Testing for Errors
Checking for issues with your website code is very important. One tool that can be used is the W3C HTML Validator. By placing a link in the form and hitting ‘check’ the crawler will test for errors based on the version of HTML that is specified in the header of the HTML webpage. Any warnings or errors that are displayed should be addressed as they may be causing browser compatibility problems for your users.

Adobe Browserlab
Adobe currently offers a free service for viewing your website in multiple browsers and on multiple operating systems (example: Firefox 2.0 on a MAC vs. IE on Windows 7) called Adobe Browserlab. This is a great tool for seeing if there are any visible differences between the various browsers.

Many websites that have not been touched in years will have visible errors when testing due to the number of changes in HTML structure and browser intelligence over the years. If you are using an outdated website, it is recommended that you test using these tools. A website redesign may be the best fit for fixing your issues.

Don’t Forget Smart Phones
Smartphones are increasingly popular and each company runs its own operating system and browser version (IOS, Android, Blackberry, etc.). Testing the display of your website on these devices is also critically important.

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When scrolling over any image, a preview box pops up with detail about the size, name, and URL link to the image. Having this information only visible when scrolling over the image allows them to be grouped closely together so you can get a much bigger overview of what is available based on your search query.

Doing a test query for the term ‘caribbean‘ will show you an example of how new results are displayed.

Tip for seeing more results: Use the zoom feature on your web browser by hitting Ctrl + – (CMD + – on a MAC) this allows you to zoom out and see more results without scrolling.

For Web designers and content creators, this new release is fantastic for finding images to use on your site, concepts, etc. Copyright laws are still in effect however.

According to Marissa Mayer, vice president of search products and user experience, the image search technology of Google has not been updated since 2001. Many competitors such as Bing have capitalized on the ability to search for images faster and more conveniently. Google’s new release however has reset the bar on image search.

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To create an FAQ page, you first need to determine what the top 10-20 most frequently asked questions about your business. The key is to make the questions very simple and generic. Polling some of your current customers and recording what they ask on a regular basis is another way to determine the most common questions.

Important questions that you will want to answer for your customers in the FAQ include things like defining the terms that are relative to your business. For example:

Q: What is internet marketing?
A: Internet Marketing is the marketing of products and services over the internet including things like websites, blogs, email marketing, paid advertising, search engine marketing, and video marketing.

As you can see in the example above. the question is very simple… as users scroll through the questions in the FAQ it should be very easy for them to decide whether it is important to them. Short questions allow them to find what they are looking for faster and easier.

After your FAQ page is created, it is important to give it the proper placement in your site structure and navigation. One of the most common places is in the top or side navigation on your website, but it also can be linked in the ‘About’ section of your site. If there are specific FAQ pages for various products or services, than it should be linked from the corresponding produce page.

If your FAQ section will be more than 20 or so questions than it is recommended that they are separated in sub-categories and divided into several pages. It is also a good idea to incorporate a search feature so that specific questions can be easier to find.

For more information on designing FAQ pages for your website, please contact CPD.

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At CPD we always stress the importance of professional photography in website design and corporate print collateral. While designing for your target audience, websites and marketing material should contain professional images that are unique and creative. Skyline photography is certainly one of many ways of fulfilling this need.

This post was originally found on Vincent Laforet’s Blog who provides a great video of his experience as a photographer and aerial images.

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This video shows how design can tell a story… Spend 10 mins of your lunch break watching it in its entirety.

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We will stay tuned for future updates and functionality, but this is a good opportunity to look at the pros and cons of the current free service provided by Google.

An explanation of Google Voice provided by Google.

Pros
-transcribing the voicemail to text gives you a quick glance at what the message is about and how long it is.
-sends you an instant email when you have a new message
-messages can be heard from your phone or personal computer
-allows you to make free calls and text messages to the US and Canada
-one unique phone number can ring your cell phone, home phone, and business phone

Cons
-the voicemails being transcribed to text need a lot of work… there are almost always errors that make reading the message confusing
-reading the transcript does not give you the tone of the voice message
-the email subject line includes the phone number it came from, but nobody memorizes phone numbers so you often don’t know who it is from unless you check your missed calls
-messages are downloaded to your phone before you can play them. They are stored and then sit on there until they are deleted. This gets annoying when they build up over time… (applys to Droid phones)s

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Membership fees are $99 for 1-year or $179 for a 2-year membership. Included in your NAPP membership is a subscription to Photoshop user Magazine. This monthly magazine provides great ideas for design as well as industry related news. There are also hundreds of online tutorials that can be accessed after logging in as a member.

Also included in the membership are discounts to many industry related products including computer software, hardware, and events. This alone makes up for the annual membership fee.

Members of NAPP had the opportunity this past spring of demoing Adobe Photoshop CS5 prior to the official release. This is yet another benefit of joining this national association.

If you are serious about photography or design, this is an association that you should be connected with. For more information, visit the NAPP Website.

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A brief comparison of Google Profile and Facebook, followed by the 1,2,3 strategy Google can employ to take over the social networking world.

How GoogleMe Can Win “Web War III.0″

Let’s start by looking at both Facebook and Google from an overall utility perspective. Almost everyone agrees that of any tool that is available online, search engines are by far themost widely and extensively used. With that in mind, Google is considered the Cadillac of search engines. It is fast, runs clean and has all the geeks wanting to work on its engine. Facebook on the other hand, can arguably be described as the Mazda Miata of the web… It has sold very well for a few years running now, looks kind of nice, girls love it, boys love girls so they love it too and it to top it all off it is easy enough for grandma to drive.

The problem for Facebook here is that short of its chintzy retractable roof and great sales figures, there is nothing really special about it. Google can and almost certainly will use this lack of broader utility to launch a loud beta of their own social network, recently dubbed GoogleMe. With this product, Google has the opportunity to make its network’s users entire web experience more social, seemless and informative. Here’s how:

Imagine you are trying to find information on effectively marketing your business online. As of today, most of your searches lead you to company websites and blogs that are vague, incomplete and ultimately try to make you buy something. Now imagine that when you were a member of GoogleMe and searched for this information, you got relevant data from members of your social network and found out that your best friend from High School is an internet marketing expert. Touch of a button later you are connecting with an old friend in a meaningful way that is not really practicle today.

This would not only improve Google by making searches social, it would also represent a major improvment to social networking as a whole and provided there are no major buckles in the nuts and bolts of their regular social networking interface sign the eventual death toll for what is currently the largest social club in the world. Barring Google being nice and partnering with Facebook, there is really little that can be done to save it if the rumor of Google’s latest project is true. 2-4 years from now Facebook will look like MySpace, Google will be bigger than the Catholic Church and I will hopefully be sipping hurricanes on a beach somewhere here in sunny San Diego.

Want to learn more about Google Profiles? Click Here.

Play Corporate Logos Trivia Game

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