Keep ignoring mobile and you’ll lose your ranking in Google

26-03-2015, Category Web Design

thumb
The time has come that you really MUST adapt your website to mobile devices. I explain why and suggest how to do it best. Photo by: Hernán Piñera ‘Fix mobile usability issues found on …’ Such alerts have recently been received by those users of Google Webmaster Tools, whose websites are not adapted to mobile. If you don’t use GWT and your website is found not adapted it is bound to be ranked down in Google search results without any warning. Yes, there’s no mistake here ‒ on 21 April 2015 Google starts to take ‘mobile usability’ of websites into account while assessing and ranking them in search results. That is why website owners from all over the world have got down to the mobile versions of their websites that were neglected or didn’t exist at all. But my clients don’t...

How much does a website cost?

20-08-2014, Category Web Design

thumb
And how much is a house? This question is just as general and also can’t be answered without lots of additional information. ‘Universal’ cost of making a website is what people ask interactive agencies, individual website creators and Google about. Photo by: Timothy Allen WWW like a house It was not without reason that I used an allegory of the house. Frankly speaking, it happened to me several times that I used it when talking to a client. It’s just because building a house – putting it in simple terms – is very similar to making a website. First of all, a building can be used in various ways – it can be a residential (single-family or multifamily) house, office building, store, warehouse, sports facility etc. Secondly, the size of the building and its components...

Why a website looks different on different screens? (and what to do with that)

03-07-2014, Category Web Design

thumb
Desktop monitors, laptops, netbooks, tablets, smartphones and even TV’s. There are so many devices and every one of them comes in many versions with different display sizes. And with mobile devices there’s also orientation (vertical/horizontal) to consider. What’s more, there’s after all no obligation to use the web browser in a maximized window. In this way we get an unimaginable number of window sizes in which a website can be opened. Photo by: Robert Couse-Baker Web browsers What makes it more difficult are the differences in how web standards are implemented by browser producers. There are quite a number of them but currently only 5 brands matter that have together dominated 90% of the market: Firefox, Chrome, Internet Explorer, Opera and Safari. Fortunately, version...

How to prepare good content for a website?

22-03-2013, Category Web Design

thumb
Your new website is just being built and now it’s time to write some content. How to do it best? How to make users interested in your offer and encourage them to make contact instead of getting them bored and losing them? Photo by: April Killingsworth Principles Before you write the first word I’d like to teach you some basic principles of writing content for websites. Most of them can also be used outside the Internet. When writing, consider your target group and always have in mind the purpose of the website Surely you know well who the users of your company websites will be. Remember you write for them and not for you – put yourself into their shoes. Think whether a given piece of information can be really interesting for them. Try to use universal language and minimize the number...

CMS choice

22-05-2010, Category Web Design

thumb
When talking about the process of building company website I mentioned choosing the proper CMS (Content Management System) and the importance of that choice. I promised to elaborate the subject. First of all – a little reminder: In terms of type of licensing CMS systems can be divided into 3 main groups: a) free of charge/non-commercial – Open Source (e.g. eZ Publish, Joomla, Drupal); b) commercial and widely accessible (e.g. DotNetNuke, SharePoint, Sitefinity); c) commercial, created by particular interactive agencies (their own solutions) Advantages and disadvantages of these groups: type of CMS advantages disadvantages free of charge • no costs • frequent updates • plenty of different add-ons and extras • high possibility of hacker attacks • limited...

How does a website work?

20-05-2010, Category Web Design

thumb
Gone are the times when a website comprised static documents connected with fixed hyperlinks. The content of such a website could only be modified by a webmaster who either needed to be paid for each adjustment or in the form of a salary. Nowadays a website is an Internet application – a construction comprising the following 3 elements (layers): 1. graphic templates 2. scripts 3. content (both text and graphic) Scripts are responsible for loading content from a database and displaying it through templates. The effect seen by end users is the so-called front-end. On the other hand, the administrative panel (CMS interface) is the back-end and it can only be accessed by the website’s administrators. During website building process, a certain layout which has been previously approved...

The process of building a company website – part 3: Implementation

13-05-2010, Category Web Design

thumb
Previous parts of the article: part 1: Planning part 2: Choice of technology and contractor Graphics Decisions concerning the layout of the website, that is its graphic design and layout on individual screens, need to be made very cautiously as they are irreversible. “Irreversible” might be too big of a word. The thing is that every new stage in developing the website is affected by what has been done previously. A late change in the customer’s decision requires going back one or a few stages and re-doing what has already been done. This can defer the whole process in time and might also mean additional costs for the client. Usually interactive agencies send their graphic designs in the form of JPG files. It is very important to view them in the original scale (not resized)....

The process of building a company website – part 2: Choice of technology and contractor

12-05-2010, Category Web Design

thumb
Previous part of the article: part 1: Planning Choice of technology Entrusting an interactive agency with the task of choosing the right technology is only seemingly the best solution. Having received no particular details from the client, the contractor would feel fully free in designing the website. However, such a solution might mean that the agency would choose the best technology for itself and not for its customer. The key decision to make is to choose the appropriate operating system – Windows or Linux. As far as PCs are concerned the situation is rather clear (see usage share of operating systems) but utterly different rules apply to web servers. The difference between Windows-based servers and those using Linux lies mainly in the costs. Microsoft licenses and certificates...

The process of building company website – part 1: Planning

10-05-2010, Category Web Design

thumb
Companies build their websites relatively rarely – usually at the very beginning of their business activity and then approximately every 3-4 years depending on environment changes. By environment I mean technology (e.g. display resolutions), current trends (e.g. fashion for videos) as well as competitiveness because it is important never to stay behind competitors. Moreover, also significant changes within an organization such as rebranding or major labour turnovers (a new Board of Directors or a new Marketing Department) often require the creation of a new website. Due to the fact that this website-building process does not occur often, not all marketers are familiar with it. This makes the creation of websites, which are the basic tools of e-marketing, a unique opportunity. Planning The...

This website uses cookie files to improve user experience. If you don't approve, please turn off the cookie usage in your browser settings. close