Web Design
December 27th, 2011 by
Matt Haff
This year has been a wild ride for me, like every year before, a lot of ups and downs. More than any year before I’m really looking forward to the beginning of 2012. What makes 2012 so different?
Over the past 9 months I’ve been battling my way into a new beginning. My outlook on life, what I want to accomplish, my overall attitude and where I want to be. This new year is not just another notch on my belt, it is a time to start fresh and aim high. This year I’m aiming higher than I ever have before and I fully commit to hitting those marks.
2012 is going to be a great year for me, what are you looking forward to accomplishing next year?
What do you think?
Mobile Devices, Web Design
November 8th, 2011 by
Matt Haff
The moment all web developers have been waiting for is finally here, sorta. As of October, Internet Explorer’s global market share is below 50%, the lowest it has been in the past decade. This is due in part by 6% of web browsing now occurring on mobile platforms such as smart phones and tablets.
What does this mean for you? Absolutely nothing, IE is still the most common browser and will be around for years to come. However to web developers a glimmer of hope shines as modern browsers continue to grow. It also reaffirms that mobile web use is continuing to grow and take over the desktop market.
Google Chrome is the primary browser benefiting from the decline of Internet Explorer while Firefox and Safari have stayed relatively steady. Safari continues to dominate mobile browsing with over 63% market share, while Opera is down to 18% and Android drops to 12%. Checkout the original article and pretty graphics
What do you think?
Web Design
October 27th, 2011 by
Matt Haff
One of the most annoying, painful, hair-pulling, time consuming responsibility of a web developer is cross-browser testing. Imagine you’ve spent about 8 hours developing a pixel perfect website in Safari or Firefox (for you PC people) and you’re getting to the task of testing it cross-browser. You get multiple computers, browsers, devices all together and start to pull up your website on each of them… What if it didn’t have to be that way?
I have a couple setups that I use when it comes to testing across multiple platforms & browsers and this is by far the easiest way. Adobe Browser Lab allows you to test 11 browsers at once. Now while it doesn’t allow you to do much interactive testing and debugging it works great for getting a glimpse of your site and observing any design issues.
When it takes more than a quick glimpse then I use Parallels (I use mac) to open up Windows 7 and test across multiple Internet Explorer versions with IETester. I know it’s not the best looking program but it’s accurate for testing IE5.5 – IE9.
How do you test cross-browser?
1 Thought »
Apps, Marketing, Social Media
October 14th, 2011 by
Matt Haff
The Five Stages of the Usage Lifecycle
- Unaware
- Interested
- First-time Use
- Regular Use
- Passionate Use
Passionate Followers
What makes companies like Apple, Chick-fil-a, and Starbucks stand out from the crowd? The answer is simple, passionate followers.
Apple spends 1% on advertising?! Because they are great at producing a passionate fan base. Apple fan boys/girls are the leading factors of Apple’s success. Why are there no windows fanboys? Because it’s not an innovative product that creates a passionate following.
Sharers are great for several reasons:
- Sharers advertise for you
- What sharers say is more powerful than what you say
- Sharers tell you why you’re great
There are two types of sharing, the first is implicit sharing. Implicit sharing happens when an item is shared as a byproduct of participation. On Del.icio.us, for example, your bookmarks are shared by default, so that others can see them even if your original intention was to simply save it for later. The other type is explicit sharing, which is how we usually share: on purpose.
Give them something to share!
If the goal is getting people to share stuff, then there are a few things you must consider. Allow people to share by providing them with a permanent URL, making it embeddable, making it a PDF, and making it printer-friendly. Your next step is to give them something they want to share. It really depends on the person, but in general people like to share:
- Ideas that reinforce what we already believe
- Ideas that surprise us
- Ideas that help explain something we already know
- Things we know another person will find valuable
- Useful tools – anything that makes a tough task easier
- Fun things like pictures & videos
- Things that make us look good.
Last but certainly not least!
I hope that you’ve enjoyed this series, keep in mind that this applies to much more than a social web app. You can’t have successful passionate use without the other four steps. Don’t focus on “viral” focus on passionate! Besides, where do you think viral comes from?
What do you think?
