Importance of CSS compared to tables

Technology changes very often and same goes with the standards of web design. Traditionally, a website would have the foundation of the template built off of tables where as now, we have changed that to CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) driven div tags.

What's CSS? CSS (Cascading Style Sheet) is a simple mechanism for adding style to web documents. These styles implement the look and formatting of a website. Div tags allow us to link styles to CSS which can benefit your website more than you know.

How does CSS benefit you?

- Great for SEO. Improve website speed. The speed will be noticed by search engines that crawl to your. It's simply a difference of milliseconds which is a big deal for crawlers. Loading time can change from .25 seconds for tables compared to .1 for CSS-based layout.

- Easy to maintain. Global site wide changes for the look and feel. Changing the fonts, colors, borders, and navigation can all be done from one location rather than each page individually. This saves time and money to eliminate the tedious process. This also gives your website a visual consistency throughout your website such as the same header, font size/color, etc.

- Cross-browser compatibility. Having your website be W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) compliant makes your website friendly to different browsers. If some of your clients use Mozilla Firefox and others IE (Internet Explorer) or Google Chrome, a website that is W3C compliant will display the same all browsers.

How does your website look?

Website Optimizer: Website Design for Your Customers

Website Optimizer gives us the opportunity to create different versions of our website pages and to test how they are received by actual visitors. There are many well documented design theories out there. If you want to move past theories and test your actual visitors going to your pages Website Optimizer is the tool with which to do it.

Color Theory Color theories, which colors will appeal to your audience and have a specific affect or mood. As fascinating as color theory is, it can feel about as scientific as a horoscope. Cultural differences, variations of shades, and the ebb and flow of fashion can be influential in shaping a viewers perception of your color scheme.

Eyetracking Human testing has established that content with pictures of people appears more professional to viewers of websites. Eyetracking studies have collected results which indicate that viewers are drawn to the line of site of the person in the picture. If you want to highlight specific text or a call to action on your site it is recommended that you use pictures in which the person is looking towards that text or call to action.

Unlike print work, where you would choose your paper stock and give a final okay to the printer before production, in website design we do not have control over the final viewing. Different computer operating systems, different browsers, and even different levels of technical proficiency on the part of the viewer are variables we have no control over.

As we make changes to our website how can we be sure that the results from the changes are not due to seasonal changes, adword campaigns, social media posts or a variety of other variables? There are so many interacting variables.

Website Optimizer allows for a more truly scientific experiment. Visitors are randomly sent to the different versions of the same page and their activities can be tracked and data collected to make your design decisions based on the visitors' actual response to your website and the actions you wish to encourage. No theory!

If you would like to look into staging a truly scientific experiment with your website design we would be glad to help.

Webconsuls Visits MindTouch - Gotta Love A Good Burrito

I had a chance to attend the Microsoft Launch event in San Diego, while I was there I decided to drop in and Flip MindTouch, the developers of DekiWiki. Many thanks to Aaron and Damien for lunch, we had tasty lamb kabob something burritos. Very much enjoyed our discussion regarding the new Deki CMS product, now available thru SourceForge. If you plan on building a website and want to include all the functionality of a Wiki then this is a product you will want to take a look at.

Do you need help setting up your Wiki based Website?

Gotta love a good burrito, and a constantly evolving Wiki.

The $155 iPhone

That is if you want to buy your new Apple iPhone in Germany. The 8gb model will get a price cut from 399 euros to only 99 euros ($155) to clear stock out for the release of the 3G iPhone in 60 Days.

When iPhones hit the $150 price point in the US, EVERYONE will have one.

Is Your Site iPhone Ready?

Adobe Puts Free Version Of Photoshop Online

Adobe announces Photoshop Express. An online based photo editing software similar to Adobe Photoshop (used by professionals).

Photoshop Express will not be as advanced but will allow the general public to edit photos.

Whats the greatest thing about it? ITS FREE!

Free version of Photoshop Express Online