When you design a web site, I recommend you keep in mind the variety of your possible audience. Before making my specific suggestions I want to present some data to support some of the things I am going to suggest. This is based on the sixth semi-annual internet user survey conducted by the Graphics, Visualization & Usability Center (GVU).

(If you just can't wait, here are my tips.)

Georgia Tech's interdisciplinary GVU is focused on "making computers more user-friendly and on increasing their efficiency as tools for work, education and communication." Their survey presents worldwide data. The figures I am using are for the portion of the users in the Unites States. The data for the total set are similar.

FACT: Not every user of a computer who is "surfing" the internet is using the biggest and fastest computer system. Not every user is as familiar with, and enamored of, the latest programming features as are you.

According to GVU's sixth survey (November 1996) almost two-thirds of the users on the internet have a monitor screen size of 15 inches or less.

Of the users who knew their screen resolution (and 27% didn't know) 18% use 640 by 480 and another 17% use 800 by 600. Only 11% use 1280 by 1024.

Almost 20% connect to the internet over a 14K modem and the majority only use a 28K modem. More than 75% report that their biggest problem with the internet is connection speed.

This means:
Your page may look very different on your screen than on someone else's. For instance, if you design for a screen resolution of 1280x1024 and I run 640x480 I will only see one-quarter of your screen.
People visiting your web site may get frustrated, and leave your site, if they have to sit and wait for large, time-consuming files (usually graphics and sound) to download.

If you size your site for screen resolution beyond 800 by 600 you will cause more than one-third of your readers to have to scroll to read it. While most of us are used to scrolling down to read a document, we get iritated if we have to scroll right to left repeatedly.

• Keep your page width small - under 600 pixels is best, but no more than 800.
• Minimize the use of graphics - use thumbnails that the user can click on for a larger image, if desired.
• Use alternate image descriptions in image tags - if the "alt=" option is used for graphics, the user can tell if the graphic is something they want to wait for (or not).
• Use the height and width tags - when a browser knows how big of a "hole" to leave for the graphic it continues displaying the rest of the text before finishing the graphic.
• Have a hyperlink for people to contact you - if they can just click on an email link they are more apt to give you feedback on your page, good and bad.
• Don't use background music - if somebody is browsing at work and your "theme song" starts to blast out over their speakers they have to get off your site before the boss catches them or the person at the next desk gets ticked.
• Don't use "under construction" graphics or messages - everybody knows that every site is always under construction. The message, and especially the graphic, just wastes their time as it loads.
• Don't use scrolling messages - either as marquees or (worse) in the status bar at the bottom of the screen. They take too much time to load, don't really do anything, and, in the status bar, make it impossible to read addresses of links.

These suggestions, and a little common sense, should help you design a web site that will give viewers the least reason to move on to another site. Good luck and if you have any suggestions for additions to this list, or comments about it, please let me know.

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John 5/10/97

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