If you run an internet marketing agency, you have one client you dread more than any other: Yourself. We launched a revamped Portent site several months back, then rebuilt this site a bit later. In 16 years, I think we’ve rebuilt our company site 8 or 9 times. Some lessons I’ve learned: You’re a frakking …

A marketer walks into a meeting, ready to see the newest designs for their client’s site. The new design is beautiful. It makes everyone weep with joy. It’s also totally devoid of text. The marketer (or SEO, or copywriter, or strategist) walks back out of the meeting, punches a wall until their hand flattens, and …

The short version: Learn to use the TRIM() command in whatever programming language you’re using, so you remove spaces that some poor soul accidentally includes in a data they enter via web form. The TRIM() command Every programming language has some version of the TRIM() command. TRIM() removes leading and trailing spaces from any alphanumeric …

This is part of my ever-growing list of tips for developers building e-commerce sites. I cover a lot of territory in one list, so be gentle folks. Use SSL only within your cart. There’s a hell of a lot of debate around this. But one fact is clear: SSL page requests require more server cycles …

Lessee, so far we’ve talked about creating a basic web page, working with headings and paragraphs, and creating links. On to lists: If you can work with lists in HTML you can make your blog look better than 90% of your competition. Here’s how: Learn to create ordered and unordered lists, and why you need …

Now you hopefully know how to do headings and paragraphs. Time to move on to links, which are not nearly as scary as they may seem. If you’re blogging, a well-placed link can draw folks deeper into your site, get you more attention and make a post more ‘sticky’. As with previous topics, I made …

I’ve been helping the middle school class at my children’s Montessori learn to write basic HTML. The goal: Get them to the point where they can work comfortably in WordPress. The result is a slowly growing series of videos on the subject. If you’re a wannabe blogger/geek and don’t know the basic HTML tags (headings, …

Reading online ,10-15 words on a line is best. Don’t take my word for it anymore. I’m tired of arguing with you. Just go over and subscribe to the Designer Bookshop Newsletter. They’re design geniuses, and they say stuff like this: It is important that the columns are set to a length that is “proportional” …

First, I apologize. If you are the person who designed any of these, I know full well you created something great. Then your client came and said “It needs more text” or “I need to explain the entire history of my company in a 730 x 90 space”. And your dream project was ruined. I …

Don’t take my word for it. Jakob Nielsen said it best in 2001. Of course you can try a focus group. Do your design. Then put 10 strangers in a small box, give them free candy, point 10 cameras at them and start firing questions. Oh, and don’t forget to make sure there’s a painfully …