Guidelines for HTML Writers of MIDI File Pages
Some Points to Consider When Putting Together Pages

Standard MIDI Files on the Net

Some of these are my ideas and some are from users of my Standard MIDI Files on the Net pages. You may not agree with them all, but you should at least take these guidelines into consideration when writing pages. Please send in any other "considerations" which are not listed.

Don't Embed MIDI Files

Make Your MIDI Files Easy To Find
Don't make your visitors click from one page to another page to another page (to another page....) to find your files.

Don't Make Too Many Pages
Don't make your visitors click from one page to another page to another page just to find one or two files on each page. You don't need one page for each composer or style of music, if you only have a few files for that page. Merge some of these pages together. Having 100 or 200 MIDI files linked from one page is not too many if you don't overdo it on images.

Include a zip package or packages of all .mid files if you have enough disk space.

Supply links to individual files, not ONLY to zipped collections.
Don't force the user to download large collections to extract one or two files of interest.

For individual files, use *.mid instead of *.zip if you have enough disk space.
If the files are available as *.mid format files, then the user can listen to them immediately while browsing.

Choose a Good Page Name

Spell "MIDI" Correctly with All Caps
The correct spelling MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is "MIDI" (all capital letters), not "Midi" or "midi" -- USA is not Usa, UN is not Un

Don't use the incorrect "MIDIs" to refer to MIDI Files.
MIDI Files are not MIDIs (Musical Instrument Digital Interfaces).

Don't Ever Change URLs Within Your Directory.
Avoid "File Not Found" error messages. Don't rename files within your own directory. For example, if you start out your site as an Irish music site and have your midi file page named "irish.html", but later decide to expand to include all Celtic music, don't rename the file "celtic.html". If you do people will get a "not found" error message. (If you have to change servers, then changing URLs is unavoidable.)

Don't Force Experimentation on your Visitors

Make your page user-friendly for the frequent user

Font Colors & Backgrounds

Java, Animated GIFs, Image Maps, etc.

Frames

Tables

Do include your e-mail address and the bottom of the page.

Don't use a lot of images or large images.
Sample Samll GIFs

Aichi Institute of
Technology
Only 1,136 bytes, 2 colors, 383 x 34 pixels

My Photo
Only 2,585 bytes, 32 colors, 76 x 76 pixels

Avoid Banner Exchanges
Only 2,884 bytes, 8 colors (different shades of red), 440 x 40 pixels

CGI & SSI

Don't Include Non-Paid-For Advertising

If You Need to Include Advertising

Samples of Things to Avoid

Here is a set of pages to help keep your page clutter-free.

A Frequently Asked Question Answered

Page Templates

How Does Your Page Rate?

What Do Other People Think?

Other Advice

Other HTML Guideline Pages, Not MIDI File Specific

I have purposely made some design mistakes, to help you understand the problems they cause.

DON'T OVERLY ENHANCE THE PAGE
Perhaps "encumber" or "bog down" would be better words.

Be tasteful! Just because it can be done, doesn't mean it should be done. Some enhancements are very irritating.


Remember what the purpose of your page is.
Many pages I see remind me of when Macintosh computers first came out and users would send me letters using about 25 different fonts.
Please use ALT, HEIGHT, & WIDTH code with images. Some users can't view images. The HEIGHT & WIDTH code speeds up layout. The code required for the enhancements increases your page's filesize.

Remember Not To Over Enhance

Don't make wide tables. 450 pixels or less is best.
This table width is 130%, just to show you how irritating it can be.


No junk mail, please.
To send corrections or comments, replace the $ with @.
ckelly$ge.aitech.ac.jp
I'm sorry about this, but it keeps the automatically generated junk mail to a minimum.

This page started in 1995. The last update was February 17, 1999.
Copyright (C) 1995-1999 by Charles Kelly