Why oh Why?

Why is it so difficult to work on one’s own site?

Seriously, I rarely have problems with coming up with ideas, themes and designs for clients, but when it comes to working on my own site, it is a nightmare.

Perhaps, it is because there is really no set theme to go by.  And, also, because it is something I am just too close to.  Either way, it has been this way for years.

I have just completed another redesign, and hope that it is enjoyed!  I like this one, but finding something that is appealing across the board, to everyone who is in my target market, is difficult to say the least.

Site Redesign and Rewrite - Cambridge Partners

We are moving forward with the new redesign and rewrite of Cambridge Partners, Inc.  This is a huge project, as we are completely redesigning and rewriting from scratch.  We will be putting the site into PHP, cleaning up the code, optimizing and adding increased functionality for the benefit of both visitors and residents.

Once the site(s) are complete, I will drop a note and update the Cambridge Partners portfolio/case study page.

Launched! The Gym Lake Orion

Though still under a bit of construction, we have launched the new website for The Gym in Lake Orion, Michigan.

Please hop over and take a peek at www.thegymlakeorion.com

A Word About Browsers

All browsers are NOT created equal

Know the differences

Learn the advantages

Which browser to choose?

Resolution…huh?

Merlee Designs tries their very best to make sure that all of our websites and applications run on as many browsers as is possible.

However, this is indeed a daunting task, and not all browsers are created equal…and no matter what you do, there are some browsers that just don’t function up to today’s standards. This means, that no matter how well we design and program, due to the changes in standards and coding ability, some browsers are just too old to render the code properly.

For a browser to be “standards compliant” means that they must pass a certain testing scenario to make sure that they render (display) code as it is meant to be, and as the designer/programmer intended. There is a organization, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) which develops interoperable technologies (specifications, guidelines, software, and tools) to lead the Web to its full potential. The W3C often sets the standards by which the web functions.

Currently, the most standards compliant browser is Safari (Apple), which has been compliant since 2005. Firefox is the next closest, and with it’s upcoming version 3 has been tested as passing the “Acid2″ test. While version 2 of Firefox is not perfect, it is incredibly close, and to date we have not had any problems with using Firefox at all.

Internet Explorer, which is by far the most common browser and holds approximately 70% of the browser share, is also by far the least standards compliant browser available. IE7 has made great strides in being better able to handle code and specifically CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), but it is still bad enough that a completely separate stylesheet has to be created for IE browsers.

Add to this problem, the fact that the majority of IE users are still using IE6. IE6 is immensely buggy and has major difficulties in displaying a web page properly when using CSS.

A small note about display resolution (for your monitor): Minimum display should be 1024×1280 pixels.

Therefore, our recommendations for browsers are below:

• For All Windows Users: Safari, Firefox or Internet Explorer 7
• For Mac Users: Safari or Firefox
• For Linux Users: Firefox or Opera

Tags: Browsers, firefox, ie, safari

New email scam - targeting domain name holders

I received this email this morning, and my first reaction was to panic.  After a few seconds of being kind of stunned, I went out to Google and searched for the name of the registrar, and found several links indicating that this is a scam: A Google Group about this topicBlog about Internet Brand Hijacking  Here is the email:

Dear CEO,

We are the domain name registration organization in Asia, which mainly deal with international company’s in Asia. We have something important need to confirm with your company.

On the Jan.14, 2008, we received an application formally. One company named:Xianhou  Limited Company” wanted to register following Domain names:

merleedesigns.biz     merleedesigns.cc     merleedesigns.cn     merleedesigns.com.cn     merleedesigns.com.hk     merleedesigns.com.tw     merleedesigns.hk     merleedesigns.net     merleedesigns.net.cn     merleedesigns.org     merleedesigns.org.cn     merleedesigns.tw  

Internet brand keyword:

 merleedesigns

through our body.

After our initial examination, we found that the keywords and domain names applied for registration are as same as your company’s name and trademark. These days we are dealing with it. If you do not know this company, we doubt that they have other aims to buy these domain names. Now we have not finished the registration of  Xianhou company yet, in order to deal with this issue better, Please contact us by telephone or email as soon as possible.

Best Regards,

caril