We’re already 14 days into the year 2011, but it’s not too late to put your website on a diet! Making your website leaner will help you rank better in the search engines and keep your site secure.

Out with the old

Do you deserve better hosting ? Do you deserve the best hosting ? Is it time to move ? The IThelper offers a unique personal but professional hosting experience which can be individually tailored to your needs.. for more information click here http://www.theithelper.com/website-hosting-france-software-detail.aspx

It can be boring going back to existing pages and code when all you want to do is plough ahead with fresh content. However reviewing your existing content is a necessary task which can even be inspiring once you get into it.( honest!)

Delete, delete, delete!!!!!
Get shot of those themes and plugins you aren’t using. this will help you keep your website secure as well as freeing up valuable space.

It’s worth checking through your content as well; deleting, redirecting and amalgamating pages can help you improve visitor experience, cut down on your sitemap and ensure you keep organised. Just be careful you don’t leave a trail of 404s or delete pages important for SEO purposes, and back up your website before going on a deleting spree just i

Sort out your scripts and stylesheets
Put all your CSS into one file when possible to improve page speed and cut down on the number of files you have. If you have any JavaScript on your site, it’s also worth going through pages and includes to remove any lines of code no longer in use. Also delete any additional files (such as images) that are used by/associated with the scripts as well. Another important tip is to where possible include your JavaScript at the bottom of the page rather than the top to increase page speed.


In with the new

 

Planning your content in advance will save a lot of hassle, especially if you work with other people. Organisational tools such as Workflowy and Remember the Milk are ideal for keeping track of what needs doing and what you’ve completed.

If you’re outsourcing any design or content, then planning at least two or three months ahead can also have a positive impact on your budget. If you do all your own design and content, then create a schedule with deadlines to maximise your use of time and help you stay motivated.

If you have pages of your website which are outdated but still provide SEO value, then consider what content you can add to give them new value, or how to best refer visitors to the important core pages of your site.

Most of all enjoy  2011 and eat more fruit !!

I bug fix every new software request before I release from live to test environments  but good software development relies on a separate person other than the developer doing the testing.

 In big companies I have worked with  this is usually a test team where a tester or group of testers  is assigned to a project or a developer.

The developer does his unit testing and then the testers do system testing and  Quality assurance.

In small companies  this is usually the client .. hence it relies on  them or someone delegated by them to test and make sure that any new features fully meets their expectations and business requirments.

This means testing each and every new feature in as many situations as possible.. yes this is boring .. yes this takes time.. but further down the road it does ultimately save time and increase revenue.

 http://www.softwaretestinghelp.com/category/tester-vs-developer/
 
I have never and will never bug fix software I have developed free for life ..
 
In my experience this doesn’t happen in reality except  by developers that overcharge initially , are desperate or inexperienced or a combination of all three.

Of  course  there is "give and take" in all relationships and of course smaller fixes and tweaks are done out of good faith.  The other exception is fixed price work where the specification is crystal clear and allows indefinite fixing of issues which are included in the initial price.
 
Building software is not like building a house! Things change.. dependencies get broken.. windows server hotfixs get applied to servers by automatic Microsoft updates that break databases etc

A modern computer and software suite is by far the most technically complex edifice ever constructed - far more complex than any mechanical or civil engineering project. Thus, a software project is an inherently complex task being undertaken in an environment where the interactions are far more complex and poorly understood.

what I'm saying is what might work one week may break the next .. there are so many inputs and permutations .. logic paths that can happen only on certain conditions… A recent point in case was  a registration screen which all in all took me over an hour to diagnose and in the end it was down to the SMTP server switched off on the server and an emailing app turned off…. Fix time  10 seconds... responsibility or negligence of the developer - ZERO %

Which is another point ... that the diagnostic of some of these issues can soak up and absorb 99% of  the time.. and the fix can be done in seconds once its found. Add to this a poorly written report by the client of the bug with no test case details and you have to factor in additional time to hunt down the right user account/ page/ report/ whatever to use.

As I mentioned while most GOOD developers that I've talked to agree that bug-free is a myth since there's always room for improvements at the very least; there's a fine line between being driven to writing quality code and then charging for it being intentionally bug ridden.

The model I would recommend is to use a grace period. Any bugs found with in 2 weeks of a release will be fixed for free (with a caveat about duration); however, anything not discovered until after that will be considered part of the next release and billable.

The other thing to make clear here though is locking down of  requirements and expectations so that  "bugs" are not found when in actuality its a new feature that’s needed.

Thanks for reading this far .. sorry it got a bit heavy ..i’ll leave you on a lighter note

Programming today is a race between software engineers stirring to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the universe is winning.” Bill gates

Just wanted to update you on our latest Project  for a Property company.

This project is related to the Rightmove UK v3.0 datafeed.

We are building a Windows service will extract data from a property table in our database, construct a Rightmove v3.0 BLM file (delimited text file) and package this with images referenced in the table to a ZIP file and deploy to a folder ready for transport to the RightMove FTP site.

The service will be configurable on:

1. The number of packages that are created for deployment ie there may be multiple locations we wish to send the BLM+image package
2. How often and when the service runs each day.

Deliverables include:

1. Windows installer for service
2. Full instructions for use
3. Fully annotated source code and build instructions

To assist future development, C# is the preferred language, and VS 2010 ASP.net the very latest version of ASP.net  is being used.

Update:!!! attcahed is the documentation we produced for this service

chwet RightMove Export Service V1.0.docx (20.19 kb)

Latest customer endorsement! 

 "You have come up with great ideas, solved problems and got things done. Which I have been very impressed with.

This has been such a stressful time and I have dealt with some right untrustworthy, unreliable, plonkers and I am a little weary. Although I know you are different but you have caught me at the end of a very long, bumpy and costly road, I only wished I met you at the beginning! However, I have to say thus far you have been great and I just wanted to say thank you for helping me finally achieve my dream."

Rebecca

www.iamtheagent.com

The Ken Burns technique is a popular name for a type of effect used in video production from still imagery.

We recently used this in a new site http://www.coffrage-isolant-france.com/coffrage_isolant_beton_proprietaires.aspx

We used this with little regard of the history or orgin of the name. Our decison was based purely on the visual effect.

The Ken Burns Effect, named after the American documentary maker Ken Burns, is the technique of embedding still photographs in movies, displayed with slow zooming and panning effects, and fading transitions between them. The zooming and panning across photographs gives the feeling of motion, and keeps the viewer visually entertained.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkZo7kqpd14

We wanted to share our blogging software and Strategy with you..

We are doing this on a few sites for a few customers and wanted to spread the word.

What’s a blog?

Blogs mean many things to many people...

We like to think of them as news..... interesting content that people wish to read and which can be used to promote your current products and services.

In this “social networked era” it’s all about spreading the word on as many platforms as efficiently as possible.

What are we doing?

Basically we are integrating a customized blog package into existing sites to sit seamlessly in the site so it looks like part of the site.

Any articles written then automatically feed out into Facebook and other Social network sites for maximum exposure and minimum effort.

Customers using our newsletter software find that the story also feeds into their inbox and that they can optionally send out this story to their subscribers at the push of a button.

Like most of the good things in life It’s actually quite simple but quite nifty .

To see an example n check out what we have done on our site at

www.theithelper.com/blog

and our Face book  page at

http://www.facebook.com/pages/ithelper/186373674950?v=app_2347471856

Why put my blog on my existing site.. Isn’t having it on a new URL better?

A lot of people advocate having a Blog on another URL and pointing links back to your main site.. In our research and experience this is 9 times out of ten the wrong approach to take.

Indeed we are not alone..Founder of SEOmoz, a very authoritative and respected SEO blog, had this to say

 “Hosting your blog on a different domain from your primary site is one of the worst mistakes you can make. A blog on your domain can attract links, attention, publicity, trust and search rankings — by keeping the blog on a separate domain, you shoot yourself in the foot. From worst to best, your options are — Hosted (on a solution like Blogspot or WordpPress), on a unique domain (at least you can 301 it in the future), on a subdomain (these can be treated as unique from the primary domain by the engines) and as a sub-section of the primary domain (in a subfolder or page – this is the best solution).”

It appears that the overwhelming consensus among the experts in SEO is that to achieve the optimal SEO benefits from your blog, you should host it in a subdirectory rather than a subdomain.

Read more: http://www.hyperarts.com/blog/blog-hosting-external-subdomain-subdirectory-best-seo/#ixzz0abV6xbTC

What else

Call us or comment on this article... This is easier to set up than you would think and we’d be happy to talk your through the process or answer any questions.

You are no longer defined by your activity on just one site or social network. Every photograph you upload, every page you bookmark, every
blog post you make, every tweet you twitter helps to define you just a little bit more. We have created a fun site to pull all this activity into one place.

The term lifestream was coined by Eric Freeman in the mid-1990s to describe "...a time-ordered stream of documents that functions as a diary of your electronic life; every document you create and every document other people send you is stored in your lifestream.

visit our lifestream

For those in the SEO know .. Page rank isn't everything , however its nice to tick all boxes ..

On that note www.theroadahead.com just scored big .. a whooping page rank of FIVE in less than 12 months optimisation !

This client is releasing a new compare the market removal quote site with a twist do the timing is fantastic!

Hit and bounce rates are up and down ( respectively ) by 200%

Watch this space!

Boring technical announcement follows ....

What is PageRank?

PageRank is a numeric value that represents how important a page is on the web. Google figures that when one page links to another page, it is effectively casting a vote for the other page. The more votes that are cast for a page, the more important the page must be. Also, the importance of the page that is casting the vote determines how important the vote itself is. Google calculates a page's importance from the votes cast for it. How important each vote is is taken into account when a page's PageRank is calculated.
PageRank is Google's way of deciding a page's importance. It matters because it is one of the factors that determines a page's ranking in the search results. It isn't the only factor that Google uses to rank pages, but it is an important one.

Top results!

Read full story on Facbook

Our online shop is pending .. basically we are snowed under building other peoples e-commerce solutions that we have no time to do our own!

We have sourced Many useful Gadgets and cutting edge IT tools that we are sure you will find usefull.

Untill then take a look at our shade at
http://www.theithelper.com/laptopshade.aspx

or just tell us what you need by calling or clicking on
http://www.theithelper.com/contact.aspx

Remember as a face book buddy you benefit from free and friendly advice on all your hardware buying requirements

We have finally stoped being ant-social!

You can now find our latest news and information on the following popular networking sites. Please feel free to add us to your list of contact!