Colophon Page

Web Standards

There are many different standards that many sites maintain, even one as simple as mine, such as: simple navigation, modularization, and css and xhtml validation. Each of these principles are very important when developing a website. First comes navigation. If a site doesn't have a navigation that is easy to use, then your visitor will not hesitate to use their back button and never visit your site again. Next comes modularization. As a web developer, your site must be easy to update and easy to maintain. When new standards become the norm, you don't want to be left behind just because it takes hours to update your site.

Usability

Let's start with navigation. I used to have two separate navigations, one for the main pages, and one for the final fantasy pages. This past week I installed a new navigation, that of a drop down menu. This kind of navigation is much more prefered and is easier to use. You simply hover your mouse over the different sections and click a link.

Next on the list is having a set place for a logo for your site. I have conveniently placed my logo in a server side includes, so that my logo will appear in the same place on every page throughout my site. By changing one line of code, I can change my logo on all of my pages.

Another big part of a website is links. Clickable content is the foundation of the web, and therefore all clickable content should be emphasised. On all of my pages, I have a navigation bar that is expected to be clickable. Other than that, I have normal links that are blue before they are clicked, and purplish after they are clicked. Even more evident that links are clickable is the fact that the mouse changes shape when on top of a link.

Another thing that is important when creating a website, is that the most important text is at the very top, and is the biggest on the page. The most common way of making this happen is by using headers. Headers are numbered from 1 to 6, with 1 being the largest.

One last topic is that of using titles. Titles are very useful to tell the user what page they are on, and where that page is located. Many companies use complex and utterly confusing titles, making it impossible to tell where you are on a site. This is bad, your first priority is to your visitors. Your visitors will feel a lot more comfortable if they can look up to the bar at the top and see what page they are on, and what site that page is a part of. Every page on my site has proper titles, and show the page and site.

Search Engines

This section is quite simple. Search engines rank sites by how many times a certain word occurs on a page. In my case, all of my pages have the site's name in every title. In addition all of my pages have the navigation included, and therefore have the words of final fantasy occur at least ten or eleven times.

Profitability

The profitability of a site is based on several important aspect of web development. First and formost is the ability of the site to be seen. If someone does not see your site on the first few pages of a google search, then you will have no profit.

Another important aspect is that of a navigation. Your visitor has to like your navigation on first sight. In other words, the user has to feel comfortable with the layout and navigation of your site. When they feel at home with your layout, they are more inclined to stay at your site and use your services.