Web Design For Dummies

Adding a "Bookmark this page" Script To Your Site

2006-03-08T11:59:00.000-05:00

I'm sure you have visited a site that had a link on their navigation menu that read, "Bookmark This Site". When you click on that link (in Internet Explorer) it automatically adds your website to the surfers Favorites menu, cool huh? Well, when I went searching for the script that accomplishes this, I found all sorts of complicated JavaScripts that needed to be embedded in the Head tag then placed in the body of the document. Their is no need to do all that. I have a handy little script that you can place right in your webpage wherever you want, even on a nav menu if it makes you happy. Just simply copy the text in the box below and fill in the URL of your web page and the Title of your site. Then paste it into your document.

<a href="javascript:window.external.AddFavorite(">Bookmark This Site!</a>

Using Scripts on Your Website

2006-03-06T10:24:00.000-05:00

I hope you had a great weekend. Today I would like to talk to you about using scripts, whether they be CGI or JavaScripts, on your website. Ever wonder what that folder on your web server is that is called "cgi-bin"? Well, that is a folder that is predesignated to hold perl scripts, or CGI scripts. CGI stands for Common Gateway Interface. Well, that clears it all up now doesn't it? Yeah, me too.

All you really have to know is that when you install a script it is usually uploaded to that directory. So what can scripts do for you? Well, for starters, they can automate many things that take up alot of your workday. First thing that comes to mind is email. There are TONS of free scripts out there that can do anything with email. From an autoresponder that automaticaly replies to emails while you are away, to bulk mailing scripts that you can plug your email subscriber list into and click a button.

There are also scripts that can manage your web content for you. You can even get a script that designs and uploads an entire website from a set of templates. One thing that I like scripts for is automated search engine submissions. I use them for the less important search engines, ones like Yahoo and Google I do manually.

Ok, so I got you interested in scripts, but what next? Well, the first thing to do is to do a little reading on the subject, now you don't have to learn Perl or Java or any other programming language (although it wouldn't hurt if you did) to use scripts on your site. All you really have to know is:

1. How to customize the scripts for your specific website.
2. How to set and read file permissions.
3. How to use an FTP program.
4. The absolute file paths on your webserver.
5. How to call a script from your webpages.

All of this information is on the net at your fingertips. This article is a great tutorial on installing and using CGI scripts. When you feel confident enough to try one out, be sure to visit the CGI Resource Index for a mountain of free scripts.

Now that you are aware of how scripts can enhance your web experience, you will find yourself looking to scripts to do new and better things more often.

Font Fundamentals - Part I

2006-03-04T12:18:00.000-05:00

This is the first in a series of articles dedicated to the definition and usage of fonts. For those who don’t know what a font is, it is the style of type that is displayed on your monitor. Arial is an example of a font name. There is a plethora of different fonts available for use in different applications. As a web designer, the most interaction you will have with fonts, on a regular basis, is when writing HTML text.

HTML text fonts can be defined, changed and managed in a variety of ways. You can define your fonts on an individual basis through the use of HTML. Another way is to use Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) to manage the fonts on your web pages; actually CSS is extremely powerful and can be used to manage fonts (among many other things) across an entire web site. Also, your HTML editing program, such as FrontPage or Dreamweaver, usually has an interface or palette for managing fonts.

One question I hear a lot, especially amongst newcomers, is,” What’s the difference between a regular font and a True Type font?” The difference is that True Type fonts are going to show up on screen exactly as you see it in draft mode. They are going to print the exact same way that you see them on screen as well.

Regular fonts (non-true type) can vary greatly in their appearance. The best way to avoid this is to only use True Type fonts when designing your pages. If you are forced to use a regular font then be sure to test your pages over and over again. Test in different browsers, on different monitors, in different resolutions, and on different platforms (i.e. Mac etc.).

Another mistake I see even veteran webmasters make sometimes, simply because they didn’t know, is using a font on a page that is very uncommon. The problem here is that when a surfer views your web pages, they have to have the fonts you are using installed on their computer already or else they see the browser default (or the next font if you specified a font-family). This may not sound like a big problem but a font change could mess up your entire alignment, it has happened to me before. Some websites are laid out so meticulously that even the slightest alteration could wreck your design. So be sure to use fonts that are common in the web community such as Arial, Times New Roman, Helvetica (Mac), and Verdana just to name a few.

In the next article I will delve into fonts and font usage a little further and look at some issues that other designers encounter in the field. See you then =).

Web Hosting: Virtual or Dedicated? What's the difference anyway?

2006-03-03T22:30:00.000-05:00

Ok, you have decided to get your own URL and design your own website. The only problem now is webhosting, you have heard the term virtual and dedicated thrown around a lot but you really don't know the difference or even if you do you don't know what's the right one for you. Well, let me see if I can clear up some of that confusion.

Virtual hosting is when you purchase a hosting account for your website and they place your site on the same server (computer) as a bunch of other sites, I say bunch because this number varies. This is the reason why virtual hosting is the least costly of all the other hosting options, because it is "shared" hosting. Thus, when you hear the word "virtual" or "shared" they mean the same thing as far as hosting is concerned. Virtual is best for small to medium ranged websites that are either just starting out, or already have an established traffic stream that is not that large, let's say maybe 2000-3000 unique visitors (not hits or page views) per day. So this is a perfect option for you if you intend to put your site up and then promote it. This way when the traffic (if the traffic) reaches past a certain point, you can upgrade to a different hosting plan. Which plan might that be? You guessed it, a Dedicated Server hosting plan.

Dedicated is exactly how it sounds, a server that is "dedicated" to your site and your site alone. You are the only account on that computer, thus since noone else can use that computer but you the hosting company is going to charge you as such. Now dedicated server pricing can range anywhere from $250 per month up to an unlimited amount. It all depends on the amount of bandwidth that your site is pushing through their lines every month. A good hosting company will work with you on this, you can cap your bandwidth and this way if you go over it will either stop all traffic or slow it to a crawl. I would not recommend this as it can lead to end user frustration and let's face it, you don't get a second chance to make a first impression. A quality hosting company will let you know if you are getting close to your monthly bandwidth limit and they will ask you if you would like to be charged by the gigabyte or upgrade your plan. If it is something that is going to be a habit, then I recommend upgrading your plan. If this is just a one time thing, like maybe you placed a radio ad and your site gets a million hits in one day, then just pay by the gigabyte for the time being.

You should now have a better understanding of which hosting plans are which and the differences between them. If you have any questions you can always e-mail me at nibbsbit@optonline.net anytime. Make sure you do some research on a hosting company before you sign-up, a good way to tell if they are reliable is to call up their tech support and pretend that you are a client and have a problem with your server, see how they handle the situation. If they say "Yeah, we're on break, call back another time!" then you know that the company is dogshit. Don't jump into anything, trust me, it is very painful to have to deal with a bad hosting company especially when your income depends on your websites.

Processing online payments, you don't need a merchant account!

2006-02-26T02:45:00.000-05:00

For all of you who don’t know what a merchant account is, it is an account that is created so that a business or individual can accept credit cards, debit cards, gift cards and other forms of electronic payment. This is also widely known as payment processing.To process transactions, a merchant is charged a fee called a discount rate. Now pretty much everyone knows that if you want to sell your product worldwide with any varying degree of success then you need to accept credit cards and be able to process them instantly online. The problem is that a merchant account is not by any means an easy thing to get. The credit card companies are very careful with who they let process payments for them. If you’re credit sucks then don’t even bother applying, you’ll just make your credit worse. If you have too much credit outstanding or not used then that could count against you as well. How? Well just because you haven’t used that $10,000 department store credit line doesn’t mean that you can’t or won’t. Get the picture? Risk, the all consuming monetary term. If the risk is too great in the eyes of the bank then you will get the shaft.

Let’s say that you do get approved and you want to sell your brand new top-of-the-line widgets over the internet. Ok, you have got your site, your product, and now most of all your new merchant account so what next? Well, the next thing you have to do is create a way for the user in Customerville to buy your widget online and give you his credit card information so your bank can process the transaction. Sounds complicated right? Well it is. It requires specialized software to be installed on your webserver as well as any shopping cart software to go with it. Now you are talking about an investment in the thousands of dollars. Plus you alone are responsible for chargebacks, fraudelent purchases, username and password abuse, and any other unpleasant activity. Not to mention that if you are involved in any aspect of the adult entertainment industry then every possible fee and risk assesment that is involved with a merchant account just went up. The online adult industry is notorious for fraud and chargebacks, even though they constitute the majority of the profits for online commerce. So by now you are probably saying to hell with all of it, who needs the problems right? Well, fret not grasshopper, for there is a easier, softer way.

It is called 3rd-party transaction processing. Basically, a 3rd-party processor will charge the customer’s credit card for you, obtain the funds, then either deliver the online service (assuming it is an intangible, like a subscription to a member’s area), or notify you of a product order (which you then deliver to that customer), then they take a percentage of the overall transaction amount (usually about 15% on average) and send the rest to you in a variety of ways (check,credit,wire-transfer,direct-deposit etc.). 15%!!?? Why so much?? Well, when I tell you what they do for that 15% you might even want to give them a raise. Companies like CCBill and Ibill will let you use their merchant account, set up and install the necessary merchant processing software, any shopping cart software you might need as well as full username and password management software (if needed). Best of all is that they assume all the responsibility for fraud and chargebacks. Then on top of all that they even provide full technical support not only for you, but for your customers as well.

The best part of all this is that you do not need a high credit rating, a credit card, collateral or much of anything else besides usually a bank account and a valid mailing address to become a client of theirs. There is no credit check or employment check, your business is your word. As long as everything is on the up and up and you do not conduct business like a total scumbag then you are all set!

I have personally dealt with many of these companies and each and every single time was a pleasure and an excellent business venture to boot. The only initial fees involved I think are a one-time company registration fee to the credit card companies which they will let you pay with the income you generate wih them over a predetermined length of time. The other catch involved (and it is not really a bad thing) is that they usually hold about 5% of your revenue in “Reserve” for extenuating circumstances, like if you decide to shut down your website and you leave 500 paying members totally screwed for that month’s subscription then the 3rd-party processor will use your reserve to give those people refunds. Don’t worry, after about six-months they start paying it back to you in increments, so they never really keep any of that 5% anyway. It is just a security measure for them.

So if this doesn’t light a fire under your rump then maybe Paypal will. Paypal has emerged as one of the premiere transaction processors in the online world. They have millions of customers worldwide and are an extremely reliable company. They have a great executive team over there in the corporate offices, they were all transplanted right from Enron headquarters. No just kidding, they weren’t transplanted, they just walked. Anyway, Paypal acts just like one of the 3rd party processors I mentioned previously, the only difference is that they act more like an actual bank where you open an account with them, they even issue you an ATM/Debit/Credit Card if you so desire. You can access your account online, send and receive money, sell products over the web, sell products on Ebay and Yahoo! Auctions, as well as setting up a custom shopping cart for your website. If you are selling some type of service or subscription then I would recommend going with a 3rd party processor, on the same token if you are selling an actual tangible (you can touch it) product then I would go with Paypal as they are much easier to set-up a shopping cart with for small-medium ranged sites. Also, the processing fees for Paypal are much lower than the traditional 3rd party processor.

I hope you got something out of this, if even to educate yourself a little on the ins and outs of conducting commerce on the web. Caio!

What connection speed are your surfers viewing your site at?

2006-02-25T16:04:00.000-05:00

A telecommunications company recently conducted a poll across the continental United States to see what percentages of each type of internet connection people were using. The results might surprise some of you. The winner by a wide margin was, that’s right you guessed it, good ol’ dial-up! According to recorded statistics at the end of 2005, 54% of the nation is still connecting to the web with an old fashioned telephone line. Coming in second was cable modem with 29% and the other 17% were a mix of ISDN, DSL, and other assorted broadband connections.

I have known about this situation long before I heard those statistics, the reason I found out was because I was gearing all of my websites towards users with broadband connections, assuming that most people surfing the web were doing so at high speed. This couldn’t be any further from the truth.

If you are designing a website with loads of Flash, high quality 200k images, streaming video. background music, and huge graphic files then you are immediately alienating more than half of your customer base before you even upload your site to the web. I don’t have an MBA in Business but common sense should tell you that is not a good decision.

Before even designing a single page of your site you need to sit down and draw up a plan, it doesn’t have to be a plan that is so complex that even you can’t follow it, but it does have to have a few simple things, common sense things. The first of which is a target audience, who are they? If you are selling consumer electronics over the internet then your target audience is probably male/female between the ages of 17 and 24 arguably. Not too young to own a credit card and not old enough (for the most part) to be married and not being able to use that credit card. Now if you were selling adult diapers over the internet then I doubt that the same target audience would bring you much success, obviously. Now that you have your target audience clearly known, all of your other decisions down the line can be based on this information. You know what they say, knowledge is power.

What region you are targeting can play a big factor as well, the fact is that most of the broadband connectivity in the U.S. is on either the east or west coast, the majority of the dial-up is in the Midwestern United States. So if you were building a website that was going to be selling NASCAR Apparel then your target audience would generally be in the mid-western and some southern states. Being that these states are pretty much all dial-up then you would design your site accordingly. To do that you would be best off using only HTML text, you should never use a graphic file for text on a site where you are trying to design for speed (and let’s face it, you are always designing for speed, just more so in this case) and even when you are not unless you absolutely must, stick with HTML text. The very first thing to load on a web page is HTML text, so keep that in mind.

There is always some debate about the maximum size a web page should be when you are designing for lows speed connections. Some say 65k, some say 90k, and some even say 35k. Well, as far as I am concerned 65k is about right, and even that is a pretty thin web page. You have to do some really good layout and planning work and make every byte count towards the design or else you will find yourself with a very boring, very static web page. This is where JavaScript and DHTML come in, using a little of each can liven up a web page dramatically and improve the overall look. A lot of prewritten scripts can be found at no charge on the web (usually, you just have to keep the copyright info in the comment tags) and these scripts don’t require much knowledge of the language they are written in. Usually all you have to do is customize a few lines so the script fits your specific needs and just copy and paste. After a few times doing this you will get the hang of it and you will start to wonder what else can be done with scripts. All I must tell you is not to get script trigger happy and start loading up your pages with a million lines of code, nothing will lose a surfer faster than a slow load time, trust me.

So there is some food for thought for you, maybe I touched on a topic that you let totally escape you for the time being and now that you have been notified you can design your pages with connection speed in mind.

I want to build a website, should I learn HTML or use software??

2006-02-25T10:26:00.000-05:00

I have been doing freelance web design for 7 years now and a question I hear very often is "Do I have to learn HTML or can I use of those software programs like FrontPage or Dreamweaver? And what do those programs do anyway?" Well, I thought you'd never ask (actually yes I did=) HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) is a programming language used to display text and graphics through a web browser such as Internet Explorer.

Like any programming language HTML has a structure and formatting functions called “tags”, I don’t know what the latest count is but HTML 4.0 had about 200+ tags. As far as programming languages go HTML can be considered pretty simple compared to all the others. If you have any programming background whatsoever then you should find it easy to learn HTML, if you have no experience at all with programming then HTML could seem a hefty challenge to you. Take my advice when I say that at first glance HTML looks like Chinese Algebra but as you learn it you get a feel for it very quickly. If you are going to take some time out to learn HTML I would say that the best thing to concentrate on is the creation and manipulation of tables. Tables are the ultimate layout tool for web pages, many websites that you visit use tables to layout their whole design. Just do a Google search on anything and click on some of the sites to visit their homepage and on the menu at the very top of your browser click the “View” menu, a new menu will drop down and you will see an option that says “Source”, click this. The HTML code that was used to create that web page will open in Notepad. You will often see a lot of table HTML tags, because with tables you can have excellent control over the position of your web page elements.

So what now you ask? What if I don’t want to learn HTML and all that, can I still build a website? Yes, you can. You can choose from various software programs that are affectionately nicknamed WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editors. The reason they are called that is because what you see in the design window of the editor is (hopefully, usually) what you will see when you upload the page to the internet. There are normally 2 modes of working in an editor: the “design” mode and the “code” mode. In the design mode you are looking at what should be the version of your page as it would appear on the web, in the code mode you are looking at the HTML that is being used to design that page. You can work from both modes on the same page and during the same session. If you do not know HTML then you would just use the design mode. Those who know HTML can either switch between modes or even just hand code the whole page manually.

Advanced web designers usually use manual HTML to carve out the structure of the page and just use the editor to drop in all of their content. It can become very tedious to have to type the same insert image code 15 or 20 times on the same web page.

So, if I am going to use an editor which one should I use? Good question, there are quite a few options out there, here I will discuss two of those programs which are really the two most popular; Microsoft FrontPage and Adobe (Formerly Macromedia) Dreamweaver. FrontPage is great for beginning webmasters where Dreamweaver is more a tool for intermediate to advanced webmasters, however Dreamweaver can still be used by beginners but it just might take a little longer to learn all the options and palettes that are used during site designing. My personal favorite happens to be Dreamweaver but FrontPage has been getting better with every version.

FrontPage and Dreamweaver also come with pre-designed website templates that the user can choose to build their site with. These templates, in my opinion, are great for the novice genre because all it requires of you is a basic idea of what you want your site to look like, and then it is just a matter of dropping in the images and text. The only drawback is when you publish your site on the web you will have a billion other sites that look like yours. So my recommendation is that you change the template up a little bit when you are designing it. Change the colors and the fonts to suit your taste, this way it will have a little bit of uniqueness about it. Below is a screen shot of Adobe’s Dreamweaver 8, just to give you a basic idea of what you’ll be working with. You can try this software for 30 days absolutely obligation free. All you have to do is go to Adobe's website and download and install the trial version. I would strongly suggest that you take the tutorial that they offer for free to you, it is built into Dreamweaver and it clearly explains to you how to do some of the more common tasks that are involved with building a website.

Well, I hope that about answers your question and clears up any confusion about HTML or the editing programs. Also remember that if you have any questions you can always email me, I usually respond to my emails within 48 hours.

Dreamweaver