Let me tell you straight out: People will not look at pages where they get irritated by the layout. This can be everything from text that's hard to read to pages that take way too long to load up. So, to guarentee more readership, and lots of return visits, here's what I suggest:

1. Make your background and text opposite colours. 
   Basically, if your background is a dark colour, make your text a light colour like white, or tan. I can't tell you how many pages I've looked at where I have to highlight the text with my mouse just to make out the words. And although this sounds like a good idea,


2. Don't make your background and text two shades of the same colour.  
   Some screens do 256 colours, others do 16 bit or 32 bit colour. What this means is that what may seem like two different shades on one computer screen may be the same colour on a different screen. There's nothing more irritating than loading up a page to find that you can't see anything on it. I suggest using complementary colours. If you didn't take art, just use two different colours that look good and that are readable.


3. When choosing a background picture, don't use one that's too "busy".  
   "Busy" pictures are ones that have so much going on in them (bright colours, lots of colours, heavy lines, etc) that if you put text in front, you can't read it. If you insist on using a busy background, then I would suggest putting your text into tables with a plain colour background. Otherwise, use a picture editor like Adobe Photoshop or Paintshop Pro to fade your picture a bit so that the text will read clearly on top of it.
   
   
4. Use graphics on your site. 
   If you have tons to say like I do, I would suggest using a few gifs, photos, or drawings of your own (scan them in) to improve the layout and make it easier on the eyes of your reader. I don't follow this advice myself all the time, I know, but that's because I haven't found any pics to go with my Journey entries yet. I know tho that it does get very tiresome having to read line after line of text with no reprieve. BUT:


5. Don't put too many graphics on your site! 
   I've seen pages that have banners, pictures and moving gifs every two or three lines. Not only does this take for bloody ever to load, but when it finally does, I can't read anything there for all the nausea I experience from trying to find the text on the site past the cats, dogs, babies, cars and animals jumping up and down in different rhythms. The only place I find this excusable is "dancing hamster" pages where there is NO text and the gifs are more or less all the same and moving in sync. All in all, the best thing to do is:


6. When designing your page, pretend that your site is a magazine. 
   Magazines get readership because their layouts are easy to follow, and they look fun and interesting. Try to do the same. You'll notice in the majority of professional magazines that the layout is organized, and directs the readers attention to the main focal point of the page. The pictures always complement the text in some way by either reflecting the subject of the page or adding information not in the text. Of course, on your main page, you may want to add graphics that reflect your personality, but don't just stick them on any old where. Your graphics should never distract or take away from the text on your site. A perfect example of good layout is Tomato Nation or Hissyfit.


7. Photo pages or Art Gallery Pages 
   There are some of you out there that will want to use a page to display your art work or photos of yourself and friends. This is another exception to rule #5. My suggestion is minimal text at the top, and then put thumbnails of your pictures on the page with links to the bigger picture. Thumbnails are smaller versions of the original that are sized down USING A PICTURE EDITOR not HTML tags. You can either save a portion of the original picture or shrink down the whole picture for a thumbnail. More on this in my graphics section.


8. Make sure all your links work. 
   Go to your page and check the links on a regular basis to make sure that they are still there. If they've moved, update them. I've been to tons of sites that tell me to go to Kenny's site and "Billie Rae's homage to Song Goddess" site only to find myself at a "Page no longer exists" or "page not found" screen. On a related note:


9. If your site is still under construction, don't put links to other pages on your site until they exist. 
   I can't stress how important this is! On a few sites I've been to, I've seen links inviting me to "learn more about Sugarbaby" or "check out these hilarious stories" only to find when I click on them, I get the Geocities or Fortune City generic "Oops! This page does not exist". Either that, or I come to a site with a beautiful background and nothing else. I don't go back to those sites.


10. When you take a page off your web site, remove ALL links to it on ALL your other pages.  
    Same comments as above.


11. BANNERS 
    It's fine to advertize other people's sites if you want to, but please don't make your site in the following layout: At the top, WELCOME TO MY SITE! followed by about 50-60 rows of banners to other people's sites, culminating in a link at the bottom that says, "Click here to look my stamp collection" or some such. Then, at the top of that page, "MY STAMP COLLECTION" followed by another 50-60 rows of banners then at the bottom a couple of stamps. THIS IS VERY IRRITATING, AND I GUARENTEE YOU THAT NO ONE WILL EVER COME BACK TO YOUR SITE!


12. Use embedded midi sparingly. 
    Having embedded music playing on your site is a neat concept, especially if the music goes with the theme of your page. However, some people find it irritating, particularly if the song is one they hate. Others have computers without sound cards or some such, so that they continually have error boxes popping up left, right and centre saying "Can't play midi." This can be annoying too. The best thing to do, is put the song on there if you want, but give the reader the choice of whether to turn it on or not. Check out the Ultimate Tutorial for midi embedding info.


13. Use java and javascript sparingly. 
    Java and javascript programs are really neat and can add a whole lot to your page. And I know from experience that once you learn how to do it, the urge is to litter your site with tons of them. Keep in mind though, that java takes a long time to load, and javascript, while it doesn't take as long, is not supported by every browser out there yet. This can lead to minor irritation. If you know how to use it, by all means go ahead, but use a little moderation in doing so. More importantly, USE IT ONLY TO ENHANCE YOUR SITE. Extremely slow loading does NOT enhance your site.


14. Update your page frequently. 
    This is, of course, dependent on how much spare time you have. Readers do like to return to sites that change every few weeks or months, so they can read more. You can take off things to make room if necessary, but having one page that you add to every once in a while is good. This ensures not only that readers return to your site, but also that the server (if it's free) doesn't kick you off thinking that you're not there anymore. A rants page, story page, art page or some such is a good example of something you can add to.


15. ADVERTIZE, ADVERTIZE, ADVERTIZE. 
    Get yourself on a few search engines. Create banners for your web server's ad generator. Put your URL in your e-mail. Stick your banners in other people's guest books. Try for web awards. Join a webring. Let people know about you and invite them to come to your site. Increased exposure means increased readership.

Follow these simple rules, and you can be assured not only of people coming to your site more often, but also that you are contributing to the web community as a whole by giving the world more quality-looking sites.

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