Platinum Edition Using HTML 4, XML, and Java 1.2
(Publisher: Macmillan Computer Publishing)
Author(s): Eric Ladd
ISBN: 078971759x
Publication Date: 11/01/98

Counters

Some people think counters, which are graphical displays of the number of people who have visited a page (see Figure 2.14), are annoying. Counters can be annoying if they are used in a grandstanding or self-indulgent way. They can be a useful service, however, if they are built into pages in an unobtrusive way. Counters are helpful to

•  Users, who can get a sense of how many other people are interested in the content on the page.

•  Page authors, who can better track the traffic on their pages.

•  To learn how to add a counter to one of your pages, see “Microsoft FrontPage Components,” p. 281 or “Custom Database Query Scripts,” p. 721.

You can go about placing a counter on a page in two ways. One approach involves programming the counter yourself. This is a fairly straightforward thing to do, but it does require that your Web page server supports Common Gateway Interface (CGI) programs. If you want to avoid programming altogether, you can drop the FrontPage Hit Counter Component onto your page and let it do all the work for you.

FIGURE 2.14  Carol Greco, a Northern Virginia realtor, keeps a count of how many potential buyers and sellers have visited her page.

If you don’t have CGI support on your server, you can use one of the online counter services. Figure 2.15 shows you the counter service at http://www.pagecount.com/. The service won’t cost you anything, but Pagecount will place an advertising graphic on your page along with the hit count.

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CAUTION:  

When you use an online counter service, the images that make up the counter display have to be transferred from your host service. This can delay page loading and make visitors to your Web pages impatient.

Also, don’t put a counter on every page you create. Usually a counter on the home page of a site is sufficient. If you need information on subordinate pages of your site, use an HTTP access log analysis tool such as WebTrends to gather the information you require.

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Breaking Up Long Pages

You should avoid placing too much content on a single page. You read earlier in this chapter that users typically scan a page rather than read it, so most of the content you pack onto a long page will be lost on them. On top of that, forcing users to scroll through large amounts of text serves only to annoy them. If you have a lot of content, you should try to think of ways to divide it over several pages so that users can read it in smaller, more digestible chunks.

FIGURE 2.15  Pagecount is an online service that provides page counters to sites otherwise unable to implement them.

Sometimes long pages are unavoidable. For those instances, you can make use of some of the graphics elements techniques, discussed in the following section, to make reading long pages less of an effort for your audience.

Graphics Elements

Graphics elements are a terrific way to break up a sea of text. Graphics give users’ eyes a break from line after line of content. Intelligent placement of the graphics can also create interesting and attractive layouts.

With the HTML you will learn in this book, you will be able to use the following three effective graphics elements:

•  Horizontal rules

•  Images

•  Pull quotes

Horizontal Rules A horizontal rule is a simple horizontal line across the width of a page (see Figure 2.16). Simple proves very effective in this case because a horizontal rule can break a long page into smaller sections and give the readers’ eyes a reprieve from an abundance of text.

Images Images can break up a lot of text, and they are particularly effective when text wraps around them (see Figure 2.17). HTML 4 includes instructions for placing “floating images” that permit text wrapping.

FIGURE 2.16  The CIA offsets its site’s warning notice with horizontal rules above and below the notice.

FIGURE 2.17  General Electric uses floating images in each of the three columns of text on its home page.

Pull Quotes A pull quote is a key phrase or sentence from a manuscript that is repeated in larger, bold text. Pull quotes provide you with a doubly powerful page element: They break up big blocks of text and they reiterate important points (see Figure 2.18).

FIGURE 2.18  Pull quotes taken from favorable reviews are popular features on product information pages.

It is easy to make a pull quote by using HTML tables. You can do this by floating a table in the middle of your document’s text and placing a large, formatted excerpt from the text in the table. It is also a good idea to have the table borders turned off and to use horizontal lines above and below the excerpted text.

Table of Contents

If a page is really long, you should make the extra effort to set up a small table of contents at the top of the page (see Figure 2.19). By clicking entries in the table of contents, users can jump right to the section of the document they are interested in and not have to scroll through the document to find it. To make it easy for users to get back to the table of contents, you should include a link back to the top of the page at the end of each major section.

Text Effects

You can make critical points stand out on long pages by marking them up in boldface or with color. This way, even if users are scanning the long page, the highlighted text will jump right off the page at them (see Figure 2.20).

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NOTE:  When marking up text you want rendered in boldface, it is best to use the <STRONG> tag rather than the <B> tag. This enables non-visual browsers to understand that the content is to be strongly emphasized and to render the content in a way that lets the users know that the content is important.

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FIGURE 2.19  Long documents placed on a single page should have a table of contents at the top to assist the reader in navigating the document.

FIGURE 2.20  Usability expert Jakob Nielsen practices what he preaches by employing bold text to make key points stand out on a page.