As World Cup fever takes hold we’ll all be glued to our TV screens as England play their hearts out and try and get through to the next round. But alas, if you’re not one of the lucky fans jetting off to South Africa or in the fortunate position to take the next four weeks off, then how do you keep up to date with the latest happenings in the world of football – the internet of course!

The internet has become our friend, our information source, and a shoulder to cry on. No matter what you need, or what you don’t, the internet will find it for you, and you don’t even have to have a pc anymore to do it – a phone will do!

We humans have evolved into information hungry beings that require instant knowledge about the latest news, heck, even a four year old can find their way to the CBeebies site to fulfil their need for the latest goings-on with Postman Pat!

No matter what industry you are in the one marketing tool that’s going to get your business noticed by your target market is a website. Any business that has a website instantly increases their audience two-fold, because a great web programmer won’t only get your site noticed by the market you were hoping for but those that you hadn’t even thought of.

Yes, the internet is here to stay, and thank goodness for that!

It appears that the white fluffy stuff is enough to bring the country to a standstill. Ok, so it’s the heaviest snowfall Britain has seen for nearly 20 years, but at the first sign of snow we lock ourselves away and wait out the storm doing the one thing we have all come to depend on – surf the internet!

According to the British Retail Consortium, during the cold snap online shopping was up 14.6% on a year ago, as shoppers turned to buying online when they were unable to reach shops due to the snow.

To those businesses that are unsure about the benefits of a website, the cost of it, the up keep of it etc, etc. this research shows that when the country comes to a halt customers can still have access to your products and services at any time of day or night – and it might be reassuring  to think that when Mother Nature shows her powers the internet will keep the world moving.

As a web designer and developer, I am constantly reminded that I wear two hats: 1) to design and build websites that can reach the widest audiences, appeal to the most people and deliver rich, interactive, exciting content; and 2) design and build sites that are cost effective, timely and maintainable.

It seems that for some time now those two objectives have been at logger-heads as cross-browser, cross-OS, backwards compatible, highly portable websites have required so many “hacks” , “patches”, “tweaks” and “tricks” to keep things in order that development time increased exponentially. The result being that clients had to take an objective view – spend more money achieving the last 10%, or save money and chop off a category of potential customers.

That dilemma came one step closer this week to being removed. And not before time. There have long been calls from web developers, technologists and end users to convince Microsoft to signal the end of the IE6 browser. The basis for this is in IE6′s complete disregard for web standards, topped with security and compatibility issues. Google’s recent debacle in China proved to them at least that IE6 had not just been an inconvenient side-track, but had actually led to irrevocable damage. Google pulled out of China, and after a brief investigation announced that support for IE6 in its enhanced applications was to be removed as a direct consequence.

Google pulling out of China is not a small headline… It’s not like saying the German’s are to stop eating sausage. China is the most populated country on Earth, and currently one of the largest untapped online resources. Google “giving up” on them is an historic headline. And it seems to me that Google’s announcement to drop IE6 should be seen as the direct aftermath of those events.

Time then, has come to remove your IE6 hacks, tear down your IE6 test machines, hang up your well-used crib sheet for IE6 cross-browser tricks. Isn’t it?

Well, there’s the rub… the purists out there (and in here too) still feel an obligation, a need, a moral duty, to keep providing support for any device/browser/age/config that exists. Isn’t that our job? Shouldn’t we still take the time to explain to clients why cross-browser/cross-everything-else support is still worthy of a few extra Pounds/Dollars/Renminbi?

Of course, some clients will still see the need, and will appreciate the dedication that a good web developer can demonstrate when seventy four different browser/OS combinations are showing pixel-perfect renditions of their new website. But I fear that those clients will become fewer and fewer, and as a business I must recognise the value that is placed on perfection. I will of course always offer full cross-browser support, and will continue to provide the best possible service to my clients. But I will argue just a little less when they say “just make it work for the majority”.

What is more frustrating than having an online form, that is in fact not an online form – companies, take note…

Using the Royal Mail ‘Smart Stamp’ system for a large mail shot before Christmas all was going well, when one of the envelopes didn’t print properly. Reading their helpful online information all I had to do was inform them that it hadn’t printed and they would refund my money – simple. I click the button to fill out the “online form”, fill it in and find at the bottom a PRINT button, print? Why would I want to print out the form, I’ve filled it in I just want to send it to you, where is the SEND button? In the small print at the bottom of the page I discover that in order to get my refund I need to print the form out and post – yes post it to the Royal Mail so they can process it.  Have I missed something here or in this day and age are we not trying to save the environment as well as increase the speed of data transfer?

The Royal Mail have gone to the effort of putting a form on their website, and they have a website, so they obviously appreciate the advantage of having one, so why would they have an ‘online form’ that isn’t actually an online form? It’s a form online, not an online form!

What is even more annoying is in order to use my ‘Smart Stamp’ account I have to login with my valid username and password, so they know who I am and can validate me, but in order to get a refund to my account I have to print off a generic form, where the only security information I have to give is my name – where is the security in that, or are the Royal Mail happy to give out refunds to anyone who is willing to fill in and send the form?

To any company that is looking to have an online form – please make sure it is an online form and not just a form online – otherwise customers will get very annoyed, and may even write a blog which may not be great PR for you. Thanks.

A website that is clear, simple and easy to navigate could increase your sales by 100 per cent, as suggested by the latest research.

It appears that even if your products are less compelling than your competitors, if your website is clean and un-complicated visitors will stay on your site longer and are more likely to buy.

With the fast pace of life these days we expect things to be quick, easy and fuss-free. A website that is clearly marked out and easy to navigate will be more appealing than one that is complicated and busy.

With this in mind a website should be designed for the consumer. The quality of consumers’ online experience determines how long they stay on a site and whether they choose to make a purchase. Good website design coupled with good copywriting could convert up to 100 per cent more than a poor website.

User-centred design (UCD) optimises the principles of designing a website around how people can, want or need to work, rather than forcing the user to change how they work to accommodate the developers design. At each stage of the website design process the wants, needs and limitations of the end user should be evaluated. Rather than dictating how the user will use a website any site should be designed giving the user what they want. Jakob Neilsen, the grandfather of UCD said it doesn’t matter what a website looks like, just as long as it works for the user. Whether you agree with this statement or not the message is the same – usability is the key.

Many websites these days use Flash, and yes, this can make it look very pretty and appealing, but this needs to be weighted up with functionality. Making things bright and swishy doesn’t naturally comply with DDA (Disability Discrimination Act) and Flash content isn’t read by search engines. This begs the question – why use Flash? A well written site doesn’t need Flash, so wouldn’t you prefer a fully integrated site that everyone can see?

There is so much to think about these days when it comes to designing a website, Web 2.0 being one of the latest buzz words.  Web 2.0 design style allows users to do more than simply find information, it provides greater user participation, a richer user experience and dynamic content. Web 2.0 also demonstrates clean, simple, basic lines – less is more, as they say!

Google, the most visited website on the planet is the prime example of the perfect website.  It’s simple, clean and it just works – what more do you want, it doesn’t need to do anything else! Everyone recognises it you know what it does and it just does it – no big Flash banners, it’s not crammed with text and pictures – it just is.

A website is not a piece of art and it’s not the same as designing a poster. People view websites in completely different ways, whether it’s different browsers, operating system, security software, screen size, resolution, hardware or speed of connection. Designing a website must be about the user experience otherwise people will get bored and go somewhere else. Research shows that it takes only eight seconds for someone to choose whether to stay on a website or not so a site needs to be good enough to catch someone’s eye, but not complicated so that they don’t stay on the site.

Mystery meat navigation is something that some ‘designed’ websites use. Although they may look nice and pleasing on the eye the navigation is inefficient and confusing. If a website is complicated and unclear visitors will not stay on the site. It is not recommended to use something that people are unfamiliar with as they won’t know how to use it and it is a sure fire way of losing a sale.

When designing a website one of the key characteristics is functionality. If a site is clear and easy to use visitors will stay on the site longer, make return visits, bookmark the site and tell their friends.  It’s not enough just to think about the colour and what its visual impact is, you must think about what people are coming to the site for. People expect a website to tell them what to do, so make things obvious to guide them. A website is often the first point of contact a company has with a potential customer, so make a good impression.