Yambo Web Design

SSL Certificates

Sun, 01 Jan 2017 10:30:00 +0000

As briefly mentioned last year, Google is now pushing ahead with its intended plan to warn visitors if they do not have a secure connection to a website. Google's plan is to make the web of the future more secure and fully encrypted.

SSL - or Secure Socket Layer - is the standard security protocol for establishing an encrypted link between the web server and the visitor's browser. The connection is encrypted and ensures all data passed between the web server and the browser is secure, remaining private.

The SSL protocol has actually been superseded by TLS - Transport Layer Security - and this is the preferred and most modern cipher suite currently available. Confusion arises because of the reference to SSL, rather than TLS, in the name SSL certificate, but both encryptions are supported and are used in SSL certificates.

So what is a SSL/TLS Certificate?

It proves that the connection between the web server and your web browser is secure and encrypted (https://), and is authorised by a Certification Authority. The Certification Authority (CA) is a trusted third-party source. This is where the variation in cost comes from, with differing levels of security and guarantees.

FREE SSL Certificates?

There's been a steady increase of FREE SSL certificates recently, and whilst these may have good intentions, invariably someone may use them for dishonest purposes. Making SSL certificates so readily available to 'potential' hackers for free weakens the Certified Authority label, and this is our worry. The on-going security checks is - in a nutshell - what you're paying the extra for. Whilst there are debates about whether CA's should be the ones who are vetting customers, at the moment we would still recommend purchasing an SSL certificate from an authorised body if you have an e-Commerce website.

Do I need an SSL Certificate?

Up until Google announced it's plans to give organic search results a boast (albeit only slightly) to sites with HTTPS security, many would have argued that there was no need for an SSL certificate - and would perhaps only recommend one if you were selling products online via an e-Commerce shop.

However, security on the web can never be underestimated. If you'd like the slight boast in rankings and more importantly the extra safety barrier for your customers, then we highly recommend purchasing an SSL certificate no matter what type of website you have.

If you're already a Yambo customer, we'd be happy to set-up the certificate on your behalf either for a single domain or server free of charge - only costing for the annual SSL certificate itself.

Adaptively Responsive Web Design... Say What?

Fri, 03 Jun 2016 14:36:38 +0100

At Yambo we adhere to the Adaptive Web Design approach when building mobile responsive websites, however recently we've started to combine both Adaptive and Responsive techniques together to create one ultimate Adaptively Responsive Web Design Monster... who eats extra code for breakfast...

but what the heck are we on about?

Adaptive Web Design (AWD) and Responsive Web Design (RWD) are very similar to each other, especially from a user's perspective, as they essentially do the same thing - they show an optimised version of a website for a particular device.

In this explanation I'll be using mobile responsiveness in my examples, but this can apply to any device in which the design/layout adapts to show an optimised version (small laptop screens, tablets, etc).

What is Responsive Web Design?

Responsive Web Design (RWD) uses a single design theme with a fluid layout which adjusts to various screen widths on a device, meaning only one page theme is needed in order to show both desktop and mobile the same website.

An easy way to determine whether a site uses this method is to re-size the browser window, if the layout starts to adjust and change to fit the content within then it's pretty much certain the site you are viewing is using the Responsive Web Design method (although this is not always guaranteed).

With this method the layout is determined on the client side via the user’s browser, rather than server side.

Pros:

Easy to Maintain: using only one single design means only making changes the once
Fits to any Screen Size/Width: regardless of the device the design will constantly adjust to fit
Clever Responsive CSS Frameworks: Bootstrap, Sleek, Skeleton, etc, are really clever and intuitive in how they work, and once you understand a framework it becomes easier to build responsive sites

Cons:

Slow Page Speeds: the same code is loaded by both the desktop and the mobile version, this is regardless of whether certain elements are hidden or not
Unnecessary Extra Code is Hidden instead of Removed: the extra code is only hidden by either CSS or Javascript but is still requested by the browser
Fits to any Screen Size/Width: it's practically impossible to design for every single screen size and device, and because of this, sometimes the design doesn't look quite right between break points - there isn't a dedicated layout

What is Adaptive Web Design?

With Adaptive Web Design (AWD) the website is designed specifically with the device in mind, there isn't one single fluid layout which automatically (or responsively) adjusts to each device. Instead, each device has it's own personal design layout (theme).

The layout is determined on the server side and the decisions are made by the web server, not via the browser. The server detects which device or browser is connecting to the webpage and then sends the correct design layout of the site to the device, making it quicker for the user.

Pros:

Fast Page Speeds: this is by far the main reason why we build sites using the Adaptive Web Design method - the code is not simply hidden away, it's completely removed making the page load super fast - which Google loves!
User Experience: the design is built to maximise the compatibility of the device, meaning an improved User Experience (or UX for cool kids)
Bespoke Design/Functionality: want the mobile site to have a completely different design and feel to the main site? Then as crazy as it sounds, it's possible

Cons:

Fits to any Screen Size/Width: technically you could design a separate theme for each device and screen width, but this would be overkill and very time consuming
Harder to Maintain: it usually requires more effort to manage a separate mobile theme and a desktop theme

So Who's this Adaptively Responsive Web Design Monster?

Yep you've guessed it, it's a combination of the two responsive design methods using the best of both worlds.

A mobile theme built specifically for the mobile device but responsive enough to allow flexibility between mobile screen sizes.

New devices are constantly coming out and screen sizes are invariably going to change - but by using this method we can continue to support all devices and maintain 100% responsiveness.

Yum! Taste that cereal.

The Frustration of Spammy SEO Emails

Tue, 13 Oct 2015 12:25:10 +0100

Ah spam, glorious, spam!! Don't you just love the smell of spam in the morning? Well, no, not particularly, for us and for some of our customers this seems to be an inevitable consequence of having an online web presence and an email account.

What type of spam am I talking about? Well it's the SEO kind. The emails which target our customers, even though their websites feature quite well on Google (and other Search Engines), but yet are still targeted by spammy SEO companies, whose emails claim they make your website number 1 on Google and improve your web presence online immeasurably.

Why these unsolicited emails in particular? Well, usually they are written in a way to bypass email spam filters and are addressed to your website domain personally, and for all intensive purposes they look legit, however when you actually read them, it is a load of utter rubbish! They have just copy and paste the same email message over and over again, with the same concerns, the same claims, just with different companies. It's a scaremongering technique using out-of-date SEO lingo, and unfortunately there are no repercussions for them - complete lack of accountability.

One of our clients recently received an email from one of these SEO companies - and brought it to my attention. I personally believe sending an unsolicited email, which is incorrect and full of fake claims, to a random company is the equivalent of door-to-door selling to vulnerable people. Knocking on enough doors with the same aggressive waffle may eventually lead to a sale - but a complete dishonest and hollow sale - which is simply exploiting vulnerable people.

What makes it even more frustrating is the cost in which they claim they can do it for - we've worked with online marketing and SEO for many years, and understand the process is really never complete - it's an ongoing and continual growth which is not fixed by a quick £200! If it were, surely everybody would be top of Google on page 1.

Adding more insult to injury is the fact their own personal website doesn't even feature at the top of Google for their chosen keywords, and what's worst is some companies do not even add their own personal website link to their email (probably too ashamed) - and then there's the companies who send emails using third-party services like Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo!, etc - companies sending from third-party email addresses should always be a red flag!

The best way to analyse your website is using Google's own developer tools, these will give you a good indication if there is something seriously wrong with your website.

Here's one of the email templates used by spammy SEO: https://lists.debian.org/debian-embedded/2015/09/msg00002.html

And here's a link which even better explains the problem at hand: https://www.mariehaynes.com/dont-fall-for-small-business-seo-scams/

Famously, the founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates, predicted a spam-free world by 2006! Unfortunately, his prediction wasn't quite right and it looks like the problem is here to stay. Personally I think spam is inevitable - email filters are improving but as long as spammers can make money from sending spammy emails without any repercussions, they will continue to find loopholes.

How Friendly is Google's New Mobile Update?

Tue, 21 Apr 2015 20:19:12 +0100

Today is the day Google will begin to roll out a NEW mobile-friendly update for search engine rankings on mobile devices. The new algorithm will put emphasis on whether a website is mobile friendly and improve their ranking in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Page).

This, in theory, should give a more complete search experience for mobile phone users, with higher quality and more relevant search results.

So what does it mean to be mobile friendly?

The best way to explain this is to imagine a user looking at your website on a mobile device, can they easily read your web pages without zooming in and out, are the links and targets spaced appropriately for a user to easily tap on a touchscreen, is there any unplayable content (Flash), any nasty horizontal scrollbars, are the fonts legible, are the images correctly sized, and generally does your website look as good as possible on a mobile device?

There are a couple of ways to make your website mobile-friendly, one is with 100% responsive design and the other is adaptive design. For our own site we have used the adaptive approach by designing a mobile specific theme - this has allowed us to target mobile phone users without loading unnecessary content, for instance our Javascript home-page slider looks great on a desktop computer, but doesn't function quite as well on a mobile device. For the mobile site our main emphasis is on readable content and quick access.

We would recommend all websites to be mobile-friendly, especially if you have a lot of mobile phone visitors to your website. However, it is important to note, Google have stated a mobile-friendly website alone will not mean you'll automatically rank higher than everyone else, it's just one of many important factors/signals to rank search results.

Turtle Power!!

Tue, 23 Sep 2014 14:52:28 +0100

Over the past few months you may have heard about a couple of serious vulnerabilities to key online components.

First was the discovery of a serious flaw in OpenSSL encryption called Heartbleed. Websites with an SSL certificate (https) were at risk of being exploited and sensitive information spied upon.

Yambo acted swiftly to patch the vulnerability and to reassure our customers none of their personal information was ever compromised. We always work hard to ensure our customer's websites are protected. Unfortunately, just like how new viruses try to infect your home computers, online technologies are also prone to attack.

Shellshock is the latest vulnerability to be discovered, and affects Linux servers. Again, this has been successfully patched by Yambo within 24 hours.

Very few vulnerabilites attract media attention like Shellshock (and Heartbleed), but we treat all vulnerabilities with the same high-level priority. We work tirelessly to ensure your website is up-to-date and protected at all times.

A website is not just for Christmas...
(unless it's a 'letters to Santa' website)

Future of the Web

Sat, 01 Mar 2014 14:37:03 +0000

What does the future hold for the web? it's a tough question! With the unstoppable rise of mobile applications does the future of the web even involve websites? We hope so!

Online technologies and plugins come and go on the web, watching videos, listening to music, and chatting used to always require additional plugins to run the online application. However, browsers are becoming so much more than just a window to view websites - HTML5 has changed the way the web works - adding dedicated tags for video, music and animations allows for all the interaction of the additional plugins without the additional plugins. And with rolling browser updates with new features being continually added, usually automatically, the days of manually adding plugins are coming to an end.

HTTP - Hyper Text Transfer Protocol - is the system that governs the transfer of web pages from remote servers to your computer. First invented by Tim Berners Lee in the 90's, it's now starting to look a little bit dated. As it comes with a lot of unneccessary baggage slowing down the time it takes a web page to load in your browser. Google are working on variations of HTTP to try and improve speed without the dozen requests your computer makes to the server. Their version called 'SPDY' - pronounced Speedy - accelerates the process by using a technique called multiplexing. Basically multiple signals are compressed into one, and they are assigned a priority number, with the most important requests being loaded first.

Hi-res images on hi-res devices - with the ever-increasing popularity of mobile devices and tablets, and the ever improving resolutions on them, images on the web can look blurry and grainy.

Web images are usually compressed in some way, shape, or form. They are usually compressed due to the amount of time it takes for an image to load. But as web connections are improving, and with better wi-fi capabilities, images load a lot faster than ever before.

So is the excuse of speed no longer as valid as it once was? Well web page speeds are still very important - espeically to Google - and Web Designers need to weigh up the pros and cons of using high resolution imagery on websites. Is it wise to use high resolution imagery on the web? Devices such as the iPad 2 with Retina display show a lot more dots per inch (pixels per inch) than a standard monitor - the higher the dots per inch, the bigger the image will be (and file size). Apple call this HiDPI. This gives the web designer a dilemma. Use a high resolution image on the web, usually 4 times the size of a compressed image, or use a compressed image which could look blurry and grainy on hi-definition devices.

We believe the solution is with 100% responsive web design, and the new 'srcset' attribute. Responsive design allows the designer to target certain devices and style the website accordingly. CSS, for instance, could detect if the device connecting to the website is either using a mobile phone, or a desktop computer, and load the appropriate image for the device. However, Images added to the HTML code, and not via CSS, will not be targeted - this is where the 'srcset' attribute comes into play.

The srcset attribute essentially takes a comma-separated list of URLs each with one or more descriptors giving the maximum viewport dimensions and pixel density allowed to use the image. From the available options, the user agent then picks the most appropriate image for the device. If the viewport dimensions or pixel density changes, the user agent can replace the image data with a new image on the fly.

If you were to open the website on an iPad 2 with retina display, the image loaded will be the high-definition one. However, open the same website on a mobile device and a low-resolution image will be loaded instead.

Further problems could possible arise from this, if you consider a mobile phone with retina display (iPhone 5) - because we then have to reconsider how the device is connected to the web. A high-definition image using a retina display mobile phone connected to the web using 3G isn't of much use. Again, we come full circle back to the speed of the internet connection. Mobile phone users in our opinion want responsive and fast websites on their phones - and probably find the speed of the website more important than high-resolution imagery - especially when the mobile phone is connected to the web without using 3G.

4G, however, is another matter entirely...

e-Commerce - Onwards and Upwards 2014

Thu, 02 Jan 2014 14:34:40 +0000

New year, new vigor and new direction! At Yambo we are always trying to improve what we can offer our customers. This year we have decided to give our customers more flexibility when choosing an e-Commerce solution. We have designed a service to help lessen the set-up cost of an e-Commerce website. The pricing structure will vary depending on how many sales you make and/or how much traffic your website gets.

In principle it'll be similar to a pay as you go option. And over the next few months we will be introducing this NEW low cost ecommerce range. Not only will this be a more cost-effective way of running your online business but we will also grow with your business. It's still our fantastic e-Commerce system!

Here are just a few things you can expect from our new low-cost e-Commerce range:

Free domain registration
Low cost set-up ONLY £495 one-off fee
Low monthly cost from £35
Full website/database back-ups every month - no need to worry!
Full onsite Search Engine Optimisation with our complete launch checklist
Managed e-Commerce system - we take care of any updates to the core system for FREE
Unlimited Bandwidth - 100% uptime, NO off and on peak restrictions!
Unlimited Mailboxes - create as many email accounts as you like using your own control panel
Website on a Dedicated IP - that's right, no random shared hosting! We only use our dedicated server.
1 hour of our time dedicated to your website each month - we will contact you once a month to check up on your website and help in any way we can, either by updating your website or letting you know of any new features/modules available - our own web designers who manage your website will speak to you directly. NO middle man!

Please stay tuned, this is coming very soon!

When to leave an ALT tag attribute empty...

Wed, 08 Aug 2012 14:53:33 +0100

Yes, it may sound crazy, and I can hear the uproar of many SEO companies... however, I genuinely believe there are a few reasons NOT to include an ALT tag description on certain images - that's not to say there shouldn't be an empty ALT tag attribute.

So, what is an ALT tag?

ALT tags are used to specify alternative text for images on a website. The main purpose of an ALT tag attribute is to provide descriptive information of an image if it cannot be displayed correctly - this could be due to a slow Internet connection, an error in the source code, or if the user is using a screen reader/assistive technology.

Screen readers, or assistive technology, verbally read aloud the content of a web-page and the image description (ALT tag) for partially sighted or blind users. This helps them interact with the elements on the page and visualise the images by listening to the ALT tag descriptions.

SEO companies rate them so highly because it is one of the most important key factors in optimising your images for Search Engines.

We always add ALT tag attributes to our client's images. However, we have come across a few exceptions to the rule. For instance, the W3C accessibility standards (WCAG2) explains invisible or decorative images should be implemented in a way that can be ignored by assistive technologies.

Decoration, Formatting, Invisible: If non-text content is pure decoration, is used only for visual formatting, or is not presented to users, then it is implemented in a way that it can be ignored by assistive technology.

Our interpretation of this; there SHOULD ALWAYS be an ALT tag attribute associated with an image, but if the image is invisible or is only for decorative purposes you may consider using an empty ALT tag attribute instead - so assistive technology can then ignore these images and it won't impact the user experience.

A better example of this is when using a clear pixel image - clear pixels (spacer) images basically act as invisible images to allow some browsers to render the website correctly and/or to facilitate the layout of a web-page. From an accessibility point of view the clear pixel image carries no valid information what-so-ever. Keeping the ALT tag attribute empty (with no description) simply means assisted technology can ignore these elements without frustrating the user.

It then becomes a balancing act between an SEO report which is saying ALT tags should have full keyword rich descriptive terms and the W3C accessibility standards which states an ALT tag can be left empty if it carries no valid information.

We are by no means advocating empty ALT tags - we are merely explaining when an empty ALT tag may be necessary.

New Cookie Regulation

Fri, 15 Jun 2012 14:22:48 +0100

A new European Regulation from the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) is requesting that all websites must, as of 26th May 2012, get 'informed consent' from users before recording any detailed information stored on their computer.

If a website is using cookies a message must now appear asking the user for their consent on accepting cookies. Cookies can be seen as an evil and intrusive spying mechanism tracking your every move on the web - or a harmless text file designed to make your life easier.

Cookies are important for many reasons; advertisers use them to attract repeat business and target online users with relevant advertising, website authors use cookies to track statistics and remember key information, especially so with ecommerce websites.

Cookies themselves are actually harmless and typically contain just a site name and a user ID. When you visit a website for the first time a cookie is 'dropped' onto your PC. The next time you visit the same website again, your PC checks to see if you have the relevant cookie information, and if it has, sends the information back to the website. The site then knows who you are and can adjust accordingly. More sophisticated cookies can even record the time you have spent on a web page, the links you have clicked, the browser you are using, and even what is stored in your shopping basket.

So why the uproar? And why the new European Regulation? Well, many users believe websites are storing information about them and their preferences without their consent. And then using this information to target them with advertising. Whilst this is true, many websites do already outline their cookie policy and for your permission in their Terms and Conditions.

Yambo will be implementing this new European Regulation for all our clients over the coming months - please see below our cookie policy:

Cookies

Cookies are fragments of data sent through the web server and stored on your hard drive. Cookies cannot read the files stored on your computer, nor can they gather any private or personal information about you on your computer. Our cookies monitor the traffic on our website, so we know which pages have been visited and how much time a user has spent on a particular page and with which browser, etc. Cookies are also stored when filling in our contact form and help remember key information for you - making it easier for you to browse our website the next time you visit. Yambo does not sell this information to advertisers, nor does it change your computer settings in any way. Cookies will be automatially set if you do not select an option but can always be reset using your browser settings. Refusing cookies may interfere with the quality and speed of your browsing experience on our website, since some features may not work as they were intended.

Google Penguin Update

Tue, 15 May 2012 14:55:37 +0100

Google has released it's webspam-fighting Penguin update. It's a major update to improve the quality of its searches and to target those pages and sites it deems have been over-optimised.

Google's Matt Cutts explained they are hoping to 'level the playing field' by making the GoogleBot a lot smarter and detecting websites who over-optimise with way too many links and keywords, basically anyone who abuses it.

"All those people doing, for lack of a better word, over optimisation or overly SEO – versus those making great content and great site. We are trying to make GoogleBot smarter, make our relevance better, and we are also looking for those who abuse it, like too many keywords on a page, or exchange way too many links or go well beyond what you normally expect."

At Yambo we have always believed in natural link building and building great websites with great content. Google is constantly improving its GoogleBot and with every update enhances their search engine with better refined results. Some may argue this update penalises people who have tried to maximise their optimisation, yet we believe the Penguin update has helped stop people taking advantage of a system which was being easily manipulated.

Personally, Google's last two updates (Panda, Penguin) have radically improved the search engine and we have actually seen an improvement in our own website. Whilst Yambo were always in and around page 1 for certain keywords we now appear even higher. We believe this shows Google just wants to make the web a better place and reward those who do the right thing.

Google should decide on what websites are relevant and their usefulness, and we should be responsible in building better websites by getting the balance right between content search engines want to show and content people want to read.

Typography on the Web

Sun, 08 Jan 2012 14:55:46 +0000

Typography on the web has gone through a massive change over the last year and half, no one could have predicted quite how radical the web font movement would be.

Selecting a web font is now an essential element in web design, it can add a style to a website instantly and sets the tone of how other elements interact with the font. Again, Google have had a big say in typography on the web with it's very own Google Web Fonts service. Its library is always expanding and now has well over 300 different font families, all of which can be easily added to your website.

Obviously using too many font styles can slow down your website, so only selecting the font style for certain elements makes more sense than using it for the whole body text. We recommend using the font style for H1, H2, and H3 tags only.

The best part is the compatibility with these browsers:

Google Chrome: version 4.249.4+
Mozilla Firefox: version: 3.5+
Apple Safari: version 3.1+
Opera: version 10.5+
Microsoft Internet Explorer: version 6+

So no longer will sites be restricted to fonts such as Arial, Times New Roman, Georgia, etc. Release the Typographer within and be free!

Fight For The Future - Protect IP

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 14:54:03 +0000

Large companies such as Wikipedia and Google are protesting against a new and damaging censor in America. A censor which will stiffle free speech on the internet, and one in which will lessen innovation and give power to larger companies.

The 'Protect IP' act (PIPA) would give governments new powers to block access to certain websites. Any website with copyright infringments could be taken down or sued, and all for the benefit of the Entertainment industry. This legislation will not only stifle free speech and innovation but also threaten popular web services like Twitter, Facebook, and Youtube.

</p> <p>Vote now; http://fightforthefuture.org/pipa</p>

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Sun, 18 Dec 2011 14:54:30 +0000

Yambo would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Here's to a happy & prosperous 2012.

The future's bright, the future's HTML5 & CSS3

Sat, 17 Dec 2011 14:54:39 +0000

As mentioned in our previous post, HTML4 is the current web standard for designers and developers. HTML5 is supported in some modern browsers and, with this in mind, we have decided to explain some of the many new syntactical features available.

In particular the new 'Canvass' element, this is used to add/incorporate video and audio without the need for 3rd party plugins.

This element greatly improves the capabilities of how the Internet handles video and audio on the web. HTML4 is very limited; currently the most popular way is by the user installing a 3rd party plugin, such as Adobe Flash, on their browser.

The downlside to the Adobe Flash plugin is it isn't supported on most mobile devices, such as iPhone, iPad, etc. This is where HTML5 will shine. Flash is quite cubersome and slow on mobile devices, as it uses a lot of system resource. Whereas HTML5 is light-weight and reliable. And best of all, HTML5 is fully supported by Apple.

Typography is another feature we are eagely awaiting. The CSS3 and SVG (Scalable Vector Graphic) properties on type will allow for some truly amazing designs. Designs only currently possible by using images on the web, designs that look like they were taken from a magazine. The ability to create stylised fonts on your website without adding image files and for the font to be completely scalable no matter how large or small the text is will be beautiful.

2D and 3D transitions using CSS3 will allow for websites to animate a lot more and without the drain on the browser. Browsers will also be able to render the CSS3 3D transforms, which will allow you to pan around and explore a view in 360 degrees.

Exciting times ahead for us web designers as the prospect of some truly amazing websites makes our creative juices flow. We have already seen some of the technogoly being used by Google and Apple, and this is just the very beginning.

HTML Compliant Google+ Code

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 14:54:48 +0000

As you can see we have just added our Google+ code to Yambo and have found that the default coding for Google+ invalidates our W3C compliant HTML website.

The default syntax for Google+ is

<g:plusone annotation="inline"></g:plusone>

This code is valid in HTML5 but not so in HTML4, the solution is to use this instead;

<div class="g-plusone"></div>

Whilst HTML5 is here, it is not as yet standard. Obviously the Internet evolves, as does languages, the current standard is HTML4. It is unknown when exactly HTML5 will become standard. We, as designers, can try and push the standard out by only building websites for certain browsers which support HTML5/CSS3, but this is, unfortunately, the minority at the moment.

Google are one of the big names that are pushing this and are currently producing some fine valid HTML5/CSS3 websites.

Google+ is here

Sat, 26 Nov 2011 14:54:54 +0000

Google+ is the new attempt from Google to build a social networking platform to rival others such as Facebook, Myspace, etc. What makes Google+ different?

Well firstly it's from Google, which is always a good start. But, and more importantly, it gives you the opputunity to rate your favourite websites and recommend them to your friends. Will this have an affect on how well those websites appear in Google and help order search results in the future? Who knows?

Overall, Google+ looks very good indeed with lots of new features, especially circles, which could just make the difference between this and other social networking platforms. It's also fully integrated in with Google Mail and other Google products.

Only problem we have come across with Google+ so far, is the code used to add the button to our website is not valid HTML.

A post on how to add a valid Google+ button to follow shortly.

What is jQuery?

Sun, 14 Aug 2011 14:55:28 +0100

jQuery is a free and open source library of popular JavaScript functions. These can be used to add navigation, handle events, perform animations and add Ajax interactions to webpages. It is licensed under the MIT License and the GNU - General Public License.

jQuery is one of the most popular JavaScript libraries out there at the moment. One of the main benefits jQuery has over other JavaScript libraries is how easy it is to use and how well documented it's examples are - it makes complicated things seem a lot easier, especially when it comes to making JavaScript cross browser compatible.

It not only makes implementing JavaScript easier for programmers but makes their work more efficient. It's so well supported and documented that it is almost it's own entire language - and this makes it ideally suited for the web. An example of what jQuery can do is on our own homepage, this uses jQuery for it's animated carousel (slider), this allows our site to be more dynamic and interactive.

A popular alternative to JavaScript is Flash - Flash, compared to JavaScript, is easier to set-up and run, and is ideal for large animations/fluidity. However, most mobile devices do not support it and cannot render it's contents i.e iPhone, iPad, etc. jQuery files tend to be a lot smaller in size compared to an exported Flash file (SWF file) and this has additional benefits with Search Engine Optimisation.

The web is moving more and more towards a mobile market and this is now a crucial factor when considering a website. jQuery is well supported and JavaScript itself is pre-installed on all home computers and majority of browsers. We would always recommend using JavaScript over Flash.

Yambo Web Design - 2011

So what is alpha channel transparency?

Fri, 01 Jul 2011 14:55:03 +0100

Using the PNG file format makes building beautiful websites so much easier! Cast your minds back to the days where the only way to use image transparency was by using the GIF file format.

The GIF format worked by either enabling surrounding pixels of the image to be transparent or not. Each pixel was either fully transparent or a solid colour - there was no go between! The solution? The PNG Alpha transparency!

The PNG format solved the problem by giving each pixel a seperate channel of transparent information - allowing a pixel's alpha channel to be fully transparent, fully opaque, or any percentage step inbetween.

The PNG format gives much more creative freedom to the designer and helps us to create beautiful websites.

See our porfolio for more details! :D

Internet explorer 6 issues

Sat, 14 May 2011 14:55:20 +0100

Browser inconsistencies make up a lot of our work as web designers, in particular Internet Explorer. The average web user will most likely be using Internet Explorer as their main browser.

Internet Explorer, known as IE, is pre-installed on all Windows operating systems. And whilst IE 8, and IE 9 (currently in beta mode), have vastly improved the way they handle CSS, there are still niggling issues.

So we have put together this post to explain some of the most common problems we have encountered with Internet Explorer over the last 5 years, and have listed below workarounds/fixes in getting websites browser compatible. Luckily, Internet Explorer supports 'conditional statements' - these comments allow for us to specifically target Internet Explorer and its version number.

To be or not to be , IE 6 support?

Internet Explorer 6 seems to be the most problematic. It's a browser which doesn't properly support PNG files and constantly struggles with CSS coding - The Double Margin Bug, Height Issues, Padding Problems and Layering nightmares. So our rule of thumb with IE 6 is if the project allows for us to work fixes for it then we will. What I mean by this is; IE6 was released in 2001, now over 10 years old, and to support many of the new web 2.0 features we feel we have to make a decision on whether or not it is worth-while for us to support such an old out-of-date browser.

The easiest solution is to not support IE 6 at all and simply set-up a 'IE6 detection script'. This script allows for you to target only Internet Explorer 6 browsers with a java-script alert box:-

<script type="text/javascript">
            if($.browser.msie && $.browser.version=="6.0")
            alert("Sorry, this website no longer supports Internet
            Explorer 6, please ugrade your browser.);
</script>

The downside to this approach is you are requiring the user to take action to solve their browser problems - some users may not feel comfortable in doing this. The next solution involves targeting IE 6 browsers and correcting issues by writing custom style sheets - this option requires CSS knowledge. To target only IE 6 browsers use the code below -

<!--[if LTE IE 6]>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="LINK-TO-CSS-FILE/ie6.css" 
         type="text/css" media="screen" />    
<![endif]-->

Basically this is saying 'If Less Than or Equal to Internet Explorer 6' show this custom style sheet, if not show the default stylesheet. This also works on IE 7, 8, and 9. You only need to write the styles that do not work correctly in IE as the main style sheet is still loaded.

A variation of this is by using hacks in the CSS style sheet to target individual browsers. The main downside to this method is it usuallly invalidates your CSS coding. It can be used to serve as a quick way of regonising an IE problem though. Conditional statements in HTML have cross-browser support, but CSS hacks such as these do not.

Another issue IE 6, 7 and 8 suffer from is they do not support CSS 3 - IE 6 can actually be forgiven for this as it is a very old browser - A brilliant work-around we have found and constantly use is CSS3 PIE. Basically it enables Internet Explorer to render CSS3 properties with just a little bit of code. Some of the features supported are rounded corners, soft drop shadows, gradient fills, and so on.

For more information please visit the CSS3 PIE's website.

Northampton Web Designers

Sun, 01 May 2011 14:55:12 +0100

Welcome to Yambo Web Design's new Blog! It's been a while coming but we finally now have the time and commitment to keep you up-to-date with all things web related.

The blog will allow us to put out new suggestions and test any of our ideas, no matter how far out the box they might be!

Yambo Web Design - 2011