- screen resolution
1024 x 768 - operating system
Windows 2000 Professional - web browser
· Opera 7.1
· Internet Explorer 6.0
· Mozilla 1.4 (all it needs are a set of mouse shortcut keys to be the _one_) - browser's Javascript handling
enabled - browser's cookie handling
Opera asks my permission before setting a cookie - connection speed
DSL - List any general preferences you have for a website and why
· Generally, I don't like sites with a heavy reliance upon flash. I can deal with flash based intros, as long as a "skip intro" button is available. Sites on which flash is used to animate a logo or a navigation menu are fine by me.
· Frames are out; tables are in. Frames quickly become cumbersome for a user and if they aren't completely computer literate, then they can find themselves stuck browsing within that frame.
· Background images are only cool if they are something of a (non repetitive) watermark, or a _really_ significant graphic. Otherwise, they are annoying.
· I am slowly building a preference for top based navigation menus over left or right based ones: if they are small enough, then users at all resolutions (within reason) have ready access to the buttons, and it doesn't take away from the space available for content.
· I like sites that expand or contract to fit in a reasonably sized browser window. I'll end this section now, before it gets any longer. - What sites (other th[an] this one) do you consider to be good FIRST sites and why?
· http://www.cybersonics.org - visual appeal, and content
· http://www.cyberblue234.com - ALOT of content
In the FIRST world, you need to come up with content that makes users want to come back to your site time after time (eg. ChiefDelphi, SOAP108, FEDS201, etc), then present it in an organized fashion, and then finally package it in a visually pleasing design.. well, as far as I have observed..