What To Avoid

What Every Team Site Should Avoid

by: Bob Howdeshell
High School Baseball Web

Loads Quickly - Be sure your main web site page displays fully within 30 seconds over a dial-up line
Animated Graphics - A few of these are fine but too many of them make the site appear as if it were designed by Mrs. Adams third grade class
Large Photos - Photos that are large in size (bytes) will make a page load very slowly. Many times folks think their computer has "locked up" and will move on
Use a photo editor program to reduce the size of picture. Microsoft Photo Editor (which is free) will work fine. I would suggest keeping pictures to "400" width at the most, smaller if possible
If you want a large picture on your site place it first on a page as the small version. Then if a visitor wants to see the larger version provide a link to the full size photo
Awards - Winning awards for your website is nice but don't torture your readers by making them wait for the award graphics to load, on your front page. These awards take away from the valuable information on your site, and make resources hard to recognize.
If you want to display awards won by your site place them on a separate page that is entered through a link on the navigation bar. Give your readers a choice.
Taunts or Slurs - Believe it or not I have seen team websites that offered up negative comments about other schools and their players on the site.
Guess who really looked bad in this instance?
Nicknames - These may be well intended and even acceptable to the player but it is never a good idea to list a player on the roster with his nickname included. Rosters with nicknames for every player can look goofy and immature
Example: Thomas "Bubba" Trammell (For all you Padres fans out there)
Backgrounds - Busy, bright or cluttered backgrounds can take away from the appeal that your site may have. Allow your information to speak for itself. Try to have your page backgrounds passive and just as the word says ... in the background
Page Consistency - Make each page appear the same as all the others. By this I mean the same navigation bars, backgrounds, borders, etc. Place the link back to the home page in the same place on every page.
Make it easy on your visitors to navigate your site
Address & Phone Number - I know that it seems like I am "harping" on this issue but it really is one of the most valuable resources that you can offer your site visitors.
Place the full name of the school, the address and the contact telephone number on the first page of your site.

Next Up - Some "Good" Examples of High School Baseball Team Websites ..... "Click Here"

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