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Posted: April 16, 2007, by Itoro Akpan-Iquot
Semantic Mark-up
I have been very busy at work that I forgot to post regularly for which I apologize. The good news is that I noticed a few things which I will use to fuel some future commentaries ;)
I have been commissioned to work on the SEO/PPC strategy of a particular website. The PPC side is done and traffic is increasing to the site. However the SEO part is not anything to write home about. The original developer didn't bother using header tags (opting for bolding instead) or paragraph tags (opting for double break tags instead) or lists (again, opting for break tags instead). As a result, the site doesn't even rank on the first 5 pages! The URL is also not exactly readable. The client went for cheap and as they say, sometimes you get what you pay for.
So bottomline, architect your sites properly earlier on in the development cycle and you will reap the benefits immediately. For clients, go with a developer not because they are cheap but because they have a tangible strategy. Speaking for what I have to do, it is going to be tough to go in and refactor code, short of a redesign (which of course will cost extra).
Posted: March 14, 2007, by Itoro Akpan-Iquot
Accomodating various font sizes
In recent times, I have come across sites that have divs set to a fixed height. I can tell because when I resize my fonts, the fonts spill over the images onto the page.
It is good practice to accomodate for various font sizes as not everyone can easily read the default browser fonts. Ways to fix this problem include using the "Sliding Doors Technique" or coding your background images such that you repeat them, so that the background grows and shrinks, with various font sizes.
Taking various font sizes under consideration upfront as part of your architecture strategy will go along way in ensuring that all visitors to your website are happy.
Posted: February 28, 2007, by Itoro Akpan-Iquot
To AJAX or not to AJAX
In speaking with a lot of people, there seems to be a disconnect as to when and when not to use AJAX.
The whole purpose of AJAX is to work around having to reload an entire page. Thus, it doesn't make sense to write AJAX to return entire HMTL. Rather, as developers, we should focus on returning just the data we need to update on a page. How might we get such data? Well, there's regular text, XML and JSON to mention but a few.
Let's just use AJAX for what it was intended for, rather than trying to wow our clients with what we think we know.
Posted: February 14, 2007, by Itoro Akpan-Iquot
Non-functional URLs in Portfolios
First and foremost, Happy Valentine's to all out there :)
I can't tell you the number of times I visit a web solutions company website and in particular, the portfolios section. I dare say I am addicted to it. Why do I spend so much time doing so? I like seeing what others are doing and guaging my knowledge-base and skill set against what others are doing.
Once in a while, you will get those sites with tens of portfolio sites only to find out such sites no longer exist. Either that or they never worked on those sites and are inflating the numbers. Hopefully it's the former. If I were a client looking for someone to develop a solution for me, I probably would not sign up a company with such sites. It doesn't look professional and gives me the impression that the site isn't maintained frequently.
Folks, a project doesn't end when you hand it over. You have to ensure that the site is still up. If it isn't, then take out the URL from your portfolio page. It is better to have such a page with only 5 functioning links than one with 100 links of which only 3 are up and running. Let's be smart about it. Okay, that's it for now. Go enjoy Valentine's day.
Posted: January 31, 2007, by Itoro Akpan-Iquot
Study to show thyself approved
Often times, I am asked what the best approach to created a design for a website is. Should it be original, based on a template or based on what the developer has seen elsewhere online? I am personally in favor of a mix between being original and what a developer has seen elsewhere online.
It is good for a developer to be original so as to be unique and stand out from the millions of sites out there. However, as I strongly advocate, no one person knows it all. Once in a while, it isn't a bad thing to visit your competitor's site to see what they have done. This gives the developer an appreciation for what they have done and how another developer has approached their solution. In the end, we are all one as developers. We only happen to be working on different things at any one time.
Am I advocating that a developer rip off another's design? Absolutely not!! What I advocate instead is for a developer to visit a few sites here and there and see what others have done, learn from the experience and either add to their knowledge of what they should and shouldn't be doing.
Posted: January 17, 2007, by Itoro Akpan-Iquot
Pricing Strategies
Every now and then, I am approached to work on a website for someone in Nigeria. When I quote them a price, I am met the the typical, "Mr. A charges me 60% less. Why should I pay you that much?". For such a concern, I always have a ready-made parable: "If you have a headache and I tell you to take a pain reliever and it works, does that make me a doctor?". The immediate response is of course "No, what's your point?", to which I retort, "Likewise, putting up a website and calling myself a webmaster doesn't imply that I know what I am doing either".
At this point, you typically get the wide stare. "You make perfect sense. I didn't see it this way". Look, I understand many of us are trying to survive and as such we are usually willing to undercut the competition to make a buck. However, at what cost? Would you rather make, say, 1,000 bucks that will only last you a week or 50,000 that you could survive off of for months without having to touch any code? Besides, more often than not, you get what you pay for, so if you want to pay 1,000 bucks for a site, you shouldn't be surprised at the results.
I am not promoting gouging the customer to death. All I am saying is we shouldn't cheapen ourselves in the client's eye. If you are cheap, you may even lose the client who will percieve your product as inferior. Getting your price just right may result not only in a happy client but in return business from people you are referred to by that particular client.
At the end of the day, you may not win the contract but with all things, of course, remain professional. Saying the right words goes a long way.
Posted: January 3, 2007, by Itoro Akpan-Iquot
On being cross-browser...
To set the scenario, I use Firefox (FF) for 100% of my browsing. When it comes to coding however, I will unit test in FF and then verify in IE. To me, all serious developers should test in/browse using FF, but that's just me. Besides, there are many extensions that help make our coding lives easier.
Many atimes, I will be asked to review a site, or I could just happen to be browsing generally. I immediately notice that a few things here and there are "off" on the site. This is when I usually flip to IE to verify, only to find out the site looks perfect.
What separates the boys from the men in web development, so to speak, is the ability to discipline ourselves with respect to testing out our code and verifying that it works as designed, under various conditions (different browsers, different platforms, different business logic conditions, etc).
FF may have a low "user-ship", but it is slowly catching on. To avoid going back to code that we may no longer understand, let us learn to code once and make sure it works under all conditions. This will seriously reduce development time/man hours dedicated to maintenance.
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