Web site principles

These are the loose principles that I try to keep in mind when creating web sites, in approximate order of importance.

(Regrettably, not all of these principles can be applied on my ISP's server, where this page is hosted.)

1. Stick to the standards, specifically, XHTML and CSS (later standards, such as XML/XSLT can also be used). Validate your XHTML, and validate your CSS.
2. Make your pages adaptable. Don't use absolute font sizes, always specify background colours when you specify foreground colours. Test your page with several browsers (if possible) and window sizes. If a page is intended to be printed, test it in print preview!
3. Don't make your page depend on images. Specify alt properties, especially for headings. Test your page without any of its images.
4. Use PNG images, because it's a standard (as well as a good format). Don't use Flash or ActiveX or Java applets unless you have to.
5. Use Apache 2, because Apache runs well on a wider range of systems than any other server. If you need to change your machine or operating system, you won't need to switch to a different server.
6. Use correct HTTP methods for forms. Generally, use POST if the form will change data in the server (or contains uploaded files); otherwise use GET. If a GET request causes a large server load, consider caching the result.
7. Use simple and obvious URLs. Names should contain no spaces, and be preferably all lower-case, unless there is a server-wide mixed case standard.
8. Make use of PATHINFO when appropriate. If a single web script can generate many resources, consider using the URL /script/resourcename instead of /script?name=resourcename. There is nothing worse than a site where every page is called /display?page=xyz; that tends to be incompatible with user agent bookmarking and history lists.
9. Skip the .html suffix for URLs. For resources that are text/html or scripts, omit the .html, .php, etc. From the user's point of view, it is irrelevant whether a resource is a plain HTML file or is generted by a script. (The logical conclusion is that no URLs should have a suffix. In practice, most people prefer it when images and other non-hypertext resources are clearly indicated by their suffix.)
10. Don't add unnecessary graphics to your pages, as they will slow its tranfer and distract the viewer. However, a W3C logo such as

    

    is acceptable because it will encourage other people to have correct pages!