Tag Archives: Website development

What is HTML5 and How Does It Affect Me?

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HTML or Hypertext Markup Language is a formatting language that programmers and developers use to create documents on the Web. HTML5 is being developed as the next major revision of HTML.

For most of us, HTML is behind the scenes and not really something we ever think about. However, you may have heard of HTML during the last couple of years as it made national news when Apple refused to support Flash animation in favor of HTML5 on the iPhone and iPad.

How does this affect me?
The booming mobile market is probably the biggest proponent in HTML5’s popularity. While Apple created a stir when they refused to support Flash on their mobile devices, the truth is that most mobile devices either don’t support Flash, or don’t support it well.

HTML5 is largely making its mark on the Internet by overcoming the limitations of Flash and older versions of HTML. Simply put, it is responsible for the enhanced features in videos, audio and graphics that are not as reliant on third-party plug-ins.

To the consumer, this means finding, downloading, or viewing content such as videos will become easier, lighter and quicker. Searching locally will become more reliable as HTML5’s geolocation feature becomes the standard.

For marketers, it means reaching more clients and ensuring a common user experience. Additionally, as more and more browsers become HTML5 compatible, it will mean less programming, fewer updates and less cost to maintain your Web presence.

Will HTML5 replace Flash?
Yes and no. While HTML5 is the future for the vast majority of our interactivity on the Web, Flash still has a niche for complex animations and video games.

For audio and video, HTML5 will largely replace Flash on the Internet as this method does not require the end user to have a third-party plugin. In large part, this has already happened.

Simple animations, image transformations, charting, drag-and-drop, geolocation, 3-D vector graphics, and simple interactivity that once required Flash to achieve are now achievable via HTML5.

Complex animations, video games, and other applications that are too intricate will still require the use of Flash.

How soon should I consider using HTML5?
Immediately. Even though it is still in development and not yet supported in all browsers, it is the future of Web development. Implementation now will require some additional code for browsers without support, but this is a common technique used for outdated browser support.

Firefox, Google Chrome, Opera and Safari are currently supporting most elements of HTML5. For Internet Explorer, limited support for HTML5 began with IE8 and was extended with IE9 – IE10 promises to bring Internet Explorer in line with the other major browsers.

Still don’t get it?
Are you still a little foggy on what all the hype is about? If so, take a look at the Website for the Volkswagen Beetle, http://www.beetle.com.
Maybe a little too bleeding edge for most businesses, but wow!

Why should you care about Website usability?

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Website UsabilityBecause your potential customers may leave if you don’t.

A great Website starts with great content. However, even the best content may not attract or keep your customers’ interest if your Website lacks usability.

According to the W3C, the worldwide organization that writes Website standards, “usability is about designing products to be effective, efficient, and satisfying.”

For Websites, usability improves the user experience – making information easier to find and understand, resulting in more leads and / or sales.

Why should you care? In a nutshell, because people will leave your Website if is difficult to use. If it doesn’t answer their questions, they’ll leave. If your products are difficult to find, they won’t buy them. And, if your phone number is not prominent, they won’t call.

Regardless of whether you’re selling a product or a service, making your site usable is a key element in ensuring you have satisfied prospects and customers.

How can you make your Website more usable?

Design with consistency – A consistent header throughout your site, with prominent logo, company name, phone number, and contact link will make it easy for your prospective customers to understand who you are and how to contact you. In addition, a common main navigation, three clicks or less deep, will make all the pages of your site easy to find.

Be simple and skimmable – Web users skim pages when looking for information, products and services. Given that you have very few seconds to capture a user’s attention, it is essential that users are able to skim your pages for important information, and that the information is presented in simple and direct language. Keep industry jargon to a minimum and write in easy-to-understand sentences so that everyone, regardless of educational level, can understand your meaning. Break up long pages with headings and subheadings and pull out important information into easy-to-read bullet points.

Proofread for errors and meaning – A site riddled with misspelled words and grammatical errors is difficult to read and understand. Proofreading is an essential last step when writing. It gives you the opportunity to find not only your errors, but also to ensure that your text is conveying the meaning you have intended.

Put your important content first – Studies show that Web users view pages starting from the top left to top right, then the middle followed by the left side and finally the bottom. This may seem obvious to point out, but put your most important information in the most viewed areas of the page. That way, people who are skimming pages will see your most important information first, before possibly losing interest.

White space is a good thing – White space, or negative space, is the space between elements. Oftentimes people mistake white space as ‘empty,’ or space that needs to be filled up. However, white space fills a very important role – it allows the eye to distinguish between items and dramatically affects readability. It helps items stand out and separates them from other elements. Ultimately, white space can help improve readability while the lack of white space can destroy the readability of your Web page. If you have a lot of content, be sure to increase the amount of white space to make it easier to read.

Use proper HTML tags – The use of proper HTML tags, or semantic coding, is very important to usability for the visually impaired. Visually impaired people often rely on screen readers to read pages back to them. These types of programs cannot interpret pages well unless they are clearly explained in the HTML code.

Even if you do not know any HTML, it is possible to ensure that your Web pages are using the proper HTML tags. Modern content management systems will use the proper HTML tags if you make the right choices when designing your pages. Use the following as a guide:

  • The headline of your page should always be ‘heading 1’
  • Subheads should be ‘heading 2’ through ‘heading 6’ in order of importance
  • The bold button should be used to highlight important words within the body of your article (not article headings or subheads)
  • The italic button should be used for text that needs emphasis, like the names of publications
  • Use the blockquote button instead of multiple spaces to indent text
  • Use the enter key to begin a new paragraph and shift-enter to add a soft return, or line break
  • Only use underlines to denote hyperlinks – most content management systems will do this for you automatically

Test your pages – Always, always test your pages in multiple browsers to ensure your page layouts look as intended. Each browser has its own unique quirks and what looks good in one may look completely unreadable in another. We recommend testing in Internet Explorer 7, 8, and 9, FireFox, Chrome, and Safari.

Likeability – All things being equal, users will follow up with, and purchase from, the site they ‘like’ the best. This is where the importance of branding comes into play… but, that is another article. ;-)

Are U Ready 2 Proofread?

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Did you know?

  • Commas and periods always go inside the closing quotation mark.*
  • Semicolons and colons always go outside the closing quotation mark.*
  • Question marks and exclamation marks sometimes go inside or sometimes outside the closing quotation mark.*

When it comes to proofreading, there are so many grammar rules to follow, so many words to spell correctly, and the list goes on.

There’s no foolproof formula for perfect proofreading every time (although that’s our goal here), but these proofreading tips should help you find your errors before anyone else does.

  • Look for one type of error at a time. Read through the text several times. Concentrate on sentence structure, then spelling, and then punctuation.
  • Don’t proof on screen. Review hard copy. Print out text and review it line by line. Use a ruler under each line of text or run your finger under the text.
  • Read the text out loud. You may hear a problem that you didn’t see.
  • Use and trust a dictionary. A spellchecker is good to use as a first screening, but don’t depend on it. Spellchecker can tell you if a word is a word, but not if it’s the right word.
  • Review grammar rules if you are in doubt. There are many resources online if you don’t have a reference manual to refer to.
  • Keep a list of words that you always have to look up or mistakes you commonly make and refer to it when you are proofreading.
  • When you are all done, go back and read the text backwards to focus on the spelling of words only. You may be surprised that you find words misspelled that you didn’t catch before.
  • Be sure to go back and proof headings. They are easy to overlook when proofing text.
  • Review page numbers and footer / header material for accuracy and correct order.
  • Do the math to make sure calculations are correct. Double-check facts, figures, phone numbers and proper names. Make sure all information is accurate.
  • Take a break between writing and proofing. When you come back to it, you will be more likely to spot errors.
  • Ideally have someone else proof your text. A new set of eyes may spot errors that you have overlooked.

Remember – you are trying to find mistakes. Assume you will and look for them.
Happy proofing!

*Preferred American Style