Graphics Notes
Graphics that take too much time to download can cause visitors to leave your site before they get a chance to see it. The combined size of the text and graphics on any Web page should not exceed 50 KB.
Some people turn graphics off in their browsers to save time, so you should provide all of your information in text as well as graphics. Use descriptive Alt attributes in your image tags. The Alt text will load in place of the images when the graphic does not display for any reason.
Visitors who choose not to browse with graphics turned on will have an easier time navigating your site. Also, Alt text is spidered and indexed by many of the major search engines. Using keywords in your Alt text in your image tags will improve your ranking in search engines and will provide a description of the images in the event that they are not loaded. If you use any large files for
graphics, audio, or video, warn your visitors by providing some text stating the size of the files.
Use thumbnail graphics where applicable. When you have a page with a lot of large images (e.g., an online photo collection), create small “thumbnail” versions of each image and give visitors the option of clicking through to the larger versions. This is far superior to making your visitors wait for a series of large images to load.
You should be careful with your use of image maps as well. Image maps are large graphics with clickable “hot spots.” Image maps typically are used for navigation and usually have text embedded in the graphic. Search engines cannot read text embedded in a graphic, so from the standpoint of search engine friendliness, if you use image maps always ensure that you provide your appropriate text and Alt tags for the search engine.
Very often, when a large graphic is used for an image map, visitors must wait for the entire image to load before it is apparent where they must click to begin navigating a site. Instead of using a large image map, break the image into smaller images so that visitors receive faster feedback from your site without having to wait for a huge graphic to load. Also, always provide an alternate text link navigation system to assist people who surf with their graphics turned off.
Graphics that take too much time to download can cause visitors to leave your site before they get a chance to see it. The combined size of the text and graphics on any Web page should not exceed 50 KB.
Some people turn graphics off in their browsers to save time, so you should provide all of your information in text as well as graphics. Use descriptive Alt attributes in your image tags. The Alt text will load in place of the images when the graphic does not display for any reason.
Visitors who choose not to browse with graphics turned on will have an easier time navigating your site. Also, Alt text is spidered and indexed by many of the major search engines. Using keywords in your Alt text in your image tags will improve your ranking in search engines and will provide a description of the images in the event that they are not loaded. If you use any large files for
graphics, audio, or video, warn your visitors by providing some text stating the size of the files.
Use thumbnail graphics where applicable. When you have a page with a lot of large images (e.g., an online photo collection), create small “thumbnail” versions of each image and give visitors the option of clicking through to the larger versions. This is far superior to making your visitors wait for a series of large images to load.
You should be careful with your use of image maps as well. Image maps are large graphics with clickable “hot spots.” Image maps typically are used for navigation and usually have text embedded in the graphic. Search engines cannot read text embedded in a graphic, so from the standpoint of search engine friendliness, if you use image maps always ensure that you provide your appropriate text and Alt tags for the search engine.
Very often, when a large graphic is used for an image map, visitors must wait for the entire image to load before it is apparent where they must click to begin navigating a site. Instead of using a large image map, break the image into smaller images so that visitors receive faster feedback from your site without having to wait for a huge graphic to load. Also, always provide an alternate text link navigation system to assist people who surf with their graphics turned off.
No comments:
Post a Comment