpler right from the outset to design a single site accessible to all.
(*) contrary to appearances, these are two different programming languages.
Additional programs (plug-ins)
To be totally avoided. If visitors first have to download and set up a program of several hundred kilobytes to be able to enjoy one page, most of them either won’t do it and/or won’t have the necessary knowledge. Additionally, in the network within a company, the system administrator usually has to bar end users from installing programs. Because of their work, creative personnel have to have plug-ins installed on their computers. But tell the creators to remember everyone else, your CUSTOMERS.
We know the case of a car manufacturer whose site needed the installation of a sub-program for the site to be visited. We downloaded the program as instructed, but it did not install correctly and our computer "hung". We have never gone back to the site.
Transposing documents or an existing concept
Don’t just transpose your documents onto the Internet. Internet Web site Html pages are subject to fairly specific rules.
Take the case of the French "Yellow Pages" on the Internet. You are only able to search town by town, as in the directory. You are can’t search for a supplier across the whole of the country. The Internet is world-wide and yet you find yourself up against a service limited to just a small local area! Use and register with (free of charge!) search engines enabling searches that are better targeted and less restrictive.
The next chapter deals with optimising Internet Web sites with a view to having them listed with these search and indexing engines.
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