“If this doesn’t work in IE6, I simply don’t care.”

This whole business of letting ppl use old browsers, mainly IE 6 is just really distressing. Why can’t Microsoft just automatically disable the old browsers, once the new ones come in effect. I hear IE 8 is out already. Meanwhile, we have ppl using IE6, STILL! There has got to be a better way of getting people to upgrade and keeping up with the times. It would make the web designers life so much easier, not to spend hours trying to figure out how to get it to show perfectly in IE 6 (all for that random 3 or 4 visitors that will visit the site using IE 6, or better yet the owner themselves).

Recently I came across great new, on Jonathan Hedley’s site.

Starting on or about the third week of April, users still running IE6 or IE7 on Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003, or Windows Server 2008 will get will get a notification through Automatic Update about IE8. This rollout will start with a narrow audience and expand over time to the entire user base. On Windows XP and Server 2003, the update will be High-Priority.

Users can decline the update, and Corporate IT groups can block it, but this is a promising move to bring users up to date, and so to increase web-development efficiency.

I also came across “Grow up already and throw IE6 away!”. Fantastic article, with show and tell pictures, by Janko Jovanovic (my inspiring title is one of his quotes).

If you are reading this and haven’t updated your browser, please do that. No good can come of using old browsers that don’t support half all the graphic savvy stuff we can do online these days. You’re missing the good stuff. Get that upgrade. Click here

Interesting SEO factbits

I’ve been extremly busy lately and keep thinking to myself, ”I really should post some of my interesting findings!’. Been getting a lot of questions about SEO, and incidentally I came across a great article that breaks it down it simple words. Excellent read for clients who don’t have much understanding of web works.

The article below is by Kurt D. Lynn, founder, cofounder, or senior executive of half a dozen enterprises in both the U.S. and Canada.

________***SEO***________

So Why All The Hubbub?

The excitement seems to be around the notion that SEO means “free advertising”, that it means, if you do it right, millions of people will be clicking through to your site willy-nilly having found you on some search engine and then will immediately do business with you. And behind all that excitement are thousands of overnight SEO “experts” that, variously, all claim to … (pick one):

• Have SEO secrets that will help you get an unfair advantage over the next guy;
• Guarantee you a first-page listing for an incredibly low monthly rate;
• Provide hundreds of high page rank sites that will link to your site;
• Give you 5/10/20 quick tips to immediately improve your rankings;
• Tell you what Google/MSN/Yahoo doesn’t want you to know about SEO;
• Tell you that whatever SEO you’re doing is all wrong; or
• Some other variant of the above.

To some extent, this notion of “free advertising” is not altogether inaccurate. SEO can result in your site being found – free of charge – and it can result in traffic to your site that may, in fact, result in new business. But the reality of SEO is not quite that simple.

SEO Is Far From “FREE”

SEO takes work… often, hard work. For those that aren’t familiar with what’s involved in SEO, below is a líst of some of the typical activities that (as the CREST commercials used to say) “when applied in a conscientious program of regular professional care” will result in higher search engine rankings.

• Researching and selecting keywords that are truly relevant to your desired audience;
• Researching competition for desired keywords;
• Researching and analyzing competitive websites;
• Re-writing and restructuring your website to address desired keywords, to be more accessible by search engine “crawlers”, to have appropriate label meta tags, headings, and inter-page links;
• Create a program to build links to your site from other sites (directories, exchanged links,article marketing, etc.)
• Create a program to keep content on your site regularly refreshed and synchronized with all the above.
• Regularly (daily or weekly) monitor all the search engines and your competitors positions

SEO Is Not Easy

Doesn’t quite sound as easy as some people suggest does it? That’s because it’s not. And it’s all the more complicated when you realize that every site on that first page, and on the second and third, is trying to do the same thing – but against you! You boost your rank above them. They go to work and boost their site back above yours. And so on and so on… It’s a war and the SEO “experts” are the arms dealers.

Your Goals And Those Of The Search Engine May Be Different

If you’re going to pay good money for SEO, it may also be worthwhile to keep in mind that search engines don’t necessarily have a goal of making you the most findable site on the web. The bottom line for them is making sure that their users find what they are looking for. Satisfying that requirement may mean that you don’t and should not come up first. Google is the number one search engine for a reason: Google users get results they want. Those may not be the results you want.

Short Term and Long Term

In the short run, there may be some serious benefits from investing in SEO to boost your search engine rankings. In the long run, however, there’s probably not much you can do beyond a certain point. Frankly, if you have a finite budget, altering the basic nature of your site and trying to boost how valuable your site is to others (as represented by links to your site) can only be taken so far. After a point, the perfect market characteristics of the search engine will prevail.

Balance SEO With Other Forms Of Traffic Generation

What this means is: yes, do make sure you do the essential SEO necessary to optimize your rankings in search engines. But do it in the context of an overall marketing program. Definitely use SEO to ensure that you get a fair and accurate appraisal by search engines. But also invest in other non-SEO lead-generation methods to bring traffic to your site and business to your table.

Above all, measure the results of your SEO and non-SEO activities carefully and frequently. When SEO reaches the point of diminishing returns, cut the rate in which you invest in it and boost your reliance on non-SEO marketing to reach your goals. In the long run, traditional non-SEO marketing may just be the most reliable and consistent way to boost traffíc to your site.

CSS Tools that’ll make life easy!

Sometimes, CSS can be such a complicated thing, making sure it works on different browsers, fixing that darn IE bug, and just generally making sure it all works properly. This can be especially annoying if you are a newbie to CSS. But give it a chance, you will love it!
Below are a few tools I came across that will be easier on you and your time!

1. CSS Template Generator – with Source Code

2. YAML Builder

3. CSS Rounded Box Generator

4. WordPress Theme Generator

5. CSS Tidy

6. CSS Compressor- Use this utility to compress your CSS to increase loading speed and save on bandwidth as well.

7. Firebug- If you aren’t using this, now would be a good time to start

8. Aardvark- This is by far one of my faves from Firefox, because it enables you to fix template problems by combing through the layout.

9. CSS Layouts

10. Collaborative Javascript Debugging

There’s more where this came from! Check out 60 CSS Tools.

YUI Grids CSS, makes web easier?

I was assigned to redo a certain section of a certain site today (from scratch) and so I proceeded to look up with is the best and easiest way to get this done in little time. So I used Stumbleupon and came across this…YUI Grids CSS

For those of you not aware of what this is, it makes all layouts look the same in different browsers. It fixes the margin issues between browsers and it also makes the fonts look the same (gasp!), making things look consistent.

To get a feel for it, I downloaded a free layout online that was built on these guidelines, so I could examine the layout more closely. When I first looked at the CSS files, I was like…”what the!?!?”. It made so much more sense (unlike me who thought I could just ‘figure it out’ and wasted half a day, scratching my head..eeeep). I suggest you read about YUI here before you venture using it. I like how theres code for various screen sizes etc. If you have time watch the 42 minute video on it as well. Play around with the YUI Grids Builder.

Some pretty neat stuff happening here, esp for people with little to no experience with CSS. The verdict about this? I am not fully sold on it yet, it all sounds great and all, but it involves so many numbers and its all in “em”s as opposed to pixels. I think I might try it out on one site and go from there. It certainly has a lot to offer. Also check out the YUI blog. It has a bunch of cool stuff you can do with YUI. Yay Yahooo!

I would love to hear if any of you use YUI (or not) and why? What are your experiences? Please share.:)

6 sites with really interesting header graphics!

Some really cool motion going on in the image. Excellent graphics.

I really like this toaster idea, especially the ornamental design. Love it!!!

Extremely different, needle in a teddybear. Neat background.

Very nice side bar. Inspirational.

The wood texture has been done quite a bit, but not quite like this...

Fantastic use of graphics. A little too much even...maybe, but still really good!

IE 6’s Double-Margin Bug

There’s some valuable information on ther web about CSS and the various bugs going around with the different browsers. For me this was always a big issue. So I would turn to Pookey and he would fix it. As easy as it was, I couldn’t help feeling I had to figure this out for myself!

For those who are unfamiliar with the “Double-Margin Bug”, if you float an element and then procede to add margins in the same direction as the float, Internet Explorer 6 will double the value. For example, A left margin of “10px” becomes “20px” in IE6. Well how do you fix this?

Why not try the underscore hack?
The Underscore Hack is a useful looking CSS hack. IE/Win ignores an underscore (_) at the beginning of any CSS property name, interpreting the declaration as if the underscore wasn’t there. Other browsers do not recognise the property and ignore the declaration.

#sidebar {
position: fixed;
_position: absolute;
}

Modern browsers will cycle through these properties. When they come to the underscore, they’ll skip the style entirely. On the flip side, IE6 will ignore the underscore and implement the new margins.

In addition to this there are other ways to avoid this. Such as…

Change The Display To Inline
The easiest solution, change the display property of your element.

#floatElement {
display: inline;
float: left;
margin-left: 100px;
}

Use Conditional Comments
Use conditional Comments to target different web browsers.

!–[if lt IE 6]>
<link rel=”stylesheet” type=”text/css” href=”ie6.css” />
<![endif]–>

In layman’s terms, this code is saying, “If a visitor to your page is using Internet Explorer 6 or lower, import a stylesheet called “ie6.css”. As a result, modern browsers will ignore this statement. IE 6 and below, on the other hand, will implement the file. Now, in our ie6.css file, we’ll need to add some override styling.

#floatElement {
float: left;
margin-left: 50px;
}

Since we know that IE 6 will double the margins on floated elements, if we reduce the value of the margin by 50%, it will fix our document. This method is particularly appropriate when you have many styles that are targeting IE6 directly. It’s important to contain all of your “hacks” in a centralized location.

Tips, courtesy of Net Tuts and The Underscore Hack

Web Design Company That’s Making a Difference

I have been busy lately, with family over and what not. Rest assured it was a great time! Family always is, never a dull moment.

Last week I came across Electric Current. Who is Electric Current? They are the guys that did my church website and a whole bunch of other ones. Straight from their ‘about us’ section,

Electricurrent is a strategic communications firm that focuses on branding initiatives, design campaigns, websites and information technology. In its twelve-year span, Electricurrent has risen to every occasion, achieving over 40 awards from a multitude of companies and organizations. Electricurrent was honored for two straight years as one of the “Top 10 Christian Places to Work in Canada” by The Bridgeway Foundation and the Canadian Council of Christian Charities (“CCCC”).

They really impressed me with what they stand for and the quality of design. (They also seem to be currently hiring a web developer!) Electric Current has produced work for some high-profile ministries all across the globe (Missions Canada, Alpha Canada and many more).

They also have something called (I love this part!)Advanced Ministry.

…an affordable web and communications solution that enables churches and ministries to build and maintain an effective website, without having to compromise on quality or design.

Some amazing packages for churches or ministries on a budget. Their quality of design is nothing short of Excellent!

I only hope to be at least half of what they are, one day!

Living, Breathing & Eating Design

A nice list of things us designers tend to do. I find a lot of them to be true. Original List from CG Files, I’ve added a few of my own in here.

1. You’ve almost rear-ended the car in front of you because you were analyzing a font on a billboard.
2. You get pissed when a free Photoshop brush you download is less than 1000px in size.
3. You’d rather study the paisley pattern on your boyfriend/girlfriend’s shirt than listen to what he/she has to say.
4. You can use keyboard shortcuts at light speed, blindfolded, but you can’t type a paragraph of text without staring at the keyboard.
5. You’ve had “Software Nightmares,” when you’ve been working way too much.
6. You consider meals, interruptions.
7. You’ve learned your lesson and stopped using the word “final” in any file name when saving.
8. You clean your keyboard more often than you wash your car.
9. You’ve intentionally given up trying to explain your projects to non-designers.
10. You see CMYK and RGB like Neo sees the Matrix.
11. You’d rather organize your desktop than your sock drawer.
12. When you heard that Adobe was acquiring Macromedia, you had a Design Orgasm.
13. When you look at Album art all you see are grunge Photoshop Brushes. (Then you see the album art a couple minutes later)
14. You’ve Photoshopped out a watermark for a comp or mock-up.
15. Everytime you come across an intricately designed site, you must take it apart and figure out how it’s done using the wed developer tools in Firefox.
16. You’ve actually $paid for a font.
17. You’ve totally slaughtered a great design concept because the client thinks he/she knows best. (everyone thinks they are a designer)
18. The amount of words you’ve written with a sharpie labeling burned discs total more than the amount of words you’ve read in novels.
19. A lot of time is spent browsing CSS websites for inspiration.
20. You’ve had to explain to a client that a layered file wasn’t part of the deal.
21. You’ve kept a ragged concert ticket just so you could scan it.
22. You’ve nicknamed the OSX spinning wheel. (and not affectionately)
23. You bookmark a resource more often than you have a fun night out on the town.
24. You’ve intentionally overbid a project because you can sniff out a bad client from a mile away.
25. You can’t go to a restaurant without secretly critiquing the menu design.
26. You download the weekly free image at istockphoto.
27. You have an amazingly huge font collection, and an amazingly short temper.
28. If you had a penny for every mouse click, you would have been a trillionaire 3 years ago.
29. Lunch break at work is spent working, sketching or thinking up design concepts for your freelance clients.
30. You cannot watch TV without having your laptop in front of you (it just wouldn’t be right!).
31. While away on vacation, your laptop is most missed.
    

Fundamentals for a good website

A website is like having a business card. Only difference is it’s online, with a lot more information than a business card and no expensive printing involved(yay to that).

Websites are very important in todays marketing strategies. Before getting your business card, people ‘google’ for a website (atleast, thats what I know when I am looking up a new restaurant or someone’s choice recommendations). Your online presence (website) is the first impression you make on potential clients. What kind of impression are you making online?

The following text on what makes a good site, is ofcourse, my opinion and is not written in stone (its been tried and true in my experience).

1. When designing a site, first comes the site map. After this, comes the design (GUI). Design the site keeping in mind one day or the next hour you might have to make some changes or additions to it. Your webpage should consist of the header(with logo), content and footer (somewhere in there should be your navigational buttons).

2. Most people are very visual and like to look at images. Have a good balance between text and images (I strongly recommend hiring a photographer for ‘your’ own shots or open up a stock image account online). If thats still not an option, use colour, just don’t be tacky about it.

3. Once you have text and images which is the meat of the site, make sure you have a good enough whitespace. You need whitespace or some of it so the reader or viewer’s eye isn’t jumping all over the screen.

4. Flash is really nice. My first website was done all flash. I am a fan of it. However, lets not have a million moving things on the website, you might think it’s ‘cool’ but it might just be too distracting and take away from the content on your site. Personally, when I see a lot of moving elements on a site, I think to myself, the company must not be confident about their product and need fancy things to keep the viewers interested.

If you MUST have moving elements or music, minimize as much as you can, otherwise just walk away from it.

5. Make your site accessible. Try some ‘meta-tags‘. Can’t hurt to get yourself some google adwords or those facebook ads. Heck couldn’t hurt to start a blog, visit other blogs and make sure to participate in comments and leave a link to your site.

I love colour. So I made some!

First impressions when one looks at my site is, so colourful. Why? Because I love colour! YaY! Anyways, I’ve always found colour to be a way I can express myself and talent. One of my many goals is to collect shoes in every colour possible.

I am a graphic/web designer by profession and am constantly on the prowl, trying to find unique colour combinations, until recently…..recently, I came across a site for colour lovers. I was able to open an account, make various colour palettes and even use some of those palettes to create some background patterns. The possibilities are endless, in terms of colour combos. All your creations on this site are saved to your account available for you and several other members to access at any time.

Check out Colourlovers!

Definitely worth a look!