evolt.org - Site Development

Browser Performance Chart

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 14:40:06 -0500

Jacob Gube has posted a handy chart over at Six Revisions titled "Performance Comparison of Major Web Browsers." He tests the current versions of five browsers: Mozilla Firefox 3.5, Google Chrome 3.0, Microsoft Internet Explorer 8.0, Opera 10.0, Apple Safari 4.0.

Facebook and Google Want to Translate Your Site

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 01:26:26 -0500

Google and Facebook each offer a method to translate your site, but which, if either, is the best choice?

When Wikis Go Bad

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 06:42:19 -0600

Over the last few years the use of wikis has become really popular. For every wiki evangelist I have met, I have also come across as many who hate wikis. I’ve used them extensively and I too have gone through a love-hate relationship with the wiki.

Having recently done some work on the evolt.org wiki, I decided to write down some of my thoughts about why sometimes wikis are phenomenally successful, and others just never seem to work. Like a lot of similar issues, none of this is rocket science.

De top-10 leugens die klanten vertellen

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 06:43:17 -0600

Oorspronkelijke titel/original title: Top 10 Lies told by Clients

Als je commercieel aan de slag gaat, dan is zorgen dat je je werk goed doet maar een klein deel van je taak. Regelmatig zie ik treurige voorbeelden van mensen die met goede bedoelingen aan een opdracht beginnen, en vervolgens verschrikkelijk voor de gek worden gehouden, omdat wat zij zien als een uitdaging en als iets dat ze met liefde doen, door de tegenpartij wordt gezien als iets heel anders, helemaal niet romantisch of geïdealiseerd, maar rauw en simpel.

CMS Trench Warfare: An Introduction

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 23:07:08 -0600

I have been working with large organizations to create or move web and intranet sites from static HTML pages to the company's chosen CMS. My role is that of liaison between the IT department (or whoever manages the project) and end user. By default, my clients tend to be in clerical roles: the folks in the trenches. My job is to evangelize the product, explain the process, present, instruct, coach, and guide clients in web architecture basics and design best-practices, and in use of the chosen software.

Design for iPhone: a device that thinks different

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 19:02:55 -0500

One Saturday afternoon, I agreed to take my daughter to the AT&T store, just to LOOK at an iPhone... touch one... explore a little. MISTAKE. I should have duct-taped myself to the mast — and my wallet to my ass — because next thing I knew (after daughter demoed it as expertly as if she'd been using it all her life) we were walking out of the store with a brand new iPhone 3G. You'll love our coverage, the AT&T salesman assured as he packed the phone into a bag, only for us to discover upon arriving home that we had no reception within a quarter mile of our house.

Dang! I thought, now we have to move.

Simulating Apache asis feature with very simple CGI

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 23:11:57 -0600

Apache's asis feature, provided by mod-asis, is a very simple way of sending static HTTP headers along with static content. Many installations of Apache have this disabled (the default) and those of us not on Apache are out of luck. This combination has led to this simple and useful feature being overlooked by most web developers.

Search Engine Friendly URLs with IIS and Classic ASP

Sat, 13 Dec 2008 14:38:03 -0600

A few years ago, I needed a Content Management System (CMS) for my site Voor Beginners and its English counterpart For Beginners. One of the requirements was, that the CMS should use "search engine friendly" URLs. This is fairly easy to accomplish with Linux and Apache; however, another requirement was that the CMS should run on the Windows platform... In this article, I will show how you can "simulate" the effects of .htaccess and mod_rewrite using Microsoft's Internet Information Server (IIS) and classic ASP.

Google Algorithm Update Analysis

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 23:13:16 -0600

Anybody who monitors their rankings with the same vigor that we in the SEO community do will have noticed some fairly dramatic shifts in the algorithm starting last Thursday (July 5th) and continuing through the weekend. Many sites are rocketing into the top 10 which, of course, means that many sites are being dropped at the same time. We were fortunate not to have any clients on the losing end of that equation however we have called and emailed the clients who saw sudden jumps into the top positions to warn them that further adjustments are coming. After a weekend of analysis there are some curiosities in the results that simply require further tweaks in the ranking system.

How to Get Listed in the DMOZ Directory

Mon, 02 Jul 2007 08:35:54 -0500

I'm a little confused. As an internet consultant specializing in search engine optimization, I believe that it is a good idea to submit your site to DMOZ (a.k.a. ODP or the Open Directory Project) --in fact, Google even encourages you to do so! However, being an ODP editor myself, I can tell you from personal experience that perhaps only 10-20% of all the site suggestions we receive actually follow our guidelines...

How Visual Design Can Impact your Bottom Line

Sat, 23 Jun 2007 08:35:55 -0500

How do you know if you should invest more time and money into creating a killer design? This case study examines how the look and feel of the site can impact your overall conversion rate which can provide justification for a little more investment. View the old site, compare it to the new site and review the conversion metrics that shows the before and after conversion rates.

Making websites: what's your target audience ?

Sun, 15 Apr 2007 10:20:00 -0500

If putting your business online means maximising the outreach, and a global audience, then Web Standards just add sense to your sensibility. A browser is never going to buy anything from you. The users should always get your content, no matter what platform they use, what media device they use, or wherever they might be. There should be no reason that a business turns back even one potential customer.

Creative Vision and Material Benefits

Thu, 07 Sep 2006 13:41:15 -0500

Principles of graphic design that online marketing companies should adopt

10 Worst AdWords Campaign Management Mistakes

Tue, 12 Sep 2006 05:44:40 -0500

On today’s highly competitive Google AdWords pay per click (PPC) search engine, it is now more important than ever to ensure that your PPC campaigns are optimized to their utmost potential. You should be achieving maximum return on investment (ROI) for the keywords or phrases that are most relevant to your business and are most likely to provide you with targeted traffic to your website. With ever growing cost-per-click (CPC) prices throughout the various PPC search engines it is essential that you avoid certain mistakes that will undoubtedly result in poorly performing PPC campaigns.

SEO For The Big Three

Mon, 27 Feb 2006 11:53:31 -0600

This article is a summary of the tactics and considerations one needs to make when seeking to rank highly on all three major search engines as opposed to focusing on just one.