HTML Examples - Style Guide
There are already enough style guides on the internet.
Therefore, there is obsolutely no reason for another.
On the other hand, people do a lot of things which I find
extemely irritating.
This is a collection of some of them.
Invisible Front Pages
A site's front page needs to load quickly
and be useable in every available browser
... even with Java, JavaScript, VBScript, ActiveX,
and images disabled.
For example, under these conditions
- fox.com only displays a black screen in IE 4.72 and IE 5.00.
In Netscape 4.05, the ShockWave animation is displayed
(I couldn't find a way to disable it),
but you can't click through to anything else.
Fox.com wants ShockWave Flash (ActiveX), VBScript, and JavaScript.
You can try this link instead.
This site was identified because someone couldn't open it in Linux.
- cpcug.org won't display anything in IE 4.72.
In all fairness, this is due to
a design problem in IE 4.72,
and the text providing an alternate link does display in Netscape 4.05
and IE 5.00.
However, sites should be tested with the most popular browsers and
a well designed site would display something everywhere.
You can usually determine how to get around the problem by right clicking
the blank page and selecting View Source.
The total size of a front page should be less than 30 Kb
including all the imbedded graphics.
Piracy via Frames
Never, ever, open some one else's page in your frame
unless you have their explicit approval.
This extemely rude practice is nothing short of piracy
and it should never be tolerated.
Among other things, many pages are designed to require
a minimum amount of display space.
When one of these pages is opened in someone else's frame,
the page is too wide, and it becomes necessary to
scroll the page horizontally in order to view the content.
The user group I belong to (and that hosts this site)
practices this garbage.
You can visit
cpcug.org
(nothing displays in IE 4.72 unless JavaScript is enabled)
and select Members Pages.
The listed pages are private sites developed
by members of the organization.
Click on a few of these to see what I .
This official AOL site
has a frame across the top with animated ads.
This will show you how to
prevent frame piracy.
Never ever use client-side automatic redirects because
people find it very frustrating to get locked into a site where
the back button no longer works.
Server-side redirects are fine because
they dosen't screw up the user's browser.
References
Author: Robert Clemenzi -
clemenzi@cpcug.org