Archive for the ‘Web Design’ Category

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Firefox’s new clothes


03 May

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With the last-stage release of Firefox 3.5.9,  many users were surprised to find the archive of “personas” that lets users customize the overall appearance of firefox. While the concept of browser themes is far from new (in fact, it’s almost archaic in web terms), firefox’s personas are streamlined, making installation as simple as clicking a “wear this” button in the personas repository.  You can even preview each persona simply by rolling over it’s image in the archive. You can choose from thousands of “personas” created by firefox users across the globe, with themes ranging from “completely esoteric” to “everyone will love them”. Even the most die-hard customization fan will be happy, as it makes creating your own persona ridiculously easy.  Create a new theme for a family member, or just announce to the world “Hey, I love the smurfs.”  The world is yours, at least to customize.

Check out the personas by downloading Firefox 3.5.9+,  then go to GetPersonas.com to customize.

HTML 5.0 – The shape of things to come


23 Apr

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Posted in Rants and Raves - Personal, Social Media, Web Design | Comments Off

Even though it hasn’t even left the finishing room floor at the W3 organization, HTML 5.0 is shaping up to be a force to be reckoned with for interactivity on the web.  The lines between operating system and web browser will be blurred, as the features and functions of each merge to the point of overlapping. HTML 5.0 will make it possible to drag files from your desktop to web-based SAAS (Software as a Service) installations, while taking social networking elements in whole new directions.  Rich media will get the run of the land, so to speak, with fewer design limitations. Features you normally use an application for will grow increasingly web-based, and the UI possibilities for web designers are almost unimaginable. For the technically-inclined, HTML 5 will also provide much more seamless integration with APIs,  with inherent scripting.

Features of HTML 5, a brief summary:

  • drag and drop through standard markup (not using a library, like jQuery, or flash’s functionality)
  • some deprecated tags will be removed, like the font tag and center tag (or others that can easily be done with CSS)
  • breakages will be treated much more gracefully than the HTML 4.+ browsers
  • the doctype will be much, much shorter (<!DOCTYPE html>. That's it.)
  • HTML 5.0 aims to reduce the need for external embedded media, instead offering design options for inherently embedding items)

Some Extra Links

So you’ve got a sitemap. Now What?


22 Mar

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Posted in Social Media, Web Design | Comments Off

This is a common question for webmasters. Here’s a simple compilation of sites geared towards getting your site map into the hands of the search engines.  Each search engine generally offers a different set of criteria, and some offer additional XML fields for their sitemaps, but the majority of the popular search engines (google, yahoo, bing, etc..) can read the standard sitemap.xml as long as it’s properly formatted.

Google :
Submit sitemaps through their webmaster tools, at http://www.google.com/webmasters/tools (you will need a webmasters account, which you can sign up for with a google/gmail account)

Bing/Live Search/MSN:
Submit sitemaps through their webmaster center , at http://www.bing.com/webmaster/ (uses either a bing account or you can use your windows live account)

Yahoo!:
Submit site/sitemap to yahoo’s Site Explorer site, at https://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/submit

Other search engines will have different submit pages, with links in the footer to their “add” or “submit” pages generally.

SEO – Advice on choosing an SEO firm


21 Mar

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When trying to choose an SEO firm, there can be many obstacles. Here are just a few pieces of practical advice on choosing a SEO company for your needs. Please note this was written in general, and I do not offer SEO services.

1. make sure to vet the firm you’re looking at. Call their references, and see if they actually did a good job for them. also make sure their references aren’t immediately connected to the SEO company.

2. shop around for experts at a reasonable rate

3. know what terms you’d like to shoot for good search engine placement are. Avoid generic terms like “lawyer” or “dentist”, and work towards good search engine placement in a regional or niche market. For example, “Chinese Restaurants in Austin” will generally yield much better results than “Chinese Food”, plus the latter will pull in a large amount of out of state leads that you may have no use for.

4. avoid firms guaranteeing “number 1 on google” or related. There’s no way to make this guarantee, unless they’re only talking about a cashback guarantee.

5. Go with a firm where practical, as the diversity of a company with both marketing and IT personnel will lend itself to a better range of techniques.

6. Make sure to avoid firms/individuals that will use sleazy tactics (like paid links, etc) to enhance your ranking. These techniques may boost traffic in the short term, but many search engines penalize these practices and you may find your #1 site suddenly became #2,300 (for example)

An easy tool for testing across all major browsers virtually


22 Jan

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It’s an age-old quandary, with a host of solutions with varying levels of success.
Testing web designs across the spectrum of browsers has always been a priority for web designers. Features that work in one browser do not always work in others, so it’s imperative that a good designer test each browser type to see any bugs. In a recent bout with Internet Explorer 7, I stumbled across a browser plugin for firefox that makes cross-browser testing a one-stop shop.

Spoon.net’s Browser Sandbox is a plugin-powered web-based application that allows you to test a multitude of different browsers. These online browsers perform the same visually, but you will notice that some of the back-end options and features either dont function or are buggy. However, the minor downside forgiven, it’s a great way to ensure the best possible visual experience for the end user.

Internet Explorer 6,7, and 8
Firefox 2, 3, and 3.5
Apple Safari 3 and 4
Google’s Chrome
and Opera 9 and 10

PS – to avoid what could be a first-time user annoyance, make sure to click the upper-righthand corner of the box the first time you use the program, to install the plugin. Otherwise, the main buttons on the page only open the website of the browser’s author or company. After installed and restarted, the buttons will open the respective browser.

Open-Source as an ethos in web design


11 Dec

Posted in Open Source, Uncategorized | Comments Off

Since it’s humble origins as a cultural niche, the open-source platform movement has grown to a huge user community dedicated to improving their CMS of choice. Instead of a small design team, open-source content management systems rely on a dedicated fan base for their ongoing support. Some may have dedicated corporate designers, but for the most part outside of the core features and functionality any work relies on the efforts of like-minded developers and designers working long, unpaid hours.

But the rewards from fostering OS projects come from simply being a part of the respective community.In open-source, the desire to contribute and improve the source code drive the development community. The support base for these sites often means that problems can be diagnosed in minutes. Bugs are generally well-known and most problems encountered are at the mercy of an abundance of resources on how to solve them.

Having an open-source framework also means that new development is expedited by good documentation, user feedback, and technical support. In contrast to proprietary systems, where you might have to rely on either one company’s technical support, or run into a lack of technical resources on a particular issue.

From an economical standpoint, Open-Source distributions and platforms are generally free, or licensed comparably cheaper than a commercially-available proprietary system. The majority of the open-source CMS platforms are free, in addition to a plethora of office suites, graphics design programs, blogs, blog applications, modules, plugins, and much more.

In conclusion, OS web design solutions can be leveraged for a variety of a company’s web and office needs. The Open Source movement should be actively encouraged and contributed to, as it will foster growth and innovation in the web community and online strata.

Choosing a CMS


10 Dec

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Choosing a content management system can be a little un-nerving at first. With the variety of options available, and literally dozens of systems to choose from, a first time installer can easily feel a little overwhelmed. However, you can make the process simpler by following a few guidelines.

1. Make sure the hosting for your website can run a CMS. Generally, you’ll need either PHP or ASP hosting. Some hosting companies offer installers right out of the box. Others may only host standard HTML-driven sites.

2. Determine whether you want PHP or ASP. Windows Server hosting will host ASP-powered content management systems, while Linux hosting will power PHP sites.

3. Make sure your hosting company offers at least database per website, or if you have a limited amount. This may affect how many simultaneous content management systems you can have installed.

4. Look for a website host with an automated installer (like cPanel, SimpleScripts, Fantastico, etc) to make your installation easier. Many companies offer these installers that make setting up a CMS-powered site as simple as filling in a few blanks.

5. Consider what you want the site do be able to do. Are you aiming towards large corporate sites, small businesses, or the consumer. Each group will have different needs in terms of features and functionality. Most of the open-source content management systems can have features added on-the-fly, through the use of Modules, Plugins, Applications, Etc. Make sure that what your site needs to do can be done using the CMS you’re looking at, and whether any limitations would be deal-killers. This can avoid a big headache down the road when the website design hits roadblocks.

6. See what others have been saying about the CMS. Most of the big open-source CMS platforms have large groups of users, and you can often find a huge spectrum of reviews. Look at user feedback for the CMS – Are they happy with it? Are they having a lot of problems with it?

7. If you can’t find an appropriate CMS for free, consider a licensed solution. Some proprietary content management systems operate faster and more effectively than what the open-source community can offer, and can often be more customizable.

Seeking charities that need a website


02 Dec

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In the spirit of holiday giving, I’m seeking 3-4 charities to voluntarily do website work for. Ideally, these would be charities without an existing website, in true need for their cause to be heard. If interested, contact me at ryanb[at]lostinthetext.com or use the contact form on this site

My first Wordpress Sidebar Widget – PassGen


01 Dec

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Passgen is a simple proof-of-concept wordpress sidebar widget I created to generate secure randomized passwords for your copy and paste convenience. You can check it out in action on the front page – soon to (possibly) debut in the wordpress plugins repository near you.

New BrainBench Certification – Web Concepts (Masters Level)


01 Dec

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Posted in Personal Achievements, Web Design | Comments Off

Got re-certified in Web Design Concepts at Brainbench.com! Scored in the 93% percentile at the masters level. See all of my current certifications (enter 6143902 as the public transcript)

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LostInTheText.com – The portfolio of Ryan Bishop

The Online Portfolio and Resume of Ryan Bishop