What is a good layout?

To sum up June and as we head into summer I would like to leave all of you with an insight into what makes a good layout.

A good layout works
It does what you set out to do. You need to know what the purpose of the piece is, who it is for, and where it will be seen or how it will be distributed.

A good layout organizes

It maps out a visual path for readers to follow - shows what comes first, second third and so on. You must present the information in good order to make your message as clear as possible.

A good layout attracts

It grabs your readers' attention and pulls them into your piece. It has to stand out from the crowd by being different from everything around it. Depending on the environments and that can mean being startling, pretty, surprising, entertaining, unusual, or simple and direct.

The process of making a good layout is similar to doing a jigsaw puzzle: 
You keep putting the pieces together different ways until they all fit comfortably.

iFrames good or bad?

I like to think of iFrames as little windows on websites that content peaks through. It’s not really on the page, but is being displayed to the user as an element of that page and more often than not, blends seamlessly into the surrounding design. From your browser it can be difficult to determine if content is on-page or is being displayed through an iFrame, but from an SEO or search engine perspective, it is oh-so-evident.

Two iFrame Scenarios: Your Domain and Theirs
As an SEO, under most conditions I would recommend that my clients NOT use iFrames to display text/ content on their pages. In the end, unless there are very specific circumstances, having on-page content is the most beneficial to the website in terms of search engine optimization.

But what does it really mean for SEO? There are two scenarios I would like to discuss here. First of all, when the content displayed in the iFrame is from another site/ domain and secondly, when the content is from the same domain, but a different file.

When the Content is Theirs
This one’s pretty simple. When the content displayed on your site through an iFrame is from another domain, your site does not benefit from this content. Even though it’s being displayed on your pages, it still is being pulled from another source and does not live on your domain. Therefore, your site is not benefiting from the frequently updated and content-rich resource.

When the Content is Yours
A not so simple situation is when the content being displayed is hosted on the main domain, but is being pulled to the pages through an iFrame. If the source URL is a spiderable URL, the crawlers can follow the path and spider the content on the page feeding the iFrame. It’s good that this content is actually on your domain, but the problem is, it’s not actually being attributed to the page it’s being displayed on. Basically, once they enter the iFrame page, web crawlers are not able to fluidly crawl through additional site links.

To Summarize
In the end, it’s really best to include content on-page when it is supposed to be part of that page. It doesn’t do your site any good to have content displayed on your pages, but hosted on another domain, and it stifles optimization and spider ability when iFrames are used to display windows of text from other URLs on your own site.

Money for Designs?

Why Money Shouldn’t Motivate Design.

The more I considered the question above, the more I realized that design has very much become a part of who I am. My point is, work is something that I have to do to survive and design is something I do because I love to. The fact that these two meet appropriately is something to ponder upon. Plus how many people do you know who do what they love?

This realization brought me to the conclusion that money isn’t in fact a primary reason behind my addiction to design. So what are the reasons for this obsession? What are the ends that justify the means?

Creation
Designers, architects, painters, construction workers, sculptors and welders have one thing in common: the act of creating something. We tend to build something, then crack open a beer (or Sprite if you prefer) and just stare at it for a while, not quite ready to move on. The sense of accomplishment and even self-pride is strong in these moments. Whether or not we had fun creating or cursed and spat our way through the entire project, that contemplative outcome is the same.

Learing
As a web designer I have no end to the list of things that I feel that I should be learning. HTML, CSS, Javascript, PHP, Ajax, WordPress development, database management and countless other technologies are enough to make anyone feel overwhelmed. Yet we’re secretly excited as well aren’t we?

People
The last motivating factor that I’ll discuss for design is people. Many designers, though certainly not all, are driven by a love of interaction with other people. As a designer, you help your client express things that they are incapable of expressing on their own as effectively as they can with your aid. Whether they’re selling doughnuts or raising money to cure cancer, helping them gives you a sense of purpose. Some designers unfortunately hate their clients, and for good reason.

While our profession certainly has its hermits, many of us simply love the richness of the human interaction that a creative field brings. The money of course is a much needed source to survive and lets face it who does not love money?

A good web host.

A web hosting company is a company that holds websites, and the information they contain, for an individual or a company. There are a multitude of these companies now available as web hosting and the Internet continue to expand at phenomenal rates. So with all the companies out there, how does one choose which is best for them? When choosing a web hosting company, there are a few things to keep in mind.

A good web hosting company will make sure that they have enough resources available to offer it’s users stability and reliability. This means that they will only take enough customers as their equipment and servers can handle. Bad web hosting companies will just sell as much as they can, without worrying about they kind of service they are providing. This could lead to the customer’s website being down all the time and this in most cases, is unacceptable.

Whichever web hosting site is chosen, the customer needs to make sure that the company has excellent security. This will keep hackers from getting on your site. To do this, make sure that they have back up servers and that the customer is given access to the root menu. Because it is the customer’s website, they should be able to gain access to it at any time.

Any good web hosting company will have much technical help available to the customer. These technicians will maintain the server where the information is kept as well as fix any minor problems before they turn into major ones. A web hosting should at least have a twenty-four hour support service, and may also have live chat services available. A web hosting company that is not as good is one that is often down and not available on weekends.

Stock Photos the pitfall!

When picking up stock pictures for your website don’t be tempted to grab one of the cheaper versions to save a few bucks. The one thing that should determine which size you choose is the size of the area you will be placing the photo into. If you can’t afford a photo that meets your size requirements, find a new photo. Never, under any circumstances, think “oh well, the designer can just make it bigger.” This will lead to a sloppy, pixelated images which alone can dramatically reduce the perceived quality of the design.

Well as for me, my reputation and the quality of work I promise to deliver, I have never be afraid to stand up and tell the client that a given image simply won’t work because of size restrictions. Since I have been hired as an expert and have an obligation to the client to point out any big mistakes they are asking me to make on their behalf. I take tome to explain that a low resolution image will just not cut it. Having said this, it is always better to pick up a high resolution image so if you are planning on adding the said image into a brochure your all set.

Few points to remember when picking up stock images

• Try not to use pictures that don’t relate well to your content.
• Overused pictures.
• Imagery that looks outdated or non-professional.

To sum up, when you are in a situation where you must use stock imagery, make sure you do so with extreme care. Take the time to find the right piece of art and to make it even better using advanced, professional Photoshop techniques.

Useful Stock Images & Photos

www.photolibrary.com
www.istockphoto.com

Ideal size for your Web Site?

It’s one of the oldest questions in the book: what browser size should I design my website for? Do I cater to people running lower resolutions such as 800×600, do I think my visitors want a wider layout like 1024×768, or do I think my visitors surf on a movie screen? Well, they probably aren’t going to be surfing on a movie screen, and chances are that they’re running something higher than 800×600. How about I stop with these generalizations and give you some useful info? How about a pretty chart?

According to the W3school, less than 8% of the web is using an 800×600 resolution. You can debate those numbers and say that the information gathered by w3schools is biased toward those more inclined towards technology. Ah Nerds, and you’d be absolutely right. Whether or not you trust the numbers given by w3schools, you’re going to be hard-pressed to find statistics indicating 800×600 accounts for anything close to significant.

If 800×600 is insignificant, why even question what size to build by? Because even though it’s not a large percentage, it’s still a percentage. Let’s say you run an ecommerce site, and you get 1,000 hits a day. That small percentage is now 50 people per day, 50 people who may or may not buy something from you. Hopefully you’ll see the value in 50 potential customers per day, and try to accommodate them.

Unless you are either psychic or have a really impressive statistic program, you’re not going to get accurate numbers on what size your users are browsing with. Even resolution statistics aren’t an accurate metric because it would have to be assumed that all users are running a full screen browser, which simply is not true.

Then what do you do?

Create a resolution-independent site that uses percentages rather than absolute values. Well I know you going to tell me about the design the client choose and all of that but we do have to keep in mind those 8%. So I say use a site your content chooses that best displays it. However if its more of the appeal your looking for then hey go with the flow.

Twitter or Litter

Taking a break from web & graphic design I decided to do a comic strip to lighten the atmosphere. A slight take on ‘Twitter’ titled ‘Litter’

Well I know I didn’t spend enough time on a suitable title but with all that twittering going on it just seemed apt for the moment.

Logos & Mistakes made!

Common mistakes when designing a logo

With the power of the Web, and more eyes watching than ever, it’s important for a business to communicate its unique message clearly. The easiest way to recognize a company and distinguish it from others is by its logo.

Designed By An Amateur
A professional business should look professional. New business owners often invest a lot of time and money in property and equipment, but do not often match it by investing suitably in their logo.

Here are the most common reasons why many logos look amateurish:

• The business owner wanted to save money by designing the logo quickly themselves.
• A friend or relative who claims to know a little about graphic design does it as a favor.
• The wrong people are commissioned. (Local printers are not likely proficient in logo design.)
• The business outsourced the job via one of several design competition websites, which are mostly populated by amateur designers.
• The job was given to an online company that offers really cheap logos.
• Remember if your logo looks amateurish, then so will your business. 

Here are the advantages of hiring an established and professional logo designer:

• Your logo will be unique and memorable. 
• You won’t run into any problems down the line with reproducing it.
• Your logo will have a longer lifespan and won’t need to be redesigned in a couple of years.
• Your logo will look professional.

Secure Social Media Success

Get Going
It's easy to decide you want a social media campaign and then get distracted and delayed- social media marketing will rarely be a business essential. But you must not put it off, your competitors won't. Get planning, get prepared, and get going.

Get Prepared
OK, so you're socializing online and suddenly someone launches an attack against your brand, what do you do?

By using platforms such as Twitter, you lay yourself more open to attack through these mediums- it's easier for angry customers to leave negative comments publicly, for example. Of course, they would possibly be doing so anyway, but if you're actively promoting your brand through social media, than you're also probably searching for mentions, so you'll probably see any comments sooner.

So, work out a strategy. If you see a negative mention, will you refute it? Use legal threats to silence it? Ignore it? Respond to it as though it's any other customer complaint? Whatever you decide, have a strategy in place in advance so that you aren't left scrambling when the situation arises.

Get Blogging
There are many ways to socialize online but blogging is definitely my favorite. It's great for SEO because it encourages inbound links and also fills your pages with naturally keyword-rich content.

Get Tweeting
Twitter is an excellent marketing platform, although it admittedly can be hard to do well. However, there are some easy wins to be had on Twitter: it's less time consuming than a blog, but it has the same potential to massively expand brand awareness.
 

Get Some Perspective
Before you start trying to use social media, work out what it is you want to achieve. There's no point spending time and money interacting online if you don't have a clear idea what it is you hope to get out of it?

Get Talking
Social media is just that -- social. It isn't a one-way street. You need to be having conversations online if you want to gain followers, fans, and readers.

So get socializing.

Stay motivated by keeping your goals in sight and monitoring your success.

Optimized for Bing?

Since Microsoft and Yahoo reached an agreement to merge their search services in hopes of finally being able to compete with the grand search overlord, Google. What does all this mean for small business owners? Well, keep an eye on your Yahoo rankings because they have sure changed since Yahoo search engine has been replaced by Bing.

Here are five easy ways to get Bing to notice you:

The older, the better. Bing places a lot of emphasis on the age of a domain, so if you're just starting out, you might consider buying an older domain in order to get your site a higher ranking.

Titles are important. Bing seems to place a lot more emphasis on title tags than Google does, so make sure you use your best keywords in the title tags of every page on your site.

Text is terrific. For Google, the amount of text you have on a web page doesn't play a huge role. Not so with Bing, which seems to place a higher value on pages that have at least 300 words.

Outbound links are OK. Google has always seemed to frown on the number of outbound links you have on a page. But Bing actually seems to like them--at least for now.

Backlinks are even better. If you're frustrated because all of your efforts to get links pointing to your site haven't gotten you anywhere with Google, then good news! When it comes to backlinks, Bing's attitude seems to "the more, the merrier"--as long as the links are coming from relevant sites.

So get out there and don’t leave Bing at the back door. Bear in mind that this is a huge change, and will take months to fully take effect.

Clear Your Cache!

Often referred to as the Cache, the Temporary Internet Files folder contains a kind of travel record of the items you have seen, heard, or downloaded from the Web, including images, sounds, Web pages, even cookies. Typically these items are stored in the Temporary Internet Files folder. Storing these files in your cache can make browsing the Web faster because it usually takes your computer less time to display a Web page when it can call up some of the page's elements or even the entire page from your local Temporary Internet Files folder.

Clearing Your Browser's Cache:

All those files stored in your cache take up space, so from time to time; you may want to clear out the files stored in your cache to free up some space on your computer. This is called clearing the cache.

More Speed or More Room? But at what cost!

If you tend to go online a lot and have ample space on your computer, you might want to increase the size of your Temporary Internet Files folder. Why? Because Internet Explorer 6 will read already-viewed files from the cache first rather than take the time to download the same page from the Web, thus saving you time and money.

However from a web developer’s point of view this sometimes is a bit of a problem. Why? For a simple reason, the client can not view the updated changes.

Hence a simple tip, if at all you’re client is viewing his website for Internet Explorer 6 you may want to illustrate this: 

Keep the 'Ctrl' button on your keyboard pressed while you hit 'Refresh' on your IE bar. This calls the updated page from the server and not the Cache. Well and lets say avoid the miscommunication and those email that can go back and forth as to ‘why aren’t the change done yet’.

Web Statistics! Which one?

I have been proposing Google Analytics to some of my customers and the common question is ‘why’? Ok! There is some sort of discrepancy between the way Google Analytics and AWStats calculate visits. Firstly let me explain what a unique visitor is. I recommend two popular free tools for stats, and recommend to use them in tandem to enable you to look at your web stats from different angles.  AWStats (which is typically installed on a server) and Google Analytics (which is hosted).

The aim of the measure of 'unique visitors' is to help find out how many individuals have visited the site - i.e. how many new visitors the website has attracted.  It might sound easy, but in reality, it is not all that scientific.

What you'll notice about these tools is that they both define "unique visitors" in different ways.  In fact many log analysis tools do differ in the way they approach the situation.

AWStats according to the documentation defines Unique Visitors as:

'Unique Visitor' - These are the total number of visits by a unique IP address. In summary AWStats simply calculates a total for this from the log files. 

Google Analytics on the other hand has two metrics, measuring both by percentage:

'Absolute Unique Visitors' - tracking each user's first visit, and;
'New vs. Returning' - by tracking subsequent visits

Favicon.ico What???

I had received an email from a client subject reading ‘little-thing before my domain name’ 

What is a Favicon?

A Favicon (short for favourites icon), also known as a website icon, shortcut icon, URL, icon, or bookmark icon is a 16×16, 32×32 or 64×64 pixel square icon associated with a particular website or webpage.

Creating a Favicon.
Create an image 16 x 16 pixels in size. Yes, it is really small and you can't really draw much in it. You should also restrict yourself to the standard Windows 16 colours, although I feel that 256 colours work fine.

If you like, you can also create a 32 x 32 pixel icon, which will be scaled to size for the Favourites menu and the location bar. You can even put both 16 x 16 and 32 x 32 pixel icons into the same icon file. Windows will use the former for its menus and the latter when the user opens up a folder that is set to display large icons. It's probably not really necessary to do this if you can't be bothered.

Save the image as an ICO file (named "favicon.ico").

Upload it to your website. You don't need to upload one to every directory of your site if you don't want to waste space, simply put it in your root directory and the web browsers that support Favicons will apparently locate it eventually.