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If you intend to be sure that your web site can be accurately
viewed by the majority of web users, there are a few considerations which you'll
need to bear in mind when designing your pages. These include:
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A large percentage of web surfers are using video
cards which are only capable of displaying a maximum of 256 colours at any one
time. To make matters easier (or in some cases harder!) Netscape has released
a range of 216 colours which are guaranteed to be accurately viewed by these users
regardless of which major browser they are using. If you are determined to ensure that your site appeals to the widest possible audience, then avoid using JPEG images wherever possible, and always attempt to only use colours included in this colour scheme where possible. You can download the colour scheme in Adobe Photoshop .ACO palette format HERE |
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Again, due to video card restrictions, many users
can only view web pages (or choose to) with a screen resolution of 640x480 pixels.
When attempting to appeal to a 'mass market' (global?) audience, a good suggestion
would be to either optimise your site for viewing in this resolution, or to provided
different resolution options for your users (by default, users could view the
640x480 version, with a link provided to a 800x600 version - or you could use
JavaScript to detect their current viewing resolution and send them to the appropriate
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While 56K, ISDN and T-1 web connections are becoming
increasingly popular, its important to remember that the majority of the web community
is still only connected at 14.4K or 28.8K speed. Factor into account things like
busy, underserviced ISP's, computers with 8MB or less of memory, and site delays
due to excess traffic and you have a situation where many of your potential users
may 'in real terms' be downloading data from your at extremely slow speeds. Where possible, try to make your site as 'bandwidth-friendly' as possible, and if necessary - provide different viewing options for different users (eg. a text only 640x480 site for 14.4K and 28.8K users, and an 800x600 Java enabled version for 33.6K+ users) |
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To ensure that most users can view your content
correctly, always use standard windows fonts in your FONT tags. If you intend
to use a font which not all users may have access to (The HandelGothic BT font
which I use for headings is a good example), then provide a link to a zipped version
of the font for users to install on their machines. In addition, always include a substitute font preferance in your FONT tags, so that if a user cannot view a selected font on his/her machine, another more popular font of your choice will be substituted for it. For example: <FONT size=2 FACE="Aero,Arial">hello</FONT> Here, Aero would be the preferred option, but Arial is set as a backup in-case users do not have the Aero font installed. |