Website Advice and Tips for Non-Web Developers

There has been an avalanche of legislation in the United States and Europe regarding online privacy since the rise of the Internet. Today, publishing anything on the web requires familiarity and compliance with privacy laws to avoid the possibility of legal action or...

A contact form is a common feature of many business websites. After all, you want to make it as easy as possible for your visitors to get in touch with you to purchase your goods or services. However, contact forms have several important pitfalls that you may not know...

Often designers will hand me a website design that uses custom fonts (i.e., not the free ones available online). And just as often, they and the client are unaware of the costs and implications of using these fonts on the web. Web Font Licensing Unfortunately, just...

Sometimes I get a client who is starting from scratch and needs to get a domain name, branded email accounts, and web hosting (or sometimes they have the domain name already). Here's my process to get that all set up, along with some tips and tricks. Note, the order...

If you ask a WordPress developer what their favorite builder theme is, you'll get a very opinionated answer, kind of like asking a photographer what brand of camera is best, or a gamer what console is best. The truth is, there are a lot of great themes out there. Many...

Today, complying with accessibility regulations is not optional; it is a "must"! That means, your website needs to be designed so that folks with various types of physical or cognitive disabilities will be able to access the information or perform the functions...

I always tell my clients to set up their own domain name and web hosting accounts and pay for with their own credit card. I do not provide hosting. Here's why I think you should not let your web developer (or any third party) own your web and domain name accounts. 1....

These are some questions I think about before starting a new website project. It's a great checklist to go through before starting to help you scope out your project. A. Audience and Purpose Who is the target audience of the website?What is the site tagline, in...

WordPress makes it very easy to update your website to the latest versions of the WordPress core, plugins, and theme. Just click a few buttons, right? Well, anyone who's worked with WordPress for a while knows that simply pressing "update" without some serious...

I personally use and recommend SiteGround shared web hosting for WordPress sites because their servers are fast and reliable, the cost is reasonable, and their support is good. But, if you go on their website to pick web hosting for your WordPress site, you'll find...

When your web developer makes changes to a website, you might not see those changes in your browser because of something called "browser caching". Basically, that means that the browser keeps old copies of parts of the website locally so it doesn't have to re-load...

Knowing the answers to these three questions will help your site's messaging stay focused and clear. Before thinking about your site's colors, fonts, images, and content, you should answer these three basic questions about your website's messaging and goals. The...

If you want to put your content on the Internet, you'll have to choose a web hosting provider. This is the company that will store your website on a computer which is connected to the Internet and can serve it up to visitors. If research hosting companies on the...

One question I sometimes get from clients is whether they should use WordPress or one of the online website builder services like Wix, Weebly, and Squarespace. Unlike some web developers (and designers), I believe those services can be the right choice in some...

WordPress is free software that lets you create a website using pre-made templates and plugins, and it allows you to update content by logging into the site and typing in a text editor. This allows you to create professional-looking sites and update the content...