Ternstyle
Ternstyle
A web software and design firm
Being a web developer, designer and programmer for almost ten years now has been an interesting journey. At this point I have more than settled intomy talents and have the capabilities to offer my clients quite a bit when it comes to how they choose to represent themselves online. Interestingly, no matter how much I offer my clients I still see them give into low level, uneducated web designers because of budgets or fanciful promises. Those of us who know what we’re doing will make more money if we educate our clients. Here is my first list of ways to determine if your web master, designer or developer (whatever he calls himself) is a tool.
1. Not using XHTML or not specifying a document type altogether
The document type of your web pages is very important. It tells a browser and search engines how to parse the code that makes up your web page. Without a document type specified your web site users’ browsers will have to guess at how your web page’s code should be interpreted and how your page should be laid out. Not specifying a document type would be like teaching children fractions before telling them they’re in math class. Some of the kids will figure it out but why take the risk? It’s only one line of code.
Why XHTML? Firstly, it is recommended by the World Wide Web Consortium(W3C). The W3C develops standards by which we do things across the web. One central standard for code writing and practices ensures our websites being crawled by search engines properly (which is tasty) and our sites being seen by our visitors how we intend them to. Not adhering to standards would be like soccer players all showing up to a game with different jerseys. Chaos! Secondly, XHTML is a mix between XML and HTML. XML is a more standardized method of transferring data and thereby strengthens what HTML can do to display that data.
How do I find out if my document type is properly specified?
- Go to your homepage in the browser of your choice
- Right click on your page or go to your “View” menu at the top of your browser window or tool bar.
- Select the option “Source”, “View Source” or “View Page Source”
- Now you’re looking at a bunch of code you may not understand.
- We’re looking for the first or second line of code which should look something like this: <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN” “http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd”>
- If you don’t see a line that starts with <!DOCTYPE your web guy is a tool.
2. Using non-standards compliant code
We just spoke about the use of standards compliant code. Please wear OUR jersey. The more we stick to the standards the easier it is for us all to get what we want; better search engine results, more traffic, less time spent coding, less money spent on cross-browser scripting and a pleasant headache free web environment for our users.
How do I find out if my code is standards compliant?
- Go here: http://validator.w3.org/
- Type your web address into the “Address” field.
- Press the “Check” button.
- If you see a big green banner good for you. You’re web guy is not a tool.
- If you see a great number of errors your web guy is probably a tool. Keep in mind your site may be run by an application or content management system. If this is the case the code it produces may be causing the errors. If so, cut your web guy a break and ask him how to get the errors under control.
3. Using non-friendly urls
A search engine and user friendly url is a url that, put simply, is readable. Here is an example of a readable url:https://www.ternstyle.us/products/web_design. Here is an example of a less readable url: https://www.ternstyle.us?category=all%20my%20products&page=web%20design&session=578687dgluhsuhdsfgxfg. Don’t make us or search engines try to figure out where we are. URLs should be human readable. Read more on SEF URLs here:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_engine_friendly_URLs. If your site’s URLs have a lot of weird characters you can’t understand, neither will your users.
4. Using tables for non-tabular data
This one drives me crazy and is a clear and present indication that your web guy is a tool. Tables are only to be used for tabular data. Tables have unique properties which allow web designers to easily crank out page layouts and navigation with desirable aesthetic effects. However, the amount of code to do this could be three, four or who knows how many times more code than you need. It makes your pages harder for search engines to crawl. It makes your pages bulkier and increases file size.
Your web pages should be designed with simple, effective and web standard tags. The less code the better. Most designers who still use tables do so because they are not proficient in CSS.
How do I find out if my web guy is using tables?
- Go to the web page on your site of your choice in the browser of your choice
- Right click on your page or go to your “View” menu at the top of your browser window or tool bar.
- Select the option “Source”, “View Source” or “View Page Source”
- Scroll down through the code that makes up your page. If you see a lot of tags like <table>, <thead>, <tbody>, <th>, <tr> and <td>, and there is no tabular data on your page, your web guy is a tool.
5. Not using the tags h1, h2, h3, etc
Your “h” tags are heading tags for your web pages. They divide your page into main titles and areas. These heading are very respected by search engines. If you’re willing to put text into a heading tag on your site the heading must be pertinent to your content. At least that’s the weight that search engines give them. Use them! Headings are necessary.
How do I find out if my web guy is using heading tags?
- Go to the web page on your site of your choice in the browser of your choice
- Right click on your page or go to your “View” menu at the top of your browser window or tool bar.
- Select the option “Source”, “View Source” or “View Page Source”
- Scroll down through the code that makes up your page. If you DON’T see a lot of tags like <h1>, <h2>, <h3>, <h4> etc. your web guy is a tool.
6. Extreme download times
Your web page should download in 10 seconds or less. Thankfully, broad band is accessible now more than ever. Still, we must care for how large the files that make up our web pages are. Most likely, unless you’re paying your web guy a lot of money, he doesn’t care how long your page takes to download. Saying to him, “My web page takes forever to download!”, will most likely be met with, “It downloads fast here. It must be your connection.”
How do I find out just how fast my web page downloads on other computers?
- Go here: http://www.websiteoptimization.com/services/analyze/
- Type your URL into the field entitled “Enter URL to diagnose:”
- Click Submit.
- When you come to the next page type the characters you see into the available field.
- Click continue.
This page is filled with a wealth of information about your site. Note the area entitled “Download Times”. This is the area you’ll pay the most attention to. The “ISDN 128K” should be around 10 seconds. This is not a steadfast rule. You need to know your users. Google Analytics, which I’ll speak about later, is a great way to know how fast the connection speeds are of the majority of your users. If most of them are at around 56k then get that download time to 10 seconds. The “Page Objects” section will tell you what files could use compression and what images could be rendered at a lesser quality. If your web guy doesn’t know how to do these things or dismisses you when you ask he’s a tool.
7. Not using website user tracking and analysis software
There is hardly a thing more useful than your web statistics once you have a website. Statistics will tell you what aspects of your web site need help, what users are doing on your website, how long they stay with you, where they came from and whether or not all the money you’re putting into your site is getting you anything in return. Google Analytics is a free and absolutely amazing tool for analyzing your web presence. If you don’t have something like this installed in your site or your web guy won’t give you access to it he’s a tool.
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