The evolution of HTML has been a long transition away from how things look and toward what things mean. Gone are the days when web pages were cobbled together in HTML tables to compensate for limited layout controls. (Or, rather, those days should be gone. You know who you are.) Improvements in the language and the rise of CSS allowed web programmers to build pages that looked great for users and made better sense to search engines.

But even with the progress in semantic markup – coding to describe what content conveys, not what it looks like – there has still been the necessary evil of <div> and <span> tags. These semantically meaningless elements continued to be used as a fallback for structure and design when semantic tags fell short. While it was closer to the ideal than tables, it still was programming crutch to fill a shortcoming in the HTML language, and another bit of meaningless code for search engines to work through to get to the stuff with purpose. (more…)

David Gould

David is the Web & Design Strategist at Vertical Measures. David is responsible for the look and functionality of the Vertical Measures website, blog and online applications. His programming skills allow him to complement form with function: with a strong technical background, he is able to combine innovative design with dynamic programming. David developed and maintains Vertical Measures’ proprietary project management software, EDWARD.

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If you build it (and optimize it), they will come. But what good is that if they turn around and leave? It’s not enough to have a well-optimized page, you need to have a page that is compelling and converts. We’ve all clicked through to websites that rank well, but once you get there you have an instant, visceral reaction that you want to leave. Ugly. Dated. Unprofessional. Untrustworthy. Confusing. If you aren’t paying enough attention to how well your website manages the visitors you get, you are turning away business that is on your doorstep. Search engines are not clients, are not customers. So how can you effectively influence the people who are once they’ve found you? Here are some tips to help ensure that your website’s landing pages are effective, not just existent. (more…)

David Gould

David is the Web & Design Strategist at Vertical Measures. David is responsible for the look and functionality of the Vertical Measures website, blog and online applications. His programming skills allow him to complement form with function: with a strong technical background, he is able to combine innovative design with dynamic programming. David developed and maintains Vertical Measures’ proprietary project management software, EDWARD.

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In early June, Google announced support of authorship markup for web content. The goal was to create a method for tying content to its creator, regardless of where that content resided. In doing so, they created a standard that gives context and credibility to both authors and their content. So now that you have the means to formally link your blog posts, articles and other content to your identity, what does that mean for you as an author, and how can you best take advantage of it? (more…)

David Gould

David is the Web & Design Strategist at Vertical Measures. David is responsible for the look and functionality of the Vertical Measures website, blog and online applications. His programming skills allow him to complement form with function: with a strong technical background, he is able to combine innovative design with dynamic programming. David developed and maintains Vertical Measures’ proprietary project management software, EDWARD.

+David Gould

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Imagine you are stranded on a desert island. Desperate to be found, you decide to spell out a help message with rocks on the beach for passing planes to see. Should you write”S.O.S.”? Or “Please Help, Stranded”? Or maybe “Top 11 Mistakes of Lost Fan Reenactors”? You spend hours spelling out a clear, effective message in the sand to best get noticed. This is what they do in the movies, right? (more…)

David Gould

David is the Web & Design Strategist at Vertical Measures. David is responsible for the look and functionality of the Vertical Measures website, blog and online applications. His programming skills allow him to complement form with function: with a strong technical background, he is able to combine innovative design with dynamic programming. David developed and maintains Vertical Measures’ proprietary project management software, EDWARD.

+David Gould

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It’s a rare treat in the technology world that the industry giants voluntarily agree to a shared standard. Usually it’s a Blu-ray/HD DVD type scenario where players back different standards and consumers are left hoping they’ve chosen the option that will win out (somewhere, a Laserdisc owner is sobbing).

So it was encouraging to hear earlier this month when Google, Microsoft and Yahoo! announced the Schema.org initiative. The collaboration creates a uniform standard for HTML markup that is supported by the three major search engines. Using these standardized “schema,”  websites can more clearly define content using semantic markup, and help it appear more clearly and prominently in search results. (more…)

David Gould

David is the Web & Design Strategist at Vertical Measures. David is responsible for the look and functionality of the Vertical Measures website, blog and online applications. His programming skills allow him to complement form with function: with a strong technical background, he is able to combine innovative design with dynamic programming. David developed and maintains Vertical Measures’ proprietary project management software, EDWARD.

+David Gould

More Posts – Website – Twitter – Facebook