I use to like Internet Explorer. There are some uses – like the fact there are people that use it and view my site with it. However, it seems there are people who missed the updates and still use Internet Explorer 6 (IE6.) I still see people viewing my site in IE6 and know my PNG images look crappy to them. Oh well, I am not changing it for IE6 and I do not optimize sites for it. As a web designer, it is my choice and I am not afraid to tell my clients why I do not.

It is not just about integrity as said in Joseph McCullough’s article IE6 and the Starving Artist, it is about making people aware of how much safer it is to surf without a faulty browser. Funny how the update was missed as when IE7 was released, it came out as an automatic update!

Why is Internet Explorer 6 bad?

The program is not compatible with some css and javascript elements. It is also well known to have many security vulnerabilities.

It is not about being snooty or web standard compliant (okay, well, you should at least try to be W3C compliant), it is about safe surfing. No one likes malware or viruses. Some of them can be a pain to remove or even costly!

While I am not going to slap some code on my site to tell people to update, I am at least writing to tell people that IE6 is dead. As funny as it sounds, there was even a funeral for IE6 too! Google even started phasing out IE6.

So, why not upgrade to Windows IE7 and above? It is available and not really that hard to update. There are also other great browsers like Firefox, Chrome, Opera, and Safari.

What browser do you like to surf the Internet with?

The views on search engine optimization (SEO) has been one of the things that has changed in the past few years. A lot of bloggers sit down, type a post, and publish it without even applying any keywords. In fact, there are some that even apply SEO without even knowing it. However, it is usually not enough.
Of course, there are professionals and even plugins for content management systems that can assist in optimizing an article.
For some of the older bloggers, and I mean ‘older’ as in you have been blogging for more than 3 years, you might want to Read More →

It is funny how recently the show House, M.D. had a character that was a blogger. In fact, this sparked a bit of conversation in the blogging community too. For example, I found How much is too much to share by Lady Grier. In the episode it seemed that she had to blog about everything going on in her life, even when she was facing death’s door. She was even asking her readers on advice on how to proceed with her medical procedures. It was a bit bizarre there.
For one, if you are comfortable giving out personal information – fine, Read More →

Some would argue that it is not worth it and is only a system to track traffic. In fact a lot of the traffic they track usually depends on whether or not your visitor installed the Alexa tool bar. So how does Alexa put together a number for each site?
According to Alexa’s FAQ How are Alexa’s traffic rankings determined?, traffic rank is determined by the number of uses of their toolbar. The uses are divvied between page views and reach. Even if you visit a site multiple times, your visit is only counted once. Again, this is solely based Read More →

What?!?
I understand what is said in the article (Un)Social Networking, but I cannot agree with it entirely. The article covers that people are basically losing interest in real conversation face-to-face and would rather turn to social network sites like Twitter and Facebook. Conversations are considered more shallow within the social streams.
As a person that writes for TwitterWatchdog.com, I have connected with quite a number of people. Some, I talk to via email, or they visit my site.
Some of the comments that I receive as well as the ones I give at other sites would be enough to write a Read More →

Many social media consultants will say that you really should write in your own words when you blog. I agree. However, there are some problems that do come up in what is good blogging and what is not.
I am not a grammar Nazi. I actually was one years ago and you know, I really had no right. I am dyslexic and have often spelled words wrong or mixed up wording.
But for others who are in the same boat, you can still write in your own words, but you need to be conscious of your articles. For those who want to Read More →

It has become alarming to see some great sites tagging excessively, so I thought I would cover this issue without pinpointing anyone in particular.
It is important to not put so many tags in your posts. Like keywords, the density should be low. For sites that contain a lot of posts that talk about the same subjects, but not exactly be the same, it might be best to use something different than another post.
Though I have no definite number that is generally acceptable, you can use tools like Website Grader to see if you are excessively tagging. For Blondish.net, I Read More →

Hesham asks on his site “is blogs like plants and cars?!”
I felt that my response could be better stated in an article rather than a long comment. I tend to get winded in my comments.
Blogs can be very similar to plants. Your design is the soil- the foundation to prepare for your plant. The seed is the content itself that needs nuturing. You can nuture your site by bring in people to read and comment. Each comment quenches the seed’s needs in order to grow.
As more seeds are planted, the blog becomes like a garden of Read More →