Valid Code and Code Validation

by Steve Dougan

Summary : Creating your pages on the Net can be exiting and fun. Webmasters spend much of there time in the design aspects of the website and seem to ignore the most fundamental component of a good website; the code itself. It is widely estimated that 99% of web pages on the Net have some coding errors. This suggests that most webmasters really don't understand the importance of valid code.

So what is all the fuss, you say? You view your website in your browser and it looks fine therefore the code must be fine. In reality that is not always the case. There are a wide variety of versions and brands of web browsers accessing the Net. Some are more forgiving of errors than others.

What you see in your browser may look completely different in another browser. In some cases, entire tables and all its content can be missing over a simple error such as a HTML element that wasn't closed.

Creating your pages on the Net can be exiting and fun. Webmasters spend much of there time in the design aspects of the website and seem to ignore the most fundamental component of a good website; the code itself. It is widely estimated that 99% of web pages on the Net have some coding errors. This suggests that most webmasters really don't understand the importance of valid code.

Code that is used in the creating of a web page and then checked against accepted formal standards and passes is considered valid code. The most commonly accepted recommended standards are those suggested and provided by the W3C (World Wide Web consortium).

It is really not that difficult to write code that is valid to the recommended standards. Below are some of the key points to look out for:

1. Start with the right doctype (http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/struct/global.html)
2. All HTML elements that you open, you must close
3. Make full use of alt tags on images
4. Make use of character sets (http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/html-spec/html-spec_13.html)
5. Use HTML validators regularly
6. If you find errors, fix them immediately

Here are validators that are free to use and provided by the W3C. It is always advisable to run your webpage through these validators to ensure your code will be compliant with the universally accepted recommended standards.

w3c code validator- http://validator.w3.org/

w3c css validator - http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/

Problems that occur as a result of bad code include difficulty for assistive technologies. Browsers such as readers for the visually impaired, have considerable difficulty reading bad code. Search engines hate bad code. A great amount of your website's content can be hidden from the engines and therefore not spidered if you have bad or missing code attributes.

The human visitors of your website, bad code can result in very slow loading of your pages. Slow loading pages have been attributed as one of the main reasons people that arrive at a web site, but don't stay very long.

The bottom line is that the more time you spend designing your website and then testing it for valid code, the better your overall long term presentation will be. You will give yourself a better chance of being spidered properly by the search engines, and the more accessible your site for everyone that visits.

Build Your Own YouTube Site The Easy Way

by Stephen Carter

Do you like watching videos on the web? Apparently a LOT of people do. Google thought the phenomenon important enough to dish out $1.65 billion to acquire YouTube and guarantee its position as a number one provider of video feeds.

But is there really any reason the average webmaster could not build their own video or audio based portal? Would that not be a difficult thing to attempt? Well, that used to be the case, but it is not true any more.

Now, based on the fact that you are currently reading this article, I would hazard a guess that the following is true: At some point in the past, possibly even just recently, it occurred to you that building a YouTube-like site might be a fun thing to do. But then you tossed the idea out the window once you discovered that adding audio and video clips to your site can be time-consuming and tedious. Not to mention technically intimidating. But like I said, that no longer has to be the case. In fact, if you are prepared to fork out a few hundred dollars for the software to power your site, you can be up and running in no time flat.

In all likelihood you do not truly want to compete with YouTube for visitors. But maybe that real estate site you had been thinking about could benefit from audio and video feeds. Or perhaps that restaurant guide, or model plane construction website--short how-to videos on the best way to build remotely-controlled planes might be just the thing you need...

Are the ideas starting to bubble up? If so, read on to find out how you can set up a video or audio site painlessly.

So what are the barriers to us as webmasters wanting to set up such a site? Well, you have probably already investigated several multimedia-related web sites to see how they go about presenting audio and video clips to their visitors. Most of these sites now offer streamed content, which is to say the music or the video feed starts playing just a few seconds after you hit the play button. No waiting for a full download to occur. Visitors, even those with high speed connections, simply do not have that kind of patience. So, you must serve the content immediately.

There are two basic ways you can do this. One, you can install a special server that is optimized to stream audio and video files. However, this can cost you an arm and a leg, depending on the server you choose. It is also just one more thing you do not want to have to deal with if you can avoid it. The second option is to go with a simpler method, called progressive streaming, wherein you make a request to your regular web server to stream the file in such a way that it can be played almost as soon as the first batch of bytes is received. This is not as efficient as a dedicated streaming server, but unless you are running a very highly-trafficked site, the results are virtually indistinguishable. This is the option discussed in detail in this article.

Several applications exist on the market to handle progressive, or psuedo, streaming. The difficulty in using them lies in the amount of work it can take to add HTML code to individual pages on your site in order to call the application which will then stream your audio or video content. What you really need is an automated solution of some type. An application that will allow you, or your visitors, to simply upload the content that is to be streamed, and then have all the file storage and HTML link-formatting done for you, behind the scenes.

Fortunately there is at least one application that does all this for you (this is mentioned in the resource box below). In this case the application makes use of a Flash-based client named Wimpy, which exists in several different incarnations. The best known of the Wimpy players is the Wimpy MP3 Player which allows MP3s to be played from a fancy Flash-based jukebox. The appearance of this player is controlled by a skin, and there are literally dozens to choose from--some of which contain rotating dials, flickering volume bars, and so on. An alternative to placing a jukebox on your pages is to simply place a button that allows an MP3 track to be played or paused. This is the Wimpy Button Player. It is useful for pages where you are going for simplicity, or page real estate is at a premium.

But Wimpy can do more than just play MP3s. If you want to serve video files from your site you can elect to use the Wimpy AV Player. This version allows you to load an entire video playlist, just as the Wimpy MP3 Player does. But my preference for video presentation is the Wimpy WASP Player. This client will play just one video at a time, but it can be controlled with javascript commands, so it offers more in the way of programmable and presentation options. You can embed the videos right into your web pages, or you can elect to have them pop up when a visitor clicks on a link.

By using a solution that combines all these Wimpy clients into a single transparent application, and which also allows visitors to review the uploaded audio or video files, you have at your disposal just the tool you need to create a YouTube-like site complete with visitor reviews. Hopefully I have managed to convey the idea that creating such a site is fairly straightforward. With the right tools in hand, the only remaining ingredient you need to make it happen is dedication and passion. But if you have read this far, you likely have that in spades. Good luck!

About the author
Stephen Carter is the developer of Red Queen, a powerful product review script that allows webmasters to build audio-based customer review sites. To learn more, see: How To Create A Music Review Site.

Web 2.0, Build On It

By: Joseph Pratt

Web 2.0 is just getting started. There is a focus on making the Internet a platform for end users. Paying bills online is no longer a novelty. Shopping for clothes and books online is commonplace. Mobile music playing components are built around the compatibility of downloading music off the Internet and not store bought units.

In 1999, ICMediaDirect.com opened up shop as an online advertising agency, and we viewed our chosen milieu, the Internet, as a limitless possibility – there was no talk of bubbles, no clouds on the horizon. In fact, conversations in the business tended to include terms like venture capital or IPO and it didn’t matter who was talking. We knew who scored what and when. Like weekend golfers talking about the Masters, we dreamed of being the next eBay. Guys like me with, well, ordinary websites talked turkey, big turkey. And why wouldn’t we? Those were halcyon times then.

And they’re back – except, ahem, this time it’s different. I hope. Nah, I’m sure of it.

Y2K was distinctly a time of fortuitous updraft; we were swept up in a tide of optimism. This Internet thing seemed like it was going to last forever. The early 90’s brought us a proliferation of interconnected tech advances that gave rise to a new medium of business.

Personal computing had become universally available and affordable. Rapid advancements in the digital media field, improvements in size and scope of network infrastructures, and the rise of giant Internet companies for connection and service created an Internet we still recognize today. Deals went down, geeks got rich (or richer), and about the magic in this Internet – we believed.

There was a problem, though – promise and wonder alone cannot fill out a bottom line. Economic reality called in its chips and publicly traded stocks, the most successful of the start-ups who’d already actually “made it”, with their valuations 100, 200, 300 times earnings came tumbling down. So, that money, which had raced too far ahead of ideas and their implementations, retreated. And when the markets soured, so too did sentiment.

Money, as it’s wont to do, overtook dreams; it had run right past the sensible bounds of ideas. Soaring stock prices and gaudy deals in unproven fields had created a nasty bubble. It was the Web 1.0 bubble, but at the time I thought it was a buying opportunity.

It was March 2000 when the tech market started tanking. Actual technology however, never retreated, even though the casual observer might have thought engineers went to find new careers. Okay, some did, but still, science did not retreat. So, as the money dried up, Internet capability continued to grow.

And it grew rather quietly until the shape of a Web 2.0 was recognized. Like the Internet itself, Web 2.0 did not start with the flip of a switch, but instead it materialized with the gradual confluence of profitable web ventures, added Internet usability, and mass availability to high-speed connection.

I am not uncomfortable crowning Google king, or at least the most emblematic of Web 2.0 examples. In fact, while the dot-com bust was at its most bleak, the boom times of Google were just getting started.

More importantly, Google and their successful IPO mark a new age of profitability for Internet advertising. Sure, people may talk bubble, but they’d be talking about GOOG being overpriced, and not a leaky boat in a storm. Google is profitable. Yahoo is profitable. Microsoft’s AdCenter is coming. Ask.com might be on the rise. These are big companies vying for share in a profitable Internet arena.

Compare this with the original Internet boom, there was certainly competition, sizable big money competition – but over unproven business models that were ultimately unprofitable. It’s different now.

Web 2.0 is just getting started. There is a focus on making the Internet a platform for end users. Paying bills online is no longer a novelty. Shopping for clothes and books online is commonplace. Mobile music playing components are built around the compatibility of downloading music off the Internet and not store bought units. MySpace is an interactive pen-pal phenomenon far beyond anything we’d have predicted only two years ago. Even Voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) phoning is saving phone customers money.

These are the old dreams that went up in smoke five and six years ago. We’re just getting started .

Tips for Building Niche Websites

By Kevin Reid

The first step is to find a niche area. You could draw inspiration from your friends, media, books, yellow pages, or from top affiliate programs. Once found that, the next important thing is to market the website so as to attract a good traffic to the website everyday. In fact, this is the difficult most part in building a niche website. This article discusses few tips that could effectively help one to market his/her niche websites.

1) Write articles and submit to various popular directories. This is an efficient method to drive traffic to your websites. But, ensure that the articles have a link back to your website.

2) Participate actively in various discussion forums in your niche. Find few good and popular forums in the web and register for an account. Observe the activities in the forums for few days to get a feel of it and then have a go at it by answering few questions, all the while subtly promoting your website.

3) Use blogs to your advantage. Publishing your blog with RSS feeds and updating it regularly will ultimately increase the visibility of your website.

4) Link exchanges can increase a website's page ranking. Hence link to other relevant and high quality websites in your niche. However, it must be kept in mind that linking to low ranked websites could be counterproductive.

5) Posting comments in other blogs in your niche is also a good way to improve the visibility of your website. But, while doing so, never attempt anything unethical like abusing a particular entry or making hostile criticisms.

6) Another effective way to popularize your niche website is through periodic press releases, on something news worthy that is happening in your portal. Designing an affiliate program and recruiting hard working affiliates in exchange of a share of your profits is also a decent idea you can try out. Finally, if you are prepared to shell out few bucks, consider pay per click advertising - like MSN AdCenter and Google ad words - banner advertising or buying paid links to high PR websites.

7) All these aspects could increase the popularity of your niche website. But what purpose it serves if the website does not figure in the first few search results in a search engine? Therefore, some serious SEO while designing the website is also important. Sans SEO, it is next to impossible to remain visible in the web.

Tips to increase your website's visibility

by Charles K

What is website visibility?

Think about the truth about human nature and understanding and you will come to know why you must be visible to get your self noticeable. A highly visible website draws more visitors and thereby increases sales. So it goes that visibility results in profitability. Let's try to learn some amazing points to increase the visibility of your web site.

Pulling traffic the effortlessly:

There is not a single short cut to increase your web sites visibility but sure there are several ways by which you can let search engines know about your website. If these search engines realize your website's existence, you will be part of its search results. But if these search engines identify your website as highly popular, it will not just recognize your site as one of the millions on the list instead, it will place your site on a top rank position. Below are some recommended ways to draw traffic to your site, increase its visibility and enhance its popularity:

Letting them know through useful links:

Search engine will appreciate your web site more if you have more links that point to your website, the more search engines will record your website as a popular one. But these must be good links; otherwise, your website doesn't earn the profit of the links. A good number of quality links leads to high traffic, visibility and popularity of your website. You should start finding some nice links for your web pages.

Right key words can take you miles away:

That's right! You better know more about meta-tags, SEO and importance of right key words while putting them into your web site. It will not only Increase your website's visibility by optimizing relative pages but also render a Search for the right pages and components on your website and take you towards a good rank position in search results.

Directory positions:

Please don't get lazy on this one if you want to prove your net presence you should put your web site into maximum possible directories. The upper limit of it should consider as many as you can find. Directories are supportive in your website's objective to get to the top of search results. They are mostly categorized based on specific topics and aimed for a particular market only. You should respect this fact and act accordingly to donate more efforts in this regard.

Slot in your own directory on the site:

This one is a great idea, as having your own directory on the site is an vital step to drive traffic to your website. How? Every time a particular site visits your directory and adds a listing, it increases traffic to your domain. Aside from this, a directory will contribute to the size of your website.

How to underline your upbeat edge:

Some factors are important while considering this need of a website; and it generally includes smaller details like the choice of anchor texts, descriptions, and the kind of link to place on other websites. There are also some other methods and practical ways to heighten your websites visibility on search results. These details are not to be overlooked as they also play essential roles in your main endeavor of building a more visible and popular website. And finally, keep an eye on your website's page rank - so you will know how healthy you are doing in your goal or if you need a enhanced approach to get the desired results?

Gaining a Web Presence

by Roger Bauer

Often times when consulting with small businesses, I'm asked "where do we get started with a website, and will we be able to afford this?" First off, you can definitely afford to have a website (most web designers charge in the neighborhood of $70-100/page for fairly basic pages), and I'd argue you can't afford NOT to have a website for your small business. Many potential customers today prefer to research companies and shop via the web, and the boundaries to the audience you can reach is limited only by your imagination. Let's look at how you get started.

Initially, you're going to want to reserve a unique domain name (as in www.yourdomainname.com). Try to think of a name or phrase that is easy to remember. If you can get one to match your company name, that's best. If not, think of a search term someone might use to find the company. For my company, "consulting services" would be a popular search phrase so including the word "consulting" in the name was a key. Don't over-think this—keep it simple, and don't get too cute or fancy with the name.

There are several places you can search for an available domain name including:
• Go Daddy
• Register.com
• Domains.org

Most domain registrars charge less than $10/year per site name, and their sites do a good job of stepping you through the process if you're a beginner. If you come across a registrar wishing to charge you too much, shop around—there's a lot of solid competition in this arena.

Ok. Now you have your domain name picked out and registered, but what good is it to have a web presence if nobody can find you? Immediately submit your domain name to the major search engines such as Yahoo!, Google, and MSN. The reason behind this is it takes several weeks to months for them to "crawl" (inventory) your site. That means you have a little time to get the content for your site developed. Most conventional wisdom suggests developing the content, then submitting to the search engines, but you'll be ahead in the game if you submit to the engines right away. To submit to the major engines, go to their websites and look for a link that says something along the lines of "suggest a site" or "suggest a link." Then follow the links to submit a site for free. You'll have to answer a few questions, but you'll be well on your way to helping others find you which is the whole reason you're wanting a web presence right?

Next, it's time to develop some content. I'd highly recommend hiring a professional to create an appealing and functional site. Most beginning websites done by inexperienced developers tend to lack good navigation, institute poor layouts, and have unappealing aesthetics. Your site doesn't have to be complicated to be appealing and functional.

If you wish to develop the main content yourself, have a developer create some template pages complete with basic linking for you to obtain a consistent look and feel for your site. There's nothing wrong with paying for a site shell and tweaking that shell over time. In fact, that's how most sites are started. Don't expect a web designer to write your website copy for you—you know the most about your company so you'll want to drive the bus for that.

Once the content is developed and laid out to your liking, where are you going to put it? Most small businesses don't have the resources to host and support a site internally so that means finding a web-hosting partner. There are tons of web hosting companies out there (do a Google search for web-hosting and select one that appeals to you), but you're going to want to find one that is reliable, provides quality 24/7 customer service, and instructs you how to upload and update your content. The web-hosting company does not have to be local to serve your web pages.

If you require internet e-mail addresses for your employees, it might benefit you to find a deal that includes a certain number of e-mail addresses with the hosting package. These are rather common. Some other whistles and bells you may want to have included: script handling, database integration, shopping carts, and visitor statistics. The latter is rather important to see how your site is doing and which pages your visitors seem to migrate to the most. You'd pay attention to your visitors if they physically came into your company or store so your website shouldn't be any different.

Voila! You have the very basics of gaining a web presence. Now you're ready to start tackling ways you can optimize your site content along with gaining new visitors and retaining them.

How to Put Video on your Website: The Basics

by Maria Markella

Video is an extremely powerful medium. If you use eye-catching videos on your website chances are you will capture your website visitor's interest. Moreover, if you put video on your webpages, search engines will love you and will push your website in the top pages of their search results.

There are a lot of ways to implement videos on your website. Let's discuss some basic issues in this article.

You have two options (from the website visitor's perspective) when you want to put video on your website. Either let the visitor wait for the download of the entire video file and then view it, or use streaming techniques to immediately start playing the video file when the page loads. Streaming video becomes more and more popular every day.

Many web designers or webmasters think that the process of creating a video, editing it and uploading it to the website is a pain. The truth is that it does take time to do it, but it's not that complicated.

What you should pay attention to, is the bandwidth usage. Videos are real bandwidth eaters. You should also be aware of the various legal problems that may arise if you use video files that don't belong to you.

So if you decide to put video on your website you may first think if the value of the video justifies the time you need to spent to prepare the video and implement it on your website. Will the specific video help the website visitors? What technique of video implementation is better for you?

For example in a slow internet connection (56 kbps), a 1mb video file will take about 5 minutes to download. Is the value of the video high so that a visitor with a slow internet connection will wait for the file to download?

In other words, if you want to put video on your website make sure it's a good one. One that adds real value for your website's visitors and enhances your website's quality.

Web Forums: Building an Online Community

by Debbi Sullivan

An online forum is about information sharing and community, and successful forums don't happen by accident. Common sense, good publicity, and good management skills are what is needed to keep your forum growing. Before you even begin, there are a couple points to consider:

Is there a need for my forum?

If you have a website that already has a decent following, adding a forum for fans of your site will likely be successful. Other good reasons to start a forum are having a unique or 'niche' topic, or having a new approach to something. Check first to see if there are already forums out there that address your topic, and in the same way you would. If there are, consider joining an established forum instead of starting your own, to avoid fragmenting your community into dividing its time between too many similar forums.

Where will I host my forum?

While there are free hosts available, it is advisable to choose a professional web host for your forum. Most web hosts offer hosting packages for your entire website, including the forum. Having a real hosting account allows you to have your forum under your own domain name and control. If you choose to begin your forum using a free service, it is unlikely that you will be able to later 'move' it to private hosting without losing all the previous posts. This could be upsetting to your long-time members if they have to start over again on a new forum. It is better to host the forum on your own from the outset.

The organization of your forum boards (topics) is key to managing your forum effectively. Below are some basic guidelines to follow.

FAQ

Every forum should have a general FAQ, that lists what your forum's purpose is, what the general rules of conduct are, and what actions, if any, will be taken for violation of the rules. You may also want to include a brief description of how the board works, or a link to a tutorial that shows how to use the features of the forum.

Main Topics (or boards)

At the minimum, you will need two main topic areas, or 'boards', as they are called. You will want one board for your main subject; the purpose of your site and forum. For instance, if the forum is for your favorite band, the band's name would be your main board. You will also want a second board for...everything else! It is a well-known phenomenon that visitors to a particular forum establish a kinship with each other, and spend time chatting about something other than your main forum topic. This is desirable, and helps build community, but it can be tedious to plow through twenty off-topic posts in the middle of a topical thread. By providing a separate section for people to post on other topics, you help develop your community and encourage your visitors to stay and chat.

Sub-Topics (or sub-boards)

You can create as many sub-topics as necessary, but remember - too many choices can lead to confusion. New visitors want to join a community that is popular and authoritative. If you make suboards for fifty topics and each have only one or two posts in them, vistors may think your site is not popular, and they may not choose to join. Better to choose a few well-thought-out sub-boards to start, and let the site grow from there. Our band board might include a General Band Chat sub-board, an Upcoming Shows sub, and a Past Show Reviews sub. The 'everything else' board might include sub-boards for other bands, for movies or tv, and a lounge for general discussion topics and chit-chat.

Specialty Sub-Boards

With the advent of video and music sharing on the web, a special section devoted to such media is a must. Here people can post links to their favorite music and video downloads, and administrators should insist that all media links go in this section. Forum users often unknowingly or unthinkingly post private or copyrighted material on forums. This will happen to you - it happens to everyone at some time. If this sort of material is 'contained' in its own section of the forum, it is much easier for you, the administrator, to remove the material if you are asked to. Instead of deleting entire sections of conversation within a thread, or searching frantically for all links to the illegal post, you can go to one section, and remove one topic. End of story.

Once your board is organized and operational, visit it often and keep an eye on what is happening. There is no need to be a heavy-handed board dictator, but you do want to watch for the occasional forum troll. Trolls are people who visit forums for no reason other than to start arguments. In general, these people don't have a legitimate reason for being at your forum, they simply want to post negative and insulting remarks and fight with regular members. Trolls should be ejected from the board as soon as you see one, but be careful not to eject someone who truly has an interest in your topic and simply has a different or unpopular opinion. The more open and free-exchange your board is, the more lively the discussion. It is a good idea to specify in your FAQ rules how members should approach each other when there is a difference of opinion. If you limit expressions of disagreement to the topics, and do not allow personal attacks on members, you will have a much more 'well-adjusted' forum environment. Your forum may not always be a harmonious place, but when people can particpate without personal attacks they feel more comfortable expressing their opinions. If you want to build a lasting, authoritative community, it is essential that your members are comfortable enough to stay.

Forums take on a life of their own, and a personality that sometimes no one expects. Forums are often the most visited part of a website, because they are the most dynamic - there is always something new to be found. A high-traffic forum can be a great source of revenue, as they are prime candidates for programs such as Google AdSense. A good hosting plan, some common-sense rules, an effective organization and board structure, and an open attitude on the part of administrator and members alike is what allows a community to grow. Whether you are trying to attract visitors to increase your traffic, to promote your ideas, or to drive sales, a well-run forum is one of the most effective tools you can employ. And besides, they are just plain fun!

Small Business Web Site Building – The Easy Way

By: Mike D Tucker

So you have decided to start your own online business and now you have to figure out the process of small business web site building. How should you go about it? This article will help to answer some of your questions.

To build your first online small business web site you have several options. You could hire a professional web design company to build it for you. I have had several problems with this. First of all who do you hire out of the thousands of companies out there? Are they trustworthy? Will they deliver on time? will the site look the way you want it or the way they want it? Will they make changes for you in a timely manner and for the same price? These are some of the problems you will run into. Not to mention the high cost of hiring a professional company.

Another way to go about it is to hire someone from a freelance website. You place an add for the job you want done and people bid on it. This option is a lot cheaper than going with a professional company. But again you have no idea who you are hiring and what you are going to get.

Then there is the option of building it all your self. This presents several problems. If your site is data base driven do you know how to set it up? Will you be using a script written by someone else and will it work with your website without crashing or giving you errors? Believe me I have spent many hours trying to get several scripts to work with each other. All it takes is the simplest typo to bring your site down. I spent an entire day once trying to figure out what I did wrong. I finally found out that I had typed a , instead of a period.

Then we come to my favorite option and that is to buy a business web site that is already done. You will know what it will look like. You know it will work. You will know the final cost. You will know that everything will work with each other. Doing it this way is the most cost effective way. Once your site is up and running you can always change the look of it. A big piece of advice here is to always back up everything before making any changes. That way if you make a mistake you can always upload your backup copy and start over.

You have to decide on how much your time is worth. I would rather spend my time getting business to by website than working on the design. Believe me it is much more profitable that way.