Webpage Designer Blog » Tips http://www.webpage-designer.net All about web design, designers and web 2.0 Wed, 24 Jun 2009 03:30:57 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 en hourly 1 Why You Should Compress Your Javascript http://www.webpage-designer.net/why-you-should-compress-your-javascript/ http://www.webpage-designer.net/why-you-should-compress-your-javascript/#comments Thu, 04 Jun 2009 05:00:32 +0000 admin http://www.webpage-designer.net/?p=68 Minify JavascriptDo you write a lot of jQuery, MooTools, Prototype, Dojo (all types of JavaScript) code?

If you do then you should also be compressing (or minify) that code on all your live websites. And not just the large scripts either…

You should Minify every Javascript script that is going to be loaded by any of your webpages, especially the ones that are highly trafficked. Even is the Javascript file is only 2KB in size, you should still compress it! This may sound anal and sure this is a pain in the ass to do, but in the long run your wallet, uptime, servers and clients will all thank you.

Why go to all the trouble of compressing Javascript?

Well first of all it’s easy to compress javascript and even CSS code, plus there are tons of options out there – to make your life easier here is our list of the Top 10 Free Javascript Compressors on the web. All compressors listed in the latter hyperlink make it a snap to compress code on-demand 24/7.

Reasons to Compress Javascript:

  • Reduced data load and server processing load when browsers request pages (due to smaller file sizes.)
  • Obfuscation (or encoding) of potentially sensitive script logic and algorithms which although can be reverse engineered at least makes it harder for people to rip off your code.
  • $$ Money savings can be significant especially when talking about sites that get large volumes in traffic and also have many web 2.0 components.
  • Most-importantly you can increase website load time up to 80%!

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]]> http://www.webpage-designer.net/why-you-should-compress-your-javascript/feed/ 1 How to Pick a Great Web Designer http://www.webpage-designer.net/how-to-pick-a-web-great-designer/ http://www.webpage-designer.net/how-to-pick-a-web-great-designer/#comments Thu, 28 May 2009 07:37:09 +0000 admin http://www.webpage-designer.net/?p=3 Webpage Designer

Choosing a web designer isn’t as simple as one would think. The first experience many customers will have with your business is when they visit your website. It sets the tone for their entire online experience. This first impression is critical – a poorly designed website will cause visitors to leave or lose buying confidence. After all, when they visit your website do you want them to feel as if they have just walked into a high end Gucci store… or a disheveled rundown Walmart in the bad part of town?

Step 1

Determine the quality that the web designer or web design firm is able to offer you. Are they a one man show, living off income site to site; OR are they a seasoned professional with the resources at their disposal to make your dream website come true. Because your website reflects many of your personal attributes and the values of your company, you will want to choose a web designer that is able to produce the type of website you want to present to your customers. The more professional your website looks the more your visitors will enjoy using the site and ultimately this will give them confidence in doing business with you. But don’t get to fancy – website usability, functionalism and ease of navigation are much more important that looks – at least in the overall sense.

Step 2

Evaluate the experience the web design company has. The first question you should ask them is “Do you have a list of reference sites I can look at as well as the contact information of previous clients?”

IMPORTANT – don’t just ask for a list of previous websites the company has designer. Why? The answer should be obvious; they could just lie and send you a bunch of cool looking websites that they claim to have designed. Make sure you ask for references to validate the sample websites they send you.

Although a web designer who is new to the industry may be able to do a good or even great job, someone who has experience working on similar websites will be able to do an outstanding job.

Example – If you run a restaurant ask your website designer if they have experience in designing websites for the food service industry; if they say yes then ask for references of that work. Again, just having a great looking website doesn’t do you any good; it must also be functional and easy to use. So if the designer has previous experience in designing websites for companies in your same industry – this is a huge plus!

You want your website to be perfect, so you shouldn’t settle for anything less than a fully qualified and experienced web designer, if your budget permits of course.

Step 3

Assess the projected costs of the job and if the web designer bills at a fixed or hourly rate. Is the price their charging worth it? Compare their experience, industry knowledge and the overall quality they are able to offer with the other companies you are having bid on your website. Learn the differences between a Web Design Firm vs. just a Web Designer?

Of course, you don’t want to spend more than you need to and if you do pay more, you want to make sure that you are getting added benefits for your money. Compare several web designers of similar skill and experience and see if you can get one for a little less than the others. Make the designers compete for your business by leveraging estimates from the competition. The last thing you want is to be over charged.

Source: Web-Design-Reviews.com

]]> http://www.webpage-designer.net/how-to-pick-a-web-great-designer/feed/ 4 Top 10 Free Javascript Compressors http://www.webpage-designer.net/top-10-free-javascript-compressors/ http://www.webpage-designer.net/top-10-free-javascript-compressors/#comments Wed, 01 Apr 2009 22:08:01 +0000 admin http://www.webpage-designer.net/?p=63 Top 10 Free Javascript Compressor ToolsIf you don’t already, you really should get in the habit of compressing your Javascript.

In a survey of ten top U.S. web sites, minification achieved a 21% file size reduction.

This can allow your website to load up to 80% faster! Save bandwidth, hosting fees and decrease load time all at once.

Here is a list of the top 10 free Javascript compressors:

  1. MinifyJS.com Javascript Compressor – Really cool and easy to use to minify Javascript. The interface is well laid out and intuitive to use for even the beginner programmer; additionally there is a drop down selector where you can choose advanced compression options for your code, such as: Char sets, fast/slow mode, numeric compression, high ASCII compression and whether or not to use Javascript obfuscation.
  2. JSCompress.com – This cool utility lets you choose between two very different forms of compressing, JSMin or Packer by Dean Edwards; thus allowing you to compare which method has the smallest file size.
  3. JavascriptCompressor.com – One of the more popular tools used by programmers plus it has forums where you can discuss all your compression desires!
  4. MinifyJavascript.com Javascript Compressor – A simple and straight forward utility with great compression tutorials and optional advanced compression settings.
  5. Yahoo! YUI Compressor – Since Yahoo! basically coined the term “minify,” it is only proper that have their own utility, beware though, intermediate programming knowledge required.
  6. Google Minify – Just because Google out its name on it, doesn’t make it easy to use or understand; this application if for expert users only. Also works with CSS.
  7. ShrinkSafe– The Dojo Toolkit, a different and interesting approach to code compression.
  8. Huffman Javascript Compression – Another very basic Javascript compressor, no bells and whistles just straight minifying.
  9. Code and Coffee – Great compressor for beginners; Select from 3 levels of compression (high, medium and low) then click compress and you’re on your way to a faster website.
  10. Creativyst JS Compressor – Sure it is a bare bones utility, but hey it does what it advertises.

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]]> http://www.webpage-designer.net/top-10-free-javascript-compressors/feed/ 3 Best Way To Send Large Files For Free http://www.webpage-designer.net/sending-large-files-for-free/ http://www.webpage-designer.net/sending-large-files-for-free/#comments Sun, 04 Jan 2009 11:29:41 +0000 admin http://www.webpage-designer.net/?p=108 Best Way To Send Large Files For Free So… You want to send an email attachment from your Gmail, Yahoo or Hotmail account but it says you are exceeding the attachment size limit.

This often used to happen to me when I would try to send clients all their website files and scripts in a ZIP file.

You can send any file as an attachment to anybody via email, true. But only as long as it meets the size restrictions of your email provider; and if you haven’t already noticed that size limit is practically nothing, 25MB at most! 25MBs, are you kidding me?

What’s up with only allowing 25MBs of attachments?

What the heck can I send with only 25MB of attachment storage – Maybe 2 pictures taken with my Sony DSLR camera, and that’s IF I’m lucky – What a joke! Not to mention that as a web designer that works with WordPress, my site files, plugins, wp-content/uploads and MySQL databases are almost always over 25MB. This used to make my life a total suck fest because everytime a client wanted a backup of their site I would need to burn the files to a CD-R/DVD and run to the local FedEx… try doing that 3 times a week and you’ll understand why I’m so psyched about what I’m about to share with you.

If you have wrestled in frustration with transferring large files, you are in luck. Because I have the solution that makes sending GB-large files via email not only convenient and easy but also fast and secure.

Sizable Send is my choice to send large files!

SizableSend.com is my file transfer service of choice for many many reasons but here is a list of my favorites among others:

  • Sizable Send is 100% FREE
  • Send 2.5GB’s at a time; need to send more? Don’t worry, just open up another browser window and send another 2.5GB’s, and so on, and so on – there is NO upload limit
  • You never have to log in, or sign up for some gimmicky trial offer or trial registration
  • Select and send multiple files at once by crtl+clicking with your mouse – even my Grandma can do this
  • Of the 100+ file transfer services I have tried, it is the only one that allows you to send unlimited data for free and download unlimited data for free
  • I have been using it for over 2 years, it is always working and available – other file upload services I have used cannot say the same, I assure you
  • Lightning fast – whilst other services like MegaUpload throttle your bandwidth – making small files take forever to upload unless you use their “paid” version – Sizable Send allows completely unrestricted upload and download speeds. In fact I have regularly uploaded/downloaded files at 15+ MBps on my office internet
  • Did I already mention all of this is free, easy and oh yea FREE!

In the 2 years and over 1,000,000+ GB’s of MP3’s I have sent with Sizable Send it has always worked, been fast and not filled with any type of spam. If you are paying for file transfer service you are seriously mental!

Start uploading files now and enjoy!

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