Archive November 2009
An SEO & web best practice guide: part 1
Here’s a hopefully quite well-rounded and all-encompassing-yet-succinct guide to all that SEO and web usability stuff you keep reading about but would like to see in one place.
In this 2-part thingy I’ll be covering the following topics at a high level:
- Links (equity, inbound link importance, writing/colours/format/titles/targets, link buying)
- Headings (H1, H2, sizes, colours, keywords)
- Content (relevancy, not keyword stuffed, writing for people)
- Imagery (relevancy, contrasts, copy-as-images, alt tags)
- Flash (why/why not, navigation)
- Technical (301 redirects, non-www domains, keywords in domain names, mod-rewrite for search friendly pages, meta content)
So, without further ado, here are the first 3: read on…
1Come Dine With Me: the comedy (Comedy Dine With Me)
:: warning – this is nothing to do with web design or usability ::
I don’t watch a huge amount of television, but this evening I caught a re-run of Channel 4′s Come Dine With Me. I can only conclude that it was actually a comedy, playing up to the sterotypes of people that’d go on this kind of show. Here’s my synopsis. Read on!
1‘Dr Hue’: the 24-hour startup
I’m a bit late to the party blogging about this as I read about it yesterday – but here you go:
The 24 Hour Startup is – perhaps predictably – a start-up project by digital agencies Nonsense and White October. The aim? To conceive, design, build and sell a web business in just 24 hours. The business? Dr Hue: a shop-by-colour service.
Utilising Twitter, various marketing and PR approaches and an office webcam feed, it’s being sold on eBay to the highest bidder. I think this is an ambitious – but brilliant – idea. I’m interested to see just how much interest can be built up, and how much it’ll sell for ultimately.
p.s: They’re running a competition on the Dr Hue blog to be eligible for a free gift. I’d just like to register my own entry into it, by saying:
I’d like the blue gift please. It’s my girlfriend’s favourite colour, and I’d like to win it because it’d be a rather awesome and unsual Christmas present for her. Come on, Mr Hue – make my girlfriend happy!:)
Hmm. That last sentence could be misinterpreted. :/
1Novel Twitter campaign idea by Sony Ericsson: #pumpt
Just a quick entry to note that Sony Ericsson have launched a novel new campaign to support their TV ad (which features people bouncing inanely on spacehoppers).
If users Tweet the #pumpt tag, they can see a real-time video feed of a spacehopper being pumped up with air for 20 seconds. The video feed shows a huge screen in the background so you can see your Tweet being received in real-time. Rather fun, except that it didn’t work for me – and I spotted the engineer fiddling with an errant spacehopper…
…so naturally I Tweeted #pumpt whilst he was doing so in order to try and spray him with air (if you read carefully, you can see my Tweet in the background). I don’t think it worked though.
Later they started swinging another spacehopper on a length of rope through the warehouse, and balancing one on an engineer’s head. Looks like they’re having fun 
This is a great example of merging on and offline for an inventive and engaging (if pointless) campaign. I like it.
0Usability failure for Apple.com, and the power of brands.
Inflammatory headlines aside, I’m focussing on the Account section of the Apple.com/uk site. This is a slightly biased rant, because I’m the one being put through this pain.
Here’re the issues I have with this part of the site:
- Let’s face it: the opening page for the account section of the site is, comparatively speaking, shite. It looks neglected, and doesn’t inspire confidence in the account-handling process (despite the Apple brand-wagon looming over me like an omnipresent God, urging me that it can do no wrong)
- It’s managed to bugger up my details (more on this later)
- It has shoddy form rules/logic that get in the way of me trying to update those incorrect details
These three things would, for a lesser brand, probably destroy confidence (and therefore conversion)…but because it’s Apple, it gets away with it. Even a cynical so-and-so like me stuck with the inconsistencies and annoyances just to have the pleasure of lining their pockets yet again. Weird, isn’t it? More on that later, too.
Read on to find out exactly what’s pissed me off!
0Firefox web development & usability tools
Firefox has become largely synonymous with web-savvy users and web developers as the browser to use: its combination of speed and expandability via the raft of addons make it perfect for getting the most out of your web experience.
I thought I’d share with you the various Firefox addons I’m using, and why I think they’re worth a look. It’s by no means definitive, so feel free to comment with other useful plugins you use.
Adblock Plus (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1865)
A fairly standard one to start off with: this addon stops unwanted ads ruining your web experience. Install it, point it towards one of the Adblocker lists (rather like a directory of sites/URLs that serve up ads, so it knows which ones to block), and away you go: no more ads. Reading sites such as The Register instantly becomes much more palatable.
Bit.ly (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/10297)
You’re all likely to be familiar with Bit.ly, the URL shortener – this is the official Firefox addon. It allows you to enter your Bit.ly API code, allowing you to shorten URLs on the fly, and mouse-over bit.ly links to see where they’re going to take you (and how many clicks they’ve had). Great if you’re a prolific Twitter user!
Colorzilla (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/271)
A seriously useful (in my opinion) colour-dropper. Need to know what colour an element or image is on a webpage? Click the Colorzilla icon, then click on the colour you want to copy. It’ll then give you loads of options, including the ability to copy the hex or RGB value to the clipboard, a DOM inspector, palette options and more.
Download status bar (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/26)
A simple little plugin that allows you more control over the standard Firefox download manager. Using this addon, I run mine in the status bar as a tiny little download indicator. Much more manageable.
FEBE (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2109)
An awesome backup addon that allows you to backup all of your Firefox settings (including all your other addons, history, cookies, form data, passwords…everything!) into one file. It’s completely customisable, so you can backup as much or as little as you like – and it’s particularly useful if you switch machines a lot, or want to make your favourites and history available to yourself over the web (or if, like me, you worry about losing all your web access that you’ve carefully built up over the months/years and just want to back it up somewhere safe).
FireFTP (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/684)
A tiny FTP client, built into Firefox. Simple, free, and really rather good. Can’t say any more than that.
The Google Toolbar (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/6249)
If you don’t know what this is, you should probably stop reading. I strip everything out from mine so the only thing left is the Pagerank bar and the search box.
Live HTTP Headers (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3829)
Great little addon for seeing the flow of HTTP information from one link to another. Useful for seeing where redirects are going, what information is being called/sent, and other little bits and pieces.
Screengrab (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1146)
Probably my most-used addon, since I do a lot of mockups and screenshots. Allows you to copy to the clipboard (or save to a file) either an entire web page, just a selection, or just the visible portion of a page.
Sidebar Companion for Sidewiki (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/46311)
Google’s Sidewiki is here to stay, and this is a little (non-official) browser addons to support it. Click it to instantly access the Sidewiki for any given site.
WCAG contrast checker (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/7391)
Great for accessibility, this addon allows you to check colours (usually background & font colours) against each other to ensure contrast/brightness is accessible according to the WCAG guidelines.
Web Developer Toolbar (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/60)
Open a myriad of options to you as a web developer – almost too many to list. Among the most-used for me are the CSS code element inspector, the ‘Disable’ commands (for seeing how sites will react without JavaScript, for example), and the ‘Resize’ option that allows you to (predictably) resize the viewport for checking various browser resolutions.
Got any other recommendations? (Note: I’ve left Firebug out because I use the Web Developer toolbar.)
A fairly standard one to start off with: this addon stops
unwanted ads ruining your web experience with unwanted ads.
Install it, point it towards one of the adblocker lists
(rather like a directory of sites/URLs that serve up ads, so
it knows which ones to block), and away you go: no more ads.
Reading sites such as The Register instantly becomes much
more palettable.
Bit.ly
You’re all likely to be familiar with Bit.ly, the URL
shortener – this is the official Firefox addon. It allows you
to enter your Bit.ly API code, allowing you to shorten URLs
on the fly, and mouseover bit.ly links to see where they’re
going to take you (and how many clicks they’ve had). Great if
you’re a prolific Twitter user!
Colorzilla
A seriously useful (in my opinion) colour-dropper. Need to
know what colour an element or image is on a webpage? Click
the Colorzilla icon, then click on the colour you want to
copy. It’ll then give you loads of options, including the
ability to copy the hex or RGB value to the clipboard, a DOM
inspector, palette options and more.
Download status bar
A simple little plugin that allows you more control over the
standard Firefox download manager. Using this addon, I run
mine in the status bar as a tiny little download indicator.
Much more manageable.
FEBE
An awesome backup addon that allows you to backup all of your
Firefox settings (including all your other addons, history,
cookies, form data, passwords…everything!) into one file.
It’s completely customisable, so you can backup as much or as
little as you like – and it’s particularly useful if you
switch machines a lot, or want to make your favourites and
history available to yourself over the web (or if, like me,
you worry about losing all your web access that you’ve
carefully built up over the months/years and just want to
back it up somewhere safe).
FireFTP
A tiny FTP client, built into Firefox. Simple, free, and
really rather good. Can’t say any more than that.
The Google Toolbar
If you don’t know what this is, you should probably stop
reading. I strip everything out from mine so the only thing
left is the Pagerank bar and the search box.
Live HTTP Headers
Great little addon for seeing the flow of HTTP information
from one link to another. Useful for seeing where redirects
are going, what information is being called/sent, and other
little bits and pieces.
Screengrab
Probably my most-used addon, since I do a lot of mockups and screenshots. Allows you to copy to the clipboard (or save to a file) either an entire web page, just a selection, or just the visible portion of a page.
Sidebar Companion for Sidewiki
Google’s Sidewiki is here to stay, and this is a little (non-official) browser addons to support it. Click it to instantly access the Sidewiki for any given site.
WCAG contrast checker
Great for accessibility, this addon allows you to check colours (usually background & font colours) against each other to ensure contrast/brightness is accessible according to the WCAG guidelines.
Web Developer Toolbar
Open a myriad of options to you as a web developer:
Google’s Privacy Dashboard, and what it means to you
Google have recently caved to criticism that they’re holding too much information about those that use their services – and have launched the Google Privacy Dashboard (http://google.com/dashboard).
It’s meant to inform you of the information that they hold on you, but a quick squint around the dashboard reveals it to be rather light on actual useful stuff: it’s just a glorified list of the products you use, and the most recent things you’ve done on them.
This feels like a rather shallow gesture, personally…
1Google Sidewiki, and your site
Google Sidewiki was launched a little while ago, and allows visitors to drop into your site and, via Sidewiki (a browser add-on) leave comments – good or bad – about you and your brand/blog/service etc.
You’ll notice that if you visit my homepage and open Sidewiki, I’ve dropped a comment in there that permanently sits at the top (click to see an image) – regardless of whatever else is posted. This allows me, as the legit site owner, to give any Sidewiki users a carefully-crafted message of Internet love. 
How to claim your site in Google Sidewiki
It’s easy. You’ll need a Google account, and to set up your site with Google Webmaster Tools.
Once you’ve done this, you should:
- Sign in to Google
- Visit the site you’ve registered with Google Webmaster Tools
- Open the Sidewiki in your browser: there’s the option the ‘Write entry as site owner’ – check this box
- Write a nice welcome message
It’s worth noting the message will accept basic HTML (a hrefs and so on): this useful if you want to link out to specific content in your site.
Hit ‘Publish’ when you’re done, and the Sidewiki entry will be available for all to see. Bear in mind that, as a site owner, you can control your own messages in Sidewiki, but you cannot delete the messages of others. At least, not easily.
There you have it: a simple introduction to Google Sidewiki! Enjoy.
I do have a few questions about Sidewiki though, primarily:
- Are Sidewiki comments indexed by search engines? Or just Google? Or none at all?
- If so, do they follow any of the links embedded therein?
- Is there any jam?
Brief spell of quietness from me
I’m moving house today, and with that comes all the associated tedium of phone lines/Internet connections/etc…so it may be a little quiet for a while until they all work.
Enjoy the quiet while it lasts!