About the award
Somewhere around 1997 the web got loud. Splash pages that took a full minute to paint, sites that only worked in one browser, pages that had been “under construction” for two years running. The Chrome Comet began as a bookmarks folder, a short list of sites that got it right, and grew, over a couple of long weekends, into an award.
Why give out an award at all? Because a good site deserves to be pointed at. Search engines rank you; the Comet likes you. When a page is fast, honest, hand-built and kind to a 56k modem, someone ought to say so out loud. That someone is me. I read every submission myself.
What the judges look for
There is one judge, and it is me, and I am picky. A site earns the Comet when it clears every line below. Read them honestly before you apply, it saves us both an email.
- Original content you made yourself, no link farms, no borrowed galleries, no “coming soon” where the good part should be.
- It works in the 4.0 browsers of the day, not only the newest one. Pick neither side; serve everybody.
- The front page finishes loading in under thirty seconds on a 56k modem. Weigh your images.
- No broken links. Click every one of your own before you send the form.
- Readable text: real contrast, sensible line length, no ten-colour rainbow paragraphs on a busy tile.
- No pop-ups, and no music that starts before the visitor asks for it. A jukebox with a Play button is welcome; an ambush is not.
- A guestbook, an email link, a webring, some way for a visitor to say hello.
- Best viewed in any browser, at any resolution. That is the whole spirit of the thing.
Miss one line and I will write back with the reason, not just a rejection. Fix it, and re-apply. Plenty of winners got there on the second try.
Apply for the award NEW!
Think your site is ready? Fill this in and make your case. Applications for the autumn round are read twice a month; you will hear back either way.
Past winners
The hall of fame. Every site below cleared the list and earned the badge fair and square. Visit them; that is half the point of a webring.
| Site | Awarded | Category |
|---|---|---|
| Sandra's Space Corner | Jun 1999 | Personal & homepages |
| The Tesseract Lounge | Aug 1998 | Web design & HTML |
| Marla's MIDI Parlour | Oct 1998 | Music & sound |
| The Dial-Up Diner | Dec 1998 | Community & webrings |
| Pixel Orchard | Feb 1999 | Art & graphics |
| The Analog Almanac | Apr 1999 | Personal homepage |
| Comet-Tail Observatory | Jun 1999 | Science & hobbies |
| Bunsen's Back Shed | Aug 1999 | Games & hobbies |
How to display your award
Won the Comet? Congratulations, you did the work. The badge arrives by email as an 88×31 button. Here is how to wear it properly:
- Save the button to your own server. Never hotlink mine, bandwidth is precious and I will notice.
- Link it back to Chrome Comet HQ so your visitors can find the ring and the other winners.
- Paste this snippet wherever you want the Comet to shine:
type winner-code.html
<!-- paste this where you want the badge to shine -->
<a href="http://www.chromecomet.example/">
<img src="chrome-comet-88x31.gif"
alt="Winner ~ The Chrome Comet Award"
width="88" height="31" border="0">
</a>
1 file(s) displayed, 0 hotlinks forgiven
Swap chrome-comet-88x31.gif for the path where you
saved the button. That is all it takes.
The winners' ring
Every site the Comet has honoured holds hands in one webring. Hop from one to the next, or spin the dial and land somewhere new.
This site steers the Chrome Comet winners' ring, the hub is the signpost, not a stop, so the bar says so.