Web Page Optimization

We all want to have the most attractive website that leaves a visitor wide-eyed and completely dazzled. Usually an extremely attractive website design involves lots of graphical elements, increasing the overall page size which causes the page to download slowly to the browser. This article will provide some useful tips on how to keep your website design attractive but still downloads quickly.

As the average internet bandwidth rate per computer is raising, more and more webmasters allow themselves to develop complex websites laden with heavy graphic elements. In extreme cases you can find websites that take as much as a few minutes to load their content in your browser. Of course the user will never wait that long for a website to load, and will move on to the next website in his search results.

So why are webmasters still developing slow loading bloated websites? Primarily due to a lack of knowledge of simple graphic optimization techniques that will allow them to maintain an attractive website while keeping the page size smaller.

How many of you are aware of the fact that a box with rounded corners can be achieved using CSS code only, without the need for any graphic image. Well it is possible! Before those of you familiar with CSS say that it cannot be done for every type of browser and a relatively high level of programming is required, I say that dealing with the most common mistakes web designers make regarding optimization can have simple solutions.

Never limit the web designer by placing any restrictions that impact the final outcome. You might make the claim that what a web designer can do with graphic software is impossible to implement by code. I disagree. When the design is finished and you are ready to slice it into small images to be used in the html code, your creativity is been tested. Everything you do at this stage will affect the total page size. If your design contains rounded shapes that overlap each other or areas with color gradients, then you must slice it carefully so the outcome is a small file size.

Let’s look at what efficient slicing means:

1. Do not make large slices that contain lots of different colors. Use a small number of slices where each slice contains a limited number of colors.
2. Do not make a large slice that contains the same graphic structure. Slice a small portion of it and duplicate it in your code. This is a very common mistake that webmasters/programmers make when dealing with gradient color background.
3. Do not use JPEG file format all the time. In some cases a GIF format will be much smaller in size. A rule of thumb – a slice with high number of colors will be smaller in size using the JPEG format rather than the GIF format, and the opposite is also true. Check each option separately. Every 1KB that you reduce from the image file size will eventually add up to a significant reduction in page size.
4. If you have text on a solid color background, do not slice it at all. Use code to create the background instead. Remember that you can define both the font style and background color of the area using CSS.

Advanced Techniques

Graphically optimizing a website is more than just knowing how to do image optimizations. There are some advanced techniques that required a high level of programming. CSS2 has much more to offer then CSS does. Although not all browsers have adopted this standard yet you should be ready for when they do. JavaScript also gives you a set of options to create some cool effects without needing to overload the page with Flash. Using limited tools like JavaScript compared to an advanced application like Flash to create the desired effects can be difficult. However think about the outcome. For a onetime effort you can differentiate your website from others. You will have an attractive professional looking website that loads quickly.

Back to the Future

As PDAs, smart mobile phones and mini laptops are used with wireless internet connections for internet browsing, publishing fast loading web pages will enhance the browsing experience not only for those using wide bandwidth connections but also will make the browsing experience user friendly (or may I say, bandwidth friendly) to the wireless clients.

For those who insist that web design optimization is not necessary because everyone will have high bandwidth connections eventually, I agree up to a point. However, the software companies are creating applications that use more bandwidth because they know it is available for them to use. Get used to writing well optimized web pages because this cat and mouse game will never end, and it is better to learn the rules of the game then it is to be bitten.

Aqeel Ahmed Zaman is an Internet Business Consultant and Online Web Marketing Executive for Gexton Pakistan.  Gexton Pakistan offers the complete web solution for your websites from web design layout to the Search Engine Optimization services.

eCommerce Website Design

eCommerce websites have their own unique character that is designed to lead the visitor to one simple task – make an online purchase. A web designer needs to consider a variety of online selling principles while designing an eCommerce website. In this article we will try to take a look at some of the major design aspects that you must have in an eCommerce website.

Many of you are probably already asking why eCommerce website design is different from any other website design. They all need to be attractive, well organized and use the right colors that fits the website spirit and so on. Your instincts are good. However a close look at some successful eCommerce websites will reveal the conceptual differences that are typical in a successful eCommerce website.

An eCommerce website needs to follow certain selling principles:

1. Give the user a pleasant experience during his online shopping.
2. Make certain you provide sufficient information on who owns the website and why they should be trusted.
3. The website must be easy to use. If it isn’t, the visitor will go to your competitor.

Those principles are not new. We all know those basics from our day to day experiences in the mall, shopping center and every other market place that is waiting for us to open up our wallets. The big challenge for a web designer is how to translate those conventional marketing techniques to the virtual world of the internet. I’m sure you’ve all noticed that in most supermarkets the bread stand is placed at the far end of the building, yet you can smell the fresh bread at the entrance (sometimes they even use a special air duct to carry the smells). That has been done deliberately. Marketers use our sense of smell to draw us through the store where we are exposed to all sorts of tempting goodies as we go to get our loaf of bread.

How do you draw an imaginarily path in a web page? A path designed to lead the visitor to do what you want him to do…make an online purchase. Unlike the supermarket our website has no smell. In a website the distance from one point to the other is pretty much the same, so the exit is always right there. In a website you can try to order the “shelf” in the way you think will best expose the visitor to many of your products, but there is always a chance that he will find a short cut to another page that can also be the way off your site.

As can be see, although putting your products on the web is much easier than renting space and opening a supermarket. However, selling your products on the web can be difficult.

A good eCommerce website design will lead the visitor to the right page in one click or two at the most. Sometime web designers will use techniques that would never be considered for non-eCommerce websites. Everyone has seen at least one sales letter website. On these web pages the only link is to the order form. Sales letters are not the most typical eCommerce website because they usually sell only one product. That allows the web designer the ability to exaggerate the one click principle and make it an advantage. All the facts about the product have been presented to the user is a smart way while every few lines he has the option to click on the order form. If he is not yet convinced he will have the option to continue to read more facts and testimonials about the products. Believe it or not, those sales letter websites are actually selling.

“What about online shops?” Online shops have to deal with more than one product. Of course, the greater number of products increases the complexity of the website. Sophisticated eCommerce websites use a variety of personalization technologies in an effort to determine the best selection of products to offer to the visitor. Personalization technologies are a major part of advanced eCommerce websites. However this topic is beyond the scope of this article. The cleverness of an eCommerce website’s personalization technology has a major influence on its design. The first to use such technology was Amazon.com who decided to push their client’s books to a visitor based on that visitor’s past orders combined with the statistics they had collected on all visitors used to predict what someone looking at a specific book might also be interested in reading. Today the goal is to try to predict what to offer the user on his first visit as well.

An eCommerce web design is also about the layout. One important aspect is where the user’s eyes look first when accessing a web page. Lots of research has been done on this topic. Most research showed that the middle left side area will attract the most attention followed by the center of the page. By using these techniques web designers try to draw the “walking path” for the visitor’s eye, much like what was done at the supermarket. An experienced eCommerce web designer will know how to create designs to meets those demands.

If you are about to open an eCommerce website or you are already own one, make sure you understand the web design principles for online selling. Consider consulting with an experienced website designer preferably someone who has experience with eCommerce websites. Good luck with your sales.

Aqeel Ahmed Zaman is an Internet Business Consultant and Online Web Marketing Executive for Gexton Pakistan.  Gexton Pakistan offers the complete web solution for your websites from web design layout to the Search Engine Optimization services.

Banner Design Success Techniques

Banners have been a major part of the World Wide Web world since its early days. Copywriters burn the midnight oil looking for new designs that will grab the visitor’s attention and compel him to click on their banner. This article discusses some of the most successful banner designs.

Teasing your curiosity

“Do Not Click Here”. How many of you have seen this slogan in a banner? What did you do when you first saw it? If you are like most people, when you first saw it, you clicked on it. What makes this simple sentence so powerful that it compels the visitor to click on it? The answer is curiosity !!!

Copywriters and web designers are always looking for ways to arouse the website visitor’s curiosity. As banner designers their goal is to attract the visitor to the banner, usually completely ignoring the other elements on the web page that are more important to the website owner. However, because the “Do Not Click Here” slogan tells us nothing about what is on the next page, it arouses the visitor’s curiosity and makes it almost impossible not to click on this banner to see what’s behind it.

Simple integrated design

When Larry Page and Sergey Brin first introduced their product, “Google”, to potential investors, they mentioned Adwords as a backup option in case they didn’t make any money. We all know how lucky they were that they eventually needed to use that backup plan. What made these “boring” ads such a great success?

Unlike other ads, Adwords neither arouse the visitor’s curiosity nor disturb the main flow of the web page. In fact, the opposite is true. Adwords are meant to look like part of the search results giving the user the feeling that those ads are there because he asked for them. No one has any doubt that this simple design helps Google to promote both their search engine and the Adwords advertising program.

Take part in the action

Banner designers wisely used interactive technologies like Flash to develop type of banners that invite the user to take part in the action. Drawing the user into the action can be accomplished in many creative ways. Some web designers use popular old games elements as part of the scene. You all know the famous game pacman. One of the banners that I like the most is the one where the user is allowed to let pacman “eat” few dollar signs. At the successful completion of this mission, a nice slogan is revealed asking him to open a saving account that will earn money with a fixed interest rate. The idea behind those interactive banners is simple: Let the user take part in the action and then at the right moment when his mind is less resistant, show him the sales message. Those interactive banners proved to be very efficient. Their biggest disadvantage is that most webmasters will not allow that kind of banner because it distracts too much from the web page content.

Back to Black and White

Website designers are always seeking to be different with their design ideas. One banner fashion trend that can be found lately is Black and White banners. Although research shows that blue and yellow are the most efficient color to use in a banner, Black and White banners have been seen a lot lately. It’s probably something that will eventually vanish, but the idea behind it is to be different and to make the user wonder what’s up and hopefully click on the banner to find out.

Get Out of the box

Have you heard about the www.gexton.com? If not, check out this website before continuing to read this article. This website has proven that creative thinking not only can bring you money but also create a whole new trend. Right after the milliondollarhomepage.com got the internet community’s attention, many designers used this idea to design a banner on which they sell a 10x10 pixel area. Like the original concept, this banner design had its impact. Advertisers are investing money on these ad spaces while at the same time visitors are curious enough time after time looking at those unorganized pixel banners to click on them.

What about the next trends

What the next trends of banner design will be is something that probably no one can accurately predict. It’s up to some web designer to come up with a new concept that proves to be efficient. There is no doubt that in the future we will see new ways of designing banners, especially when more and more advertising budgets are being spent on the internet instead of commercial TV and other types of advertising media. I guess we will just need to be patient.

Aqeel Ahmed Zaman is an Internet Business Consultant and Online Web Marketing Executive for Gexton Pakistan.  Gexton Pakistan offers the complete web solution for your websites from web design layout to the Search Engine Optimization services.

New Surface Science

If you are the casting of very complex material filled with glass, you'd think with hard chrome will suffice, since it is a classic, reliably protecting your mold to both corrosion and abrasion. However, hard chrome, with all its benefits do not tend to plate uniformly detailed areas such as ribs and bosses. This is a trick called Nihard, a coating of nickel-cobalt alloy bullets developed to overcome this limitation. To our knowledge, no other similar product.

Nickel-cobalt can be an economical alternative to hard chrome. Hard chrome requires the construction of an anode according to coat the pan. The details in the mold, the more time it takes to build the anode and the process becomes more expensive. Nihard requires no anode, and because of its chemical properties, records much more uniform. Cobalt gives a good wear resistance, but its hardness is 62 RC, 10 points lower than hard chrome. Is it worth paying extra for protection wear than hard chrome? You must consider the equipment being driven in shape, what percentage of glass? Is it a bigger problem of corrosion wear?

Hard chrome plated and has two solutions Nihard very good for longevity, but for very high wear conditions, offers an even more recent chrome diamond called exceptional protection. Developed by bullets, he has a score above the 85th RC is a matrix composites of chromium containing a dispersion of nanosized diamond particles spherical. Since diamonds are superior in hardness, this coating offers protection beyond the norm. It exceeds the coating of titanium nitride, although both have the same notes Rockwell, because he will not compromise the dimensional integrity of coated tools. Nihard used on about 130 F. titanium nitride (TiN) requires application temperatures of 800 F or more.

Diamond-chrome can be quenched and tempered plate, heat-treated, or hiilikarkaisuteräs and other basic materials such as aluminum, beryllium copper, brass and stainless steel. APPLICATIONS are core, cavity, slides, ejection sleeves, rotating and turning the hearts. Its anti-irritant properties are particularly advantageous for moving cores and slides.

Diamond-chrome is also peeled off and has no negative influence on the base material, which saves time and money when maintenance is needed. Tin is peeled off so good, but it may take several days to remove a Polish solution or peroxide. Diamond-chrome can be removed in minutes by using reverse electrolysis in a caustic solution. In addition, diamond-chrome deposited on a controlled thickness of 20 millionths of an inch to 0.001 inch TiN generally used only in thin deposits of a few millionths of an inch. Diamond-chrome can coat complex details, while the tin has a very limited coverage of complex details. While TiN is highly lubricious, with a coefficient of friction of 0.4 (against steel), diamond-chrome has a COF of 0.15, almost three times more lubricant.

They offer a combination of an excellent release properties and high resistance to abrasion, heat and corrosion, bales of newly appointed Niborio coating specialties. And 'nickel-phosphorous-containing particles of boron nitride in the matrix. This is a very low coefficient of friction (0.05 against steel) and the hardness of 54 RC, which can be increased to 67 RC after heat treatment, a unique feature. Nickel-boron nitride can be applied to any substrate only 185 F, and can be easily removed without compromising the basic material. Although more expensive than nickel-PTFE coating, Niborio run up to 1250 F, which is a multiple of 500 F, the upper limit of all the coatings based on PTFE.

It 'just Niborio catalytic process does not require the anode, which saves time and money. Also, do not Niborio compromising the thermal conductivity of the mold. Applications are open through the heart of the closure, with shorter cycle times are required.

Where high lubricity to the depth of rib, nuclei project zero, textured surfaces and "sticky" polymers, a layer of PTFE Nicklon bullets nickel compounds release will greatly improve a bit and improve the flow of resin to a 4% 8% for shorter cycle times. Your COF is 0.10 against steel.

It should be noted that the application of pure PTFE mold adds high lubricity, but only a very short-term benefit. PTFE itself is not the hardness, so that will not last. But the standard deviation of 25% by volume PTFE co-deposit with nickel results of 45 RC hardness greater wear.

Source: www.impreglon.com/

The DuPont Coatings

Teflon ® PTFE resin fluropolymer was discovered in 1938 by DuPont chemist Roy Plunkett. Since then, DuPont has developed a wide range of industrial coatings that carry the brand name Teflon ®. DuPont Teflon ® industrial coatings have received the approval of a wide range of applications. Many of Teflon ® coatings are FDA-compliant and can be used in food contact applications.

DuPont Teflon ® industrial coatings can be used for aluminum, carbon steel, stainless steel, alloy steel, brass, magnesium and other metals, as well as non-metallic colors, such as glass, fiberglass, rubber and some plastics. Heat treatment is then required to take care of coated product.

Plas-Tech is a long list of industries. The reason we serve many industries are due to different characteristics of Teflon ® and other fluoropolymer coatings we apply. Did you know that besides having the lowest coefficient of friction of the solid material known to man that Teflon ® is non-wetting, it has a high dielectric strength, chemical resistance, almost universal, and in many cases heat resistance to 500 ° F.

Very few substances is permanently attached to a Teflon ® surface. While sticky materials may show some temporary membership, almost all substances release easily.

Teflon ® coating on the belt of food prevents the accumulation of food debris and allows easy cleaning.

The combination of extreme low temperature stability and extremely high (-450 ° C to + 550 ° F) advocates the use of Teflon ® in a wider temperature range than any other organic coating material.

Teflon ® coated extrusion dies extrusion rates that allow more and better surface finish is an example of an application at high temperatures where other coatings can not be used.

Friction of Teflon ® is the range of 0.03 to 0.15, depending on load, sliding speed and special Teflon ® finish used.

Threaded that plugs must be removed and back in position often lubricated with Teflon ® to prevent and to allow re-sealing.

Teflon ® is unaffected by most chemical environments. The only chemicals known to affect Teflon ® finish is certain alkaline and more reactive fluorinating agents.

Metal seals are coated with Teflon ® shows improved sealing properties due to the malleability of Teflon ®.

New Teflon ® compounds have been developed that can be used for the elastomeric "O" rings and seals.

Source: www.impreglon.com/

THE CORROSION PROTECTION

Zinc has unique properties and is used in their applications. The predominant use of zinc (50-60%) is the corrosion protection, in particular, galvanized, which is the coating of steel with zinc metal to protect against corrosion. Zinc is a very reactive metal (less reactive than magnesium or aluminum, but more reactive than iron) and it may seem strange that this should be able to protect steel from corrosion that could be imagined that zinc is more vulnerable and need all the protection you can get! However, when atmospheric oxygen reacts with the zinc surface, a very dense and impermeable layer of zinc oxide is formed and it is this physical barrier that protects the surface of zinc further attacks.

An article coated with zinc, such as a highway guardrail, a standard lighting or a garbage bomb galvanized quickly loses its shiny silver redesigned and is dull gray, and this is due to the formation of this oxide layer zinc, which is a natural aging process. The physical barrier of the zinc coating and its surface oxide which protects the steel. The interface between the zinc and steel is not really just a metal directly on one another. The galvanizing process creates a reaction between zinc and steel, means that a zinc-iron compound formed between steel and zinc, and this provides another barrier to corrosion and the unbreakable bond between zinc and steel. Zinc does not flake away from the steel in the way the paint.

There are two main classifications of zinc, zinc-General and continuous galvanizing. In general, galvanized steel post, after cleaning, is immersed in a bath of molten zinc and is then removed and emptied, the zinc coating will soon be fixed and the article can then be processed normally. General galvanizing may be used for large objects, like steel beams and structures as well as small items such as nuts, bolts and washers. Zinc is commonly used in zinc containing a small amount of lead deposited on the bottom of the galvanizing bath, and helps to protect the zinc bath in the attack and provides a surface of the liquid in which all non-iron-zinc compounds can be more easily collected and removed.

Zinc can also be applied as a continuous process of electrolytic zinc, although this process has been used less than a continuous hot dip galvanizing. Zinc can also be injected into the molten steel to provide protection, and this method has been used to protect large structures such as bridges. Probably the protection is not as good as if the parts were galvanized the original production, because the preparation and the application may not be as well-controlled building.

Source: www.impreglon.com/