Under Construction
Ive built a lot of websites to date and i just wanted to ensure im going along the right lines with the above topic.
I seem to recall some time ago reading that most webmasters dont use the "under construction" statement with perhaps an image of a man digging a hole etc because it irritates users. is this correct. is the best practice not to use this method? i can see why it would be irritating to users and I myself do not use it. i feel that if you dont have any content to put up then dont just put up an under construction notice and keep it there for a long time. At leat have some text sayng whats coming and when.
Am I thinking along the right lines or is the general concensus that you should use under construction for sites that arent live yet?
Greg K posted this at 13:55 — 19th August 2009.
He has: 2,145 posts
Joined: Nov 2003
A site that isn't "live" yet, should not be able to be seen by the general public, so there should not need to be an "under construction" on it. If you are referring to the domain that will hold the live site, then a simple "coming soon", with a GOOD estimated date on it, possibly with a one-two sentence description of the site.
Now if the page isn't yet developed yet, but you have the link in place as part of a whole site layout/design, then again a brief explanation what to look forward to being on that page and a estimated live date for that page.
Under construction has a bad reputation of sites that have it that are never completed.
I just saw this site: http://www.cs.utah.edu/~gk/atwork/
-Greg
greg posted this at 14:04 — 19th August 2009.
He has: 1,581 posts
Joined: Nov 2005
Sorry, I don't have an answer for you, and cannot help.
________________________
My above reply to your post is in my opinion similar as an "under construction" page.
Why would I reply to tell you I cannot help you? I just don't reply.
"under construction" in that context is the same as saying "no content for you here" - why link to it if there's nothing to show?
And the same with sites having the entire site "under construction" or just a few pages. When I click the link and get the message and not what I wanted, it's annoying. Just don't link to the page.
If the site is already live, indexed and plenty of visitors I work away from the live site on a developing area so I can just upload the new stuff in one go, otherwise there may be people coming from external links and search engines and even bookmarks to an "under construction" page.
And depending on how long it takes you to "construct" the new page(s), it might get indexed without content other than one man digging, which isn't good in an SE rank competitive world.
jayesser posted this at 12:05 — 20th August 2009.
They have: 14 posts
Joined: Aug 2009
This confirms my thoughts. I WAS RIGHT. Its just that people who dont know about web design try to tell me to do things like they know it all when they dont.
Greg K posted this at 13:52 — 20th August 2009.
He has: 2,145 posts
Joined: Nov 2003
You get that all over...
graphic designers, coding a site, marketing a site, seo.... It's human nature I guess, it's "their baby" so they want it how they think it should be, instead of relying on the word of people who do it day in and day out.
-Greg
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