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Monday, September 21, 2009
Turn Off Windows Update Notifications
 I am running Windows Vista and I have Windows Update setup to ‘Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them’. Sometimes I don’t want to install updates for one reason or another.
The problem with this setup is that when you don’t install updates, the program keeps alerting me to update.
I found out a way to prevent Windows Update from notifying me all the time.
- Go to Windows Update in the Control Panel
- Click on ‘View Available Updates’
- Right click on the update you don’t want to install and be notified of
- Select ‘Hide Update’
That’s it.
Posted by: Michael Swartz at 2:18 pm
Comments: None | Filed under: Computer
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Web Design Process: From Wireframe to Website
Recently I wrote about sketching out a wireframe first, on paper, before opening up any software program. We call that Stage 2: Information Design. (Stage 1: Strategic Planning is all about getting and analyzing content and establishing a goal or objective for the website).
Well, I wanted you to see what became of that sketch. (It became a website, of course)
After I sketched out, on paper, where I wanted content to go, I used Adobe (or Macromedia) Fireworks to design the homepage wireframe.
 Matt Duncan Homepage Wireframe After a couple of revisions from the client, we moved onto Stage 3: Visual Design. This is the stage where all the colors and typefaces come in. We essentially wrap the design around the content.
 Matt Duncan Visual Design After a few revisions from the client, it’s onto Stage 4: Production. This is the stage where the picture above becomes a working website with links, rollovers, rotators, database integration and more.
Our sketched out wireframe is now a website: http://www.matthewjduncan.com/
Talk to us about designing your new website.
Posted by: Michael Swartz at 5:35 pm
Comments: 2 Comments | Filed under: Web Design
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
IE6 Multiple Class Selector Hack
 A client’s new website was not displaying correcting in Internet Explorer 6 (Wow, what a surprise…not!). It look fine in every other browser.
Usually I create a separate ie6fix.css file and I’m done, but this problem was a doosey.
IE6 doesn’t recognize two classes for one element. For example: <a class="one two"></a>
I was trying everything to get the navigation rollover to work. It wasn’t until I found this post, by Bennett of Thunderguy.com.
Adding another class and separating the two with a hyphen works. Unbelievable! What a hack.
Like this: <a class="one two one-two"></a>
He saved me more agonizing hours of pain. Thanks Bennett and kudos to you.
Now I’m here to help share this hack with everyone else, but the biggest help I, as a webmaster, can give is if everyone stopped using IE6 and upgraded. Microsoft is now on version 8. There is no good reason to keep using this antiquated browser that doesn’t conform to the new standards of the internet.
Photo credit from IE Sucks
Posted by: Michael Swartz at 5:16 pm
Comments: None | Filed under: HTML, Web Design
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Investing and SEO Similarities
 I’ve been investing in the stock market since 1998. I’ve been out for quite sometime due to the recent collapse, but the market followed through on March 12 and a new uptrend is still in place, so I’m back in.
I noticed after doing this for awhile that investing and SEO (Search engine optimization) have some similarities. One is measurement.
When you purchase a stock and you make a mistake (i.e. you lose money), you’re supposed to review when you purchased and why the stock failed (what the market was doing, etc.). Same thing with SEO. You add in your keywords, track your site on the search engines and determine if your website gains in the rankings (goes up). If not, you’re supposed to review why it failed and try again.
This same principle applies when your stock goes up or your website moves up in the rankings. Measure the results.
When I purchase a stock, I just don’t walk away and let the market determine my outcome (i.e. Buy, Hold and Pray). No, I watch it and if I can’t watch it, I put in a sell stop, just in case. When optimizing a website and adding new keywords, I just don’t leave it be. I watch the search engines, monitor the website rankings and adjust accordingly.
The only way to be successful in the stock market and in your search engine optimization efforts is to measure your results…good and bad.
Posted by: Michael Swartz at 3:47 pm
Comments: 2 Comments | Filed under: SEO
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
How to Retrieve Deleted Web Files Off the Internet
I accidentally deleted a file off a clients web server and thank goodness I had downloaded a copy to my local computer beforehand. I uploaded the copy and was back in business. But I thought, what if I hadn’t of downloaded a copy and I had no backup of the web file?
How to Retrieve Deleted Web Files From the Internet
Well, there would be two locations I could go to on the web to retrieve a copy.
- Google – Google indexes the internet, so they have copies of your recently crawled web files, called cached links. To find out if Google has a copy of your web file, type cache:www.yourdomainname.com/pathtoyourwebfile/ into Google.
- Wayback Machine – The Wayback Machine is an internet archive that has been archiving websites since 1996. (It’s fun to poke around and see what Yahoo looked like back in the day). To retrieve a copy of your web file, just type in your URL into the search box and click on the Month, Day and Year you need. Whala.
So, if you either overwrite or accidentally delete one of your web files, know that all is not lost.
PS: Here’s a complete resource for finding old websites.
Mike Swartz says, “Check it out”.
Posted by: Michael Swartz at 5:06 pm
Comments: 1 Comment | Filed under: Web Design, Web General
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Test Everything
 Whoops!
I almost sent out a confirmation email without seeing if I could login to their application or not. Well, I can’t. Good thing I didn’t send that email.
Test Everything
I learned that early in my career. There are so many things you have to check before launching a website, application or a simple web form.
What I learned was:
- Make one change
- Test it
- If it works, move on. If not, test again
If you test each change individually, you’ll always know what did or didn’t work. You’ll never figure out what isn’t working if you make too many changes at one time.
“Test, test and test again”. You can never be too careful.
Posted by: Michael Swartz at 4:58 pm
Comments: 1 Comment | Filed under: Business, Computer, Personal
Friday, May 29, 2009
MJS Web Solutions Receives MAC Gold Award from Boys and Girls Club of Alameda
 MJS Web Solutions was awarded the MAC (Marketing and Communications) Gold Award from the Boys and Girls Club of Alameda for contributing their web development skills towards the We Can Build This marketing campaign.
“Please accept our thanks for the wonderful work you’ve done on behalf of the Alameda Boys & Girls Club. You have created a sense of professionalism and competence that reflects favorably on our efforts.” – George Phillips and Kathie Woulfe, Boys and Girls Club of Alameda
The We Can Build This marketing campaign was created to build awareness and encourage supporters to help the Boys and Girls Club of Alameda build a new 25,000 square foot Youth Development Center in Alameda, California.
The campaign also won top honors at the Boys and Girls Club National Convention.
The Boys and Girls Club of Alameda Needs You!
Since the campaign was launched (early this year) we have reached 60% of our goal. Please, consider making a lasting investment in our children and our community. Visit, the We Can Build This website and donate today.
Thank you.
Posted by: Michael Swartz at 9:21 am
Comments: 2 Comments | Filed under: News
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
CSS Compatibility Mode Fix for Internet Explorer 8
 My recent post about IE8 has launched it’s ugly head.
A client of ours contacted us to let us know after they downloaded the new Internet Explorer 8 there site looked messed up.
Knowing this was going to be a problem, Microsoft created a button called ‘Compatibility View‘ so users could view websites in the older version of their browser.
But this was not a work around for our client.
Instead of fixing (or hacking) all the code on the website I added the following code recommended by Microsoft:
<html>
<head>
<!-- Mimic Internet Explorer 7 -->
<meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=EmulateIE7" >
<title>My Web Page</title>
</head>
<body>
<p>Content goes here.</p>
</body>
</html>
It worked!
This is truly a work around – a Microsoft work around. Microsoft knew full well that their new browser couldn’t view perfectly good standard coded websites, so they had to come up with a way to view websites as if you were using their old browser.
What a joke. It’s no wonder why Microsoft is losing market share to Firefox and Apple.
Posted by: Michael Swartz at 6:23 pm
Comments: 20 Comments | Filed under: HTML, Web Design
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Microsoft Releases Internet Explorer 8 Which Equals More Testing
 Microsoft has just released it’s latest browser, Internet Explorer 8 (IE8).
Apparently IE8 is a slimmed down version of IE7, faster and doesn’t crash. I’ll believe when I see it.
Many Web Browsers
Internet Explorer still commands 72.2% of the web browser market, up from 69.7% a year ago. The open-source Firefox browser is No. 2 with 17.2%. Google’s Chrome is third with just under 3% of the market.*
Notice only 3 browsers mentioned. Another browser, Safari for the Mac (and PC) was not listed.
MJS Web Solutions Tests In All Popular Browsers
I’m announcing the release to let everyone know that MJS tests and programs for the most popular web browsers (Internet Explorer, Firefox & Safari). And not just each web browser, but each web browser version (IE6, IE7, and now IE8) and on each computer platform (i.e. Windows & Mac).
Don’t be fooled. Some web designers/developers may not test on all of the browsers mentioned, but only one. If you want ALL of your customers to view your website without errors, make sure they test on the most popular web browsers.
My personal web browser preference is Firefox. Why? Because it is fast, user friendly and has the capability to add on applications, very similar to the popularity of Apple’s iPhone add-on apps.
*Source: Janco Associates (e-janco.com)
Posted by: Michael Swartz at 2:02 pm
Comments: None | Filed under: Web Design, Web General
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Keeping Up With Google
 Google seems to be in the news each day…or many times a day. It can be daunting to keep up.
The latest is “Google preparing to steer more telephone traffic”
Yesterday: “Google software bug shared private online documents”
Here are few ways to keep up with Google:
- Google Blog
- Google Alerts
- Google News
To learn about how they’re helping the SEO community, check out Google’s blog specifically for webmasters.
Mike Swartz says, “Check it out”.
Posted by: Michael Swartz at 9:57 am
Comments: None | Filed under: Web General
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