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New & Improved Internet Explorer;IE 9 Beta Version

September 16, 2010 | No comments

For website designers and developers Internet Explorer has always been a real problem, because it does not comply with necessary web standards (W3C) like other browsers such as Firefox and Google Chrome do. Websites need to be tested with IE browser, because there are still a large user base for this browser, even though the user base has declined over last few years. In order to gain the user base back in the browser world, by with version 9 Microsoft has invested resources with emphasis on performance and web standards.

If everything goes well with the beta version of IE 9, designers and developers can make the website work in IE browser with little or no  work-arounds.

IE 9 supports features that are in HTML5 spec. It also supports true CSS3. IE 9 is faster and more efficient. Similar to Google Chrome which has clean UI, IE 9 has made the UI of the browser itself less prominent and instead makes the website look prominent. With these improvements in features and performance, IE  has a very good chance of gaining the status back as many internet users’ default browser.

Click Here to install IE 9 Beta.

Usability Testing of Your Website

July 27, 2010 | No comments

Why is usability testing is crucial for successful deployment of your website?

Usability testing is an important step in Quality Assurance (QA) procedure for any product. Usability testing helps you simulate the experience of an average website user. In order to ensure the quality of the website and improve user experience, there are several stages of testing that need to be performed on the website.

Step 1: Development Team

Developers of the website are the first set of users to test the site. However, since they implemented the site, they obviously expect the site behavior to match their implementation. It makes more sense to perform testing by cross checking each feature with its specification in the requirement document. Once this stage is completed and all the issues are resolved, the site is rolled out to in house QA team to go through their testing cycle.

Step 2: In House QA team

QA team has to work hand-in-hand with the development team for the success of the project. Development team provides guidance to the QA team to prepare a comprehensive set of test scenarios to test all features of the site. Once the site is ready for QA testing, the team will go down the list of test scenarios and mark them as PASS or FAIL after successful testing. Once the testing is complete and all the issues are resolved by the development team, QA will go through the test cycle again to validate the scenarios. Often times than not, features that were functional in the previous testing phase may not behave the same with the new build. So, it is very important to randomly test the PASSed scenarios in subsequent builds to make sure they are still valid.

Step 3: Average Web User

Usability testing by a group of average users is the last step before releasing to the web. Depending on the type of industry or business, users you select may need preparation from you to familiarize them them with the industry and tips on what to look for. Once they get used to the system they are on a role with testing and provide you with very valuable feedback to improve the quality of the site.

It is important to provide the testers with a survey form to provide feedback on different components, in a systematic manner so it is not overwhelming to the developer to go back and take care of the issues. Choosing users for this stage of testing should not be a difficult task. Have a system in place to reward the participants with incentives such as gift cards, or tickets to sporting events, etc. You may be able to do better if you collect some information from the participants before hand, regarding their hobbies and interests.


Content Management System (CMS) Vs. Static Websites

May 25, 2010 | No comments

For many small and medium businesses (SMB) it is time to upgrade their websites. Websites are not project-based static sites anymore. Consumers are always looking for fresh content and offers on your website. How do you keep up with this? As a SMB business owner or as a person responsible for marketing in the company, you want to be able to keep the content fresh and up-to-date on your website. At the same time, you don’t want to be spending your valuable time in learning how to write HTML code. However, if your site was developed years ago chances are that the only way to update the code is by going into the code.

In order to keep up with the demands of the consumers craving for fresh content and news, many useful CMS tools have been introduced into the market. This is a great opportunity for businesses to upgrade their out-of-date websites and learn to manage them, with very easy-to-use, feature-rich content management systems. It does not mean you want to spend time learning how to design and develop your website on these CMS platforms. It is always recommended to hire a professional to design and develop the website for you. Once the site is live, you can manage and make updates to the content, add/delete pages, upload pictures and videos using the CMS interface available for you as an administrator of the site.

There are many open source  platforms you can choose from; Joomla 1.5, Joomla 1.0, WordPress, Drupal, etc.. Depending on the requirement for your website and the type of customization you need for the site, you have to make a choice. If you need help in making a decision on what platform to choose from, look here for comparison between these platforms. I have personally worked with Joomla and WordPress sites. They are both great for what you expect from them.