What's in a Website?

What I'm reading: Winterkill, by C.J. Box

Don't forget: leave a comment on Tuesday's post for a chance to win a copy of NO MORE BULL.

First - the big news. SAVING SCOTT is now live at Barnes & Noble!

I'm on my way to Los Angeles for a family visit and to cheer my daughter on in the LA Marathon. I've been busy trying to migrate my website, although it's still very much a work in progress and following links will take you to my old site for some things, my new site for some others.

What's important to me in a web site?

First, it needs to be a place where people go for information, not entertainment. So, no animated graphics, no bouncing text, and no music. (I'll say that again. NO Music.) People browsing the web might be doing so late at night with others asleep, or they might be listening to their own music. If, for some reason, you do want music on a website, at least have it default to off and let the reader decide to turn it on.

Readability. For me, that means a dark text on a light background, and uncluttered pages. I simply can't read those white-on-black sites, and unless it's of vital importance that I do so, I simply navigate away.

Ease of navigation. If someone is looking for something, it should be clear where they have to look.

What do you want from the web?

What I'm Reading: Night Prey by John Sandford
Rita entry 8 of 9

February crept in over the weekend. I've always said that we have two seasons here: Summer and February 3rd. Well, this year, we've got a few more days of chill. The jet stream is dipping into Florida today, letting us share some of the cold air with Canada. I don't mind. Last night I made roasted vegetables, which meant turning the oven on to 400 degrees. I don't do that most of the year.

I also had a pleasant surprise in my inbox this morning. Finding Sarah is a Night Owl Romance top pick.

Here's what the reviewer had to say:
Terry Odell has written an intriguing tale of a woman trying to rebuild her life after a devastating loss. The plot is fast paced, the events deftly mixed with the conflicting emotions of those who find themselves moving toward an inevitable collision. A surprising turn of events keeps the reader from truly understanding the depth of betrayal Sarah has experienced until a strong and combustible conclusion.

But -- onto today's topic, which is website pet peeves ....
Keep Reading...

Everyone's got a blog, a website, a social networking page. You name it, if there's a way to get it onto the Internet, it'll be there. But what's a good website?

If you're a writer, you want a presence. Even if you haven't published yet, those agents and editors you're querying are going to look for you on the web. Maybe you have a blog. This one started because everyone said, "If you're going to write, you need a blog." At the time, I had a contract for one short story. No money, so I went with a free option. Likewise with my website. My son, being much more techno-savvy than I offered to get something started.

Keep It Simple was my rule, something I'd picked up at my first RWA conference. The purpose of a website should be to inform, not entertain. I couldn't attend the meeting of the local MWA chapter where they discussed what a website should and shouldn't be, but I got a recap, and most of my concerns were theirs as well.

A long time ago (by technology standards), Power Point moved "slide show" presentations into a new neighborhood. Hubby, being a scientist, had been attending scientific meetings for decades, and getting the slides in right side up was the biggest challenge presenters faced. The next was making sure they were readable from the back of the room (hubby's favorite spot to sit, so he could nap if necessary). A chart on a journal page doesn't translate to a slide on a screen. Then came Power Point. Now, it was so easy to add all the jazzy bells and whistles, so everyone did.

But ... Just because you CAN do it, doesn't mean you SHOULD do it.

So, here are my top 5 pet peeves.

1. Light text on a dark background. I simply can't read it. That will have me clicking away without reading unless there's a vital reason I have to. I was at a blog the other day (for less than 30 seconds) where every single paragraph was in a different color font, all on a black background. As the 'author' of the site, you don't know what kind of resolution monitor your 'reader' has. Keep it crisp and clean. The goal is for them to READ it, right?

2. Almost as fast a click away for me is MUSIC! Odds are, I'm listening to my own. Or I want quiet (maybe hubby is sleeping nearby.) I don't need to be jolted out of my chair by what you think is going to entertain me. At the very least, have it an 'opt in' choice. Same goes for Flash players. Let me decide. I want to read your books. Showing me a movie doesn't tell me if I'm going to like it -- it's your writing that will sell it.

3. Fonts. Keep them easy to read. Don't have them dancing all over the page. They should read left to right, not up and down, diagonally, or any other direction.

4. Backgrounds. Ties into #1 -- preferably clean and simple. It's much harder to read text against a field of flowers, or champagne bubbles, or whatever cool background you found for free on a design site.

5. Entry pages. This bugs me a lot, but I've put it at #5, because I understand there's a legitimate reason for them if your site included adult content. But otherwise, all an entry page does is slow my search. If I'm trying to find out what books you have, every time you make me click through to another layer delays me getting where you want me.

One of the reasons I don't spend much time at MySpace is because of how many pages are pimped to the point that they're illegible and take forever to load. Music, countless images, fussy backgrounds, and some even have these semi-transparent 'curtains'. Yeah, nothing like trying to read something through a fogged window.

OK -- those are my top 5 rants about trying to read stuff via the web. What about you?