Twelve Things Most Sites Need
I was recently contacted by David Rodriguez and asked if I was interested in writing an article for the Web Page Design For Designers site. I was, so I wrote a two-part article titled “Twelve Things Most Sites Need” covering what I feel are some web site must-haves. The first part of the article has been published. Enjoy.
The first part covers:
- A Proper Navigation Menu
- A Meaningful, Well-Formed Title
- A Method of Contact
- A Site Map
- Passive Accessibility
- Standardized Markup
The second part will be published on March 3rd. I won’t divulge the second six (no spoilers here), but you can subscribe to their feed if you want a post time heads-up. In the meantime, since reader interaction isn’t available there, do feel free to post your comments and/or questions here.
David Zemens - 1955 Design responds:
Posted: February 26th, 2008 at 8:01 am →
Congratulations Mike!
The article is very well written and, as normal, you do a great job of providing useful information for web developers to use as a reference.
Are you still going to remember the rest of us when both fame and fortune overtake you?
Stevie D responds:
Posted: February 26th, 2008 at 9:33 am →
I’m delighted to see that WPDFD is back up and running, I used to be an avid reader until it stopped a few years ago, and I hadn’t been back since to see if it had come back to life. What a shame it doesn’t work in IE6 (all I have access to at work
…)
Mike Cherim responds:
Posted: February 26th, 2008 at 10:18 am →
@David: Thanks man. I have narrow doors in my house so I have to keep my head size in check.
@Stevie D: It doesn’t work in IE 6?! Yikes, that’s not good. What is the actual problem? I’ll tell David Rodriguez and maybe he can fix the issue. I’m sure he wouldn’t want to exclude users.
Stevie D responds:
Posted: February 26th, 2008 at 1:06 pm →
It may be down to security/locked settings on our corporate network (eg Google Maps doesn’t work either), or blocked scripts or something. The header and navigation bar shows, and then the WPDFD logo, but that’s all. The article [h1] and the content just aren’t on the screen.
Mike Cherim responds:
Posted: February 26th, 2008 at 1:30 pm →
Thanks Stevie. I passed your comments along to David.
David R. responds:
Posted: February 26th, 2008 at 2:26 pm →
Hi Mike, hi Stevie.
Thanks for the comments and feedback on the site! I’m not sure what would be causing the site not to display in your IE6… I’ve uploaded a screenshot here displaying the site in IE6 just fine:
WPDFD article running fine in IE6
I’m thinking it’s something to do with your workplace’s security. There really should be no blocked scripts, though, since the page, beyond the navigation, is just using PHP in a MVC format to pull from a MySQL database for the article and rest of the content.
I do have to say, though, I’m not 100% pleased with how the old IE6 renders the page. I’ll have to take a look into that.
Mike Cherim responds:
Posted: March 3rd, 2008 at 6:19 pm →
Part 2 has been published
Dennis responds:
Posted: March 12th, 2008 at 7:25 pm →
Great article, Mike, and congrats. I don’t have much else to say because I think you hit the nail on the head here.
Alex responds:
Posted: April 24th, 2008 at 9:44 pm →
WPWFD is a weird place. Doesn’t seem to have much going on there, neither on their gallery nor forum. I like the site itself but it’s kinda cold, not really welcoming.