Many web site owners and new designers do not understand the importance of optimizing images for a web site. The process is pretty simple once you understand the concepts.
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New web site owners frequently do not understand which image types to use with a web site. Once you understand the characteristics of each type of image, the choice becomes much clearer.
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Netiquette, or Net etiquette, is a set of guidelines for content and web site design that seek to create a seamless communications channel with users and to avoid areas that sometimes cloud or confuse the communications. Many rules that have become bona fide standards for print media do not work well with the Internet. it it a mistake to assume that all standards used for books, brochures and print media advertising work equally well with the web. Here are some examples of bad netiquette.
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Validation assures that your HTML or XHTML code is compliant with industry standards. This in turn means that your Web pages should render (display) without errors in a browser. It also helps assure that the code can be easily read by search engine spiders. Sometimes a coding error can make it difficult for spiders to read a web page, and although this is rare, the issue is eliminated through proper validation.
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Browser testing can be an annoyance but is necessary due to inherent incompatibilities between Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (IE) and Mozilla’s FireFox, further incompatibilities between different versions of the same browser (mostly IE issues), as well as numerous bugs that were never fixed in some versions. This situation has always existed and started way back when Netscape and Microsoft jockeyed for the top market share position. Each introduced a number of new features that were not always recognized by the other, and both companies were guilty of frequently ignoring the established W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) standards in favor of their own standard-setting desires.
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Page weight is the total size in bytes for all code, content, images and objects that must be downloaded from a Web server to a first-time visitor’s browser. Why is this important? Because page weight is primary factor in Web site performance, and Web site performance is a key factor in retaining users on a Web site.
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Google offers a few query commands, also called operators, that can be used to analyze a Web site–and about the competition for your selected keyword phrases. The following is a brief list of the most useful query operators. Just substitute your domain name for "mydomain.com" or your search keywords for "green" and "widgets". Don’t be afraid to try them. They are easy to use.
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E-commerce sites walk a fine line with users. If the site is friendly, easy-to-use, attuned to your audience and the products presented properly, the site should convert visitors to users. However, most e-commerce sites do not work convert visitors as well as they should because they are lacking in features that build trust and help convert visitors into customers.
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JavaScript is a very flexible client-side scripting language that adds interactive features to a Web page. A client-side language runs in a user’s browser. Although JavaScript can also be used as a server-side language (runs on a Web server), it’s primary use in Web development is to add interactive features, such as HTML form input validation, image swapping, mouse rollover effects, drop-down navigational menus, moving objects and other interesting effects, to the user experience.
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Many common web site design mistakes can have a negative impact on a visitor’s user experience. If the goal for your web site is to attract users who will stay long enough to make a purchase or enquire about your services, you need to deliver impressive results as soon as a user lands on your web pages. Greg Loumeau from Dreamco offers his top web design recommendations.

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