AUSWEB BLOG

For the majority of people who are concerned with proper browser functionality and of course security, Internet Explorer would certainly not be a preferred browser choice. For many web designers Internet Explorer remains a headache that must be catered for because of the large number of users out there who refuse to switch or are unable to upgrade from long outdated versions such as IE6, which have many problems with modern HTML/CSS code.
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News, Web Browsers, Web Design Browsers, firefox, Microsoft, safari, Security, Web Design

When you signup for an AUSWEB hosting plan, the first thing most customers do is upload their website – replacing the default New AUSWEB Customer index.html file for new accounts.

A common question we receive, is ‘how can I create a simple landing page for my website?’. Usually from customers who are using their domain for Email and/or file hosting and not yet ready to invest either too much time or money into a fully-fledged website – and just want a simple landing page with an image or contact details and info.

Obviously there are numerous options for HTML coding, anything from Notepad to DreamWeaver is capable of coding something suitable for all situations depending on your experience. However, if you’re looking for something quick and easy that doesn’t require much knowledge of HTML, a web based What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get (WYSIWYG for short) editor is probably just the thing you need!

Fortunately, Google Sites has one of the easiest and most user friendly WYSIWYG editors available, allowing you to specify various HTML options and choose from a range of pre-defined themes and templates, before letting you adjust everything in an easy and intuitive browser based editor even novices can use. You can change text, colours, images, add and remove links, as well as simple and advanced table and layout format settings. Everything you need to design the simplest blank landing page with a contact address, to a full webpage setup is available to you.

Head over to Google Sites to check it out, all thats required is a Google account!

Google, HTML, Web Design design, DreamWeaver, Google, Google Sites, HTML, Web Design, Website, WYSIWYG

One of the most common questions (after SEO) we receive from our customer’s, is about optimizing their website load times and overall performance. The most common area is almost always making sure you’re using the right image type and compression, for the right situation. With modern website design and development, there are of course a lot more considerations to take into account, such as database driven content and advanced scripting languages. All of which can be optimized to ensure a better browsing experience for your visitors! Read more…

Web Design, Web Development, Web Hosting News AJAX, css, performance, scripting, Web Design, yslow

The header image of your website is the first thing a new visitor to your site sees and we all know, first impressions can be hard to shake.

WebDesignerDepot.com has put together 20 examples of great blog header design, that will hopefully give you some insight into the questions you should be asking yourself before designing the right header for your site and the viewers you want to attract.

You can view the tips, including 20 Great Examples of Header Design Best Practices over at WebsiteDesignerDepot.com

Web Design, Web Development

The following article features 10 useful CSS hacks and techniques – from cross-browser transparency and rounded-corners, to custom icon hyperlinks and a CSS lightbox!

Check it out over at: CatsWhoCode.com

Web Design, Web Development

With all the myths out there surrounding Search Engine Optimization, Google’s Webmaster tools is definitely the first stop any serious web admin should consider for managing their websites and SEO.

Google has just released a comprehensive “Google for Webmasters” presentation which aims to give you a complete and better understanding of SEO, from what is involved, to the best practices for your site’s optimization. As usual, it’s always best to get it straight from the horse’s mouth! You can view the presentation at the link below:

Google for Webmasters

Google, Web Design, Web Development Google, SEO, webmaster

1stWebDesigner, has posted an article with 10 Important Tips for SEO on your WordPress blog. Detailing everything from tweaking your XML sitemaps, using “Nofollow” links, to installing some of the many available WordPress SEO plugins. Check it out at the link above.

Web Design, Web Development, Wordpress Blog, nofollow, SEO, tips, Wordpress, XML

Interesting recent article on Pingdom, which makes a point against Adobe’s dominance and suite of products not necessarily being a good thing for innovation in the web and graphic design arena. It’s an interesting read which goes through the history and evolution of web and image design applications over the last 15 years, and how Adobe has slowly acquired or crushed them all to sit atop the heap. Read more…

Rambles, Web Design, Web Development Adobe, DreamWeaver, Macromedia, Pingdom

Web designers and developers are continually pushing the boundaries with jQuery. However, there are many everyday website functions jQuery can bring huge improvements to such as menu and navigation styles. There are many things you can do with jQuery to spice up menus and WebDesignLedger.com has compiled 15 of the best techniques and solutions for enhancing your website’s navigation. From sliding menus and file trees to menus with tabbed navigation and animation effects, check it out below:

15 jQuery NavigationTechniques and Solutions

Web Design, Web Development Java, javascript, jQuery, Menu, Web Design

Most web designers dread coming up with the “About Us” page. Trying to come up with something that condenses everything already on the site, into a unique and effective representation of the client or business, that isn’t cliche or bland can be extremely daunting. However, as always a little imagination can separate you or your client from the pack.

SmashingMagazine have put together a list of best practices, including numerous examples of effective designs ranging from classy and humorous to downright cool. Take a look at the following link: best practices for effective design of about us pages

Web Design About, About Us, design, Web Design

Adobe Systems on Friday introduced a new Photoshop app for iPhone that lets users edit photos from both their phone and their online library on Photoshop.com.

The app is free of charge and offers tools such as cropping, image rotation, colour controls, and simple one-touch filter effects that can change the look and feel of shots all at once. It also features undo and redo controls so that if users make a mistake, or want to revert back to the original, it takes just a few taps. Read more…

Web Design, iPhone Adobe, Apps, iPhone, iTunes, Photoshop, PS

WordPress is by far the most commonly asked about CMS with AUSWEB customers and an increasing number who’ve picked up smartphone devices such as BlackBerry’s, iPhone’s and HTC’s, are taking their web development mobile. By far the most useful tool we’ve seen is the official WordPress iPhone app, which will let you manage most of your site’s functions quite easily.

On the other side of the fence, this means a lot of users are creating smartphone specific layouts for the increasing number of users browsing on the go, and boy are there a lot of options! Fortunately, Speckyboy dot com, has compiled a list of 7 awesome WordPress plugins to optimize your site for mobile devices, check it out below:

7-amazing-plugins-to-view-your-wordpress-blog-on-any-mobile-device-iphone-pda

Web Design, Web Development, Wordpress BlackBerry, CMS, css, HTC, iPhone, Mobile, Plugin, SmartPhone, Wordpress

There have been a few automated tools to help you theme your WordPress installation, from automated theme generating web pages, to whole plugins for Adobe Photoshop designed to generate a theme from your .psd design files. However, for the most part they’ve all been fairly limited and quite hit and miss in terms of depth and sometimes just even working properly.

A promising new option however is ThemeDreamer, which has been built as a plugin for Adobe DreamWeaver, allowing you to easily break down the PHP file structure and dependent files of WordPress’ theme structure. Once installed Dreamweaver’s Design View editor shows the WordPress theme file ‘index.php’ reflecting the content of the linked files eg. ‘header.php’, ‘footer.php’, along with CSS styles and various WordPress Template Tag settings. ThemeDreamer simulates a typical post, and various template tag options by injecting sample data to allow you to visualize your various CSS style settings, without making repeated adjustments while testing the results in your browser, which is sure to save loads of time!

Check out the developer’s homepage for some demos and a link to download a trial version: ThemeDreamer.

Web Design, Web Development, Wordpress Adobe, design, DreamWeaver, Photoshop, Theme, ThemeDreamer, Wordpress

Joomla! has recently updated to 1.5.12 with a host of bug and security fixes. You can download the latest version and view the release notes at the link below:

Joomla! 1.5.12 – As usual pay close attention to the upgrade instructions, especially if you are upgrading a live or heavily modified Joomla website!

CMS, HTML, Joomla, News, PHP Applications, Web Design, Web Development CMS, Joomla, Patch, Security, Update

More helpful tips for all you web designers and developers out there. Google has recently introduced a tool called Page Speed which tests a web page based on a set of rules and best coding practices for fast-loading websites. It then gives you advice on what you can improve to make your website faster. It works as an add-on to Firefox and needs the Firebug extension (mentioned in our last post) to work.

Google’s new service is uncannily similar to Yahoo’s YSlow tool, another add-on for Firefox (with Firebug) which tests web page code based on fast-loading criteria and gives suggestions accordingly. Funnily enough Steve Souders the guy who created the first version of YSlow, now works for Google, although his involvement on the project if any is unknown. Of course more options are always a good thing and both services might offer valuable advice for improving the speed of your website.

Plugins, Scripting & Coding, Web Design, Web Development firebug, firefox, Google, optimization, page speed, performance, tools, Web Development, webmaster, yahoo, yslow

For both the budding and seasoned web designers out there, here is a list of 20 useful tools that will make your life as a coder/designer a little easier and hopefully give your website that winning touch over the competition.

From in-browser CSS/HTML coding plugins such as FireBug for Firefox, to sites like IconFinder that will help you find exactly the right icon graphic for your needs, or the excellent FontBurner for embedding custom fonts in your site, there is bound to be something useful for everyone!

Plugins, Scripting & Coding, Web Design, Web Development css, design, guides, HTML, Plugins, scripting, tutorials

With Apple’s latest WWDC developer conference event held earlier this week, most of their announcements were of course overshadowed by news of the latest iPhone 3GS. Amidst some other major announcements such as Mac OSX SnowLeopard, and some shiny new MacBook Pro’s, Apple also released the latest version of their Safari web browser. Bringing it up to version 4, along with the status of “the fastest browser in the world”.

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News, Software, Web Browsers, Web Design, Web Development apple, browser, Chrome, CoverFlow, firefox, javascript, safari