by MIA JOHNSON

Six Tips for Text

1. Write your text as plain text with no formatting of any kind.
Plain text means no bold or underlined text, no italics, no paragraph indents and no bulleted lists. Text on websites is created in HTML, a special type of formatting. Your website developer will waste valuable time removing formatting from your original files and re-formatting them in HTML.

2. Save your Word files as “doc” not “HTML”.
Do not save Word files as HTML. Doing so creates Microsoft FrontPage extensions that won’t work in Dreamweaver or other professional web design software.

3. Avoid inserting “hard” returns.
A “hard” return is created when you hit the “enter” key at the end of a line or paragraph. Your designer will have to go through your text and remove all hard returns. Instead, hold the “Shift” key down while you press “Enter”, or continue typing on to the next line and only press “Enter” at the end of a paragraph. This will create natural breaks that can easily be edited.

4. Say no to frames.
In the early days of website design, many developers used a type of layout called “frames”. Frames allowed them to have more control over the layout. Unfortunately, search engines will not be able to pick up text used in frames. In essence, frames are hidden from search engines. Ask your designer to work in “tables” or, better yet, “style sheets”.

5. Avoid rich media like Flash whenever possible.
The software program called Flash creates pictures of text rather than HTML text, and therefore, cannot be saved by your users, or identified and printed by search engines. If you really want part of your site to be done in Flash, ask to have your biography or resumé pages done in HTML text. Galleries, reviewers and other important contacts will be able to save or print those important pages.

6. Be sure to give keywords to your website developer.
People use keywords (for example, “watercolour artist” or “Victoria art gallery”) to find a website in directories and search engines. Provide your designer with a list of keywords. These should be emphasized on the visible pages of your site as well as in your source code. If there is any chance of misspelling your name, location or other important data in a search engine, include the misspellings as well. To check if your site already has keywords, select “View” then “Source” in the main menu.

7. Compose a description of your website using 25 words or less.
Your website developer will submit this to Google and Yahoo as well as other directories and listing services.

Mia Johnson has reviewed art exhibits for Preview since 1989 and is the owner of www.black-box-media.com, a web design company in Vancouver, BC. She teaches Multimedia and Human Factors at Kwantlen University College.