<title> for a webpage

Hello,
I have heard many opinions on what is the proper way to title a webpage
some say to title all the pages the same and some say to title each page
individually on what the page is about. Is there something in writting that
says how to do it if so where or is this just a preference?
thanks again

Previously in alt.www.webmaster, mick <mickymouse@.invalid> said:

> I have heard many opinions on what is the proper way to title a webpage
> some say to title all the pages the same and some say to title each page
> individually on what the page is about.

If you title every page on your site the same, how am I supposed to know
which one I bookmarked when I'm sorting through my bookmarks later?

> Is there something in writting that
> says how to do it if so where or is this just a preference?

http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/struct/global.html#h-7.4.2

--
Mark Parnell
http://www.clarkecomputers.com.au

mick wrote:

> Hello,
> I have heard many opinions on what is the proper way to title a
> webpage
> some say to title all the pages the same and some say to title each
> page individually on what the page is about. Is there something in
> writting that says how to do it if so where or is this just a
> preference? thanks again

Imagine a book store selling thousands of books, each with the same
title...

Moreover, the title carries some weight with some search engines, so pick
them with care. It's also a thing that pop ups in search results.

--
John Perl SEO tools: http://johnbokma.com/perl/
Experienced (web) developer: http://castleamber.com/
Get a SEO report of your site for just 100 USD:
http://johnbokma.com/websitedesign/seo-expert-help.html

On Wed, 04 May 2005 04:36:49 GMT, mick wrote:

> Hello,
> I have heard many opinions on what is the proper way to title a webpage
> some say to title all the pages the same and some say to title each page
> individually on what the page is about. Is there something in writting that
> says how to do it if so where or is this just a preference?
> thanks again

Title the page according to the purpose of the web page. I usually title my
pages as: site name - purpose of web page. This way when people bookmark a
page or a search engine indexes the page, people know what site it is and
what page it is.


Karim
--
http://www.cheapesthosting.com - Innovative Web Hosting since 1998
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Camera phone photos automatic transfers to your photo album (RSS Enabled)

On Wed, 4 May 2005, Mark Parnell wrote:

> Previously in alt.www.webmaster, mick <mickymouse@.invalid> said:
>
> > I have heard many opinions on what is the proper way to title a webpage
> > some say to title all the pages the same and some say to title each page
> > individually on what the page is about.
>
> If you title every page on your site the same, how am I supposed to know
> which one I bookmarked when I'm sorting through my bookmarks later?

Indeed. Especially since IE stupidly uses the title by default as the
filename for the bookmark. That means that a user either has to edit the
name or save the bookmark over the original bookmark, wiping it out.
(I'll refrain from ranting about Microsoft's stupidity of using a separate
file for each bookmark, using up to 32KB or more of disk space (depending
on your cluster size) for each tiny bookmark instead of putting them all
in a single dedicated HTML file like Firefox does.)

Imagine a department store web site where a teen-age boy has bookmarked
one of their pages featuring a new video game. "Look at this neat thing
I found!" he enthusiastically tells his buddies as he clicks on the
bookmark. Unknown to him, his sister bookmarked something else without
editing the title, replacing his bookmark with hers and, instead of a page
about a new video game, up comes a page for some intimate feminine
product.

It's annoying when I can't find bookmarks on a subject because I was in a
hurry to bookmark a page (I just got notice that my ISP's server is going
down for maintenance in one minute, for one example) and didn't have time
to edit the name.

And I find it amazing the number of pages I find with the title "Untitled
document".

>
> > Is there something in writting that
> > says how to do it if so where or is this just a preference?
>
> http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/struct/global.html#h-7.4.2

I must have a look at that.

--
">> consider moving away from Front Page...."
">To what? Any suggestions?"
"Naked bungee-jumping. It's less humiliating <g>"
-- Matt Probert in alt.www.webmaster, March 20, 2005

Norman L. DeForest wrote:

[snip]

> And I find it amazing the number of pages I find with the title
> "Untitled document".

You can blame Dreamweaver (and stupid users of Dreamweaver) for that. It
sets the default page title as "Untitled document". I wonder if there
are any other html editors that do this as well?

Do a search on Google for "Untitled document" and you get 14 million
pages...

--
Chris Hope | www.electrictoolbox.com | www.linuxcdmall.com

mick wrote

> Hello,
> I have heard many opinions on what is the proper way to title a
> webpage
> some say to title all the pages the same and some say to title each
> page individually on what the page is about. Is there something in
> writting that says how to do it if so where or is this just a
> preference? thanks again

First you have to ask yourself what the title is for, why it is there?

As the name implies, it is the "title" of the page. Any title of
anything, usually refers to the content contained therein, and gives you
a pretty good idea what the content is about.

Then you need to think about how the title is used. It is used to name
window buttons in the toolbar of operating systems, and the window
itself.

It is used as a name for bookmarks.

In both cases, it should be as short as possible, yet clear what the
page is about. This way you know what the bookmark is, and what a
window contains.

It is used as a scoring method by Google. This is in recognition of the
fact, that the title usually tells you what the page is about. So as
with everything, if it is written with humans in mind, then it will be
good for Google.

For example, if the widget manufacturer, J Smith Ltd, had "J Smith Ltd"
as their title (common) it would not mean anything to a human or Google.
On the other hand, if they had "widget manufacturer", then it's clear to
all.

It therefore follows, that you should not have all your titles the same,
because all your pages are not the same. It also helps to make them on
the short side for bookmarks and window names.

--
Charles Sweeney
http://CharlesSweeney.com