Tryangled Solutions web designing tips tricks

MySQL supports various of table types or storage engines to allow you to optimize your database. The table types are available in MySQL are:

* ISAM
* MyISAM
* InnoDB
* BerkeleyDB (BDB)
* MERGE
* HEAP

The most important feature to make all the table types above distinction is transaction-safe or not. Only InnoDB and BDB tables are transaction safe and only MyISAM tables support full-text indexing and searching feature. MyISAM is also the default table type when you create table without declaring which storage engine to use. Here are some major features of each table types:
ISAM

ISAM had been deprecated and removed from version 5.x. All of it functionality entire replace by MyISAM. ISAM table has a hard size 4GB and is not portable.
MyISAM

MyISAM table type is default when you create table. MyISAM table work very fast but not transaction-safe. The size of MyISAM table depends on the operating system and the data file are portable from system to system. With MyISAM table type, you can have 64 keys per table and maximum key length of 1024 bytes.
InnoDB

Different from MyISAM table type, InnoDB table are transaction safe and supports row-level locking. Foreign keys are supported in InnoDB tables. The data file of InnoDB table can be stored in more than one file so the size of table depends on the disk space. Like the MyISAM table type, data file of InnoDB is portable from system to system. The disadvantage of InnoDB in comparison with MyISAM is it take more disk space.
BDB

BDB is similar to InnoDB in transaction safe. It supports page level locking but data file are not portable.
MERGE

Merge table type is added to treat multiple MyISAM tables as a single table so it remove the size limitation from MyISAM tables.
HEAP

Databases are most useful when it comes to storing information that fits into logical categories. For example, say that you wanted to store information of all the employees in a company. With a database you can group different parts of your business into separate tables to help store your information logically. Example tables might be: Employees, Supervisors, and Customers. Each table would then contain columns specific to these three areas. To help store information related to each employee, the Employees table might have the following columns: Hire, Date, Position, Age, and Salary.

A database is a structure that comes in two flavors: a flat database and a relational database. A relational database is much more oriented to the human mind and is often preferred over the gabble-de-gook flat database that are just stored on hard drives like a text file. MySQL is a relational database.

In a relational structured database there are tables that store data. The columns define which kinds of information will be stored in the table. An individual column must be created for each type of data you wish to store (i.e. Age, Weight, Height).

On the other hand, a row contains the actual values for these specified columns. Each row will have 1 value for each and every column. For example a table with columns (Name, Age, Weight-lbs) could have a row with the values (Bob, 65, 165). If all this relational database talk is too confusing, don’t despair. We will talk about and show a few examples in the coming lessons.

So you’ve started a website and now have an abundance of traffic coming in. That’s great! But where are these people coming from? How are they finding your site? And most importantly, how are they behaving when they’re on your site? This is where the importance of web analytics comes into play.

Web analytics is the study of how your site’s visitors behave. This includes the tracking of important statistics such as unique vistis, pageviews, bounce rates and conversion rates. For many small sites, the last two statistics are not as important, but for large sites or online businesses, the last two play a key roll in optimizing your site’s performance.

There are two main web analytics technologies: server logfile analysis and page tagging.

Server logfile analysis involves the reading of log files on a server in order to collect analytics data. During the early days of the Internet, server logfile analysis only tracked the number of requests made by a visitor to the web server. This was commonly know as a “hit” and was logical since many sites only consisted of a single HTML file at the time. As more elements were added to web pages (images, multiple pages, etc.), server logfile analysis became impractical, as it would count every server request on one page as a “hit”.

These complications led to the creation of new web analytic metrics: pageviews and visits. A pageview was defined as a request to the web server for a single page while a visit was defined as a series of requests from a single person that ended after a certain time frame. Eventually, cookies were used to track unique user sessions due to the evolution of proxy and dynamic IP technologies, which made the old “visit” statistic fairly useless.

Some of the most popular software programs for tracking web analytics use the server logfile analysis method. These include Webalizer, Urchin, WebTrends and the open-source AWStats.

Page tagging involves the placement of code on a page in order to track analytics data. The earliest form of page tagging was the website counter. These visible, numeric counters eventually evolved into invisible snippets of JavaScript. The small JavaScript code would be placed on a page and send data back to an analytics program or company for analysis. Just like the server logfile analysis method, page tagging also involves assigning cookies to each user in order to determine unique visitors.

One of the most popular page tagging analytics programs is Google Analytics. The service is free to anyone with a Google account and is the standard in web analytics for any person or company on a tight budget.

So why should you worry about web analytics? So you can increase the performance of your website of course!

Why do people leave your site? A “bounce” is when a visitor leaves your website after only viewing one page. Many analytics programs have a statistic called bounce rate, which measures the percentage of people that commit a “bounce”. This metric allows you to see which pages on your site are performing poorly and then make improvements or adjustments to that page. This statistic is extremely important for e-commerce sites or sites that would like a visitor to commit a certain action.

How much time do people spend on your site? This is known as session duration and is important to know because it allows you to see what pages on your site have content that is compelling your visitors to stay. It will also let you know what pages need additional content added in order for visitors to stay on them longer.

Content - The internet is stuffed with content. Short literary pieces, long novels, lovely poems, extravagant marketing lines, or simple classified ads – the internet revolves around content. It is one of the more popular, if not the most important, factors in web search technology.

Content plays a vital role in the filing or classifying of different websites according to their different categories. Keywords, existing within a particular content, are some of the driving forces behind Search Engine Optimization and other web technologies implemented by major Search Engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN. It is real for many websites that the quality of their page content can affect their search engine rankings as well as audience traffic.

A website with quality and catchy content tends to get more attention online.

Many people online are seeking for quality information from various sources. If your website or article provides the right details that many users need, chances are your website or article would be visited often and would get very good rankings online. However if you have a poorly written article or page content, then users would most likely shun away from your website and just forget about it.

Article Submission is the strategy of sending out articles to article directories so that they can be viewed and shared with other websites online. Article Submission is only an effective strategy if the article or content being promoted is also worth reading. If an article is catchy or well-written then chances are, many websites would love re-posting your article on their web pages. And this is where real action begins.

In the world of SEO or Search Engine Optimization and Online marketing, content that is promoted on other websites tend to benefit the source or the one who wrote the content.

In Search Engine Optimization, if your articles contain various links that point to your website, and if many people re-posted your article with the links on their websites, then you’ve hit a very good goal. For these inbound links coming from your articles on other people’s websites contribute to your page’s SEO score. And the higher your score, the better your rank in the Search Engines.

Article Submission is really effective if you submit quality content to multiple article directories. If you submit quality articles to a hundred article directories everyday, then you’ve created plenty of opportunities for people to have access or to read your article. This does not only help with your marketing, but can also improve your website ranking.

However, it should be duly noted, that your article should be placed under the proper category when submitting it. There are often penalties given to those websites which post or re-post articles which are not categorically related. So it’s best to shun away from that practice.

Another thing to remember when doing article development and article submission is to emphasize on the keywords which relate to your website. Having sufficient and high-quality keywords can impact your article status on various search engines and directories. The more optimized your keyword is, the better the classification and ranking on the search engines.

So remember that creating content or articles online, helps your website. Submitting those articles to various article directories can also greatly affect your website rankings on the Search Engines.

Why is the internet very similar to real-life communities?

The internet surely has some very big similarities with how real life communities function. A website online is very similar to a home. You can furnish your home, put lots of content (decoration) on it, make sure the foundation is coded properly, and that all the pages (rooms) are properly linked together with the rest of the pages (living room and kitchen) on your website.

Another similarity of the online environment with real-life society is the presence of links or neighbors. Your home-website is composed of your own family – a programmer, a writer, a web designer, and all those involved in making that website work. There are plenty of websites online, and some of them are closely related to each other.

These websites often initiate bonds or links with each other in order to grow better in their online community. These websites help promote each other’s content and products; they help share traffic or visitors with one another, and they function to help supplement each other and those people with the same interests with the information they need about a certain subject or category.

These online communities also hold contests and awards for the best websites, much similar to how real-life society creates challenges and gives award to different people or families that have excelled in their particular field. However, the closest similarity to online community competitions is the real-life challenge dubbed the ‘American Idol’.

Online communities also have what is called ‘Online Idols’, which is judged or spearheaded also by three famous judges – Google, Yahoo and MSN. Every once in awhile they give out awards to those websites which have performed well in terms of content quality, number of visits from online audience, and their relationships with other websites online. These websites that perform well are placed on the top ranks of the search results. Google however likes giving an added sweetener to the awards and provide a PR value to range the well-performing websites in an event called the Google Dance.

Those are just some of the most common similarities among online websites and real-life communities. Online websites that have quality links or relationships with other websites of the same category are praised online, and their PR and rank are often very high on the search engines. However, those websites that don’t have quality links or are related with what is commonly referred to as PPC pages or Porn, Pills and Casino related websites, may not fare very well on the search engine results.

It is very important to have quality reciprocal links, especially with an already high PR or quality webpage. If you have an inbound link coming from a PR 7 or 8 or high traffic website, there is a good chance you will get some of the good traffic shared to you by that website. If you build a network of websites ranging from mid to high traffic classifications, you will surely get good exposure online. Authority links coming from high quality websites are very much preferred. If you reciprocate them with your own outgoing link, to help them with traffic, it would still be greatly beneficial for the both of you.

Online links and politics – Are there similarities?

There was an earlier article that was developed which likened online websites with real-life communities. That article went so far to try and establish the similarity between real-life neighbors and online reciprocal linking neighbors. Now this article will talk about one way linking and how it is very similar to real-life politicking.

Every person in the planet has his or her own personal views, agendas, and political leanings. Some people may not support a particular politician without getting something from them in return, while some are just avid fanatics of a particular candidate just because they like what that politician represents.

Very similar to one-way links online – most of the well-informed websites would not think of directly linking or supporting another website without getting something (a reciprocating link) in return; while others directly link with a ‘popular’ site just because they like or love the content or what it has to say.

These “politicians” or what can be referred to as Future-High-PR sites often resolve to a lot of politicking or online strategies just to be able to get plenty of support from the masses. One of the more famous online strategies to getting one way links is through email marketing. Telling webmasters that the site or page has something great to offer their online visitors can sometimes prove very tempting and can merit an inbound link. Sending out HTML-based newsletters can also be very useful, especially if the outbound emails can be tracked and can be reconciled with the inbound traffic and generated links.

Another excellent strategy is through social communities. Posting messages on social networks about tempting offers or supporting a group cause do have its merits. Link baits on the social networks will also give the site the opportunity to expose their content more, and thus generate inbound traffic.

Those who will heed the “politicking” of these Future-High-PR sites would want to be closely associated with them, and thus inbound links will be formed. Posting link baits are very common on social networks. Utilizing link baits to get better traffic from a particular social class and age group which may be interested in what you have to say or to the content of your site can be categorized as potential inbound links.

Blog comment posting is also an excellent strategy to gain widespread exposure on blogging networks. Finding categorically related blogs and posting some “useful” message on their comment sections can be very beneficial. And one of the best ways to gain inbound links is by writing articles and submitting them to various article directories, while adding an inbound link to your site on the resource section of the article. That way, people will be able to trace where the article came from.

There are plenty of ways to get one way links. Using white-hat strategies is always encouraged. Black hat strategies can get you penalized or banned. It’s better to read and follow the guidelines set forth by the different search engines to have an idea on how they rank and track different websites online.

Most webmasters understand that an increase in web traffic to their websites means a higher return on their investment, and continuous influx would guarantee that they too would be able to realize what every webmaster dreams of achieving online: unparalleled success in a borderless market.

Search Engine Optimization methods have been utilized by most successful webmasters who believe that a diversified, yet organized tasks have far-reaching results than those done one at a time, with no defined purpose.

Yes, a singular approach to search engine optimization may not be enough, but rather a synergy of techniques would often prove effective in achieving higher ranking.

Gaining the top ranks using Search engine optimization may not be possible using just one campaign or marketing strategy. Multiple strategies, which involve the optimization of the pages of your website, as well as making sure that its graphics are compliant with the requirements of search engines, and employing off-site marketing strategies like search keyword density trending and link development are effective in gaining better ranks on the search engines.

There are plenty of factors that can add color to your position on the Search Engines. Google, Yahoo, MSN, AOL, and Ask Jeeves are but some of the top search engines visited by online companies and search engine optimization managers who want to find out about their ranking positions.

Search engine optimization is getting a better response from web internet users as well as web marketing and promotions managers these days as an excellent search ranking mechanism they can employ that often translates to better audience traffic and faster ROI.

A multi-pronged Search engine optimization and online marketing project will certainly increase your visitor traffic and post the site to the top spot of the search ranking results. Understanding the needs and wants of the target online audience and providing for them can greatly aid the promotions efforts.

To better understand SEO techniques, three (3) basic methods have been highlighted below. There are thousands more ways to get your site on the top spots of the search engines, but you can start with these 3:

STEP 1: Writing Articles and Blogs

Very important details in Search engine optimization or SEO are content and keywords. Pages of a website call for properly optimized keywords or key phrases woven into quality articles to aid them to rank better and get listed well on the Search Engines.

STEP 2: Submitting Content

Submissions of properly optimized articles or content to content directories do not only help in the promotion of web pages or products, but it can also improve a website’s SEO score. Content submission directories are also good sources of one-way links to a particular site.

STEP 3: Building Links

Several websites that reciprocate links with each other must be importantly from the same category or keyword topic. Exchange links help in traffic sharing between two websites.

You may test different combination of strategies from time to time, but never fail to examine results. Make a comparison study of the strengths and weaknesses of each campaign in order to establish those strategies that truly work.

To avoid “hit or miss”, vigilance in determining feedback on each campaign is not only necessary – it’s crucial.

PS: Also read, Do it yourself SEO.

PPS: If you like this article please visit seocontest2008 to learn more about this exciting seo contest.

While designing the navigation for your site keep the following points in mind:

* Organized Links
Make sure your links are well organized according to the order of importance. Visitors should be easily able to find what they are looking for under different categories.
E.g. All our main links are found on the top i.e. our services, products,portfolio, resources etc.Other interesting links are found on the right of the page. These are common and consistent throughout the site.
Finally if the web page belongs to a guide E.g web design guide you will find the related links below the right menu and also at the bottom of the page.

Note: Related links are very important as visitors coming to a particular page will probably be interested in more information you have under the same topic.

* Clear and Prominent
Once you have decided on your navigation links, you need to think of the best place to put them. Navigation should be clear and consistent. Try to design your navigation on the top or on the left as these are the first places our eyes go to. Also locate the primary links high enough on the page so that they are visible without scrolling. Navigation images should be seamlessly integrated into the site design. Avoid putting navigation links at the bottom of the page as visitors will need to scroll right down to see the links. If you like you could put the important links at the top AND bottom of the page just to make sure your visitors don’t miss the link.

* Consistent
Navigation should be clear and consistent. The important links of your website should be on every page, in the same location, and in the same sequence. Don’t confuse your visitors by putting your navigation links in different places in different pages.

* Easy to understand
Make your links easy to understand and to the point. Usually you won’t have enough place to have long links so make use of the space wisely. Visitors need to know where they will go on clicking on a particular link, so make sure your links are understandable or nobody is going to click on your links, which will defeat the purpose of designing a good navigation system.

* DHTML Menus
If you have a large number of links under categories and sub-categories you could use navigation menus to organize your links. There are many cut ‘n’ paste scripts available on the Net that you could use to create great navigation systems. A favorite resource center is SimplyTheBest.net, you’ll find tons of useful navigation menus that are very easy to install on your site.

Here are some essential web design tips that every web site should follow. Design your web site by following these tips and I guarantee that visitors will have a great first impression of your site.

1. Fast Loading web site designs - This is the number 1 tip that every web designer should follow. You might design a web site that looks fantastic but few people are going to see it if it takes a long time to load. Your designs should be optimized for the web and should not take more than 15 seconds to load. Remember, you might have a great design but very few people are going to see it if it takes a long time to load. Click here to for 10 tips to fast-loading web pages.

2. Clear Navigation - Once a visitor has come to your site you need to make them go through your site. To do this you need to have clear navigation. Make sure all your important links are at prominent places. Preferably right on top - that’s usually where a visitor first looks. Make use of menus on the right and the left. Try to link to as many pages of your site. Let your information be accessible from all parts of the site. You never know what a visitor may be interested in. Try to also use the footer for your important links. Click here for navigation tips.

3. All Resolutions - Today, there are computers with all kinds of resolution. They range from 640 x 480 to 1024 x 768 and go even higher. Your job is to design your site for all these resolutions. The best way to do this is to design your site in terms of percentage and not pixels. Click here to learn how to design websites for all screen resolutions.

4. Browser Compatibility - Make sure your site is browser compatible. Your web site should look good in Netscape as well as in Internet Explorer. Don’t stop designing your site as soon as you find that it looks great on IE. Usually Netscape gives some problems, especially when you try doing complicated HTML designs. But don’t give up too soon, usually with patience these problems can be easily fixed.

5. Readable and professional looking fonts - Don’t ask me how many times I’ve clicked out of a site just because the font is in Comic Sans and the color is a bright pink or green. Just by looking at the font you feel that the site is not a professional site. Don’t use Comic Sans and other fancy fonts that may not be available on most computers. If the font you use is not available in a visitors computer the web site will use the default font of your computer which is much worse. So try to keep to common and professional web fonts. The fonts that I always stick to are Arial and Verdana.

6. Minimize the use of images - I believe that sometimes simple designs are the most effective for the web. Keep your site simple but neat. Don’t clutter your page with big, bulky images that take ages to load. Instead use tables creatively and design eye - catching icons that will draw a visitor’s attention to a particular section of your site. Tip - Visitors are usually more interested in content than in design.

7. Use of white space - Try not to clutter up your page with too many images, backgrounds and colorful fonts. Again use the Keep It Simple principle by minimizing the use of graphics and using a lot of white space. White space gives a sense of spaciousness and overall neatness to a site. Notice the white space in our site.

8. Check for broken links - Always check for broken links within a site before uploading it to your web server. In Dreamweaver you can check for broken links by right clicking on any file in the Site Files Window and then clicking on Check links - Entire Site. If you don’t have this facility you need to upload your site and then check it using online tools like Net Mechanic.