Tag Archives: Web Design

The Anatomy Of Most Web Design Clients

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The Anatomy Of Most Web Design Clients

Clients are not all the same. Sure there are a few that will react the way the info-gram describes them, but there is also a good percentage of clients ho are the complete opposite. What do you think? What type of client do you consider yourself to be like?

Internet Video Formats

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There are different types of video formats that can be used on a website BUT you need to choose the right one because they will and will not work depending on what type of browser you are using or platform. Here are more details

  1. First things first
    In a digital video suitable for distribution on the Internet we distinguish three basic parts: the video itself, the audio and the file contains both (and other things to ignore). Well, each of which can have different formats.
  2. The video itself
    It be encoded digitally and almost always packed (if not, we would need a huge bandwidth to move …). The programs that encode and compress (or undo) are the “famous” codecs. There are several formats, and each may be one or several codecs. Common formats are:

    • MPEG-4
      MPEG-4 is a set of standards defined by the MPEG consortium as an evolution of MPEG-2 (used in digital TV and DVD) and MPEG-1 (used among others in the Video-CD).The compression format is only part of the MPEG-4, is in fact the “Part 2”. But it is known by the name of the standard. Based on the MPEG-4 codecs like DivX have the Xvid and QuickTime.Although it has a reputation for “free” to be defined by a committee, it is actually a proprietary format MPEG consortium (in which are many firms with interests in this market, such as Apple, Microsoft, Panasonic, Sony … intersante list on wikipedia ) but not Adobe or Google, for example (and this is important …)
    • H.264
      What complicates things is that the MPEG-4 format also defines a “better” in “Part 14”, VCA, better known as H.264, fashion format that is standard on phones in the Blu- ray. So H.264 is only “one” MPEG-4, H.264 but always call …That if, at equal size, usually H.264 will give us a much higher quality than MPEG-4.
    • Sorenson Spark
      Sorenson Spark is little known, but turns out to be the codec “original” of the famous Flash Video. Adobe bought the license to Sorenson Media, developers of the format, so often identified with him, but as we will see Flash defines a file format that supports various video formats, not just this one. In any case, it is also of an “owner”
    • Theora
      Theora if Open Source is a format developed by the Xiph.Org Foundation (comes from one owner, who was released by VP3 On2, its developer, at the time). Pretty used in used in all kinds of open source projects but little in applications “commercial”.
    • VP6
      Owner of On2 and licensed to Adobe. Used in the last latest Flash instead of Sorenson Spark.
    • VP8
      Powered by On2 as the VP3 and VP6, was released-irrevocably-in 2010 when Google bought On2. Is therefore Open Source. Although very recent and enjoys very little support, VP8 is the format chosen by Google for Internet video standard for WebM.
    • Windows Media Video and VC-1
      Microsoft proprietary formats, used exclusively in Windows Media. The codec, including Windows, Windows Media Encoder is both WMV to VC-1
  3. The audio formats
    The truth is that they give less trouble, so I will just mention the most important:
  • MP3
    Name where is confusing because it refers to “Part 3” of the MPEG-1, which defined the digital audio format associated with the video. Format widespread since it was first used for compressing and sharing music.
  • AAC
    Advanced Audio Coding. New audio format defined by the MPEG-4.
  • Ogg Vorbis
    Open Source Format Xiph.Org Foundation. The Open Source community argues that its quality is superior to MP3 and AAC. Used in the corresponding projects and commercial applications like Spotify. Is the audio format chosen by Google for WebM standard.
  • Windows Media Audio
    Microsoft proprietary format
  • Dolby Digital and Dolby TrueHD
    Dolby owners. Used DVDs and Blu-ray, respectively.

File formats

We are the containers. The identify by its extension as a file:

  • . Mp4
    MPEG-4 container (it is his “Part 14”). Can contain video in MPEG-4 (ie, the codec created by DivX, Xvid, QuickTime …) and H.264.
  • . Swf,. Flv and. F4v
    They are the successive formats that Adobe has been defined for the Flash video from 2002 until now. The latest versions support Sorenson Spark, VP6 and H.264. The. F4v only supports H.264.
  • . Ogg. Ogv
    Ogg is the container for Open Source Xiph.Org Foundation. Suitable to contain Theora format.
  • . Mkv (Matroska)
    Matroska is an open source format that can contain almost any video format. Very originally used to compress movies to be shared online.Important: container format is selected for Google to WebM.
  • . Avi
    Microsoft’s proprietary container format. Besides Microsoft formats supports many, including MPEG-4.
  • . Mov
    Container is the file owner of Apple QuickTime. It’s actually almost identical to. Mp4, as the QuickTime MPEG relied on to define; But owning Apple has less support on other platforms.

The players

The player is the “program” that embedded in the browser, open the container file (for which you have to understand it) run the appropriate codecs for audio and video formats (for which the have to be in the system) and adds necessary controls to start, stop, forward…

We have several families:

  • The Flash-based
    Programmed Flash, use the Adobe Flash Player, which in addition to supporting Flash formats, it also supports. Mp4.Available for all platforms except iOS (iPod, iPhone & iPad). If not installed directly by the OS, the browser will automatically download.
  • The “Native” HTML5
    HTML5 specifications <video> add a tag that the browser has to know how to interpret. In its simplest version should be something like:

You just need to:

The browser supports HTML5 (currently only Safari, Chrome and Firefox 4 betas Explorer 9). The browser understands the file format (currently only. Mp4 although Chrome beta also supports Theora and WebM, of course). The codec is installed on the OS.

Those based on Java

Rare and more complex to develop. They can withstand what the programmer has decided if the codec is in the OS.

The world Adobe.

Owner but the most widespread. Composed of successive file formats, both graduates and video formats that can be considered as “own” and recently added H.264.

Do not confuse this “pack” with the Flash Player, Adobe video player that, in addition to supporting these formats can also manage the “pack” MPEG-4 we talk later: not that include the Flash format. mp4, is the Flash player which supports it.

The world MPEG-4. It has standard image but is proprietary. Supports only their own formats but has positioned itself as the future for your support in HTML5.

Despite not confuse names. Mp4 (container file format defined by the MPEG-4) MPEG-4 (video format defined in the MPEG-4). Nor should we forget that a. Mp4 can also contain H.264 video (also defined in the MPEG-4)

MPEG Format

(Players: Based HTML5 and Adobe Flash Player)

The world Google: Webm.

It is the newcomer. Defined by Google to compete with Adobe and MPEG (mainly Apple) and the strategic approach of Open Source. It’s just a sum of technologies that already exist, but they charge a special force Google’s bet.

WebM

The Open Source world. And finally, outside the world of business and the interests of business and the “purity” and the halo of free software have the “pack” of the Xiph.Org Foundation. For your own home is also limited to a minority use. You can see an example of its use in WikiMedia project

(Players: HTML5, non-standard and specific plugins)

Conclusion

The world offers us more combinations Flash format, but not work on Apple mobile is a serious handicap. But when Apple has declared war and has not included by default in the latest laptops.

The world HTML5 +. Mp4 seems the future, but at present the lack of support in Explorer and Firefox (+ 70% market share) it seriously limits.

On the other hand Google has decided that MPEG is a proprietary format (and that Google is not “the” owner) and has begun to suggest a boycott. From the outset, it appears that the only support Chrome HTML5 WebM (. Mkv + VP8). One hopes that this decision not to transfer to other “their world” (YouTube, Apps, GMail …)

The reality is that publishers, whether content or advertising are forced today to produce and distribute them in various formats depending on the platform and browser with which they are.

For the home user and SMEs, the most popular platforms (YouTube, Vimeo, DailyMotion …) solve this problem by transparently charge of generating as many versions as necessary to ensure universal distribution.

What is cross-browser layout?

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What is cross-browser layout?

The cross-browser display is an important aspect of the work of a professional web layout designer. Making a layout displays correctly in all browsers is no easy task, let alone a website that displays correctly in a browser means that your display is correct in other browsers. Not at all.

Although validate the HTML and CSS using the W3C validation service and we know by heart the HTML and CSS standards will always be small differences between browsers display because they do not support the web standards identically. This is a situation that occurs repeatedly because browsers are developed by teams of people firms and different working rhythms and different objectives, they do what they can to accommodate improvements to each new version of web standards.

What browsers should look good a layout?

There usability studies indicating how long it should be considered a current web browser like, but the best way to know what browsers we worry about supporting a consulting web layout is usage statistics.

 

The chart speaks for itself: the most used browsers today are Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari and Opera. Internet Explorer 6 is considered deprecated, so it should support from version 7 this browser.

How to achieve a cross-browser layout?

The starting point for achieving a crossbrowser layout is to write HTML and CSS valid, but not enough. Achieve cross-browser layout necessarily going to write CSS code conditional, ie incorporated CSS code dynamically according to the client browser.

There are several techniques that can be used to achieve this goal:

  • Load specific style sheets for different versions of Internet Explorer using conditional HTML comments.
  • Load specific style sheets to include specific rules for Google Chrome and Safari based on browser detection using Javascript.
  • Use hacks to overcome deficiencies in some browsers.
  • Use a script to provide us the task of writing CSS rules depending on the browser.

What is a website and a web page?

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What is a website and web page?

In English website or web site, a web site is a site (location) on the World Wide Web to contine documents (web pages) organized gerárquicamente. Each document (web page) contains text and graphics that appear as digital information on a computer screen. A site can contain a combination of graphics, text, audio, video, and other dynamic or static materials.

Each website has a home page (in English Home Page), which is the first document that the user sees when entering the website domain name getting that website in a browser. The site usually has other documents (web pages) were added. Each site is owned and managed and by one individual, a company or an organization.

As a medium, the websites are similar to movies, to television or magazines, they also create and manipulate digital images and text, but a website is also a means of communication. The main difference between a website and traditional media is that a website is on a computer network (Internet) and is encoded in such a way that allows users to interact with. Once in a website, you can make purchases, searches, send messages, and other interactive activities.

Difference between website and web page

Sometimes the term is erroneously used to refer to website website. A web page is part of a web site is a single file with a file name assigned, while a website is a set of files called web pages.

If likened to a book, a website would be the whole book and a website that website would be a chapter in that book. The title of the book would be the domain name of the website. One chapter, like a website, has a name that defines it. We say that would be a chapter, not a page of the book because it is often necessary to move on to the screen to see the entire contents of a web page, like a book you scroll through several pages to see all content of a chapter. The index of the chapters of the book would be the equivalent to site map (sitemap in English).

What is HTML5?

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What is HTML5?

HTML5, together with CSS3 defines new standards for web development for both desktop computers and mobile devices and cell phones. Doors open for new design options and dynamic information.

Much is talking lately about this new version of the popular HTML. For those who still do not know and always feared ask: HTML is the programming language and basic mother of all websites. This is a set of tags that are used to format different types of content, especially text.

The only formats and displays HTML content, and has the ability to interface with variables, database, etc. Even more complex websites, system using large databases and perform complex tasks, send to browser (Internet Explorer, Chrome, etc.) Pure HTML.

HTML5 is a new version of this universal language and, while still under development, we can enjoy it in most browsers. Google Chrome is a pioneer in HTML5 support and is currently the browser that provides further support to this version of HTML.

What we offer HTML?

While it represents a lot of improvements over its previous version, these are the most important:

  • Simplification: The new code offers new ways simpler to specify some parameters and pieces of code.
  • Multimedia content: audio and video playback without plug-ins
  • Animations: Ability to display content similar to Adobe Flash, but apart from this component. HTML5 will have native support for a technology similar to Flash.
  • Data storage on the client side: A fundamental difference between desktop and web applications was the need of the latter, to process information and consultations provided databases on a server, making applications are slower and always required a constant Internet connection. HTML5 to store and process information on the client, making a Web application to an application much more like a desktop.
  • Effects and new version of CSS: The new version of HTML accompany a new version of CSS, CSS3. These are new formatting capabilities, such as the implementation of shadows, rounded edges, etc.

Many of the things that, until now, could only be achieved by inserting them as images, may be performed in code. This not only results in an improvement in the speed and performance of a site, but also in new and limitless design options.

  • Geo-location: Websites may know the physical location of the person who visits.
  • Nonstandard Fonts: Until now, perhaps the biggest limitation that designers faced was the inability to use non-standard fonts in our websites. Virtually all were limited to those that were imposed by the major browsers, such as Arial, Times New Roman, Verdana, Tahoma, etc. The implementation of systems like Google Fonts today allows us to use many more!

In short: HTML5 will offer a number of improvements that will allow the development of web sites faster, more functional, and new designs.

WHAT IS A WEB PAGE?

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WHAT IS A WEB PAGE?

A website is a small investment that undoubtedly brings good economic performance in the short, medium and long term for any company. In a simple way, we could list hundreds more reasons why it is essential to have a web presence on the Internet constantly. We will present 10 good reasons why any company, or self must have a professional website.

  1. REDUCE COSTS ALLOW INTERNET
    If we remove that little expense of our website we are losing the opportunity to save on other aspects. We communicate with our customers and / or most economical provider without move through our corporate email (no Gmail, Yahoo or Hotmail does not reflect the company brand). But we can also refer to our messages to any part of our website (copying and pasting a link) where a person can find more information about a particular product or service.
  2. A SHOWCASE IS ALWAYS AVAILABLE FROM ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD
    A website provides information about our company, products and services permanently, because the Internet never closes, so our virtual showroom operates 24 HOURS A DAY, 7 DAYS A WEEK AND 365 DAYS A YEAR, and from anywhere the world. Visitors and potential buyers are able to view our catalog of products and services at their convenience and no matter where they are. In addition, we know which products are most interesting specifically controlling web visits. Only saving on the cost of printing a catalog of products and service is worthwhile role: exponential increase dissemination and cut spending to a minimum. In addition, we complement other Internet services in which we are discharged as Yellow Pages or business directories.
  3. INFINITE SOURCE IS UPDATED ON NOW
    On the website of our company we are able to put as much information as you want. Therefore, the web becomes an inexhaustible source of information for prospective customers who wish to learn more about our services and products before ordering online or visiting the company. And with our website, we can very simply update information about our products and services. We no longer need “re-print” over and over again all our documents advertising or promotions to consider a new product or service offered by our company: just update one or more of our web sites. No time out of print, broadcast and no cost reprint, update instantly to worldwide.
  4. LETS GET A CLIENT BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE
    It is important to be present on the Internet as soon as possible to prevent our potential customers away to competitors that you have your website. Today, more and more people consult the Internet before making a purchase. We should not assume the cost of losing customers, but to have as our website, before it is too late: first come first arrives twice.
  5. A WEBSITE INCREASES THE CREDIBILITY OF THE COMPANY.
    The simple fact of having a page increases our credibility and gives your company an image of innovation, novelty and professionalism. For some it will be when the biggest companies have websites, and even most modest independent professionals have their own. Our customers will also have the feeling that our company does not hesitate to invest to better serve them. On the other hand, have no website or have it abandoned and outdated, certainly harms the image of our company.
  6. INSTANT ACCESS TO NEW CHANNEL ADVERTISING
    Thanks to search engines like Google, Yahoo! or Bing will find many products in one click more easily and accurately than in the Yellow Pages, as more and more those who use the Internet to plan their searches. Unlike purchased advertising space in a magazine or newspaper (visible a day or a week), our website will be visible all the time you want. In addition, we make advertising campaigns, at minimal cost compared to traditional media through new channels of Internet advertising: Our website is our essential card.
  7. LETS FIND NEW MARKETS AND BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES
    The secret is in communication, especially with customers through the Internet website and expose us to new ideas, enabling a more agile and evolve into new product lines or services in which we had not previously repaired. Internet has millions of users, and thanks to our own website, we are able to open the doors of our business to a huge community of Internet users without having to invest in any physical store around the world. It can be an opportunity to give a twist to our business that will breathe new life. Moreover, through our website, we have the opportunity to find new niche markets which we did not reach before and are now closer than ever. We just have to dedicate to the site the same time that we would devote to any business tool.
  8. IMPROVE CUSTOMER SERVICE
    For a minimal cost, Internet allows us to offer an additional service customer who otherwise would be a very high expense. Many of our potential customers find valuable information on our website and as a result should not make a phone call or navigate to our office for more information. The website also allows us to track the pages you see our customers valuable information about your interests that we can analyze later. This information allows us to tailor our products and services to market needs.
  9. KEEP INFORMED CLIENT COMPANY NEWS
    Our website allows us to present the latest news about our company. and the latest promotions, launching a new product or opening a new branch. The web tools and email us straightforward to develop a list of clients or prospective clients that periodically contact over the Internet. It is easy to realize that having a website means having an amazing communication and promotional tool at a price much lower than any other printed or audiovisual.
  10. HOLDING OUR OWN WAY SALES STRATEGIES CHEAP
    Those business strategies have always wanted to adopt in our company, such as geographic expansion are now possible thanks to the Internet. With our website we look for partners and similar companies in other towns with which alliances and thus give greater service in more territory, always with the possibility of communicating via the Internet at low cost. Furthermore, we can meet distant suppliers that offer us a discount on prices of products go to market then. If it is something that has Internet is that it is a COLLABORATIVE NETWORK.