This is an box for a short bio to be edited in the header.php file. Of course you can try to persuade people to Web Design Tip Series: Use Text »
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- Web Design Tip - Don’t use graphics if text will work just as well.
Sometimes, you may be tempted to put some text in an image to display on the web page. However, in almost all cases, text is the best thing to use in your design. Here are a few reasons why:
- Text can be read by Search Engine spiders. Images – not so much.
- Text can be ready by humans. This is especially important in the event that your web page is passed through a language translator.
- Text will always show up but sometimes the paths to images get lost and they fail to display.
About the only time to create text as an image is if you absolutely must use an artsy or abstract text font and there is a high probability that most of your site visitors won’t have that particular font installed on their machines. In a case such as that, you will probably have to create that text as an image. Just remember to make use of the ALT attribute so that the image is correctly described to screen reading programs and Search Engine robots.
Common Web Design Mistakes »
The web is full of examples of poor design. There are even some popular, high traffic web sites that, in my opinion, have some design flaws that could be corrected. And I will certainly be the first to admit that I have made my share of mistakes. In fact, we have a few personal sites that will be fixed as soon as we get the time.
But I think that if we all were doing the same things we did 5 years ago, we would be failing to learn and when you are dealing with the ever-changing technology of the Internet, there is always something to learn and always ways to improve.
So, I am writing down some quick tips that are a result of things we have learned over the years. Some of these tips will be a result of mistakes that we have made and some of them are web design tips and tricks that we have piked up from the bounty of web design experts out there.
When you see this graphic, that is an indicator that you are reading a tip in the series. Feedback is always appreciated and if you have a tip of your own, feel free to mention that as well.
htaccess Files for Web Site Security »
A web site that is powered by a CMS (Content Management System) is a beautiful thing. But, it can also be a target of hackers and other undesirables.
While no web site is truly impervious to attack, webmasters need to take every precaution available, preferably utilizing layered protection. One option available to sites hosted on a Linux/Apache platform is the .htaccess file. If used properly, it will really give your site an additional layer of protection.
In this post, I will be speaking about the way to specifically use the .htaccess file to block access to the CMS portion of your site, for example the /wp-admin folder of your Wordpress blog. If an outsider gained access to that, you could really be up the creek – so we want to block unauthorized access.
First – the Disclaimer
If you don’t know what an .htaccess file is – stop reading now. These files are powerful and are not for noobs. If you do know what these files are, use the following information at your own risk. If you are on a Microsoft IIS web server – stop reading now as I am not going to cover how to do this on a Windows server, but you can Google it for youself.
What We Are Going to Do
This tip will show you how to block ALL IP addresses except the ones that you put on the “approved” list. This means that you should think about any computer(s) that you want to provide with access. Remember, this could also include other writers and blog contributors you have helping you. If a computer tries to access the CMS but their IP address is not on the “approved” list, they will be blocked and given the “Error 403 Forbidden” message.
Here We Go…
The first step is to get the IP addresses of your computer and any that you want to grant access. If you don’t know your computer’s IP address, you can visit this link to get it. Make a note of the IP address.
Now, open Notepad++ or whatever basic text editor you use and start a new document with this content:
# use this to block access to the site administration section
# IMPORTANT – place in the directory that contains your admin information
AuthUserFile /dev/null
AuthGroupFile /dev/null
AuthName “Example Access Control”
AuthType Basic
<LIMIT GET>
order deny,allow
deny from all
allow from ENTER YOUR COMPUTER’S IP ADDRESS HERE
allow from SECOND APPROVED IP ADDRESS HERE
</LIMIT>
Save that file as .htaccess with no file extension.
Upload the .htaccess file to the directory on your web server that contains all your Admin stuff. In Wordpress, that directory would be /wp-admin, for example.
IMPORTANT: DO NOT put this file on the root level of your website or you will be the only one that can see your website. Make sure to place it in the directory that handles your web site’s Administration information. That will keep most of the bad guys from snooping around. But, in reality, if someone wants in, they will find a way.
Testing it Out
Get someone on a different IP address to try to access to your Admin directory. If they get the “403 Forbidden” message but you can access it with no problem, that means your .htaccess file is doing its job. Just make sure to completely test it out before you call it a day.
And remember – if you are not comfortable with .htaccess files, do not try this. Leave a comment asking for some assistance or do some research on your own before attempting.
This is somewhat of an advanced .htaccess post. We will be doing some more posts on .htaccess files that will be less advanced, so grab the 
RSS feed and stay tuned.
Google Owns SEO Company »
I was somewhat surprised at what I read when I came across a post by Scott Buresh on Search Engine Guide. The title is A Slippery Slope: Google Owns a Search Engine Optimization Company.
“What does this mean for those hiring other companies and looking for great search engine placement? We will just have to wait and see.”
Scott Buresh
Scott’s article elaborates on the fact that when Google purchased DoubleClick earlier this year, as part of that package they also got the SEO company Performics, who was a wholly owned subsidiary of DoubleClick.
I had certainly heard of Google’s acquisition of DoubleClick and the similar purchases made by MSN (they bought Aquantive) and Yahoo! (they bought Right Media and BlueLithium).
Google’s ownership of an SEO company has been discussed on other sites as well. And many of those discussions point out that it is a somewhat odd (some say unethical) partnership, which is the point that Scott was making in his article. It seems questionable to me on two fronts:
- It seems that Google could be accused of playing favorites to Performics and that could give them a definite advantage over other SEO companies. After all, if you wanted to have the best chance of a successful SEO campaign, wouldn’t you hire the SEO company owned by the most popular Search Engine? Even if Google comes out and states that they are in no way helping Performics with any “insider” information, just the fact that Performics is owned by Google would seem to give them some serious clout in comparison to other SEO companies.
- Everyone is interested in ranking on Google because it is the Internet’s most used Search Engine (check out the Flash graphic in the sidebar at the right to see their current market share). However, Google is interested in selling PPC advertising to companies who want to achieve high rankings. They want companies to setup Adwords accounts and then pay to be listed in “Sponsored Links” section of the SERPs. So when a company ranks well in the free organic results, Google does not get paid. Until now, it would appear.
Earlier this year, Scott wrote an article on Medium Blue’s web site which gave more perspective on the blurring line between Google’s PPC listings and the organic listings.
Web Design Blog on Technorati »
After splitting up our Tech Blog into Tech and Web Design, I finally got around to claiming this blog at Technorati. When starting a new blog, Technorati will be an invaluable asset in your efforts to get the blog noticed. You can view our Technorati Profile here.
If you want to welcome this blog to the Internet, giving us a Technorati Fav would be much appreciated.
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Faststone Screen Capture is an absolute "can't do without" piece of software. Capture screenshots in a fixed window or with the scrolling window feature. It even has a screen color-picker that will tell you the code for any color that is displayed on your screen. Love it. Oh, its free too! 
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