SEO for an idiot

Saturday, 03 January 2009 08:59

Right, SEO is a really complex subject matter. There are so many different strategies to get your site in that number one spot on Google and yahoo!.

My experiment into SEO is now "Blondy & Blacky - balklänningar, brudklänningar & smokings" and how to get them higher on the search engines rankings. The problem I face is the following:

I redesigned and moved the site from the web-address blondy.nu to blondyblacky.com in early December. At the same time we moved the shop into the textalk.se system - which is on a completely different server. Of course we dropped from the Google results immediately, and now my task is to get us back on the frontpage again. All the while trying to do this without having to fork out for the extra cost of search engine option on textalk.

I will post about my progress in this matter here

CSS3 for the masses

Tuesday, 23 September 2008 09:24

IMHO: CSS3 is a brilliant next step for presentational design for the web. And if you have been in the game as long as I have (around 13 years since my first webpage) then you know all about degrading your code so that alpha browsers get a really nice presentation with all bells and whistles (IE8, FF 3+, Opera 9+, Safari 3+), beta browsers get an OK presentation but might miss out on minor things. Gamma browsers (I count IE <= 6, IE for Mac, Netscape <=8, AOL users) well, seriously, just UPGRADE ALREADY.

In my latest project we are using CSS3, which appearantly even IE8 does a pretty good job of presenting. 

One hump I got on my back is the implementation of columns in CSS3.

Typical column layout these days is done by floating or positioning div, depending on which school of thought you follow. This page for instance has a two column layout. It works and it is brilliant.

But is there any use for columns for content?

In normal newspaper layout you are used to read text in columns, and even that becomes hard at times, as the user looses track of where they were, especially when spanning several pages, or poor layouts. With the advent of columns for the web - users will not have a reference for dealing with this. Sure it is semantic and it will degrade properly, but my argument is that it will give a poor user experience, as users will have to scroll down for content, and print-designers think that their newspaper layouts automatically can be translated to the web. Bollocks to that. If anyone sees a good example of using multiple columns on a page, please let me know.

 Until then - 

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Broken page

Sunday, 15 June 2008 14:10

Yes, I am very sorry that the frontpage of my site has broken. Appearantly something went wrong with the latest update to the code. These things happen. Anyway, I will update my CMS in the upcoming week, among other things I will change my portfolio software at the same time. I will also adapt the site to use YUI grids too, which will promise to deliver a better experience across the board. Heck, I might even do an update to the look and feel of the site. I am proud of it but I think I need to make it a bit more selling. Peace and love everyone

Firefox 3 - A New Hope

Sunday, 15 June 2008 14:03

I have no doubt that the more tech-savvy of my visitors already know that Firefox 3 is launching on Tuesday 17th June 2008. As the geek and internet-entrapreneur that I am, this exites me a lot. Of course I have already adapted the beta as my main browser, but it has a few things that have bothered me. Most of my major tools work absolutely fine, but I really miss my Google Toolbar (strange but true - I like Googles products as I see them as productivity enhancements).

Anyway, I don't want to get side-tracked. Firefox 3 is the first of the Alpha browsers latest updates. Internet Explorer 8 will be launched during 3rd quarter of 2008, which I myself find strange, as IE7 still is not widely used, and IE6 users keep on annoying me. Seriously, everyone should take the 5 minutes it takes to keep their browsers updated. Not only because of aestethics but also because of security issues. I know, I know. Mr Joe-Average User does not care about these things - he "just want it to work". Well, life is not that easy unless you make it so. These days there are automatic updates for almost all major softwares used both in the home and at work. Windows update is probably the one normal users are most familiar with, but unfortunately it still gives normal users too much power - They can still turn down updates if they are connected to the web.

Firefox has so far one of the less intrusive ways of updating, it can be controlled in the options menu. The software will check if there is a new version and either download it for you and inform you when it has installed it, or if you need to download a new version, then it will let  you know the steps to get the latest version.

Anyway, if you want to read more about the new features of Firefox three, then I suggest you head over to Mozillas site. I don't see any reason repeating the functionality here.

Although, the new bookmarking facility makes the download completely worth it.

Consistency between browsers

Wednesday, 16 April 2008 14:09

Why is it that both professional web producers and clients alike insists on comparing the look and feel between different browsers? Especially between what is considered Alpha browsers (Firefox2+, IE7+, Safari 2/3b and Opera 9+) and Beta browsers like Internet Explorer 6 - the scourge of the internet.

I understand everything there is about presenting a coherent look and feel, that presents the clients brand in a consistent way. 

But let's face it: It doesn't matter. The target group will not sit there with 4 different browsers open, comparing the differences! Most likely they will either never update their browsers because of lazy IT staff (I mean you Simon Hill :-), and therefore never see a proper version of the site.

Or if they are relatively IT-competent, they keep their browser updated at least at home.

Now, my argument is this: intentionally MAKE sites look really good in Alpha browsers, and passable in Beta and below.  Why? Because coding for deprecated browsers take a lot of time, and cost a lot of money.

"Oh but if you code correctly, you don't need to worry about that" and "Over 90% use Internet Explorer 6" I hear you cry!

Absolute bull! I am not talking about browser snobbery, trying to convince people to switch to standards compatible browsers like Opera, Firefox and Safari,  but to simply reward people who keep their browsers and computers up to date.

If people insist on using old style browsers, then they just won't get the full experience. Simple as that.

And also, if there is a difference of 2 pixels here and there when compared between browsers - IT DOESN'T MATTER. The user experience will not vary because of this anyway! As long as the general composition is the same, and typography adhered to, then this is a moot point.

End of rant.