Archive for September, 2009

If you own or manage an older version of a WordPress driven website or blog, the team at WordPress warns you MUST upgrade to the most recent version v2.84 because of a SERIOUS security threat taking place now.

In the announcement WordPress warns readers to upgrade immediately before reading their complete post it is that serious. Consider this comment from the official WordPress post linked above about upgrading:

If you are using a WordPress version after 2.7, the nag screen on the WordPress Administration Panels will alert you to upgrade. If you are using an older version, upgrade now. Don’t know what version you are using? Without a nag screen to tell you to update, you’re using an old version. Checking the Administration Panels footer will help, but don’t waste time looking. Just update now!

For our clients who have a custom WordPress blog designed and managed by us, your blog is not affected! Rest assured your WordPress installation was already at v2.84 before this virus attack began. In addition, we use automatic dBase backups as added security to avoid any recovery problems if needed in the future.

Improve web design performance by checking website visitor statistics for trends on a daily basis. Adjust content to improve your web design by offering what people want but didn’t find on your website. In addition you may want to check site visitors by browser every few months to measure major browser competition and track the winners capturing market share.

Here’s the most recent stats check and site visitors by browser report for one of our older commercial websites. Expect the following visitor data to vary from site to site.

Totals by browser brand with all versions combined:

44.2% Firefox
41.4% Internet Explorer
06.6% Chrome
06.6% Safari
01.2% Opera
—–
100.0% Total

Microsoft Internet Explorer (MSIE) breakdown by version:

12.00% MSIE 8.0
16.80% MSIE 7.0
12.60% MSIE 6.0

The continued decline in users for Internet Explorer 6.0 from 6 months ago is good news for web developers and website owners. IE6 web design code workarounds to meet cross-browser compatibility add cost to the price of web development. Even better news: Those stats show zero visitors using versions older than IE6.

If you don’t know about checking your site in all browsers, or your designer doesn’t care, some visitors may have a bad first impression of your website. Does your web design have a disclaimer “Best viewed in [insert browser name]” on the home page? That means it may look horrible to half your visitors.

Our advice is upgrading to the latest version of whatever brand browser you use, and testing your design to the most recent of all major brands including Firefox, Internet Explorer, Chrome, Safari, and Opera.

Don’t want to install 5 browsers? Visit this browser simulation online tool at browsershots.org. Their tool allows you to capture screenshots for testing all major brands including Linux, Mac, and older browsers like IE6.

Track your website visitor stats. Learn from them. Adjust content to improve site performance. However, don’t spend hours every day agonizing over short term trends. Stats tracking including site visitors by browser is a long term web design strategy.