Website Critiques

Welcome

The website critique service moved from AbleStable after its founder and developer, Mike de Sousa, defined the site as a wholy non-commercial destination.

	Mike now concentrates his efforts on his creative and artistic work, however in addition to hosting and maintaining AbleStable, he continues to offer advice and help to website owners and authors with his Website Critique Service which he started in 2003 and is now available at EyeInvent.

Articles at AbleStable for Website Owners

Mike has written extensively on web design and many of his articles are available at AbleStable:

About Computer Icons

Well designed computer icons are visual aids that assist in the usability of a software product or website. Discover their history and how to create icons of your own...

Understanding Web Logs

Every time you visit a website your every move is being recorded. Although no personally identifiable information is gathered during this process, your entry point, the paths you travel, the pages you browse, the duration of your stay, and your exit point are all saved in a web log file for later analysis. Discover how this benefits you and how logs can help make websites a whole lot better...

Understanding PHP: Part1 | Part 2

Join Paul Oldham as he introduces the world of Internet PHP in this extended article. PHP is an open source server-side scripting language which can be embedded inside HTML as a clever means of providing dynamic web pages that C and Perl developers will find it particularly intuitive to learn.

Cloaking, A Blessing or a Curse?

Cloaking can be used for many reasons, some legitimate, some not so. Uncover the benefits and pitfalls of this 'dark practice' of web design and you might find cloaking is the perfect solution to enhance your website.

Migrating Servers: Enabling CGI: Part 1 | Part 2

Read our comprehensive guide to ensure you've covered all the aspects of migrating CGI scripts from one host to another.

Keeping Your Site Easily Transferable

This article investigates the issues relating to the transfer of websites from one host to another.

Website Design For Accessibility: Part 1 | Part 2

Designing websites to suit as many visitors as possible is a great challenge. Differences in hardware, browser software, and visitor needs all have to be taken into account when trying to find that 'best compromise'. In this extended two part guide, Andrew Ward guides the web designer through the main issues surrounding web design accessibility.

Scripting and Security

Rosemarie Wise guides the website owner through a minefield of scripting and security issues that help ensure a site is less likely to suffer the unwelcome attention of a malicious intruder.

Metrics Matter!

Discover how to improve the targeting of content on your website by learning to act upon your website traffic reports.

CSS: The True Language of Web Design: Part 1

Molly E. Holzschlag, renown web designer and Communications Director of the World Organization of Webmasters, provides a comprehensive introduction to the world of Cascading Style Sheets by providing an explanation of the separation of presentation from document structure.

CSS: The True Language of Web Design: Part 2

Continuing her introduction to the world of Cascading Style Sheets, Molly E. Holzschlag investigates the primary concepts and methods found in CSS.

Usability and the Web

Although good web site usability is an aim to constantly strive for, building a web sites is all about compromise.

The Mystery of the META Tag

META tags are present (or should be) in most web pages and help search engines identify and index web sites. This article explores the world of the META tag and explains their purpose.

Search Engine and Directories: Submission Guide

You've spent a lot of time and energy in making your web site a great Internet destination, and paid particular attention to usability issues and ensured your site works in your target browsers. The next big lesson is that it doesn't matter how great your site is, if nobody knows about it all your efforts are for nothing.

Why You Shouldn't Disable Right-Click

After working hard on a design, image or article you may want to protect it by using a JavaScript that disables right-click while optionally warning a visitor that the content is copyrighted. It might sound ok, but this is not generally a good idea. Why not? Read on...

Developing Web Sites: An Introduction

You've a great product or service but your only hope of making your product or service a success is to make it available on-line. We provide some common sense guideline and principles in ensuring your site doesn't let you down.

Using Pixel Fonts

Uncover the secrets of presenting small type words on a computer monitor. Join Joe Gillespie as he provides a rare guide through the world of pixel fonts. Learn about the pitfalls of standard fonts, how different screens display fonts, and the special considerations you should make when using Flash.

Mining For Gold In Your Web Traffic Logs

Understanding your Web site’s traffic patterns is a crucial component of your marketing mix. Get some invaluable advice about understanding your web site logs.

Why Pop-Ups are Pop-Bad

Lauri Harpf explores the effectiveness of pop-up windows and advises against their long term use as a web site promotional strategy.

Keeping Your Pop-Ups - and Your Audience

Although pop-up windows are disliked by most Internet users, many businesses continue to use them as part of their advertising strategy. Lauri Harpf's sister article provides valuable advice for those who feel the pop-up window must be present on their site.

An introduction to CGI

An introduction into the world of the Common Gateway Interface (CGI or CGIs), an immensely useful computer protocol that provides the opportunity to introduce interactivity and increased functionality into web sites without programming or coding knowledge.

Customising 404 Error Pages

Lauri Harpf shows how the notorious 404 error page can be used to the advantage of web site owners. Special instructions for creating custom 404 error pages are also provided for site owners whose site is run under the 'Apache' hosting solution, among the most widely used hosting system on the Internet.

Creating Great Web Sites

There are a number of essential elements that make up every quality web site. This extended article sets out the main features that go to produce an unmissable Internet destination.