Updates: Media (lyrics) has a new layout. I could never figure out how to lay it out, but it's easier to navigate now. I'm still working on a better duplicate Mamblog mod. I'm trying to make submittions easier but the poetry form died for some reason. Quizzes are also on their way from the old site. Joomla content isn't very code friendly so I'm having to rewrite old code. You can still click on News > AH v21 > Screen if you wish to use the quizzes.
Accessibility is definitely an issue for companies, especially with the hugely varying browsers in use today. If you rely on the internet in any way for advertising you should definitely evaluate your site for cross-browser compatibility and accessibility. Usually, if your code is mostly valid you shouldn't have a problem. In an effort to validate my company's site, I came across a simple and very straight forward validation tool from the University of Illinois (link opens in a new window). If you're looking for something more robust, try searching the WAI list.
I don't usually post comments I've left on other sites but this is a topic I'm sure many of you can sympathise with:
I don’t really agree with your understanding on the reasons your site dropped in rank. On my website I use a few affiliate links and some Amazon Associate stuff, namely the product cloud which sucks and the automatic link creator widget which is even worse but I’ve never used G advertising. Frankly, I don’t want visitors finding me by my ads because then they won’t stay, they won’t come back, and they won’t use me as a reference [reciprocal links].
If G evaluates advertising the way it evaluates regular content, my understanding is that this is what causes a site that has nothing but ads to appear before a site that has real, unique and useful content. Lots of keywords pull up sites that are basically links to other sites that again, link to other sites and you end up with nothing in the end and a lot of time wasted.
With this change, and again this is just my understanding, is that G is just giving USEFUL CONTENT a priority over useless (in the visitor’s position) advertising. They’re just raking sites based on what will benefit users as opposed to what will benefit the owner. Though, receiving visitors that come to read YOUR CONTENT are the only real visitors you should want. The others are virtually useless.
Every for-profit company is just out to make money. Google is no different. They just have a different business than us. All the other search engines out there are in it for the same reason, they just pick up the technology at different times. Yahoo and AOL and MSN have and will continue to change their practices just like Google does…we will forever fight the battle of the rank. This business of search engines is free advertising for us. If you want your site in a certain position, either follow Google’s protocol or pay for the privilege of being number one.
I don't understand why people have to make things so difficult. Read this person's description of when to use id="idname" and when to use class="classname" without following any external references (opens in a new window): scriptygoddess
Now read this person's description (quoted below): tizag.com
"Use IDs when there is only one occurrence per page. Use classes when there are one or more occurrences per page."
Could tizag have been more specific??? I couldn't have put it better if I tried :) I typed in Google "w3c style id vs. class" as my keywords and these are two of the many sites that came up. I try not to post "tutorials" and the like on my site simply because my understanding of something usually doesn't transfer over to my ability to explain it to others; however, I sometimes need to post my thoughts and opinions on how something works simply so that I can return to them later in the likely event that I need a refresher course. Tutorials? I'd rather leave it up to the professionals.
I'm so depressed. I'm getting closer and closer to that place where I no longer care to exist. Everything is bringing me to tears, I feel like crying without any reason. I feel like it's been nighttime for the past 48 hours, like the sun hasn't come up, there's darkness everywhere. I shouldn't have gone to the Grand Prix last weekend. I've been unbearably sad ever since. A part of me disappeared when I stopped riding, not to mention the fact that I fear what has happened to my horse. I can't even write about it. It's too sad. When I wrote my first suicide note at 16 it concluded with the fact that I would follow through if It wasn't for not knowing what would happen to my horse. People were talking about old side saddles and asked me if I'd ever ride again yesterday at Thanksgiving and I could only smile like it didn't make me sick inside.
To pass these hours and days I'm off work, I've been working. I'm doing an XHTML 1.1 standards-based redesign of the site. The only visual changes are a major increase in accessibility (accessskey attribute, label tag, etc.) and I've been validating everything. I started with XHTML 1.0 Strict last weekend and for some reason scrapped that for XHTML 1.1. I've learned a ton over just the past 24 hours but it's really not the point. I've got to keep moving, working, something. Playing games isn't enough of a distraction from reality so I go back and forth from sleeping to working to sleeping again jut to keep it together. There's chips and ice cream and regular Coke in the house and that hurts. I can't stop eating chips and now that they're here and there's an open bag...I'm afraid of the ice cream in the outside freezer. I can't eat and manage the holidays. Last year at this time I wasn't eating at all, I was underweight, and I can manage the holidays on that. Pretending to be normal and functional and happy and not eating disordered (especially when I can't control even the TYPE of food I eat) ... I want to cut in a bad way, like something I can't hide, my hand my wrist my neck. I just feel like everything is unraveling.
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