YOU know what it's like. You click on a link to a site you think sounds really interesting...but when it appears, you can't make head nor tail of it because it's so badly designed.

There are flashing bits of text that are difficult to read, the type is too small and the links impossible to identify in among all the melee.

Pointless animations that make the page so much longer to load have been used and the background colour is so bright you have a headache after three seconds.

Web Pages That Suck is a site which aims to put an end to bad web page design.

It hopes to educate those involved in page design about what looks good - by showing them what looks awful.

The idea is that once you realise something looks bad, you won't be tempted to use it in your own page.

Essential reading for anyone thinking of making use of the free web space included in their Internet access package.

Website: http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com/

All heart

VALENTINE'S Day is just around the corner. E-mail Valentine cards are available on the web, but they're just not the same as the real thing.

Still, if you're short of time or money...

Try http://www.gagirl.com/valentines/or http://www.greetsomeone.com/february

/valentine.htm.

Or for something different, go to http://www.capsi.com/trekcards/love. html, which offers romantic cards on a Star Trek theme!

If you're feeling charitable, send one from the Imperial Cancer Research Fund's site at http://www.icnet.uk/cupid and make an online donation at the same time.

Or send a card from Heart City itself - Valentine, Nebraska, which has a site at http://www.heartcity.com/.

If your love life isn't looking quite so rosy, a national marriage guidance charity is offering online help.

Marriage Care's site at http://www.

marriagecare.org.uk aims to highlight the issues leading to relationship breakdowns and offer information about counselling and courses.

The website launch is part of National Marriage Week.

Sites not to be sniffed at

RED Nose Day 1999 has just been launched. This year's fund-raising bash takes place on March 12 and there are two official websites to keep you up to date with progress.

The colourful Comic Relief on the Pier (http://www.comicrelief

org.uk) is the charity's first permanent website.

It has plenty of ideas on how to raise money, details of some of the many Red Nose Day events happening around the country, and details of this year's Comic Relief merchandise.

Teachers can also order free lesson plans which look issues including disability, children's rights and poverty.

The BBC's Red Nose Day website, at http://www.rednoseday.

beeb.com, offers more of the same. You can make donations online through either site.

The Red Nose Day Comic Relief temporary website last year received four million hits and raised £30,000 through online donations from people all around the world.

Grand tour

TAKE a tour of some of the world's finest architecture with Great Buildings Online.

The site has details and photographs of dozens of fantastic structures, from India's Taj Mahal to New York's Chrysler Building to the Sydney Opera House.

You can search for particular buildings, or by the architects' name.

Start your tour at http://www.

greatbuildings.com.

ANY company which buys a website in or link to Newsquest's This is Lancashire pages (http://www.thisislancashire.co.uk) is now entitled to free Internet access for a year. Contact new media manager Jane Law on 01254 678678, ext 348 or e-mail

janelaw@lancs.newsquest.co.uk for details.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.