Jay Yaskiw DesignsJust another WordPress weblog

The popularity of the iPad and iPhone are difficult to ignore. Consumers have jumped headfirst into buying and exploring these products. There is no denying that part of what makes the iPhone so popular is all the endless apps, which cover virtually all subject matters. Over 40 million iPhones have been sold to date and billions of apps have been downloaded. The iPad, of course, is a newer device, but sales so far show that it will prove to be just as successful as the iPhone.

However, despite the excitement about these products, there is one major issue. The iPhone and iPad are not compatible with Adobe Flash technology. Unfortunately, there are a wide variety of websites that rely on Flash in order for their content to be understood.

Many iPhone users are confused when they can’t pull up their favorite Flash websites. Apple markets the iPad as a “magical and revolutionary product.” However, the iPad also is not compatible with Flash technology.

Part of the issue with this conundrum is that Steve Jobs, co-founder and CEO of Apple, has been quite negative about Flash for a long time. He has completed that websites that are created using Flash are “buggy.” He also stated that Flash is a “CPU hog.” Flash does indeed use up a lot of memory on a computer. Often it can lead to computer crashes. Steve Jobs has even gone so far as to say that in the near future no one will be using Flash. As a result of these issues, Apple did not see fit to make their newer products compatible with Flash.

So the question remains- is Adobe Flash being phrased out by these Apple products? At the moment, the answer to this question appears to be yes. In a recent interview, Jobs mentioned that he felt that HTML5 would be replacing Flash altogether in the near future. This is part of Apple’s reasoning for not allowing Flash to work with their products. They are trying to manufacture devices that are futureproofed.

However, the current lack of Flash on the iPhone and the iPad is quite frustrating for countless customers. It also has been an issue for web designers who have found that suddenly a good portion of their web visitors are no longer able to access content online.

The bottom line is that when you use your iPhone or iPad, you need to keep in mind that you won’t be able to view Flash content. If you are currently building a website, you may want reconsider using Flash as a central part of your site.  When it comes to the Internet, being about to see and navigate around a website is the most important thing. If that ability is not present, the website loses its value.

You may have heard the term “HTML5” mentioned once or twice and had no idea what people were talking about.  However, you should know what this term means as it will be becoming more and more important in the coming years. Steve Jobs even recently said that HTML5 would replace Flash in the future! So what is HTML5? In order to understand this term, let’s take a moment and explore HTML.

The abbreviation “HTML” stands for HyperText Markup Language. It is the formatting language that enables what you see when you surf the web.  HTML provides short codes called tags, which are then saved as files. Your browser reads these files along with the accompanying text to present you with what you see on a particular page.

There have been countless markup languages invented, but HTML is by far the most popular to date. HTML is responsible for images, tables and everything in between.  (You may have already experimented with basic HTML and not even know it, if you ever created a Myspace page.)

As the internet evolves, HTML is constantly being revised and refined to provide people with a better experience. There is an organization called the W3C, which determines the direction that HTML should be taking in the future. The W3C is concerned with taking the web to the next level and they are the organization behind HTML5.

HTML5 is the next revision of HTML and it will be released in 2012. In 2008, the W3C published its first working draft of HTML5. Currently, we are on HTML 4.01.

The advent of HTML5 is a big deal, as it will provide a variety of upgrades, which will allow the web to function in an improved capacity.

One of the things that HTML5 will focus on improving is the compatibility needed between websites, mobile devices and 3^rd party platforms. It is believer that HTML5 will make these connections work more smoothly. Also designers are planning that HTML5 will allow websites to load more quickly. Many people (including Steve Jobs) are currently advising that HTML5 will be replacing Flash in the coming years.

HTML5 will also encompass a wide variety of other changes. For example, it will allow visitors to edit websites that they are visiting. It will also assist with geolocation. The list of improvements that will come along with HTML5 is really quite vast.

So what does all this mean for you? If you are not a web designer, HTML5 likely won’t change your world in any major capacity. The good news is that the current websites that are designed in HTML will still be compatible. This means that in 2012 all of your old favorite websites will still be up and running.

Every day, more and more website owners are adding blogs to their sites. A blog can help your business grow in a variety of ways. If you have never considered blogging, give it some careful consideration. You may soon find that you actually enjoy blogging and that it gives you a new way to connect with customers and clients online.

One great advantage to having a blog is that it notifies your web visitors that you are an expert. While your basic website gives an overview of your products and services, a blog can really dive into what you know in great detail. Businesses that have blogs look trustworthy and reliable.

Additionally, if you are using Twitter, you will soon find that it works hand in hand with a blog. When you post new blog entry, you can add a corresponding tweet that deals with the subject you are writing about. Twitter will send web traffic to your site through your tweets. You will find that people who normally would have never visited your site are going there to read your Twitter posting. While you have these web visitors at your site, they can read about your products and services or perhaps sign up for your mailing list.

Also you can set up your blog to be compatible with RSS feeds. This means that your subscribers will receive a notification whenever you post a new blog entry. This will keep your business fresh in your customer’s minds.

A blog can also be beneficial as far as your google pagerank goes. Google gives preferential treatment to websites that are updated frequently. Websites without blogs have a tendency to remains static. A blog will allow your site to be constantly updated with new keywords and up-to-date content. You don’t even need your web designer to help you once your blog is up and running. You can simply log in and post your entries in just minutes.

The bottom line is that if you are looking to expand your business and attract new customers, it only makes sense to consider adding a blog. You will easily get into a routine where you post new content all the time. The end result is that you will be pleasantly surprised when new customers tell you that they found you through your blog!

Wow, I would like to give a special thanks to all the CSS websites that have recognized my work recently. I have put some much blood, sweat, and tears  into this website. It’s really nice for some of these sites to give me a shout out. Did I mention my traffic went sky high  ? You bet, these sites are great at getting some exposure.

If you like my work , go to one of these sites and place a vote for me. Thanks

Here ’s the list so far

1. CSS Showcase

2. CSS Heaven

3. CSS Vault

4. CSS Logia

Often website owners and companies design fantastic and richly detailed websites, only to be left wondering why they do not have better traffic. They can’t figure out why more people aren’t paying attention to their websites. Indeed this can be a bit of a perplexing puzzle, but the answer is really rather straightforward.

Websites that are not updated with great regularity simply don’t seem as important to search engines.  This is the first major reason that updating your website frequently is critically important.  Search engines have programs that search the web and analyze websites based upon a wide variety of factors.  One of these factors is how frequently sites are updated and with what kind of content.  By updating your site frequently, you are effectively telling these search engine programs, often referred to as spiders or bots, that your website is dynamic, moving, ever-changing and interesting.  Clearly, a website that is updated frequently will look as though it has a good deal more to offer potential visitors than a site that is updated once every six months or once a year.

Think of it like this.  Which website would you rather visit, the website that is updated every single day or the website that is updated every year?  The answer is pretty obvious.  If your competitor is updating constantly and you aren’t, then it should come as no real shock that your competitor is showing up on search engine results and you may not be.  And search engine results mean traffic.

The other major reason that it is important to update your website frequently is that a frequently updated website brings people back to visit again.  They know your site is a place where they can receive information on a topic that interests them.  Let’s say your website is about hats and gloves.  If you are constantly posting new articles about hats and gloves, you will definitely have an edge over another hat and glove site that rarely updates.  If a visitor knows about both sites, they are much more likely to return to visit your site more often.

Together these two factors, updating so search engines know you are relevant and updating so visitors know that you are relevant, are key in building traffic.  Search engines will see you as being dynamic and interesting, and your visitors will see your page in much the same way.  While your visitors might not say, “I will go back to that page, it was dynamic and interesting,” they will say instead, “I will go back to that page, there is stuff on it.”  Of course, this is exactly what you want.  You should see your traffic rise quickly if you consistently update your webpage with interesting and relevant content.

You probably realize that color is important.  After all, so much of the joy of life is the richness of color, whether it’s a brightly colored butterfly or a new paint job on a car.  Color is critically important, as man is a visual creature.  Ask any ad executive or marketing executive about the importance of color in an advertisement, and you are likely to hear more on the subject than you may have ever cared to know.  Color plays a vital role in advertising, so much so, in fact, that industrial psychiatrists and other experts are often on the payrolls of large corporations expressly for the purpose of helping in the creation of corporate images.

Advertisers and marketers know the importance of color for all media whether it is television, print or the Internet. You too have to realize that color is a vital element in web design.  Top web designers know that color is a vital element, and they use color to its fullest.  There is a psychology behind color and how it is used.  Good web designers not only realize this fact, but also expressly look for colors and color palates that will effectively convey the emotion and tone that their clients are seeking to convey.

It may be a little tricky, but try and imagine that you are visiting your site for the first time.  Keep in mind what look and feel you would like your site to have.  Once you have done this very simple exercise, you will realize the importance of color.  The contrast and interplay of different colors on a website do much not just to draw in the eye, but to draw attention and create mood as well.

If you still don’t think color is important, consider the difference between black and white television and color television.  When color televisions were introduced, they blew people minds for a reason.  To this day, advertisers are still willing to pay a serious premium to have color ads instead of black and white ones in magazines and newspapers.  Color is that important.

There are many key elements in the creation of a top-notch, polished website. However, few are more important than that of navigation.  How a visitor navigates through a site can accomplish several things.  One, good navigation keeps a visitor happy and engaged in the site and its contents. On the other hand, a visitor may simply close the page on a site with poor navigation.  Think about your own personal experiences for a moment.  How long do you stay on a given webpage if the navigation tools are clumsy or awkward?

Another factor that can be quite detrimental to any website is when the visitor is not able to find information or especially key information.  No matter how impressive a website’s graphics or even flash videos might be overall, if the site is lacking proper navigation, people will simply go elsewhere.  You have probably left websites due to poor navigation, and you can bet that your visitors will do it as well.

One of a website owner’s top priorities is to keep the visitor engaged with the content.  If you are selling a product, you want your visitors to stay on your page and explore.  After all, the longer they are on your page the higher the chances are that they will be impressed and buy your products.

Website ranking services such as Alexa take into account key factors as the amount of time a visitor spends on the site and the number of pages clicked. These numbers are extremely important.  In part, this data tells Alexa that the content is interesting and is likely of quality.  Your website can have the best content in the world, but if no one can find it, your website is not doing its job.