I've been here for a long time. Sure, I've only had stuff posted for the past 5 years or so. But I've been around a lot longer. I remember Prodigy back when they were basically giving it away, and didn't really have net access, just lots of their own system, like AOL. And I even remember the net before Prodigy.
Nowadays though, the web has become a flood of information. A good half the pages out there (at least) are total crap. Who really gives a damn about how many pets you have, or what you had for breakfast? And I just never got the whole point of the webcam thing, yeah, let's watch someone walking around their room, or taking a shower. I guess there are enough timid voyeurs out there to make it all worthwhile.
The first thing you need when making a webpage, is a POINT. This is not optional. You need a reason for being there, not just an excuse to inflict yourself on an unsuspecting public. Figure out why you need a webpage. What is it for? The funny thing, of course, is that to look at this page, I don't remember the initial point anymore. Its mutated into something else, I don't really remember the original purpose. But enough people seem to like it, and I have the eyes section at least (and the dolls, bringing Kiss to an unsuspecting goth community), if nothing else, to provide people with *something* they can't get everywhere else.
Now that you have your point, the second thing you need is a design scheme. That's another thing that has mutated here, this page was not orginally covered with my pictures. For one thing, I didn't have a scanner at that point. But you need to have some basic idea of design (this was my first page with frames, and while the things in the frames may have changed, I still have the frames themselves).
I've noticed that number one in breaking all the laws of good web design, are not the person pages, but the professional ones! Now that's just plain silly. If I can't find my way about your site, I am gone, without buying your product. Don't be idiots.
MAKE SURE YOU PAGE IS NAVAGATABLE. This is where the pro pages especially fall down. If it takes me three hours to find what I'm looking for, I'm going to give up. Make it easy to find everything, or you lose people.
It also doesn't hurt to know how your page will work on different browsers. But that requires a bit of technical aptitude, so I'll forgive some of that...
Now I move on to points that are just silly in web design:
WHeN YoU TyPe LiKe THiS, you deserve to be shot. This is an unpardonable offense. If I SeE tYpE LikE ThiS, I run the other way. Quickly. I will not wait to see if there's anything that interests me on the page, I don't care, I'm gone. This is perhaps the stupidest and most sophomoric mistake that budding web designers can make. Don't do it.
Backgrounds. Now backgrounds can be done well. I'm rather fond of some of the backgrounds with the column on the left (note, I said SOME). However, more often than not, backgrounds are an unholy mess. Lower the contrast, damn you, I don't want to go blind reading your page. And if its too busy or clashing...forget it. Find something else. If you don't, you've ruined your page, right there. I generally stay away from backgrounds. They are usually more trouble than they're worth. However, I've seen some very lovely effects acheived even by novices (for instance, this page was created by a novice, I had only just taught her to code earlier that week, and it was in conjunction with many other people, so she didn't know a great deal. For one thing, she didn't realize the constraints of file size, someone more advanced in coding would not have used such large backgrounds. But it comes out looking very nice, I think. Especially considering the topic the of the page, and that web project).
And while we're on the topic of backgrounds...animate your background and I may have to kill you. I can't get DSL yet, aside from the fact that you may make me dizzy and throw up. I'm not going to sit around until the second coming waiting for your page to load. I just don't care that much (I have seen a couple very witty uses of animated backgrounds. However, these are by far the exception to the rule. And *you* are probably not the exception to the rule). Animations of any kind have their place, and their place is largely grounded in moderation.
has *very* limited use. Unless you have a damn good reason, don't use it. Its annoying. And some browsers don't support it anyway.
Java Script. Now I'm all for JavaScript in some cases, look at my menus, after all. And the cute little messages at the bottom when you scroll over links. But for god's sake, use it right. If you're going to use rollovers, PRELOAD them dammit! (If you don't know how, check out a page that does and steal...er, "appropriate" their code) Waiting with my mouse over an image forever is not the way to get me to stay. I admit, I'm not a patient web surfer. I pop up extra windows while waiting for things to load, I give up on pages that take too long. But deal with it, I'm not the only person who does it. And JavaScript can be very nifty, but it can also be very annoying. Learn the difference. Just because you CAN do something, doesn't mean you should.
Drop the stupid no left click JavaScript. Its easy as all get out to get around, if I really want to steal your stuff, that won't stop me. And it keeps me from opening new windows, and that pisses me off.
And I will have to send massive amounts of flame mail to the next person with that damn cursor code. I don't want some stupid little thing to follow my cursor. I have yet to see this done well. Its just bloody annoying, and I hate it. This is another way to get me to avoid your page and never go there again.
Will you people please learn to do tables correctly? There is an end table tag (</TABLE>) for a reason. Some browsers NEED that tag, or your table won't load. And unless I *really* want what's on your page, and know it, I'm not going to bother checking out the source unless I *know* I really want to.
And yes, I do know that some of my pages break some of the rules. A lot of it is nostalgia, most of my pages have been up since before I really knew what I was doing. And some of it has a purpose, however strange (check out Del's Page if you want to know what I mean). But breaking the rules is allowed, even if its not very recommended...