HTML and CSS Reference
In-Depth Information
You can download the YUI Compressor from
http://developer.yahoo.com/yui/compressor/.
Google hosts versions of the popular AJAX libraries (like jQuery, Dojo, and YUI) so that
you don't have to host them on your own server. This provides a number of advantages.
The first is that you don't have to keep your own copy around. The second is that Google's
infrastructure speeds up the delivery of these files. And third, if one of your users has
already visited a site that is using the Google-hosted version of the file you're using, it's
probably already cached so that the browser won't have to download it at all. You can find
out how to use Google's copies of the files at
http://code.google.com/apis/ajaxlibs/.
In this section, I've gathered several other miscellaneous hints and advice about working
with groups of web pages. This includes notes on how big to make each page and how to
sign your pages.
Link Back to Home
Consider linking back to the top level or home page on every page of your site. This link
will give visitors a quick escape from the depths of your site. Using a home link is much
easier than trying to navigate backward through a hierarchy or repeatedly clicking the back
button. This is especially important because visitors to most sites are directed there by
search engines. If a search engine leads users to an internal page on your site, you'll want to
give them a way to find their way to the top.
Don't Split Topics Across Pages
Each web page works best if it covers a single topic in its entirety. Don't split topics across
pages; even if you link between them, the transition can be confusing. It will be even more
confusing if someone jumps in on the second or third page and wonders what's going on.
If you think that one topic is becoming too large for a single page, consider reorganizing
the page so that you can break up the topic into subtopics. This tip works especially well in
hierarchical organizations. It enables you to determine the exact level of detail that each
level of the hierarchy should go and exactly how big and complete each page should be.
Don't Create Too Many or Too Few Pages
There are no rules for how many pages your website must have, nor for how large each
page should be. You can have one page or several thousand, depending on the amount of
content you have and how you've organized it.
