Web Etiquette

How do we talk to servers? All of us are familiar (or soon will be) with he improper use of capital letters in web communication, chat rooms, and forums which are not used because this is a form of shouting. Well Unix servers do not like capital letters either. They often become confused at the most inopportune times, so avoid them at all cost in your file name descriptions.

Have the graphic creators disappeared? Imagine the www without any graphics and no graphic creators. There are no creators, when we do not give them credit for their work with either a citation, link, or reference on our web pages. Think about the statement this way. "Do not be surprised if all your "borrowed" graphics were returned to their creator's when you visit your own site one day if you do not show web etiquette.

Accountability means making sure that you sign your web pages, that you protect your work with copyright symbols, and that you include a method for visitors to send you feedback about your page. When visiting others pages, drop the author a note commenting on what you liked, or did not like. Many web authors are updating their creations on a regular basis and will appreciate your honest constructive criticism. You may also want to include the date of your page's last update, and a counter to let visitors know how popular your page is.

As the web has developed, there are some things that have become standard in web page creation and are suggested practices as a courtesy to your audience.

Standards

• Alphabetical listings work well if you can jump down and up.

• Never leave broken or "dead-end" links on your pages.

• Be sensitive to ethnic diversity and gender issues in graphics.

• Use index.html or index.htm as the primary HTML file.

• Use short, descriptive lowercase URL's and filenames.

• Make bold, colored, all caps, oversized text, etc. meaningful.

• Avoid blinking text and images.

• Avoid busy background patterns.

• When creating pages, use tables to align and structure fields and text.

• Give pages an ergonomic layout and strive for consistency in sets of web pages.

• Select titles carefully and make them meaningful.

• Use the keyword and description META tags to improve ranking on search engines.

• Consider how your information will look to various browsers.

• Wait until pages are finished before making them viewable to the public.

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