What about S.E.O. frauds?

There are many swindlers called "web marketers" or just "advertisers" who are using my published portfolio to search for victims. This is not something that makes me harm because i use to train my customers regarding the way search engines rank their results and the way crawler's so-called democracy works (google loves the term "democracy" describing googlebot's methodology). But every rule has his exceptions as we say in Greece:

Yesterday one of my clients asked me to transfer his website to another company who promised that "his website can reach the top position in Google's results only by paying some euros in advance to make some SEO". I already knew the new company's methodology regarding SEO and this had many "trendy tricks" such as making spam webpages full os spam keywords and links, spam entry pages, invisible/hidden keywords etc. So what should i do? My first thought was to explain him that the new company is full of fraud and that google sooner or later will ban his website. But this should not be the right thing for me to do...

When a naive client "decides" to become a victim of a fraudulent company, an honest professional could not save him because:

1) The naive client will think that the honest professional is telling lies as the fraudulent company seems better than him (the honest professional is very very jealous indeed!)
2) The honest professional is not the naive client's father or teacher to protect him. He just tells his opinion sometimes and consults client in a very specific way. The honest professional cannot patronise his customer or even make him more intelligent.

So, my second and last thought about my naive client was "let him go". I won't try to explain him again the way crawlers work. He is naive afterall. One of my favorite philosophers was Bertrand Russell. In his "liberal decalogue" he said:

"Do not feel envious of the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise, for only a fool will think that it is happiness."

i sould transform it a little for honest professionals:

"Do not feel guilty of those who live in a fool's paradise, for only a fool is responsible for his stupidity."

Googlebot vs Yahoo! Slurp

Webmasters, take a tour to your website's statistics. Now look at your Referrers and examine the search engines. Google is apparently your most popular source of visitors comparing to other search engines. If not, then something is wrong with your website's structure and S.E.O. This simply means that Google is by far the most popular search engine.

Nevertheless, Yahoo has a very rapid and restless crawler: Slurp. I have noticed during the last year that Yahoo's database is larger, containing more recent cached webpages. Slurp is a fast hardworker, faster than Googlebot. But why Yahoo cannot reach Google's popularity? The answer is very simple: Google aims at quality, Yahoo aims at Quantity.

Google's ranking algorithm is the most sophisticated technique ever developed in search technology. No matter how many results Yahoo has, Google tells me which website is the most relevant to my inserted keyword and this is precious. Pagerank technology and the democratic way of ranking based on the quality and the quantity of incoming links is by far the "golden egg" of Google company.

Googlebot and ranking system is developing becoming more and more effective day by day eliminating spam factors and upgrading search ranking policies. If you are wondering how you could take advantage of such a thing, you should merely create and maintain a useful website in html format with a genuine content. Then, submit it to high quality web directories and search for cooperations with other webmasters.

My personal experience in Google's technology and behavior tells me one thing: You cannot deceive Google, and if you manage such a thing, it is temporal and you will pay for it sooner or later. Don't mess with people who are currently having worldwide web in their hands. Just follow their rules, it is not so bad afterall comparing to the benefits you are going to acquire.

What do you actually need to draw a website template?

Many would say that you actually need an html/css editor (let's say Dreamweaver), a tool to draw graphics (let's say Photoshop), some sample content (placeholder) and some browser to test it. Some would add to all the above the necessity of a really nice picture. But we really miss the most essential point.

What is the most essential point? Psychology of our website's target group. How can you manage this? Firstly you take an interview from the owner of the website and you ask him 5 basic questions:

1) What are the main categories of your merchandise?
2) Do you aim at wholesale and international business?
3) Have you completed any advertising actions till today? Do you have any up-to-date material i should take into account (brochures, logos, corporate identity etc.)?
4) What is your current relationship with internet and technology in general?
5) What do you expect from your future online activity?

If i have some true answers to these questions, i can really start designing a custom template for my client.

From the first question i could understand what material should i use to graphically enhance my template and where should i focus. Furthermore, i can come in a virtual touch with my future target group by realizing which customers are really interested about my client.
The second question gives me a useful information about the complexity and general profile of my layout. Third question helps me to come close to current company's profile and take advantage of all the previous work that has been done in this field (this doesn't mean that i am going to copy or steal some other's work. I am just interested in past creative ideas). Fourth question tells me how my client is going to affect my work. If my client has nothing to do with internet or technology, then my responsibility is really great because i will also have to provide some basic consulting service. And finally, fifth question tells me how seriously my client is confronting his online business.

Try to have these questions answered and you'll see that web design will become an easier and more effective work for all. Every company is unique, every client has different needs. Even if 2 customers have the same merchandise, they usually target to a slightly or heavily different target group.

Accessibility misunderstanding

Many web designers think that website accessibility is about making an html/css valid website. Trying to achieve this, they use some validation checking engines such as http://validator.w3.org/

We have a HUGE misunderstanding here. Making a valid html/css website does not mean that you have an accessible website. Accessibility means that everybody (including visually impaired people) has easy and successful access to your website's functions and content. Accessibility is a term strongly connected to the science of psychology. It has to do with the appropriate use of colors, the type of fonts used, the graphic elements of the website including images and backgrounds, but also accessibility has to do with the structure of your web presentation/application itself: You have not an accessible website when you only put your contact details under the "terms of use" area of your website.

These accessibility factors are not detectable by ANY automated engine including W3C and similar scripts. Only a human can actually determine whether your website is accessible or not. Accessibility validation requires a human mind, not a script. It is all about human psychology.

W3C consortium wrongfully uses the "accessibility" term to promote its (often useful) online services. W3C actually confuses accessility with compatibility. It is necessary for us to follow commonly accepted html/css guidelines when developing a website. In this way we may also succeed a cross-browser / cross-platform validity. But we shall not confuse in any case the terms "source code validity", "cross browser compatibility" with the term of Accessibility.

Personal advice: To make an accessibility test after you have finished developing a website, put your old grandmother (usually old grandmothers may also have some visual problems) in front of the monitor and tell her to use your website. If she succeeds using your website, then you have passed this first test. Then ask many more, as much as you can and gather feedback. Be careful: You have to do this test by physical contact and not remotely. You have to watch about the user's behavior towards your website step by step. Watch his moves, his glances, the time he needs to understand what is going on...

Surely your grandma will prove better than W3C consortium regarding accessibility validation. Trust me.

Being a web designer...

Being a web designer, being a part of a web development team means that your bear internet hopes in a daily base. This is not just a romantic expression, it is actually true: you create a digital home where visitors are going to spend some of their valuable minutes. It is indeed a social activity. You interact with people without even imagining the effects of your visual creativity in their souls and brains. This is the great benefit comparing with web development. Web developing is actually a lonely activity: user usually does not see your work, he just uses the results of it. Only if you get involved with open source community is a little better i suppose. Nevertheless, web developer is our closest needful friend. He has the logic to make the machine work. Mathematics you know...

Web designer is mostly an art person. But a strange kind of art: a usable art, an accessible to all art. This is my first post. I would like to share my opinions with others. I do not aim to consume my blog to technical issues, but it is essential sometimes to discuss about them. Tables or CSS btw? Never mind... maybe later.