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	<title>SEO internet marketing tools, Local internet marketing consultant service seo infinityFiSH.com &#187; web development</title>
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	<link>http://www.infinityfish.com</link>
	<description>SEO internet marketing tools, Local internet marketing consultant service seo</description>
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		<title>Codeigniter vs FuelPHP vs Kohana vs Zend Framework</title>
		<link>http://www.infinityfish.com/codeigniter-vs-fuelphp-vs-kohana-vs-zend-framework/</link>
		<comments>http://www.infinityfish.com/codeigniter-vs-fuelphp-vs-kohana-vs-zend-framework/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 24 Dec 2011 10:14:27 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[web development]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.infinityfish.com/?p=1696</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I will try to compare Codeigniter vs FuelPHP vs Kohana vs Zend Framework. There are a lot of PHP Frameworks out there. A Framework really makes web development very easy. I think picking one framework over the other is more about looking at your project needs. They all have their strengths and weaknesses. I am [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.infinityfish.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/phplogo.jpg"><img class="size-thumbnail wp-image-1698 alignleft" title="phplogo" src="http://www.infinityfish.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/phplogo-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" /></a>I will try to compare Codeigniter vs FuelPHP vs Kohana vs Zend Framework.<br />
There are a lot of PHP Frameworks out there. A Framework really makes web development very easy. I think picking one framework over the other is more about looking at your project needs. They all have their strengths and weaknesses. I am relatively new to PHP, so I do not claim to be a guru. I only became interested in Frameworks because I have a Web Dev project that I will like to complete really fast.<br />
I have looked at all the Frameworks and here&#8217;s my brief take on each one.<br />
<strong><br />
Codeigniter:</strong><br />
This Framework is really easy to install. Most of the tutorials out there are about installing Codeigniter 1.7 and older versions. I was able to follow some of them and install Codeigniter 2.1 on my WAMP (yes I am still using Windows) without any difficulties. All you need to do is copy the downloaded folders to your root directory and you are pretty much good to go.<br />
The good thing about Codeigniter is that there&#8217;s a lot of tutorials (even video tutorials on Youtube), documentation out there for it.</p>
<p>What I don&#8217;t like:<br />
No built in Auth system. Most projects will need one, so I am not sure why the Codeigniter Dev team has not included one over all these years.</p>
<p><strong>FuelPHP:</strong><br />
FuelPHP is the newer kid on the block. It&#8217;s built by guys who do not like the slowness of the Codigniter Team, so it uses many features of Codigniter, but is supposed to be better. It uses only PHP 5. I don&#8217;t really care about PHP 4 and PHP 5 differences, because I have never used PHP 4.<br />
Installation is easy too</p>
<p>What I like about FuelPHP:<br />
Auth is included. You will need this for most projects.</p>
<p>What I don&#8217;t like about FuelPHP:<br />
Lack of documentation. This is more because the Framework is new. It will improve as more and more people come to use it.</p>
<p><strong>Kohana:</strong><br />
Kohana is also a fork of Codeigniter, however older than FuelPHP. It is also very simple to install.</p>
<p>What I like about it: It also has the Auth like FuelPHP<br />
What I don&#8217;t like: Very few Video tutorials on Youtube about Kohana and far less documentation than Codeigniter. I would have expected more documentation by now, since it has been out there for a few years.</p>
<p><strong>Zend Framework</strong><br />
Zend Framework is the &#8220;big daddy&#8221; of PHP Frameworks. It is supported by a big company and many of the big tech players are behind it. There&#8217;s extensive documentation (maybe overwhelming doc). It&#8217;s good for really big projects.<br />
I had the most difficult time installing this Framework. It will not work very well on a shared server.<br />
I would use this framework only for very larger enterprise projects</p>
<p>What I like about Zend Framework: It is comprehensive<br />
What I don&#8217;t like about it: The learning curve is steep. You need a dedicated server</p>
<p>In summary: If you are a beginner, you may want to start with Codeigniter (knowing that you will not have an Auth Module out of the box), however I will strongly consider using FuelPHP as the documentation becomes better.</p>
<p>Have you used any of these Frameworks? What do you think?</p>
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		<item>
		<title>Web Application Design Process</title>
		<link>http://www.infinityfish.com/web-application-design-process/</link>
		<comments>http://www.infinityfish.com/web-application-design-process/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 13 Oct 2010 03:07:14 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[web development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[web application]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.infinityfish.com/?p=1353</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[What is an easy to understand Web Application Design process. The guys at 37signals (makers of great products like BaseCamp really make this easy to understand. Here&#8217;s a video presentation from them. Enjoy and let me know what you think. Ryan Singer at Future of Web Apps, London 2010 from Ryan Singer on Vimeo.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>What is an easy to understand Web Application Design process. The guys at 37signals (makers of great products like BaseCamp really make this easy to understand. Here&#8217;s a video presentation from them.</p>
<p>Enjoy and let me know what you think.<br />
<iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/15772341?byline=0&amp;portrait=0" width="500" height="324" frameborder="0"></iframe>
<p><a href="http://vimeo.com/15772341">Ryan Singer at Future of Web Apps, London 2010</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/rjs">Ryan Singer</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Web Solution</title>
		<link>http://www.infinityfish.com/web-solution/</link>
		<comments>http://www.infinityfish.com/web-solution/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 10 Aug 2010 08:47:02 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Outsource Link Building]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[web development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[web solution]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.infinityfish.com/?p=1281</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[There are many web solutions available today to help a local business owner to generate more profits. Many small, local business owners are not taking advantage of the Internet. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a fairly new web solution and unfamiliar, discipline for many local businesses. SEO has been around for a decade or so [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>There are many web solutions available today to help a local business owner  to generate more profits. Many small, local business owners are not taking advantage of the Internet.<br />
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a fairly new web solution and unfamiliar, discipline for many local businesses. SEO has been around for a decade or so and many businesses have not tapped in to this powerful marketing tool. While their forma methods still work, they are expensive and hard to track.<br />
The Internet offers small businesses the ability to use inexpensive, even free, advertising methods to generate traffic to their website, phone calls to their office, or more customers into their stores. Who wouldn&#8217;t, when the opportunity to expose one&#8217;s products or services to the entire world is presented to them.<br />
The Web has revolutionalised the way companies operate their marketing strategies, data transfer, customer contact and support, information corporate relationships which have changed with the advert of the internet.<br />
For a company or person seeking to have an easy web solution, there are a couple of things to consider. There are hundreds of online companies promising all kinds of goodies in one simple basket and you need to exercise caution when selecting the company to deal with. You will need to choose a company with the skills, experience and reputation to provide you with a solution that will work. Some of the things to look into include: flexibility, ease of use and cheap<br />
Web and Software outsourcing India is now setting new milestones, and today many organizations from all across the globe are stepping towards India to get most consistent web solutions and software services.</p>
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		<item>
		<title>Website Designers</title>
		<link>http://www.infinityfish.com/website-designers/</link>
		<comments>http://www.infinityfish.com/website-designers/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 15 Jul 2010 06:58:04 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[web development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[website designers]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.infinityfish.com/?p=1247</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Web Design Companies and website designers have in general supported various open source software for developing websites. Joomla and WordPress are two of the most popular ones and have established communities on the internet. There are hundreds of quality forums and blogs dedicated specifically towards the use of Joomla and WordPress for designing websites. Other [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Web Design Companies and website designers have in general supported various open source software for developing websites. Joomla and WordPress are two of the most popular ones and have established communities on the internet. There are hundreds of quality forums and blogs dedicated specifically towards the use of Joomla and WordPress for designing websites. Other web design and content management systems including Drupal and Typo3 have also proved popular and effective. However WordPress and Joomla seem to have an edge over the others in terms of global popularity and use.<br />
Many web design agencies and design professionals are proficient with Joomla and WordPress and are able to customize the software to meet the specific needs of a business.<br />
But a website design is only as good as the revenue it generates, therefore the first step for all you website designers would be to look out for clients since without them there won&#8217;t be any business. Finding your first client is an incredibly difficult task. The easiest way out of this roadblock is to start looking for freelance design projects in niche areas, like e commerce designing, blog designing, creating twitter backgrounds etc, which in turn would help you to build your portfolio. Once you are done with the portfolio, you need to market your services to your prospective clients. You can start blogging about the services you offer and also make use of social networking websites.<br />
There are so many little decisions in the background from how you will promote the site, add ons to the page and even the colour scheme and layout that only comes from a designer that understands correctly your business. Make sure you choose a designer willing to get to know you, or walk away.</p>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Web Design Company</title>
		<link>http://www.infinityfish.com/web-design-company/</link>
		<comments>http://www.infinityfish.com/web-design-company/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 30 Jun 2010 05:05:55 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[web development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[web design company]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.infinityfish.com/?p=1228</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Are you worried about increasing traffic to your website? You should stop with the development of simple techniques that can attract more people to your site.It would stand out in a number of other websites. You only need to look for any web design company and your task is done. You would not have to [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Are you worried about increasing traffic to your website?  You should stop with the development of simple techniques that can attract more people to your site.It would stand out in a number of other websites.  You only need  to look for any web design company and your task is done. You would not have to worry about the appearance or about any other thing which is related to the site. The company will provide you great services with the help of its professional and dedicated technical consultants.<br />
The company you choose to design your web site should be a professional website design company so that it would be able to provide you with your required design in time. The design and template of the site are two main things which can make or break the repute of your web-site and this is why much emphasis is given to it.<br />
Infinityfish.com is also very good when it comes to making your websites attractive and stylish. This company  have such experts that can provide you the best services which are not found in other parts of the world. You would be able to have a large number of customers if your website design is good. They will make your website prominent and noticeable. You would be able to stand out in a large number of people.<br />
Web site design companies do not restrict themselves to designing the websites but also work on providing marketing as well as SEO services to their customers. You can also get the help in web development<br />
Hiring a web designing agency increases the chances of better input and creativity. Customers always look out for something unique and different from common things, its common human tendency.<br />
But before hiring a web design agency be clear what do you want and the goals that are to be accomplished. </p>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Website Design</title>
		<link>http://www.infinityfish.com/website-design/</link>
		<comments>http://www.infinityfish.com/website-design/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 21 Jun 2010 19:02:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[web development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[website Design]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.infinityfish.com/?p=1219</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Web design is the skill of creating presentations of content that is delivered to an end-user through the World Wide Web, by way of a Web browser or other Web-enabled software like Internet television clients, micro blogging clients and RSS readers. The purpose of Web design is to create a collection of electronic documents and [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Web design is the skill of creating presentations of content  that is delivered to an end-user through the World Wide Web, by way of a Web browser or other Web-enabled software like Internet television clients, micro blogging clients and RSS readers.<br />
The purpose  of Web design is to create a collection of electronic documents and applications that reside on Web servers and present content and interactive features/interfaces to the end user in form of Web pages once requested. To build a website you must have a good web design soft ware.  Building a website is a great way of increasing sale and attract people if this website is for your business. What really makes you attracted to a website is the design.<br />
There are many options for various software programs to help you. Here are some which are reputable.<br />
Web Plus is relatively easy to use. It has lots of media tools such as Flash and You Tube. There are  tutorials and Free hosting is included. The Web Plus have template but it is good to also have idea on HMTL.<br />
If you are new to web design, Web Easy Professional is the best option for  you. It is very simply and user friendly for anyone. This software features iPhone and Smartphone templates so that your site can be viewed from anywhere. Web Easy Professional has newer templates and other  tools to get  through the process of creating your site.</p>
<p>Coffee Cup Visual Site Designer is  easy to use. You do not have to be an expert in code writing to use this software.  With this soft ware you can build your site from templates or from scratch. The manual is very easy to understand and follow. You can build a site from the ground up or use templates to get started. It  includes an FTP client. This helps you to edit your site directly.<br />
The Word press is another very effective and efficient soft ware to build your site from scratch.<br />
Using any of these three are cost effective. When researching for a soft ware make sure your needs are met. Do not buy a soft ware that will require you be an expert to create your site.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Web Development</title>
		<link>http://www.infinityfish.com/web-development/</link>
		<comments>http://www.infinityfish.com/web-development/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 19 May 2010 05:20:58 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[web development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Link Buiding Services/Link building Companies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Outsource Link Building]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.infinityfish.com/web-development/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Title: Web Development Can some one tell me about web development? If yes let’s go ahead and tell the definition to our colleague or associates who do not know the definition and the advantages it gives to any business you go in for. Web development is the ability of making our websites suitable for the [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Title:<br />
Web Development</p>
<p>Can some one tell me about web development? If yes let’s go ahead and tell the definition to our colleague or associates who do not know the definition and the advantages it gives to any business you go in for. Web development is the ability of making our websites suitable for the general public and through this, it draws traffic to your site hence brings enough finance to your business. Many business people go for web developer in order to make their site the top among the directories. The vital point about web site is web development. In short web development is the heart of any web site body. When a visitor sees a website that is clearly designed, the person must call for another partner to see the site because the appearance of the website has caught his eye to an extent that he/she can not keep it alone trafficking. Through this, trafficking come in to our website. Web development composed of software application like designing programs, content development, e-commerce development and so on. When you want to develop your website, you must have to use the programming language like HTML, XHTML, XML, ASP.net, JavaScript, CSS and AJAX. If you used this programming language, you site will be the perfect site. These are some of the points in which you must consider when you go out to search for a web developer. First of all know about the specialty of that web developer. Secondly the portfolio of the designer, thirdly the long term of your business. Knowing these three points will make your website an excellent site for ones and for all. You will not have any competitor. Rush now and search for your web developer</p>
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		<item>
		<title>Web promotion</title>
		<link>http://www.infinityfish.com/web-promotion/</link>
		<comments>http://www.infinityfish.com/web-promotion/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 13 May 2010 05:24:53 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[web development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web promotion]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.infinityfish.com/?p=1142</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Have you heard about web promotion? Web promotion is the act of promoting your website to get higher ranks in any search engine you decide to take. The question is what are the techniques you can use to promote your site?. There are many techniques to follow in order to promote your website. First of [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Have you heard about <strong>web promotion</strong>? Web promotion is the act of promoting your website to get higher ranks in any search engine you decide to take. The question is what are the techniques you can use to promote your site?. There are many techniques to follow in order to promote your website. First of all know if you have succeeded in promoting your website, you must have targeted traffic to your site. So how can you do this? Read carefully below. In other to promote your website, you must know how to write articles or free report to your site. Make sure you write interesting articles for the viewing and reading of your visitors. When you write interesting articles, it can be published and there are people out there that only like to read interesting information. In that article, make sure you put in your web address in order that they visitors can click and it takes them there. Again email signature is another way to promote your site and it is the best and quickest method to draw traffic to your website. This process requires that you add your website URL (uniform resource locator) in your signatures. If you follow this procedure, each time you sent an email, your website will be advertised with it. It is of advantage to you in order to promote your site. In short the web content is what actual promotes your website. Give good keywords which the search engines can easily find. SEO is also important to promote your web site. </p>
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		<item>
		<title>WordPress as a CMS: wp_list_pages() alternative: How I use the Post Footer Plugin as wp_list_pages() alternative</title>
		<link>http://www.infinityfish.com/wordpress-as-a-cms-wp_list_pages-alternative-how-i-use-the-post-footer-plugin-as-wp_list_pages-alternative/</link>
		<comments>http://www.infinityfish.com/wordpress-as-a-cms-wp_list_pages-alternative-how-i-use-the-post-footer-plugin-as-wp_list_pages-alternative/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 10 Nov 2009 03:31:55 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[web development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wp_list_pages()]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.infinityfish.com/?p=980</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[WordPress as a CMS: How I use the Post Footer Plugin as wp_list_pages alternative WordPress can be used as a CMS. However you have to know how to link to other pages on your site. This is very important because a smart link can greatly make your pages or post rank higher. Wordpress provides the [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>WordPress as a CMS: How I use the Post Footer Plugin as wp_list_pages alternative</p>
<p>WordPress can be used as a CMS. However you have to know how to link to other pages on your site. This is very important because a smart link can greatly make your pages or post rank higher.<br />
Wordpress provides the function wp_list_pages() which can be used as a great way to link pages, subpages, and subsubpages to increase your rankings. The implimentation of  wp_list_pages() can be tricky though, so I decided to use the Post Footer Plugin.<br />
This is how I caonfigure this plugin.<br />
Go to Settings on your WP admin and click on Post Footer Plugin<br />
Now under &#8220;Add Ad before Related Post&#8221; leave this blank<br />
And the &#8220;Ad Code Script:&#8221; is also left blank<br />
Now Add related post list: Yes<br />
And then Maximum number of post in the list: I put 15 or 20<br />
Optional Text: I put some text here with the link to something like so: Some other resources include links to <a href="http://www.realestate99.com/atlanta-houses/"> Atlanta houses</a>,<br />
Show Technorati Tags to the end of post: No if I don&#8217;t want the pages to have it. If you used pages then You wnat to put a YES here, so that related Pages can show up<br />
Keep Plugin credit: No<br />
This helps your blog rank higher! Hope this helps.</p>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>How to avoid Common Website Design Mistakes</title>
		<link>http://www.infinityfish.com/how-to-avoid-common-website-design-mistakes/</link>
		<comments>http://www.infinityfish.com/how-to-avoid-common-website-design-mistakes/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 08 Sep 2009 08:08:17 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[web development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[web design]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.infinityfish.com/?p=888</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Here is the short list (sorta) of the basic website design flaws we often see committed by amateur web designers. Here’s the way this works: read each listing and check it against your own site to see if you are breaking any of these rules. *It should be noted that by breaking these rules, your [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Here is the short list (sorta) of the basic website design flaws we often see committed by amateur web designers. Here’s the way this works: read each listing and check it against your own site to see if you are breaking any of these rules.</p>
<p>*It should be noted that by breaking these rules, your site isn’t going to hell but that it will look dumpy compared to sites that follow them, especially if they are your competitor’s web site.</p>
<p>**It should also be noted that I list these in no critical order but that I do some are more dangerous than others.</p>
<p><strong>Using underline to accent or create heading.</strong><br />
One of the ways people create sections when writing out long papers (paper as in trees) is to use underline for headings. So, it must follow that they use this on the web. Underline is one of the html codes given to use on text after all.</p>
<p>This is a major violation in that the default for links in web browsers is underlined and blue. If you’re looking at a block of black text on a white page and you see a word in blue and underlined, you think it’s a link and click on it. Even if its not blue, people will still think an underlined word is a link. The cure for using underline is easy: use bold to accent a word in a sentence instead; make the text a larger size if creating a heading.</p>
<p><strong>Writing text in ALL CAPS<br />
</strong>This is perhaps the worst thing you can do on a site. Words typed in all caps are almost impossible to read. People like to use all caps because it makes the words look bigger and takes up more space on a web page. I won’t read any page or email that is typed in all caps. That’s not because I’m stubborn but because I physically can’t read the letters.</p>
<p><strong>Centering Text</strong><br />
Not the worst case offense but one I see professional graphic designers and web designers doing all the time: they center the text on a page. Again, the “hard to read dilemma,” though not impossible. Centered text is ok when you have one line of text on page. If it’s a paragraph then you are an awful designer.</p>
<p>I also see designers centering their navigation links when they use a left side nav bar. It will look far more pleasing to the eye to align them all left.</p>
<p><strong>Too many/too large of files to download<br />
</strong>The goal weight of a first time web page (such as the home page or index) is between 35-60kb. This actually comes from the WebPagesThatSuck guy who based it off the 20 most trafficked sites and their average index page weights. This number includes the file size of the code and the images. 60kb is a pretty tough number to stay under. Most web sites I make go over the 60kb limit but not by much. If you’re a web designer and you make your pages under 60kb, then your client should “legally” not have a reason to bitch the site loads slowly. At that point, it is going to be caused by the connection speed or server bandwidth pipe and not your design.</p>
<p>Once a user has download images on a site that are resuabale on each page like header and logo images, you can make you other pages slightly heavier as web surfers won&#8217;t have to redownload the images.</p>
<p><strong>Intro and splash pages</strong><br />
This seems like a really cool idea from just about any angle but its not. Everyone who has wanted a splash page or intro page (with or without Flash) desires one because his neighbor has one. “Have you seen the intro to the Melvins’ site?” might be something a client will ask of me. He wants one too.</p>
<p>The problem with this is simple. Users don’t want this. It’s tedious and boring. Its one more step in the chain when searching for information on the web. The concept that the web is cinema needs to be broken. No one walks into a room; sits down in a comfortable plush chair; dims the light and clicks on your site like they’re about to watch a movie. They don’t want opening credits or to feel like they have to agree to enter. The web is used like people would do research in a university library.</p>
<p>And intro pages discourage repeat traffic. If you have a site people return to often, that intro page gets annoying. Why do you think Flash intro designers add the “skip intro” feature to a movie? Skip the whole thing as it saves work for both parties.</p>
<p><strong>Using Arial, Times Roman or Helvetica fonts<br />
</strong>These fonts are often the default in browsers so you have to specify on your site to not use them. Basically, these are older fonts from the days of paper printing. They do not look good when displayed on computer monitors. Mainly because monitors have a lower resolution. Helvetica, however, was used quite a bit in the 70s for magazines and catalogs and as a result has a “dated” look to it. Think old 70s Playboy. Times Roman has a “newspapery” look to it as well.</p>
<p>The cure for an easy to read font that looks normal on a monitor comes to us from the people at Microsoft in a font called Verdana. That’s right. They researched and designed a font that would display well at lower resolutions like computer monitors. This font does look much better when you A/B it against Arial on a site. The overall look of a site goes up when using it. One reason why you may not see it though is because it was made by MS. Often times sites which are anti-microsoft will purposely not use it, even though it is standard with all browsers.</p>
<p>A similar font is Georgia; also created to be used on monitors.</p>
<p><strong>Displaying an old copyright date<br />
</strong>Another knick-pick, I know. Especially since no one is going to sue you and that you’ll never have to bring it up in court. All the more reason to keep it up to the current year. To me it’s purely a psychological part of the site. If it can be used to remove purchasing doubts from the consumer’s mind, then utilize it. Also, any site that keeps up a current year isn’t going to be taken seriously.</p>
<p><strong>Text which runs horizontally all the waaaaay across the page</strong><br />
What this means is you don’t have your content text in a column with space on either side. The term for this is margins. Look at books and magazines. They have margins of white space on either side, as no text runs to the very edge of the paper. The same thing should apply to a web page. Otherwise it becomes cumbersome to read. I’m sure there is scientific reason to this phenomenon but let’s just say, add some white space around you chunks of text. The best is to have a column on the left of about 140 pixels. Some designers use this column space to add navigation and extra content and links. Hey, that sounds great and works great. As long as the text doesn’t scroll full screen.</p>
<p>Ironically, usability guru Jakob Nielson fails in this area when presenting articles on his own site. He does use a 5 pixel margin on the left side but this is not nearly enough as people’s monitors are wider than an 8.5&#215;11” paper. His conflict is that by adding a substantial column on the left, he thinks he would be breaking some other design flaw, that being: “theoretically” a nav bar whose links scroll off the page. He is correct but has chosen the worse of the two flaws to latch onto. No one can read your stupid site. Hey, why not add a 140 pixel wide column of white space?</p>
<p><strong>Displaying a link to your web sites traffic stats</strong><br />
This is something you don’t do. It’s distracting, for one. Another reason is that traffic is a form of currency and by showing the world how much money your holding, it allows us to determine your site’s value. I could go on, but my recommendation is to keep those numbers private.</p>
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