Checklist of
Web Page Characteristics to Avoid
Each of the items listed here provides a link to the complete discussion of that topic in Appendix VI.
- Avoid using Java or Javascript.
- Avoid using HTML frames.
- Avoid using Cascading Style Sheets.
- Avoid using HTML Tables.
- Avoid providing free advertising to commercial enterprises.
- Avoid using gratuitous animated images.
- Avoid aligning images to the left or right, to cause text to flow around the image.
- Avoid using short, wide graphics to separate sections of the page.
- Avoid making page design choices based on the on-screen presentation of one browser. (The discussion topics include Text vs. Graphical, Macintosh vs. Windows, Screen Size, and Color Availability.)
- Avoid setting the font, changing its size or color, or making it boldface. (The discussion topics include Background Issues, Other Color Issues, and Emphasis Issues.)
- Avoid using too many graphic images on a page.
- Avoid using graphic images or HTML files that are too big.
- Avoid using challenging sound or video clips.
- Avoid using so many links that you disrupt the flow of your Web page.
- Avoid using trite images or phrases, especially "under construction".
- Avoid using internal labels containing space characters as destinations for links.
- Avoid using graphic images that contain only text.
- Avoid using commercial hit counters or guestbooks.
- Avoid using personal accounts to serve organizational Web pages.
- Avoid placing adjacent to a link any blue bullets or other small graphics that are not clickable parts of that link.
- Avoid saying "Click here to ...", because it is trite.
- Avoid using two consecutive links that lead to the same destination.
- Avoid having consecutive images with no separators to force the next image onto the following line.
- Avoid using graphics that include extensive areas in which the color changes gradually.
- Avoid using multiple, different URLs to link to the same page, or using multiple different URLs to specify the same image file.
Dick Piccard revised this file (http://www.ohiou.edu/pagemasters/memo85/bad.html) on February 12, 2001.
Please E-Mail comments or suggestions to "acatec@www.ohiou.edu", or use the feedback form.