Think you have what it takes to win the
Singular Choice award?
We are looking for...
- Quality Content
- This means your site should contain something of interest to the Internet community.
Something that makes people want to come back. We are not looking for a bunch of
links to other sites. If we wanted those, we'd give the award to Yahoo.
- Good Presentation / Attractive Layout
- The true test of a good webmaster is his/her ability to make the information presented
on their site stand out. Your site can be filled with an incredible amount of useful
information, but if your presentation is drab, no one will stick around to see it.
- Easy Navigation
- What's the good of having an exciting site if no one can look through it? Everything on
your site should be easy to find. Otherwise, there is a good possibility visitors will
miss over half of what you have to offer. In addition, there should be alternative ways to
get back to certain pages - not all of us fancy rapid-firing the Back button.
- Unique / Original / Creative
- The three little words that make a site truly s i n g u l a r. Often in
my web journeys I visit sites and think to myself - "been there, done that".
What good is an attractive design if it has been used over and over until the very
existence of it makes us ill? One thing we don't want is a site that looks like
everybody else's. For heaven's sake, be creative!
- Reasonable Loading Speed
- The very presence of the words "This site may take a few moments to load. Please be
patient." will make anyone run off screaming into the night. Not all of us can
prepare a five course meal, walk the dog, and wax the car while we're waiting for your
site to load. If you have a lot of large images on your site, divide them onto multiple
pages. Don't use an enormous background image. If you must, make sure to define an
attractive background color as well, as visitors to your site will be staring at it for
quite some time. Ever heard of the phrase "less is more"? Apply this principle
to Java Applets, Shockwave plug-ins, and embedded sound files.
- Browser Compatibility
- It can be very frustrating to go to site after site and be unable to view it because of
your browser. It's important to design a site that looks good on at least 90% of web
surfers' computers. If you must use frames, provide a non-frames version for people with
older browsers. At the very least, provide links to places where users can download a
newer browser that supports frames. If you use Java or Shockwave, make sure that a good
portion of your site will be viewable without the necessary plug-ins. A site made entirely
of Flash movies would be very frustrating to someone without the Flash plug-in. Avoid
using browser-specific HTML tags. For instance, while the <marquee>
tag makes an attractive scrolling textbox in Internet Explorer, it creates a jumbled mess
of text in Netscape Navigator. Compromise to make a site that looks decent no matter what
your browser preference may be.
Additional Note: Sites must be business friendly. In other words, sites must
contain nothing offensive to the general business community, as well as the general
public. Sorry, no Adult sites allowed.
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