Annex 3

Short instructions on how to prepare a good web-page

  • The smaller the pages are (measured in kilobytes) the better. Smaller files are faster to download.
  • Provide link back to your sites homepage from every page (except from the homepage itself).
  • Create a sitemap and provide a link to it from every page.
  • In about 99% of the pages Frames and Pop-up windows are not recommended.
  • In www-environment, HTML-pages are default for viewing. If you make a link to some other file type (.avi, .pdf, etc.) notify the user by giving extra info. For example: file format, required plug-in and size of the file (if bigger than 50 KB).
  • Write short. Reading from screen is more stressful to eyes than reading from paper. Use approximately 50% less words.
  • When creating links, headings and page titles use expressions that are immediately understood and accurate. Avoid using metaphors and “cute” playing with words.
  • When emphasising word within your text, do not use underlining. Users will mistake these words as links.
  • Users do not read the text on a web-page, like they do when reading from paper, they scan it. Make the text more scannable by using lists, headers (23 levels) and by using short paragraphs.

A poor example of a list on web-page:

cats, dogs, aeroplanes

A good example of a list on web-page:

  • cats
  • dogs
  • aeroplanes
  • Web-page is not a paper page in digital format and web-site is not a magazine. Do not write everything to a single page or split the information to several consecutive pages (like in a book). Use the hypertext method for dividing the information to several pages that are linked together. For example:
  • Make your internal links (links to other files within your site) different from your external links (links to somewhere else on the WWW).

Good practices regarding technical site building:

  • HTML (HyperText Mark-up Language) and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) are standards. They can also be validated on-line at and
  • SSI (Server Side Includes) and CSS make updating your site easier. Spending a couple of days learning these techniques will eventually same a fulltime web-designer thousands of hours.

You can start at and

  • Check your pages with the www-browsers that are most popular. For up-to-date statistics, check