As a follow up to my last post on moving a host, I thought I would post a link to an article where I was recently interviewed for on what small businesses should look for in a web hosting company.

SMB Guide: How to Choose a Good Web Host Provider

If you need help in choosing a web host or building a web site for your small business, feel free to contact me so that I can assist you.

Related posts:

1. Moving Web Hosts – What you need to know!
2. Blog Examples in a Website
3. On Page vs. Off Page SEO

As I’ve mentioned before, I teach web technologies at a local college part time. Recently I was interviewed for an article on the use of Social Media in the classroom. Specifically I spoke about using Facebook for my classes, and why I do it. The reason was simple, it is where my class already was (I only had one student who wasn’t on Facebook at the time.) I went to where they where.

This should be something all small businesses should do; know where their customer’s are, and meet them there.

The full article can be found here.

Related posts:

1. What about everyone else?
2. Small Business don’t Utilize the Web 2.0?
3. Utilizing Web 2.0 in your Business

Recently I was helping a client move from one host to another. After going through this experience a couple of times with various clients, I thought I would write down my experiences so one might know the steps to move a site from one hosting company to another.

1. You will need to get copies of your existing files. This is best done my getting them from your existing host. This may be done via FTP. In some cases you can download the files from the site, but more modern sites will run Content Management Systems, or Blogging software, which does not exist as simple files on your site.
2. Secure a new hosting server.
3. Transfer your files to the new host. I generally do this for my clients if they request it.
4. Test the new server to make sure everything is working correctly. In the last conversion, the old site used a couple of files specific to that server. We had to make changes so the contact forms would still work.
5. Update the Name Server entries for your Domain Name. This is generally done through where you register your domain name, such as Go Daddy, Network Solutions, etc. Your new host will give you this information.

What you might expect

Most of the time, moving a website from one server to another is straight forward, and there is no issues. However, from time to time there are issues, and they will fall into one of two categories: Technical or Business.

Technical Issues

Well developed sites will run into few technical issues. Sometimes a configuration file will need to be updated so resources are correctly pointed to, sometimes in rare cases, you may have to reinstall a web application for it to work properly. However, in more recent times, this is becoming less and less of an issue.

Business Issues

Business Issues are things that I see periodically. In some cases, it is how the original hosting company has their servers configured (like a mail script which will not work if its not on their server).  Other times, they don’t want to lose the business, so they will try to scare you into staying. This is what happened with the last move I helped perform.

The old host claimed the client would lose search engine ranking, and had little chance of getting it back. The Search Engines (Google, Yahoo, Bing!, etc.) know that people move websites every day. They won’t penalize you if you move from one host to another.

The original hosting company claimed to have links on over 10,000 pages for the client that would all disappear. If your host is saying that you will lose a bunch of links, it means they are managing those links, and they are most likely considered low quality by Google and other Search Engines, so they are doing little if anything for your search ranking. If your host gives you information like this, ask to see some of the pages which have these links. Working with the client, we asked the hosting provider, and never got an answer. This leads us to believe that the links were automatically generated, and therefore of low quality.

What Did Happened

What did happen was nothing to write home about. We followed the five steps from above, and after dealing with the hosting company, we got the site successfully transferred. It took about 2 days to move and test the server, and it took another day in dealing with the old host, but otherwise – it went as most transfers do: that is with out incident.

Related posts:

1. Choosing a Good Web Host
2. The three things that make up a website – Part II
3. Protect your website (and on-line business)

Google announced this week that the speed of a page is now being considered as part of how they rank pages on a web site.  This has some people happy, others scrambling.

There are a couple of things which need to be considered with this news.

• Google uses over 200 factors to “grade” a site, determining where it should be placed in the search engine rankings. Adding 1 additional factor, unless it is a large factor should have little effect on the search results.
• “All things being equal I would prefer to visit a fast loading site versus a slow one when I search for something” – the question is, what are the odds that all things are equal. They aren’t – so good, relevant content and links are still more important.
• Google launched the update a couple of weeks before the announcement. – And no one really noticed! This means that either, A) It’s not that big of a factor, or B) users had already identified the preferred site, and took the speed into effect, and helped Google rank the page by links, and content.

Does this mean you shouldn’t worry about a site speed – of course not, but it does mean you shouldn’t worry about it. It also means it’s something to consider, as Google, as well as many other companies, have seen that “that when a site responds slowly, visitors spend less time there”. (source)

Related posts:

1. Google fills out your search forms
2. How important is search ranking?
3. Getting Ranked in Google

Firefox turns five today. For some, they remember what the Web was like in 2004 – Internet Explorer 6 was the dominant browser, and had not been updates in 3 years, web technology was stagnating because of it.

Now, browsers are faster, and doing more – new standards are coming out (HTML5, CSS3, AJAX libraries, and more) – and while the techno-babble means little to many, it also means everything.  It means websites that can do more, and do it faster.

It has also heralded other browsers becoming more popular.  Five years ago, there was no Chrome or Safari, now web surfers have options to surf the web – and the web is getting better because of it.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Firefox keeps Microsoft ‘honest’ on 5th birthday (theregister.co.uk)
• Happy 5th Birthday, Firefox (mashable.com)
• Firefox: new version planned for December as browser celebrates fifth birthday (telegraph.co.uk)
• Happy Birthday: A Look Back at Five Years of Firefox [Mozilla Firefox] (lifehacker.com)
• With Firefox 3.6, Mozilla Aims to Speed up Web Browsing (readwriteweb.com)

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1. Firefox Download Day
2. Browser Know How – Firefox
3. Firefox Blocks Attack Site

I’ve seen numerous posts where people have claimed that good clean HTML leads to better SEO rankings. I’ve even talked about the lie that of the link between SEO and valid HTML.

I’ve yet to see any studies done which verify this claim and in fact I’ve even seen evidence to the opposite effect being true. I pointed out how in some competitive markets, the higher the ranking for the site the worse the validation recently in another post. This does not mean that poor code relates to higher rankings – just that valid HTML code doesn’t correlate to better rankings as some people would like to say, just like good clean code doesn’t mean the site will look better to visitors.

Matt Cutts recently did a short video on why Google’s own code doesn’t validate. (video opens new window – not allowed to embed)

Now does this mean that you should only have your web designers write invalid code – not, but it does mean you shouldn’t waste unnecessary time on it either.

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• Google Says Pages That Validate Do Not Get Ranking Boost (seroundtable.com)

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1. Valid HTML Helps Search Engine Rankings – NOT!
2. Search Engine Optimization
3. Google Using Page Speed as a Ranking Factor in Search Results

About a year ago, Google release their own browser, Chrome.  They been hard at work updating it, wanting to take more of the browser market share.

They built a good browser for power users, if you didn’t mind not having the extensions you’ve come to love and expect in Firefox.

Well now they are adding some of those extensions as well as other improvements. Read the official release here.

Related posts:

1. Google owns the web (browser)
2. Why you shouldn’t bother with Chrome
3. Why you should use Chrome

What would you do if you found out one of your best sales people was randomly turning away 1 out of every 5 people?  People who might have bought from you, but the salesperson  turned them away because of their own prejudices.

Recently I was on a conference call with a client, and one of the services he was using. We were trying to work through some issues  and during the discussion one of the issues that came up was that the services site was designed to run in Internet Explorer only.

I can understand if you are running an Intranet, inside a company where the browser is dictated by IT, but for a public website, you are essentially turning away 1 out of every 4 or 5 customers.

So I ask again could you imagine your  bank, grocery store, or gas station or your store randomly turning away 1 out of every 5 customers because they drove a mini-van instead of a car to get to the store? Of course not! That salesperson should and probably would be fired for such foolishness!

Web browsers are like cars in many ways. They are the vehicle which your customer uses to get to your website. Just because Internet Explorer holds 80% of the market share, doesn’t mean that it should be the only browser you allow your customers to use. Your site should be designed to work with all modern browsers – and if it doesn’t you should fire your web designer.

(Note: names withheld to protect the guilty.)

Related posts:

1. Are you out of touch with your customers
2. Treat your past customers carefully
3. Preparing your customers for change

This summer I’ve been working on several projects with two of them being very large.  Well I just finished the first large project, Our Wedding Circle. Built using an existing framework, so it should be easier to maintain, there is also large sections of custom code and several key updates.

The updates, allow for, as all websites should:

• easier administration to add/update/and disable users,
• faster searching for users than before,
• more optimized database structure, and
• improved findability for search engines, so it should rank higher than it’s predecessor.

The client brought me their ideas, and I worked with them and showed them some others things which could be done to make managing a site of their size more manageable.

The site is huge already with many wedding vendors from all over the US, indexed by location and category and is growing daily. Sites have to designed with growth in mind, or they will fail, and this site is a perfect example of one which is growing as it should.

Related posts:

1. What I’ve Been Working On
2. Updating the Any Occasion Photography website

The government will be starting back the ARC loans (more info) which will given struggling businesses up to $35,000 to borrow interest free.

ARC loans are supposed to help the small businesses which are stuggling due to the economy and thus the fact that there are fewer customers, and the customers are buying less.  ARC loans are to help bridge that gap in income, and help you remain solvent while looking for new opportunities.

Many businesses are turning to the Internet to find new customers, but they are sure how.  Evidence of that is the fact that 90% of small and medium businesses quit using pay-per-click and related on-line ads after only 6 months. If you want to use your ARC funds to help you expand your business, you need to work with someone who specializes in small businesses.

This is because many business owners, while excellent at what they do, do not know how to properly set up and run their website, and many web designers, don’t know how to help clients once the website is launched.  I work exclusively with small businesses to help them be successful, often staying with them months after the launch to make sure the website is doing what it needs to do to help them be successful in getting new customers.

Likewise, some companies try to work with anyone, small, medium, and large, and they treat them all the same.  I only work with small businesses and I am a small business, so I understand the need to be quick to change, cost effective, and how to create that personal experience on-line.

If you need, I can help your business make more money on-line through my experince in Search Engine Optimization, website optimization (both speed and customer experience), pay-per-click campaigns, and more.  Contact me if you need help.

Related posts:

1. Saving Money with SEO
2. Services
3. Home

Previously, I’ve talked about optimizing your website to improve how fast it loads.  This not only improves the perception of your site, but also how likely it is for people to stay and make a purchase, or request more information.

Optimizing your site for sales isn’t as easy as optimizing your site for speed. When we want to increase speed we know many ways to improve the performance.  We can modify files to be smaller, have files load in a different order, move the server to a faster computer, etc.

However, modifying your site to increase it’s sales requires knowing your users and testing assumptions.

Recently I was helping a client test her website to get more conversions. While using the same traffic gathering methods previously used, she noticed  a whopping 500% improvement in lead generation during the first month alone. Another client saw improvements of over 40%.

So what do you change?

There are several things which you can easily change to find improvements.

• Improve your site speed – whie not directly related, Google  notices a 20% drop in usage for every half a second slower their web page is.  If your users leave early, they cannot buy from you, or contact you for more information.
• Change headers – the client who noticed a 500% improvement, tried three different headers. Her original, and 2 new headers on the conversion page. One header did worse, and was pulled half way through the test, the other blew the first out of the water.
• Change images - pictures can tell a thousand words -  so picking the right one is important. The client with a 40% improvement got it from picking the right images to let his customers know about additional items for sale.

There are of course others, such as the call to action, guarantees, opening paragraphs, etc. When you test these, you can see improvements in how much and how often you sell.

If you need help with optimizing your site, contact me and we can start working on your site.

Related posts:

1. Optimize your site for more users
2. Optimize Your Website For Speed
3. Optimize your pages for better Pay-Per-Click placement

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is a way for your company to get new visitors by using search engines like Google, Yahoo, and MSN Live Search. Some people will say that they don’t like to spend money on SEO, because who knows how much money they are spending, and can they get any return on their investment (ROI) for their optimization. Some people even wonder if SEO works at all, saying it is nothing more than 21st century snake oil.

Well I’ve never thought so. When I set up an SEO campaign, one of the things I do, is also set up some form of  website tracking. I want to be able to show the change in website traffic. I will use other tools to show where a site ranks for given keywords, and how many times those key words and phrases are used to find the site.

I send this information to clients because I want to show them what I do, and how it affects their websites, and business. Sometimes, as sites slowly start to rank better over the course of several months, the changes might mean that they don’t recognize the change.

client saves $25000 per year by optimizing his site for Google

All this is good, but when going through several tools I use, I found something more interesting for a customer.  I found a tool on-line which estimates what they save each month by ranking organically (coming up in the regular search listing) compared to if they had to buy those visitors using a pay-per-click type of advertising. See a small sample of this report on the right.

Turns out he is saving approximately $2100 per month, over $25000 per year, with how he ranked organically in Google alone. (This doesn’t include savings to be found with other web search tools, such as Yahoo, MSN Live Search, etc.) Now this was a report he could understand.

This customer is a small company, in a niche market, and so they don’t get a lot of traffic (several hundred visitors a day on average), so this ends up be a huge savings to them. Of course in our current economy, any savings can be viewed as good savings.

From now this will be part of the standard reports I send people when I work on search engine optimization for clients.

If you are interested in expanding the reach of your website through search engine optimization, saving money on pay-per-click campaigns, or even finding out about how well your website is performing, please contact walt design and development for more information.

Related posts:

1. ARC Loans and Opportunities
2. Search Engines and Flash Files
3. Getting Ranked in Google

I live in Central Florida where we’ve been hit hard with the recession that is going on. Lots of my clients, and the people near me, are hurting. I know that some of my clients are fighting to stay alive, and I’m trying to help them. However, not everyone is so bright. Here are a couple of examples.

The Good

One of my clients is offering a year of discounts and promotions as he likes to call it. Each month a different promotion has been offered to his clients. This March he is offering free shipping on most of his products (up to $20/per product with no limits), last month, it was a price reduction. And while this means his profit margins have gone down, he is still in business and doing business.

The Bad

Enter our local road toll agency: the Expressway Authority.  Because of the economy, the agency has been seeing a decline in the number of travelers, and thus a reduction in revenue. Their solution is to raise the tolls, which will further price them out of the range of many users.  Does this make sense? No of course not, but how often do we see this.  I’ve seen it happen to several business – now is a time to help your customers not hurt them. Because as you drive up your prices, fewer will be able to afford your products and services.

The Ugly

The ugly news is that everyone is hurting. We can either hurt with them, but help them along, or we can try to act like nothing is happening, and hurt our customers and ourselves. Personally, I’ve been looking for ways to help my customers in ways such as:

• Not increasing my rates – I normally raise my rates about this time of the year to reflect cost of living increases, and productivity increases, however not this year.  I need to remain affordable.
• Adding Services – I’m sending articles which might be of interest to my clients, adding services like website optimization to optimize not only the speed of the site (which I’ve done for years) but also improve the conversion of browser to buyer.
• Helping with Marketing – helping design marketing emails and landing pages to deliver new deals to existing customers, and introduce new customers to their services.

We can choose to keep going as we have, and risk getting knocked out, or we work together to continue to survive and even grow. Because of some of these efforts, I’ve actually seen an increase in the demands for my services as people look for alternatives to grow their business in these tough times.

These times are tough, but they don’t have to be as tough if we stay in touch with our customers’ needs.

Related posts:

1. Would you send away 1 in 5 customers?
2. Treat your past customers carefully
3. Preparing your customers for change

Safari is the default web browser, made by Apple, that comes with any Macintosh computer, much like IE is Microsoft’s web browser. Many Mac fans will hate the analogy, but it is true. And for a while, it was only available to the Macintosh users, however Apple has recently released a version available for Windows users as well.

People who have used Safari generally fall under one of two categories. They either love it, or hate it. I know several people who own Macs, and use Firefox instead because they feel it is superior to Safari, just as many people use Firefox instead of IE for the same reason on Windows.

Safari has all the standard features you’d expect in a modern browser, tabs browsing, RSS reader, bookmark bar, etc, but nothing that really makes it stand out.

Those who love it, generally can’t explain why, but let me offer a few possibilities:

• It based off the Web-Kit engine, and therefore is a standards compliant browser, which means it runs most web pages without difficulty. the Web-Kit engine is a very powerful and flexible browser engine (what does the work behind the scenes to show you a web page) It is being used in Chrome, and several Adobe products.
• It has an fast JavaScript engine, so rich web apps run quickly.
• They are fans of Steve Jobs- and all that he does.

Now I’ve only really used it on the Windows machines, but it is obvious to tell that it is not written for Windows.

It seems to have been designed not designed for Windows users, but Mac users who have to use a Windows machine. This means someone who has only used Windows machines will have a learning curve as they figure out hw to use the new browser.

Likewise, I’ve found several issues with using Safari on a Windows machine:

• The text isn’t always clear: The font rendering (how the text displays) was designed for the Mac, and ends up not displaying clearly on a Windows machine as it fights with the Windows based system. (Text that is large or small appears blurry for lack of a better term.) As new versions have come out, they have either been improving this, or I am getting used to it over time.
• No plug-ins/add-ons for PCs. I’m told on the Mac there are numerous add-ons, like Firefox has, but on the PC, I cannot seem to figure out how to add them. Firefox makes it easy to find and add new features to the browser – something that all modern browsers should consider.
• Large pages, with complex JavaScript will sometimes give Safari issues. I’ve seen some pages become almost unusable. While they were extreme in nature, one having 4 different rich text editors, other browsers didn’t have the same issues. I first noticed this actually when a client of mine was talking about a section of his website that I had built for him.
• Moving between tabs sometimes is slow. Slow to open new tabs, slow to change tabs…just slow.
• Standard short-cuts for Windows are not available, for example, the ability to go to your home page, add a bookmark etc. These are mainly for doing things like going to your home page, and a few other common features, that doesn’t seem to be so common for Safari.
• Copy and Paste doesn’t always work. And I cannot figure out a common reason for this either. However, when I want to copy a web address or part of a web page’s text into an email, it should be a simple matter, not something I have to check and recheck several times.

After using Safari for a few months, it has been relegated to a few small tasks, and not general surfing for myself.; Ironically I am using Google Chrome more and more, and it is based off of the same web engine.

Related posts:

1. Browser Know How – IE7
2. Google owns the web (browser)
3. More Browser Updates – Google’s Chrome

Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) came out approximately 6 years after Internet Explorer 6 (IE6), a very long time between any two versions of software, but especially on the Internet. During this time, Internet Explorer 6 was the most common browser, and Microsoft took that for granted, and other, better browsers, came out.

IE7 was Microsoft’s response to Firefox, Safari, and Opera. With 6 years to develop the next generation of browser, you would expect the new version to have any and every feature under the sun. So let’s look at what it got right vs. what is got wrong during this time.

What IE7 got right

• IE7 includes an decent RSS reader.  IE6 didn’t support RSS at all, and Firefox’s and Safari’s built in readers are adequate for those who only check a few feeds.  IE7 actually has a useful RSS reader that remembers what you have seen.
• Tabs – every other browser had them, and now IE does as well.
• Improved security – built in security features help you determine, and protect you, if a site is potentially unsafe or might try to steal your information.  The protections tend to fall into three separate categories:
  • unsafe JavaScript and active X controls.  By limiting the ability for these to run, it protects you from both bad & nefarious programmers.
  • phishing sites – these are sites which try to steal your information, usually by masquerading as another site (eBay, your bank, PayPal, etc)
  • checking for security certificates – while this isn’t new, they present the danger of a site which has a bad or out of date security certificate more prominently, to increase the chance of you noticing this error
• Improved compliance with web standards.
• Support for PNG – now transparencies work.  This is a huge improvement which can allow smaller, yet better looking, images to be displayed on web sites.

What IE7 missed

• The interface. How you use your software is important, and IE7 changed/moved many of the menus and buttons.  This makes if difficult to use until you get used to it.  After using IE7 for over 9 months, I can honestly say, I’m still not that used to it. And while some elements were moved to take up less space, the over all feel for the browser is that the buttons are larger, and have large soft rounded edges, which ends up taking up more space.
• Tabs – While IE7 has them, they seem to be thrown in as an after thought.  Launching a new tab takes longer in IE7 than any other browser.
• Compliance with web standards – IE7 is the second least compliant of the major browsers when it comes to web standards, only after IE6. While it made great strides forward, it still has a ways to go. This main affects web developers and web site owners as they have to craft work arounds to make a site work correctly in all the browsers, but this does lead to larger sites that take longer to download, and sites which are harder to maintain over time. The fact that IE6 and IE7 are not standards compliant, leads many websites to not fully utilize the web as they could.
• Tight Integration with Windows – the part which Microsoft argued about bundling IE6 with Windows, still exist.  This tight integration, makes it a little faster (supposedly), however, it also puts you at higher risk of being affected by malicious code.
• Their security model – IE security in many ways has two modes, off and on. These limitations cause major issues if something needs to run, but is blocked.  Unblocking that one site can often open the door for many more sites and/or operations.  The same features which make IE easy to integrate with back office applications, also allow your system to be hacked, and without an easy way to block sites and/or operations, users get limited to either not being able to run all of the features of a site, or risking getting hacked.
• Lack of performance – many performance test show IE to be one of the slowest browsers on the market.

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1. Browser Know How – IE 6
2. Browser Know How – Safari
3. Google owns the web (browser)

Image via Wikipedia

I’ve recently been talking about Google’s new browser, Chrome, looking at why you might want to and not want to use it. So I thought I’d recap other browsers as well.

One which can’t be ignored is Internet Explorer 6 (IE6).

IE6 is probably the longest surviving web browser of all time, and is both loved and hated.

Ye old Browser

It came out in August of 2001, over 7 years ago at this point of this writing, which in Internet years means it might as well be over 700 years old.

While IE6 was highly touted as the most advanced browser when it was released, 7 years makes those features “old hat” . Newer browsers and versions have been released with even newer and better features since IE6′s initial release.

Why Upgrade

So why should you upgrade to a newer browser? Glad you asked:

1. Newer browsers have built in support to protect you from phishing attacks. These include displaying prominent messages when dealing with a potentially dangerous site.
2. Reduced chance of being hacked. IE6′s security model lends it self to being easy to hack your computer.
3. Improved support of web standards. – IE6 is the bane of web developers because of incompatibilities with current web standards, which provide an inconsistent experience compared to other browsers. Modern browsers tend to support standards more consistently.  This means that what you see on the screen is more likely to be correct, and web applications are more likely to work correctly.
4. Improved stability. IE6 is known to be a bit flaky, and crash when dealing with intense websites.
5. Improved User Interface. Most modern browsers have improved the user experience, including things like easier ways to organize your bookmarks/favorites, built in search box, etc.

Related posts:

1. Browser Know How – IE7
2. Browser Know How – Safari
3. Browser Know How – Firefox

Google Chrome

In our last two posts we talked about Google Chrome. We looked most recently at why you should use Chrome. But to be fair, it isn’t the only browser out there, and some say it needs more polish to be a serious browser.

Here are some reasons to look at not using Chrome.

• (Currently) no extensions for Chrome. This will affect power users more than any one else, especially Firefox users. The power of extensions is immeasurable as it allows you to improve your experience on the web. Extensions are what makes Firefox the browser of choice for many users, and they will not likely willingly give up their favorite addons.
• I see ads. Chief among these extensions are the various Ad Blockers. It is in Google’s self interest to allow ads, as this is how they make their money. However displaying all these ads makes pages take longer to load and display. It also effects your bandwidth if you surf in a limited bandwidth environment.
• Some Internet Explorer 6 sites will not work. Some sites are designed strictly for IE6. This means that only IE will work, and in some cases not even newer versions of IE. I have to use a couple of these sites for work, so I still use Internet Explorer for them.
• No improvement in Flash Sites/Components. Google improved the JavaScript performance, because they do a lot with JavaScript. However, Flash is being used on many other sites to display graphs, charts, and add interactivity. I would say that Flash is used more often than JavaScript, and Flash is not addressed by Chrome.
• Lack of support for Linux and Macintosh computers. They are supposed to be coming however, but they are not here yet.
• Chrome is a stripped down browser in many ways. While this makes it easy to use, users may be confused by the lack of standard buttons, like there is no home button, or print button.
• Of course there are many rumors and fears about it being run by Google: (so far these are only fears, but who knows what future versions will hold)
  • Google can track my Internet use more
  • Google will prevent me from going to competing sites/search engines
  • Google will replace others ads with their own
  • Google will additional ads

Memory usage of Chrome Browser

Also interesting to note is that Chrome, while it is supposed to use a smaller memory foot print, might actually use more in the short term. This is because it uses multiple processes, each with their own memory usage, instead of one large chunk of memory. I’m currently running Chrome as my (almost) exclusive browser this week to see how it handles itself over time.

I also expect that when Chrome starts to allow extensions, it will slow a it down a bit.

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2. Why you should use Chrome
3. Google owns the web (browser)

Google Chrome

I wrote recently we talked about Google’s own browser, Chrome. I said that we would look at Chrome after use for a few days to see how it performs.

Google is of course smart, and designed a browser that will help push it’s goals.  Google wants you to do more on the web. This means making the web faster, easier, and safer.

So here are some positives I’ve found with the browser after using it for a week.

• Google has the ability to put their name behind it. On the Internet, Google is king, and they can use their influence to push for certain standards.
• Chrome has been built with speed in mind. They have changed the way several core components work under the hood to be more optimized. This should allow for a smaller memory footprint and faster execution. After using running it for several days straight, it does not seem to slow like other browsers do, and it does appear from just watching it, that pages display faster and JavaScript runs faster. This is especially important if you use a lot of web based applications, such as Gmail, Google Reader, Google Docs and more.
• Chrome is a standards based browser, which means that if it runs in Firefox, or especially Safari, it should run in Chrome.
• Chrome has been designed to be stronger in the security realm. Google is claiming that extra effort has been put into ensuring that Chrome’s risk to exploitation is lower than other browsers. This should reduce the potential security holes which allow viruses to attack and phishers to steal information.
• Google has the infrastructure to test the browser in ways others cannot. To test their new browser, they have looked at their search results and started tuning based upon which sites are most likely to be viewed by its users. I’ve had a few issues with a couple of sites, but I can count them on one hand.
• Chrome reduces crash risk. Every application can crash.  This is fact of computers. However, because of how Chrome was designed, if you run multiple tabs, and one crashes, it won’t take out the rest of your tabs.  So if you are working on an email, and another tab crashes, you don’t loose your email.

Related posts:

1. Why you shouldn’t bother with Chrome
2. More Browser Updates – Google’s Chrome
3. Google owns the web (browser)

Because the market wasn’t crowded enough with different, free web browsers, Google has decided to add their own browser, called Chrome. So now in addition to Internet Explorer (active versions are 6 and 7, with 8 in beta) we now also have Firefox (with versions 2 and 3 both being actively used), Opera, Safari, and now Chrome. This does make it a bit challenging for a web developer to work.

For the End User

For the Web Developer and Web Site Owner

This will add another level of complexity to your web site design.  Luckily as a standards based browser, it should work well, if your site already works well with Safari and Firefox for example.

If you are developing complex client side apps, it should help you, as it works to improve the performance of the site.

Looking Forward

Related posts:

1. More Browser Updates – Google’s Chrome
2. Browser Know How – IE 6
3. Getting Ranked in Google

I’ve recently had a chance to see two different organizations prepare their users/constituents for change in very different ways.

Eliminating a Software Package

The first was a company which has bought out several companies. After about three years, they are looking to consolidate their product line, and will be eliminating some of their products. The bad news is, that this is a mission critical product which we use.

They pulled everyone together (over 114 people in an online webinar), and let them know in a little over 3 years they will not be supporting the current version of the product which they bought out. They laid out a general road map for the process and showed deficiencies between their product and the one we are currently using, and a general outline for how they will close the gaps in the upcoming years.

Image by pingnews.com via Flickr

Preparing for Disaster

The second is the state of Florida, where I happen to live. During the late summer months it is not uncommon to have the risk of a hurricane hanging over our heads. Hurricanes can bring heavy winds, lots of rain, and a potential for tornadoes. Any of which can be dangerous, even potentially fatal, but combined can create a nasty situation. The one “nice” thing about a hurricane is it generally gives you 3 to 5 days warning.

In preparation, the government usually reminds people to have clean drinking water, dry goods, flashlights and batteries, as well as other things you might need in case you lose power, have damage to your house etc. Most people head these warning, however there are always some fools who just plan a party.

Currently there is a storm which might turn into a hurricane the day that will probably make landfall.

So what does the state government do, 3.5 days before it might make landfall, the governor declares a State of Emergency.  Usually this is done after the hurricane hits, and usually only in affected areas.

Now I’ve lived through numerous hurricane, and had over $20,000 in damage due to them at one time, so I know what they can do, well before Katrina ever hit New Orleans.

Contrasting the Two Responses

Instead of a measured response, by declaring a state of emergency, the government risks panic, and not being taken seriously in a time of real need.

On the other hand, the company did what it could to reduce panic, and provide relevant information.

The web was used in both manners to disseminate information.  Remember, on the web, people can be reached faster, and the information is easy to forward, so you want to make sure important messages are handled quickly and correctly.

So the question is, which way are you more like to behave?

Related posts:

1. Would you send away 1 in 5 customers?
2. Are you out of touch with your customers
3. Treat your past customers carefully

Occasionally I have found sites that on their home page you would have to select a company or product from a drop down box, and then enter the site from that information. Until now, Google could not access those pages without being provided direct links. Sites with these types of pages were often called the “Deep Web” or the “Invisible Web”, because search engines could not access them. Google has said in the past that they believe that 80% or more of web pages are “hidden” to them because they require a form to fill out to find them.

Now, if you had hired a good Search Engine Optimizer, this would not be an issue as they would know how to provide links to those pages so all search engines could access them appropriately. However, sometimes the advice of your SEO expert is ignored, or you didn’t include one on your team, and thus search engines can’t access those pages.

In April Google announced that it could begin search pages which required a user to fill out a form. This has all types of interesting applications, both good and bad. You need to understand what this means, as well as what this can do. So without further ado, I present The Good, The Bad, and The Truth.

• The Good:
  • Now more pages will be accessible.
  • Simple “categorical” search forms will no longer cause Google to stumble. For example I recently built a simple movie web application. In it people could search by genre. I had to devise ways to not use a drop down when possible so Search Engines could find the reviews.
• The Bad:
  • If you tried to “hide” pages, you need to rethink your method. Consider the use of the robot.txt file or robots meta tag to properly ask search engines to not process certain files.
  • Some people fear that this means Google will explore or try to hack restricted access sections of your site. (Remember your robots.txt file in these instances.)
• Some Truth:
  • Only Google has announced this feature. While other search engines will probably have to follow suite, as this time they don’t and they still account for 35-45% of all search traffic.
  • Only simple forms are filled out. Google is not (currently) entering information into text boxes, so many forms cannot be processed.

Related posts:

1. Google Using Page Speed as a Ranking Factor in Search Results
2. Getting Ranked in Google
3. Search Engines and Flash Files