That sounds ominous but it's really not. Here's the philosophy I set forth in a few (hopefully) brief statements:

• The pages are supposed to be a bunch of links loosely associated with each other through some common thread.
• Each page, to the extent possible, is intended to be a heterogeneous representation of the content of the web. (In other words, each page should have some of everything - rock bands, animal rights groups, vendors, games, audio, video, pix, etc.) Mix it up.
• The pages should attempt to stay away from the obvious and marketable. The duckies page doesn't need links to Warner Brothers, home of Daffy - that's easy to find. Of course I said "attempt" that doesn't mean we need to succeed.
• Links, if possible, should be into the subpages of a site, where the actual reference resides. This allows people to go up as well as down. Hey anyone can come in the front door, I like to slip in the bathroom window.

OK I failed on the brevity factor. Those who know me are not surprised. Now here are some hints if you're wishing to submit a link or actually "do" a page for the Zoo:

1. If possible, provide the URL (not the actual image) for an icon in the 100x100 size range (or thereabouts) from the site linked. This gives us a nice teaser image to show. Listing the URL saves our disk space (since the image comes from the linked site, NOT ours) and actually saves the visitor download time. Since they downloaded it once to view it on our page, their browser will have it cached when they visit the linked site. That's one less image to download, making the site they are visiting seem that much faster of a download. They're welcome.
2. Links don't have to be people's sites or pages dedicated to the animal or area of the zoo. Witness the reference to the Grateful Dead page on the Duckies On The Web page, provided just because I found a text reference of Jerry Garcia saying "the duckies". Hey the links don't have to make sense or even have anything to do with the subject at hand. But there MUST be something about the link tying it to the subject.
3. Provide your own commentary (short & sweet) on the site. This is the original content of the Zoo pages, not the links. These teasers should tell people why we chose to include this site as a link (and there are many we did not). And be honest: If you hated it but HAD to include it for just that reason, then say so. I did just that with one link & they emailed me to have it removed because they were insulted. Hey if you can't take criticism don't post your page. Now they don't have someone else's page linked to theirs.
4. Do a "Save As" on one of the well populated pages if you need inspiration as to how to build another. But I'm not holding you to any particular design. Make your Zoo page a reflection of your design ideas, not mine. I only require two things on the page:
   • A reference to Sydd's Internet Zoo with a link back to the main page. Your page doesn't even have to reside on my server (in fact, I prefer that it doesn't - I have to pay for my real estate). Contact me when you have a page ready & I'll visit then add it. This gives you the freedom to update it at will. Splash your byline, logo, copyright, links to your pages, whatever, all over it - just don't get too overwhelming. C'mon it's your page not mine - go crazy!
   • Render the ZooMap flea somewhere on the page (anywhere, hide it in the mix) with a link back to the ZooMap. I'll provide the link and URL for the flea. Look, there's one now!

OK now those are waaayyy too many words for simple guidelines, Sydd. Still, you have to agree, it really boils down to almost "the sky's the limit".

SyddWare