Date: 23 May 1998

I have followed your articles in the Online section in the Guardian and finally had a look at your website. Great! But as i am preparing a webpage I wonder how the number of visitors to your webpage are being counted. Is that a Javascript? And if so, where could I get my hands on it? I had a look around but could not find such a script. Hope to hear from you,

ps......I see, I am already number 947!!

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Reply from:Brian Whitaker

Date: 23 May 1998

God knows what it is! I looked up the instructions for loading files to the server (my service provider is ndirect.co.uk) and I found the code there. I just copied it. I think it's specific to ndirect subscribers because it picks up something in their system. Possibly you'll find some guidance about this on your dircon site. Best of luck with your project.

Date: 24 May 1998

I am contacting you regarding your article in the guardian dated may 21st 1998. I really enjoyed your piece because I had exactly the same problems you did regarding posting your site to a server,I spent a whole weekend pulling my hair out wondering where all my files had gone when it was so easy to view it as a webpage on my pc,of course it was to do with the filenames!!! its reasssuring to know other people have the same hiccups.

It was interesting to read about adding your url to a search engine because i found an amazing service which may be of interest to you (i'd better be careful because this is starting to sound like junk email!!!) this service allows you to submit your website to 400 of the top search engines for free-and it really is free,all the guy asks you do is put a tiny banner anywhere on your website, not much to ask, and he will email you the full report 24 hours later. dont get me wrong i am not on commision i just felt other people could benefit from this service like yourself. if you would like to visit my site the address ishttp://www.fortunecity.com/victorian/blake/223/elec-
troretro.htmyou will find the banner in the arcade area on the bottom of the mame games page. I hope you like my site (perhaps you could give it a mention..hint hint) I look forward to your next article.

Date: 28 May 1998

Hi there! (isn't that how people talk on the web?),

Just to let you know that I've been enjoying your series of articles in "online" very much.

I'm sure everyone who's designed a web site can relate to a lot of the things you've said. Particularly, in my case, New Counter Embarrasment.

Well your count of 1000+ is no longer embarrasing so it doesn't really apply but you can get free counters which are invisble. They also provide far more info about your visitors than a mere hit count - browser, domain, screen resolution,OS etc, etc.

You could change all your "#ffffC0"'s automatically, with a couple of mouse clicks, using an HTML editor such as Homesite which has a search and replace facility. you wouldn't even have to pay - most of them give you a months trial.

Your site is very impressive, particularly as it loads so quickly - that's really a simple but brilliant idea, having NO graphics on the home page!

P.S. I'd include the URL of my site but you'd hate it - it's too clever by half and is full of Javascript

Date: 28 May 1998

I've followed the development of the Yemen Gateway Web site in the Guardian for a few weeks now, and _finally_ had a look at the pages. Having done that, I think the site is quite well-constructed. I do however have a few comments which you may find useful.

i) The initial page you get to is hard to identify from the Menu in the left hand frame (ie if you want to get back to it), nor does it function as a 'Home Page'. Many Web users like the comfort of a named HP which tells them about the site they've reached and what they might find there. I suspect you intend homer.htm for that purpose, but picky me thinks that linking to it from 'About Yemen Gateway' may not be what most people do.

I would suggest:

Set up a link called 'Home Page', accessible also via a link from the logo at the top of the left-hand menu (and also from the 'Quick briefing' page if you still want to make that the first page displayed when the site is entered).

ii) I really don't like the fact that the left hand menu is alphabetical rather than in some kind of content-related structure.

iii) Concerning Frames and search tools. If the first two points above are aesthetic, this is more significant. Many people may reach your site through a search engine such as altavista rather than following a link to the first, frame-defining page (ie the one with the tag. They may start at _any_ page on your site!

Hence to offer them a simple way of getting to the rest of your site from any page would obviously be helpful. There is a reasonably well- known way to do this; simply offer a link to the main frame-defining page from each page, with some kind of meaningful name.

To complete this solution, some mechanism is required to ensure that someone following the link when already displayed within the right-hand frame will not get the left-hand menu twice (think about it). Again, the standard solution is to use the "target='_top_'" qualifier in the tag defining the link, which tells the browser to display the frames at the topmost level, discarding any extant frames.

iv) Related to the above, the links from 'Yemen on the Net' all open pages from other Web sites within the Yemen gateway right-hand frame. probably not the best solution, as

- if they use frames (or indeed if they link onwards to other sites which do so) then you can get to a very cluttered and unhappy- looking frame-within-a-frame look to the screen, and

- it can look to naive Web viewers as though you are endorsing their site.

Simple solution, as above, is to use "Target='_top_'" on the links which will make the Yemen gateway LH frame go away when the user surfs to another site.

v) Finally, and again related to access from search engines, I would make the titles of the pages (in the