Sliloh Graphics & Web Design

HTML5/HTML/XHTML

Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) is the predominant markup language for web pages.

HTML elements form the building blocks of all websites. HTML allows images and objects to be embedded and can be used to create interactive forms.

HTML5 is the fifth revision of the HTML standard and as of December 2011 is still under development. It was created to improve the language with support for the latest multimedia while keeping it easily readable by humans and consistently understood by computers and devices. The best part is that it allows for all the animation effects of flash, but is compatible on all mobile platforms including Apple iPhones, iPads and iTouch devices.

CSS

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) are used to describe the presentation semantics (the look and formatting) of a document written in a markup language such as HTML. The proper use of CSS allows us to separate presentational elements such as layout, colors and fonts from your website content in order to make a more flexible and accessible site.

PHP

Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP) was developed in the mid-90s to produce dynamic web pages using server-side scripting (as opposed to a language such as Javascript that effects web content once it has already been delivered to the browser). Using PHP allows us to develop more sophisticated websites with content that can be tailored to the end-user.

Flash is a multimedia platform used to add animation, video, and interactivity to web pages. When used properly it can be engaging and add a level of interest to your site that was not previously achievable through other means.

Flash is a powerful tool, but like every tool, it’s not a one-size-fits-all approach – especially since it has a few shortcomings. The major problems with Flash are that it is not supported on Apple mobile devices and its performance is dependent upon end-user plugins. This can be problematic if many of your users come to your site through iPhones or if your visitors are not in the habit of updating their browser plugins frequently. With rapid interactivity developments in other languages such as HTML5 and Javascript, we are finding ourselves turning to Flash less and less, but our developers are always ready and able to meet your Flash needs.

Electronic commerce or e-commerce has revolutionized the way we shop, giving consumers the power of information and options and allowing business-owners to increase their reach and availability. Forrester, a research company predicts that online retail sales will increase from almost $200 billion in 2011 to roughly $280 billion by 2015, so if your business isn’t riding this wave of consumerism, you might want to give it some serious thought.

Whether you use an integrated shopping cart like Zen-Cart, Magento, Ubercart or PrestaShop or a hosted solution like 1Shopping Cart or simple PayPal buttons, we will help you focus on your user’s experience as well as their security when offering products online to create a successful alternative to or extension of your offline business.

If updating the content of your website was as painless as drafting a Word Document, would you do it on a more regular basis? With a Content Management System (CMS), you will have the capability to format copy, upload and insert images, and create links all without writing a single line of code or paying a web developer — giving you full control of your website and your update schedule.

We are fluent with installing and customizing the following Open Source Content Management Systems from scratch or we can migrate your site from your existing HTML or CMS into any of the following:

• Drupal
• CMS Made Simple
• WordPress

Drupal

Drupal is flexible and easy to extend. The design structure of Drupal empowers the Drupal developers to write code that uses the system resources wisely. Drupal is secure, has a focus on taxonomy and makes content sorting easy and efficient.

CMS Made Simple

CMS Made Simple combined the strengths of Drupal with the strengths of WordPress. It is VERY easy to use compared to Joomla and Drupal and it has more features than WordPress. It is newer and, thus, has less addons and less pre-made templates than both. It also has a smaller user base and less “community” features than Drupal or Joomla, but CMS is actively developed and highly scalable.

WordPress

WordPress started as just a blogging system, but has evolved to be used as full content management system and so much more through the thousands of plugins, widgets, and themes. It is a very mature and stable product.

As more web browsers take to their smartphones and tablets to browse the web, it is important that you consider and control what they’re seeing when they pull up your website on these smaller devices. By either creating a responsive version of your existing website or creating an alternate mobile version, we will work with you to ensure that your on-the-go visitors will get the same great experience as if they were viewing your site from a desktop computer.

Responsive Web Design vs. Separate Mobile Site

Creating a responsive website is a technique by which CSS is used to alter the display of content according to the size of the screen on which it is being viewed. It allows one website to be optimized for smart phones, tablets and desktops or laptops.

Developing a separate site can be valuable if you need to serve up completely different content to mobile users. A separate mobile site allows you to query your users’ media devices and redirect them to the proper site for their device.

Thanks to the mushrooming field of social media, people can find new employees, friends, clients, and resources all with the click of a mouse. It’s like a 24/ 7 networking event every day of the year.

There are four often indistinguishable types of social media: (1) social networking sites, (2) social bookmarking sites, (3) blogs, and (4) online forums. All forms of social media help to promote your site by a.) sending direct traffic, b.) producing links to your site, and c.) generating awareness.

Social Networks

Facebook

Facebook helps you connect and stay in touch with friends, but you can also set up a “business page” to promote your product or service to harness the power of your network and gain valuable metrics about your page’s traffic.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is mostly used by professionals to share their resume and work experience but can be used by anyone in any field.

Twitter

Famous for coining the term micro-blogging, Twitter allows you to touch a large audience in digestible, 140-character chunks. Integrate your Twitter with your Facebook (and blog!) to really maximize your social networking time.

YouTube/Vimeo

No matter your business, you should try to offer some rich media content such as “how-to”, funny or opinion-based videos that provide value to your customers.

MySpace

MySpace has become a great tool for showcasing talent in the music and entertainment industries.

Fresh content is one of THE MOST IMPORTANT factors that search engines consider when calculating a website’s page rank. Web logs or “Blogs” allow you to update your content frequently and easily without getting bogged down by code. You can either build the blog into your website using WordPress or another database-driven blogging application, or create hosted blog using Blogger, Live Journal, WordPress.com or Tumblr and simply link it to your website.

If you offer excellent content and regular industry commentary, people are likely to link to your blog posts and increase your site’s popularity. A clear, consistent voice and topical info are key to web users and search engines alike, so stay on top of the latest trends in your industry and give the people what they want.

Forums are a good place to learn and share knowledge. Some of the more popular discussion forums send huge amounts of traffic to blogs. So, if you want to take your blog to new heights, then it is imperative that you start participating in these forums. Doing will give you firm ground of the blogging basics,and will also give good exposure to your blog.

Don’t neglect e-mail as a viable way to bring people to your website. E-mail campaigns give you the opportunity to touch your customers on a consistent basis directly in their inboxes. Just make sure that you don’t spam people, that is, don’t send out massive waves of unsolicited e-mails without permission to people with whom you have no relationship. Always have an easily accessible “Unsubscribe” link to give recipients the opportunity to opt out. It’s not just polite; in many countries, it’s the law.

Here are a few widely used Email Marketing Companies:

• MailChimp
• Constant Contact
• aWeber
• Campaign Monitor
• iContact

Because fresh content is one of the biggest factors that determines your website’s success in search engines, regular maintenance is incredibly important. By regularly updating your site, you’ll improve your rank in search engines, increase your traffic, and strengthen your web presence.

Examples of services included in the website maintenance include:

• Text: Adding, editing or deleting
• Photos: Adding or deleting
• Webpages: Adding or deleting pages with the existing webpage design
• Navigation: Basic navigational changes (add, re-order or delete an item in the site’s navigation)
• File Downloads: Adding or deleting of PDFs and other downloadable documents
• Videos: Adding, embedding or deleting pre-edited and Web formatted video
• Links: Adding or deleting
• Color and Background Images: Modifying or replacing
• Forms: Dynamic form layout and integration (limited to basic Contact forms with no more that 8 lines)
• All Standard Support: Help with e-mail set-up, signatures etc.