CMS Solutions

A lot of people underestimate the value of standards, and I don’t mean just in web sites, but in general life.

Imagine you were building a house and the bricks didn’t fit because they were of different sizes. Imagine you bought a dish washer that didn’t fit into that kitchen you ordered, imagine you bought a music CD that didn’t fit into the CD organizer you have the rest of your entire music library on.

These are all examples of things that can stress people when standards aren’t followed.

Surely sometimes these standards can, and should, be changed for the sake of art. Standards are not obligatory, and shouldn’t be too strict.

When it comes to the internet, standards are often recommended but not often encouraged because the majority of people use an ancient browser that is now 8 years old, I’m talking about Internet Explorer 6.

Imagine, for a moment, someone gave you an 8 year old computer for you to work on all day. That’s how we feel when we try to get our websites to render and work properly on Internet Explorer 6. All the standards we strictly followed, the countless hours we took in learning them, crumble to pieces.

Rebuilding your websites for an old browser

In most cases, we have to re-think the way we build our websites and redo them. The equivalent of this in a construction website would be to tear down the walls and rebuild them. The equivalent of this in that kitchen example I previously gave would be to cut a reasonable chunk of it off in order to fit the few inches that wouldn’t fit.

A lot of companies struggle to maintain compatibility with this ancient browser. Google which hosts and maintains one of the most popular e-mail services available: Gmail, has had to rebuild the core of it’s web interface (who knows how many times?) specifically because of Internet Explorer 6. A task that becomes harder and harder to do as they try to push in new features.

As such we have decided to join what many other companies in the industry have decided and start reducing our support for IE6.

This doesn’t mean we are going to forget that it exists! We will always take it into consideration when building a website. We simply have decided to not cripple the rest of the web browsers because of it.

The FREE Modern Alternative Browsers

Microsoft has been putting in a lot of effort into making a new, more standards-aware version of Internet Explorer, and you can download the Beta version of Internet Explorer 8 today if you want to!

And a lot of companies are already in front of them in terms of web standards and speed. Mozilla’s Firefox browser is the world’s second most used browser. Not only did it help to make some of the standards used by Internet Explorer 7 more popular, but it also opened the path for other companies to have the motivation to cut a slice of IE’s market share.

Apple and their Webkit-based browser Safari browser are in third place right now in terms of usage, and as it currently stands, Safari is the world’s most standards-compliant browser, and also one of the fastest around.

What this means for you and your websites

As more developers embrace the web standards, and the more people use modern browsers the better we can make our websites. We can use JavaScript more freely, bring you nice features like rounded corners, shadows and transparencies without making your page size bigger, or the code behind it trickier.

This also cuts down on development costs because the effort of making our websites completely IE6 compatible is as much of an effort as putting the whole website together. Imagine if we could take that time and put it into making your website looking and working even better instead of finding out why Internet Explorer 6 does funny things with our standards compliant code.

Navega Bem – Web Design wants wants to make cutting edge websites that you’ll enjoy. We don’t want to cripple our designers or customers in terms of choices because of a technology that should have been long gone by now.

In practical terms, this means that we simply won’t try to force the browser to support things it wasn’t originally meant to do. People with modern browsers will see the website as intended. People with Internet Explorer  6 will see a slightly toned-down version of the website, with no transparencies, less effects, etc.

We will also put a small disclaimer on top of the pages, for people using IE 6, so they know they should update, similar to the warnings most browsers give nowadays.

These changes we’ve decided to implement won’t be done straight away, and they certainly won’t be enforced. It will be a progressive change, that we’ll slowly bring to our most recent projects at Navega Bem.

We sincerely hope you will follow us in this journey, and help make the internet a safer and prettier place to be.

Madeira island today welcomed the launch of madJET Executive Aviation.

The base in Madeira strategically provides madJET with a central hub of operations for the target locations which are Madeira, the Canary Islands, the Azores, mainland Portugal and Northwestern Africa.
madJET is currently operating one aircraft, a Hawker 900XP and is awaiting a second one which is expected to be delivered in 2010. This addition to the fleet will be a King Air 350i.

madJET caters to both the leisure and business markets offering exclusive service and comfort. For the first time on Madeira clients can reserve point to point  flights up to 24 hours in advance and freely choose from a wide selection of menus as well as order additional luxury items such as Beluga caviar, truffles or wine.

The madJET professionals are a highly trained and motivated team that are dedicated to providing a hassle free and relaxing journey with no compromises. The madJET  team enables you get to more meetings in more cities and still be home for dinner. If your destination is the beginning of a hard earned vacation, madJET will ensure your relaxation begins the moment you step onto your jet. madJET will ensure that your life does not get any more complicated than it already is!

The site has been developed by the Madeira island based web development team  Navega Bem – Web Design and is crafted around Joomla CMS Version 1.5
Chris Szabo, Creative Director explained “the site was developed without access to the aircraft and we are pleased that the Hawker 900XP has now arrived on the island as we shall continue to improve the site and incorporate video, location mapping, online help and some other components that will help heighten the users experience.”

Visit madJET Executive Aviation here.

As more and more websites lose earnings and slip down the Google ratings a brand new stimulus package has been announced. The new package aptly named “Website Rescue Plan” or “Joomla utatuzi” (which means ’solution’ in Swahili)  has been developed to combat what web experts call “a crisis not seen since the dot-com bubble burst”.

How does it work?
The Joomla stimulus package is available cost free to all companies and individuals that require new web sites but don’t have the technical know how to develop a site themselves.
Experts say the stimulus package will make websites very easy to manage, keep up to date and achieve better rankings in the search engines.

Sceptics are concerned that the powers of the Joomla package may be underestimated and overuse could mean that too many worthless sites will begin to appear in high positions in search engine results. But a Joomla advocate stated “The monopoly on good ideas does not belong to a single CMS. But some web sites are very sick. The situation is getting worse. . . . We have to act and act now to break the momentum of this digital downturn. Joomla is the obvious answer.”

A leading website development company manager said “I don’t care whether you’re a webmaster or an IT consultant — if you’re headed for a cliff, you’ve got to change direction. I believe with Joomla we have been able to reach a major compromise, maybe we are not giving everybody what they think they want, but we are giving everyone what they need.”

The biggest question currently being asked around the global village is “Can we download Joomla and try it out for ourselves?” The resounding answer is “Yes we can!”

Learn more about the Joomla Stimulus Package and see an online demo at www.joomla.org

——————————————————————————————
Article submitted by Chris Szabo, MD Navega  Bem – Web Design – Madeira – Portugal

Renowned Madeira island and Lisbon based photographer Nick Bayntun has launched his premier website to facilitate improved communication with his current client base and extend a more amenable welcome to potential customers.

The minimalistic yet stunning site has been developed around the Joomla CMS framework and marks the corner stone of a portal that will incorporate high resolution download capability, restricted access to individual clients and an expansive portolio covering the many facets of Nick’s professional work.

The site has been developed by Joomla professionals ‘Navega Bem – Web Design‘.

Managing and Creative Director Chris Szabo explained “We have been involved with Nick for many years.  His approach to photography stems from one simple concept: pursue the passion and great images will follow. Whilst shooting Nick is always tuned in to the emotion of the moment and telling the story as it unfolds naturally. He pays attention to the finer details that are often taken for granted or overlooked. The results are always stunning and totally unique.”

“Excellent photography is always a good investment for any business. A picture paints a thousand words and Nick’s images speak volumes”.

Visit Nick Bayntun Photography at: www.nickbayntun.com

It doesn’t matter if you are self employed or a company employing 500 people; if you don’t have a website, you are losing business every single day to the other companies that do.

When the economy is down – more and more people use the internet to find the best deals and services. Having a professional website can make all the difference because your website is the ‘first thing’ most of your clients will ever see about you.

Today people shop online for convenience, not for price! Today in the midst of an ever worsening recession, the internet has become a very desirable marketplace.

What is driving consumers to buy their goods online?
Well, everyone one of us likes to do things the easy way. We all like to be comfortable.
The biggest motivation for online shoppers is pure convenience. Price is (believe it or not) less important.
More than 95% of online shoppers want to save time and have things the easy way – once they have found a product range or service they will then consider the price.

So lets reiterate this important fact:
Internet consumers put a much higher value on saving time than they do on saving money.

This leads us to consider two important things:
1. If you have a professional website that users can easily get around – you’ll be pulling in extra customers – extra business and extra money – 24/7.
2. You don’t have to worry about the online mega-stores that can beat you on price. You can sell on the internet regardless of your position or ranking in the business market.

So do you have a website for your company?
It actually makes more sense to have no website at all than to have one that makes your business look bad. Your your website is the ‘first thing’ most of your clients will ever see about you.
Your website either tells prospective clients, “We take our business and our clients seriously and we have created this professional site for you!” or it tells them, “Our site was designed by a friend of the family. He knows a little about business and the internet!”

Your website is the front door to your business
What kind of importance do you place on a website for your business? Your customers and prospective customers will get a very distinct impression about your business from your online presence. So what do you think your website is telling people about your company?

Your customers are going online more and more, and they expect you to be there. If you’re not, you can be sure that your competitors are.

It doesn’t take long to realize that at the heart of every successful web site is a professional web design company.

———————————————

This article posted by Chris Szabo, MD ‘Navega Bem – Web Design’ (www.navegabem.com)

Navega Bem – Web Design is consistently producing professional web sites that are getting noticed and making a very positive difference to the companies that own them. Our sites will bring you more traffic, more clients, more business and more money. More importantly, our sites are developed around the Joomla CMS framework. That means we create websites that you can update yourself without any technical experience and without our help.

What is Web Eye Tracking?

Eye-tracking studies are a type of usability test where user gaze concentrations are recorded in thermal-like ‘heat zone maps’ or reading flow is recorded in ‘point to point’ sequence maps.
Web Eye Tracking offers cutting edge usability studies that tell you where users look, what they pay attention to, and what they miss.

So what does Web Eye Tracking tells us about website usability?

Users spend a large amount of time initially looking at the top left of the page and upper portion of the page before moving down and towards the right.

Normal initial eye movement around the page focuses on the upper left portion of the screen.

Ads perform better in the left hand column in comparison to the right column of a page.

Smaller type encourages a more focused viewing behavior.

Larger type promotes lighter, less focused scanning.

Dominant headlines most often draw the eye first upon entering a page- especially the upper left portion of a page.

Users will only look at a sub headline if they find it engaging.

Navigation placed at the top of a homepage performs best.

People’s eyes typically scan lower portions of a page seeking something that will grab their attention.

Shorter paragraphs performed much better than longer ones.

The standard one-column format performed better in terms of number of eye fixations.

Ads in the top left portions of a homepage received the most eye fixations.

Clean, clear faces in images attract more eye fixations on homepages.

See a movie showing the results of a Web Eye Tracking study on some of the pages of Navega Bem – Web Design here.

Wednesday the 4th of February: Navega Bem – Web Design made a highly successful presentation to the local business community with a discourse about the urgent need to have highly performing websites in the present economic crisis.

With a commendable foreword from the Chairman of Palheiro Golf, Jonathan Fletcher introduced the Project Director of Navega Bem, Lisete Gonçalves – who went on to demonstrate the opportunities available within the ‘Global Village’ of the world wide web.

How the search engines and particularly Google present search results was a focal point of the initial part of the seminar as was the advice given to those present about keeping high positions in the search listings.
Various solutions were offered to help business sites thrive and a demonstration was given showing the ease with which Joomla CMS websites can be a pivotal tool in keeping website content up to date.

Navega Bem are web design specialists and have become Joomla Professionals on an international level.
Many of the CMS sites produced have won awards and the company has earned an excellent reputation for their unique design and development skills.

A short but amusing live link was established with Eddie Elzer, programmer on the Navega Bem team residing in Valencia – Spain. At the conclusion of the presentation the technical team of Navega Bem: Chris Szabo, and Sara Lomelino  were on hand to assist with an extensive Q & A session.

Navega Bem thank all those that attended the presentation including several prominent guests, the local press and Paul Watson – Director of Strike Button Productions (UK). Special thanks go out to Patricia and Bruno at Fnac for their excellent support.

A follow up presentation is to be held at the Francisco Franco school in two weeks time.

See the Fnac presentation video here.