May11
The importance of having good web coding is as important as having a solid building foundation. A building with poor foundation might look good and stand proud and tall now but when storms or earthquakes hit, will it withstand the beatings?
It is true that some browsers will try to display them even if the code is not valid. What happens is the browser will make an educated guess about what the web developer tried to do. The problem is, different browsers and browser versions or different software on different platforms will not handle errors the same way.
This can result to the following:
- What you see may not render on another user’s computer.
- slow page loading time and even systems crashes
- Higher maintenance cost because it may take longer to update your website. Using internationally agreed upon codes makes maintaining and expanding your website easier even if it was initially done by someone else.
- Many visually impaired people rely on browsers with speech tools that read pages back to them. These programs cannot interpret pages very well unless they are clearly explained. In other words semantic code aids accessibility.
So even if your site ranks no.1 on Google search for your keywords today, if your page doesn’t load or makes a mangled mess, then what use that it serve? Nothing but big opportunities LOST!
How will I know if my site is properly coded?
There are a number of tools available online to validate your web codes. Among them are W3C Validation service, MarkUp Validator, Link Checker and CSS Validator. But the best way is to simply look at the code and seeing if it refers to colours, fonts or layout instead of describing what the content is.
May 11, 2010
Tags: web design, websites
Apr21
You can’t miss it! Apple is here to stay so web developers need to make sure that our sites look their best on these various mobile devices. I implemented a user agent script on a Sugar Land photographer’s website. He wanted to make sure that when you came to a mobile device (especially an iPhone) that the site was usable. We implemented a Flash graphic on the homepage (which the iPhone cannot render), so the page automatically redirects you to a single web page with a sample of his photography and his contact information.
Check it out: www.makeyousmilephotography.com
Apple Agents
Devices that request content from your website (usually) pass a user agent string. This contains information such as its name, OS, browser version, and rendering engine. Apple’s gadgets pass the following user agents, although you may find subtle variations in the version numbers.
iPhone:
Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/420+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.0 Mobile/1A543a Safari/419.3
iPod:
Mozilla/5.0 (iPod; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/420.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.0 Mobile/3A101a Safari/419.3
iPad:
Mozilla/5.0 (iPad; U; CPU OS 3_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/531.21.10 (KHTML, like Gecko) version/4.0.4 Mobile/7B367 Safari/531.21.10
Or, just this handy tool, http://detectmobilebrowsers.mobi/. It is a script that will redirect the website for you.
“This PHP function lets you choose how to manage your mobile visitors, they can be redirected to a page built for mobiles or you can use it to decide which markup language and stylesheet to show that user.”
April 21, 2010
Tags: clients, computer, web design
Feb17
Content Management Systems
Here we are discussing the various types of content managements systems available to you. There are several others out there, but these four are the more popular ones with a pretty large public support.
Read the rest of this entry »
February 17, 2010
Tags: web design, wordpress
Feb04
First of all, what is a CMS, anyway?
CMS stands for content management system. It is a system used to support the development, management, distribution and publishing of content on your website. But is it CMS suitable for your website?
Like any system, CMS has its pros and cons. Let’s run them down before we come into conclusion if a CMS is for you.
Content Management Systems Pros & Cons
Read the rest of this entry »
February 04, 2010
Tags: web design, wordpress
Jan07
As promised in my previous post, I am including the code we use to cache our website. (I got this from a Google Group discussion.) Further explanation can be found from Google’s help page: http://code.google.com/speed/page-speed/docs/caching.html.
Most web pages include resources that change infrequently, such as CSS files, image files, JavaScript files, and so on. These resources take time to download over the network, which increases the time it takes to load a web page. HTTP caching allows these resources to be saved, or cached, by a browser or proxy. Once a resource is cached, a browser or proxy can refer to the locally cached copy instead of having to download it again on subsequent visits to the web page. Thus caching is a double win: you reduce round-trip time by eliminating numerous HTTP requests for the required resources, and you substantially reduce the total payload size of the responses. Besides leading to a dramatic reduction in page load time for subsequent user visits, enabling caching can also significantly reduce the bandwidth and hosting costs for your site.
Basically, the .htaccess file is telling the bots to cache certain files at various times for returning visitors.
ExpiresActive On
ExpiresDefault A0
<FilesMatch “.(flv|ico|pdf|avi|mov|ppt|doc|mp3|wmv|wav)$”>
ExpiresDefault A29030400
Header append Cache-Control “public”
</FilesMatch>
<FilesMatch “.(gif|jpg|jpeg|png|swf)$”>
ExpiresDefault A604800
Header append Cache-Control “public”
</FilesMatch>
<FilesMatch “.(xml|txt|html|js|css)$”>
ExpiresDefault A7200
Header append Cache-Control “proxy-revalidate”
</FilesMatch>
<FilesMatch “.(php|cgi|pl|htm)$”>
ExpiresActive Off
Header set Cache-Control “private, no-cache, no-store, proxy-revalidate, no-transform”
Header set Pragma “no-cache”
</FilesMatch>
January 07, 2010
Tags: google, web design
Oct24
Another web design firm, Questus, polled 435 employed US residents over 18 and asked them what influenced their decision to buy from a website. What they found was their initial reaction to the site made a large impact. 43% agreed that a web site’s appearance will affect their decision-making on whether to trust or distrust the store and 25% strongly agreed with this. 25% of the respondents neither agreed nor disagreed.
“We find that Web sites have three seconds to make an impression,” said Jeff Rosenblum, co-founder and research and strategy director of Questus. “The actual usability is more important than aesthetics, but at the same time aesthetics are critical.”
37% of the respondents noted that navigation can make or break their decision to buy next to 32% who said that checkout process is important. A whopping 68% said price is a factor as well. Another factor was product descriptions and shipping options, 38% and 44% respectively.
So what are we to read from this? Well, design is a very important to a web site’s success. For e-commerce site’s just having your web site on the internet with the best prices is no longer acceptable, a design’s look and feel, navigating to products and service, shipping policies and the checkout process will all determine whether a customer feels comfortable enough to buy from you.
October 24, 2009
Tags: ecommerce, web design, websites
Oct05
Okay, as a web designer it goes beyond my comprehension but sometimes ugly website actually work. If you take a look at eBay, it’s not a very pretty site, or, the most obvious like Amazon. They are not “pretty” sites. In fact, I would say they are too busy and unfocused but they are functional which is the most important component of any website. Make it easy for your customers to find what they want, buy it or call you and move on.
Sometimes it’s not the design but the trust you evoke. Some ugly website scream, “Hey, I am a small business and couldn’t afford a big marketing firm. So I built it myself.” But if you are conveying that you are trustworthy by including phone numbers, addresses, your policies and make sure you site is easy to use, you can be sure that your customers will appreciate it and respond with loyalty.
Google understood this. It can barely call it self a web designed site as it is primarily made up of a logo, search box, and some small text. That’s it. It’s fast, easy, simple.
Lesson learned, don’t assume your website has to be filled with high-end graphics and animation. Just be sure it conveys your business in the best possible light and that your customers can quickly get what they need.
October 05, 2009
Tags: ecommerce, google, redesign, web design
Sep28
September 28, 2009
Tags: tutorial, web design, wordpress
Sep28
It amazes me but it shouldn’t. The internet continues to grow by leaps and bounds and I don’t mean just by shear numbers. 73% of all American adults are on the internet now. (http://www.pewinternet.org). Many of these online adults are expressing how important it is for them to be connected. How the “internet has greatly improved their ability to shop.”
This is an important distinction to remember when building your website. Is your website allowing these savvy shoppers find what they need quickly? Your navigation should be clear and concise with no more than 2 clicks to get to the product or service of their choice.
35% of these adults are also saying that the internet is helping them do their jobs better. If you sell your product or service business to business, are you making it easier for them to contact you? Does your website give them the right resources like some frequently asked questions, product reviews, knowledge-base, job announcements?
But let’s not forget the group of people that don’t use the internet as much. According to the Pew Internet data, there a those , 17% who only use the internet several times a week, say that the internet has helped them do their jobs. Again, make sure that your website reflects a clear navigation and common sense content to ensure your target market knows what to do next when they come to your website.
Internet penetration has reached high levels. Many businesses refuse to acknowledge the need for a website at all. This may be the case for the rare few business segments, but not for the business owner wanting to reach the widest target audience.
September 28, 2009
Tags: advertising, ecommerce, seo, web design
Sep25
We use the 3 major search engine webmaster tools. We won’t hide this from you and don’t try assume that we’ve got special, secret gear. We use these tools because they are there for a reason but it means a bit of manual effort to review your website based on what the Search Engine see. Each SE has their own algorithm but they are useful.
From these pages, we register your website by uploading robots.txt and, if needed, a sitemap file. Below are the online tools that you can review yourself.
Google: https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/home?hl=en
Yahoo: http://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/
Bing: http://www.bing.com/webmaster
September 25, 2009
Tags: google, seo, web design
