Posts Tagged ‘interface’

Web Hosting Geeks

Most of you are well aware of the fact that I love hosting with BlueHost but I’m always looking for new web hosting partners especially when it comes to dedicated server and vps hosting options. That’s why I really like websites like Web Hosting Geeks, who point to a great collection of hosting alternatives and solutions I might not already come across.

The site is basically organized as a review website for hosting companies, it gives a general overview of each hosting firm as well as some technical details which would be useful for small business owners and first time buyers. Overall the website is easy to read, straight forward and informative.

What I like about this website in particular is how easy it is to compare brands and search out other hosting platforms, the easy interface makes selecting a web hosting company much more simple for many first time hosting account buyers. I also love that they’ve taken the time to organize by pricing, forums, unix, Windows etc. to ensure that users who are searching for a specific type of hosting can easily find what they’re looking for.

What I don’t like about the website is pretty straight forward, businesses like this make money by promoting affiliate links. It’s no secret, they get paid to promote companies by offering reviews which in turn generate traffic and hopefully sales. This isn’t a bad thing but there’s a fine line between editorial review content and commercial promotion of a product, I think they do a good job of walking the line between the two but it’s always worth keeping in mind when judging the value of their recommendations.

While I’m not likely to switch from BlueHost in the near future, the options provided and the ability to quickly compare service providers is a welcome service.

What Makes a Successful Web Site?

It Should Be Fast Loading 

The biggest single reason visitors do not stay at a Web site is because it takes too long to load; that is, the time it takes for a page to appear on the user’s computer. The site needs to be designed around the premise of “loading” as quickly as possible. To achieve this, I suggest a strong text base for pages where appropriate. Text loads very quickly, which is particularly important, as one of the characteristics of the primary audience is that it is “time-poor”. Although high-speed broadband Internet access is on the increase, a significant number of people still use slower dial-up connections. 

Rich Photography

what makes successful website 300x300 What Makes a Successful Web Site? imageThe inclusion of visual images is one of the most overlooked aspects of the web but without the cost of traditional media printing, the Internet is the perfect place for business owners to feature rich, colorful images capable of effectively communicating the businesses’ key benefits.

Look and Feel 

A Web site today represents the first contact point for many prospective clients. It shows how professional a company is and what kind of attitude they have in selling themselves. I will discuss the interface and layout of the site with you, to ensure that it is attractive, appealing and reflects the appropriate image. The site will be simple to navigate, thereby encouraging users to explore it. 

Information Structure 

A clear, crisp view of the information on the site is paramount in relation to finding specific information. To provide major benefit to the client, the site should have significant amounts of information available to the user. This information must be easily found and presented in such a way as to encourage use. Information on the site must be able to be quickly and easily updated by the client. 

Optimized Content

How you organize your website and the order you present content to the public has a significant impact not only on how users navigate your website but also how other websites interact with your business. It’s important that your website meet international coding standards, be well organized and built to be read properly by companies such as Google and Yahoo.

Fresh Content

Content updates are one of the most frequently ignored aspects of a great website but just like a restaurant, keeping the content fresh and updated will help to increase traffic to an average website but up to 300% instantly.

Interact with Users

Web site owners often treat a website as a unidirectional marketing channel, static and forgettable but today a website is a portal to your customers and one of the easiest ways for you to reach them. Successful websites have forums, blogs, contests and free gifts for users to take advantage of.

Fundraising Thermometer Plugin for Wordpress

The plugin interface, for WordPress

Features

Example of a fund raising image from the new plugin

The fund raising tool is a true WordPress plug-in, testing with WordPress 2.7 and fully functional. It features:

  • W3C compliant Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)
  • Dynamically updated text including target and current fund status
  • Money formating options for use internationally
  • Theme options, allowing designers to customize the look of the thermometer
  • Call either the graphic or a formated number to display in text.

Admin Features

The new interface allows uses to set both the current amount (what has been raised) as well as the target amount (what you want to raise). The script automatically generates the ten steps in between and displays them for the user.


The plugin auto detects if the money_format() function is present and will use it automatically if found, otherwise it will display the currency using the number format function automatically.

How It Works

To display the current amount of money raised (in currently format) place the following code in your theme:

<?php echo show_ourprogress();?>

For a graphical version (by default the thermometer), include the following code:

<?php show_ourprogress_graphic();?>

Where to Get It

The plugin can be downloaded from the official WordPress repository: 

download file Fundraising Thermometer Plugin for Wordpress image

How You Can Help

I love developing plugins for WordPress and do my best to always keep them free but of course it take a lot of time and effort to build these plugins so if you’d like to say thanks, the best way is to take a few moments and write about the plugin on your own website, include a link to my website from your posts or download and rate the plugin on the official plugin directory. 

Support forums are now online! If you have any questions, please visit http://forums.thisismyurl.com.