Saturday May 19 , 2012
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Websites are dead ... long live CMS!

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Great March 01, 2012column by John Coonen, writing on the sea-change brought around by open source content management systems and their impact on the old, static content, static development methods.


Rest In Peace, Web Sites. Long Live CMS Sites!Over fifteen years ago, the switch-over from static Web Sites, to dynamic CMS Sites began. The benefits were undeniable: CMS Sites were easier to update, less expensive to maintain, they empowered collaboration, creativity and it didn't take a programmer to drive. However, the big draw-back for users was cleary the high cost of ramp-up. Back in the day, it wasn't uncommon to lay down $50,000 for a bare-bones system. Ouch.

Still, the businesses and organizations that could justify the expenditure, did so at break-neck speed. The clear ROI leverage, combined with a hefty ticket price became a very fat cash cow for development firms world wide.

For enterprises, a multi-million dollar investment in the right CMS paid back huge dividends, streamlining operations, speeding time-to-market, unifying the message, engaging stakeholders, simplifying processes and creating massive competitive advantages over their arch rivals. They learned how to do more with less effort.

Systems are like that. ;)

OK, so fast forward a decade or so.
The Open Source wave hit us, bringing with it a first wave of community-powered Free Open Source CMS solutions. Joomla! clearly led the charge in the beginning, followed by then lesser-known Drupal and Movable Type, TYPO3, joined soon by a little-known orphan project called b2cafelog, picked up by Matt Mullenweg, and re-branded WordPress (a bazinga! moment).

They came together at just the right time, playing off Tim O'Reilly's perfectly marketed Web 2.0 ideas, just as that movement gained traction, to provide nothing short of "A CMS for the rest of us." Collectively, that first wave of FOSS CMSs, delivered any time of day or night via the magic of a smiley-faced Fantastico button (you don't think I'd forget that, do you?), brought many of the powers of a million dollar CMS to the desktops and servers of non-profits, churches, community service clubs, college dorm hackers, entrepreneurs and other early adopters in education and government.

Stick with me here...

So skipping ahead to the end, it was clear that there would be a very messy battle between the enthusiastic Open Source advocates, and vested and entrenched Closed Source Proprietary brands. This in of itself warrants several book titles, but in the end, I believe the surge of Free, Open Source CMSs, and the battle for position itself, only helped to propagate both sides. Today, CMS is more popular than ever on both sides of the "Source" battle.

So who won the battle? I can honestly say, everyone.

That's not just kumbaya talk either. ;) I'd also say we're either in a long lull, or the "battle" may be over (knock on wood). My sense is, this bloodless war of ideology is over, and all...sides...won. Weird, I know. I think it comes down to the fact that everyone's so damn busy on projects, there's no time, nor compelling reason to fight. We'll see what happens when tech budgets get tight, but I don't see that happening soon.

The biggest winners during the first five years of the battle (2005 - 2010) were end-user non-profits, small and middle tier businesses and organizations. Accessible, self-serve, affordable and fast-adapting "CMSs for the rest of us" introduced the Content Management System's processes of workflow, collaboration, access control, storage & retrieval, user management, and much more to an audience of users that were all too happy to bury FrontPage and Dreamweaver, and get more work done by many staff members, rather than risking the entire web-side of the business on a moody geek with an attitude, hording the keys to the kingdom.

My sense is, starting recently, and in the long run, the big Enterprise CMSs will win out as well. Necessity is the mother of invention, and they've whole new business models and a stonger focus on Cloud technology has empowerd the stalwarts. The talent pool is much bigger as well.

Most importantly, Proprietaries now have a prepped audience that's already educated and sold on the idea of CMS itself. Now, they just need to decide which one fits their needs best. That's a big deal. That means the sales funnel not only widened exponentially, but the time in the sales cycle just shaved months, if not years off the timeline for many would-be buyers, and the Proprietaries didn't have to do a thing to widen the funnel, nor shave the timeline.

The number of would-be buyers who have self-educated via the FOSS solutions is massive. Now, it's up to the Props and quasi-open folks to figure out what to do with that audience. Either way, the universe they operate in is much, much bigger.

Now years later, as some in the FOSS user realm are naturally frustrated by its real and/or perceived shortcomings, some are making the jump, with no help or prodding along the way. Why? Many reasons, including service, security, fast turnaround, privacy concerns…

But look back at the battle, and realize, it's not between static vs. dynamic any more.
That's why it's clear, static sites are for all intents and purposes, dead. History. Finito. The argument is taking place on a much higher plane now. The evolution is not 100% complete by any means, but it's crystal clear, the tombstone has already been engraved for static Web Sites, both feet are in the casket, "great grampa" has done his part, and is now laying down with a smile on his face. Now, it's time get home to get back to work, together.

Rest In Peace, Static Web Sites, rest in peace. Long live CMS Sites!
 

Firefox web development tools

Lyle Jenish

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Dec 24 |08:31 AM

Firefox will live to search another day

For the millions of users who have unplugged from Microsoft’s atrocious Internet Explorer and plugged into Firefox, they will be pleased to learn that Google has signed a new three-year agreement with Mozilla to keep its search engine as the default choice in Firefox.

Financial terms were not disclosed, according to various news reports, Mozilla said that in 2010, approximately 98 per cent of its royalties come from deals with search companies.

However, even if Firefox fades away – as many are predicting – there are other, non-IE choices available. Apple’s Safari is available for the Mac and the PC, the ever resilient Opera and even Google has its own browser in Chrome.

Under the new agreement, Google Search will continue to be the default search provider for Firefox users around the world.

This is great news for web developers who have grown accustomed to Firefox, a relatively stable browser, and the many indispensible extensions, plug-ins and add-ons that assist with project design, coding, work flow and management.

Here are a couple of Market IQ’s can’t-do-without web developoment Firefox extensions, plug-ins and add-ons:

Firebug

indexFirebug integrates with Firefox and places a barrel full of website development tools at your avail while you browse. You can edit, debug, and monitor CSS, HTML, and JavaScript live in any web page. You swap out elements, script and images, view, test and get it right before opening the actual server-side script.

SEO Quake

A great toolbar with dozens of reporting modules on site and page meta content information, page ranking, search engine presence, social media standing, plus much, much more. While Market IQ is a Victoria web development firm, we must consider the web as a whole and competitive analysis requires that we know about the strengths and weaknesses of our client’s competitors. SEO Quake makes this process that much easier and our results that much stronger.

IE Tab

Amazingly, Microsoft Internet Explorer has the most users because IE is bundled in most new Windows installs. Because of this many Websites, pages and online services are written to accommodate IE and not Firefox of the other browsers. With IE Tab installed in Firefox, you can view pages in IE's rendering engine within a Firefox tab, all without having to fully load IE.

LastPass

lastpasslogoWith a bank vault of passwords, maintaining account order can be a challenge. LastPass is great for encrypting and keeping passwords safe but also easily accessed use. It is also available for IE and Chrome.

FireFTP

Switching between and FTP program and a browser can get tedious. FireFTP integrates the processes. FireFTP loads in a tab and provides all the access FTP access needed without loading a separate program.

 

Web Development Strategies for Retailers

Lyle Jenish

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Dec 20 |09:49 AM

Victoria business owners, retailers and, in fact, all businesses selling online can learn a lot from the American shopping experience. Software firm Compuware recently released the results of its Black Friday to Cyber Monday research. The findings provide many practical tips to help online retailers maximize their online sales presence. These are findings retailers should take to their web developer and web development company to ensure optimum performance and return.

The Compuware study measured shoppers' estimated satisfaction with web and mobile site performance for the top U.S. online retailers. Once users arrived on site, Compuware then analyzed the activities that happened when visitors load web pages or interact with dynamic elements on the page.

Winning Elements Emphasise Site Performance

Compuware looked at Abercrombie & Fitch Co., Amazon, American Eagle, Apple, Gap, Home Depot, J. Crew, QVC, Saks Fifth Avenue, Sears, Staples, Symantec, Target, Toys “R” Us and Urban Outfitters. According to Compuware, light third-party content, lightweight JavaScript and static images hosted on a separate cache domain helped J. C. Penney stand out as a top performer. Compuware suggested top-performing sites could improve site and page loading time and performance by using CSS Sprites to merge some static images and combine and minimize JavaScript files.

Look for the Bottlenecks

The Compuware study recommends that retailers analyze third-party content, such as social media plug-ins and ads, to see if they are slowing down site performance. Compuware recommends that image sizes be reduced wherever possible, and text files should be combined or compressed to help reduce download time.

Red Flags

JavaScript was a big source of performance problems. The study recommends using updated code libraries and coding practices and analyzing the impact of JavaScript performance across the major browsers and to check server-side performance, especially with dynamic pages.

Pay Attention to Mobile

Numbers indicate that in 2011, mobile shoppers grew to 11% of all sales. IBM recently reported that mobile devices would drive 15% of web traffic over the course of the 2011 holiday season. Retailers have to ensure their web developer has presented a fast and viable shopping experience for mobile customers. Slow loading pages and content will drive away potential customers. A stream-lined experience which features the product and check out components is essential.

What to do?

Read the reports and take the findings to your web developer and web development company to ensure optimum performance and return on your e commerce site.

   

Internet marketing starts at home: be sure your site is found locally

Lyle Jenish

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Dec 19 |09:59 AM

When Victoria, B.C. consumers abd customers search for local businesses services, how important is a geographic marker?

Huge.

According to a recent survey by PEW Internet, 1,087 adults (age 18 and older) were interviewed about their habits when searching for local businesses and restaurants. They were asked about both their online and offline searches and which they were more likely to do.

Approximately 60% of respondents say they get news and information about local businesses other than restaurants and bars. When they use the Internet, 47% say they rely most on search engines (36%), specialty websites (16%), and social network sites like Twitter (1%).

Other respondents relied on newspapers (31%), word of mouth from family and friends (22%), local TV broadcasts or the websites of local stations (8%) and local radio (5%).

As users move away from traditional media and resources such as phone directories they require clear and concise information on location and local availability.

It is important to market your business to every local citation site available, including Google Place, Yelp, Yellow Pages, City Search, and many other sites will help boost your rankings.

Also, be sure that when listing on local Google Places like sites, you are listing everything exactly the same. So, if you have a Victoria website, ensure that your address, phone number, and all information is the SAME in all Victoria, B.C. indexes. This will help you rank better and come up above your competitors. If anything is different, it will not help you as much as if everything is exactly the same on all local listing sites and indexes.

 

Search engines wage war against content farms

Lyle Jenish

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Dec 17 |10:48 AM

According to New Scientist magazine, search engines Google, Yahoo!, Bing et. al., have     isolated and punished content farms and websites who use their services. 
According to the article which available online at the magazine's website, New Scientist asked University of Glasgow computer scientist Richard McCreadie to study 50 search queries that are “known to be a target of content farmers.” One example query given is “how to train for a marathon.” McCreadie studied those queries in both March and August, and the magazine says “the results show that Google and Microsoft have won a major victory” against content farms.
For years, website owners and developers have plugged into content generation sites and engines which fed website boilerplate tailored and themed content. The goal was to trick the  search engines into thinking content was being regularly updated and relevant to users and providing the websites strong page rankings and Google placement boosts.
According to the article, "the results are striking. In the case of the marathon query, sites that contained lists of generic tips, such as “invest in a good pair of running shoes”, were present in the top 10 in March but had disappeared by August, while high-quality sources, such as Runner’s World magazine, now appear near the top. Similar trends were found throughout the 50 queries."
This apparent crackdown gives hope to website developers and owners committed to providing valuable and original content for users but were being snowed under by much of the garbage flowing from the content generation farms.  
   

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