Pet Peeves

This Page is Under Construction

Yes, of course it is. Most web pages are continuously under construction. If your page is complete enough to publish on the web, then just do it. Put a date at the bottom of the page so everyone else knows when you last updated it. There is nothing more pitiful than a page that claims to be Under Construction and hasn't been touched in three years.

Click Here

This is just bad form. Instead of saying
<A HREF="home.html">Click Here</A> to return to my
home page.
make your links say something useful:
<A HREF="home.html">Return to My Home Page</A>
Besides, not all browsers use a mouse to activate links. Click Here simply makes no sense in this case.

Links to Nowhere

Nothing is permanent on the web. External links will go out of date from time to time so plan to check them regularly. What is really inexcusable is a dead internal link. Links between your own pages should always be valid. Check, check, check!

Sloppy HTML

Please proofread your pages before unleashing them on an unsuspecting world. It is not uncommon to see stray < or & running around, or emphasised text that goes on forever.

Test all of your links to make sure that they go somewhere. External links should be checked periodically because nothing is permanent in cyberspace but there is no excuse for internal links to be wrong.

Blink

Feeling ill yet? Netscape did not do the world community any favours when it introduced its own <BLINK> tag. And yes, there are pages out there where everything blinks on and off. Blinking text draws the eye to it. This might be a good thing if used extremely sparingly but many people find it extremely tiresome, even in small quantities. Also be advised that <BLINK> is not part of the HTML and probably never will be.