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Masbooq

If starting from scratch, the two things I do suggest people do in the building process is to have category 5 wiring installed, because it can handle both voice and modem calls, and that the builders are told early on where electricity and other cabling is needed. That said I'll leave the construction to those who know a whole lot more than me.
I am going to touch on the facets of setting up a new office that relates to the Web design business: networking, hardware, software, and advertising.
Networking
Because of zip disks, floppy disks, and CD burners, networking is not as crucial in smaller offices or home offices as it once was — unless you need to move large files easily, share files quickly, or you have a business that requires several users being online at the same time.
In our current office, we generally have up to four computers connected to the network, one acting as the server. All are armed with network cards and connected through a hub. Laptops can be plugged in to expand the number of computers available.
We then use a program called Win Route Lite to administer the networking. Users can purchase Win Route Lite with a varying number of licenses, and it really is quite reasonably priced. We purchased it with 10 licenses a couple years ago to allow for further expansion. Other companies make similar software, so take the time to look for the best deal.
In our new setup, we will take advantage of the aforementioned planned expansion that the 10 licenses gives us by placing a master hub on the wall in the basement, with three plugs running from there to the office on the main floor and one each from the basement to three rooms on the second floor. Those were put in place shortly after the roof was installed. All each user has to do is plug the cable into their computer and the wall plug, and they are ready to go online.
While this allows us to share information quickly and easily (that is especially nice when more than one person is working on a project), the most appreciated and cost-saving benefit is that it allows us to have up to six people on the Internet at the same time using one telephone line or satellite connection. That will become crucial if other staff or family members want to get on the Internet during working hours.
Take heed though: Our new office is located in a beautifully wooded rural area, and that means the most we can get in terms of dialup service is 56K. That is not conducive to happiness for everyone if you have six users on the network at the same time, particularly if more than one person wants to download files. DSL, T1, satellite, or any other fast connection is, obviously, far superior.
I mention this because if you find yourself in a similar situation but have choices, the added expense may well prove worth it from the very beginning and will save you a lot of headaches. We have ours designed to simply switch from telephone lines to satellite in a few minutes, if needed, and I'm sure it will be needed in a few weeks when we are back to running full strength.
For Parents & Bosses Only
One added bonus of this setup for the home/office is that parents can check out the Win Route Lite administration panel to see if any of the kids have sneaked out of bed to get online — not that kids would ever consider such a thing. Bosses can check to see if any of the employees are online instead of doing their usual job — not that such a thing would ever happen.

10 Design Tips For Web

In this article I'm going to talk about the top ten design tips that I live by. I've spent the last couple of weeks formulating this list and if you run a web site or are a professional web developer, then you really should keep this list by your side.

I've decided to share this list with you because of the overwhelming number of emails I receive every week from people that read my articles around the web. They ask me to critique their web sites for design and/or usability flaws. Hopefully though, if you use the tips in this article when you're creating a site then you won't need anyone to critique yours.
Tip #1: Select a color scheme and stick to it
How many times have you visited a site and noticed that their home page is colored in red, black and gray. You click on a link such as the about us page and you're greeted with a yellow and green page with blue text. This sort of inconsistent coloring is enough to deter visitors from every coming back to your site because it screams a lack of professionalism.

Before you even start coding your site, choose two or three complementary colors and stick with them. If you take a look at http://www.techbuy.com.au/ then you'll notice that I've used a strict combination of reds, grays and white consistently throughout the site.

The best way to choose a color scheme is to take a look at other sites that you like: what colors do they use and how do they use them? Do they gradually introduce the colors or are they all smack bang in the middle of the screen when you load their home page? I've come up with a list of the five most used color combinations around the web. Here's the list:
1. Red, yellow and white
2. Blue and white
3. Red, gray and white
4. Blue, orange and white
5. Yellow, gray and white
Tip #2: Design for cross browser compatibility
This is one of the most important tips that I offer people. Never, ever implement either an Internet Explorer or Netscape specific function into a site unless a closed user group, such as a company Intranet, will only use it.

Sure, it can be tempting to implement super-dooper DHTML effects such as automated iFrame scrolling, but be warned: those who don't have the latest browser installed won't take to kindly to your inconsideration. If you're desperate to implement flying pigs or falling snowflakes on your site but still want cross-browser compatibility, then take a look at BrowserHawk from http://www.cyscape.com/. BrowserHawk is a nifty set of COM's that allows you to detect all sorts of things about the client's browser including whether or not they have JavaScript enabled, the version and name of their browser, etc.

Tip #3: Provide an intuitive, easy to use menu navigation
Have you ever been to a site and wondered where in the world the links to the rest of its pages are? Menu accessibility is one of the key aspects to creating a positive usability experience for visitors to your site.

Most web sites either display a left-aligned, vertically orientated menu or a top-aligned, horizontally orientated menu system. Surveys have shown that using either one (or both in a complementary style) of these menu styles is guaranteed to provide your visitors with a positive site experience because they feel comfortable moving from page to page and don't have to run for the back button every time they want to return to the home page.

To see what I mean, spend a couple of minutes moving around http://www.amazon.com/. Now, spend the same amount of time at http://www.isonsw.com.au/. Which site's menu system did you feel comfortable with? I'm sure you answered Amazon's, because it was consistent, easy to use and blindly obvious which page you're on no matter where you are on their site. When you're developing a new site, you should prototype at least three menu systems and ask friends, family and work colleagues which one they would prefer to use and why.

Tip #4: Use cascading style sheets
Cascading style sheets (CSS) allow you to develop a specific set of style classes, which you can implement throughout your site. Style sheets can also be used to change certain style attributes of the built-in HTML tags, such as making the color of a <H1> tag red, making the background color of a <td> cell yellow, etc.

Use your color scheme as discussed in tip #1 to create a variety of styles including a bold headline, an important points style, and a default text style. You may also want to change the default style of the anchor tag so that your links match the color scheme of your site.

If you've never used cascading style sheets before, then checkout this article by yours truly first.
Tip #5: Open external links in a new window
One easy to implement tip that is often overlooked is making sure that any links that don't take the visitor directly to a page on your site should be opened in a new window by default.

When you think about it, this benefits both yourself and the visitor: they still have your site open and are given free reign to browse the external link, with the option to return to your site simply by closing the external sites browser window.

To open a link in a new window, you simply need to specify the value "_blank" for the target attribute of the links anchor tag:

<a target="_blank" href="http://www.yoursite.com">Click here</a> to open yoursite.com in a new browser window.

Tip #6: Underline and color your hyper links
The majority of web users are in a hurry and are pressed for time in some way or another. Our eyes only pickup on certain things, and these don't include hyper links that look like they’re part of the body of a document. When you're developing a new site, always make sure that your hyper links are underlined, and preferably in a different color to the text surrounding them.

Here's an extract from a site that I visited the other day:

Quickly glancing over the text shown in the example above, how many links did you spot? If you answered none, then you wouldn't be alone. This was the page I received when I signed up for an affiliate program a couple of days ago.

Each "click here" was actually a link, but the web designer didn't even bother to make the link stand out from the rest of the text around it. Look how much easier it is to spot the links when they're both underlined and colored:

Tip #7: Optimize your images
One of the main reasons that a lot of web sites are slow is because their images are not fully optimized. Optimizing images will decrease their file size, resulting in less data needing to be downloaded from a site before it can be displayed. Here are three ways to optimize your images:
1. Reduce the image size: Make sure your images are as small as possible. Crop any "white space" around the edges because it increases the file size of the image.
2. Reduce the number of colors: Many image formats including the graphical interchange format (GIF) allow you to reduce the color depth of an image without noticeably decreasing its visual quality. If you have an image such as a logo, then try using a program such as PhotoShop to decrease its color depth down from 16 bit to 8 bit. Save the image and view it in your browser. If it still looks crisp and clean, then save the image. Notice the difference in file size compared to the 16-bit version?
3. Reduce image quality: If you're working with a Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) image, then you can reduce its file size by reducing its quality. Using a program such as PhotoShop, you can specify the amount of "loss" for the image, which in turn reduces its size.
Tip #8: Tell your visitors who you are and what you do straight up
This is probably the simplest tip to implement in this article. When a new visitor comes to your site for the first time, they want to know who you are and what you do straight up, especially if you're selling products.

On your home page, you should have a small paragraph telling them exactly who you are and what you do. This will increase their confidence in your company and if you have what they're after then there's a better chance that they will stick around. Here's an example for a fictional site, Fred-Smith-Tools.com that sells gardening tools:

"Hi, thanks for stopping by Fred-Smith-Tools.com. We are based in Los Angeles, USA and sell a wide range of gardening tools including spades, pruning tools, clippers, spray guns and shovels. Please scroll down this page to take a look at our list of daily specials!"

Tip #9: Use customer testimonials
A customer testimonial is simply a comment from one/more of your sites visitors that includes some positive details of their dealings with your web site or company. By displaying customer testimonials on your site, visitors can see that other people have used your site/products and found them to be useful and valuable to their needs. Customer testimonials are also one of the best ways to increase your visitor's confidence in your site.

To display customer testimonials on your site, add a link to your menu system named "Customer Testimonials". Link this to a page where you display all of the testimonials you have received from your customers.

To actually collect testimonials, you can either ask some of your customers for them directly, or setup a feed back form on your site. Here's the sort of testimonial you should be looking to post on your site:

"I found your site yesterday from Google.com and I must say, I'm really impressed with its layout and your HUGE range of products. I ordered a CD from your on Thursday and it arrived right at my door the next day. If only there were more sites like yours on the net. Good work."

Tip #10: Provide contact details on EVERY page
One of the main sources of frustration for many web surfers is the lack of contact details on many sites. If you run a web site that sells products, then many people may prefer to order over the phone instead of the Internet. You should display either a sales email address or the phone number for your sales hot line in the top right hand corner of every page.
Conclusion

If you have an existing site then you should take the tips described in this article and try to apply them to your site. If you're a web developer, then you may want to check-off each of these tips as you're prototyping each and every site that you design. No doubt as your design more and more websites, you'll come up with a list of your own design tips and guidelines, just as I have. Use them whenever you can, and share them with newbie web developers so they don't make the same mistakes that you may have!

Useful links:

http://www.dsiegel.com/tips/
http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com/

Successful Site Architecture

Participants of the Successful Site Architecture session were in for an exceptional treat in Dallas recently when industry leaders Barbara Coll and Shari Thurow discussed strategies for creating search engine friendly Web sites.

This information-packed session should be on a "not to be missed" list for future participants, no matter what their level of expertise. I found myself continually saying, "Oh yeah! I forgot
about that!" as they discussed strategy after strategy. The session offered excellent reminders of things that are so easy to forget, especially considering how complex search engine marketing is. And, it presented new strategies as well, important strategies that need to be placed in the forefront of all search engine marketing endeavors.

Barbara Coll, CEO of WebMama, opened by discussing the importance of considering search engine optimization in all areas of your project development. "If you'll start thinking `SEO tactics' when you're designing your site, you'll have better results," she said.

Highlights of her discussion follows.

File Structure

According to Coll, site architecture can definitely impact your results in the search engines. For example, regarding file structure, most search engines don't know about anything beyond
two directory levels. They'll index 40-50 files in those directories and do it alphabetically.

So, it's crucial for you to place your most important pages at the first or second directory level, breaking it up into 50 files per directory. Be sure to name your files and directories with
your keywords. Don't use the underscore to separate keywords. Instead, use hyphens.

Don't stuff too many keywords in your file or directory names. Make them keyword rich but not too long.

Entry Pages

Coll calls any pages that bring you traffic "entry pages," and she recommends optimizing and submitting each of those pages. Make them stand-alone pages, just like your home page. When a visitor lands on one of your entry pages, will the visitor know where they are, who you are, and what the page is about? Include full navigation on all entry pages and make it obvious what the page and site is about. Don't assume visitors will find the index page first.

If your visitors come through your "contact us" page, for example, and all they see is a form, that doesn't tell them where they are or what the page/site is about.

Coll also recommends naming images after keywords, which is particularly important now that AltaVista and Google have image searches. Name your PDF's after your keywords as well.

Site Map

A very important entry page on your site is your site map. "Site maps have food that search engines love, and they have links to every single page that your visitors care about," explained Coll.

Therefore, make sure you submit your index page and your site map. Put your site map at the root level, and name it after your keywords. Use standard navigation on the site map. Add a blurb about the company or services at the top of the page or left column before the links. Use keywords in your links as well. Keep your site map simple, using no or few graphics.

Custom 404 Error Page

Coll also discussed the importance of a custom 404 error page, which she calls "error trapping." Through your custom 404 error page, make it easy for the users to find where they want to go. Use HTML links and include a search box. META data on your pages
is important for onsite search engines, so be sure to include it on every page.

For information on how to create custom 404 pages for every type of server, visit the 404 Research Lab (http://www.plinko.net/404/). The site also features many examples of custom 404 pages.

Problem Strategies

"Skip intro" pages are the worst thing you can do to your site, according to Coll. "Skip intro" or "splash" pages generally have no or very little content, often contain a movie, and frequently
redirect to another page.

Your introductory page needs to contain content, so get rid of your intro page if it doesn't. Instead, stick Flash in a window on the home page and include it as an element, like an image.

Remember that Web technology that detracts from the content or provides no static content will negatively affect search engine rankings. Sites developed completely in Flash or other
interactive technologies, large animated graphics, or movies are deterrents to content seekers and detrimental to search engine rankings.

Spiders don't see image maps and don't follow those links. They can't read graphics. Anything in an image is useless.

Coll also recommends not using frames. If you do use frames, she recommends making sure that you include META and title tags on all frames and frameset pages. Don't allow a frame to be shown without redirecting to the frameset first. Use a noframes tag and add keyword-rich content.

Shari Thurow, Webmaster and Marketing Director of GrantasticDesigns.com, opened her portion of the session by outlining the essential components of search engine optimization:
text, links, and popularity.

She also discussed her definition of site architecture:

* A site's navigation scheme (referring to image maps, text links, and dynamic content);
* Layout of individual pages;
* How directories are set up on your Web server.

In order for you to sell your products and services, your target audience needs to find what they are looking for as quickly as possible.

Remember your Target Audiences

According to Thurow, each Web site has two target audiences. The primary audience is the end user. The secondary audience consists of the directory editors and search engine spiders. Your goal in search engine optimization is to receive regular traffic over time from both the search engines and the directories.

Search engines do three things: index text, follow links, and measure popularity. End users have an effect on search engine ranking.

Visible Text

"Your target audience should not have to perform any type of action in order to view the most important text on a Web page," said Thurow. "Highlight the text on your page and copy it in
Notepad, which is exactly what a search engine sees."

Thurow reminded participants that META tags aren't visible tags. ALT text is not visible, so it's not as important to the search engines as visible text. However, be sure to include your keyword phrase in your ALT text.

You can use ALT text in logos, image maps, navigation elements, Flash movies, photos, etc. "Always put width and height on image maps so the browser knows the size of the graphic. Download time is so important," said Thurow.

She also cautioned against the use of clear gifs. "Putting keywords as ALT text in a clear gif is considered spamming by the engines," she added.

Cascading Style Sheets

Thurow defined Cascading Style Sheets as an HTML addition that allows Webmasters to control Web page design parameters, such as margins, font/typeface appearance, link appearance, colors, and placement.

CSS massively decreases download time and saves a lot of time. But style sheets themselves don't matter to the search engines.

Be sure to use a robots exclusion file on sections of your site that the search engines have no interest, such as your style sheets, CGI-BIN, and any pages under construction to keep them
from getting indexed. All search engines support this protocol.

Server-Side Includes

As defined by Thurow, server side includes are a type of HTML comment that instructs your Web server to dynamically generate elements of a Web page before it sends the Web page to a browser or a search engine spider. SSI's can be used to put text elements on a page, such as text links, headers, footers, and content. As long as what is in the SSI file is search engine friendly, you won't have a problem.

Problem Strategies

Common uses of JavaScript include mouseover/rollovers, drop down menus, pop-up menus, and sliding menus. JavaScript is not search engine friendly and not important to the engines, so move it to a separate .js file.

Frames must be navigational within the frames. Include an option to use the site with or without frames. And, use JavaScript to keep frames intact.

Except Google, none of the engines can follow links in Flash sites. If you use Flash, include an option to view the site with or without the Flash. Rather than making the main page of your
site in Flash, place a section of your site in Flash. Use only Flash movies, not Flash pages. Place the site in a frameset and use JavaScript to keep the frames intact.

Splash pages often contain no text, a one-way link, and a redirect. Because the main page might be the only page indexed and often ranks higher than other pages, and because content is so important to the search engines, stay away from splash pages.

Popularity

Thurow stated that link popularity is measured by the number of links, the quality of links, the number of times end users click on links to your site, how long end users visit your site, and
how often end users return to your site.

Orphaned pages can't get good popularity because very few links point to them. Also, orphaned pages have low click throughs, because they're typically advertising pages with no real content. Typical orphaned pages include pop-up windows, landing pages for banner ads, and landing pages for pay-per-click advertising.

In Conclusion . . .

Thurow closed with the following reminder. "Make sure your pages have visible text. Give the spiders a suitable link architecture to help them find visible text. Use external files whenever possible. Use the Robots Exclusion Protocol to exclude information that is not important to the search engines. And, keep the most important pages in the top-level directory on your
server."

Mark your calendar and plan to attend the next Search Engine Strategies Conference! The conference will be held in Boston on March 4-5, 2002. See you there!
http://seminars.internet.com/sew/spring02/index.html

*For a more in depth look at search engine marketing strategies by Barbara Coll, visit her Web site and order "Tactics for Optimal Search Engine Positioning." http://www.webmama.com/seo-white-paper-webmama.htm

This article was written by Robin Nobles, a professional freelance writer and the Director of Training of the Academy of Web Specialists, where she has trained several thousand
people in her online courses in search engine marketing strategies.
http://www.academywebspecialists.com/more_info. She also teaches onsite search engine marketing workshops with John Alexander (http://www.beyond-seo.com/workshop.htm), and she has written three books that can be ordered through Amazon.

Copyright 2002 Robin Nobles. All rights reserved.
Notes taken at the Search Engine Strategies Conference Dallas, Texas, November 2001
by Robin Nobles

(Written based on a session given at the Search Engine Strategies Conference in Dallas in November 2001.)

Speakers:
Barbara Coll*, CEO of WebMama (http://www.webmama.com) Shari Thurow, Webmaster and Marketing Director of GrantasticDesigns.com (http://www.grantasticdesigns.com)
.

New Site address (http://www.masbooq.tripod.com)

Masbooq

10 Design Tips For Web

Successful Site Architecture

To flash or not to flash? that is the question

The Power of Color