The Fuzzy Web

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Ian's Lunchtime Video Series #2

This video comes a little bit before lunch for you today. Nice 10 min quickie for the physics and cosmology geeks out there. This pretty much blew my mind, I love cosmology and have watched a ton of vids on large objects in the universe and such, but this one takes the cake. If you're into this hardcore science, watch the extended interview version here. Otherwise, see below to melt your brain.

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[thefuzzyweb]

"Learning to design is learning to see, an adventure that gets more and more captivating the further you go. A love letter to my profession…”

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Another Indispensable Chrome Dev Tools Video from Paul Irish

[thefuzzyweb]

Ian's Lunchtime Video Series #1

I've been getting way into youtube lately.  "Hey, Ian, you're like almost 10 years behind the curve on this one."  Yup, I know, but youtube has been getting so much better lately—and maybe lately means for the past 10 years.  Okay, anyway, I digress, what I'm trying to say is that there have been a ton of videos that I never thought would be on youtube.  Like an entire lecture series on algorithms and data structures or an awesome channel that explores modern physics.  All this has me hopped up on the idea that you don't need to go to college anymore, but that's another post for another time.

I've been digesting as much of this free knowledge as possible, along with some other videos that are just plain cool (in a very nerdy sense,) and what better time than to watch these videos over lunch when you can set your Skype to "away".  So I introduce to you, the first in my "Lunchtime Video Series".  This one is on programming robots with javascript.  No particular reason why this video is first—except that I watched it today during lunch and I wanted to start this blog series.  Enjoy.

[thefuzzyweb]

[thefuzzyweb]

The SEO rat race

Think your site needs more SEO?  This article shows the perspective of a content writer and how boosting your rankings usually takes exploitive techniques.

how google flushes knowledge down the toilet

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Debugging Ember with Tom Dale

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Why the hell are you not using Sass yet?

By: Frankie Bushell

The first question you should ask yourself is why am I still using CSS? If you have no idea why I would ask this, hopefully this post will enlighten you, but for those of you who find it a legitimate question, hopefully this will convert you.

I have found that many fellow developers stuck in old technologies either because of the steep learning curve or the ever so common, "I need to do this fast so I will just use what I know". Classic. I find this to be especially common place in the conversion from CSS to SASS ( or LESS for that matter ).

A quick aside for those of you that are new to CSS preprocessors. SASS, or Syntactically Awesome Stylesheets, extends CSS, allowing you to use nested rules, variables, mixins, selector inheritance, and many other awesome things. The SASS is compiled into well-formatted, standard CSS using Compass as a command line tool ( don't be scared ).

The purpose of this post is to quickly get you setup with SASS, so let's get rolling.

1. Install SASS

Open up Terminal and run:

$ gem install sass

2. Install Compass

Again in Terminal run the following two commands:

$ gem update --system

$ gem install compass

Now we have everything installed, let's setup the folder structure.

3. SASS folder

Create a folder /sass in the root of your site.

4. SASS file

Inside your /sass folder, create a file called main.sass. This is where we will write our SASS that will be compiled into CSS. In the file, let's throw in some basic SASS to get your website looking fresh. I took the courtesy of writing some basic markup to get you started. You can copy & paste the code here.

5. Config file

In your site root, create a new file called config.rb. I copied the contents of my config file into a gist that can be foundhere. Again, copy & paste the code into your file and save it. This file tells Compass ( the compiler ) things like where your /css folder is, what type of CSS output style you want, and a few other options.

Now we are all set and ready to go. With our files and code in place, we can tell Compass to compile our SASS into CSS.

6. "Yo Compass, get to work"

Open up Terminal again, and in your site root, run:

$ compass watch.

This will both compile the SASS and watch for any changes to our main.sass file. If it notices a change, it will recompile our CSS file for us automatically!

Now that we have SASS working, go explore some of the cool features it has to offer. Below are a few of my favorite starter guides.

I hope this was helpful and just remember, creating any website without using a CSS preprocessor is a horrible idea.

Further Reading:

http://thesassway.com/guides

http://thesassway.com/beginner/getting-started-with-sass-and-compass

http://alistapart.com/article/getting-started-with-sass

[thefuzzyweb]

Ode to Workflow

By: Brandon

It has oft been asked: “Brandon Barrett, how is it that you code so much in so little time? You are but one man.” Once I’ve finished booming a jovial laugh in response, I oft reply by outlining the basic tools that I consider most important to my workflow. Granted, these tools will not actually make you a better coder, but they have noticeably increased the levels of speed and satisfaction in my working process, so they’re worth sharing. If you haven’t tried some of these then you should at least look into them because they’ve made a real difference in how well I work.

Sublime Text 2

http://www.sublimetext.com/2 . It’s free to try. Once you’ve downloaded it, go yonder for an excellent survey on what Sublime Text 2 has to offer, written by Zen-Master Code Hulk Jeffrey Way: http://net.tutsplus.com/articles/news/perfect-workflow-in-sublime-text-free-course/. It’s a testament to Sublime Text that I was so happy to switch from Coda, which is another good text editor that I liked way better than most, but after seeing how easy Sublime is to customize, how clean and stable it is, and how capable its native feature-set is, I had no choice.

Sublime Text 2: symlink

It’s a must to be able to open files in your editor from command line. If you’re unfamiliar with how to symlink, go here: http://www.sublimetext.com/docs/2/osx_command_line.html . This will enable you to open files in Sublime Text from terminal.

Manage you Databases with Sequel Pro

If you’re even slightly unhappy with local database management, and especially if you manage numerous databases locally, check out Sequel Pro: http://www.sequelpro.com/ . How this is a free download is beyond me. If you decide to start using this awesome product then please donate to the saintly geniuses that built it. It’s easy to setup, very easy to use, and has an excellent set of keybindings.

Re-Bind your Caps Lock as another Control Key

This will enable you to use many shortcuts, i.e., text shortcuts such as ctrl-A and ctrl-V, from home row. Caps Lock is only ever annoying anyway. If you’re in the mood to shout in a forum or blog post it’s way more gratifying to hold the shift key as you do so anyway.

Mac + Large Monitor = Go download Optimal Layout right now

Find it here: http://most-advantageous.com/optimal-layout/. This app will allow you to resize and move windows on the screen with the greatest of ease through the use of keystrokes. App Switcher + Optimal Layout will mean that you will never need to resize a window with your mouse/trackpad ever again, pretty much. It can be customized to accommodate multiple custom layouts as well.

Track pad > Mouse

If you haven’t switched over to a trackpad instead of a mouse, then do it. Between native keyboard shortcuts, Optimal Layout, (see above), and the option of doing gestures on the trackpad you will be able to avoid having to mouse-hunt things on your screen outside of the tasks that absolutely require the involvement of a mouse cursor.

Exer ball with Udders

Do you ever get lethargic at work? Apart from giving you better coding abs and a straighter coding spine, I’ve found the biggest perk from working on an exer ball to be that I never, ever get tired or sleepy anymore. Not even after a massive lunch. They’re easy to find on Amazon, just make sure you get one with udders so that it doesn’t roll all over the place when you aren’t sitting on it: http://www.amazon.com/Champion-Sports-Fitpro-With-Legs/dp/B0029VUCZ6

[thefuzzyweb]

Just Scroll With It - Life Beyond the Fold

In a world of swiping, pinching, TV on the Internet, Internet on TV, and even Internet in your glasses – access to technology is no longer constrained by the devices on which they are displayed. No longer is the rectangle frame of our desktop/ laptop the end-all-be-all of a website's information. And thereto-for, no longer do users expect a sites content to live within this technologically-defined frame. Yet, I feel like even though to web designers and developers a static approach is archaic, we are often faced with the question, “How will users know to scroll?”

So, where did this myth come from, the myth that users don’t scroll, don’t know how to scroll, or are just too lazy to scroll? It all began with the phrase “above the fold,” a term adopted from the printing press industry where “above the fold” literally means articles placed at the top of the paper, above the crease. For the newspapers, the most important articles are placed “above the fold” because these are the articles that get noticed first, aren’t be overlooked and most importantly, help sell the paper. 

While a website isn’t a newspaper, there was once a time in the days of Internet yore when the size of monitors was somewhat standardized and it was the only outlet through which websites were viewed. It was during this time that “above the fold” was adopted by web designers from print. In hindsight, it seems like just a way to apply known (but not necessarily effective or efficient) design  to a relatively unknown medium. In her 2007 article, Blasting the Myth of the Fold, AOL veteran Milissa Tarquini reminisces about a time when: “ page-level vertical scrolling was not permitted on AOL... Our pages, which used proprietary technology, were designed to fit inside a client application, and the strictest of guidelines ensured that the application desktop itself did not scroll.”

But this, again, was when the web was young and by 1997 there were already many supporting statistics that proved within the context of a website “above the fold” was bunk. From Jakob Nielsen’s 1997 article, Changes in Web Usability since 1994: “In more recent studies, we have seen that most users scroll when they visit a long home page or a long navigation screen. This change in behavior is probably due to users getting more experience with scrolling Web pages.” 

Time passed, users gained an increasing understanding of how browsers worked, and web designers began to embrace the uncharted capabilities that the world wide web afforded them. The content of the web also began to change, social media sites and blogging swept the world wide web and redefined how users could and did interact with websites. The mediums through which websites were displayed also began to evolve and expand, which threw out the window any “standard” width or height that would look good and afford a user no-scrolling. Yet here we are, 16 years later, and still we face clients befuddled by scrolling sites and concerned for that their users, when faced with these sites, just won’t know what to do. 

In all fairness, 16 years is really the blink of an eye considering the Gutenberg printing press was invented in 1450. But we need to remember that the Internet and the World Wide Web are rapidly developing and the way we interact with them is evolving fast, and to stick with design that worked for the web of the 90s is just boring, inefficient and ineffective in 2013. There are even studies proving the opposite...in his article on scrolling,  William Levin's discusses the research findings of CX Partners, a user-centric design firm that does eye tracking:

 “often less content above the fold will encourage exploration beneath. And if the design tantalizes that more exists below - scrolling is almost guaranteed. In essence, if something bridges the fold people with scroll down to see more. Further, people now recognize that scroll bars on a browser indicate more content lies below and know that the scroll bar can also visually indicate the page length.”

Melissa Tarquini’s article also offers support for this: “The most clicked on item on the TMZ homepage is the link at the very bottom of the page that takes users to the next page...Users are scrolling to see what they want, and finding it. The key is the content – if it is compelling, users will follow where it leads.”

Still not convinced that users will know how to scroll? Then do this, think about the sites that you frequent: Facebook, Twitter, The New York Times, your email, countless blogs. They all scroll. All day long we encounter scrolling sites, they are no longer new or foreign, but the norm. The question shouldn’t be, how will users know to scroll? but rather, can we get them to stop scrolling? 

[thefuzzyweb]

From Engineer to Developer

As a recent graduate in Chemical and Biological engineering, half a year ago I didn’t know diddly squat about web development and technologies. Sure, I would browse popular forums and act like I spoke computer and I’d fake laugh at the occasional bone thrown to developers on xkcd and reddit. But what did I know? What I did have was a basic background in programming and logic, as well as a growing interest in computer science. I finally decided to jump into this field as my brother, Brandon, had started Cirro a few years back –– they were flourishing, and needed another developer. An awesome field, working with friends, and, shit, they had a ping pong table. SOLD. I had no other choice... but how did I make this transition?

Well the truth is, taking just a few basic computer science classes really gave me a huge head start. No, they didn’t actually teach me any of the web based languages or how to design a kick-ass website, but they did give me a good background in computer logic, how computers read languages, and most importantly, they taught me to learn coding on my own. I heard that weeks before I started at Cirro that I could probably take the position, but I had a LOT of learning to do. It was game time.

The beauty of programming is that all you need is the Internet and some motivation (ok...a lot of motivation, it’s a lot of shit to learn). While classes can help give a structured learning process (lol kind of) and show on paper that you learned the stuff (for whatever that is worth), there are so many brilliant tutorials, free downloads, helpful forums and thorough api’s on the web that all you have to do is navigate to Google and it does the rest. Well, maybe not the rest, but you get the point. The first place I went to waswww.codecademy.com. This is my first recommendation to anyone starting out. It’s a site that doesn’t even require you to have any sort of text editor or language packages downloaded, it’s all in the browser, and it steps you through learning your language of choice, telling you what you’re doing wrong, giving hints on how to do things, and displaying the results in a clear readable format. Codeacademy is legit, but its biggest problem is that it only covers the tip of the iceberg, or rather, the archimedean point. It’s just the basics of whatever language you’re learning, but it’s enough to set you up for the rest. After that, I just set goals for myself by trying to accomplish things I wanted or needed to be able to do, Googled when I got stuck, and plowed on.

Just like with learning any skill or trade, it doesn’t come easy. You have to put in the time to learn the stuff, but thats all that it really takes. The resources are mostly open source and readily available. I was very fortunate to get a job with a group of elite hax0r developers of renown notoriety that definitely helped me accelerate my learning process once I got down the basics, they’re there to answer any questions I asked. While this definitely made my learning process easier and faster, it isn’t necessary. This is the beauty of programming and why I am glad I joined this profession and community.

This mostly open source community is constantly and rapidly changing, evolving and growing as every programmer continuously redesigns and finds new ways to code, and the coding of the Internet in and of itself gives us the tools to learn what others are doing and help further it ourselves. Chicken or the egg? Internet or the coder? Well, I guess for some of the vets it started with the coding then gave birth to the Internet... but for me, I started with the Internet and it in turn gave me coding.

[thefuzzyweb]

Content to Keep Them Coming Back

I don't care if your site has a unicorn hologram that rides you through space to a rainbow ending in a pot of gold – if that's all it does each time, it's going to get boring quickly. I believe in sustainable design and sustainable content, and while timeless design is a no-brainer, static content is not sustainable in terms of the lifespan of a site.

I like to think of it this way: the site is the rocket ship and the content is the fuel. Of course there are exceptions to every rule – think brochure site, promo sites – sites that don't expect users to visit again and again. But for anyone who wants repeat visitors, the generation of engaging and relevant content will take you to the moon and beyond.

As someone who used generated content for a living (former ad-writer), I get that content creation, especially for a brand, isn't easy. It requires the balance of a lot of factors – understanding your audience, finding something to talk about/share/create, and most importantly reinforcing your brand (please know that I realize how marketing that sounds, I'm not proud of it, but there it is). Lucky for you, yes YOU, I've come up with some tricks to help keep focused, keep your eyes on the prize, and help you create AMAZING content.

STEP ONE. Figure out what your going to write about.

Seems easy enough, right? Wrong. Figuring out what you are going to write about is probably the hardest thing you'll do. There are three things your should keep in mind with coming up with a topic for content.

Know who you are talking to: Know your audience. If you aren't talking to the right people, you might as well be talking to a rock. Figuring out who your audience is – who they are, what they like, where they live (in a general sense), what they look for, and how they look for it – will open a floodgate of fodder for content creation. When you're picking a topic, think about whether or not you think your audience would care.

Know what you are talking about: Write what you know about, and if you don't know about it, learn about it. Being the bearer of misinformation is almost worse than being the bearer of nothing at all. Equally as bad as not knowing what you're talking about, is not knowing what's up. When creating content, try…at least try to push the envelope, old news is bad news and repeat info is just as drab. Bring something new to the table, have and opinion and use it, and always….always think outside the box, unless you're in a triangle…then think outside that.

Know you: At the end of the day, you're online to sell, but it's a bit of a paradox because people certainly aren't coming to your site to be hit with a sales pitch. No one is calling up the solicitor to hear their spiel. The most important thing to remember when you're creating content is you and your brand. Write down what you see as your brand values and try to incorporate them…if even so subtly. Having an actual list helps, so make one.

Make it Rain – Brainstorm Take these ingredients and combine, and when combined start writing down your ideas. Take like 5 min, set a stopwatch, and think of as many topics as you can that falls within these categories. The result – great content. (Please refer to Venn Diagram below).

STEP TWO: Make it happen

Make a plan and stick to it. It's not going to be easy at first, but the more you practice the easier it will get. You are Rocky in the training sequence in Rocky, it might be tough at first, but it get's easier..and more bad a**. So get your pump on.

Start by thinking big then focus in. If you don't know how to get started, do a brain dump. If you throw out a big net you can reel it in and see what sticks. I throw away a lot of the words that I type, sometimes just writing thoughts can help me find my focus. Let out all your ideas out, again, make a list of – points you want to make, thoughts, ideas, tidbits – then organize them, or find your content's purpose.

STEP THREE: Repeat

Celebrate a job well done, then do it again. Set realistic goals for content creation, then make a plan, set dates and stick to them. And if you miss a date, hold yourself accountable. The more you create content, the easier it will become.

At the end of the day, don't sweat the small stuff. As long as you use some common sense and you'll be fine, and the more content you create, the less scrutiny each piece will hold.

Whether I'm coming back for news, imagery, products, menus, new works/projects/etc, my favorite sites are always offering something new, showing me something I'd never seen, or telling me something I didn't know, and they're always offering more. But like I said, there are exceptions to every rule, and sometimes some of the best sites are those rare unicorns that are never-changing in their hilarious enjoyment: Bacon or Beercan

[thefuzzyweb]

Design Matters

If there's one thing I've learned, it's that building a website requires good design from beginning to end. Think of it as your company's Internet storefront. It'd be unlikely that anyone wouldn't want this online home to have a good blueprint, stable foundation, solid structure, protective insulation and a personality-perfect exterior. While close to no one wants to live in a home that's frame is askew or is painted like a circus tent, there's more certainty that no one wants to live in a home with an unstable foundation, or that's blueprint didn't account for your needs.

Yes, this post is about the importance of amazing design and it's real and unquestionable value to a site, but I feel that this discussion can't be had without first emphasizing the importance of amazing design from foundation to paint, beginning to end. Because just like your dream store, the failure to correctly design one part of your virtual store calls into question the design of the rest.

Like I said above, it's doubtful that anyone would argue about the value of building a site without first having a good plan for how it's going to be executed, a stable platform on which to build it, a rock solid backend or a certain level of safeguarding that it will keep your (and sometimes your client's) information protected. But too many times, people discount the value, impact and integral importance of a thoughtful, well-planned and illuminating "face to the world".

I think of the business my dad is in: the business of science. In his business and in his industry he's all facts, no frills. It's like the world's most disappointing mullet– business in the front and…more business in the back. Design (aesthetic design) falls low on my father's importance scale. And I think, like my dad, a lot of people see a website's design as…unnecessary or excessive – they just want to get people the facts. But that doesn't make it unimportant to ensure that people get the facts in the most effective way possible, without anything to distract or mislead them.

Despite sounding like a broken record (I've said it once and undoubtedly I'll say it again) but in the world of web (and in the real world) people judge the book by the cover. Bad design can lead visitors to question a businesses' credibility. Confusing layout can cause frustration. Too many busy elements can incite annoyance (think pop-up ads). And on the other side of the coin, a site without intriguing elements can cause perhaps the biggest website flaw…boredom.

When looking for some factual support to back up my opinion, I found a blog post that articulated it almost perfectly. (I'm about to go down a rabbit hole of citations and I apologize, but bear with me because there is enlightenment at the end of the tunnel). In Joseph Putnam's post, 'Does Good Web Design Really Matter?' he equates web design to packaging, "in both case people pay for the product or service but they're also influenced by the "packaging"". He then goes on to cite Malcolm Gladwell's book Blink, which cites studies from Cheskin – a scientific researcher, clinical psychologist and marketing innovator. In the book (which I am taking on Mr. Putnam's word, having not read it), Gladwell talks about how Chenskin came up with a theory (which I am taking on Gladwell's word) that consumers don't make a distinction between a product and it's packaging, but in a consumer's mind the product is actually a combination of the packaging and the product.

So, assuming you agree with myself and Misters Putnam, Gladwell and Cheskin, design does play an integral role in the perception of your business. But there's still the larger question of "what is good design"? and more importantly to this particular rant, "what is good web design?" While there are several studies and tons of opinions on this specific point, there are certain parts of good design that are just inherently expected. Good web design enhances your sites functionality, engages the user without detracting, looks professional, and above all else, showcases your content without hiding it behind a bunch of bells and whistles. Because, at the end of the day what really matters most in any site is the content, what's inside your virtual office/business/restaurant/storefront/home. It's the content that you provide your customers that make them want to come back. And it's good design (from beginning to end) that let's you share that content in the most effective way possible.

[thefuzzyweb]

The Co$t of a Good Website

It always astonished me that when it comes to the question, "What does a website cost?" that there is such broad range of opinions out there about what people will actually pay for this service. I've seen businesses that could genuinely benefit from a good website cringe when they get an estimate for something that's a-sixteenth of their yearly-revenue and, conversely, I've seen big brands throw away hundreds of thousands on web solutions that could have, and should have, cost them a tenth of the price. But I think the biggest hurdle to overcome when answering this question is understanding what you are actually buying. Because when you're in the business of selling websites, as we are, you know that you are selling more than just code or design or form-fields, you are selling the ability for brands, companies and people to connect with their consumers at the moment of highest impact and transfer those connections into brand loyalties, brand reach, and most importantly sales.

Okay, so before I get any further, let me begin by sharing that I recently read Google's ebook Zero Moment of Truth, and while this book (which only takes about an hour to read if you're interested) was not the inspirational spark for this post, it was definitely the catalyst and thus I'll be referencing it throughout. In the book, Google lays out the consumer interactions that had historically impacted consumers. The first and second moments of truth.

Here's how it used to work. A consumer hears about a product on the radio or television or in a newspaper ad and it sparks their interest, let's say the product is deodorant. Then, later, maybe a day or two, they're shopping and they get to the personal hygiene aisle and, low and behold, there is the product, but instead of a beautiful ad, the product here is surrounded by what feels like hundreds of choices. This is the first moment of truth, a phrase coined by Proctor and Gamble, and which they describe as the three to seven seconds in which consumers make up their minds about whether or not to buy the product on the store shelf ( AdverBlog ). For P&G, this was considered the most important marketing opportunity for your brand. And this is why advertisers spend millions of dollars each year on that annoying (but for marketers important) "shelf talk" that you see sticking out from shelves, blocking the middle of the aisle and clinging to freezer aisle windows.

The second moment of truth, which is less important to my argument so I'll skim over it, is when the consumer actually uses the product – puts their deodorant to the test so to speak. It's this interaction that determines if the consumer will use the product again, i.e., become a repeat buyer, and more importantly share their experience with their friends (creating a kind of ripple effect to the entire process).

The first moment of truth used to be THE moment for marketers, but today there's something that happens before the user even gets to the store, restaurant, hair salon, what have you…they go online. This is what Google has termed the Zero Moment of Truth.And here's a short video on ZMOT for more.

I don't think I speak for myself when I say that the first thing I do when my interest is piqued ( I hear about something new from a friend or see an ad for something that intrigues me) is try to find it online – most of the time this means typing it into Google. If I'm lucky I can find a website for the product (no site at all usually means trouble as my mind immediately begins to run rampant of the reasons why a person wouldn't have a website: trying to hide something, can't stand behind their brand, they're hacks, the competition must be better, etc, none of the reasons are ever good).

The second I, or any consumer, clicks onto a website for the first time, is the second that will determine how the rest of my experience with that brand will play out. And while judging a book by its cover is shallow, the frank truth is that judging a web site by its appearance and usability is not. No length of time spent on a bad site will turn it from an ugly ducking into a beautiful swan, and knowing that, when I reach a bad site my investment with that site and brand usually ends then and there. Luckily, experiences aren't always bad and when I click into a site that happens to be wonderful, the foundations of my brand loyalty are laid and if the site is really good and built with the ability for the site's owner to update their content regularly then it further fosters my engagement and loyalty to the brand. And if the people that built the site really knew what they were doing, it's linked up to social media so I can share it with all my friends. And if they are super-duper smart, they've made their site responsive so I can use, share, and enjoy it on any device. The Zero Moment of Truth says that, "As mobile usage grows, the zero, first, and second moments of truth are converging." But I would say that regardless of mobile rise, just given the nature of the way people shop today, these moments are becoming one and they are happening online.

Before I conclude let me pose you an example of how this benefits someone in an industry that's not concerned with masking armpit odor. We'll look at it from a consumer's point of view. Let's pretend I'm someone just looking for something to eat. I want to find a restaurant. So I type my zip code into Google with the phrase "Good Food" and several sites pop up. Now the main thing I want to know is: what do they have on the menu? So, I click through a few sites. The first site is terrible, something that was probably put together by a cousin of the restaurant owner who claimed they knew web design –– to me it raises suspicions that the food might give me food poisoning, so I leave the site without even looking at the menu. I click on the second restaurant, but I'm on my phone and….uuuugggh…the site is not formatted for mobile, so after a few minutes of trying to zoom in to click on the menu button and read the menu, I get frustrated and I leave. I go to the third site, cool design and guess what these smarties put their menu right up front…how did they know? The site is mobile compatible so I can easily read the menu and make a reservation on my phone. Now, if all goes according to plan and the food is delicious and the service is great, I return to their site to like them on Facebook and share my wonderful experience with all my friends. A good website isn't just throwing your information onto the web, it's creating a wonderful, unique, memorable and pain-free experience for consumer's new and old.

And that's why when you're talking about building a great website, it isn't, and shouldn't be, cheap. So if you're in the market for a great website and you're thinking about going with the guys that have the cheaper bill think about the role your website really plays – in telling your brand story, in connecting with your consumers, reaching new consumers, etc. –and think, would you really want to compromise any of those? So what's the cost of a good website? I looked long and hard and couldn't find a number, but I did find a great source that said you should be willing to spend 1% of your next years revenue on a new website. And I think that's pretty fair, considering the important ROI a good site will have.

But if you're still looking for a number just give us a ring and we'll put a fair price tag on the site of you and your consumers dreams.

[thefuzzyweb]

S.E.nO

If you've ever thought about paying someone for SEO – stop right there. There are countless reasons why you should never pay someone to do SEO for you, but perhaps the biggest is because there is a huge misconception about what SEO actually is and does.

THE BIGGEST SEO MISCONCEPTIONS

Adding more keywords to your site will get your site a higher ranking. While content is important – cramming keywords into your content like clowns in a car, will just make you look like a clown. For one thing Google ( and for the remainder of this post, let's just assume that when I say Google I'm talking about other search engines as well) changes their search algorithms daily, which means they're constantly refactoring the way that people look for information. In the early 2000's, keywords may have played an important role in increasing your page ranking but 13 years later, Google places more weight on fresh content and integrated signals from social media than the same word..word..words.

Meta-tags will give you a higher position. Metatags, which look like this:

are still mistaken as being key players in a web pages search engine rankings. Meta tags…as of 2009…are no longer even indexed by Google, which means that you can go ahead and stuff a novel of keywords in there, it won't do a thing.

SEO can make your site #1 on a Google page rank. You can put a tiara on a pig and parade it around like a princess, but most people will still know…and smell..that it's a pig. The same is true for a bad site. If your site is built poorly, and your content is bad and stagnant, people will know…and so will the Internet.

WHAT SEO SHOULD BE

Good web design. There's no mystery that for me (and many of my human peers) the best designed sites are the easiest sites. Why? Because good design means that the site is easy to navigate, easy to function and that the content is easy to find and easy to share (and spread like wildfire). Conversely a poorly designed site can make me (and others) frustrated, confused and in the worst case scenarios…really pissed off. Good web design should allow for the best possible interactions at all points of interaction: whether it's on a cell phone, computer, tablet, TV…or something that hasn't been invented yet. Good web design should also be dynamic and allow for the sites owner to take ownership of their content, to keep users coming back for more.

Social web strategy. We no longer live in an era where you can put a one-time investment into a website and expect it to flourish. Much like anything organic, the best websites take continual investment and care. If you're not updating your content, posting new content or improving your site (e.g. if you're not giving your user any reason to return), then you will get left behind, no matter how many times you say "best", "guaranteed," "cheapest," or any other slew of keywords. They say it's the sign of insanity to do the same thing over and over again and expect new results, so why this shouldn't also be true in Internet practices is…well crazy. To truly flourish on the web you need a good strategy that's constantly adapting, responding and evolving to what your audience wants.

Social media Integration. In the days of Internet yore, links were the way to measure the value of content. Thus the more links a page had to it the more "valuable" it was seen by the search engine. But as with most things, Google has become smarter about how it measures the value of content. More than "backlinks" Google's rankings are emphasized by social media likes, tweets, shares, reddits, follows, comments and views. So the more you give your users to share and the easier you make it to share…the better.

WHY SEO IS, IRRELEVANT

Great content is king, which means at the end of the day you hold the key to your own Internet fate. While great design and well-placed social media integration can definitely enhance your clout, only you know what you do best– and at the end of the day that's what people want you to prove. In the Internet, just like in life, you get more out of it if you put more into it; which means it's not, and can't be, a one time deal. So, if you're thinking about paying someone to invest a couple weeks "enhancing" your SEO, put your wallet away and invest in what really makes a difference: great design, great content and something wonderful to share.

[thefuzzyweb]

Give a Gif

There's nothing that eases the tension, lightens the mood, or turns the awkward into the amazing like a good gif. And while they're nothing new to the web (lest we forget hamster dance, which itself only made an appearance a decade after the gif was created) (KnowYourMeme ), the resurgence of gifs has transformed from …let's admit it…slightly annoying, to hilarious ( GifBin ) , breathtaking ( InspirationFeed ), and moment making (BuzzFeed ).

In the past year, there's been a gif-splosion. There are entire blogs built around the medium ( Mashable's 10 Best Tumblr GIF Sites ); gifs are used as supplements in the news stories of major publications ( NY Times Still Life Series ); there are even apps that help the regular joe create their own ( 10 Best GIF Apps ). But perhaps one of the most exciting uses of the gif that we've seen is their use in web development. With the fall of flash (sorry flash-users, it's true…time to deal with it), gifs are providing a simple alternative to adding motion to a site. An alternative that, I might add works across browsers, doesn't require a plugin and are more device compatible.

We hope to see more gifs in the future, but for now, here's a gif for you: