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WestHost Webmaster Connection
Tips on Web Development, Marketing, and E-Commerce
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Contents of this issue:
*Specials
- 7 Months Free!
- Dedicated Server Special - No Set Up Fees
*Web Development Tips
- How to Create a Photographic Gallery Using CSS
*Marketing Tips
- 10 Search Engine Optimization Blunders To Avoid
*Notable Site
- Planetphotoshop.com
*Quote of the week
- Great Products
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-Specials-
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- 7 Months FREE! -
Get up to 7 months of free hosting on select packages when you sign
up for a new hosting account and select annual billing! This is a
limited time offer, so hurry and sign up at
http://www.westhost.com/web-hosting.html
- Dedicated Server Special -
During the month of May, WestHost is waiving the set up fee on our
managed dedicated servers! Be sure to take advantage of this
special while it still lasts! For more information, please visit:
http://dedicated.westhost.com
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-Web Development Tips-
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How to Create a Photographic Gallery Using CSS
By Stu Nicholls.
Introduction
One of the many uses for personal and professional web site is to
display a gallery of photographs that show off your skills with a
camera. Until now these galleries have been produced using
javascript, PHP or CGI.
Now, there is now another way.
With this article I hope to show you how to produce a professional
quality photograph gallery using nothing more than an unordered list
of photographs and a Cascading Style Sheet (CSS). I will take you
through the styling one step at a time and end up converting:
An unordered list of photographs
into a....
Professional photograph gallery.
Each step will be thoroughly explained and will have an example page
showing the effect of the additional styling so that you can see
what to expect.
The photograph gallery will work in all the latest browsers and I
have included hacks enabling Internet Explorer 5.5 to interpret the
style correctly. The styling is not too long or difficult, but the
layout will need a lot of attention to detail and pre-planning.
Method
Step 1
The images
I have found that this gallery will load fairly quickly with up to
twelve medium sized (approximately 400px by 250px and 15-20KB)
images, as it requires all the images to be preloaded before it will
work. Any more than this will cause the page loading time, in my
opinion, to become unacceptable. You may find that this is not the
case with your images but it is best to test this out before you
begin.
(To continue reading this article, please visit:
http://www.webreference.com/programming/css_gallery/index.html)
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-Marketing Tips-
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Website Promotion: 10 Search Engine Optimization Blunders To Avoid
by Michael Murray
If you want to develop a successful search engine optimization (SEO)
strategy, go out of your way to avoid blunders that limit search
engine rankings.
Here are 10 to keep in mind:
1. Don't use frames.
Why would you want to use frames if SEO is important? Don't risk
confusing the search engine spiders, which happens often with
frameset sites. Sure, you can write scripts or adjust the content to
work within frames, but you probably have better things to do with
that time and energy.
2. Don't use Flash.
Everyone agrees--Flash looks awesome. But it also slows down the user
experience and Flash makes it tough to get ranked. The Flash future
looks bright for the ability of search engines to read some keywords,
but what good will this serve if site pages lack visible, readable
text?
3. Don't skimp on title tags.
Why would you simply call a page About Us in the title tag when this
meta data occupies prime SEO real estate? Always include effective
search phrases that reflect the content within title tags.
4. Don't overstuff title tags.
Limit titles to 70 characters, with commas between phrases in EVERY
title tag; use fewer characters on pages with limited content.
5. Don't bury text.
Design often gets in the way of Text. Make sure your visible text
is located high on the page.
6. Don't use graphics as page headers.
Graphic headers are a waste of space, and thus of time, when it
comes to SEO. Use text as page headers and support them by utilizing
strategic keywords - in the header, after the header or below the
header.
7. Don't use the wrong words.
Website owners love one-word search terms because they seem to get
lots of traffic. The reality is that only a fraction of Internet
users entering a broad search word want what you have to offer. Go
for search terms using two, three or four words that will help
visitors qualify their interests.
8. Don't ignore link building.
Hunt down links from other websites that have content and categories
that relate to what you offer. If you sell sweaters, find a
specialty guide about sweaters or a portal about clothing.
9. Don't overwhelm your pages with keywords.
You might not write the same keyword in succession 10 times, but you
can make the mistake of too much repetition. Mention your strategic
search term several times throughout the page, but promise yourself
not to force its use too much.
10. Don't use long URLs.
If you use a database to maintain the website, you may end up with
long URLs with several session IDs and parameters that produce many
question marks and equal signs. These lengthy URLs can hinder search
engines from properly indexing the pages. Work with your developer
so as to limit them or to remove them altogether as much as is
possible.
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-Notable Site-
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Planetphotoshop.com
Need the "know-how" or inspiration to complete a project in
photoshop? Planetphotoshop.com has lots of hints, tips,
techniques, and tutorials to help you hone your Photoshop
skills.
To find out more, please visit http://www.planetphotoshop.com/
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-Quote of the Week-
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“A lot of companies have chosen to downsize, and maybe that was the
right thing for them. We chose a different path. Our belief was that
if we kept putting great products in front of customers, they would
continue to open their wallets.”
--Steve Jobs
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Sponsored by WestHost
http://www.westhost.com
Editor: Zack Esser
zesser@westhost.com
Editor: Bevan Erickson
berickson@westhost.com
Copyright 1998-2005, WestHost, All rights reserved. No
part of this publication may be reproduced in whole,
or in part, without the express written consent of the
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