Google Chrome

Web designers faced many challenges, among them the compatibility across all browsers. In 2004, I downloaded Opera, and it became my rule of thumb that if it worked and looked good in Opera, it would be fine in all other browsers.

Then came a new version of Opera, and my rule went out the door. I know was creating sites and testing in three different browsers. I was testing in Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Opera. I could care less about Safari or Mac browsers because at the time Apple was in the toilet and most were using PC.

Since 2004 many things have changed. Most households have adopted some flavor of computer and some sort of broadband. Each of the aforementioned browsers have evolved and have required many more band-aids across the board. CSS has also evolved and with it many more problems have followed. In June of this year (2008), I wrote a post alluding to Google putting all these broswers to shame with some standards.

Well the Google browser is now here. As with all Google products is a beta release and shall remain so for the upcoming years to follow. I download the savior last week and have been playing on and off with it. Test driving it if you will. As with most Google creations, it is simple, yet powerful enought to calculate your most visited sites and minimizes the crashes. Although it provides a lot of features, it somehow lacks flare.

I opened a few pages that have tweaks and patches and for the most part it looks like all sytems are a go.

The bottom line is that with the release of Chrome I hope to be able to diminish the patches, but the future looks gloomy thus far, I spoke with a few friends in the space and most had yet to hear of the browser, let alone taken it out for a test drive. Hopefully our Savior has come, but only time will tell.

Labels: CSS, Google, Search Engine, SEO, techniques, test

Cuil

Cuil is officially launched and the buzz is in, the word, Google should be afraid. I don't think Google has anything to worry about as of yet. So what if the founders of Cuil where key engineers at Google. So what if Anna Patterson orchestrated the latest algorithm that Google is supposedly currently using.

I test drove cuil, I think they offer a great interface for the results, but I don't see where their claims that their algorithm is much more sophisticated than that of Google's. I found it to be quite inaccurate. Don't get me wrong, I'm far from being Google's fan. I think Google is quite sophisticated and offers great search tools that have been gamed and manipulated by scammers and skeemers to skew results. I'm still able to find solutions via my queries, that which I tried on Cuil and was unsuccessful.

I recently read a book that stated that just because you have the technical know how on performing a specialized task, does not mean you have the skills needed to run a company. Anna was the architect of Google’s large search index, but is she simply a search technician and coder or does she carry the ability to run the business while having other create and manifest her vision?

The bottom line is that many more powerful companies have try to take the Giant down and the giant is yet to loose. The numbers don't lie, Google has 50% of the search market share, while Yahoo possesses 20%. These numbers sound familiar, they should, think Coke and Pepsi. Others like MSN, AOL, LIVE, ASK carry the difference in the search engine space. Another search engine that had a big debut was Mahalo. It came out with an interesting concept of taking the machines out of the equation, but the buzz quickly ceased and I doubt that it will ever produced or come to full fruition. I won't hold my breadth on Cuil, but I'm glad to see competition as it will only make Google come out with a stronger search product. My prediction is that Cuil will be cool for a week or two.

Labels: Design, Google, Search Engine, SEO

Div Container Width

I have become a great fan of CSS and fluid design for the past couple of years. Tables are a thing of the past. The problem is that even though most Web designers have evolved, browsers have not.

You see browsers are put together by coders, developers if you will. Those types only understand 0 and 1s and have very little time to worry about nuances that pesky designers would devote their time to calculating. One of those nuances are containers like div.

Originally designed to serve as layers, again for Web and Graphic designers, div have become very useful as not only can they float and be positioned, but they serve as containers for content on the Web page.

Here comes my issue, I been having some problem fitting the content on a multi-column site. After some quick Googling, I came across a forum thread explaining that the total outside width of a div box is the sum of the values for the following properties:

margin-left
+ border-left-width
+ padding-left
+ width
+ padding-right
+ border-right-width
+ margin-right
= total occupied width of any {display:block} type box

This makes no sense to me. Although Firefox does follow standards and many accuse Internet Explorer of breaking rules and misbehaving; IE6 and IE7 follow rules much more closely to how designers work. When I designed a page I typically render it in Photoshop, then I translate the work into HTML and CSS. When I measure my drawings in Photoshop, IE follows suit, while I have to more intensely calculate when it comes to Firefox.

The bottom line is that it is unfortunate that browser creators can't come together and be unified so that we, as Web designers, don't have to patch holes cause by the multitude of browsers. Perhaps one day the W3C will succeed in unifying browsers with coming up with standards and rules. As for me, I'm just waiting for Google to come out with their own browser, take over the world, and keep making us drink their cool-aid, until then, I'll keep plugging the holes and hope to stay afloat.

Labels: CSS, Design, dreamweaver, Google, Search Engine, SEO, Web Design

Embed fonts on your Web site

Recently, I have been thinking about design and the nature to code safely on the Web. As designers we typically choose to use Web friendly fonts like Verdana, Times New Roman, Arial, and Trebuchet MS.

Designers, however should not let browsers inabilities to carry a vast array of fonts interfere with their designs. Michaelangelo would not have sacrifice the roof of the Sistine Chapel due to lack of a smaller brush, so why is it that Web designers so often sacrifice bandwidth and turn to background images or heavy downloads to convey their message; not to mention the lack of search engine friendliness involved in presenting picures and images instead of text.

I sought out a clear answer on how to embed fonts on a site without the need to sacrife speed or SEO. Back in the late 90's both Netscape and Internet Explorer were fighting grounds for the title of browser reign supreme as such both came out with unusual plugins and font rendering programs, however this was but a mere patch and band aid on the problem as fonts were translated to images solving only the small side of the equation. I don't blame them as SEO wasn't a hot topic in those days and Google was but a silly word some guys thought of to represent their brand.

In today's Web, where Search Engines are the hot club were your name must be on the list, it is crucial to create SE's friendly sites. to do so, the @font-face construct must be utilize.

Here is a simple example courtesy of the css czars at A List Apart:

@font-face {
font-family: "Kimberley";
src: url(http://www.princexml.com/fonts/larabie/ »
kimberle.ttf) format("truetype");
}
h1 { font-family: "Kimberley", sans-serif }

"Those familiar with CSS syntax will recognize the last line. The @font-face construct may not be familiar, however it’s easy to explain: as the “Kimberley” font is requested, the font file is fetched from the specified URL. The syntax is described in the CSS2 specification.

To avoid long lists of @font-face declarations in the style sheet, they can be hidden using @import" like so,

@import url(http://www.princexml.com/fonts/larabie/index.css) all;
h1 { font-family: Goodfish, serif }

The bottom line is that you should not limit yourself or set the bar too low, there is always a way to solve the problem. Problems are easy to come by, but securing an answer is where the intellectual matter comes into play. Don't let the ineptitude of todays' browser interfere with the future, just make sure that you gracefully prepare your site for degredation or for those living in the past. To appreciate the true power behind css, please refer to the Zen Garden project.

Labels: brand, cms, CSS, Design, dreamweaver, Features, jagged images, photo resizing, Search Engine, SEO

SEO Hackery and sales tricks

I was recently reading an article on SEO Chat, a large provider of SEO tools, articles, and news. I have been exploring and toying with the idea of hiring a consultant/ helper to get better rankings on some terms. I have a lot of experience on SEO, and keep with with the space, but it is always great to get third party validation.

The problem is that when it comes to SEO, you have to open up your entire site to some folks who just may do a hack job or worst, get you banned. This is why I get wary of SEO, thankfully SEO Chat is able to validate my worries, this article speaks of Network Solutions, one of the largest domain name registrars.

It is sad to see such a powerful company diminish the trust of the community by offering trickery and half-ass SEO programs to turn a profit on the less savvy.

Another point not covered in the article is that you do -not- get to select the keywords you want to rank for. They go after low volume low traffic "low hanging fruit" keywords (the sort a crappy site can rank for with the addition of the term into the title tag)

Another bad practice by these registrars, also not covered in the article, but I mostly seen it in godaddy.com, is that they keep track of the domain names you search for. If you search for a domain name a few times, they consider it popular and will self register to themselves and then ask you for a lot of $$$ to sell it to you. I notice this in the past and was happy to see validation from some other users commenting on it at the end of this article.

The bottom line is that we have to be very careful on who to trust. Don't open up your site to just any hack that comes along, especially if the price is too good to be true. Here are some tips to keep in mind as you are in the search for an SEO consultant from the king of all Search Engines, Google.

Labels: advertising, content management, CSS, Google, Search Engine, SEO

iGoogle Themes

Last year Google introduced iGoogle, an addition to the Google Web site that allows customization, thereby creating an individual homepage for each user. You can login to your personalized page via the iGoogle top right menu on the Google homepage.

Not only do you get to use the predefined gadgets, but you can add your customized RSS feeds or create your own gadgets via the Web developer tools.

Today I noticed that Google was featuring theme images for the iGoogle homepage. It got me intrigued and I starting browsing the many themes available. Thus far I had been using the beach theme which changes it looks depending on the weather and time of the day. However, there are many other themes available. You can even give it a world and create your own themes. I haven't experimented yet, but hopefully I will be giving it a whirl soon.

The bottom line is that Google chooses to keep improving every product, first came iGoogle, then came Google Tabs, followed by Google Themes, now iGoogle social networking via design your own themes, user rating, user comments and FAQ. This company knows how to get things going and keep going. Google guys, forget American Idol, you are my new idols.

Labels: Alexa, CSS, Design, Google, RSS, Search Engine, Social Bookmarking, software, techniques, Web Design, Web Searches

Happy Thanksgiving - it's CMS time

So Thanksgiving came and went, it was a great four days away from work. But here we are getting back to the grind.

I have been setting up a CMS for my company and it's going well. Originally, I wanted to create a custom CMS programmed and built from the ground up. I could not get my boss sold on the idea, mostly because he has been burned in the past with software development, cost, design, and time frames.

I understood where he was coming from and decided to get to work on customizing something that had previously been done. No need to reinvent the wheel, that's what they tell me anyways. Anyhow, turns out that there are a lot of good open source CMS out in cyberspace. Some are better than others, but the choices are pretty clear, Drupal, Joomla, Mambo, and Wordpress.

You can't go wrong with any of these, it all boils down to your specific needs, and the level of customization you will need. I used to think that if you wanted it done right you would need to build it yourself.

The bottom line is that these CMS systems are all designed to work with databases. Frankly, once you get the data into a database, it becomes quite easy to manipulate the display. If you are well verse in Web design and Web development, you can get pretty creative on how you parse and display the data, not to mention that they make it a lot easier to perform SEO (search engine optimization) work.

Labels: cms, Search Engine, SEO, Web Design

Gaming Amazon

Search Engine Optimization (SEO), although not a new subject by any means now but still quite a popular one, is the art of gaming the search engines into placing your site in the top organic listings.

I remember two years ago interviewing for an SEO firm in CT and thinking this is not going to go anywhere. I quickly turn down the job and move on to my next venture. Today, SEO is one of the hottest technology industries and talent is look after and rewarded. I should know, I since have not only learn SEO is, but have mastered the talent. Yet I'm not receiving the rewards I would have had I bother to get involved then. However, as I grow older I grow wiser and hopefully won't miss a hot opportunity like this one again!

I was reading an article today which lead me to think about gaming other areas other than search engines. What about Ebay listings? Amazon.com? or other popular sites. Think about it, if you can get your product to show up first in Amazon.com for many categories the likelihood of someone buying your product increases drastically. Your profits can go through the roof!

The bottom line is that sometimes we cannot come up with unique ideas, but fortune doesn't always lie in the unique idea, but on what is done to improve it. This is the basis of capitalism and our society. Now, I'm off to learn about Amazon.com and their search algorithm. Gamers, I'll see you there!

Labels: Amazon, Ebay, Search Engine, SEO

Powerpoint is next to go down

In an announcement yesterday Google started the talks of releasing Presentation, a PowerPoint look alike for presenting information, the difference, this program is Web based.

Google, who started challenging Microsoft early last year, is seeking the demise of the Microsoft Office Suite of Products one by one, first with its widely used Gmail mail client, followed by words, spreadsheets, and now looking to lure the business community with Presentations.

This company is hitting the mark picking up where others, like Microsoft, have fallen behind, taking advantage of their powerful Web presence and resources.

Describing the 'Presentations' software yesterday at the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco Google Chairman and Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said that the application will allow users to create and share business presentations over the web. Schmidt used a beta version of this new app to present his presentation slides.

The bigger question at hand is how is the company going to generate revenue from this product since it obviously cannot fill it up with their greatest revenue generator, adsense. Well, they seem to have now start to break off the freeware space as during the product demo, it was also announced that the Presentation software will come in two versions, of which “Premier” version with extra storage would retail for $50 per year. The product is expected to be available this summer.

The bottom line is that although adsense has given the Search Engine Powerhouse a lot of income and they have been able to translate and transplant the text ad model across many of its platforms, we can clearly see that the click fraud cases brought upon Google have taken a told and they have seen the light with the announcement of a charge for this product. What next, a Googal of email storage space for $5?

Labels: advertising, Google, Search Engine, software

New Features for all Googlers

Google, always the innovator, has introduced a number of new features to it's search engine repertoire. For example, if you are in the market for a home, either for rent or for sale, simply click onto Google.com and search for "Milford real estate" if you are in the market for a home in Milford, CT and Google will display a box allowing you to specify whether you are looking to buy, rent, or want to see foreclosures in your area. The database is still small, but I'm sure it will build itself to be more and more accurate as people start uploading to it or as Google partners with Realtors.com and other real estate sites.

Another feature which I just noticed today is the "Note this" feature which allows you to select links from the search engine and add notes to them, share with friends, or simply go to your notes homepage and see all web your notes in one place. You can also download and add on and be able to note any Web page you come across. This seems like a natural way to extent your Web research and the use of the powerhouse search engine.

The last feature that I saw announced was the addition to Google Maps which now allows you to make annotations and drawings directly onto the map, this is great when planning a trip or sharing with friends as you can make notes of things to see and even make highlights, add pictures, etc of places to see along the way.

The bottom line is that in the competitive world of searches and competition for textual ads, companies have to stay sharp and find ways to entice users to use the free service in order to serve and deliver to the text ads marketplace. Google, you are one brilliant company!!!

Labels: Features, Google, inginuity, Search Engine, techniques

And the fight goes on

It's hard to believe that with so much war between the major SEs (Search Engines), Google, Yahoo, and MSN, one company would try to enter the Search Engine Market expecting to make an impact. But such is the mission of Snap.

Snap was started by Bill Gross, the same man who started Overture and sold it to Yahoo for $1.63 billion, seems set to continue a long line of profitable start-ups with this one. Snap has quickly become one of the top five alternative to the three major search engines. Though Google, Yahoo, and MSN combined hold over 90 percent of the search engine market, with Google dominationg over 60% of the users, Snap has shown its colors and that it may have a prayer in the Search Engine Market.

The bottom line is that while the big three are fighting for control, this small startup has shown that with some talent success can be achieve. Snap is not out to organize the world's information, they are not out to be the most use search engine, but simply to provide another way to search the Web. Right now the site provides a clean, easy to use interface and seems that it has not been gamed, I'm sure for SEOs will find a way to break it soon enough.

Labels: Search Engine, Web Design, Web Searches