webqem blog

Understanding what you want to achieve from a website is critical, and it’s one of the key pieces of information that we ask our clients to define in our very first meeting. It’s fundamental to a project’s success for all stakeholders in the project to agree on what is to be achieved before the project starts. Do you want to increase traffic or sales? Or do you want to convey a clear message?  The answers to these questions will inform the solutions suggested for the website, and the best way to communicate with your target audience.

Have a look at this article on smh.com.au that covers this from a small business perspective, and discusses the importance of being clear about what you want to achieve, so that you can communicate clearly with your target audience.

What is IPv4?

IPv4 stands for Internet Protocol version 4. This is essentially a number similar to 192.0.2.235 used to identify individual nodes (such as servers or mobile devices) within the Internet.

What is IPv4 depletion?

IPv4 depletion is a result of all IPv4 addresses being allocated. Currently this only means that those addresses have been allocated to regional bodies for further distribution. Many companies have a large unused allocation still available, webqem are among those companies. We are not close to running out of IPv4 addresses.

When IPv4 was deployed as a standard 2³² (roughly 4.3 billion) addresses were allocated. This was deemed to be more than enough for the users of the Internet at this time (mostly military or university).

With the proliferation of the Internet in the late 80′s concern began to grow that these addresses would begin to run out.

The future. IPv6

There was nothing unexpected about the depletion of the IPv4 address range. The Internet community have been planning for this for quite some time.
While we are OK for now it always pays to prepare for the future and in 1998 a new protocol was finalised; IPv6.   This protocol takes into account the massive growth of the Internet allowing for 2¹²⁸ addresses which is 3.4×10³⁸ or 340 undecillion addresses.
As the IPv4 addresses are used up more and more hosts, providers, manufacturers and ISP’s will move to this new protocol.

How will this affect you?

The short answer for the vast majority of Internet users is “not at all”. The good news is most computers and mobile phones already support IPv6 and have done for a number of years. It’s been a part of windows XP since 2003 ? The bad news, most home networking products like wireless routers and ADSL modems do not support IPv6.  It will also mean you will be forced to upgrade from Internet Explorer 6 but that can’t be a bad thing can it?

Will internet addresses look any different ?

No, sites will still have the same type of address styles ie. www.yourdomainname.com.au

Do I need to re-register my existing website address or will it stop working?

No. Internet address registrars will convert your website to run an IPv4 and IPv6 number in parallel probably sometime after 2012 but it could be even further away given the first global test of IPv6 by Google, yahoo and Microsoft is scheduled for June 2011.

So how do I  register a website on this new address space?

Simply contact your DNS provider when they become available.

Larger organisations should have a plan for moving to IPv6 if they don’t already have one, many ISP’s can help with the transition process providing IPV4-IPv6 transition packages.

For more information on IPv4 depletion see this Wikipedia Article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPv4_address_exhaustion

Google Analytics has been the preferred web analytics tool for webqem ever since Google made the rebranded solution available in 2005. All new sites we develop use Google Analytics as a matter of course, providing an enterprise-class analytics solution to clients and developers.

Access

A Google Account is required to access your Analytics reports. However any email address can be turned into a Google Account simply by going to google.com and clicking on the “Sign in” link on the top right-hand corner of the screen. On the next screen click on “Create an account now”, and then fill in the details on the next page, including the email address you wish to use and the password you would like to use when accessing Google Account features. Google will then send an email to your usual email inbox for you to confirm creation of the Google Account.

Access to Google Analytics is from the URL http://www.google.com/analytics/. Click the big blue button “Access Analytics”, and enter your email address and Google Account password.

If you cannot see any Analytics accounts listed in the dropdown box at the top right of the screen, then your email address may not yet have been granted access to the Analytics Account for your website. webqem can easily add access for your chosen email address to the Analytics Account.

There are two levels of access available for Analytics Accounts:
1. Read-only access
2. Administrator access

Administrator access is required to add other users, to edit settings, to define conversion goals, and to add any filters.  Read Access allows viewing of all reports.

Profiles

webqem prefers to use multiple profiles, for each website using Google Analytics.
1. A “raw” profile, without any filters or goals, reporting the data exactly as provided by Google.
2. Additional profiles, with goals or filters.

Filters

Filters are most useful when a website includes multiple subdomains, or when rewriting of URLS is required, to simplify reporting. For example if you have multiple sites, such as blog.yourdomain.com, yourdomain.com and shop.yourdomain.com, by default Google does not include the full URL in reports, and the index.cfm page on each site would be hard to distinguish in Analytics Content reports, unless filters are used to include the full address in reporting.

Filters are also useful for excluding traffic from particular IP addresses, such as your office, or test locations.

Goals

Conversion Goals should also be defined for each site, to measure the success of each component of the site, and different traffic sources. Measuring goals also allows use of Google’s AdWords Conversion Optimiser.

Events

Interaction with specific components of a page can be measured by placing additional tracking code on page components. This may include tracking controls and buttons in Flash movies, tracking downloads, or tracking specific links on a page, using Google Analytics Event Tracking.

AdWords

If you have an AdWords account, it is recommended to add the AdWords data to your Analytics Account.  Access is granted through the AdWords account. Additional information is available through Analytics that can enhance your understanding of AdWords performance.

URL parameters

Many content management systems append parameters to the URL, for example when paging through search data, or when cacheing information. These parameters can be stripped from URLs for reporting purposes.

If your site has an internal search function, identifiable by a parameter, for example yourdomain.com/search=keyword1, additional reporting is available within Analytics on the search keywords.

An excellent introduction to Analytics is available at http://www.google.com/analytics/ as the Product Tour.

For more detailed information, the official YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/googleanalytics?hl=en provides many hours of training on advanced features.

With the release of a major update to Connect 7.5, Guillaume Privat from Adobe, has posted a helpful tutorial to Connect Users website about some of the new features.  In this presentation, Guillaume introduces administrators to Secure Desktop Sharing – the new feature in Connect Pro 7.5 that enables organisations to create white lists of applications that can be shared using screen sharing.

The presentation was made using Adobe Presenter, so all you need is an internet browser with Flash installed. The tutorial available online.

We have some great eSeminars in October for beginner designers. Software that will be covered during these eSeminars include: Dreamweaver, Flash and Illustrator. We encourage you to register for these free eSeminars, even if your skill level is beyond a beginner, it is always useful to get back to basics. Check out the topics that will be covered.

October eSeminars Design for Beginners topics:

• Getting started with CSS 1st Oct

• How to create tabbed menus and AJAX controls in Dreamweaver 8th Oct

• Flash for Beginners 22nd Oct

• Getting started with Illustrator 29th Oct

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Adobe provides a great online resource that is Adobe TV. This website has come back better than ever with its recent relaunch. Launched at the end of  August, the redesigned Adobe TV is now faster and features customization, improved navigation, sharing options, and a more accurate search.

You can watch a full range of programs, from entertainment to instruction to tips & tricks, with videos covering almost every piece of Adobe software – from the Creative Suites, to ColdFusion and Flex, to Photoshop & InDesign. So whether you are a beginner, intermediate or advanced user, Adobe TV has a video that will cater for your needs. You can check out Adobe TV online, you will be pleasantly surprised at the number of great videos available.

There are some useful eSeminars coming up for users of Adobe’s video software: CS4 Production Premium, Encore, Premiere Pro, Photoshop or After Effects. A variety of topics are offered to suit user’s ability, whether beginner, intermediate or advanced – there is an eSeminar for you. Have a look at the topics listed below, find one that tickles your fancy, then go to the registration page & secure your free spot in the eSeminar.

September eSeminar Video topics:

• RED Camera workflow with CS4 Production Premium. 4th Sept.

• Encore – Authoring to BluRay and Flash using custom designed templates. 11th Sept.

• Using video with Photoshop CS4. 18th Sept.

• Audio tool for video production – including speech to text workflow. 25th Sept.

For all the photographers out there, there are some great eSeminars coming up for September.There are a wide range of topics for the beginners and the advanced. All of Adobe’s photography software are covered: Photoshop, Lightroom & Photoshop Elements. Best of all they’re free! All you need to do is register. If you still need more training, there is always webqem‘s Photoshop training course.

Septemeber eSeminar Photography topics:

• Introducing LightRoom & ‘The Five Rules’. 7th Sept
• Lightroom’s Powerful Digital Asset Management Features. 14 Sept
• Fast Raw Workflow Techniques – PART 2. 21st Sept
• Professional photo galleries with Photoshop, Lightroom and Photoshop Elements. 28th Sept

The Adobe Flex 4 framework is currently in a Public Beta stage and is a fairly significant reworking of how a lot of the layout / component bits work. The August 2009 issue of the Adobe Edge newsletter features a great article summarising the custom component changes and is worth a read if you want to develop your understanding of what’s new.