About
General
The Tomb Raider Link Directory project aims to build the largest database of TR links on the entire internet, all sorted into categories. This will enable users to look up sites with information on a specific aspect of Tomb Raider without having to search through many sites. The specially written categorisation software enables a site to be a member of more than one category, so you can guarantee that visitors will be able to see every site on the database that matches their requirements.
Another aim of the site is to keep information clear and simple. This starts by cutting out the advertisements and giving the site a nice clear style. We also don't go in for all the usual hassle you get when trying to submit links. You fill in the form, and if the site is any good, it is added without further problems.
For Webmasters
Adding Your Site
If your site isn't in the directory, it's easy enough to add it - click Add Link on the menu to the left. If your site is relevant and not listed here, you should add it unless you have a very good reason not to.
Descriptions
An important thing to get right before you add your link is the Description. If you browse through the directory, you'll probably see many entries for sites where no description is given. Aside from looking incomplete, from the point of view of the site visitor looking for a specific piece of information, it is very frustrating not to be able to see a description of the site. This usually means that the link concerned is ignored and the visitor moves on to the next one.
The built in search engine also uses the description for searching, so if your site doesn't have one, the search engine must rely on its title and so your site has less chance of appearing in search results.
So, how to ensure a description appears under your site in the directory? The trick lies in in the META DESCRIPTION tag which should appear near the top of your HTML code. You need to include the line <meta name="description" content="Your site's description."> somewhere between the <head> and </head> tags on your page. If your site uses XHTML (if you don't know what that is, it's the successor of HTML and your site probably doesn't use it), there should be a / before the closing > on the meta tag.
Then, when your site is added to the directory, the description in the directory will be the same as you have specified. Descriptions should be no more than 30 words long, and should give a good overview of your site. We also try to work out categorisations for your site from the description. If your description is in a foreign language, we take that to be the language of your site.
It is always good practice to have descriptions on your site, but it isn't necessary to include them on every page
Title
Also important is the Title tag. What you put in this determines yes, you've guessed it... the title under which your site appears on the directory. To set one of these, you need to put <title>Your site's title</title> somewhere between the <head> and </head> tags in your HTML. Because we like the directory to look neat, we really would appreciate it if you didn't have titles with a lot of symbols at the start or end or ones that are all in capitals. Bear in mind that links are ordered alphabetically by title in the lists (at the moment).
I've seen people who've spelt Tomb Raider wrong in titles before - it does matter!
Keywords
More experienced webmasters will have heard of the META KEYWORDS tag. Unfortunately (like most search engines) we don't pay any attention to this as it's all too easy to write down every unrelated word you can think of to try and get a better ranking.
Frames
Don't use them. They make it difficult to browse, don't appear consistently across different browsers and you can probably get the effect you want without them. If you don't know what they are, that's good. Keep it that way.
Tips from the W3C
W3C is the World Wide Web Consortium. They define all the standards for what constitutes valid HTML and good page design, and generally speaking they know what they're doing. They have a selection of tips on how to make good websites, and a validator to check your HTML over.
Linking to Us
If you'd like to link to us (and we recommend you do - that way people who have their sites in the directory will get more visitors), just make a hyperlink to http://www.mintrasystems.com/trld. It can be a text link with the text Tomb Raider Link Directory, or if you want to be fancy, we do have a nice banner:
Or maybe something slightly smaller...
It would be good if you could upload that to your own site to save a) using up our bandwidth (which would be better used serving your links), and b) getting embarrassing missing image errors if we move it around the site or change its name. Don't forget to specify an attribute alt="Tomb Raider Link Directory" inside that <img> tag in case the image can't be displayed. Other sized images will be created on request.
Webmaster FAQs
My site is already in the directory with an old or missing description or title
Use the Modify/Remove tool on the menu to the left to report it and get it changed.
Won't the Title and Description update here automatically when I change it?
Unfortunately we aren't like Google and other search engines in that we don't repeatedly go back and re-crawl all the sites listed - if you've made a change, you can tell us by following the instructions on the Adjust link page.
I don't remember writing that - why is my description or title like it is?
If your site didn't have a suitable title or description when it was added, and we had a bit of spare time, the chances are we made them up for you. If you don't like it, get it changed using the normal method (Modify Link).
Some descriptions have a short review (clearly identified) at the end. These are usually fairly well balanced, but if there are critical points you think will adversely affect your site's reputation you should ask yourself if they're accurate before complaining. If so, it's in your interest to fix the problem before contacting us about it.
Mwahahahaha... I don't care what you recommend, I'm going to fill up my title and description tags with every possible keyword and symbol, and then submit to every single category to get a better listing in the directory!
Not a good idea. We'll simply trim down any excessive titles or descriptions, or worse, not add the site at all. Any submissions made to the directory are approved first before being added. See the note below about tasteful sites as well.
I have a redirecting front entrance page before the actual content, how will that be dealt with in the directory?
Providing it is sensibly titled and has a good description about what's actually on your site, we'll link to your site as normal. If it doesn't satisfy either of those criteria, we'll delve deeper until we find some kind of main page, then use that. Talking of redirects, you should ideally use proper HTTP redirects rather than the amateurish sort involving meta tags or JavaScript. You can use these if you have a scripting language such as PHP installed on the server, via .htaccess files, or if you have access to the server configuration directly.
My site is full of Java applets, popups, adverts etc etc. Is this a problem?
On the whole, yes . That sort of site really annoys visitors and editors who have to look through them in order to categorise. Are you sure there's no better alternative?
Incidentally, of the many Tomb Raider websites that use Java, I've only seen a couple that use it properly. JavaScript is a different matter, but again don't go over the top on this.
Sites should ideally have a tasteful design. In our opinion, good designs are ones like those used on this site, Stella's Site, tombraidergirl.com, Lara Croft. I'm not going to name and shame any examples of terrible design, but you'll know where your site stands after looking at the good sites mentioned here.
May I steal the massive table of all the links in the directory for my own use?
For your own personal use, yes (for example if you want to fill your favourites/bookmarks with enough reading material to last a lifetime). It is, however, not to be republished or made accessible anywhere else though. For example you may not publish it on your website or write a search engine that sits on top of it.
The reason for this is that the list is constantly being updated with new and changed sites. Any copies would quickly become out of date, and this would devalue the concept of TRLD. By maintaining the one and only list here, we ensure that the data is accurate and up to date so visitors know where to find what they want, and the links work when they go to use them.
More Information
For more information, or if you have any questions, please contact us. It's not hard to make a good Tomb Raider site, but we can even offer advice on how to do the technicalities well if you're unsure.