Flash is still a very cool technology. It allows you to do really neat things on websites that aren’t completely  possible with HTML, Javascript, and other similar tools. Flash can make sites more interactive and give introductions to your products and services like a movie trailer or a snazzy commercial.

A couple questions to keep in mind though: will your user like it, or find it distracting? Will you as a company benefit from it? Is there a real need for it, or are you putting Flash on your website just because you can?

Keep in mind that the web is a different place than the movie theater or television, and what works there does not always work here. On the web, users are looking for information, straight, direct, to-the-point. A little touch here and there—a sparkling diamond, an edge of paper flapping slightly—these things are eye-catching without being as intrusive as a Flash introduction that lasts 30 seconds and doesn’t allow the user to get on to the meat of your website. Some features of Flash add a subtle beauty to a web page, and some interactive forms and calculators can help the user get the information they are looking for in a pleasing way. But, overload your site in Flash, or create an all-Flash site, and users may leave a bit disappointed and/or annoyed.

Not to mention the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) problems with Flash. Since 2008, search engines like Google and Yahoo! have been working with Adobe and are able to index some parts of a Flash file. However, for search engines to crawl Flash files, it takes set-up by the Flash creator, and no pieces will be indexed automatically as in a regular html website. It’s not a perfect science, so it’s still a good idea to put non-Flash content on a page to pick up search engine traffic. For more info on this, see “How to SEO Flash in 2010.”

So, what is the best way to get the flash of Flash without paying the potential price? My best guess is to use Flash as a helper or aide on your site to brighten up areas, make parts of it catchy, and make useful interactive forms that are elegant and beautiful. I would definitely caution against having a Flash intro that doesn’t allow a user to access the content of your site. I know of several websites that irritate every time I have to go to them, and I can’t find the “Skip Intro” button fast enough to get past their useless Flash story. If you want a Flash intro, have it in a header area of your home page, playing there while the user can also read the content.

Bottom line: it isn’t in the spirit of the internet to control the entire experience of your visitors. They want to choose what to watch, read, or click on, and they will flock to sites that allow them that latitude.

From the amusing five word acceptance speeches to the controversy of its pay-to-play formula, the Webby Awards are now firmly rooted in the industry and in pop culture as the leading authority on excellence in websites and digital advertising.

Launched in 1996 by the now defunct “The Web Magazine,” the Webbys are backed by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, which mirrors the Academy Awards with celebrity judges like Arianna Huffington, Beck, Martha Stewart, David Bowie, Harvey Weinstein, Matt Groening and Sir Richard Branson.

The four main categories are websites, interactive advertising, online film & video and mobile web.  Awards may be earned by securing votes from The Academy and/or by online voters (over 500,000 participate) for the People’s Choice awards.  Work can be entered and can win under multiple subcategories such as: Best Welcome Page, Best Copywriting, Best Navigation Structure, Humor, Politics, etc.

While the 2010 awards have been announced, the ceremony will be taking place on June 14^th in New York City.  This year’s host is BJ Novak from The Office.

Now for the pay-to-play catch. To be considered for a Webby, you have to pay an entry fee per submission ranging from $150-$499 and you also have to agree to attend the awards event at your own expense, which tends to leave behind many small to medium size companies that are doing excellent work.

Check out the Webby award-winning work.

Content is the ultimate, the be-all and end-all for marketing, and for websites in general. (Aren’t we all really marketing ourselves when we post on a website, no matter who we are?) Bottom line, content’s very important, and if you don’t have content on your website, you have nothing.

But, if you don’t have a functioning website to put your content into, what do you have? Just a bunch of paragraphs with nowhere to go.

Most people don’t really think about good websites while they’re using them, and that’s how it should be. A good website should work and respond and not crash or break, no matter what the user tries. Sure, there are some conditions that make that impossible (network issues, ISP provider, server crash, etc.). But barring that, a good website should:

• Be pleasing and interesting visually
• Be so easy to navigate that your mother (or your mother’s mother) could do it
• Allow you to think about the content, not the system that’s functioning underneath

Making a website run like a well-oiled machine is sometimes tricky, but with some diligence, there comes that moment when the whole system starts working in a smooth and understandable way that you can depend on. You can try to break it in any way you can think of, and it gracefully recovers. Any link or menu item you click goes somewhere you would imagine. Every running script executes and gives you the correct data. It’s that moment that I as a web developer work for and take pride in. And that’s the kind of website you should expect from your website development company, hands down.

What’s not to like about LEGOs? Most of us have spent more than a few hours playing with them.

A brand recognized around the world, and one that inspires global brand loyalty — something a competitor like Mega Blocks does not — there’s much to be admired. Who would think that LEGO was a master of content marketing? Or that they successfully started content marketing about 20 years ago with their Bricks Kicks and Mania magazines?

Spend a few minutes on the LEGO Club site and you’ll learn a lot about content marketing. Not only does the site appeal to kids, it packs a punch with parents too (just like the LEGO bricks themselves). The LEGO club site allows LEGO fans to “connect” with one another — they can see each other’s Cool Creations or find a calendar of family-friend events that are all about having fun with LEGOs. They can sign up for emails, become a BrickMaster, submit a news story (i.e., become a brand ambassador), get building tips and ideas, share photos of LEGO creations, enter a Comic Captions contest, or get the inside dirt on cool designs and new products. They can also download LEGO screen savers, wallpapers and activities (like “build your own shield” designs), play a wide range of games and view comics and movies. Everything a lover of LEGOs could possibly desire.

How did I discover all this? I have my sister to thank for sharing the BrickMaster idea — on Facebook no less. I couldn’t resist — I had to check it out. Coupons, six sets of LEGOs and an annual magazine! My kids loved it.

And once I was there, we were blown away by the Design by Me function: you can download digital software to design and produce your own LEGO creation, including the nifty little catalog that helps you build it. Better yet, they encouraged kids to “honor their moms” with a custom-created LEGO set. Not only could I get a great Mother’s Day gift, what a great birthday gift for my kids and their friends! We are hooked.

And it doesn’t end there. We kept exploring and found the My LEGO Network — yes, a social networking site for children that let’s them share everything that’s LEGO to them — they can create their own web page, share designs and ideas, and even trade virtual LEGOs.

The point is this — we just kept exploring and never found an end to content we couldn’t wait to devour. And we keep going back.

I know what you’re thinking — “I’m not LEGO.” No, but if you can produce content that helps your customers and prospects solve a problem, anticipate a need or address other interests germane to your service and product offerings — they will come. And come again. That means supplying them with original content you’ve created and also sharing third-party content that you know will tweak their interest. It means helping them learn and making it fun and easy to do so on a wide variety of traditional and digital platforms — be it catalogues, websites or social media channels.

Get creative with your content. Build it. Share it. And “LEGO” of it in the digital sphere.

Robust web content management tools are a great way for you to take control of your company’s website, but there are limits and guidelines that should be followed to maintain the integrity of the design.

The ability to update your website is a feature that most of our clients want, and our content management system can allow you to update images, add pages, delete pages, and change web copy in a moments notice.  While experience in html, xhtml, css, javascript, and other programming languages isn’t necessary, it is important that the updates are handled by one or two people who have been properly trained.  The primary concern would be accidental page deletion, though regular website backups will allow you to retrieve the deleted page if that should ever happen.  Some questions that will need to be answered include: What happens to the navigation when a page is added?  What if I add a picture that’s the wrong size?  Can I change the font from black to lemon yellow?

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It’s one thing to have web developers create a website for your company, but what happens after they turn over the keys? Are you able to maintain the website content yourself, or do you have to pay the web developers when your site needs updates?

It’s true, some companies do not have the time to take care of their website content updates, and for that it’s essential for web developers to be retained to make whatever changes are necessary. But, what if you want to maintain your website yourself? Thankfully, there are now many stable and full-featured tools that we as developers can use to allow you to achieve a sense of website independence, even if you are not highly technologically proficient. The main tool in our bag of magic tricks that allows you to maintain your content is called a Web Content Management System, or WCMS.

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The recent passing of musician Vic Chesnutt prompted me to visit the itunes store to complete my collection of his work. As I browsed his albums, I began to think about how his album covers reflect his music. That led me to muse about how successful websites visually reflect the work and spirit of companies.

What kind of “music” does your company make?  Does it strike the bold chords of a Beethoven piano concerto? Or mirror the serenity of Handel’s Water Music? Is it a multi-layered, Hüsker Dü wall of sound? Does it dance to the mellow, lilting reggae beat of Bob Marley?  Perhaps it’s a bit of Frank Sinatra – confident, smooth and cool?  Maybe it’s even Elvis Presley in a glittering, sequined Vegas performance – replete with gyrating hips?

Your website should show the world who you are with more than just a tagline — the layout, photos, fonts and colors you choose should reflect who your company is — not simply what it is. In order for your website to do just that, it’s essential to reflect on your company and culture. Is your corporate culture loved more by the management or the people they lead? In what ways does your company give back to the community?  How do your goods or services make a difference in the lives of others? How do your future plans apply to the above questions?

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Within the last year we have moved away from a custom content management system and made the decision to use an open source CMS called MODx. The decision to change development software is always a difficult one to make. We’re a PHP / MySql development shop here at TMA+Peritus so as part of our search we stopped in at http://php.opensourcecms.com/ to take a look at the myriad of CMS’s available. The choices are somewhat overwhelming to say the least.

To narrow down our choices I decided to only review CMS’s with a rating of 4 or more stars. I also wanted a web page oriented CMS. Our clients think of websites as a group of web pages and if the management of the site isn’t managed by web pages they get lost.

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Careful pre-planning is essential to ensure that your website functions well, has the desired content, and looks great when you go live — and a wireframe helps you do just that.

A wireframe is a series of diagrams that serve as a virtual road map of your website. Sorting out the details in the wireframe stage helps to prevent cost overruns because changes at this early stage are generally very quick and easy to make.  However, changes can be costly if they’re made after the developers have already started to build the site.

Every detail of your site can be addressed with wireframes including: (more…)

Another year is quickly coming to a close, which means it’s a perfect time to peek around the corner to see what the new year has in store for web graphic design.

1.  Typography is king. There is a trend towards jumbo headlines, mixing contrasting fonts, and finding other ways to break up the monotony of type-heavy websites and add beauty to pages so that images are no longer mandatory. http://www.leemunroe.com/typography-inspired-websites/

2.   Control freaks, unite. Speaking of type, Kernest offers free and commercial fonts to embed into your website to move beyond the plain and well-worn handful of safe fonts that designers have grown to loathe.  The only downside to Kernest is a brief change in font rendering when the page is first opened.  There’s always a catch, but this is big news and a leap in the right direction. http://www.kernest.com/

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