WEBMASTER IN A NUTSHELL, A Desktop Quick Reference
Book Review by Diana F. ArsenaultGetting web surfers to visit and revisit your little corner of Cyberspace is increasingly harder to do. There are many varied reasons that make that statement true. It would be extremely difficult to rank the reasons in order.
One of the main reasons would have to be the ever increasing number of websites on the internet. There are so many to choose from. Another main reason would have to be that so many search engines have become pay per click search engines.
So what's a Webmaster to do? The most important thing a Webmaster can do is to always remember the ten second rule. Ten seconds is all you have to capture the web surfers' attention. Ten seconds to make that surfer want to see more of your website.
If you succeed at capturing their attention, then you must be sure that your website won't turn off that attention. As quickly as you got it, you can lose it. Website design mistakes are the main cause of losing your visitors. Ten of the top website mistakes are:1. An unprofessional appearance. This could include any of the following: bright colors, too many colors, typos, spelling errors, unorganized look, broken links, banners, unprofessional design.
2. Confusing Navigation. If you don't make it easy for visitors to find what they want... they're gone!
3. Hard to Read Text. This could include anything from using fancy fonts that are hard to read to not using a white background with dark text for the majority of the text.
4. Broken Links and WebPages Errors. They won't tolerate your mistakes.
5. Multiple Popups. There are good reasons for using a popup window at times, but if you use multiple popup windows that the visitors have to close, don't expect them to ever come back.
6. Frame Websites. Only a true professional should design a webpage that uses frames. Amateurs that create a webpage that uses frames have made a horrific mistake. Although the webpage may look and work perfectly in their web browser, chances are very high that they are leaving many visitors stranded on their website looking at a page that doesn't even resemble a webpage. You can bet they'll never go back.
7. Flash Webpages. You only have ten seconds! If they have to wait for it to download, they're gone!
8. Slow downloading of webpages. Two common reasons: graphics too large, programming code errors.
9. Plug-ins. Using anything on a webpage that forces the user to download something to their computer in order to see or hear it.
10. Requiring Information. If you demand personal information to view your website, the majority of visitors will go elsewhere.
Due to the ever evolving web technologies, Webmasters have to work very hard to stay informed and knowledgeable about their craft, to prevent making website errors.
A Webmaster's goal should be not only to capture the visitor's attention in ten seconds or less, but to give them a worthwhile experience while they surf the site to insure the visitor will return again and again.
Webmasters started with one programming language known as HTML or Hypertext Markup Language. Now we have HTML Version 4.0.1 (with newer versions an ongoing process), CSS, XML, Java, _JavaScript, _Jscript, PHP, PERL and the list goes on.
A Webmaster must have many different books on his/her bookshelf, from books about the many different programming languages to books on the many different web servers and platforms. Unless you have a photographic memory, you can never remember everything that is contained in all those books.
When you're in the actual process of designing a website, you frequently need to refer to this book or that book for the perfect syntax on something.
That's where Webmaster in a Nutshell, A Desktop Quick Reference, becomes priceless. Instead of searching for this book and that book constantly, you simply reach for the one that has earned a spot on top of your desk.
This book is truly a Quick Reference for the programming languages a Webmaster uses. PLUS it includes Quick Reference material on CGI, server programming with mod_perl, HTTP requests and server responses, cookies, media types and subtypes, server configuration, Apache configuration, Apache Modules and many different web performance issues.
This book doesn't teach you how to be a Webmaster. That's not its purpose. This book is designed to be a Webmaster's Quick Reference for all the things that a Webmaster must know and has already placed on his bookshelf.
WEBMASTER IN A NUTSHELL A Desktop Quick Reference
by Stephen Spainhour & Robert Eckstein
O'Reilly & Associates, Inc.
1005 Gravenstein Highway North
Sebastopol, CA 95472
(800) 998-9938
www.oreilly.com <http://www.oreilly.com/>
Price: $ 34.95 US
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