Web Hosting Geeks' Blog » website content http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog Web Hosting Industry News, Latest Trends, and Analyses. Thu, 09 Feb 2012 05:48:19 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 E-Commerce Tips: Choosing the Best Font Size for a Websitehttp://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/2010/07/26/e-commerce-tips-choosing-the-best-font-size-for-a-website/ http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/2010/07/26/e-commerce-tips-choosing-the-best-font-size-for-a-website/#comments Mon, 26 Jul 2010 18:44:20 +0000 Art http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/?p=1010 On an e-commerce website, all font, text, and content should be easy to read, properly formatted and well-presented so the customer is able to make an informed decision about the products the site is selling. Like in any type of business, poor presentation can be the difference between a sale or not.

Small Font can be too Small

One major aspect of good website design and presentation is the font size of the content. The font size is the primary factor as to whether the website is readable and accessible or not. The most important tip is to not make the font size too small. A recent trend is to make the font small which makes the website appear sleek. It also provides more space per page for more content.

Unfortunately this often results in extremely small font sizes. With many platforms besides computers that display these websites, such as cell phones with small screens and projects hooked up to computers, excessively small font will distort the website. This will cause it to be difficult to use.  Most website visitors are extremely impatient so if they cannot read the text, they will move to a site where they can.

How to Adjust the Font Size

It’s correct to set the general font size in the body selector of the style sheet. For example:

Body {

font-size: 100%

}

In general setting the base size for a document to 1em or 100% is the same as setting the font size to the user’s preference. It’s best to avoid sizes smaller than 1 for the actual body of the text unless used with fine print like copyrights.   Once set, other base font sizes can be set by percentage, absolute sizes and relative sizes.

Base Font Setting

The percentage sizing increases or decreases the font size for the new element based on the original size in the main text. Absolute sizes are defined by CSS specifications including xx-small, x-small, small, medium, large, x-large and xx-large.  Finally, relative sizes can be set in either large or small.

Font size can be the difference in a website visitor staying on the page and potentially turning into a sale or leaving. A font size too small can have detrimental effects on the website. Experimenting with font sizes and styles is beneficial, but try to stay close to the default.

Related posts:

]]> http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/2010/07/26/e-commerce-tips-choosing-the-best-font-size-for-a-website/feed/ 0 Content Management Systems: Automating Your Website’s Successhttp://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/2010/01/05/content-management-systems-automating-your-websites-success/ http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/2010/01/05/content-management-systems-automating-your-websites-success/#comments Tue, 05 Jan 2010 18:15:52 +0000 Art http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/?p=691 The single most important attribute of your website is it’s content. The content is what keeps the visitors coming back, and it is what attracts them in the first place. Without relevant and informative content, your website will fail to rank highly in search engines, and ultimately all of your efforts will be in vain. Most people assume that once they’ve populated their website with a decent amount of good content, then they can stop building the website and let the rest happen on it’s own. However this “set it and forget it” approach simply does not work on an ever-growing platform such as the internet.

When people surf the web, they are looking for something, whether it be entertainment, information or a product/service. If you are able to give them what they want then your website will be successful, however your success will be short-lived if you cannot do this on a regular basis.  In order for your website to continue prospering, it must be updated daily. However, the process of updating a website manually is a tedious task, and ultimately it is very time consuming. This is where the use of a CMS (Content Management System) comes into play.

The Capabilities of Content Management Systems

A content management system is an online application, used to manage, collect and distribute vast amounts of relevant content automatically. A good CMS gives the user a platform in which they can effectively organize, archive, create, edit, publish, gather and spin content related to their niche. Content can be distributed and published evenly across a website on a scheduled basis ( which is perfect for a blog or news-related site). Content can also be gathered from other websites using RSS feeds, and then automatically “spun” using innovative extensions known as “content spinners.” Digital media such as videos, pictures and music can be gathered and embedded automatically,  simply by selecting a few preferences. In fact, with a good content management system and a few blogging plugins, your entire website can be populated with hundreds of interesting pages in just a few hours!

The Simplicity of Content Management Systems

Judging by the features you’ve just learned about, you’d think that learning how to use a CMS would be quite difficult. In fact, the exact opposite is true. Content management systems are designed specifically for novice users, and every function within the CMS is controlled via simple settings and preferences. Users have access to unlimited options, as a good CMS is expandable beyond limits. Tasks that would normally require advanced web design knowledge can now be completed in a mater of minutes by even the most novice users.

A good CMS will not only help you populate your site with content, but it will also populate it with visitors, by automatically posting your content to many leading social bookmarking sites simultaneously. You may be wondering how massive this software must be to accomplish all of this, yet the most amazing part is that no bulky software installs are required, as the software is hosted online and can be accessed from any computer, including some mobile devices.

Life Without Your CMS

I am sure you’re impressed by the CMS features you’ve just learned about, however these features are only a small fraction of what can be done with a good CMS. Now that you know what these programs are capable of, try imagining how long it would take you to do just one task I’ve mentioned. For example, how long would it take you to submit every article on your site to 50 bookmarking sites individually? If your site has only 50 articles, and you submitted each one to 50 bookmarking sites, you would be sitting there for at least an entire day working. Now imagine accomplishing the same task, in the time it took you to read this article!

Related posts:

]]> http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/2010/01/05/content-management-systems-automating-your-websites-success/feed/ 0 Do You Need Free or Paid Web Hosting?http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/2009/03/31/do-you-need-free-or-paid-web-hosting/ http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/2009/03/31/do-you-need-free-or-paid-web-hosting/#comments Tue, 31 Mar 2009 17:48:14 +0000 Art http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/?p=266 If you are in need of a website, it important to know that are many types of services that can help you achieve this goal.  Rather than going into the endless variety of web hosting types, we will discuss two of the most basic services – free and paid hosting.  Indeed, you don’t necessarily have to spend money to get a website.  However, there are a number of factors that need to be considered outside of costs, all of which will help you make an informed decision.

What is the Intent of Your Site?

When it comes to choosing a service, the first step that needs to made is determining the purpose of your site.  Some people use a website as a convenient means of sharing photos and information with family and friends while others are looking to start a business online.  Although every website is based on the same general concepts, there are extremes that greatly differentiate business sites from their personal counterparts.  Knowing the purpose of your site will make it much easier to decide between free and paid hosting.

What will it Include?

After determining the needs of your website, you should then have a better idea of the content it will include.  Some websites consist of a single homepage and others contain multiple pages with dynamic features.  If you only need to upload small text documents and photos, you will not require tons of disk space and bandwidth in a web hosting solution.  The same holds true if you only anticipate a minimal amount of traffic.

If the above sounds like your plans, you can probably get by with free web hosting.  Free services are typically easy to use and cater to individuals with no experience at creating web pages.  With the right platform, you can learn more about HTML programming and put those skills to use for a professional site in the future.  Many have used these services to build their presence online before moving on to a paid solution.

Can You Afford to be Limited?

Although a free hosting service can help you get a website, there are several drawbacks you should take into consideration.  First and foremost, you have very little control over your hosting environment.  Because of this, you may be forced to allow the hosting provider to place third-party advertisements on your web pages.  Secondly, features are quite limited in comparison to a premium hosting solution.  You only have a small amount of disk space and bandwidth to work with and technical support is almost non-existent.  Such disadvantages are the very reason free hosting services are best suited for personal websites.

Paid hosting gives you more flexibility and control with a variety of packages to choose from.

You will have access to more disk space and bandwidth along with a number of highly sought after features.  This ranges from powerful databases and dynamic programming languages to multiple email accounts and free domain names.  These are features you just won’t find in a shared hosting plan.

Conclusion

As you can see, free hosting has its purposes, howevef, the usefulness is primarily limited to personal sites.  Anyone who plans to make a serious impact on the web is better served with a premium hosting solution.  In this case, it pays to have a service that provides the features and reliability you need to achieve your goals online.

Related posts:

]]> http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/2009/03/31/do-you-need-free-or-paid-web-hosting/feed/ 2