In 2012, the old hypertext markup language (HTML), as we know it, will be quite different. The current version, still under development, is an all encompassing update to HTML4, Java Script and XHTML1. Its basically a standardization effort to avoid syntax errors, with new inclusions like the and tags. This improved mark up language also defines how invalid documents should be processed, thus ensuring that all browsers are able to treat syntactical errors in a similar manner. This new 2012 trend markup language to look out for is HTML5.

Another trend that has been quietly gaining momentum, with its explosion in to the hot trends list expected early 2012, is the use of large, over-sized headers and logos. The big idea behind this trend is to make an unforgettable first impression on your website visitor. This also takes care of the click-phobic visitor, who has, over time, grown to fear clicking due to years poor navigation experience. What your large headers and logos do is provide a platform similar to a splash page, minus the need for clicking. The visitor just scrolls down to get the details they need.

Single page websites, that have sliders, are also expected to hit the trends headlines. These websites will be more like a business card, showing all the necessary details a visitor may need, including your location, your social media hangouts and so on. The sliders too will improve functionality, by removing the need for the boring dragging the mouse over complicated navigation bars to access information. These sliders mean that instead of a slide show being incorporated in a website, the website itself, becomes the slideshow.

Finally, there is the mobile design, which is already starting to make a huge headway in to the top trends of 2012. With the increase in the popularity of smart phones and tablet technology, web designers will need to learn how to adapt their projects to accommodate this change in screen resolution and size. Luckily for them, there is CSS3, which allows a website designer to make a site that accommodates the mobile technology in to the web design. With more people buying smart phones and tablets, there is a need for websites to look as good on these gadgets. These are some of the 2012 web design trends that are expected to make headlines.

In the last few years, social media has become essential for success in blogging. Engaging socially with your users can help you build partnerships with other webmasters, gain more followers, and access people that can help take your blog to the next level. If done correctly over time, you can build a community that will allow you to sell products, hold events, and grow your brand. Social media plugins can help you easily integrate your blog into the social space.

Social Media WordPress Plugins

There are a few plugins that can transform your wordpress blog into a hub of social activity. The “Tweet – Like” plugin is essential for all blogs, because it allows a user to easily link to your article from their facebook or twitter accounts. It also supports the new “plus one” feature which will soon become important for site rankings. Tweet-Like is a free plug-in that can be setup in about 5 minutes. Tweet-Like gives you the ability to rotate headlines over your twitter, facebook, and plus one buttons. Try creating unique headlines that will draw a users attention straight to those buttons. A headline like “If you hate the recession but like this article, click like”, will grab attention and encourage users to share your story.

Another essential social plugin for WordPress is the “Facebook Social Plugin”. This is a widget that can be placed on your sidebar to provide “social proof” that you run a well-liked website. The plug-in shows images and usernames of every person that has clicked “like” on your website or story. This plug-in is especially important for websites that sell products. Showing proof that other users are happy with your service, will give users the trust that they need to use their credit card on your site. Social proof is a very effective way to show trustworthiness and professionalism, even if a visitor has never visited your site.

A “Twitter Counter” button can also add social proof to your site. You must have an active twitter account with followers in order for it to work. This button can be placed on the header of your site or on pages where users make credit card transactions. These buttons will show new visitors that you are a legitimate business, and are well liked by your customers.

Increasing User Engagement

One factor that is increasingly important to search engines today, is user engagement. Search companies have many ways to track a user’s activity on your site,, and if they visit other pages before leaving. Experts predict that user metrics will become an even more important factor in rankings. In this case you will need better content, more features, and better design to keep the search traffic flowing. One easy way to increase user engagement is to add a poll to your sidebar. The plugin WP-Polls is easy to use and free. It can create any type of poll you want, within minutes. A poll will keep the user on your site longer and more engaged with a attention grabbing question.

Another way to increase user engagement and page-views is a plugin called Outbrain. Outbrain adds 4 images to the bottom of every post, to other pages on your site. These images draw attention and make a user more likely to stay on your site longer. One drawback to outbrain, it that it rotates a paid ad into these images every once in a while. But, the benefits seem to outweigh this factor.

As social media and user engagement become more important, webmasters will have to adapt. Becoming more involved in the social space is essential to start any new site. Facebook is an enormous platform that site owners can no longer ignore. It is important to develop and change your site to stay ahead of the curve and keep your users coming back.

Mike runs the new relationship and dating site called Dating Tips 1. It provides users with online dating advice, how to read body language on a date, and tips to improve their success for meeting people online.

The long standing party line “Macs don’t get viruses” is finally being proven wrong, on a sizable scale. Those users who believe that the Mac OS is impenetrable, incorruptible and invincible are in for a rather severe surprise. An Apple Care Executive (ACE) claiming that not only is malware a problem on Macs it is also increasing from day to day and moment by moment. According to an unnamed ACE we were able to confirm what security companies have been shouting in vain for years: malware for Mac’s OS has arrived, and people need to be adjusted and ready to deal with it. Still most people think Mac users have nothing to worry about when it comes to malware, and this has been true for many years. However, now things are changing. A malicious app called MAC Defender is infecting more Mac users than ever before. An ACE said that “more and more people” are falling for the MAC Defender attack.
This ACE confirmed that the company was getting a large amount of calls regarding a Mac malware called “Mac Defender.” One ACE representative reports that call volumes are 4 to 5 times the average, and that the “overwhelming majority” are MAC Defender-related. The MAC Defender Mac security threat appears to have become one of the most serious to ever hit the Mac OS. Even though the code requires victims to give permission for installation, because of a false sense of security a large number of Mac users have fallen prey to this virus.
Many people have been tricked into downloading the software thus far and more are joining the ranks each day. This particular virus poses as an anti-virus software in order to dupe users into knowingly installing it. This fake anti-virus software then opens back door portals allowing hackers to breach firewalls, giving them access to sensitive information and allow them to wreak whatever havoc they choose in your cyber world. According to an apple related website this is how the Mac users become infected: “The developers use SEO to get infected sites to the top of search engine results. Clueless users who click certain links are sent to a rogue site, where JavaScript on the page automatically downloads a file. If a specific web browser option is checked like the one allowing Safari to open safe files after downloading; the malware file decompresses and its installer appears on screen. If the user clicks the Continue button then the app will install.” The Mac Defender malware is a phishing program that fools users into thinking they are downloading anti-virus protection, meanwhile it’s actually going after credit-card and other sensitive information. ZDNet estimates between 60,000 and 125,000 Mac users have fallen victim to the scam in the past month alone. These Mac users have reportedly already fallen victim to the malware’s identity theft scheme, by which it will ask people to unlock the software with a credit card, denying each one but asking people to try another. Each time the user enters new information it is recorded. Some victims have compromised as many as 5 credit cards.

“Many now frustrated Mac users thought their Mac was impervious to viruses; this could be a real wakeup call for Apple. If malware like this keeps making its way into cyberspace and onto computers, Mac is going to have to change a lot of what they do to protect not only their users but a large reason behind their market share (virus invulnerability). Allegedly, Apple has explicitly told ACE employees not to aid users in removing the malware from their systems out of fear that they would expect similar assistance in the future with other viruses. The only help an Apple Care representative is expected to provide if the malware is installed on a person’s computer is to make sure Mac OS X and security are up-to-date, and then they are to direct people to the Mac App Store or the Apple online store; where apple turns a profit selling anti-virus software. However, If a person has not yet actually installed the malware, ACE’s are allowed to instruct people to quit the installer and delete the downloaded file. Apple’s policies differ greatly in this area from those of Microsoft, which offers free support for malware, and Dell and HP, which will scrub a system but only for a fee.
While support from Apple is a welcome development, the company’s initial reaction is disturbing in its own right from a consumer’s perspective. Perhaps more disturbing, to many Mac users is the realization that their OS’s, so long considered safe from most Internet viruses, are not immune after all.

The 11 Best WordPress Plugins to Use in 2011

1) W3 Total Cache – This an essential WordPress plugin for at least two reasons.  First and foremost, it allows your pages to load much faster.  Also, because this plugin stores static versions of your entire website, this plugin utilizes significantly less processing on behalf of your CPU compared to solely employing WordPress for your site.

2) HeadSpace – HeadSpace provides you with the features that streamline your SEO process from top to bottom. This magnificent addition to WordPress gives you the tools you need to drive traffic to your site and makes it easy and quick. Minimizing the amount of time a company spends on SEO efforts can drastically decrease overhead, and allow resources to be allocated to more important operations. This plugin can single handedly allow companies to put their focus on more important things, while still meeting your SEO needs.

3) Gravity Forms – This plugin has revolutionized a companies ability to utilize WordPress to produce forms. Additionally, you aren’t held back by other limitations commonly found in other plugins or methods of creating forms as it allows, image and other media uploads, conditional logic, and to create posts. This plugin has set the new standard for creating forms through WordPress.

4) MaxBlog Press Affiliate Ninja – This WordPress plugin can dramatically cut down the amount of time a company needs to allocate toward promoting affiliate products, convert keywords, track clicks, and other essential time consuming processes. Companies no longer need to fumble around with affiliate links because they are all stored in the WordPress dashboard and your linking is automatically done for you.

5) WP-DBManager – This plugin has several useful functions it performs including the ability to email your site’s entire WordPress database to you on a daily basis. Companies no longer need make efforts to log and track their database, and still have the information organized and accessible at an arms length.

6) Thank Me Later – This plugin is a company’s best friend.  It allows your company to automatically contact each and every user (first-time visitors only) via email with promotions or information.  Companies can now connect with users with ease and for free, cutting out any need to pay for email services.

7) SEO Smart Links – This plugin automatically interlinks keywords to your other articles for you. Linking from within an article to other articles is a extremely effective and easy way to increase your site’s rankings; also it allows readers to locate other articles you have posted on similar or related subjects.

8 ) Digg Digg – This WordPress plugin is an extremely easy way to encourage viral and social marketing with no costs involved. This plugin provides floating social icons right next to each post. With implementation of these floating icons it encourages and simplifies the process for users to share and promote your content. This is the cheapest and most effective way to encourage these marketing techniques and spread the word about your company.

9) Revision Control – Because of the way the revisions feature of WordPress functions often times your company site’s database will become bloated and due to sheer size can drastically slow down your website. Utilizing the Revision Control WordPress Plugin you can eliminate this effect; as you can now control and limit the number of post revisions stored on your database (which is most often a waste of database space anyway).

10) Editorial Calendar – This plugin slash organization tool provides your company with an easy to use editorial calendar to manage your posts and updates. With this tool you can simply drag and drop articles from one date to another, edit both past and present posts, and overall manage your content more easily.

11) XML Google Site Maps – This plugin will generate a special XML sitemap which will help search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo and Ask.com to better index your blog. A XML Sitemap allows search engines to crawl a website easier by allowing the crawler to see the entire structure of a website. Additionally it notifies all major search engines every time you create a post about the new content.

The site is planning a complete redesign of its home page to support a new platform for the site: a set of “channels” revolving around topics much like contemporary television service i.e arts, history, reality, and sports. There will be approximately 20 of these channels each featuring professionally produced original programming each week. What YouTube must first obtain is content capable of producing regular viewers tuning in week after week, just as viewers do for their favorite shows featured on regular television. Of course YouTube will produce additional channels for content already on the site such as Rebecca Black’s “Friday, Friday” as well as the current infinite hours of pre existing material containing everything from instructional videos to animals and babies caught on tape doing funny things. Reportedly YouTube is prepared to spend upwards of $100 million to commission this original content created exclusively for their site.

These impending alterations are still a bit of a gamble by the world’s single most-popular video website as they begin to push in an entirely new direction for the company. Between the haphazard genre of user-generated content and the much pricier and regulatory grounds of full-fledged TV shows, Google is hoping to fill a new niche market of professionally produced original internet videos in hopes it will cultivate a group of loyal viewers.

Perhaps the biggest part of this upgrade will be the construction of these channels, which will soon make up YouTube’s homepage. Of course some of these channels will be dedicated to supporting the new original programming that will be featured on the website, while others will simply group together similar videos that are already available on the site. The Wall Street Journal says that “YouTube has been in talks with all the big Hollywood talent agencies,” no doubt in an effort to find new talent and partners with the name recognition and reputation they will require to effectively launch the new channels. Though working on a website show to an actor would typically be parallel to a Broadway star acting in a community theater production, this new direction in web production as well as this project has qualified that standard. Now, under the right terms that is no longer the case. Currently many actors, directors and writers have all discovered that though this medium lacks a similar market, they can often times be more creative and controversial on the web, as they are capable of trying things they could never get approved by a major studio. Similarly, while comedy currently certainly rules the internet medium, projects like this are serving only to open the platform and it is now ready to receive more dramas, documentaries, reality shows and educational programming.

When it comes down to it, YouTube’s goal is to simply increase the amount of time the average user spends on the website. However, as they plan to do this through the addition of full-length TV style shows and movies, they may run into a problem. Many people watch three or more hours of TV a night, but few would spend this kind of time online, nor is internet media a typically multi-viewer platform. This option would be far from mainstream right off the bat, as only a small portion of homes are set up to view online media in a group setting and in their living rooms. However, as more and more people obtain reliable and inexpensive access to streaming videos, and the quality of the content provided increases, the possibility that YouTube could transform into a viable alternative to network TV will too. All that is left to do is to convince advertisers, and the market should grow. With the steady growth of advertising dollars being spent on social media and in internet platforms YouTube may just be creating the new media frontier.

Most designers portfolios can be found on their website or provided upon request. A portfolio is simply a catalog that shows contracted websites previously handled by a designer. However, it should go without saying that designers with a sub-par website or those who don’t have websites should never be given any consideration. One should concentrate their search around designers who have very attractive portfolios placed on professionally designed websites.

The portfolios of some designers are normally filled with a lot of details. All the details on a particular portfolio must be considered. The portfolio of a designer who has been a web designer for a long period of time will definitely have a lot content. If the jobs handled by an experienced designer in the recent past are correlated to your needs, then you can feel comfortable knowing that designer is qualified for the task the client has at hand.

You should however obtain the contact information of several of their previous clients who were serviced by the designer. These previous customers should be contacted ether by telephone or by email. The previous clients will enlighten one on the competency and experience of a designer being examined. Be sure to ask about both the good and the bad aspects of their interaction. It is also important that you get a feel for how easy it was for the previous clients to communicate and get along with the designers as well as how close to what they requested the end result was.

The questions one will ask the previous customers should be prepared before calling them. Information the previous customers will give will center on how they view the service delivered by the particular website designer. Previous customers will also be able to furnish information on the time it took the designer to design and produce their business’ websites as well as any problems they may have encountered.

After enough information has been collected from a web developer’s portfolio and references what should follow is contacting the actual company. How well you get along with your web designer will dictate the tone for the rest of the project. Carrying out online research and consulting with friends and family members can help to validate information. Some friends and family members with experience in this area can help one during the process of searching for a highly experienced website designer. However, the importance of the use of online search engines should never be underestimated.

A business will be very competitive if it has a properly designed and managed website. Walnut Creek, California web design professionals like Fyresite.com normally develop high-end business and personal websites, often at a lower price than most other highly experienced professionals. When contacting a web design company like Fyresite.com, be sure to have all of the features, designs and content written down. This will help the designers understand the your wants and needs as a client. Be sure to discuss budget and timing to get understand what your dealing with. Walnut Creek, California has many web design companies, but determining which is best for your business is up to you!

Small businesses and entrepreneurial ventures have flourished in the Austin area, which has a number of resources designed specifically to support the ever-growing amount of startup businesses in the area. Austin, much like the rest of the state of Texas, is notorious for its tax structure, which is extremely commerce-friendly. To begin with there is no state personal income tax, nor does the state impose any corporate income tax. This city is a great location to be an entrepreneur, as it is popular for its support for business development, and even more so in the technology markets. In fact one-third of the Austin area’s payroll revolves around technological jobs. As Austin has the University of Texas, the city has a plethora of college students in the area, which not only increases entrepreneurial opportunities for youth markets but also provides skilled workers for these local businesses. In recent years Austin has developed a reputation for having one of the most educated workforces in the America.
However, growth in the metropolitan Austin consists of businesses of all sizes. Most notably it is a haven for small businesses, as it has become the 8th ranked best city for entrepreneurs to open up shop. Also, because Austin’s population growth has doubled itself in the last 20 years and it’s large minority population so closely reflects the nation’s future racial demographic, it is often used by national corporations or companies offering franchises as a test market. According to the most current federal data available Texas currently has 1,787,607 small businesses. In fact in 2010 alone, entrepreneurs started 565,000 new businesses each month. That is 340 out of 100,000 adult Texans started businesses each month in 2010.

Though there is this much business being done in the Austin area, there are far too few companies taking advantage of webdesign in Austin Texas. With the technological resources in the area many businesses are finding the companies offering these services too expensive to serve the small businesses around them. Because of this, companies are now looking to companies like Fyresite.com for their website needs. This day and age companies cannot afford to have a website that lacks a professional touch, but often times cannot afford more corporate webdesign and SEO companies. To rectify this problem Fyresite.com has entered the marketplace, offering professional websites at affordable rates. When Austin businesses are looking to beef up their online presence it is Fyresite.com that the turn to.