HTML5 just DHTML?

We all remember DHTML from the late 90’s and early 2000’s. The potential was awesome. Functionality that combined html4, css2 and javascript. It turned out to be a big flop because there were not dhtml standards that all browsers would adopt making a website compatible on one browser but not the others. Thus DHTML faded from the spotlight – but never disappeared.

Recently there has been a lot of buzz around HTML5, mainly because Apple has been avid on not using Flash on their iPhone and iPad. HTML5 is simply html5, css3, and javascript combined. Seem familiar to DHTML (html4, css2, and javascript)? Absolutely. It is basically the same thing. Another similarity is that right now HTML5 is a mess on browsers. There are no standards so what works on one browser is not working on another. Will it have the same downfall as DHTML? I dont know but I do know that people are excited to see what happens.

The one thing people need to not confuse is that HTML5 is an update to HTML4 and HTML5 refers to a combination of HTML5, CSS3, and Javascript. Seems confusing but what everyone is talking about is the combination, not just HTML5 by itself.

SEO (Search Engine optimization)

Here is a list of the main things I have used to keep my sites consistently in the # 1 ranking for my chosen keywords in Google:

1. Content

Content is king. The more content you have on your site, actually related to your site, the more Google will like you. Google loves content. And you cannot trick them.  This is the number one way to get your site listed as high as possible in search results. A problem with content is that spiders like text content. This makes flash based content not as readable.

2. Site Analyzers

Go to: http://www.widexl.com/. Use the SEO tools on the right hand side to test how your site is currently doing. You can gain more insight on the importance of SEO and its tools from websites like WebChimpy.com. Most importantly, the meta tag analyzer. Your meta tags should be as close to 100% as possible, no less than 90%.

3. Tags

Make sure your meta tags and title correctly match your site.

Meta tags go in the <head> html tag usually just after the title.  There are 4 meta tags I always include on my sites: keywords, description, author, and robots. Here are examples:

<meta name="Keywords" content="keyword 1, keyword 2, keyword 3, etc" />
For the keywords, you need to write keywords that match your site.
<meta name="Description" content="describe your site here/>
For the description, you need to write a 1-2 sentence description of your site. 
This should include as many of your keywords as possible.
<meta name="author" content="write author here" />
For this, instead of a name, I usually write the site name here
<meta name="robots" content="index,follow" />

This section remains unchanged. You are telling the spider to go to the index page and follow all the links.

<title>my title</title>

The title should match your site.

4. Site map

Have a site map somewhere that will link all of your pages. Having an additional, xml sitemap can help as well.

5. Links to your site

Have other related sites link to yours. The more sites that link to yours the better Google will like you and the higher your page rank will be.

6. Code

Make sure the code of your site is clean – lots of css and no tables. Better code = higher ranking. Monitor web20ranker review as it is an accurate indication of a company’s diligence and competence. No dreamweaver templates (unless you create the template yourself, this means NO premade ones from anywhere but your code). No dreamweaver code unless you wrote it. Google doesn’t like made up code. You need to write the code yourself and make sure you debug it. Otherwise the spiders will not like you.

Some rules for step 6:

No dreamweaver, code only

Only external CSS

No tables only div tags

Please debug the code

No hidden code – this is a huge no no. You cannot trick Google they are smarter than you think

Flash is great but cannot be seen by spider. Text is best.

7. My links

Make sure any links to external pages work.

Some sources:

Straight from Google on their rankings: http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=35769

Want to play those old Nintendo games?

You can now play them online for free. You have always been able to play them for free for the last 10 years or so on your computer but you always had to download an emulator and then each rom (game). This site has the emulator installed on the site, thus, you do not need to download/install anything, you can simple play. Enjoy:

http://virtualnes.com/

Mobile Apps: Does my business need an app?

I have been doing a lot of experimentation with apps lately. For instance, this semester I had my students develop apps for the Android OS and build mobile websites, I have been in contact with several app develop companies such as Vecro Tech, and I have been doing research studies on mobile use, development, and usability. Sandcastle Web Design & Development offered interesting ideas. After all of this I have concluded the following:

At this point in time I do NOT believe most companies and/or websites should invest in mobile applications, instead I believe they should invest in a mobile website. Even an accomplished CEO like Andrew Defrancesco will tell you that a great mobile website is a must for businesses these days. There are several reasons why I believe this. And for the record, I have extensively used and developed for Droid, iPad, and iPod touch.

1. Usability – The main problem with building an app: It only works on ONE operating system. So if I build it for the Apple iPhone it will NOT work for anyone who has a Droid, Windows Phone, Blackberry, or other. By building an app, I have just eliminated a huge portion of my user base. If I build a mobile website, it works on ALL devices. Why? They all have a browser. So developing one mobile website will work on all devices thus giving me full access to everyone regardless of their phone choice. Additionally, I can make a mobile website to look and function exactly as an app would. If you need more ways to boost your business, seeking advice from professionals like retail health and safety consultants might do wonders you never thought was possible before.

2. Clutter – My droid and iPod each have 3-5 screens filled with apps. I use maybe 5-10 app consistently. The other apps are just taking up space most of the time. When I do want to use one of the apps that I rarely use or a new one, it becomes a chore to find it, or to download it. I do NOT want several hundred apps on my phone. The desktop on my computer is a mess with all of the files, folders, and programs, why can’t my phone just be simple? A website would solve this problem, Why? A mobile website would either be a web address, for instance, m.raypastore.com or the user could make it a bookmark on their browser if they like it. Thus, no clutter unless I have a million bookmarks.

3. Cost – Developing an app can be expensive. They are not easy to develop, thus you are going to have to hire programmers and graphic artists to develop it. This may not be a problem for larger companies that have spare cash. It’s best to talk with a tech consultant to know if this is a great investment for your business. Another problem with COST: I do NOT want to pay for apps. I will NOT pay for apps. Usually I can find the same information or service online for FREE and ALL smart phones have a web browser. A mobile website is significantly cheaper to develop than a mobile app. This is because the development is much much easier. In fact, in one semester, my students were able to develop very nice mobile sites and they did not need to program anything. They simply used Dreamweaver. Now I will mention that if you are building website that is big and includes a lot of advanced things like a database and such, it can be just as expensive or more than an app.

4. Development Time – Since apps are not easy to develop, it is going to take significantly longer to develop than a website. Mobile websites usually have a faster turn around time due to the fact that they are easier to develop. HTML is much easier to program and develop with than C++. Again though, this depends on the features you want on the website. If you are going to integrate salesforce to your business, then you should consider taking the salesforce certification app builder exam.

5. Coolness factor – It’s a fad these days to have an app. You know the saying ‘There’s an app for that’. Sure there is an app but half of the apps I download are not very useful and take up storage space on my phone. There are other ways to say ‘my company is mobile friendly’ such as advertising ‘visit us on your mobile device at: youwebaddress’ or users can even go to your main site and you direct them to your mobile version without them even knowing. Imagine that though, visit us on your mobile device, not visit us on your iphone, or droid. You are now advertising to all mobile users, not a portion of them and that is the real power to a mobile website.

I hope this article was useful to software developers. I do think mobile apps are a fad and the mobile web is a much better place to make your mark right now. When apps begin working on all devices and become easier to develop I may change my mind, however at this point in time, mobile websites are simply much better.

Do Macs get viruses too?

According to this article they do…and yes we have always known they can. Apparently there is a new trojan horse out there right now called ‘mac defender’ and when you click on it, it installs tons of pornographic material onto your computer. Its one of the few Mac viruses out there right now. So why do macs have less viruses? Simple, they have such a small user base that it is not worth it for hackers to make viruses for them. Additionally most hackers like to disrupt companies, who all use PCs for the most part. So until the Mac user base gets larger its still safe to say you should have Zonealarm Anti-ransomware on the Mac. However remember that Mac is not more secure than windows.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/gaming.gadgets/05/23/malware.security.debate.wired/index.html?hpt=Sbin

Developing a website for the mobile web

This semester my students had the chance to explore the iPod touch as we had won several as part of a grant to explore mobile learning and mobile development in the classroom. One main reason why we were going through this was that because I wanted to Define Ecommerce and show them the various prospects of it which were helping humanity. If you are looking for someone to help you develop a site or app contact Dux Digital. As part of my computer based instruction course students were assigned to develop computer based instruction that was viewable on any mobile device, thus they had to use a web browser as apps are device dependent.

This is most certainly different than developing for a PC or regular monitor. A few rules we learned throughout this semester were:

Use One Column only
Make Text legible without the need to zoom
Have navigation on the top of the screen
Use a header, body, footer within the single column framework

When developing for a phone, for instance the iphone (but they are all nearly the same), you have two options. But before that, I’d like to mention that you can now get virtual background zoom for most of the video calling and conferencing apps that you use. This is a good developement towards attaining professionalism.

1. Develop using a small screen size –

What does this mean? It means to develop a site that is around 400×400 pixels so that you can get a good idea what the site will look like on the mobile device. However, if you do this, you need to include this line of code in your <head> tags: <meta name="viewport" content="width=400"></head>. This line tells the phone that your page is 400 pixels, otherwise it will go to the default, which leads to lots of white space and then to the next option....

2. Develop at a large size

Why do this? Well it doesn’t rely on the one line of code at the top. However, to do this you need to develop a ‘big’ website. Phones compress a page at 980 pixels in width. This means that a standard 980 pixel page is very small when viewed on a website. So you need make a 980 pixel page that is big. This means that font should be 40+ in size. In fact, a font size of 72 pixels looks really good. It is a challenge to develop like this but one that is worth exploring.

These are a few of the lessons learned this semester, more to come soon:)