Drupal 8 is Out…Should You Switch Now?

In November 2015, Drupal released its long awaited Drupal 8.  It’s now the shiny new (free) object in the Content Management System (CMS) world. Should you convert my Drupal 6 or Drupal 7 or WordPress website to Drupal 8?  Not yet. Drupal and WordPress take vastly different worldviews of their CMS’s and users which largely …

Site not Mobile-Friendly? Here’s why that Is A Problem…

I previously wrote about Mobilegeddon, the “name” given to the change Google made to their search algorithms which will deemphasize websites that are not mobile-friendly (sites that will not fit on a smartphone or tablet screen, requiring left-right scrolling — which most users don’t like — or that require a lot of zooming in to …

Mobilegeddon is Here…Fix Your Websites Now!

Why is Google king of search engines?  They provide search results that are relevant to searchers.  They do this by constantly tweaking their algorithm to ensure relevant results. Over the last 5-10 years searches from mobile devices (smartphones, tablets) have grown dramatically and now comprise roughly 50% of searches.  40-45% of the average website’s page views …

To Allow Comments or Not? Realities.

When starting a website or blog, the owner of such a site must determine whether or not they will allow users to comment on pages or posts.  The upside is customer and potential customer or constituent engagement.  Social media, after all, is about being social. The downside is significant too.  Comment spam needs to be …

Search Engine Optimization and Changes

You have a website.  Great!  But do people find you?  And if so, how?  (Use analytics!) A large portion of traffic to many website come from a referral by search engines.  How do search engines know what to return when you do a search?  That’s the trillion dollar question for many web developers and site …

WordCamp Philadelphia 2014

This past Saturday, I attended the (mostly) annual WordCamp in Philly.  This year, it was held at The University of the Arts on South Broad Street.  While the facility had some challenges, the Camp as always is well organized by Brad Williams and Doug Stewart.  Four tracks were presented (user, power user, developer and designer). …

Prepare for the “Dot What?” Onslaught!

Domain names are about to undergo a significant modification that you need to be aware of.  Historically, there have only been a limited number of top level domains (TLDs).  TLDs are the very last part of a domain name.  You are probably familiar with .com (originally intended for multinational companies), .net (for networks), .org (for …

Websites for Dummies?

At this point, it is no secret that the website rollout for the National Health Insurance Exchange has been nothing short of a disaster.  I’m utterly amazed at how poor a job was done to develop that website.  Why they did not use Drupal as a platform is beyond me.  Many government agencies — including …

Don’t Make These Mistakes on Your E-commerce Website

After six years of heavy use, my computer’s monitor is giving me signs that its end is near.  As I usually do, I searched online for the best monitor that meets my needs and then searched for the best price.  In this case (for a Dell Ultrasharp Monitor), Amazon had the second lowest price I …

Facebook is not Private!

If you are like most people, you have a Facebook account.  If you’re smart, you have your privacy settings such that only your friends can see your postings, private information and pictures.  Even set as private, your privacy is not guaranteed.  Your friends can re-post or forward along your postings. But even worse, courts are now …