This is a design suggestion - many people feel that the centered page is more pleasing to read, and will look good on whatever screen resolution it is displayed.

You may choose to leave the tables uncentered, which means that the site will be displayed with a left justification - this is actually the default for almost all browsers.

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IF a word needs emphasis, use bold tags or italic tags to make text stand out. Most users assume underlined text is a link and will try to click on it.

Allow underlined links when embedding links in a text paragraph, when possible. Don't require users to move the mouse over the link to see if the pointer changes to a hand. Users can miss some links if they are not clearly indicated.

Text links formatted in menus do not need to be underlined; most users will assume they are links.

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This includes banners, page titles, headers, navigation elements, etc. Also use a consistent position on all pages for the Montgomery College banner, recurring text, buttons, and graphics. This make users' lives easier. Users tend to learn and remember locations of information, functions, and controls.

Moving navigation around from page to page confuses users and makes visiting your site frustrating.

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When specifying fonts in a font family, be sure to include at least one or two common fonts found on most browsers, e.g., “Arial” and “Verdana” for sans-serif fonts, and “Times New Roman” or “Garamond” for serif fonts. It is also good practice to include either “serif” or “sans-serif” as the last specified font in a font family.

For additional information on fonts and font families, see About: Computing & Technology - Web Design/HTML.

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BOLD or ITALIC text is used to emphasize pertinent points, or for creating web bibliographies or other documents with appropriate formatting.

Using bold text for an entire sentence or paragraph reduces the effectiveness of the important parts of the text! SImilarly, using all italics reduces the emphasis you wished to impart.

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Consider optimizing download time when building web pages.

Excessive graphic size substantially affects user downloading and server response time. Use small and fewer graphics to reduce download time. To check the size of a graphic file, from Windows Explorer, right-click on the file and choose 'Properties'. Tools for adjusting the size of graphic files are available in MC Campus Service Centers (MCInfonet site will need a password).

Consider download time particularly on index pages so users can access your home page rapidly.

For graphics or files greater than 100KB, consider placing the file size next to the link for the user's information.

Try to keep larger graphics less than 60KB in size. For graphics greater than 60KB, place the larger graphic on a separate page and provide a link from a thumbnail image to the larger graphic. The thumbnail image will be quite a bit smaller and will load much faster - linking to the large image will speed up load times for both the page on which the thumbnail resides, and for the larger image itself.

Example:
Lincoln thumbnail - 9K

Lincoln large image - 50K

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Data shows that most visitors to the MC .edu websites use Internet Explorer; however, it is a good idea to test useability by viewing your pages with other popular browsers, such as Netscape, Opera, or Foxfire.

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Example:

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Especially when it comes to a home page (the first page of the website), it is important that users are able to move from page to page by clicking on links without scrolling down to important information. The more clicks (steps) users have to make to get to their desired information, the greater the likelihood they will make a wrong choice.

Example:

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In some instances this may not be possible or desirable, for example, when a web site programs the browser "back" button to take the viewer to the new web site's Home Page, see www.oracle.com.

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NOFRAMES content should be available if the user cannot or chooses not to view frame content. The noframes content should indicate what the contents of the frames are and provide links to individual frame pages if appropriate.

Accessible HTML

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Frameset//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/frameset.dtd">
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>A page that contains frames</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<FRAMESET cols="15%, 85%">
<FRAME src="menu.html" title="Navigation menu" name="menu">
<FRAME src="content1.html" title="Main content" name="content">
<NOFRAMES>
<P>This frameset document contains:
<UL>
<LI><A href="menu.html">Page navigation</A>
<LI><A href="content1.html">Main content</A>
</UL>
</NOFRAMES>
</FRAMESET>
</HTML>

Those using screen readers, such as Internet users who are blind or have low vision, cannot quickly scan the contents of multiple pages. All of the content is experienced in a linear fashion, one frame at a time. Frames are not inaccessible to modern screen readers, but they can be disorienting.

A commonly used screen reader, JAWS, usually reads all of the frames in a frameset, almost as if they belong to the same page. The user is alerted that a frameset is present, then continues to read all of the pages in the frameset. There is a keyboard shortcut which allows the reader to jump quickly between frames.

Other programs handle frames differently. Home Page Reader, a Web Browser for users who are blind or have low vision, does not automatically read the pages in the frameset. Instead, it presents the user with a list of frames within the frameset and allows the user to choose which frame to go to first.

Please visit the WebAIM Techniques & Concepts web page for more instructions on how to create accessible frames .

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