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Resources
The internet can be a confusing place at the best of time, we have provided a little resource area to help you understand some of the ' Lingo ' please feel free to use these in any way you require
4G broadband is set to supersede 3G and a full network roll out is currently being undertaken by EE. It is hoped that the eventual roll out of 4G broadband will give consumers better speeds and also ease congestion across mobile broadband networks therefore enabling the users of mobile websites, Applications and Movie watchers a better user experience.
Web site accessibility (much like accessibility in a building) means making sure that the site is usable to all visitors. Through standards compliant coding, clear HTML and CSS ensure that visitors with disabilities and impairments can navigate and access all information on a website just as those without can.
Asynchronous Javascript And XML : A development technique used to create interactive web applications. With Ajax, these web applications can retrieve data from the server in the background and update a web page without the need to reload the entire page. This helps your website to appear quicker and more responsive.
A small Java program that can be embedded in an HTML page of a website. Applets differ in that they are not allowed to access certain resources on a users compute, such as files and serial devices. The common rule is that an applet can only make an Internet connection to the computer from which the applet originated from.
When building a website the useage of bandwidth is key when working out the number of users that are potentially going to use the site. This is usually measured in bits-per-second (bps.) As an example a page of English text is about 16,000 bits. A fast modem can move about 57,000 bits in one second. When we use video or flash and full-screen video would require roughly 10,000,000 bits-per-second, depending on compression. When a website build is undertaken then the usability has to be taken into consideration.
What is browser cache?
In order to speed up web browsing, web browsers are designed to download web pages and store them locally on your computer's hard drive in an area called "cache". Browser cache (also know as Internet cache) contains records of every item you have viewed or downloaded while Internet surfing. So when you visit the same page for a second time, the browser speeds up display time by loading the page locally from cache instead of downloading everything again.
Although storing Internet cache makes web browser faster as it usually takes your computer less time to display a web page when it can open page's elements or even the entire page from your local Temporary Internet Files folder, You sometimes want to overrule the Internet cache, for Example to see changes you made to a webpage you just uploaded.
Clearing Cache Memory
To ensure you see the latest version of a site you need to clear the cache memory. This is done by doing a force refresh by pressing both control and F5 buttons simultaneously on your keyboard (depending on your browser). Most times a simple force cache refresh won't work and you need to clear the cache by hand. On this site you can find step by step guides for Chrome, Firefox 3, Firefox 2, Internet Explorer 8, Internet Explorer 7, Internet Explorer 6, Safari and more on how to refresh your cache.
Force Refresh
Someone just told you to “force reload” your browser to fix something. Depending on your operating system all you need to do is the following key combination:
Windows: ctrl + F5
Mac/Apple: Apple + R or command + R
Linux: F5
Cache and Privacy
Internet cache can threat to your privacy as everyone who has access to your computer can see some personal information by simply opening the cache folder.
Also when the cache fills up, performance can slow down and your hard drive may run out of space.
A Content Management System or CMS does exactly what it says on the tin. It is a tool which allows you to easily manage the content of a website, even if you have little or no knowledge of web design. Here at Website Designers (Yorkshire) we have developed our own bespoke CMS which makes updating pictures or latest news on your website a piece of cake.
A Cookie is information that a web site stores on your computer so that it can remember something about you. For example it can record your name, login details or preferences. In doing this, it is possible for a website to greet you by name whenever you access it and also for an online store to remember what you have put in your shopping basket as you browse the site. Generally speaking, cookies are beneficial to your browsing experience for the aforementioned reasons, although there are issues of privacy invasion when third party cookies are used to do things like track your surfing habits.
Websites can be viewed through a number of different web browsers. The five main browsers used today are Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari and Opera. New versions of all these browsers are constantly being released and so many combinations of browser type and version are in use at any one time. Much to the delight of web designers all over the world, they all display webpages slightly differently. Internet Explorer 6 is notorious for its desire to display things in it's own special way, but it is now only used by less than 8% of the worlds web surfing population.
Cross browser support means making sure that a website works correctly across all of these main browser types and their different versions.
CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) is a language which works alongside HTML to style and format the layout of web pages. Basically, HTML provides the content and basic structure of a page, where as CSS has the job of making it look amazing. Because CSS means that HTML no longer needs to be in control of all the extra code involved in styling a web page, your websites become much leaner and also much quicker to load.
A domain name is the name of a website as it is entered into a browser, so for example the domain name of this site is www.websitedesignersyorkshire.co.uk. All domain names must begin with www and end with an extension such as .com, .co.uk, .net or .org.
A URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is the full extension given to any website page. So, this page has a URL of http://www.websitedesignersyorkshire.co.uk/resources.html. This must always contain the opening of http:// which stands for Hyper Text Transfer Protocol if you were wondering!
Dropbox is a cloud storage application. What does this mean? It means that instead of storing files on the hard drive of your computer, you can store them remotely over the internet (the cloud) and by doing so, access them from wherever you have an internet connection. Dropbox also allows a user to share their files with other dropbox users, which provides an excellent way for people working in different locations to easily collaborate on a project.
eCommerce is the buying and selling of goods/services over the internet. Every time you put something in your basket on your favourite online shop, you are using an eCommerce application. Here at Website Designers (Yorkshire) we are experts at incorporating eCommerce solutions into your websites.
What is 'Flash'?
Flash is used to create web animation, designs and application user interfaces.
Adobe Flash player is a browser plug in which enables you to view this content on a website.
File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a protocol for transferring files between computers on the internet. It is commonly used to transfer web pages from the creator's computer to the web server, in order to publsish the website online for everyone to access.
Google Analytics not only lets you measure sales and conversions, but also gives you fresh insights into how visitors use your site, how they arrived on your site, and how you can keep them coming back. Using Analytics from Google is very easy and we can install this to your website and train your staff to know exactly who and why people are coming to your site.
By using Googles Analytic system you can see what pages are performing correctly, who and where people are coming to your site from. What they are typing in to find you, then once at your site how they behave.
What is the point of building a website then attracting a lot of customers to it, then they leave as soon as they arrive, with Google Analytics we can show you how to get the best out of your website
A permanent redirect from one URL to the other so for example www.example.com/news will be re directed to www.example.com/news.php if the site has been redeveloped. Very important to use so that search engines know where a page has been moved to, if a 301 Redirect has not been put in place after a new website redevelopment then all the pages that were in a search engine will become broken and the Trust element will disappear.
HTML - Hyper Text Markup Language - The language that defines and organises the content of web pages. HTML uses a system of tags which identify the logical parts of a web page. Your web browser then interprets this information and displays it accordingly on your screen. HTML has evolved through various standards right up to the latest incarnation, HTML5.
IM is the abbreviation for Instant Messaging or the use of an Instant Messenger APP or program whether on Mobile web decice or Standard PC or MAC. We can also embed IM into website development.
IM refers to computer software that lets people chat via typing on a keyboard and making calls over VOIP free of charge to other IM users instantaneously. These are often connected to web-based email accounts (such as Gmail, Hotmail and Yahoo Mail). Social networking sites such as Facebook have their own inbuilt IM now, but there are also popular dedicated programs such as eBuddy, Skype and ICQ.
JavaScript is a client-side scripting language. Client-side means that it runs on your computer or more specifically within your browser as opposed to server-side which runs on (you guessed it) the web server instead. JavaScript allows dynamic behaviour on a webpage, and is often responsible for things like slideshows, drop down menus, moving images and many other things that can add interest to a webpage design.
Images are an important part of any website, and JPEG, GIF & PNG are the three main types of image files used today on the web. They each have different qualities and therefore are each good for different uses. JPEG files are perhaps the most common as they offer good compression (meaning smaller file sizes and faster page loading) yet are still capable of representing photographs in good quality. GIF & PNG offer something that JPEG does not however, which is background transparency. Therefore if you need an image to sit on top of a background that you wish to still be visible, these are your choices. In general, GIF is best used for images with fewer colors and PNG for more complex images.
Malware is short for 'Malicious Software' and is a broad term which is used to describe any software, code or script which is designed to gather sensitive information from, gain unauthorised access to, or generally disrupt the operation of a computer.
This can include viruses, spyware, adware, worms, trojan horses and other intrusive, malicious or annoying software
MySQL (Sometimes you might hear this pronounced My Sequel), is a relational database system which is widely used in conjunction with PHP on many websites. It can be used for many things such as storing prices and information for products on an eCommerce site, powering a content management system or a web message board.
Sage Pay, PayPal and Google Checkout are three of the big hitters when it comes to online payment processing services. They all provide a simple way of making and receiving secure payments for a small charge. Integrated as part of an eCommerce system they can give a customer to your website great confidence that their details will be kept extremely secure.
As a seller, these payment gateways link to your merchant account, which is a type of bank account allowing you to accept and process online credit card payments. A merchant account also manages fraud checks on transactions and the transferring of funds from a credit card to your bank account.
PHP is a server side scripting language which can be embedded directly into HTML documents. It adds functions and interactivity to your webpages that can't be achieved by using HTML alone. It is a widely popular language and can be deployed on most servers. It is often used to take charge of such tasks of processing contact-forms and sending out emails from your website.
With the rise and rise of smartphones, tablets, notebooks and other devices which we now use everyday to view web content, web design has been thrown a new challenge. This challenge is to be aware of, and cater for, the ever increasing number of different screen (or viewport) sizes that these devices offer when designing a website. We also now need to think about how a page will look when you turn your smartphone round to view it in landscape rather than portrait. This is known as responsive web design.
When we are building an eCommerce website our prefereed merchant gateway is Sage Pay .
We have added the appication process to our website for your perusal .
We will have already discussed the procurement of a Merchant eCommerce number of which should now be well on its way through , if not completed already . You are now at the point of applying for a sage pay account through our partner link .
Please, fill in the detals as much as possibl and advise us when complete .
If you can send any literature, User names and passwords to [email protected]
Social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, LinkedIn (there are many others!) allow users to generate and share their own content and also engage with each other through online communites.
The Cloud and cloud computing are two buzz-phrases which are very often thrown around in computing conversation and very rarely explained. This could be because there are differences in opinion regarding definitions.
The Cloud can be thought of in general terms as the internet itself, a central network that can be accessed from anywhere. It is a place where information can be stored or accessed without the need for it to be physically stored on your computer or mobile device. You can therefore store things like your music, or work documents etc all on the cloud and never have to worry about forgetting to take these files with you.
Cloud computing is a very wide term which can incorporate all kinds of services offered from the cloud, from virtual servers offering scalable web hosting, to full blown applications and storage services.
Twitter is a social networking and/or microblogging service that allows you to answer the question, "What are you doing?" by sending short text messages 140 characters in length, called "tweets", to your friends, or "followers."
Why Twitter is Useful
Twitter has many uses for both personal,business and advertising.
It's a great way to quickly broadcast information about where you are and what you're up to. For example, "I'm in town at Joe's Bar, fancy a pint " or " Take a look at our new website"
For business, Twitter can be used to broadcast your Company's latest news and blog posts, interact with your customers, or to enable easy communication.
UX means user experience. This is all about the way that good or bad design can affect positively or negatively on the users experience when using a website. For example, great design is intuitive and can lead you through a process of signing up, booking and paying for a holiday for example on a website you've never used before. Bad design gives a bad user experience and can leave you scratching your head as to where to find a particular function or utility within a website. The latter can lead people to get frustrated with your website and leave without exploring or more importantly for eCommerce websites, without purchasing anything.
Webmail refers to services that store a customer's emails online, instead of downloading them to their machine via a program such as Outlook or Thunderbird. You can also use Webmail when not in your office to sync with your normal email account if using IMAP. The most common webmail services in the UK are Hotmail, Yahoo! and Gmail, but there are hundreds of other suppliers that usually charge you nothing to set up with their accounts.
The content should make up the majority of your pages. Google requires fresh content on a daily basis to keep itself satisified and content. By adding content to the majority of your pages and keeping them up to date will encourage Google to come back time and time again. Therefore it is what you should focus on optimising first. Content includes both text and images.
A 404 page shows on a user’s screen when they reach a page that doesn’t exist on the website, website builders use a 404 page to inform the user that the page they were looking for is not within the website, this is different to a 301 page.
