Archive for Development Ideas

Wireframes, Information Architecture and Site Mapping

By Jemma Fong · Comments (0)
Thursday, June 23rd, 2016

The Blueprint of your Website

Have you heard of the words “Information Architecture”, “Wireframes”, and “Site Mapping” ? – well these are all terms that we web designers use when creating a blueprint structure for your website.

After performing a needs analysis with you and taking a look at either your existing site, or sites that you like/dislike, we formulate a graphical layout of your website skeleton showcasing functions and features of the proposed site. This is known as a wireframe, the blueprint of your website. After performing a keyword research and brainstorming session, we will help you to map your keywords with your content, this is known as site mapping. The site mapping helps work out your site navigation. This whole process all falls under the term information architecture.

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Categories : Development Ideas, Getting Started ...
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Who ate my Breadcrumbs?

By Jemma Fong · Comments (0)
Thursday, May 1st, 2014

This month’s theme topic is Website Features, so this blog post will be covering a feature that many sites still implement in their websites to give a more robust user experience for finding your important information.

Breadcrumbs …

Do you utilize breadcrumb navigation in your website? What is it? Perhaps you are picturing a little mouse crawling around your website pages following the breadcrumbs because he knows it will lead to the cheese. (Who moved the Cheese? – my favourite book on “Change Management”) In web terminology it simply is that. Breadcrumbs is a navigation format that leads the site visitor down a path/trail, easily spelt out where they came from and where they are currently at, in the relation to the website’s hierarchy. Typically this format of navigation is found in larger sites that have lots of deep content laid out in subpages. I came across a pretty good article on the benefits and best practices of using breadcrumbs. He also covered a lot of good examples. Some highlights include:

  • Breadcrumbs eliminates additional clicks
  • Visually pleasing
  • Reduce your overall bounce rates
  • It is best to position your breadcrumbs consistently at the top of your content throughout each page of your site
  • Do not use breadcrumbs as a primary navigation

Check it out here, http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/breadcrumb-navigation-examined-best-practices-examples/ WordPress Users: If your website is built on the WordPress Platform here are some suggested Breadcrumb plugins:

Sample of breadcrumb hierarchy       Another breadcrumb example

So what formats of navigation do you currently use and have you considered using breadcrumbs in your website? Consider having a discussion of the pros and cons of using breadcrumbs in your site with your in-house web team or web developer.

If you need help installing or reviewing whether they could be helpful for your site,
book a consultation with Jemma.

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Categories : Development Ideas, Web Design Tips, Website Features
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Monitor & Manage your Social Media in a Nutshell

By Jemma Fong · Comments (0)
Friday, July 30th, 2010

Are you like me, have tons of email accounts, Twitter accounts, blogs, Facebook groups, the list goes on, and how much time are you spending going from site to site checking your status updates. To help simplify your business, in an interactive and efficient way of bringing it all together, you can stay on top of your posts, gain resourceful information in a timely manner and get on with your business. Check out Nutshell mail video below.

Shortcut #1 – NutshellMail from Wright Brothers Communications on Vimeo.

Did I mention it is FREE!

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Categories : Development Ideas, Tools
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Always keep your site secure with the latest versions

By Jemma Fong · Comments (0)
Tuesday, October 6th, 2009

Today a client called me in a frantic state, worried as all her images were not showing on her site. After some quick analysis and investigation, what appeared to be a minor concern, actually turned out to be something that is worrisome, as it seems the site has been hacked – most likely due to an outdated 3rd party software version. This concern is a serious consideration when thinking of installing and running 3rd party software. It is so important for reasons such as this, to regularly update your version controls and remove any files that may be easily be prone for access. To remedy this there are two key things to do right away!

1) back up your files in your database and make sure to have a copy on your desktop
2) change your password to the FTP and to the 3rd party application

Then, download the latest version of the software application and reload onto your server, getting rid of all the old backend files of the application. Hopefully this will clean the server and eradicate the issues brought forth because of the virus.

Hackers Ahead

Hackers Ahead

A quick way we were able to detect something weird going on with the site, was looking at the source code and seeing, gobbly gook code that didn’t belong there. From the page source we could see – all sorts of writing not relevant to the site content. From the PHP code we could see script running on the page.

So the rule of thumb, if you own any 3rd party application for blogging, e-commerce, affiliate programs, email/e-newsletter etc. make sure to always have the most up to date version on your host server and stay vigilant with your passwords – change them often and ensure they are strong passwords.

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