The majority of search engines today handle singular and plural keywords differently. Were they to treat singular and keywords the same, the search results would be the same, evidently they are not.

Try it now by searching the major search engines for both ‘website designers sydney’ and ‘website designer sydney’, the results are often remarkably different:

Live : website designers sydney »
Live : website designer sydney »
Google : website designers sydney »
Google : website designer sydney »
Yahoo : website designers sydney »
Yahoo : website designer sydney »

It is important therefore, to optimise a website for both singular and plural keywords and in proportion to their respective usages. If most people would search using a plural than more effort should be directed towards optimising the website for the search phrase involving the plural keyword.

Web designers and developers have an increasing obligation to design and develop sites that are accessible. Almost 1 in 5 Australian’s have a disability. It therefore makes good business and marketing sense to ensure your websites are accessible. And then there is the law! Website owners are obliged to comply with the Australian Disability Discrimination Act 1992. Large companies are currently being sued in the United States for having sites that are inaccessible. Current companies facing lawsuits include America Online, Target, Southwest airlines. In 1999, the Sydney Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (SOCOG) were sued by Bruce Maquire, a blind user.

I encourage all web designers, developers and website owners to read the World Wide Web Access: Disability Discrimination Act Advisory Notes provided by the Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission.

So with accessibility in mind, lets talk about Pop-ups!

Pop-up windows have been a big topic of conversation over the years, and it continues to this day. The consensus however among usability and accessibility experts is that pop-ups are not user friendly and they are inaccessible. I agree, for the following reasons: (more…)

I recently attended Peats Ridge Festival for New Years Eve. It was a great opportunity to escape the city, celebrate the turning of the years and importantly do this without generating a great deal of waste. The festival had some great ideas for reducing waste and impact on the environment, some of those being:

• recycle, recycle, recycle - divided into compost, recycle (cans, bottles etc) and landfill
• plates and cutlery made from palm litter
• pit compost toilets, they were surprisingly cleaner and with less odour then the “Kenny” style porta-loos
• minimum impact transport alternatives ie bus, train, bike etc

All in all a fantastic experience - the music line up included Hermitude, Pivot, Firehouse, Resurrectors Ras Ronnie, King Tide, Afro Moses, kid Confucius and many, many, many more.

But what can we, as electronic designers, developers do to reduce our impact on the environment? (more…)