Have my skills really improved exponentially over the past few years? I’d like to think so. But that’s not what allows me to build and update a website in a fraction of the time it took a few years ago. It’s the use of a solid content management system.

A content management system (or CMS) is an infrastructure that allows users to build a website with far less programming knowledge than ever before. There is only one CMS I know of that allows you to update your site with absolutely zero knowledge of HTML or programming. It’s called Obray. There are countless CMSs available today. Many are open source. The most popular are Drupal, Joomla, Mambo, WordPress, and others. There are also e-commerce specific CMSs that are built for online sales, such as OSCommerce, ZenCart, Magento, and Opencart.

The tolerance for non-programmers varies greatly among these systems. WordPress is likely the easiest to install and use for a person who has little to no coding knowledge. If you want a website that is custom designed, you will always be wise to hire an agency or web designer/developer to build the foundation of your site. They will then hand you the steering wheel – the content management system – and let you drive your own site on the information superhighway.

To give a simple analogy, think of a CMS as a pre-fabricated house. The foundation is laid, the framing, sheetrock, plumbing, electrical, and such are all done for you. All you need to do is choose your wallpaper, paint, and decor. New wings (i.e. pages of the site) can be added with the click of a button. Just like updating your home, most content management tools will require learning a few simple skills, such as basic HTML.

As I mentioned earlier, however, if you have no desire or time to learn these skills, the Obray website management system is the winner. Obray is the beyond the cutting edge of CMS. It lets you drag and drop text, image areas and even video from a dock in your browser. Go watch the demo and see why it’s so different from the other systems I’ve mentioned.

If you ever have questions about which is best suited for your company, just shoot me an email.

Based on the most comprehensive statistics in the U.S., the following is a breakdown of screen resolution, browser usage, and operating system usage in 2008:

Screen Resolution / 2008

48% – 1024×768
38% – Higher than 1024×768
8% – 800×600
6% – Unknown

Browsers

44.2% – Mozilla Firefox
26.6% – Internet Explorer 7
20.0% – Internet Explorer 6
3.1% – Google Chrome
2.7% – Apple Safari
2.3% – Opera

Operating Systems

72% – Windows XP
15% – Windows Vista
5.3% – Mac
3.8% – Linux
1.8% – Windows 2000

According to a recent study, the Flash player is present on 99% of all Internet browsers in the world.

This information is important to us because we are a web development group. We build websites for companies in every industry and across the globe. Every client we serve has a very specific audience in mind, but will inevitably receive visitors to their site who do not fit that demographic. Thus, every site we build must adhere to these basic web design principles to ensure every visitor has a pleasant, error-free experience on the website. If we fail to test our sites on all browsers, we’ll undoubtedly frustrate a percentage of visitors to the site, and as a result, damage the brand perception and market share of our client.

Keep in mind that there are over 50 other browsers online. Fifty! So – is it worth the investment to optimize your site for all of these broswers and versions? Absolutely not. 99% of users will get an accurate view of your site if you stick with the top 5 listed above.

Let us know if you’re having trouble with your website – we may have some pointers to help you decrease your bounce rate.

Check out the site and watch the intro videos:  http://www.alexlearning.com

It’s good to see the developers finally got their side completed and the site up and live before the holidays.

It was a fun process to analyze this niche audience and figure out what type of e-commerce site would be most effective. The target consumers were far less tech savvy than anticipated – so we really had to simplify every step of the shopping and buying process. We’ll have to see how sales and traffic change due to this update. It would be ideal to do an eye tracking and heat mapping study to really optimize the shopping experience….maybe phase 2.

I’m hardly the blogging type. I have no desire to plaster my life and experiences on a public site for the world to see. But I think I’m ok to share my work and maybe a few thoughts that may be able to help others gain inspiration or learn something new.

And so – here we are. I’ll try and keep things up to date…but don’t hold your breath.