One of the nice additions to Dreamweaver 8 is the ability to create XSLT transforms. What are they? XLST allows you to turn your dowdy XML data files into more colourful and manageable forms. In this article we'll look at the basics of doing this client side (in the browser), and how you can use this to make your RSS feeds a bit more easy for the average user to understand.
Read MoreIt's truly remarkable what can be achieved through CSS, especially with navigation menus. Using the immense power of CSS, we're going to turn this:
...into this:
(This is a sample image of the actual menu because of CSS restrictions of our CMS)
All with just a bit of CSS and this tiny image: 
(which we've called background.gif). Look very closely and you can see it!
The needs of screen magnifier users are overlooked when implementing web accessibility on to a website. Screen magnifiers are used by partially sighted web users to increase the size of on-screen elements. Some users will magnify the screen so that only three to four words are able to appear on the screen at any one time. You can try using a screen magnifier yourself by downloading the Zoomtext screen magnifier for a free 30 day trial.
The good news is that some of the basic principles for improving accessibility and usability for screen magnifiers users, also increase usability for everyone. To help, we've listed six ways to improve accessibility and usability for screen magnifier users:
Read MoreWriting for the web is totally different to writing for printed matter. We tend to scan content on the web hunting for the information we're after, as opposed to reading word-for-word. As a result of this, there are certain guidelines you should be sure to follow when writing copy for your website.
Read MoreThe Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) offers a series of guidelines on how to improve the accessibility of your site. How to make it available and usable to the maximum number of people, by taking into account various disabilities and conditions. If your building a site for the public sector, education you'll have to be aware of these, and even if not, the given the benefits of an enlarged userbase, they are well worth putting the effort to learn anyway.
The main guidelines can be found on the WAI site at http://www.w3.org/WAI/ , but are quite in depth. In this tutorial we're going to summarise what the various checkpoints mean for the everyday web designer, how you can test how well your pages comply with them, and some issues to be aware of.
Read MoreJakob Nielsen has likened opening links in a new window to a vacuum cleaner sales person who starts a visit by emptying an ash tray on the customer's carpet. Now I wouldn't say that it's quite as bad as that, but it can be pretty annoying when you click a link and suddenly out of nowhere a new window appears.
Unfortunately, opening links in a new window is still quite a common occurrence on the web. Many websites do it, and I'm sure many will continue to do it. Before you follow their lead, take a few moments to think long and hard about whether it's the right thing to do.
Read MoreThere's been widespread speculation about the new legislation being introduced, which will ensure that websites are accessible to disabled users. Try to find specific information about it on the Internet and chances are you'll come up empty handed.
The RNIB (Royal National Institute for the Blind) and the DRC (Disability Rights Commission), two of the most renowned advocates for creating accessible websites, have no specific information about the laws and what websites specifically need to do in order to meet the legal requirements.
Read MoreIn an attempt to make their sites accessible to all, more and more websites are now offering text-only versions of their sites. With the huge number of inaccessible websites out there, any attempt to make a website accessible to one and all is highly commendable.
But is text-only the way forward? The W3C have this to say about alternative accessible sites:
And if all else fails... If, after best efforts, you cannot create an accessible page, provide a link to an alternative page.
Hmmm... so according to the W3C a separate accessible site is OK, but they do use some pretty strong language to suggest that this should be avoided wherever possible. They're probably right too, given the disadvantages of going down the text-only route:
Web usability is about making your website in such a way that your site users can find what they're looking for quickly and efficiently. A usable website can reap huge benefits on to your website and your business.
That's right - this search engine optimisation article is telling you not to submit your website to any search engines. Not Google, not Inktomi, not AltaVista. Sound a bit strange? Read on...
Submitting your website to every search engine is an incredibly time-consuming process. There are hundreds and hundreds of them out there - no doubt, you've come across the companies who'll submit your website to 1000 search engines for you.
Search engine professionals know that the vast majority of these search engines have a very low usage rate and will drive hardly any traffic your way. In fact, it's only a handful of search engines that drive the majority of traffic from search engines to websites.
Read MoreA higher search ranking is what many website owners dream of. What they don't realise is that by optimising their site for the search engines, if done correctly, they can also optimise it for their site visitors.
Ultimately this means more people finding your website and increased sales and lead generation. But are search engine optimisation and usability compatible? Aren't there trade-offs that need to be made between giving search engines what they want and giving people what they want? Read on and find out (although I'm sure you can guess the answer!)...
Read MoreA website is like an information flow, with you as the provider and your site visitors as the receivers of the information. If you don't plan your website with this in mind right from the start, you could find yourself with a brand new website that solves all your immediate needs... but not those of your site visitors.
Clicking away from your website has never been easier for Internet users. There are about 35 million websites competing with yours on the Internet (source: Zooknic). Search engine results are becoming better and better and Internet connection speeds faster and faster - finding one of your competitors' websites is now very quick and very easy.
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Need to create all kind of great web site navigation menus? Cascading Drop down Menus, Mega Menus, Popup or Context Menus. Menus that have great display animations, are CSS based and fully cross browser compatible, which makes them search engine friendly?