I have recently received a spate of complaints about my rating system. The following will, I hope, make things a bit plainer:

The initial rating given to Web sites offering products and/or services of general interest to the public (e.g., hotels/B&Bs, retailers and the like) will be 3 out of 5 stars. This rating does not reflect on the Web sites' design, nor is it meant to rate the quality of service or product marketed through the Web sites. It is simply the rating I decided I would give such commercial enterprises when I first started rating the links because I felt I had to give them a rating.

With that said, the following may help you to improve your Web site and make it more appealing to visitors (who, afterall, are responsible for the rating of your site):

• Limit (or get rid of completely!) pop-up consoles and/or multiple browser instances.
  There's nothing so annoying as having to close multiple consoles and/or browser instances while trying to view a site.

• Limit (or get rid of completely!) banner advertisements.
  Second to pop-ups on the annoyance meter comes banner advertisements. There is, of course, nothing wrong with a few well-placed banners, but when there are so many banners on your entrance page that visitors have to search for a link to a subsequent page, it gets a bit ridiculous.

• Lose the bait-and-switch.
  Hiding a link to a pop-up pusher behind a seemingly innocent thumbnail in the middle of a gallery just plain pisses me off.

• ALWAYS include a control to disable sounds.
  One of the fastest ways to get me to LEAVE your site is to start cranking out music or dialogue without giving me the ability to turn it off.

• Think CONTENT, CONTENT, CONTENT!
  Many of the sites I visit are little more than collections of the same pictures found on thousands of other sites across the Net. Sure, many of these pictures are great, but a little original content can go a long way.

Please, support the Sponsors of these pages!

Click on an image above to visit the Sponsor's site.