If you didn’t know, the accessibility of flash is (or has thus far been) significantly less than that of standard HTML. If you knew that, did you know that there have been some advancement in the ability for search engines (Google) to read and index flash?

Well, don’t take this news as the definitive green light to go 100% flash just yet. There are quite a few considerations before replacing your HTML with flash and the “advancements” are just that—steps in the right direction. We’re not there yet and I suspect in the end, there will always be some limitations.

Google recently reported on the progress that they’ve made in crawling flash files - “Now that we’ve launched our Flash indexing algorithm, web designers can expect improved visibility of their published Flash content, and you can expect to see better search results…”

No question, this is great news. The ability to search and index flash files offers a significantly greater range of flexibility in building and presenting web content. There is still more progress to be made (a great deal more), but the hard and fast flash vs. html argument is starting to change. Some of the pull quotes from Google below highlight the limitations, which for my preferences, still leaves flash as strictly supplemental media and not a platform for mission critical content delivery.

“…if your Flash application contains links . . . Google may now be better able to discover and crawl more of your website.”

This MAY be a matter of semantics, but the comment “…Google may now be better able…” leads me to believe that indexing links in flash files is still on the horizon and not a here-and-now ability.

“If you prefer Google to ignore your less informative content, such as a “copyright” or “loading” message, consider replacing the text within an image, which will make it effectively invisible to us.”

I’m not pointing this comment out to support the flash issue, but to reiterate the limitations of some forms of media on your website. When Google uses the term “effectively invisible” and your ultimate goal is visibility, then you should examine your site for needless and/or replaceable images that contain key content for your site.

“Googlebot does not execute some types of JavaScript. So if your web page loads a Flash file via JavaScript, Google may not be aware of that Flash file, in which case it will not be indexed.”

There are tremendous advantages to using a JavaScript loading function for flash, including flash player version compatibility or availability, cross-browser functionality, speed, and more.

“We currently do not attach content from external resources that are loaded by your Flash files. If your Flash file loads an HTML file, an XML file, another SWF file, etc., Google will separately index that resource, but it will not yet be considered to be part of the content in your Flash file.”

Separately indexing loaded resources sounds pretty nebulous. Delivering content via XML tuns flash into a living and useful tool. The value of this content comes when presented as a whole not as disparate singular bits of information. Regarding loaded SWF files, this cuts the legs out from under the CMS (content management system) functionality of flash - think of a slideshow or presentation like powerpoint slides. The back-end CMS access to the flash file offers a practical way to manage and contribute content to a web site. Now, I’ve recommended and used flash for this purpose well before search engines suggested indexing the information—so in nothing has changed. I’ll continue to use and recommend it, but when that content is fully accessible, then we’re really getting there.

Back to the question of using flash vs. HTML for content delivery. Today’s verdict: HTML is still king. But keep your eyes on news as it develops. Your flash should slowly gain more mileage as Google and the search industry marches forward race to index flash.

About the author: Dominic Taverniti, owner of Applied Web Vitals, is a web design and development professional with clients throughout the U.S. and abroad. Dominic was recently honored with a Webby Award nomination for work on the Eyes On Darfur website, an Amnesty International special project.

Assuming that my web guy died is actually giving him the benefit of the doubt; I have no idea where his is. Falling off the face of the earth is always a plausible explanation. Emails aren’t bouncing and voice mail isn’t full so it’s probably more likely that he’s made a conscious decision to hang me out to dry.

Situations like this call into question the professional ethics and reliability of the virtual web professional. Being a web designer and developer myself, I know that we shouldn’t all be painted with the same brush. Perhaps it’s my business background or the value that I place on my reputation that makes me push to please, complete, improve, excel . . . or to simply do what it is that I say I’m going to do.

The inspiration for this post came from a recent personal experience involving hiring and working with another web designer. The “incident” was painful, costly and in retrospect, avoidable or one where the damages could have at least been mitigated. Continue Reading »

The web technology discussion group of Myrtle Beach has been meeting every Wednesday at 6PM at the Market Common Barnes & Nobles (in the cafe). I’m writing to get your feedback on timing. Is 6PM the best time for you? Or would 7 or 8PM work better.

Some of our small business owners have found 6PM to be a bit too early. And for those businesses that are open for after business hours for walk-in traffic, 7PM seems like a better meeting time. But before we reschedule, I’d like to get your feedback. Please email us with the time that works best for you . . . as well as days, if Wednesday doesn’t work well.

Once we tally up all the feedback, we may move the time on Wednesday or perhaps launch a second meeting all together to accommodate the extra attendees.

Attending the discussion group is free and open to everyone. We meet to discussions topics such as: building and maintaining websites; search engine optimization; Internet marketing and measurement; business blogging; graphic design & do-it-yourself advertising; and more…. Bring your curiosity and any unanswered web design questions.

The Web Technology Discussion Group of Myrtle Beach is led by Dominic Taverniti, owner of Applied Web Vitals.

This week’s Web Technology Discussion revolved around search engine optimization (SEO) and the must-have components to improve your site’s search engine ranking. To that end, we have put together the following SEO Punch List and corresponding podcast.

 

 SEO Puch List [35:55m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (17)

While there most definitely is more to the subject and process of SEO (as evidenced by the several hundred pages in The SEO Bilble by Jerri Ledford), this a good streamlined list to compare your site against and get started optimizing. If you have any questions about search engine optimization or would like to optimize your website, please contact Applied Web Vitals anytime.

In the Myrtle Beach area? Join us for the Web Technology Discussion Group every Wednesday at 6PM. Continue Reading »

WordPress Plugin: podPress
The podPress plugin is a must-have for podcasting. It adds a flash audio (and video) player to your post when attaching a media file. In addition, it handles the RSS podcast feed options, including iTunes settings.

Go to http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/podpress/

Audio recording
Recording audio will require an additional piece of software. We recommend the audio recording software Audacity (free). The process is pretty streamlined and shouldn’t be too cumbersome. You may even find the additional features with this software to be useful for editing and polishing your audio. Following are the links and steps:

Go to http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/windows

1. Audacity application:
Under Recommended Download, click Audacity 1.2.6 installer (or whatever the lastes version is)
Install the application (remember to disable your antivirus software if possible – generally a good idea whenever install an application)

2. Mp3 encoder:
Under Optional Downloads, click LAME MP3 encoder
This will download a zip file. You will need to extract the files to a location that you won’t change in the future. If you have access to the Audacity folder in the Programs folder on your C drive, you may put them there. I’m not sure what Vista will give you access to.

3. The first time you export a recorded audio file as an MP3, Audacity will ask you location the LAME MP3 decoder file on your computer. You’ll need to navigate to wherever you saved it in step 2 above. This will only happen the first time, provided the decoder file is never moved.

Posting Podcast
On the “Write Post” page (when you’re actually writing a new post) in your blog admin

1. Scroll down to the Upload section, current just below the Podcasting section
2. Browse for a file on you local computer, enter title and description if you want, and click the Upload botton [*Alternate upload option for large files below]
3. The next view that comes up automatically will have the name of the file - i.e. test1.mp3.
4. Right click on the file name and select Copy Link Location
5. Now go to the Podcasting section and click the Add Media File button
6. Paste (Ctrl+v or right click paste) inside the Location field – the url will look something like http://yourdomain.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/test1.mp3
7. That’s it, unless you want to position the flash player in the post. Insert “” where you want inside the Post body to position the player.

*Uploading large audio files
Depending on the server setting and restriction for your hosting account, you may find the WordPress file upload option to error, indicating that the file size exceeds the maximum allowed size. In this case, you will need to FTP your file to the server and manually enter the URI when adding the podcast to your post.

We recommend the FTP client FileZilla. Once downloaded and installed from the following location, you will need to establish a connection with your server. File > Site Manager > click the New Site button > enter the appropriate login and connection setting for your hosting server account.

Go to http://filezilla-project.org/

Welcome to the Applied Web Vitals podcast. Again, we held our Wednesday 6PM web technology discussion last night at Barnes & Nobles in Market Commons, Myrtle Beach, SC. Following is a podcast summarizing the discussion.

 

 Web Technology Discussion: Blog Plugin Recommendations [8:19m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (10)

Podcast Topic: Blog Plugin Recommendations

Akismet: A discussion anti-spam plugin that utilizes a central and ever growing database. You will need to create a user account at wordpress.com to gain an API KEY that is required to activate the plugin.
All in One SEO Pack: Create custom page titles, meta description & meta keywords
- Also enable Permalinks in your blog settings and be sure to include the post name (%postname%). Permalinks in tandem with the All in One SEO Pack will produce keyword rich posts with keywords appearing in the page title, url, meta data, and of course the post body.
podPress: This plugin is a must-have for podcasting. It ads a flash audio (and video) player to your post when attaching a media file. In addition, it handles the RSS podcast feed options, including iTunes settings.
Ultimate Google Analytics: Track your blog site traffic with Google Anayltics. You’ll need to create an Analytics account at http://www.google.com/analytics/

If you’ve just started to use Google Analytics and aren’t sure which reports to look at, this video provides a helpful 1st-time analysis walk-through. You’ll learn how to interpret what you see in these key reports and what actions you should take as a result. - from Google Analytics

A brief overview of how to use the Google Analytics interface. If you are new to Google Analytics or you’d like to pick up a few tips on how to use some of the different features, this video is a good place to start.

Tonight we held our first web technology discussion at Barnes & Nobles in Market Commons, Myrtle Beach, SC. Following is a podcast summarizing the discussion.

 

 Web Technology Discussion: Blog Basics [5:42m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (11)

Podcast Topic: Blog basics

• Hosting your own blog vs. free blog sites (like blogger.com and wordpress.com)
• Moderating comments
• Creating user accounts

Please return for future podcast episodes. We look forward to coving topics such as web design, content management systems, Internet marketing, search engine optimization, blogging and more…

For those in the Myrtle Beach area, Applied Web Vitals will be holding a lecture series on web technologies and the small business play. This lecture/discussion group will be hosted at Barnes & Nobles in Market Commons every Wednesday evenings at 6pm - starting Wednesday May 14th.

As the group gains momentum, the weekly meetings will be organized into themes for more focused and in-depth discussions on topics such as: building and maintaining websites; search engine optimization; Internet marketing and measurement; business blogging; graphic design & do-it-yourself advertising; and more…

Everyone and anyone is invited to attend. Bring your curiosity and any unanswered questions. We look forward to seeing our local MB friends there. And please feel free to pass the word along to anyone that you feel may be interested.

The group will be led by Dominic Taverniti, a recent San Francisco transplant, with extensive experience in web design & development, Internet marketing, small business development and franchising.