HTML5 is the next major revision of HTML, the main language used to create web pages, is currently being developed to add new features and reduce the need for proprietary plug-ins (like Flash).  Here’s an overview of what you can expect to be able to do inside your browser in the near future.  Click on the image for a large view.

WTF is HTML 5 and Why Should You Care? is a post from Bob Hazlett, a digital marketer who writes at One Half Amazing!

iPad Peek is a nifty tool that lets you see how any website will be rendered on the iPad. Click on the top border to switch from landscape to portrait mode; the virtual keyboard and the buttons on the iPad browser are just for show, but the reload button on the iPad browser works.

iPad Peek: See How Your Website Looks on the iPad via Mashable

See How Your Website Looks on the iPad is a post from Bob Hazlett, a digital marketer who writes at One Half Amazing!

Waiting on the NFL playoff games to start and need to kill a little time?  Here are the articles I’m reading this weekend.

• 35 Beautiful and Effective E-commerce Sites. One of my predictions for 2010 is that “experience” will be the big web buzzword.  Smashing Magazine has put together a set of attractive online stores that try to do just that by creating an eye-catching look and also focusing on usability.
• Google SEO Resource for Beginners.  Straight from the mouth of the 800lb gorilla, Google hands out SEO bananas for you to make your site leaner and meaner in 2010.
• Posterous taps Post.ly to help share your media via Twitter. Attach photos, music, videos and docs to your tweets.  Post.ly takes care of the rest.
• Chris Guillebeau over at The Art of Non-Conformity kicks off his $100 business forum.  The premise being to teach individuals to start small businesses on a budget of less than $100.  I was lucky enough to get into the first class beginning in February.  I’ll keep you updated on how it works out.
• Microsoft makes learning Office fun (yes, you read that right).  Microsoft turns learning Office into a game where participants score points for unlocking challenges and achievements. Badges can then be shown off via Facebook.
• How to create custom YouTube, Twitter and MySpace backgrounds

If you’re interested in seeing more, check out my Google Reader Shared Items.

What are you reading this weekend? Let me know in the comments below.

Here’s What I’m Reading This Weekend is a post from Bob Hazlett, a digital marketer who writes at One Half Amazing!

via Ryan at Vitamin

How to do A/B Testing with WordPress is a post from Bob Hazlett, a digital marketer who writes at One Half Amazing!

Facebook let it all hang out to a select group of members to test their new search interface.  The system would allow members to search their news feed for recent updates, photos, links, videos and notes being shared on friends’ profiles and fan Pages. Users who have made their profile and content available to anyone will also be searchable.

SEOMoz yammers it up during Whiteboard Friday to talk about visualization.  I think visualization is one of those new and sexy fields that you’ll hear more and more about in the near future.

SEOmoz Whiteboard Friday – Visualization from Scott Willoughby on Vimeo.

12seconds is updating their iPhone app to take advantage of the new OS 3.0.  The app, which should be available soon, will allow you to send short video messages directly to your friends via twitter.

Back ‘dat thing up and pick up some great tips about landing page design through CopyBlogger’s Landing Page Makeover.  Their most recent tutorial covers CarsHelpingAmerica.org.

If you’re a fan of Indie Rock, I highly recommend The Veils – Sun Gangs. Rock out this weekend.

Facebook Universal Search, Visualization, 12Seconds and Landing Page Design is a post from Bob Hazlett, a digital marketer who writes at One Half Amazing!

Here are the interesting posts at the top of my reading list this week.

The fine folks at the Red Cross are working diligently on crafting a Social Media Policy Handbook.  They’ve got a great start and are light years ahead of even most for-profit businesses. As it should, its available online for your viewing pleasure.

Staying with the non-profit side of things, NPR has a great feature of The Extraordinaries.  Its a micro volunteering iPhone app that allows people to give small blocks of time (< 5 min) and knowledge to a non-profit. Some of the first tasks available are tagging images for the Brooklyn Museum building a map of childhood playgrounds.  It’s a beautiful concept.

SEOMoz updated their SEO Best Practices to account for new industry data.  They clear the air and a lot of confusion in regards to new search engine optimization standards.  The synopsis is H1 tags are not all that necessary anymore, stop trying to sculpt PageRank with nofollow, use footer links, java and flash sparingly, traffic to a site doesn’t determine its ranking and quite a bit more.

Smashing Magazine compiled a great list of web design checklists and resources that will help improve your writing skills.

Rumor has it that Google is experimenting with product ads that would would work very similar to AdWords, but display an image ad along the right hand side of the SERP when the user searches on a particular term.  These ads would run on a pay-per-action basis rather than a pay-per-click (PPC) basis.

Non-Profits Kicking Butt, New SEO Best Practices, Web Design Checklists and Google Advertising Rumors is a post from Bob Hazlett, a digital marketer who writes at One Half Amazing!

“Technology is dominated by two types of people: those who understand what they do not manage, and those who manage what they do not understand.”

Thanks Kenny!

Putt’s Law is a post from Bob Hazlett, a digital marketer who writes at One Half Amazing!

Originally posted January 19, 2009

Developing your web site for mobile devices can be confusing.  What screen size should you optimize for? What device is the most popular?  What content do you keep in, what do you remove?  There are many decisions to make, but allow me to make one suggestion. Save yourself some heartache and instead of using a separate domain such as a .mobi version, use a subdomain such as m.yourdomain.com or www.yourdomain.com/mobile. Using a subdomain keeps your brand strong, reduces customer confusion and better optimizes your site for search engines.

Additional Resources:

Mobile Plugins for WordPress – easily make your site viewable on mobile devices.Setting up a Google Analytics filter to track mobile visitors to your site
Designing for the Mobile Web

Designing For The Mobile Web is a post from Bob Hazlett, a digital marketer who writes at One Half Amazing!

Google releases geo-performance reporting feature

10 Web Applications for FriendFeed

Social Media Breakfast #6 Memphis and an update from Sharing at Work

Will it Matter in 5 Years?

On Demand WordPress Theme and a nice Thesis Update

The Most Brilliant Outdoor Campaign Ever

How Simple Web Design Helps Your Business and 40 Creative Design Layouts from Smashing Magazine

I also ordered two books: The Leader of the Future 2 and What Got You Here Won’t Get You There

What I’m Reading this Week is a post from Bob Hazlett, a digital marketer who writes at One Half Amazing!

A quick thought. Create a webpage for your actual customers – the people who actually visit and use it. Find out what’s relevant and important to them and then go and give it to them. Don’t build a site that will help you, your marketing department, your sales team or anyone else at your organization. Take this mentality with you and see how it changes things – both online and off.

Build a Website for Your Customers is a post from Bob Hazlett, a digital marketer who writes at One Half Amazing!

Is your website doing what you designed it to do? Are you looking to redesign or tweak your current site? Here are three starter questions that are critical to guiding website analysis.

1. Who is your target audience?
2. What is your unique selling proposition?
3. What is your main website goal?

Is Your Website Doing It’s Job? is a post from Bob Hazlett, a digital marketer who writes at One Half Amazing!

It seems today that there are 2 main schools of thought when defining good web design. Those designers following Jakob Nielsen come from a strict usability standpoint in which efficiency, functionality and effective presentation of information reign supreme. In turn, there are designers that follow a purely aesthetic group which focuses on sexy graphics and slick animations. Why must designers get caught up in one train of thought in which they totally ignore the other?

Design is all about communication. Elements and functionality of a finished site should work as a cohesive unit so that;

1. Users recognize each page as belonging to the site
As I’ve spoken about before, even if there is a dynamic difference in the layout between the homepage and the rest of the site, a cohesive theme or style should exist across all pages of a site to hold it together. This could be as simple as a site ID, color scheme or logo placement.

2. Uses are pleased by the design, but stay for the content
Usability experts will tell you that one of the most important aspects of your site is the amount of time it takes the user to scan and find the information they want. The easier it is for the user to find their information, the better the likelihood that they will return. Therefore, design should not be a obstacle, but rather it should act as a channel between the user and the information. Content is king!

3. Users can easily move about intuitively through your navigation
The main navigation block, wherever it may reside on your page, (I won’t divulge deeper on the theories of navigation unless there is a need or want) should be clear and visible on the page and each link should have a descriptive title. Navigation should change appearance on mouseover and also indicate the active page once clicked.

Additional Resources:
Line Leaves courtesy of chinup

A List Apart – For People Who Make Websites
Most Inspired Website Gallery
The Best Designs – Web Gallery
Smashing Magazine

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Defining Good Web Design is a post from Bob Hazlett, a digital marketer who writes at One Half Amazing!

As you design and layout your web site (or look at your current one) ensure that it contains 5 essential elments. These paramount pieces help the user navigate the site with ease, give them confidence and increase the likelyhood that they return.

1. Site Logo – Maintain a site ID or distinguishing feature that remains consistent across all pages. Your home page may differ somewhat from your secondary pages only because it serves a much larger purpose. A consistent site logo on all pages is a subliminal message to the user that they are within the same site as they browse your content.

2. Search Function – Their are a few dominate ways that users use the web; one of which are search dominant users. These users initially search for information upon visiting a site before exploring further. Ensure that your site gives these users a way to search with either a search box or a link to a search box. Don’t confuse the user by using terms such as find, keyword or quick find. It may make sense to your or me, but there may be a hint of doubt on the actual meaning of these terms to some users. Stick with the term “search” only.

3. Sections – Permanent navigation that corresponds and links to the main sections of your site. Navigation should be consistent and prevelent on all pages of your site.

4. Utilities - Utilities are those critical elements to a web site’s functionality that don’t necessarily add to the site’s content or sections. Examples include sitemap, about us, contact us and help. Utilities should be limited to 4 at most.

5. Home Button and “You are Here” indicators – A home button gives the user a safe feeling that if they linger off they can always return to where they started. Each page should have a home button as well as the Site logo linking back to the home page. “You are Here” indicators are navigational tools that allow the user to know what page or section of your site they are on at any time. “You are Here” indicatiors almost act as a GPS for your web site. As your car’s GPS continually updates you on your progress as you travel, so do these indicatiors. They give confidence to the user that they can successfully find the information they are looking for and that your site isn’t as big as it seems from the outside (even though it really may be). Breadcrumbs are a subtle example of this, but I would recommend that additional indications are present on your site as well.

Additional Resources:
Jakob Nielsen Useit.com – Web site usability and web design
Don’t Make Me Think – Steve Krug

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5 Essential Elements that Every Web Site Must Contain is a post from Bob Hazlett, a digital marketer who writes at One Half Amazing!