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Site History: MacKiDo - 1
How MacKiDo has evolved: Layout

By:David K. Every
©Copyright 1999


MacKiDo rev-1

-- up to February 27, 1997

Decided on a softer green in the spacer area.

I want to visually break up a page and have some white space (non-text areas) -- this makes things easier to read. Because this space is unused, it often evolves into a "control" area. But I didn't do this yet.

Still keeping the site as "flat" as possible -- the first page was just a huge index. I didn't want to force users to have to tunnel in to get somewhere. Still focusing mostly on MacMyths -- which was the original purpose of the site. But I started to diverge a little more.

The basic sections were

  • Rhapsody
  • MacMyths and Mac Facts
  • Wintel (the Evil Empire)
  • Authors, Articles and Idiocy
  • User Interface
  • Humor
  • Some links and other stuff

I was filling in areas, and regrouping them slightly. I pulled lots of humor out of files I had been saving. Decided that I was adding enough stuff, that it was hard to figure out what was new -- so made a "new" graphic, as well as one for pages of external links.

I used a neat tag for doing a background picture in a table. It made a really neat shadow effect in my Section-Titles. Turned out it only worked on Internet Explorer, which made things in Navigator look worse.

I also created a color theme for the site. Choose a few colors (that look good together), then reuse them. Different colors should have different meanings -- and don't break your own rules. 3 or 4 is good enough for most beginners, maybe a few more if you really understand graphic arts. (I sort of had one before -- but I refined it, and made sure to stick with it. I refine it over time, but I make sure I am sticking with one on every version of the site).

I had gotten almost 2,000 hits. Since my original goal was 10,000 by the end of the year, 2,000 in one month was pretty good.

Lessons

  1. Add your URL to your signature (it increases exposure)
     
  2. Keep white space (non-text areas) -- like margins in books. The eye's need breaks.
     
  3. Avoid proprietary tags!
     
  4. Create a color-theme and stick with it
     
  5. Start breaking things into groupings/topics early.
     

Created: 03/10/98
Updated: 11/09/02

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