So what does that mean to you?  Simple. WordPress allows front-end developers (that’s us!) to create completely custom designs that will work seamlessly with a simple to use back-end interface for the client (that’s you) to make a multitude of updates.  If you know how to use Microsoft Word and surf the internet, you can use WordPress; it’s that easy!

Not only does this put the power of a completely updatable website in your hands, but it does wonders for your search rankings.  What’s the point of a website if your customers can’t find it? WordPress makes it really simple for you to make updates to your website so you can ensure that your website’s content is always up-to-date. Also,  WordPress is extremely efficient as at adds custom keyword and descriptions on a page by page basis, which greatly helps with organically boosting your search ranking.  Completely custom designs, updated and maintained by YOU, and better organic search ranking results. Why not WordPress it?

“There are now more people playing the Facebook game “FarmVille” than there are members of [the micro-blogging network] Twitter,” stated a turn-of-the-new year article published by SLATE. This summer, Facebook announced its 150 millionth member. (and we congratulate them!) Today, alone, 370,000 more will sign up to join. With a new movie released this week – about young mastermind Mark Zuckerburg, who began a movement of revolutionary social networking – I believe its safe to confirm…to confess…that our characteristically “Westernized” society becomes more technologically functional and dependent, everyday.

We are spending more and more time on the internet. Does this mean, then, that we are becoming more independent and isolated from the masses we tweet to?

Online networking keeps us attuned to the whereabouts and happenings of thousands; and yet we are intently unfocused on the outside world, only our computer monitor.  Smashing Magazine contributor, Paul Boag, wrote in the article, “Web Designers, Don’t Do It Alone,” “The downfall of the digital revolution is isolation.” (Read the full article)

For me, it’s at least two, white, apple-stamped cords that plug me into my 13″ completely mobile workplace, with all of  “255 friends,” and my thoughts. Therefore, fellow media socialites, as we progress further into this era (and rear up a technologically-saturated generation) remember to remain balanced. Your days of leaving the pen and paper on the catch-all table at home are behind. Work with your hands, use your mind and memory to draw something from nothing. Exercise your talent in other activities to broaden your borders a little. Try something new. Remember: all creative genius within your daily workspace must at some point generate from the “outside perspective” you receive from engaging in all other facets of daily life.

For designers, working in isolation may be a downfall, but let’s always look on the brighter side. Use your electronic real estate wisely. Entertain great ideas! Discuss trend and trade. Share tips and tricks. Think about it. At your fingertips, you have the opportunity and power to enlighten “500 million.” Take time to explore the expanse of creative freedom you have, wherever you are.

What makes this map different you ask?  Well, whomever developed this website either cut corners or was in-over-their-head and had to fake it.  This particular map is simply a screenshot of the businesses location made to look like an interactive map.  The developer even went as far as to recreate the zoom in and zoom out graphics.  But that’s all they are, graphics.  If you try clicking on zoom in, you get nothing.  Zooming out? Forget about it.  It amazes me that the developer actually took the time to make it look like a functional map.  Seriously, were they trying to fool the client into thinking they had added an interactive map to the site?  We run into this sort of thing all the time and only reinforces the reason to have a company with a solid track record with a team of professionals design your website and other design work.

The important thing to remember when implementing these new web technologies is this idea of progressive enhancement.  Wikipedia defines progressive enhancement as “using web technologies in a layered fashion that allows everyone to access the basic content and functionality of a web page, using any browser or Internet connection, while also providing those with better bandwidth or more advanced browser software an enhanced version of the page.”

Simply put, if you’re using a modern browser (Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari, Opera, or the yet to be released IE 9) you’ll notice some subtle (and not so subtle) improvements that add to the user experience while still allowing those using an outdated browser *cough* Internet Explorer, to be able to access the content.

Ok, so let’s get right down to it.  How can I use CSS 3 today? First, how about some really basic CSS3 – rounded corners. CSS 3 allows you to quickly create rounded corner designs without the use of your favorite graphics editor. In the code below, I’ve created a class called “corners” that will draw a 10px rounded corner around a container in Firefox. Other browsers will simply render square corners, which by no means will prevent those using older browsers from accessing content.

.corner {
-moz-border-radius-topleft: 10px;
-moz-border-radius-topright: 10px;
-moz-border-radius-bottomright: 10px;
-moz-border-radius-bottomleft: 10px;
}

Next, lets take a look at gradients. Again, as with the rounded corner example above,  you can create a look that would otherwise be achieved only using a graphics editor.  In the code below I’m targeting both Firefox and Safari/Chrome and drawing a gradient that starts with a dark gray (#444444) and ends with a light gray (#999999). Once again, newer browsers will show a browser rendered gradient while Internet Explorer will show a solid color.

.gradient {
background-image: -moz-linear-gradient(top, #444444, #999999); /* FF3.6 */
background-image: -webkit-gradient(linear,left bottom,left top,color-stop(0, #444444),color-stop(1, #999999)); /* Saf4 , Chrome */
}

Ok, one more example. CSS 3 transitions! Now this is some cool stuff. In the past, these effects would have to be created using something like jQuery or Flash. There are several transition/ animation techniques in CSS 3 including scaling, skewing, rotating, fades, and keyframe animations. Here, I’ll show you how to achieve a clean animation on a link. Here’s what the code below says: Anchor tags are given a color green. When you place your cursor over the link, it will have a linear fade to red which will take .5 seconds. Older browsers will simply see the link go from green to red without a transition.

a {
color: green;
-webkit-transition: color 0.5s linear;
}

a:hover {
color: red;
}

I could go on and on about this stuff. I really am excited about the future of the web! Although the official CSS 3 spec is yet to be released, it looks very promising. Combined with the excited developments of HTML 5, you’ll see fewer and fewer Flash based sites with the ability to create similar effects with these emerging technologies. Up next, HTML 5. Stay tuned.

Design the Planet has worked with the West Bank Rotary Club for over 8 years and their international convention is coming to New Orleans in 2011. The website is the main communication tool for the organizers because of the shear number of Rotarians needing the information from around the world. Our team has also added social media to promote the convention and to keep Rotarians informed of the upcoming events and changes.

One option was a site completely designed in Flash, which allows you complete control over fonts. While Flash sites look cool and have fancy things that blink and move and make noise, they are terrible for search engine optimization (SEO). For the most part, SEO is what it’s all about. After all, the point of having a website is to get people to visit it, learn more about your product or service and maybe even make a purchase. If the search engines can’t find your fancy Flash site, then neither will your customer. So, Flash is out as a means of controlling what fonts users see.

A second option is using a method known as Flash replacement (sIFR). This method allows designers to select whatever fonts they desire. However, this too comes with it’s own limitations including large file sizes, difficulty controlling multiple lines of text, and unreliability when used as hyperlinks. So while this method has it’s place, it’s just not a viable, large scale solution.

Enter @font-face and CSS3! Indeed, the future of web fonts is here! … well, sort of. The @font-face CSS declaration allows designers to specify any font for use anywhere on the site and have it look perfect 67% of the time. Yup, there’s the rub. You may have guessed already, but Internet Explorer 6,7, and 8 are the 33% (the current percent of internet users on IE) where this new font method will not work. There is good news however. Internet Explorer 9, which is slated for release in 2011, will indeed support @font-face. By that time IE 6 & 7 will be barely breathing with IE 8 close to it’s grave as well! And with that, web designers can reliably create stunning web typography.

So what does this all mean for web designers today? Simple, start using @font-face today and feed old-school web fonts as back up for all flavors of Internet Explorer. There’s a reason why Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and Opera continue to grow in popularity while all versions of IE decline. Designs just look better in these “modern” browsers. My suggestion? Download Firefox (or Chrome, Safari, or Opera) today and see the improved look over IE with most of our recent designs. We’ve been using @font-face (and other CSS3 trickery) for months and find it to be the best way to an improved design while still keeping the site relevant with search engines.

It seems that Apple is more and more interested in determining how content will flow through its tubes. It claims that Adobe’s Flash is “buggy,” and it wants a more “open” world wide web.

Apple is pushing for HTML5, which is technically open source programming. Anyone with text edit and a little bit of knowledge can write code for HTML5, unlike coding for Adobe’s Flash, which requires several hundred dollars investment into proprietary software.

Google has fired back at Apple, embracing Flash. It recently announced that a Flash plugin will be bundled with its Chrome browser for Windows. This means there won’t be a need to download Flash’s plugin manually, allowing a smoother experience for the end user.

This is a direct shot at Apple that refuses to allow Flash content on any of its devices, like the iPod Touch, iPhone, or iPad, by not supporting flash content on its proprietary browser, Safari.

Personally, I don’t understand Apple’s aversion to letting the user and developer decide how they create media and view that media on an Apple device.

Luckily, Apple hasn’t pushed to remove Flash on their desktop or laptop computers. But one can only assume it would be a matter of time before they try to start pushing in that direction.

Here’s the problem:

It’s the same problem you’ve heard us complain about with Internet Explorer, and that is the lack of support for new technologies on certain browsers. Once Apple starts to ban certain technologies on their devices, developers will be forced to build to the lowest common denominator; which means skipping flash altogether.

Now, before I get any feedback about HTML5 and how it’s a superior technology, let me say this: I’m not here to tout Flash over HTML5, or vise versa. Both have their advantages.

Flash for instance allows for smoother animation of objects, more integration of actual animation, rather than objects moving, but it is not great for adding content because of Search Engine Optimization reasons. Search bots can’t index flash content as well, for instance.

HTML5 allows for lots of dynamic content, which can be indexed by search bots, but it requires much more technical knowledge of JavaScript and there is no graphic interface to design dynamic HTML5 content.

I don’t develop in Flash, for some of the reasons stated above, but I recognize the value of a really cool, interactive flash intro for certain situations. Just click around the movie site for “District 9″ as an example of a great way to integrate flash into a website – d-9.com.

Unfortunately, you wouldn’t be able to view any of that on an iPad.

What I don’t agree with is a platform dictating to the developer and end user what programs they can or cannot use. If Flash were as bad as Apple claims it to be, wouldn’t Flash’s own shortcomings ultimately do it in? And wouldn’t it be up to Adobe to fix those problems to make it a viable technology? Flash’s pitfalls should be the downfall of Flash, not Apple’s decisions to forgo its use.

You can read up more about the Apple/Google spat here:

• blogs.zdnet.com
  
• computerworld.co.nz
  
• podcastingnews.com

It’s important for a few reasons.

It helps us stay current and viable. Since we keep current, we can continue to grow by gaining big name clients and clients that are looking for a superior web presence.

If we aren’t up to speed with the newest ways to design and code our websites, we’ll be outdated and overlooked in no time.

Another big advantage is that the more we stay up to date, the more proficient we become at coding our sites.

This means less unexpected problems, a more streamlined process, and a better user experience for your customers.

A couple technologies I’m referring to, and the ones I’m extremely excited about are HTML5 and CSS3.

In fact, we’ve been using CSS3 techniques for several months now on a lot of our newer websites. Chances are, if we’ve done your site recently, we’ve included some fantastic new CSS3 techniques.

CSS3 allows us to do some really great things for your site, like include custom font faces, apply rounded corners, drop shadows, gradients, and lots of other stylistic things, without having to create and load external image files.

All of this helps us to cut down on load times, and helps to create a better user experience for people who visit your site.

One disadvantage, however, is that Internet Explorer does not support a lot of these techniques. Unfortunately, we’re still forced to create hacks and workarounds so that Internet Explorer will render the same as Safari, Firefox, Chrome and Opera (this is somewhat off topic, but you can always upgrade your browser to the much more advanced Fire Fox).

We’re very excited to expand our knowledge further with new hardware, software, and coding languages from right now until the distant future.

If you’d like your website coded so that it is scalable and relevant for the next generation of web users, give us a call. We’d be happy to help you move your company into the 21st century.

1. It’s old.
2. It’s outdated.
3. It doesn’t support new technology.

What does this mean? It means that it’s a  pain for developers, and that means an increased charge for you to have us work around it. So, we do have some mutual interest in you upgrading your browsers regularly.

I totally get that some firms have invested a lot of money in certain technology. Upgrading that technology might not be financially viable.

Those people probably aren’t your target market anyway, unless you’re a “B to B” business. Still, I don’t believe that IE6′s market share of 9.6% are government workers, or people browsing websites at work. The relatively newer IE7 has 11%, while the newest version of Internet Explorer, IE8 has 14.7%.

Why is the market share for IE almost evenly spread throughout it’s 35.3% (down almost 1% from January) market share? I’ll tell you why. Because IE doesn’t encourage you to upgrade your browser.

I logged on with Firefox the other day, and I got this message asking me to download version 3.6. Note that it doesn’t require you to update if you don’t want to, but it does tell you why you should: It’s faster, more secure, with thousands of add-ons. As a bonus, it lets you do all of that in one easy click of the mouse. In less than 5 minutes you’re updated. You can even browse the web while it downloads in the background.

Aside from the visual and security updates, what’s important for web developers are the back end updates that come along with upgraded browsers. Features that support new technologies like CSS3 and HTML5 make coding your site easier. They help your website to load faster and more efficiently, in the long run helping your online sales or business to grow.

Microsoft doesn’t do this. Microsoft makes you find the update, download it, and install it. That’s why we still have 20% of users using outdated browsers. That’s why most (awesome) web designers hate Internet Explorer.

So, do yourself a favor. Switch to Firefox. When you notice that the web is a lot prettier and loads faster, you’ll leave me a comment and thank me for my advice.

Drew Brees on the cover of Sports Illustrated with his wife & son.

The Saints have won the Super Bowl, but that is not the glimpse that I am referring to in this post. As part of the celebration, WWLTV.com posted headlines from newspapers & websites from around the world. Notice, I said headlines from websites. Of the 43 headlines, about one-third of them were from websites. This is a sign of the nearing end for newspapers. Already, a few major newspapers in the United States have moved to an online only format or have folded altogether.

Will the new Kindle & iPad create a new culture of reading newspapers online? How many newspapers do you have clipped out and in scrapbooks or hanging on your walls of your kids? Will this come to an end as the age of newspapers falls.

Below is a sampling of the headlines from both newspapers & websites in WWL’s post. View their website to view all of them.