Status: OR


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          A L L   A B O U T   W E B   D E S I G N !(tm)

                       ISSN: 1526-1905

"A Twice Monthly Resource Guide For Web Designers and Webmasters" 


                   Issue # 7   August 15, 1999

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             Editor: Linda Anderson (aka windsong)


All About Web Design!(tm) is a free, twice monthly newsletter
that covers EVERY aspect of web design. 

If you're reading this newsletter, it's because you either 
subscribed or some kind soul forwarded it to you. If you want 
to get it delivered to your e-mail address every month, you'll 
find "subscribe" instructions at the bottom of the page. If 
you want to STOP getting it delivered, the "unsubscribe" 
instructions are there also.

Replying to this message will NOT remove you.

It goes without saying that your e-mail address is NEVER made
available to anybody else. Never, no way, no how.


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                     THIS ISSUE'S CONTENTS...

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                         SPONSOR'S SPOT

                         EDITOR'S NOTES

                          BOOK REVIEW

                     SPECIAL FEATURE ARTICLE
                Designing Pages That Download Fast
                               by 
                        Jennifer Johnson 

         LINKS OF INTEREST TO WEB DESIGNERS AND WEBMASTERS

                      LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

                         CRITIQUE CORNER 

                     HINTS, TIPS, AND TRICKS

                     THIS ISSUE'S CLASSIFIEDS

          HOW TO ADVERTISE IN "ALL ABOUT WEB DESIGN!"(tm)

                SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE INSTRUCTIONS


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                        SPONSOR'S SPOT

ｫ､ｻ･ｫ､ｻｧｫ､ｻ･ｫ､ｻｧｫ､ｻ･ｫ､ｻｧｫ､ｻ･ｫ､ｻｧｫ､ｻ･ｫ､ｻｧｫ､ｻ･ｫ､ｻｧｫ､ｻ･ｫ､ｻｧｫ､ｻ･ｫ､ｻ

Would you like the chance to win CASH??? NPD Online Research 
is looking for people just like YOU to join their Online 
Research Team.  Joining gives you a chance to be heard by 
decision makers worldwide.  And, you'll have a chance to WIN 
some great prizes - starting with the chance to win $1,000 just 
for registering to join!  Just visit our site and learn more 
about NPD Online Research.  
http://www.websponsors.com/cgi-bin/ad_click.cgi?userid=13272&offerid=347

(NOTE: if this link is wrapped, just copy and paste it into 
your browser's location bar.)


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                       EDITOR'S NOTES

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Welcome loyal readers and all new subscribers! I have just
had a landslide sign-up this week! Somebody must be looking
out for me.....bringing me all these wonderful subscribers!
I hope we have a long designing relationship.

Those of you who have requested a site critique, please be
patient with me. I am catching up as fast as I can. Whew!
This is what happens when you have a bajillion subscribers!
But I love it.

Results are still coming in from the survey. If you have not
yet placed your official vote, do it now! Just go to:
http://onelist.com/surveycenter/AllAboutWebDesign
Many of you have emailed me with your choice for the survey.
This is great, I love hearing from you. But your vote doesn't
count in email. It only gets counted if you go to OneList
and cast your vote.
 
If you haven't already subscribed to our sister e-zine, ALL 
ABOUT SEARCH ENGINES!(tm) take a moment and do it now. Just
send a blank email to:  
mailto:AboutSearchEngines-subscribe@onelist.com 

If you'd like to have one of your articles featured in 
ALL ABOUT WEB DESIGN!(tm) ...send the article to me at:
mailto:editor@marketing-resources.com?subject=article
(hint: it can also be a tip, or a trick.) But please stay 
on topic and keep it brief and to the point. 

All back issues are archived at onelist.com as well as on
our page: http://marketing-resources.com/webdesign.html

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, complaints
or advice, or just want to say 'hi', please contact me at: 
mailto:editor@marketing-resources.com?Subject=AAWD-Feedback
Sending a message to this address automatically means that 
you've given permission to reprint your message.

Peace,
windsong  


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                       BOOK REVIEW

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             Html Artistry : More Than Code 
                          by 
              Ardith Ibanez, Natalie Zee 

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1568304544/businessoppor084
                                           
Most HTML books focus on either technical how-to guidance or 
design advice, but this outstanding full-color book does both, 
and quite well. Authors Ibanez and Zee first detail core HTML 
concepts, including such tasks as using tables and frames in 
layout; building a coherent navigational system with graphical 
and text links and headers and footers; working with type and
applying type effects; understanding color and the Web palette; 
and customizing your Web site using JavaScript. Next you learn 
all about working with Dynamic HTML (DHTML), layers, cascading 
style sheets, interactivity, animations, and transitions. 
Appendices offer HTML, style sheet, and DHTML reference lists.
Each chapter includes case studies, sample HTML code, a summary, 
and a discussion of cross-platform and cross-browser 
compatibility issues. You also get profiles of outstanding 
designers and their work. Even though each chapter builds on 
the previous ones, any aspiring designer can glean lots of 
insight just by jumping to any topic in this well-written, 
well-designed book.
    

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                 SPECIAL FEATURE ARTICLE

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           Designing Pages That Download Fast
                          by 
                   Jennifer Johnson 

 Unless you have access to a T1 connection, you probably have 
been frustrated at one time or another by sites that seem to 
take forever to download.
 
As a site designer, you should make a quick download time high 
on your list of priorities. No matter how great your page is, 
if people click away because they give up on waiting for it to 
finish downloading, you've wasted your time. The following are 
a few tips to help speed your download time: 

            Get Rid of Superfluous Images 

Most of the time, a certain amount of graphic images are 
necessary to enhance a site's aesthetic appeal. What you want 
to avoid are images that don't add anything to the page 
(except extra seconds on the download time). 

Ask yourself if the animated GIF of the badger wearing 
sunglasses and doing the Moonwalk really contributes anything 
of value to your page. Better yet, ask yourself before you 
include it (and subject the rest of us to it). 

                  Reduce the Size 

I'm talking about 1) physical size and 2) file (or disk space) 
size here. The smaller the image is in terms of HEIGHT and 
WIDTH (dimensions) as well as bytes (file size), the quicker 
it will download. 

You can only do so much, however, with the HEIGHT and WIDTH; 
after all, you don't want your viewers to have to use a 
magnifying glass to locate your images. 

Once you've got the physical size to the smallest acceptable 
dimensions, it's time to try to reduce the image size even 
more in terms of file size. 

Reducing the color depth usually makes for a smaller file 
size. If you can go from 16 bit to 256 colors without 
destroying your image quality, that should reduce the file 
size substantially. 

You might be able to decrease it even more; try one of the 
compression utilities online. NetMechanic is a good one and 
it's free. <http://www.netmechanic.com>. 

                 Use HEIGHT and WIDTH 

Using the HEIGHT and WIDTH attributes of the IMG tag can 
help your page load faster on some browsers. A "placeholder", 
more or less, in which the image will appear is positioned 
in the appropriate area and text is formatted around this 
placeholder while the image loads. 

       Divide Your Content Among Several Pages 

Instead of developing one huge, long page, try splitting the 
content up over several smaller pages. This will make it 
easier for your visitors to read and will make the individual 
pages download more quickly. 

                   Reuse Images 

Reusing images such as the same background and navigation 
buttons on different areas of your site can boost the speed 
at which pages are downloaded. 

All other things being equal, if a browser can use a 
previously cached copy of an image, as opposed to downloading 
a new image, the page should load more quickly. 

Reusing images also provides a consistent look throughout 
your site which I feel is important. 

            Restrict Use of Text Graphics 

Where possible, use formatted text in place of a text graphic. 

If the only thing you want to do is change the size or color 
of the text, consider using <B>, <FONT COLOR=>, <FONT SIZE=>, 
or <H> tags. 

             Let Your Visitors Choose 

If you have an item you think would interest many of your 
visitors - like a rather large photo, sound file, etc. 
- provide the option of accessing it. Something along the 
lines of, "To view a photo of blah, blah, blah, follow this
link". 

Your visitors that don't want to view or hear the file will 
be grateful. 

I hope you've learned at least one or two new ways to create 
pages that download quickly! 

----------------------------------------------
Copyright ｩ 1998 & 1999 Jennifer Johnson. 
Released with permission. 
Visit the ASPiRE Internet Marketing web site for more 
articles, tips, tools, and online resources for promoting 
your site. While you're there, sign up for the FREE Internet 
marketing newsletter. Visit ASPiRE online at: 
http://www.PromotingYourSite.com or contact Jennifer directly 
at jenny@PromotingYourSite.com. 
---------------------------------------------


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      LINKS OF INTEREST TO WEB DESIGNERS AND WEBMASTERS

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      Build a form for your website...this is easy!
               http://www.formsite.com/ 
  
            ------------------------------

      Color manipulation device (this is shareware)
           http://www.meat.com/software/cmd/

            -----------------------------

             Free Custom Graphics Services
  http://members.xoom.com/freesources/graphicscustom.html

            ----------------------------

You can never have too many HTML tag references and indexes.
Seems none of them are complete, so what you can't find on
one, you will find on another. This is a good tag index.
http://www.willcam.com/cmat/html/crossref.html                


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                   LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

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I listen to feedback. If you have particular likes or dislikes 
about "All About Web Design!"(tm) please let me know by sending 
your thoughts, ideas, critisisms, and comments to...

mailto:editor@marketing-resources.com?Subject=AAWD-Feedback
Sending a message to this address automatically means that 
you've given permission to reprint your message.

                 ________________________

Russ writes:

G'day Windsong,

I would like to know a little more, in laymans terms
about how to go about putting CGI scripts onto a 
webpage/website.

I find my ISP a little less than helpful in this
area, but at least I now have my own CGI bin.
But how do I use it in conjunction with scripts?

Cheers,

Russ Swan
Home Business Builder http://www.homebizbuildr.com
Editor: HomeBizBuildr Monthly Ezine.  To subscribe:
mailto:ed@homebizbuildr.com?Subject=Subscribe_HmBzBldr/ws

(Editor's comments)

Hi Russ:

So good to hear from you again.

CGI can get a little complicated. Wish my kid was here.
He is such a whiz at this stuff. But you will just have
to settle for my humble assistance. :)

Sounds like you need a better ISP. If they provide you
with cgi-bin, then they could at the very least have a
cgi instruction page at their own site. Meanwhile.....

Very short tutorial:
CGI (common gateway interface) usually written in Perl,
is a script that you upload to your cgi-bin. Its actually
a program that runs on your server. The code on your page 
tells the browser where to get the script. When you upload 
the script, you need to know the server's path to perl and 
also sendmail. You need to know how to set the CHMOD's. 
Are you with me????? Didn't think so. Sorry, Russ, but its 
back to school........

http://www.webteacher.com/perltour/index.htm  should get 
you off to a good start. 
 
Hope this helps.
Peace,
windsong  


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                     CRITIQUE CORNER

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Submit your site for a mini-evaluation. This will not be an
extensive critique, but will be a general analysis. We can
cover specific questions about your site, or analize just one
aspect if you wish. There will be only one or two critique's
published in each issue. If I receive more requests than that,
some may not be published. I will try to critique them all 
and send you the results. Requesting the review constitutes 
permission to publish the results. If you do not wish to have 
this published, then please do not request the review. 
mailto:editor@marketing-resources.com?subject=critique
               ____________________________

Dirk Dupon wrote:

The Weird Site:
<http://www.theweirdsite.com>
 
I'd like to know if the index page loads fast enough, if 
there are too much inside links maybe, and if it is 
Netscape friendly enough?

Dirk Dupon
Editor, The Weird Side E-zine

Hi Dirk:

Took a look at the page. It seems to load fairly fast, but 
hangs up at the end. (at about 97%) It would take some 
serious study to figure out why this is happening. I use 
Netscape 4.5 and it seems to appear OK in my browser.

As for your links....you can never have too many links to 
your other pages IMHO. All in all, your page is very good. 
I would consider making a header for the page to replace 
the 'banner header' you now have. 

Hope this is of some help to you.
Peace,
windsong


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                  HINTS, TIPS, AND TRICKS

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If you are using an image as a background on your site, you
probably have noticed that when you scroll the page, everything
moves up including the background. How would you like the text
to move up and the background stays where its at? Its easy to
do. Right now your body tag looks something like this:
              
                 <BODY BACKGROUND="image.gif">

To make your background image static, write the tag like this:

     <BODY BACKGROUND="image.gif" BGPROPERTIES="FIXED"> 

(This works in Internet Explorer but Netscape ignores
it.)                     
              ----------------------------------

Ever wonder how to justify your text to make it look nice and
neat like it does in print? In front of the paragraph you want
to justify, place this tag:

                    <P ALIGN=JUSTIFY>

At the end of the paragraph you have justified, place this tag:

                        </P>

(This works in Netscape, but Internet Explorer ignores it.)

              ----------------------------------

Whenever using FONT face="Arial" remember to add Helvetica 
so you don't leave Mac users out.
            
                
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                  THIS ISSUE'S CLASSIFIEDS

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No matter what you want your web site to sell, Make Your 
Site SELL! (MYSS!) shows you how, like no other book or 
program ever has. Download two chapters for FREE!
http://www.sitesell.com/biz4u.html

                 ---------------------------

Register for our FREE courses on Winning the Affiliate Game. 
This training program, by Declan Dunn, offers a series of 
lessons and motivational tips to show you how to build 
traffic and increase YOUR sales.
http://marketing-resources.com/course.html

                 ---------------------------

FREE E-book! Learn how to sucessfully promote your website!
The "Power PROMOTE" E-book is hot-off the press, and has over
18 articles to help you promote your ezine or newsletter!
Visit: http://www.ubrande.com/free_e-book/

                 ---------------------------

Are You Happy With Your Hit Count? It's simple; the more 
traffic you get, the more sales you'll get, pure and simple. 
Learn the proven techniques that work online.
<http://www.advertisingtips.net/knowhow.htm?allabout>


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       HOW TO ADVERTISE IN "ALL ABOUT WEB DESIGN!"(TM)

ｫ､ｻ･ｫ､ｻｧｫ､ｻ･ｫ､ｻｧｫ､ｻ･ｫ､ｻｧｫ､ｻ･ｫ､ｻｧｫ､ｻ･ｫ､ｻｧｫ､ｻ･ｫ､ｻｧｫ､ｻ･ｫ､ｻｧｫ､ｻ･ｫ､ｻ

Classified ads will be limited in number. Ads will be placed 
on a first come, first served basis. If your ad doesn't make 
it in the current issue, it will be run in the following one. 
We confirm all ads by email upon receipt of payment and notify 
you of the run dates. We reserve the right to refuse any ad 
for any reason.

For advertising rates and to order by check or credit card:
http://marketing-resources.com/creditcards.html

For advertising rates by autoresponder, send blank email to:
mailto:webdesign@myreply.com


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            SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE INSTRUCTIONS

ｫ､ｻ･ｫ､ｻｧｫ､ｻ･ｫ､ｻｧｫ､ｻ･ｫ､ｻｧｫ､ｻ･ｫ､ｻｧｫ､ｻ･ｫ､ｻｧｫ､ｻ･ｫ､ｻｧｫ､ｻ･ｫ､ｻｧｫ､ｻ･ｫ､ｻ


To subscribe to All About Web Design!(tm) 
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Copyright 1999 ｩ Linda Anderson (aka windsong). All rights 
reserved. Please do not reprint, or host on your web site, 
without explicit permission. We disclaim any liability for 
the use of any contributed information contained herein. We 
also claim no responsibility for the legality or accuracy 
of the subscriber's advertisements or articles submitted 
and reprinted by permission.