How to Pick the Best Colors for Your Website

Posted on April 16, 2013 by JP

Picking colors for your website is an important part of web design.  The color combinations you use with your content on each page can have an effect on visitors to your site –helping attract them or turn them away.  There are several things to keep in mind when selecting colors for your site.

First consider your audience.  Younger people, especially children, might be attracted to brighter colors, while older people tend to prefer more moderate tones. Think pink is a women’s color.  Think again. Online studies tell us that blue is the common favorite color of both men and women.

What is the purpose of your site? Purple is a very powerful color, and it can usually be found in small amounts in many websites, logos, and other products of design.  An interactive site would have a bolder palette than a website offering financial advice. A web hosting site could go with bold or less bold colors, depending on the audience it’s intended to attract.

When it comes to business conveying the right image is important. Think about the kind of image that you want to portray to visitors and the right message for your company, organization, or product that you want them to get from your site. Do you want to convey to your potential customers that your product or information will provide them with financial security or wealth? Do you want your website to portray how professional your corporation is and that you are devoted to your customers? Gray for example can be a powerful element of a professional company website. Gray reminds people of reliability and maturity and helps to establish a sense of trust among customers.

Next consider the usability factor. Contrast between text and background can affect how easy it is to read text.  If the contrast isn’t high, such as with a light gray background and dark gray text, some people will have difficulty reading the text. A dark background can also make the text hard to read. If the text is difficult to read because of the colors used, a large percentage of the audience could be alienated. A color that looks good by itself might not work well with another color. Red and blue, for example, appear to vibrate when next to each other when viewed on a computer screen.

These are a few of the considerations when deciding on color for your website. In our next blog we look at how colors you use can appeal to visitors’ emotions.

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Peter Crisafi (Peter Crisafi dzineit)
dzine it, inc. +1.212.989.0813
26 West 23 Street
New York, NY, 10010 U.S.A
Specialty:
Design Practices; Interesting Articles; News; Web Design; Web Design Info

Who needs a SSL Certificate?

Posted on April 12, 2013 by JP

SSL means Secure Socket Layer.  The certificates are used to secure websites so that third parties cannot intercept information transferred between your computer and their website.

Here is how a SSL works: Every SSL Certificate is created for a particular server in a specific domain for a verified business entity.  An SSL Certificate is issued by the Certificate Authority (CA), a trusted authority.  When the SSL handshake occurs, the browser requires authentication from the server.  A customer sees the organization name when they click certain SSL trust marks (such as the VeriSign Secured™ Seal) or use a browser that supports Extended Validation. If the information does not match or the certificate has expired, the browser displays an error message or warning.

SSL certificates are usually used by e-commerce businesses, banks and other operations that involve credit and debit card transactions. SSL certification is a must in these cases, to keep financial details safe as it is being transmitted. Without an SSL certificate, hackers could easily access and misuse personal information.

An SSL certificate can and should actually be used by any website that uses a form or other method to transmit information. From a simple e-newsletter sign-up to an account login, any transmission should be protected by the basic security offered by an SSL cert.  If you use FTP to transfer files, use any shared work flow or project management software you should also consider getting an SSL certificate.

SSL certificates protect your control panel login, network traffic, any transfer of files, databases and much more. Basically, if your website collects or handles any information you want to protect from hackers or intruders, you should purchase
SSL Certification.

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Peter Crisafi (Peter Crisafi dzineit)
dzine it, inc. +1.212.989.0813
26 West 23 Street
New York, NY, 10010 U.S.A
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Interesting Articles; News; Tech Help

Website Annoyances

Posted on April 9, 2013 by JP

There are many options when building web pages today. Most people focus on what they think they should be doing – and ignore everything else. Effective design and creating the best pages also includes making sure you know about things that you would be better off without.  So in order to avoid some common issues with web pages beware of the following pitfalls:

Browser Specific Versions: Make sure your site isn’t designed for only one browser. Designing a websites that doesn’t function on all browsers properly is a bad decision.  Many people still use Internet Explorer, but many more are using Firefox and Chrome.  If you limit your pages to only working on one browser you will be eliminating a large segment of visitors from viewing your site they way it was designed to be seen.

Widespread use of Flash: Flash can be a great tool, but there are many usability issues with Flash.  Flash isn’t viewable on mobile devices and many search engines don’t index Flash content well.  Customers don’t like sites where the back button doesn’t work. This frequently happens with Flash websites.

Video that starts automatically: Most people, even if they like video on websites, don’t like it to start automatically. If you do have video and/or sound on your website that starts up right away at least have a way to turn it on and off that’s easy to find (preferably easily seen at the top of the page.)

Lastly, keep your navigation simple and visible.  Hidden or disguised navigation may seem like a clever idea, but can just frustrate users.  Turning your “about us” page link into a photo of something will just be too hard for anyone to use and figure out.  Rather than intriguing them you’ll lose them.

So remember things you don’t do – can be as important as the ones you do when designing your site.  Always take time to think about what makes your site pleasing and simple to use – for everyone.

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Peter Crisafi (Peter Crisafi dzineit)
dzine it, inc. +1.212.989.0813
26 West 23 Street
New York, NY, 10010 U.S.A
Specialty:
Design Rant; Interesting Articles; News; Web Design

LinkedIn Improves Search Function

Posted on April 4, 2013 by dzineit

LinkedIn – the social media site used by millions of professionals has streamlined its search function. Now instead of looking for people, companies or jobs separately, users can get comprehensive results in the same search.  When users visit the site all they will need to do is type what they’re looking for into the search box and they will see a results that pull content from across all LinkedIn groups.

The improved search function also includes auto-complete and suggested related searches. Users can save their search queries and receive automatic notifications when results for that search change. – As they type their search term they’ll be prompted with options for what they may be looking for. Now when they type in a search term such as “project manager” they’ll see example search queries for people or jobs related to “project manager” as well as a preview of top results to help them find what they are looking for in one click.

LinkedIn hopes to get more functionality and usability into its platform as it continues its transformation away from being a simple database and point-to-point communication platform, and into more of a social network.

In addition to the improved general search function LinkedIn also added other features.  They include:

  • Smarter query intent algorithm – The more you search for content on LinkedIn, the more it learns and understands your intent over time to provide the most relevant results.
  • Enhanced advanced search – Advanced search gotten a new look.  It’s also easier to deepen one’s search with filters like location, company, school and more.
  • Automated alerts – Users can save time by saving individual searches and receive alerts when the results change.

This is one of the LinkedIn’s first big overhauls to its search function in years.  LinkedIn sees an average of 475 million searches a month, according to the company. The network has 200 million members.

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Peter Crisafi (Peter Crisafi dzineit)
dzine it, inc. +1.212.989.0813
26 West 23 Street
New York, NY, 10010 U.S.A
Specialty:
Digital Marketing; Internet Marketing; News

What do you know about Google+ ?

Posted on April 4, 2013 by dzineit

Google+ has been viewed by many as the search giant’s answer to Facebook.  A lot of people believe it’s just another social networking service where friends share photos, status updates and messages with one another.  The company’s foray into the social media space has been a mystery to some and has its share of doubters.  But it’s really more than that.

Google+ is really Google’s value added contribution to its already dominating search. Sure, there’s a social networking aspect to Google+.  But the real value to Google+ is its groundwork for an enhanced level of search quality.  It’s Google’s way of starting a hub that will ultimately connect all the other Google products like Google Maps, Images, Offers, Books and more. Piece by piece Google is starting to roll out these products and combine them into a user experience by way of Google+.

First let’s start with Google Authorship.  Bloggers can link their Google+ profile to the content they create. A Google+ account with a headshot that is attached to all your posts can offer value to bloggers who can now claim their posts instead of having Google show ‘another’ version ahead of their own.  It allows the searcher to find the person who truly generated the content and lets the content provider know the real author will be found.

Want your business to appear on Google Maps, Google Local, etc. so that you can tell your prospective customers where you are, what you sell and your business hours?  You need a Google+ Local Business page now.  This way reviews, hours, pictures, videos, local search are all housed in one place.  This account must be managed by a real person with a real Google+ personal account.

The newest introduction of Google+ Communities gives you the opportunity to connect with those who help enhance the things you already love.  You want better music, book recommendations, can’t remember the name of something—or want to find a community of skiers?  When you have Google+, those communities and that book recommendation just appear when you search for your best guess.

Simply put – imagine if Google knew all the info about you that Facebook knew.  They would be better equipped to serve you and what you are looking for. By gradually absorbing bloggers, small businesses, etc. they will ultimately make all of us – social media fans and doubters – users.

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Peter Crisafi (Peter Crisafi dzineit)
dzine it, inc. +1.212.989.0813
26 West 23 Street
New York, NY, 10010 U.S.A
Specialty:
Digital Marketing; Internet Marketing; News

Improve Your Website Security

Posted on March 27, 2013 by dzineit

Many website owners don’t pay enough attention to their site’s security. They often think “why would anyone target my site?”  But, it can happen. Websites are compromised all the time. There are several ways to help keep your site safe.

Make sure all your software is up to date.  This applies to both the server operating system and any software you may be running on your website such as a CMS or forum. Hackers are quick to attempt to abuse them when security holes are found in software. WordPress and many other content management systems notify you of available system updates when you log in. If you are hosting with a hosting company they should take care of this.

Use strong passwords to access your websites. Place scripts and tools in password protected directories.

Keep your error messages vague. Don’t give away too much info by providing hints. You should use generic messages like “Incorrect username or password” as not to specify when a user got half of the query right. If an attacker knows one of the fields is correct then they know they have one of the fields and can concentrate on the other field.
File uploads can be a big security risk.  Even the most innocent looking of files can contain a script that puts your website /server at risk. Don’t assume hidden files are secure.  It is recommended that you prevent direct access to uploaded files all together. Store the file outside of your document root. Create a separate directory and use it to store uploaded files.

Use an SSL Certificate. SSL is a protocol used to provide security over the Internet. It is a good idea to use a security certificate whenever you are passing personal information between the website and web server or database. Potential attackers could be searching for this information and if the communication medium is not secure use this information to gain access to user accounts and other personal data.
It is important to play it safe to keep both your website and servers secure.  Pay attention to passwords, files and software. In doing so you just might avoid a security disaster.

 

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Peter Crisafi (Peter Crisafi dzineit)
dzine it, inc. +1.212.989.0813
26 West 23 Street
New York, NY, 10010 U.S.A
Specialty:
Interesting Articles; Internet Technologies; IT Technology; News
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