There seems to be confusion among web designers when to use the img tag vs the CSS background-image property. Both tags are frequently used improperly. Usually this isn't revealed until it comes time to give the site a facelift or update photos. Really it isn't difficult to keep your images inline. Read below for a couple helpful tips. Use the img tag when the image is not related to the stylesheet. These are photos that need to display no matter how the look and feel of the site changes..... read more

In today's world, users turn to the web to get up to date information about everything from the latest industry news to who won the big game. Because of this, simply having a company website is no longer enough. Your website is your chance to make a first impression on your perspective clients and with that in mind, here are a few simple tips to help you to create the ultimate user experience. Know what users want - It seems simple, right? Not so much. You know users want information so many .... read more

I love the "free" services that Facebook, YouTube and Twitter bring to the table...but "free" doesn't mean you don't pay a price. Some companies (including our own) have turned to social media as a real means to market our services. It's a way to extend your brand and informally communicate with an audience. If you depend on communicating with your audience with one of these tools and suddenly it's not there for you - you're out of luck. As I logged into Twitter today after researching some re.... read more

Honestly, when looking for a smart phone, it's always been about the operating system, storage space and speed. The features for which buyers are looking, may be highlighted as ports, screen resolution and the like, but when was the last time Adobe Flash 10 was the main feature of the phone? Well since the iPhone, iTouch and iPad have been really phenomonal successes, a slight debacle on their part that has allowed marketers behind Google's Android-based phones to gain an edge, is the lack of A.... read more

Have you ever noticed how many websites come across as being a bit impersonal? You have seen things like: The text feels too scripted, The photos are obvious stock photos Personality is often lacking. All of these things can be a major turn-offs to potential customers. If they don't feel a connection to the product or service being offered, the less likely they are to purchase the product or enlist your services. Here are a few tips you may try to engage customers with only a few sim.... read more

Gap certainly learned a hard lesson this week when consumers revolted against their newly redesigned logo, causing the popular retail chain to pull the re-design less than a week after its debut. What hapened to the Gap is not an isolated incident. The actual product and packaging aside, the logo is the thing that will shape the consumer's attitude and perception toward you as a business. More than ever before, consumerism is all about choices. When a consumer commits to a specific brand, they .... read more

I'll just put it out there: I am addicted to my iPhone. Directions? Done. Finding restaurants in my general vacinity? No problem. Transforming in to a private island in addition to a jet that will fly me there? Well... not quite... but if you're a smartphone user, you know how valuable this device has become. I wasn't always an iPhone user, but the only thing I could say once I succumed to temptation and purchased my first iPhone (3G S, thank you very much!) was, 'Why didn't I do this so.... read more

The latest software release for the iPhone contained a little nugget that most people have overlooked. They introduced an HDR setting for the built in camera. For those of you who are unfamiliar with HDR it stands for High Dynamic Range. High Dynamic Range (HDR) photos contain a wider range of luminance. I am sure you have noticed when you take a photo it just doesn't look totally right. This is because the intensity levels are decreased because of the limited range the camera can capture in on.... read more

How do you create a website that is full featured while remaining simple? This is a question many companies ask theselves at one point or another. A few simple tips can help you to streamline your site and take it to the next level. Limit bells and whistles.  Provide your users with features (bells and whistles), but keep them relevant.  A feature in this case is a tool or enhancement to an interactive piece of your website.  When you provide your users with valuable tools (fea.... read more

You can have the most beautiful site in the world. Maybe you spent hours poring over images, backgrounds, color schemes and you have achieved what you think is a masterpiece of web work. That's all well and good, but it means almost nothing if you haven't put just as much thought, perhaps even more, into making your site usable. Users may be impressed at first, but they won't be fooled for long once they realize they have to put work into figuring out where you have hidden your products or servi.... read more

It is easy for web designers to just jump into a design without knowing the specific goals of the website. The "message", as i like to call it, is what the website is all about. It encompasses the goals, target audience and main objectives. Knowing this information before you start to design is critical. It will influence the graphics, layouts and calls to action. This is an important step that must not be skipped during the design process. If you don't take the time to discuss this with the cli.... read more

Mobile computing is hotter than ever right now. Touch screens have become a staple of many people's lives. Many people are migrating away from the traditional desktop or laptop computers in favor of using these devices as their primary source for web content. As web designers we must keep this growing segment of the population in mind when we design and build websites. I have found myself turning to my iphone more and more to get quick answers, look up the status of an ecommerce order or check u.... read more

When you're shopping around for web design it may be tempting to go with that company that offers you a fantastic website for very little money. The thing you should keep in mind is just what that money is for, where they might try to add in extra fees, and whether you are actually getting a quality site. More often than not you really do get what you pay for in the world of web design companies. Be sure to ask plenty of questions right from the beginning and know exactly what you are getting a.... read more

It seems nowadays everyone has a smart phone. Getting information on the go is easier now than it has ever been and as technology advances smartphones are able to handle more complex applications and websites. The question facing many businesses is how they can profit off of this latest trend. One big question is whether to create a mobile version of their website. There are a few different factors that a website owner should consider before making this decision. The first thing to think about .... read more

As interest in HTML5 and CSS3 heats up, you may be wondering when you'll finally get to implement them in your own code. They can seem almost unusable right now due to cross browser support issues. Many of us are still stuck supporting IE6 and can't imagine trying to code with new standards that are iffy in even the most recent browsers. Wide support is coming, though it may take a bit of time yet. On the bright side there are people out there with the goal of making CSS3 usable right now. The .... read more

We've always felt that buying links seemed formidable. Now we know so as Matt Cutts of Google has come right out and said it will not help you, especially with human manual reviews. Again - new unique content, blog posts, forum posts, relationships with industry partners who have quality sites, press releases, articles, etc. are what will help with page rank. Good links that are not paid for as a way to manipulate PR are ok. Paid links is against Google's terms of service. Not all paid links a.... read more

It would be a true statement to say 95% of all websites use Sans-serif fonts. They are everywhere Arial, Trebuchet and Verdana have become the go to font for web designers for years. There is good reason the web has gone this direction. Sans-serif fonts are very professional, they render clean in Windows and Mac, and they have a modern feel. With the benefits come some disadvantages, they can feel rigid, color can look odd on them, and everyone else on the web is using them. In the last year we .... read more

This week I've learned a nifty little trick having to do with .htaccess and site redirection. I'm sure you know that you can reach a web site with the normal www. or you can leave it off. The end result is no different to you. sBut it is to Google. The search engines considers each address version a different site, and there's a lot of duplicate content there. .htaccess can force your site to always redirect to www. Toss this little bit of code: RewriteEngine on RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^your-do.... read more