50 Things I Learned in Web Design

Malaysiaku GemilangIt wasn’t easy coming up with a blog entry for this auspicious day. I had several ideas listed down from 50 reasons to start blogging, 50 ways to monetize your blog, 50 tips to improve your website today to 50 things I want to achieve by 50.

There were a couple of other 50s topics but I thought it wouldn’t be suitable for this blog. In the end, after pondering over 5 different topics I decided I should share with everyone the 50 things I learned in web design.

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Word Spelling Affects Search Engine Optimization

alphabet blocksIn the US, they pronounce flour as “fla-ar” but in the UK, they call it “flower”. When it comes to the spelling, there is a close difference between each written language. What’s bad especially is how most software and application set the default language as US.

If you were to type analyze, it is correct based on the US syllabus. However, our English syllabus in Malaysia follows UK, we should be spelling it analyse. Right now as I’m continuing to type, Mozilla Firefox is saying analyse is wrong. When in fact, it is correct if I were to practice the correct spelling I’ve learnt in school.

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10 Easy Ways to Handle Constructive Criticism

No say evilSurveys are a great way to do market research and to understand the preference of your target market. Besides that, in web design and development we have usability testing too. The test is a way to spot not only website usability weaknesses but the effectiveness of a well designed user interface (UI).

Advertising agencies on the other hand have design surveys to help identify if the new loge they may be proposing works with the target audience. With the Internet, many designers now find their feedback from blogs, forums, social networking sites and online portfolios. But I’ve seen many come under the pressure of the harsh comments or sweet compliments. So how do you keep your cool and handle it well?

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Being Selective of Your Blogroll Links

No LinksRecently a friend of mine; goldfries, came up to me in the forum to tell me he’s added me into his Blogroll due to my content. Goldfries blogs about computer related topics from hardware reviews to games and has got some insightful tips on how to buy your next computer.

When he told me that, I assumed he wanted a return link as well because that’s what most bloggers want in return if they link to you. However, goldfries isn’t your average blogger therefore he told me it isn’t necessary to link back as he noticed I don’t even have a Blogroll on my blog. But then we got to talking about the Blogroll and why the need to be selective.

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Can Your Mum Navigate your Blog?

Tech-savvy grandmaI was speaking to a friend recently and she told me her mum reads her blog now. She’s not afraid and most definetely not paranoid of this. After all, I think it’s soon going to be the norm all around the world. As best you can to hide it, search is becoming more powerful and personal information is being shared open through social network sites.

So instead of fighting it, why not help mum to navigate your blog? Or is your blog not mum-friendly?

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Stop The Blogging! Halt The Press!

Stack of newspapersRemember when I said bloggers should experience a blogger burnout at least once in their blogging journey. Well, preliminary symptoms of blogger burnout is most commonly found in difficulty of coming up with posts based on the schedule of your blogging strategy.

If you asked a blog guru or blog celebrity what they do when in this situation they would suggest a 101 ways for you to overcome it. It could be from aggregating other blogs to make simple lists but I’ve found an ultimate solution you will most definetely find helpful too.

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Are Social Networks future Escort Services?

EscortbookWhile visiting a friend’s blog, I noticed she had an entry titled; dating vs sexual services. I’ve known her to churn out great entries with constructive feedback but this one was just hilarious.

As humorous as it was, I then began to wander how a scenario such this could be linked to our available social networks to date. To bring you guys up to speed, recently when she logged into one of her social networks (most today have more than one) she got a message from some guy. The guy started a conversation with her but soon nightmare soon came. The guy was saying how he was coming to visit Malaysia and he asked how much will it cost for her to escort him.

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Nuffnang joins Honda to Save Rhinos

Honda Save the RhinosWhat does Nuffnang and Honda have in common now? Though Nuffnang’s logo colour would resemble a new stylish Honda Civic 2.0 in blue, both of these company’s are taking responsibility to help save Sumatran rhinos.

Honda may have pledged RM5,000,000 (yes – six zeros) over a period of 5 years, Nuffnang requests bloggers to give back something to these habitual animals. Instead of donating in monetary means, all us bloggers just need to do is contribute a blog entry in effort to spread the awareness of the Sumatran rhinos rescue project.

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Pirated Lim Kok Wing University website

Panda ThiefWho said piracy only belies in audio, video and software. Heck, we even got it for websites. Ever thought no one would dare copy a mutli-national corporation or large organization’s website (not leaving out small-medium as well)?

Well, on the Internet today anything is possible. Even similar or how some may call it, pirating of a website. It’s not the first case to happen and it’s involved big names to lesser known names. One of the recent ones in the international scene was from 31Three; Original VS Pirated. The most recent local case involves pirating of Lim Kok Wing University’s website.

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How to Write a Blog Disclaimer?

Sheriff StarA blog disclaimer is becoming more and more necessary to have nowadays. Especially with all the suing going on and not to mention our natural behavior to rebel against any system or law. As much practice you put into responsible blogging, you will stumble upon unavoidable situations where you happen to offend someone.

So how to write a blog disclaimer to cover your a** and help save your skin? What will you need to write in the blog disclaimer to protect yourself from any angle? To be honest, I’m no lawyer but here are some blog disclaimer writing tips and tricks to help you write your own blog disclaimer.

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