gNetworks' latest webBOOST is online and I think it looks pretty great (although perhaps I'm biased). I started working on a new design for prolandscapinginc.com early last week, had the site finished for training on Thursday and published it live on Friday. As you can see from the before and after screenshots, I made the new design more colorful, brighter and more welcoming.

This was also the first project I've worked on where the first line of CSS I wrote was a padding/margin reset. The line I like to use is

   * {margin:0; padding:0;}

which simply resets all default margin and padding for all page elements. I find this to be a nice simple reset (compare it to the mind-bogglingly comprehensive Meyer reset) that eliminates my having to puzzle over mystery spaces in my design. When you use a reset you know that any padding and margin present is there because you put it there. The problem comes when you find yourself having to go back and re-add default padding because, well, it's there for a reason. Unordered lists (ULs), for example, are supposed to have padding and so we need to go back and add

   ul {padding-left: 40px;}

just to get our stuff looking correct. People (bloggers) take the issue of CSS resets very seriously and there's a lot more to be said on the issue (if you have the energy) but for my next design at least, I'm sticking with:

   * {margin:0; padding:0;}
   ul {padding-left: 30px;}

- Dick Crawford

As a web developer, I have used FireFox 1, 2 and 3 as my primary browser. It was the first browser implementation I felt made my life easier when debugging and developing websites.   But it seems over the past year it has slowed in performance a bit, which I partially blame on myself for installing plug-in toys for all kinds things to help with my daily tasks.

So when ever a new version of FireFox comes out, I cheer in hopes to speed it up, back to the way it used to be.  Sooooo, did it?   Yes, not by a ton, but yes.   I've been using Google chrome as a benchmark,  it is "ridiculously" fast in comparison.  But with its speed it seems to have a few quirks here and there, that seem to fix themselves by refreshing the page.   So for testing of page renderings I don't use chrome for that reason.  And IE 8 has made so many leaps and bounds over 7 and 6, I would say it is on par with the speed of FireFox now, without all the cool developer tools I use.

Reading the release notes, I think a lot of this upgrade was cleaning up the plug-ins and how they interact with the core of the browser.  So that said, it probably has something to do with the speed increase I see from my situation.

So the end result from my initial findings is.... <drumRoll> ...  </drumRoll>  Yes, you should upgrade if you use FireFox.  But if you have a lot of plug-ins make sure they are still compatible before doing so.

-Nate Lewis
I'm making the web do stuff that's cool

It is relatively easy to create a list of keywords that represent your product or service.  These keywords may or may not be how your potential customers search to find you.  

The best way to find out how your customers search for your services is to ask your customers.  When a new customer contacts you ask them how they heard about you.  If they mention your website, ask how they found your website. 

Have a brainstorming session with your team.  Discuss different problems or needs that your potential customers experience.  Once you complete your brainstorming, now create a list of keywords and phrases that people would use to search for those problems or needs.

Update your content, and meta tags to reflect these keywords and phrases.