Website traffic is one thing, but your website content is just as important. People strive to be on the first page of Google, but what’s the point if visitors arrive at your site to find out of date or irrelevant information? They’ll just leave..

At Primate Designs we - well, Jon - just rewrote nearly our entire website. Ok, we do practice what we preach and update it regularly with new things that we’re doing but it’d become a bit fragmented and didn’t read as well as it could. Time for a spring clean - new news, new product information and new client portfolios, not forgetting plenty of web design optimisation!

Maybe it’s time you took a fresh look at the copy on your website. Remember: If you can’t edit your website - go ape.. (Then contact Primate Designs!)

So I had to use Internet Explorer today (yes, I know, it was a horrible experience) and noticed on Google’s homepage that they’re advertising their Chrome web browser. Strange, I thought; haven’t seen that before. After a quick look in Firefox, Safari and Opera it seems Google are only targeting users of Internet Explorer to switch to Chrome. Good job lads!

Since it’s release late last year Chrome has already gained 1.23% of the market share according to Net Applications, which may not seem like a big number but it is significant as it shows it’s growing at the same rate as more established browsers Firefox and Safari.

I like Chrome - it may have a few hiccups and teething problems but it remains fast to use and has a lovely interface so the more people Google attract away from Internet Explorer the better.

Graphic design is graphic design, right? Wrong. Many designers are experienced at creating layouts for print, yet encounter problems when creating a design for use on a website. Here are five simple tips to keeping your web developer sweet by providing them with what they need:

1. Ensure graphic drafts are provided at 100% their screen size to avoid any errors in rescaling them for the screen. Do not provide visuals in a scalable format such as a pdf - clients may view the draft at a different zoom level and expect layouts to be a different size than intended.
2. Layouts should be provided in a layered image (Adobe’s PSD or the open source XCF files are both ideal), with each element on it’s own transparent layer. This will enable your web developer to grab the sections they need quickly and easily. Be sure to name your layers with sensible titles!
3. Layouts should be fixed width and not attempt to resize with the browser window. Layouts which resize to fill the available space are unreliable with the wide range of screen resolutions currently in use.
4. The smallest common resolution in use is 1024×768 pixels, therefore layouts should currently use a maximum width of around 980 pixels.
5. Use fonts which are ‘web safe’ or have a cross-platform option of the same basic dimensions to fall back on. There is extensive information regarding web safe fonts on internet and it’s worth familiarising yourself with them. Remember: A Mac will have a different font set to a Windows PC and a Unix PC will likely have a different set again!

One of our favourite online shopping ePayment gateways is rebranding. Protx has been owned by Sage for a while now, but they’re going one step further and rebranding the service to tie in with the rest of the Sage family of products. The name change is effective from 21st April 2009 and will also see the launch of a 24/7 telephone support service. Protx has been one of our favourite ecommerce tools as the staff have always been helpful and the service has always worked without any hassle - let’s hope the quality remains high.

So there’s a new World Wide Web Consortium design in beta at http://beta.w3.org which is open to public feedback. I for one have put my 2p in and emailed them to say how uninspiring it looks. Considering the first line of their redesign ‘goals’ states:

“To modernize the look of the site “

I could not be more disappointed by the drab graphics and clunky interface reminiscent of a stock template of 10 year old vintage. This is the website for the people who represent the internet! Let’s have some enthusiam and show just what this internet thing is really capable of being in 2009 please guys!

CMS (Content Management System) is one of those phrases that’s often used when talking about editable websites; Often incorrectly, in my opinion. There are so many options these days; some free, some expensive, all claiming to be the best thing since sliced bread. The thing that amazes me is that even the most mainstream award-winning solutions can be a little baffling to use, even to someone who spends their working week creating bits of the internet. They may be powerful once you know how to use them, but surely things should be a little more intuitive these days?

I’d like to suggest it’s because these systems try to take on too much, have too many features and try to cater for too many website scenarios. Is it wrong to leave the design to a designer, to leave the setup to a developer (or an automated system such as our startup websites) and to free the website owner to put their words and pictures on their website?

Those cheeky Polish scammers have been hard at work crafting rather convincing scam email in the style of a Paypal email receipt for a Sony Vaio laptop. At a glance it can have you confused, even tempted to click the link which says it will cancel the transaction. Don’t panic. If you look closely the link is not to paypal.co.uk but to paypal.co-uk.pl - easily missed if you’re not too savvy with urls. Delete it and definitely don’t click on the link or you’ll find yourself unwittingly handing over your account details.

We’re soon to be releasing a new feature for our websites which use the Silverback Editing Platform - a more powerful version of the editable menu items found in our startup websites. If you’ve already got a Silverback based website or want to get this for your website, phone our web design studio now on 0203 3265060!

Some of you may have seen Alex’s recent post on website promotion on our Startup Website blog. If you haven’t, you should. It’s got lots of useful info with things to consider when creating your promotional material or writing your on your blog for example. Whether you’re looking for a new brand image or just starting out and need some basic promotional items, Primate Designs can help. Our designers not only have experience in web design, but expertise ranging from simple logo design through to large scale exhibitions.

Primate Designs are now offering more than just website design. Whether you’re buying or leasing a website from us, or just plain curious as to how to get the best from your business on the internet we’re happy to help.

Years of experience mean we know what works and what doesn’t work on the internet and can relate that not only to your website, blog or online shop, but to your business as a whole in simple words that are easy to understand. We offer training sessions for a one-off price or per hour, at our studio or at your premises. Call our st albans studio on 0203 326 5060 to get your business started on the web.