Archive for the ‘Professional Web Design’ Category

Why Flash-only websites are a bad idea.

Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010


I’m a big fan of Flash and it has many uses .. one of them though, is NOT to create an entire website with it.

My top four reasons for not creating a Flash only website:

  1. Limited search engine visibility.
  2. Harder to update because you have to crack open Flash source files.
  3. Harder to find Flash developers/designers than it is HTML/CSS nerds.
  4. Apple’s iPhone and iPad can’t see Flash.

Learn from the past …

Back in the 1990’s, Flash only websites became a big thing for a while … then people realized that it was a bad idea, and the Web returned to traditional HTML and CSS based web sites. Let’s not make the same mistake.

Attack of the KILLER APPLE

Another fact that should make you reconsider Flash only sites, is that Apple is now in open warfare against Flash, where they will not let Flash work on the very popular iPhone and soon to be released (with much hype) iPad. That means that a Flash only website cannot be seen by millions of iPhone users.

Flash should only be used for:

  1. Application development.
  2. Only in parts of your HTML web sites – to do things like play video, audio or some other multimedia use.

This short article may piss-off some Flash maniacs … but what can I say, sometimes the truth hurts.

Stefan Mischook
www.killersites.com

Posted in Adobe, Flash, Professional Web Design, Real World Web Design, Web Design | No Comments »

Web Designers need to Find their Style.

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010

Over the last 15 years, I’ve noticed that artist (including web designers) develop or adopt a distinct and consistent style that rarely changes.

… It seems that like leopards, artists can’t change their spots. It’s as though the brain gets hardwired.

We are not alone .. we lowly web designers stand with giants …

Consider some of these big (huge) names:

  • The Beatles
  • Charles and Ray Eames
  • Pablo Picasso

In the above, we have incredibly talented people who each defined a recognizable style. What’s interesting, is that once you’re familiar with say the way the Beatles sounded, you didn’t have to know the song to know it was the Beatles.

… The most recognizable style for me though, is probably Picasso’s … some weird looking stuff!

My point: Though these iconic artists were incredibly talented, like most artists, they had a style and they carried that style to the end.

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Posted in Professional Web Design, Web Design | 2 Comments »

Beginners SEO Questions.

Wednesday, January 20th, 2010

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Hi,

Every now and then I post a blog entry based on emails that I get. This time, someone asked a bunch of questions about SEO and gaining organic position on the search engines.

Because I am a lazy guy, I am just writing the answers to the questions … I think you can figure out what the questions were.

My ‘killer’ SEO reality-check tips:

Hi Wendy,

No one can guarantee #1 listings … not even Google! There is constant competition and thus positions will shift with time.

…. But, you can improve your positions on the search engines with proper SEO and web marketing efforts. In todays world, where there are a lot of websites to compete against … it takes work.

Are there ONLY three people in all of Australia who know how to position sites on Google properly? I doubt it … and I think there are probably more. On the other hand, there are a lot of people who CLAIM they know what they are doing yet they have nothing to show for it!

Would you need to rebuild your website completely – to be search engine friendly? Probably not, but you may have to restructure things if it is a really big mess SEO wise.

I hope that helps,

Stefan

Posted in Professional Web Design, SEO & SEM, Web Design | No Comments »

Smart Web Designers Play to their Strengths

Saturday, December 5th, 2009

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Once in a while, I will step away from teaching raw web design and web programming and look at things from a broader, more strategic perspective. This is one example of that …

One of the biggest mistakes people often make, is trying to develop skills in areas that they suck in. For example, you maybe good at writing HTML and CSS code, yet you still have a terrible time at making your pages look good.

… Let’s face it, some people just don’t have that artistic/designers eye.

You can read more about in the web magazine

Stefan Mischook
www.killersites.com

Posted in Business of Web Design, Professional Web Design, Web Design | No Comments »

When to use sitemaps?

Monday, June 22nd, 2009

I recently had this question put to me:

Hi Stefan,

I found your article while doing a search about sitemaps, so I figured I’d see what your take on it is.

I work at an agency that does small business websites, some as small as 5 or 6 pages, like an online brochure. I know sitemaps are useful, and help with SEO, but it’s part of our standard design to put text links to each page in the footer of each page. I think a sitemap page with 5 links on it is kind of silly, and a waste of space. Should we continue with the sitemaps or do the footer links suffice in those cases?

Thanks a ton!

I agree. Sitemaps are really useful when there is a lot of content in a web site – if you have a really simple site, it is probably overkill.

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Posted in Professional Web Design, Real World Web Design | 3 Comments »

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