Archive for the ‘websites’ Category

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Podcast episode 045 entitled Web Design Standards and IE8 provides an update on the pendiing release of the new Internet Explorer version 8, or IE8, and the impact on small business websites. Information includes a history of announcements about IE8 and the delayed release as improvements are made, plus my comparison of compliance and compatibility. Here’s the outline for today’s program:

0:00:00 Podcast Theme Music and Introduction
0:00:45 Main Topic – Web Design Standards and IE8
0:11:21 Tip of the Day – Resource for Testing Site Display in IE8
0:12:54 Podcast Outro Theme Music and Credits
0:13:24 End of Small Business Website Mailbag Podcast 045

Referenced links:
IE8 browser site display testing resource with JPG screenshots
IE8 official blog and compatibility view blog post

The tip of the day describes the IE8 display test on a high speed server for viewing the actual display to test your website pages without downloading the IE8 BETA, and before the release of the production version of Internet Explorer 8. You may test older versions of IE including IE5.5, IE6, the current IE7, and IE8.

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Podcast episode 044 entitled Web Design Templates Compared comes after a web design review earlier this week for a client interested in custom graphics, and perhaps matching web graphics to upgrade the look of their small business web design. Their site gets very little traffic, and results of their recent attempt at search engine optimization, or seo, has been less than ideal. Here’s the outline for today’s program:

• Free Web Design Templates Review
• Standard Commercial Website Templates
• Custom Web Design Templates and SEO
• Web Design Skills Combined with Graphic Art
• Dynamic CMS Web Design vs Static Site Templates
• Website Quick Tip of the Day – Web Design Navigation and Usability

0:00:00 Podcast Theme Music and Introduction
0:00:45 Main Topic – Web Design Templates Compared
0:11:49 Tip of the Day – Web Design Navigation and Usability
0:14:43 Podcast Outro Theme Music and Credits
0:15:13 End of Small Business Website Mailbag Podcast 044

Referenced links:
CMS Template Outline and Ebook on my main site

The tip of the day explains the strategy of web design navigation and usability using a tree structure of internal links. Having your home page as the tree trunk with major branches linked from each page, and then subpages with expanded topics, allows site owners to easily grow their site. The web design and seo concept of “add original quality content often” that I recommend is easier to visualize using this tree structure for website navigation.

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Show Notes
Podcast episode 043 entitled Website Visitor System Stats comes after a question earlier this week about my choice of standard web page design width, and the importance of knowing visitor behavior. By viewing website visitor system stats your web design can keep up with the needs of the majority of website visitors. Using free stats tracking allows site owners to determine the browser brands and most common screen monitor width of their site visitors. Here’s the outline for today’s program:

• Visitor Browser Brands and Screen Monitor Size Intro
• Tracking Visitor Stats and Web Design Strategy
• Review of my Visitors’ Browser Brands and Screen Size Stats
• Browser Brand and Web Design Cross Browser Compatibility
• Visitor Screen Monitor Size and Evolution of Web Design
• Website Quick Tip of the Day – Online Resource for Testing Page Display

0:00:00 Podcast Theme Music and Introduction
0:00:45 Main Topic – Website Visitor System Stats
0:09:32 Tip of the Day – Online Resource for Testing Page Display
0:11:52 Podcast Outro Theme Music and Credits
0:12:22 End of Small Business Website Mailbag Podcast 043

Referenced links:
Online Resource for Testing Page Display from BrowserShots.org

Referenced statistics from this podcast episode:
Browser Brand Usage of Visitors to My Site

34.0% FireFox3
27.4% MSIE7
17.0% MSIE6
07.0% Safari
06.6% FireFox2
03.0% Chrome
02.2% Netscape
01.6% Camino
01.2% MSIE Older
01.0% Opera

Monitor Screen Size of Visitors to My Site

37.10% 1024×768
33.47% 1280×1024
22.58% Unknown
04.03% 1152×864
02.02% 800×600
00.81% 1600×1200

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This podcast episode 042 entitled Healthy Web Design Checkup provides advice for small business website owners to check the quality of their web design for search engine optimization, or SEO. Topics cover a comparison of healthy and unhealthy designs, and how to avoid problems. Here’s the outline for today’s program:

• Why Web Designs Need an Annual Checkup
• Case Study Uncovering an Unhealthy Web Design
• Question to Test Web Designer SEO Knowledge
• Update on Another Zero Traffic Custom Web Design
• Advice When it Comes to Changing Web Designers
• Website Quick Tip of the Day – Web Design Online Project Management

0:00:00 Podcast Theme Music and Introduction
0:00:45 Main Topic – Healthy Web Design Checkup
0:11:26 Tip of the Day – Web Design Online Project Management
0:16:11 Podcast Outro Theme Music and Credits
0:16:41 End of Small Business Website Mailbag Podcast 042

Referenced links:
PDF website comparison report of healthy and unhealthy web designs (pdf, 197kb, 2 pages)
Online project management services from TeamWorkPM.net

The tip of the day provides advice and a review of small business owner online services for project management including a review of the service I use at TeamWorkPM.net. A successful web design depends on good communication between the client and web designer, and online project management is an affordable and easy tool to use.

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Show Notes
This podcast episode 040 entitled Site That Answers One Question is about the strategy of having your website answer one question. A site that does that very well is Twitter.com, and today’s episode introduces the Twitter social network site and a few of the many talented professionals working in web design related businesses. Here is the outline for today’s program:

• Web Design Strategy of a Website to Answer One Question
• Introduction to Twitter’s Question “What Are You Doing?”
• More Insight Into Twitter Social Networking
• Commercial Value of Twitter Real or Imaginary?
• Advanced Features, Tutorials, and Twitter Advice
• Website Quick Tip of the Day – Twitter Goldmine for Blog Post Ideas

0:00:00 Podcast Theme Music and Introduction
0:00:45 Main Topic – Site That Answers One Question
0:11:10 Tip of the Day – Twitter Goldmine for Blog Post Ideas
0:13:45 Podcast Outro Theme Music and Credits
0:14:15 End of Small Business Website Mailbag Podcast 040

Referenced links:

tywebbin Twitter id for Ty of TyWebbin.com
lchad Twitter id for Linda Chadbourne of Maine-ly Web Design
snickers1 Twitter id for Nicki Hicks of Maine-SEO.com
jdegerstrom Twitter id for Jim Degerstrom, your podcast host

The quick tip of the day highlights one of the many benefits of joining Twitter and addresses ideas for small business bloggers. Imagine easily interacting with 100′s of people in your industry to stay on top of current trends, and then developing blog posts based on real time market needs. To get a feel for the informal nature of Twitter, follow the profile links in the show notes to some current member home pages.

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Show Notes
This podcast episode 039 entitled Web Design Captcha Security takes readers through the maze of CAPTCHA security options and pitfalls, and provides an overview of spam and anti-spam efforts. The battle to prevent spambots from posting or entering malicious data on websites includes the latest strategy to circumvent CAPTCHA that may be impossible to solve. Here is the outline for today’s program:

• Introduction to the CAPTCHA Method of Web Design Security
• Applications for Web Design CAPTCHA Security
• Evolution of Visual CAPTCHA Techniques
• Exploits in Circumventing CAPTCHA Security in Web Design
• The Ultimate Spammer Method to Circumvent CAPTCHA
• Website Quick Tip of the Day – Response to Client with CAPTCHA and Getting Spam

0:00:00 Podcast Theme Music and Introduction
0:00:45 Main Topic – Web Design Captcha Security
0:12:30 Tip of the Day – Response to Client with CAPTCHA and Getting Spam
0:13:39 Podcast Outro Theme Music and Credits
0:14:09 End of Small Business Website Mailbag Podcast 039

Referenced links:
The Official CAPTCHA website to learn more about CAPTCHA

The quick tip of the day includes part of a reply to one of my custom web design clients who still gets spam despite having CAPTCHA installed, and an alternate solution for interacting with website visitors.

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Show Notes
This podcast episode 038 entitled Web Design Rights and DMCA provides information, education, and warnings about the implications of the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, as well as an action plan in the event of DMCA violations. As in any situation with legal implications, listeners must not rely on the general information being provided here, and are encouraged to seek the legal advice of an attorney if an out of court resolution cannot be achieved. Here is the outline for today’s program:

• Web Design Ownership and Intellectual Property Rights
• Intro to 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, or DMCA
• Actual Case of DMCA Web Design Violation and Resolution
• Website DMCA Takedown Notice Request Procedure
• More Extreme Action for Web Design DMCA Violations
• Website Quick Tip of the Day – DMCA Web Design Violations and Search Engines

0:00:00 Podcast Theme Music and Introduction
0:00:45 Main Topic – Web Design Rights and DMCA
0:11:46 Tip of the Day – DMCA Web Design Violations and Search Engines
0:13:00 Podcast Outro Theme Music and Credits
0:13:30 End of Small Business Website Mailbag Podcast 038

Referenced links:
Digital Millennium Copyright Act article on Wikipedia
DMCA Violation Takedown Notice filing advice and text template

Using the creative intellectual property of others in your web design in violation of the law as spelled out in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act may be reported to search engines, also. In addition to legal costs and damages, the tip of the day discusses the potential for search engine penalties for DMCA copyright violations. The secret of web design and search engine optimization is still add original quality content often, and that word “original” is especially important.

Sep 7 Update: The podcast prediction of potential consequences already happened in the case study of a DMCA violation. Read the blog post Getting a Website Instantly Banned and view evidence including screenshots to learn more.

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Show Notes
This podcast episode 037 entitled Web Design Email Link Tutorial provides website owners a tutorial for avoiding spam with advice for website links. Advanced features in the email tutorial and pdf download include cloaking methods with working javascript and html code for protecting email links in your website design.

Note: Like some podcast episodes, listeners may want to download the PDF tutorial and follow along while listening to the audio as they view the text and code examples. Here is the outline for today’s program:

• Web Design and the Risk from Email Spammers
• Case Study of Realtor Website Spam Problem and Solution
• Range of Web Design Options for Email Spam Protection
• Javascript Option to Cloak Website Email Links
• Web Design Email Tutorial PDF Download Review
• Website Quick Tip of the Day – Procedure to Report Email Spammers

0:00:00 Podcast Theme Music and Introduction
0:00:45 Main Topic – Web Design Email Link Tutorial
0:10:11 Tip of the Day – Procedure to Report Email Spammers
0:11:16 Podcast Outro Theme Music and Credits
0:11:46 End of Small Business Website Mailbag Podcast 037

Referenced links:
Web Design PDF download of the free Email Link Tutorial (pdf, 4 pages, 105kb)
* Note: Right click to download the tutorial or left click to open and view in a new window
Link to ASCII Converter online tool and alternate method of cloaking an email address

The free pdf email tutorial download includes javascript code for copy and paste with step by step instructions for adding this advanced email protection to your small business web design. You do not have to register or provide an email address to get your copy of this web design email link tutorial. Right click on the link to “save as”, or left click to view online now.

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Show Notes
This podcast episode 036 entitled Web Developer Tools Review is about FireFox extensions that add functions with web developer tools for testing website design quality. In addition, other options allow instant review of web design page size and structure. Here is the outline for today’s program:

• Reasons to Download FireFox and Other Website Browsers
• Introduction to Extensions for the FireFox Browser
• Overview of FireFox Web Developer Toolbar for Web Design
• Tab Options for Miscellaneous, Outline, Resize, and Tools
• Analyzing Toolbar Information to Enhance a Web Design
• Website Quick Tip of the Day – SearchStatus 1.2x PageRank Tool Review

0:00:00 Podcast Theme Music and Introduction
0:00:45 Main Topic – Web Developer Tools Review
0:11:32 Tip of the Day – SearchStatus 1.2x PageRank Tool Review
0:13:40 Podcast Outro Theme Music and Credits
0:14:10 End of Small Business Website Mailbag Podcast 036

Referenced links:
FireFox Web Developer Toolbar download for website testing
Microsoft IE DOM Explorer Toolbar Internet Explorer alternate web developer toolbar
SearchStatus Add-on for Google PageRank button and Alexa

The graphic inserted below is from the FireFox web developer extension, and is for listeners to view during the review of these 4 menu options for web design related testing.

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Show Notes
This podcast episode 034 entitled Web Design Age and PageRank follows questions by a listener about web design performance measurements. PageRank is a Google trademark for their method of ranking website pages on a scale of 1 to 10. Here is the outline for today’s program:

• Introduction to Google PageRank and Web Designs
• Observation of Forum Discussions About SEO and PageRank
• Alexa Toolbar Measurement of Page Popularity
• Affect of Website Age for Attracting Search Engines
• Importance of Quality Content Web Design and Website Age
• Website quick tip of the day – PDF Web Design and DIY SEO EBook Release

0:00:00 Podcast Theme Music and Introduction
0:00:45 Main Topic – Web Design Age and PageRank
0:10:30 Tip of the Day – PDF Web Design and DIY SEO EBook Release
0:12:19 Podcast Outro Theme Music and Credits
0:12:49 End of Small Business Website Mailbag Podcast 034

Referenced links:
URL Trends stats tracking of PageRank and backlinks
FireFox Web Developer Toolbar download for website testing
Microsoft IE DOM Explorer Toolbar download for website testing

The quick tip of the day follows the release today as promised last week of a new 50 page PDF ebook on cms web design and do-it-yourself search engine optimization tutorial. With the finished book, listeners may want to hear my take on the content as it developed and finally completed this week. Positive search engine traffic continues to grow, so the tip of the day includes comments and evidence the seo methods achieve positive results.