• First, who is your audience? In many cases it is women over 40. This is important as this demographic did not grow up with puters and many are not very proficient with them. They are likely NOT to have all the fancy up to the minute technology or any clue how to use it if they do.

• Second, what do you want to accomplish? That's easy, to get people to want to buy your book(s). Keep that in mind when you get ‘lured’ by all the distracting ‘bells & whistles’ now available to ‘enhance’ your site. Can you afford to alienate any buyers?

• Third, make it easy on your viewers. Cable Webbers must remember that most of the world is still on dial-up. Sites decorated with all the moving extras and heavy with graphics may look great on your high speed 20” screen but what happens when Jane Doe tries to view it on her 15” dial-up?

Remember, by and large we are an impatient lot and many will not wait for that big graphic to load.

Keep in mind the deaf and blind user and always use ‘alt’ tags. These identify images and such and are what the handicapped user’s system looks for.

This will also be what the ‘no images’ browser will use to determine if they want to see your graphic.

Basic rules…

• Make your home page more than just a ‘doorway’. People get annoyed waiting for a page to load then finding out it has absolutely nothing on it but a graphic and click link to the actual information. You could lose them before ever getting them near your book.

• Avoid excess scrolling and absolutely no side to side scrolling. Make the background ‘big’ enough to handle 20’ screens but the info on it able to squeeze down to 15” screens.

• Browsers read pages in their own way so test your page with different ones. Where it might look great in IE, if viewed with NN the image may be placed over some of the text making it impossible to read.

  This is also a good way to find ‘dropped’ html code problems.

• Cancel clutter, keep it clean and easy to understand. Avoid busy backgrounds too.

• Create your ‘web persona’ and be consistent. Choose your colors with care and limit how many you use. Make it friendly and inviting.

• Forcing your musical taste on viewers may turn off as many as it pleases, especially if it slows the site down. If you must include a sound clip make it a click option for those who want to hear it.

• Fonts should be easy to read. (remember the age group) use a larger font (16 min) with good contrast; either very light background with dark text or the reverse.

  The more ‘flowery’ the larger it needs to be… BUT be careful, if the viewer’s puter doesn’t have that font on it’s list it will use the default instead and all your fancy scripting will be seen in T.N.R. or Ariel. Avoid using more than 3 different fonts.

• Endless lines of text are a turn-off. Use ‘white space’ put larger breaks between paragraphs or teeny images. People will read more if it looks like less. (Making the font tiny won’t do it.)

• Images should be designed to load quickly, try to keep them under 3 x 5 and no more than 72 dpi. (that is your pixels per sq inch and most common puter res.)

• An alternative would be to have an image (thumbnail) they can click to see larger if they wish to do so.

• Make navigation simple. The viewer should be able to get anywhere in site from anywhere else without searching. You want the reader to be able to quickly find all the info they need to buy your book.

• Organize your pages so readers can find what they want and not have to wait through what they don’t want. This also encourages repeat visits if they know they can get right to the info they want.

• Beware ‘techese’ speak/write so the unputeristic reader can follow the directions to put your book in their hands.

• Remember more isn’t necessarily better, sometimes its just more, and sometimes its too much.

• Tis The Season from Wild Rose Press
• “Led Down a Garden Path” in Rose Petals 2 from WRP
• “Mike The Molly And Me” novel coming soon from WRP
• “Once Upon A Time” a free (fairy tale) read at www.debhorsedesigns.com

• Roberta DeCaprio
• Golden Horseshoe Riding Club
• Purling Roller Rink

So hours that once were spent in the saddle are now taken by the swivel chair in front of the keyboard.

I miss the riding but my cartiledgeless hip complains when I do, however the cats think its great having me handy to wait on them. I still get out, and have switched to doing more 'driving' (as in horse 'n cart). All those years out have given me plenty to draw on for more stories... five finished and fourteen waiting in 'rough' form, I'll be busy awhile.