So you wanna build a web page, do ya? What are you, nuts?!? Kidding. Of course, I hope I am. Anyway, while I am no master or mistress of the almighty html, I can only give you a few basic hints and blatant no no's to keep you out of trouble and to help you on your rise to power. Remember though, this is only a list of suggestions. Don't take my word for it. (Anyone else remember reading rainbow in the old days?)

The basics:

1)   Ask yourself if you have a true love for the character/series/whatever that you are about to build a shrine to. If the answer is no, you might want to seriously rethink what kind of webpage you're going to make. If you don't love what you create, you'll begin to resent it later on.
2)   Are you in this for the glory? If yes, flee and run like hell because there is _no_ glory to be had in this particular endeavor. Sure your site may become popular, but a popular site does not necessarily mean you'll be happy.
3)   What kind of site are you planning on doing? Yes, planning is muy importante. If it's a character shrine, you luck out of the task of creating episode lists, mini charts for all the characters, an image gallery for more than one person, etc. A shrine should be informative first and foremost. Anything else is secondary. If it's an image gallery, never put all your pictures on one page, learn the art of text links or thumbnails, and the art of organization. You'll thank yourself later or anytime you update. Trust me. If it's an overall site, you'll have a tougher time to a degree. You have so much to cover and so little web space to do so in. Decide how much you want to cover and run with it. Most anything goes. Standards that most people look for are as follows: Image galleries (sad but true), information, episode lists/spoilers/summaries, character sub pages, and your thoughts on the show.


Don'ts:


Be careful with the color of your background, your text, and any graphics you may be using. A busy background image is difficult to read anything on, and a bright background colour tends to be blinding no matter how wonderful the text contrast is. Remember that contrast is very important when you pick colors for your background and the text. If people can't read your information, they won't stick around. Don't blind your visitors.

Height and Width tags make not a thumbnail. If you're gonna put up an image gallery and you want thumbnails, at least go to the trouble of cropping the image. Thumbnails aren't hard to make and can actually be fun if you go about it the right way. Don't cheat and use the H&W tags and think you're fooling anyone. After a few minutes people are just going to leave your site behind.

Dont have a page that takes four years to load. People are very finicky and with all the sites that the web has to offer, most aren't going to wait around too long.

Don't steal. It sounds simple, but a lot of people don't get it. If you want an image from a non-freebie gallery, ask. Most web masters don't bite and a few of us are flattered when people ask for our images. Usually the only catch is that you link us. A bit more importantly, do not steal someone else's html design (they'll find out if you did) and definitely not their hard work in the form of text. Anyone with half a brain will figure out if you do. Take the time to do your own, and be proud of them.

Don't give wrong information. If you don't know, look it up. There are so many SM pages out there that someone will almost always have the answer, and if not, ask.

Don't spread rumors or lies. Michiru and Haruka are lesbians. In love with one another. This is not a maybe, it is a given. If you don't like it, don't include them on your page. Or find a different show.

Know the difference between DiC/translations and the original. Raye and Rei are two different people. If you don't know anything about the Japanese original, don't base your site on it. If you have your heart set on including the Senshi (as opposed to Scouts) then make a note of something like "In the original Japanese anime, Raye's name was Rei ...blah, blah". Don't try to act like a know it all about something you haven't a clue about.


Don't worry. If you work hard, devote some time, and have a true interest, your page will strike a chord with visitors.

Helpful hints:


Proof your page. After it's up for the world to see, make sure things work and that the pictures all load how you want them to. Nothing is worse than working hard on something and people telling you how awful it is because of a few mistakes. ;_; This also includes spelling *looks guilty*

In advertising your page, you may go a little overboard or may be unsure as to how to go about it. Simple enough, I have a few suggestions. ^^

Get a guestbook. If nothing else, some will enter your site to search engines and people will find your site that way.
When signing someone else's guestbook, stop. Did you like or dislike the page you visited? Did it impact you at all, or are you signing their book to advertise your page? Unless you want your book to be filled with "Come see my page!" messages (which are no fun), try to at least pretend you paid attention to the rest of the site. If you're a good sport, most people won't mind you advertising your page in their 'book, as long as you don't just say "nice site, come to mine!"
Think of a name... Names are muy importante. Really. Don't believe me? Which shrine would you go see first?
Daydreams
Or Kaylee's Superduper mega wicked cool shrine to the pink goddess herself REENIE!

Uh, no brainer there, bud. About half the SM community and I would be hittin' Daydreams first. It might suck, but the name seems a wee bit more mature than KSMWCSTTPGR does. G'ah... Of course, I invented that name and hopefully is _not_ the name of a real site. If it is, I apologize to the owner. And I beg of thee, get a new name. -_-;;

If you can't think of a name for your shrine, think about what it has in it. If it's a character shrine, think of your character. Rei shrines tend to be temples, shrines, and things that relate to fire or her stubborn personality. Minako tends to invoke light airy names and lots of love. Extremely popular titles tend to have anything to do with Love, Dreams, and Colour. Songs also play a big role in the names of many shrines, myself included. Good luck. ^^

Long scolling pages are usually an ixnay. If you have them (like I do) try and spice them up without blinding or boring your visitor. Side scrolling (horizontal) is anti-cool. Try to keep it to a minimum if you have to use it at all.

And finally, give credit where credit is due. If you couldn't edit images to save your life and visited Lycentia's Webgraphics shop, say so. If you got your images from another page, no matter how unknown, credit them. You wouldn't like your hard work being used by other people, would you?


Basically, a good helping of common sense will get you far. Think about what you like. And remember, do this for you, not some dream of popularity.

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