Wordpress Web Design and Fresh Content
Posted by Beth Still on October, 14th 2009If you have a business but have not yet dipped your toes in the blogging pool, it is definitely something worth considering. Incorporating a blog into your web design can be very beneficial to your business because you will consistently be providing fresh content for prospective customers to find in web searches. Blogging allows your customers to get to know you as a person and gives you the chance to express your passion for what it is that you are selling. It can give you a real competitive edge if you can show readers that you are an expert in your field. Blogging is a good way to incorporate personal customer service into your website by talking about issues and questions about your product or field. Your customers can leave tips, comments,
Spotting a Phisher
Posted by Beth Still on October, 13th 2009The October 7 FBI arrest of 33 people for phishing, (the criminally fraudulent process of attempting to acquire sensitive information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication, per Wikipedia) has caused web design companies and users to become more conscientious about the possibility of their email accounts and websites being hacked (accessed without authorization). Once your email is hacked, there can be a domino effect that will impact other areas of your online “life”.
The fact is, many people use the same password or variations on a password for all or most of their online accounts like social networks, banks, IMs, etc. This makes a phisher’s work a whole lot easier; it’s like giving him/her the master key to your front door and all of
Windows 7 – Save the Date
Posted by Beth Still on October, 13th 2009The buzz among the web design community and those who have had the privilege of playing with beta versions of Windows 7, is that it is a vast improvement on Vista (okay, not too hard to accomplish) and even has the potential to win XP lovers over. Microsoft has apparently worked out a lot of the bugs that were prevalent in Vista and makes it look all pretty to boot.
Some enhancements of note:
• Improved search functions (faster, more accurate)
• Speed of programs and internet browsers
• Photoshop editing software
• New ways to manage and organize applications, open documents, and Web pages
• System stability
• 40 new fonts
In the U.K., users will have to choose which Internet browser they want to use via a “browser ballot” screen. This has all come about because of a lawsuit in the EU
Agile v Waterfall Method of Software Development
Posted by Beth Still on October, 11th 2009For a long time, developers have followed the “waterfall” method of software development in various forms. The “waterfall” method is a chronological software development method in which progress is viewed as flowing progressively downward (like a waterfall) through the phases of conception → initiation → analysis of requirements → web design → development/coding → testing → installation → maintenance. Each phase must be completed and signed off on before proceeding to the next step. The theory behind the waterfall method of development is that it is easier to fix bugs in, for example, the design phase rather than in a later phase. It also assumes that by the time the project reaches the developers, it is pretty much perfect and ready to be coded as written.
In 2001, Agile came up with a different
Twitter – What is it Good For?
Posted by Beth Still on October, 8th 2009When I first started hearing of “Twitter”, I wondered who in the world would (a) be interested in what I was doing every second of the day, and (b) take the time to blog up-to-but-no-more-than 140 characters about what they were doing every second. First I started hearing of celebrities (admittedly “B” and “C” list) who were tweeting to their fans who signed up as “followers” and apparently WERE interested in the minutiae of their favorite celebs’ lives. And by minutiae, I mean things like “I have a rash that is driving me crazy”, or “I am about to eat a tuna fish sandwich and maybe a couple of chips”.
I still couldn’t wrap my mind around the concept. Still couldn’t see it catching on. I now see that I couldn’t have been more wrong. Admittedly, I
Opera Browser 10.0
Posted by Beth Still on October, 5th 2009My curiosity about the Opera Browser has been piqued by the buzz about the release of Opera 10.0, released this month. So I decided to investigate it myself and see if it lives up to the hype. It is billed as “the smallest and fastest browser in the world” and is a product of Opera Software in Oslo, Norway. In this article I’m going to discuss the buzz, the specs, and the press releases. After I have used Opera for awhile, I’ll be writing about how it differs from other browsers and giving my opinion on it.
The licensing fees and banner ads have been removed, and Opera is now a free download. Per the web design W3Schools, the newest features are:
• Opera Turbo – Enables fast browsing on slow connections
• New visual tabs
Web Design Jobs
Posted by Beth Still on October, 2nd 2009If you are both artsy and a bit of a computer geek, you may have a future in web design. Web design jobs can be very lucrative if you commit yourself to learning the tools of the trade. So what tools and skills do you need to get a web design job? One is creativity and basic artistic ability; some design schools require students to take basic art classes before ever touching programs such as Photoshop and Illustrator.
Many people in web design jobs know some programming languages like HTML, C, Perl, PGP, Java, Flash, and/or ColdFusion. The Adobe software suite is the most widely used, so take the time to learn these applications. Take classes, read books, do whatever it takes for you to learn how to use Adobe. Dreamweaver
Facebook Connect Goes Mobile
Posted by Beth Still on September, 30th 2009Facebook Connect was launched in part to replace the ill-fated Facebook Beacon, which caused great alarm because it tracked and gathered users’ information from third-party sites and then shared it with the users’ Facebook friends without their consent. For instance, if you bought something from Fandango.com or Overstock.com, your Facebook friends would be notified of this purchase whether you wanted to share this information with them or not. A lawsuit ensued, and earlier this month Facebook announced that they are shutting down Beacon.
With Facebook Connect, website users will be able to authenticate, connect their account in a trusted environment, and maintain control of any and all permissions. Facebook users’ personal information and privacy settings will follow them wherever they go on the web. Facebook Connect allows outside applications to access a user’s profile information when they
Google Services for Websites
Posted by Beth Still on September, 29th 2009Earlier this year, Google introduced a new package of tools designed to help web design specialists / hosts improve their own sites and to pass on to their customers. Let’s take a look at the new tools and how they can help your business.
Webmaster tools
• Help make sites more Google and SEO friendly
• Optimize search engine crawling
• Show Google’s view of any site
• Help to diagnose problems
• Improve site visibility in Google search results
• Enhance and increase traffic to your site
• Automatically inform Google when you update your pages
• Show how users are reaching your site
Custom Search and Site Search
• Offers search functionality on one or more websites or specific web pages
• Embeds search directly on website
• Customizes look and feel of results to match their sites
• Displays relevant ads alongside search results
Catch the Google Wave
Posted by Beth Still on September, 28th 2009Those smart folks at Google are about to unleash a new communication platform called the Wave in web developer preview mode. So what is Wave? Basically, it is part document and part hosted conversation. Wave is live. Wave is shared.
In Google Wave you create a Wave and add contacts to it. Everyone on your Wave can see anything you post, even feeds from other sources on the web. They can reply to your message or edit the wave directly. If they have Wave open concurrently with you, they will see on their screen what you are typing in your wave almost instantly. Therefore, Google Wave functions as an IM application, allowing your contacts to see what you type, character by character without your ever having to hit a “send”