You may be asking, "What is measure, and why is it important when it comes to typography?". Those who understand and use typography know what leading and kerning is, but measure is an element that is often forgotten or overlooked. A simple definition of measure or "the measure" is the width of a block of text. Considering this when designing, especially for the web, is important because it has a major affect on how legible the text is to the user. Common mistakes involving measure include. T.... read more

There seems to be confusion among web designers when to use the img tag vs the CSS background-image property. Both tags are frequently used improperly. Usually this isn't revealed until it comes time to give the site a facelift or update photos. Really it isn't difficult to keep your images inline. Read below for a couple helpful tips. Use the img tag when the image is not related to the stylesheet. These are photos that need to display no matter how the look and feel of the site changes..... read more

In today's world, users turn to the web to get up to date information about everything from the latest industry news to who won the big game. Because of this, simply having a company website is no longer enough. Your website is your chance to make a first impression on your perspective clients and with that in mind, here are a few simple tips to help you to create the ultimate user experience. Know what users want - It seems simple, right? Not so much. You know users want information so many .... read more

Have you ever noticed how many websites come across as being a bit impersonal? You have seen things like: The text feels too scripted, The photos are obvious stock photos Personality is often lacking. All of these things can be a major turn-offs to potential customers. If they don't feel a connection to the product or service being offered, the less likely they are to purchase the product or enlist your services. Here are a few tips you may try to engage customers with only a few sim.... read more

How do you create a website that is full featured while remaining simple? This is a question many companies ask theselves at one point or another. A few simple tips can help you to streamline your site and take it to the next level. Limit bells and whistles.  Provide your users with features (bells and whistles), but keep them relevant.  A feature in this case is a tool or enhancement to an interactive piece of your website.  When you provide your users with valuable tools (fea.... read more

You can have the most beautiful site in the world. Maybe you spent hours poring over images, backgrounds, color schemes and you have achieved what you think is a masterpiece of web work. That's all well and good, but it means almost nothing if you haven't put just as much thought, perhaps even more, into making your site usable. Users may be impressed at first, but they won't be fooled for long once they realize they have to put work into figuring out where you have hidden your products or servi.... read more

It is easy for web designers to just jump into a design without knowing the specific goals of the website. The "message", as i like to call it, is what the website is all about. It encompasses the goals, target audience and main objectives. Knowing this information before you start to design is critical. It will influence the graphics, layouts and calls to action. This is an important step that must not be skipped during the design process. If you don't take the time to discuss this with the cli.... read more

Mobile computing is hotter than ever right now. Touch screens have become a staple of many people's lives. Many people are migrating away from the traditional desktop or laptop computers in favor of using these devices as their primary source for web content. As web designers we must keep this growing segment of the population in mind when we design and build websites. I have found myself turning to my iphone more and more to get quick answers, look up the status of an ecommerce order or check u.... read more

When you're shopping around for web design it may be tempting to go with that company that offers you a fantastic website for very little money. The thing you should keep in mind is just what that money is for, where they might try to add in extra fees, and whether you are actually getting a quality site. More often than not you really do get what you pay for in the world of web design companies. Be sure to ask plenty of questions right from the beginning and know exactly what you are getting a.... read more

It seems nowadays everyone has a smart phone. Getting information on the go is easier now than it has ever been and as technology advances smartphones are able to handle more complex applications and websites. The question facing many businesses is how they can profit off of this latest trend. One big question is whether to create a mobile version of their website. There are a few different factors that a website owner should consider before making this decision. The first thing to think about .... read more

As interest in HTML5 and CSS3 heats up, you may be wondering when you'll finally get to implement them in your own code. They can seem almost unusable right now due to cross browser support issues. Many of us are still stuck supporting IE6 and can't imagine trying to code with new standards that are iffy in even the most recent browsers. Wide support is coming, though it may take a bit of time yet. On the bright side there are people out there with the goal of making CSS3 usable right now. The .... read more

We've always felt that buying links seemed formidable. Now we know so as Matt Cutts of Google has come right out and said it will not help you, especially with human manual reviews. Again - new unique content, blog posts, forum posts, relationships with industry partners who have quality sites, press releases, articles, etc. are what will help with page rank. Good links that are not paid for as a way to manipulate PR are ok. Paid links is against Google's terms of service. Not all paid links a.... read more

It would be a true statement to say 95% of all websites use Sans-serif fonts. They are everywhere Arial, Trebuchet and Verdana have become the go to font for web designers for years. There is good reason the web has gone this direction. Sans-serif fonts are very professional, they render clean in Windows and Mac, and they have a modern feel. With the benefits come some disadvantages, they can feel rigid, color can look odd on them, and everyone else on the web is using them. In the last year we .... read more

This week I've learned a nifty little trick having to do with .htaccess and site redirection. I'm sure you know that you can reach a web site with the normal www. or you can leave it off. The end result is no different to you. sBut it is to Google. The search engines considers each address version a different site, and there's a lot of duplicate content there. .htaccess can force your site to always redirect to www. Toss this little bit of code: RewriteEngine on RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^your-do.... read more

There's a piece of me that enjoys researching investment opportunities. I especially find myself delving into short term investments with quick turn over possibilities. These types of investments usually require a bit of capital - but the return can be substantial if you play your cards right. One type of investment that has always been difficult to get into is the bank owned forclosure market. I know for a fact that banks loose money for every day a foreclosed home sits on the market. So why is.... read more

There are limitless possibilities with the web nowadays to get your name out there. Traditional forms of branding (although important and valued) should be complimented with online marketing efforts including social media. For example, Coca Cola, has a FaceBook page. Pepsi brands itself through viral videos on YouTube.com and pays content producers (users) to plug their product. You can write a tantalizing snippet on just about anything, and if you garner the interest of your audience you'll g.... read more

What is the best way to embed a flash movie into your website? When it comes to this question there is much debate. In recent years there have been a couple methods that have been very popular. The most popular method is taken straight from the code generated by Adobe. When you publish a flash movie you are given the option to publish the html that you can then paste directly in your site. This code has been written to allow the flash movie to work seamlessly with all major browsers. Basically w.... read more

Google, Yahoo! and MSN have come to a consensus on a new tag that can steer the engines straight on duplicate content. The new tag is the <link> tag. It tells search engines which URL is the correct one to index. Similar to meta data tags - the link tag goes in the <head> section of the page. Here is an example: <link rel="canonical" href="http://www.lunawebs.com/blog" /> You can see more details on the canonical link tag here. . read more

Version 2.3 of our Alumni Web Software has just been launched. We've been developing new features such as a custom forum for alumni organizations and an alumni reunion organizer. In the near future we'll also have the ability for alumni reunion organizers to email their class notifying of upcoming reunions. There may be a small fee to offset bandwidth costs. The greatest part is that the alumni software is a hosted solution starting at only $99/mo. Check out our alumni web design portal for more.... read more

LunaWebs.com recently finalized a merger acquisition with Denver Colorado Website Design firm Mount Evans Designs. Viki Nygaard, the previous founder had been looking for an opportunity to expand her regional presence in the Rockies and Luna seemed the perfect fit. Both companies will continue their normal operations, but with a new strategy to provide web services focused by local. For instance, copy writing and online marketing expertise will be mainly out of our Denver office, while web progr.... read more

So...what do you want the site to do again? Design is the SECOND more important element to any website. The first is the objective. There are usually two. A wireframe should cover the functionality which should exist. Tools handy for doing this are Microsoft Visio (for Microsoft users) and Freemind for the Open Source inclined. Whatever you choose to use, do your designer a favor and be explict in the primary and secondary objectives of the site. Don't try and design unless you're a designer. . read more

A question from a concerned developer recently came in: "I am looking for some professional advice on two different Content Management Systems. I am curious to know which of the following is a better content management system, Drupal 6.4 or Joomla 1.5? I want to know if you all have had any experience with any of these free tools and wondered what is easier to work with. For someone who is going to want a website designed their way and not an "out-of-the-box" look, which tool is easier to config.... read more

I subscribe to WebMarketingNow.com's SEO Review. If you don't already have a high quality newsletter subscription, that adds tremendous value to your SEO research, I suggest you enroll (that is if Jerry is taking on any more subscribers). I won't just paste the entire review...wouldn't be cool, but I'll share a couple of public numbers that will knock your socks off. The full newsletter includes things to watch for, helpful insights and a slew of other reports very necessary to any SEO firm/exp.... read more

A student recently asked, "Is it necessary to know html to build a website"? To answer you question, YES. Absolutely you need to know html if you're going to be building a "quality" website. Certainly with the way technology is moving in the webspace, you can get away with launching a website with little or no knowledge of html, but when you begin to grow the site and enhance its capabilities, it is almost impossible to customize the site without some knowledge. I've seen some pretty nifty "blo.... read more