Web Design Tips

Web Design Faq's

2009-02-10T20:37:00.000-08:00

Q: Why does my business need to be on the internet ?

E-business can help you reach out to millions of customers located across the globe, coming from all walks of life. It can save you a lot of money and time by streamlining your total business processes such as supply chain, communication and marketing.

Q: I got a website made, powered with latest technologies and all the glitz but it does not work. What do i do ?

Just having a website does not help. It merely gives you an e-presence. However, the real impact of this e-presence comes in only if people know that you are present and available to them online. This can only be achieved through effective internet marketing, search engine optimization, search engine promotion, link popularity, keyword rich content development, e-mail marketing etc. Himalayan IT Solutions is a fore running web promotion company in India. We undertake active web promotion campaigns for our client’s website and e-business.

Q: What i can do with a website ?

Website provides a platform for interactive presentation of products and services. You can get a first hand experience with your customers without having to get through with the intermediaries. Website can provide a method of communication with your employees, clients and investors. You can actually sell products and services directly to customers bypassing the cumbersome supply chain. Website keeps your business on 24x7, 365 days a year. Thus you can effectively handle customer care services.

Q: How can take advantage of this new Communication medium ?

You can gather first hand market information and get a hang of international industry trends. It helps maintaining relationship with existing customers and expanding the customer base. You can build a corporate identity and win instant product recognition. Whole marketing and promotional efforts can be run entirely through this newfound communication medium.

Q: How Secure is my online business ?

Himalayan IT Solutions develops websites backed by latest technologies incorporating all the essential security features like secured database; PHP, ASP, JSP and .net backed web applications, secured payment gateways; Anti vandalism and anti hacking software. Sometimes on request we also make the website right click disabled to protect copyrights on web content, graphics and images.

Q: What should i do if I wish to cancel my website services ?

You can cancel your web site maintenance service at anytime. Just inform us 30 days in advanced.

Q: What should i do if I wish to update my website ?

Just mail us your changes. We will make your changes in the website with in 48 working hours.

Resources

2009-02-07T17:54:00.000-08:00

Link to a specific spot on a page.

2008-12-12T03:41:00.000-08:00

How to link to a specific spot on a page

Want to give visitors to its website a shortcut to a specific location on a page? Or maybe add a link to the top so they can return to your menu navigation or any other area within the page? The orientation within a page is really easy and there are 2 ways to do this, here's how.

The XHTML compliant form of link on a page

If you do not know what it means to XHTML compliant, do not worry just means that will help validate your pages as XHTML strict, the old way will not happen. This method is as easy as the link older and jump when you continue to improve the design is likely to be glad you did it this way in the first place (no messy editing later).

1) Name of Target

Choose the exact place you want to send your link and choose elements close to him (a div, header tag, whatever .. paragraph to the extent that the right spot), add id = "something" you can call anything you like, as long as the names are the same on the link and the goal of ID, preferably with no spaces (the spaces in exchange for 20% in the address bar and look a bit messy).

An example would look like this:

The contents of your div here.

2) Link to its goal of anchoring

To link to your anchor simply use:

or if it's on another page:

The old way

This form of jumping to a spot within a page is not as good an idea for a few reasons. The "name" attribute has been depreciated for XHTML, and using labels that already have on your page as

,or any other places you can add the ID will stop unless the mess on your page. (ie can be used for styles CSS, JavaScript and more. yup, and if you happen to a style already has something in your page using the ID of the link it works well.)

With that said, only if, for some reason you want to try another way, here it is. As with the previous linkage method, you can call anything you want, try not to make good use of space (which are quite messy in a address bar).

1) Naming the Target

Choose a location on the page you want to link and make an anchor, making a link on as usual, but instead of "href" add "name" in it.

Here's an example:

something here so you do not have an empty tag

2) The link to his new jump spot

This step is the same as above:

See, in any way you choose to link within the page is quick, easy and can be very helpful for their visitors.

Find out all about the favicon.ico.

2008-12-12T03:36:00.000-08:00

What is a favicon?

Favicon means "Favorites Icon." It is the small icon next to the site name in the list of favorites before the URL into the address bar, as a bookmark website on the desktop, in the "Links" and a bar on the task bar Windows.

Why favicon.ico show how a 404 in the log files?

I was confused when this first started showing, if I never had a file called that ... Why are people looking for it? The answer is simple, all that means is that people who use favicon browsers (Internet Explorer 5.0 +, Firefox, Mozilla, Konqueror and a majority of the others) are visiting your site. While seeing a 404 in their log files usually means that a visitor has the dreaded "404 Page Not Found" error, in this case is not so. What this means is that the default icon is displayed instead of a custom one, visitors do not see errors :-)

Why should you use a favicon?

The majority of the peoples bookmarks / favorites list is a very congested place. Highlighting his memory with a nice graphic on your site next to it is a good way to draw your attention again.

How to make a favicon

There are plenty of good favicon creators for free, some of my favorites are favicon Photo (in seconds to create a favicon of any image on your computer, even an animated favicon!), Favicon.com 's creator online, or use one of the popular icon creation programs. You can also do so at your favorite image editor, save it as a bitmap file (. Bmp) and the use of icons Master for a format change in the icon. (Just rename the file is not going to work.)

I will not go into details here about the creation of icons, there are tons of other sites to help you that if you get stuck.

I will tell you the basic icon. The icons are image files that actually contain one or more images, so that's a good idea is to make the size 16x16 and 32x32 in size. You can make other sizes from XP users can have larger icons on their desktops. Be sure to use the default Windows color palette (256 colors), once again, if you want extra in their internal images that go through XP colors. When you are done, the name of their favicon.ico archive.

How to display your favicon

There are 2 different ways to do this:

Method 1

This is the easiest to do and show your icon, no matter what the visitors to your page added to your favorites. Simply load your new icon for the main directory of your site, ie. www.example.com / favicon.ico.

Method 2

If you do not have access to your root directory (if your server in a free, for example) or want a favicon for certain pages to add to his html. (You can name your favicon what you want with this method)

Create a custom 404 page

2008-12-12T03:13:00.000-08:00

How to create a custom page 404

"Not Found

The requested URL was not found on this server.

Apache/1.3.31 Server on port 80 www.example.com

Look familiar? We've all seen it too many times while wandering the Web. And if you're like most people just hit the back button and try another site. Why not make a custom page 404 of friendship to all visitors to your site and gives them a way back to more familiar (or at least not lost) territory.

These tips do not work for Windows servers, but are perfect for Unix hosts.

Step 1 - Create the. Htaccess

To begin to open the file. Htaccess if you already have one, if not pop open Notepad or your favorite text editor (not a WYSIWYG editor does not work here) and add this line:

ErrorDocument 404 / 404.php

You can name your error what you want irrespective of the use and extent that they are more comfortable.

Step 2 - Create custom page 404

Create a file called 404.php (or what you wrote in your. Htaccess), add whatever you want your visitors to see when they hit the absence of a page. A site map or search is good, along with letting them know that the file you requested is not available.

Step 3 - Up

Make sure your FTP program is set to climb as ASCII, raise the 404.php then. Htaccess.

Step 4 - Check that

Make sure your cache is clear and in a file type that we know does not exist on your server .. Something likes http://www.yoursite.com/oops. You should see her again, fantasy, and much more welcoming page 404.

Step 5 - Double Check!

This is important; make sure your custom 404 is actually sending a header from 404! The best way I've found is to use the Firefox extension called Live http headers. He shows the entire conversation between the browser and the Web site. Once again, type in a file that you know does not exist on your page should read 404 Not Found, not 200 OK. (If you have images on your page 404, you'll see the codes 200, which is exactly what you want ... because they are there;), so you go to the top of the head of testers and read carefully. The page itself should send a 404.) If it comes to display a code 200, remove the. Htaccess and try again. The last thing we want is for search engines to see a response code 200 for a page that does not really exist!

Notes on a custom error page

What you have in your error is personal choice. Some people prefer only a link to the homepage, others opt for a more friendly and let the visitor know that the file does not exist, but a very well-designed site with links to other areas or even to allow a search to find what they wanted. Here are a few (hopefully) helpful notes.

"Friendly" Error messages in Explorer

Internet Explorer 5 and until " 'friendly' error messages" and not the careful and really helpful 404 is available in many places. To avoid this, simply make sure that its size of 404 files of more than 512 bytes, not including pictures (the actual pages code itself) and even IE users will have the benefit of your new page. (This is probably the only time I suggest to get the size of the files. Useful in this case, though!)

Absolute URL

If you use images or any type of external files on your new personalized page, use absolute links on your page error code. (ie images or mylogo.png http://www.example.com/images/mylogo.png). Why? So its 404 pages is different from other files on your server, if someone falls into the trap http://www.example.com/stuff/morestuff/lostfile.php page is actually being served from that folder. If you use your relative links will not be displayed from the path would be a mistake.

Cover your bases

It's a good idea to add meta tag to the top of page 404 only if a search engine or land that the header is wrong. In the place that you must have your bases covered in case of an accident or confused bot.

Things to avoid

I have seen many people use the 404 to redirect to the main page ... no warning that the file was missing, no way of letting the visitor choose where to go. Besides, do we really want search engines to get caught in a funnel and see the home as a big 404?

Another thing I've seen a lot is a custom that is 404 well ... not in a personalized way. More than once I have seen only the logo and "Not Found", no way to reach the home page or from other areas

Speed up page load time

2008-12-12T03:08:00.000-08:00

Formatting tips to accelerate your website

As more and more people are getting access to high-speed Internet, there are many left in the Dial Up. Be kind to the visitors and make a few simple things to accelerate their websites. Not only will these tips give you a faster loading time, most will also help keep their rates low bandwidth as well!

Use CSS for pages faster

Even if you decide to use tables, CSS can greatly improve the websites of its charging time! With his style in an external. CSS file, the browser can cache all the formatting and style of their pages instead of having to read every single label again. It also reduces the time stated on the labels and replacing them with smaller styles instead of class.

Use external scripts

Use the same script on multiple pages? Switching to an external script. I'm not talking about remotely hosted, I mean the burden of JavaScript source files instead of adding all that code to each page like this:

In this way the browser already has in its cache and will not have to read each time the load another page. This saves a ton of time loading, especially for larger scripts!

Remove anything that you really do not need

OK, while this might sound obvious sometimes the hardest thing about creating a website is not using all the tricks of fantasy that you know. Images, flash and sometimes even sound files are very impressive .. but do we really need to show all his talents on one page?

Embedded sound files are something that many people just find annoying anyway. I was surprised how many are surfing at work ;-). The last thing anyone wants is a loud music or sounds announcing to their boss that they are surfing. Also, many people have their own music ... hearing a song over top of what you're listening to is less than pleasant. As for Java applets, try to ditch or if you want those effects, JavaScript unusually loads faster and can do as much or more. Stand back and take a critical look at their website, you can see some special effects that can stop going for the sake of faster load time.

Avoid nested tables

OK, I'm not a big fan of using tables for layout anyway (I'm one of those people that believes content and presentation should be independent .. but that's another tip of the page). With that said, if your templates tables seem necessary (or easier way to do it), try to avoid nesting. Why? When you place a table inside another table, which takes much longer for the browser to work out the space, as it has to wait to read the entire html and then develop the design. If possible, try using CSS to create the columns on your page.

Avoid full-page tables for faster rendering

If you use tables, try avoiding the whole page is a large table. The browser will not show anything until you have read the whole thing that way. For a web page load faster, either try multiple tables (not nested), or with things above the main table for their content in the first frame shows faster. This way visitors will have something to read while the rest of the page is loaded. It may not really make you page faster, but it will feel to its visitors.

Split pages long - short multiple pages load faster

By division over multiple pages into pages that not only the contents that are displayed faster, but many people who see a very long scroll bar give up. Remember, people's attention often runs shorter than a grasshoppers (OK, not literally, but get my point) since so much information is available on the fingers. Try to break it up into more readable lengths.

Remove excess "white"

It's blank spaces between your coding, removing the unnecessary tabs and spaces can help a lot! Doing this will take a lot of extra bytes off the total size of your page load time and speed up a bit. (Careful using automatic squashes, it seems to me that too often Squished and makes it quite difficult to edit later.)

Keep your code clean

If you use a WYSIWYG editor, most times the will add useless code to your pages for example, many are left empty tags (ie ). The elimination of any of those labels over not only accelerate its load times, but make you pages validate a lot cleaner.

Accelerate the loading time of images

Do not go overboard on the images

While the images can greatly enhance the look of a site that can really slow down if too many. Try to decide if all images are really needed (a good number of nice effects you can do with CSS, so sometimes the pictures are unnecessary.)

Height and width of the labels

When the page loads and the size of the image is already defined (ie, who has used the height and width of the labels), the browser knows that everything will be before the images are loaded. Otherwise, the page has to wait and upload the images before the text. Same goes for the tables in order to try to use the labels as wide as possible in those, as well as for a quick page.

The images faster? Reduce your file size

There are many free, online optimizers images so that they do not even have to install anything and it's easy! Optimizer online image is greatly reduced the file size of your gif, jpg, or PNGs and neither you or your visitors can see the difference that is not a page that loads a hell of a lot faster. We also maintain transparency and animations gifs! On the other hand the reduction in JPEG, JPEG Wizard try, also free, this only works with images on your hard drive are not on the network. You can also choose to do some simple effects (flip, mirror and Rotation).

GIF vs vs JPG PNG

Personally on the new site design that I tend to go to optimize PNGs. They have lossless compression (unlike JPG files and can be used without worry (gifs have the potential to have copyright) and load fast! With all that said, if you still want to use gifs and JPG files, here's info display a bit fast. .. If you do not need the decision given, choose more than GIFs JPEG, GIF, as general cargo faster. JPG files are generally better for photos, GIF for anything else.

(I'd like to add here a rant about how Microsoft had held up the development of the web with IE6 not support PNG transparency ... but * sigh * I rants about this because no one is listening. Firefox, Opera and Other modern However, browsers have been able to demonstrate the alpha transparency in PNG for years ... oops, sorry, that was a mini Rant after all!)

What is Hotlinking?

2008-12-11T23:09:00.000-08:00

Are you a hot linker?

Ok, so it may be new to the Web, or even web design in general and want to create their own online space ...
You see an image you would like to add to your website, you:

· Download to your hard drive and upload to your own server (after verifying that you are authorized to be used) ... or,

· Add to your page without getting on its website.

If you choose 1, congratulations, you've decided to no longer link! If you choose the number 2 ... Please read why this is a robbery

Hot linking - What's this?

Hot linking, tying online, distance and the linkage of many other terms used to describe a way of taking photos or other files and fits directly into a website. In other words, unauthorized use of someone else's bandwidth. Hot linked files are files stored on your own server. For example, an image hot linked code would be something like this:

OK, so why is Hot linking wrong?

If the person who owns the media file that is in embedding its own website gives permission to link, then nothing is wrong. Unfortunately, this is not usually the case.

If you do not have permission, distance to the linking of any media and / or program file is theft.

Yes, theft.. even if it's an archive of images that offer free images, a music server of giving away free songs or a website with freeware ... Unless the original website specifically states otherwise, hot linking is stealing.

"Wait a minute" I hear you say, "I did not steal anything, the file is correct that the owner left him!" OK, let me explain this a bit. Each time a file is called from our servers have what is called a request for data transfer, or another way of saying that .. we have the bandwidth used.

The bandwidth is a bit like gas from a car. Every time you drive (or a file is loaded), a bit of fuel (or bandwidth) has been exhausted. Now imagine if every night one of his neighbors deviates a bit from his own car ... then other neighbors thought "I'll take a couple of drops as well as" ... morning its fuel tank is empty. His neighbors thought of each, taking only a little would be imperceptible... But added that everything does not leave anything for you.

Serving images not only is usually our biggest consumer of bandwidth, when other remote connection to them (that is, integrate into their websites on our servers without our permission), we have to pay ... Bandwidth is not free! Most websites have a limited amount of data transfer and website owners, whether to cough up extra money each month to pay the fees, or face closure.

The difference between hot linking and link to a website:

When people link directly to a multimedia file (gif, jpg, png, etc. mov), the original webmaster of the site has to pay the fees. When someone links to a page on the same website, the webmaster still pays the fees, but the content is displayed in a way that the designer (and copyright owner) wants, and that may be able to cover expenses for display advertising on the page.

Super simply ... With hot links to files of the media = bad ... Links to pages = good ;-)

Other reasons why we should not link files

Eventually every site that the owner is faced with this dilemma is to make a decision. Closing shop ... or fight? Since your files will now be embedded in your site, are free to do with the files you want to ... and most of them.

Some things that webmasters can do to hot linkers:

1. Rename the file and give the file a hot linker broken.

2. Replace with a very unpleasant file (think about what we like to see more on your page and I can assure owner of the website with original content can imagine something ten times worse.)

3. Replace with an announcement that hot linking is not allowed and an ad for your own website.

4. Contact the hot linker from the site and submit a copyright / terms of service abuse report. In most cases this will result in the loss of hot linker its website.

OK, but...

So for now (should) realize why hot linking is wrong, but what if your site host does not allow images stored? That's easy!

Either find a better host (in this case are free sub domain hosts and a list of domain hosts free) which allows the image to load.

Option number 2, to maintain its current host and the free use of an image host that allows hot linking.

Unable to save files?

If for some reason you can not save a file, or perhaps not on your own computer and find an image you want, departs from the Trans load to climb for you, or you could always email the file for later use.

Oh, and please, before you take any file or an image, audio file or anything else .. verify that it is allowed to be used elsewhere. Just because something is on a website does not mean that anyone is free to take it! There are copyright laws in line.

Thank you for taking the time to learn about hot linking

If you do not understand what hot linking remote or link files before was, a big thank you for reading this! My hope is that through this reading, learning why hot linking is theft and how to avoid it... Links will be more responsible in the future.

Please help maintain the freedom of collections of images and sound files that are offered freely online, free of charge and available for future users. Do your part by linking appropriate and explain to others who might know that link simply because they do not know better.