The pop isn’t what got them there and it isn’t going to keep them there. As a matter of fact, the pop allure only lasts about two and a half seconds; and I don’t think it has much to do with great web design at all.
Search engines are the number one way people find what they’re looking for on the internet, and a high rank is how to get my web pages where people can find them.
This article gives great tips for better search engine ratings.
SEO Basics, introduction to Search Engine Optimisation for beginners
The things in this article that helped me the most were:
- I don’t need every one in the world to visit my website. Decide what group of people I want to find my website and use specific keywords for those people.
- Search engines like popular web pages. Have great information on my website so people will want to link to it; if their web page has a similar subject, that’s even better.
- Definitely do not trade links with someone just to get a backlink, there are penalties for doing that.
- How my XHTML is written makes a difference. Search engines look at the hierarchy of the XHTML. title is most important, h1 is next, then the other headings. Content is searched starting at the top of the page.
Although the pop may entice a person for a couple of seconds the thing that’s going to keep him/her interested in my website is how fast and easy it is to use.
I have two links by the same author. I apologize for the first—mouse over the book and choose first pages (I didn’t know how to get it any other legal way.)
Sample chapter from Don’t Make Me Think
These chapters helped me understand that I need to create a website to satisfy my visitors, not myself. A few ways to do that is:
- Don’t put too much information on one page. And make the information I do have easy to see and understand—everything has about the same view time as a billboard. . .zoom. . .
- People don’t consider things, they act. Make sure that anyone can tell what it is and how to use it; and put it in a place that won’t be overlooked (whatever it is.)
- Make sure that getting lost is an easy fix (there’s a way out, without leaving the website.)
Instead of pop, one of the most important things my website can have is good clean code with strict, semantically correct XHTML; then everything works and looks better. The best rule I’ve seen is—XHTML is for structure, CSS is for presentation.
Peachpit: Integrated Web Design: The Meaning of Semantics (Take I) > Semantics Is Meaning
This article helped me understand how important semantics is:
- Use the h1-h6 (headings) appropriately; I can change the size with CSS. The importance is how the browser reads it.
- People use p in unusual ways, including making lists. The only way it should be used is to mark a paragraph.
- Some tags are used improperly, others aren’t used at all. Find out how to use them all properly.
If I have trouble deciding what tag to put on something, I look it up. HTML Tags (I think this list gives the best examples.)
These articles helped me see how I should be writing my code for all browsers and screen readers and users.
A List Apart: Articles: A Dao of Web Design
A List Apart: Articles: 12 Lessons for Those Afraid of CSS and Standards
Some of the ways I can write code for all:
- Let go of the forced appearance. No matter how many hacks I put into my code it isn’t going to look exactly the same on every computer, so why try to force it.
- Design with flexibility in mind. This goes back to semantically correct XHTML; it should be able to stand alone without the style sheet.
- Don’t rely on any fonts, and don’t use pts or px for measurement. Use % or em instead. This goes for all measurements; unless. . .
- Don’t get attached to any particular colors. First of all, they don’t look the same in different browsers; and second, some people can’t see all the colors (color blindness.) CSS does wonders with background images, use them instead.
This isn’t the easy way to write code, but I think it’s the best way. Code should be written for the intended purposes of the website instead of making it look a certain way. The webpage may not have pop but it’ll look intuitive, easy to use, and inviting. . .and that’ll last a whole lot longer than two and a half seconds.