If you want to beat the price increase, it is a good chance for you to consider renewing any domains now that will expire before the end of the year.

More importantly, if you have been considering purchasing a domain and starting a website, now may be just the right time. You can register your domain by first checking the availability of your domain.

This price increase done by Verisign is not the first and it’s not the last one that we are going to see. The cost of doing internet business will only continue to grow…

So how do you really select the best browser? This is probably a very personal decision but there are a few aspects that one should seriously consider. For example, the interface or look and feel, features, performance and security. In my opinion, security is the most important criteria since many want to infect your machine with their virus. For me it’s Firefox as the number one browser but you may not agree.

Here’s a nice, straightforward video that looks into some of the features of the most popular browsers: Firefox, IE, Chrome, Safari and Opera.

Let me tell you boldly: if you’re in business, you definitely need a website but it wouldn’t cost you the earth nor take up too much of your precious time!

Hopefully, this article will convince you to get your business online without spending a lot of money or time.

Domain name

A domain name is the address where your website will be found on the Internet. The best domain name is probably the one that uses your company’s name. So for example, if your company name is Smart Shirts Private Limited, you should consider the domain name smartshirts.com. However, this is not easy as you think since good names are hard to get! If the first option fails, look for something catchy or memorable that your customers can associate with. You may also want to read “how to select a good domain name.”

Reliable web hosting

Storing the files of your website on a server is referred as web hosting. Many in Sri Lanka offer you cheap web hosting. However, what you really need is reliable web hosting that will keep your website up and running, hassle free. Since there are different hosting packages, select the one that would suit your needs. For example, the amount of space, email accounts, the need for a control panel etc.

Planning

Planning is important. You should have an idea of what you want on your website and how it should look. The best place to start is to look at some of your competitor’s websites. Obviously, they have beaten you to it but there again, that gives you an opportunity to look at the shortcomings of their websites and create one better than theirs!

Static or dynamic website

Static websites are generally html pages that need to be updated by someone with a knowledge of website development. Static websites are the cheapest to develop and host, and many companies still use this mode to get a web presence. So for example, if you want a 5 to 10 website that does not require frequent updates, then go for a static website.

Dynamic sites on the other hand can be more expensive to develop initially, but the advantages are numerous. At a basic level, a dynamic website can give the website owner the ability to simply update and add new content as frequently as he or she likes. Some examples of dynamic website features could be: Content Management System (CMS), blogs, e-commerce system, bulletin boards etc.

Maintaining your site

Websites that are updated frequently are favoured by the search engines. If you have developed your site using a CMS this would not be a problem. If not, you can arrange for frequent updates through your web developer.

Here at Webvision, we can help you achieve the above. For more details and affordable rates, just contact us today!

So how do you add new content to your old website that was tenderly developed long years ago? The process could be a daunting task especially if you do not have direct access.

On the other hand, if you have been using a Content Management System (CMS), you will probably be aware that it can be an exciting way to carry on with ease the maintenance of your professional or personal website.

Let’s look at some of the popular open source CMS’s that are available out there.

WordPress is probably the most popular CMS for blogging, and probably the most popular CMS overall. It’s a great place for beginners and can be installed and used rather fast. The new version of WordPress is quite impressive with its cool feature that auto-updates the core and plugins from within the backend, without having to download a single file.

Familiarity with HTML is not required with WordPress. The WYSIWYG editor can get you on the blogging spree effortlessly. You can even upload your images and movies with ease and convey a professional article to all your readers. The only time you may need assistance is to customise your template and that’s when a professional can come in handy.

Drupal is another popular CMS that has a very large and active community. Instead of focusing on blogging as a platform, Drupal is more of a pure CMS. A plain installation comes with a host of optional modules that can add lots of amazing features like forums, user blogs, OpenID, profiles and more.

Drupal’s popularity is growing rapidly and is a winner of several Open Source CMS Awards.

Then there is Joomla which is also a very advanced CMS.  This CMS is very easy to use and comes with an excellent user interface. It is simple to add edit or delete image or context, catalogs, content, users, components and modules through its user friendly backend administration. Anybody without any technical knowledge can get the CMS implemented by a Joomla developer and can maintain the website independently.

Of recent, there has been much talk of MODx – the Open Source Content Management Framework (CMF). Interested? Go have a look at http://modxcms.com

In conclusion, once a website is created, it needs to be maintained…and maintaining a website is not an easy task. However a CMS makes your task easy. Even if you are a non-technical person, you need not to fret and can very easily maintain and supervise a CMS powered website.

So if you are planning on developing a website for your business or hobby, consider using a CMS. For more details, please contact us or drop an email at infoATwebvision.lk

Google’s engineer, Matt Cutts has invited us all to test it at http://www2.sandbox.google.com. You can test the old Google against the new for yourselves at http://www.comparecaffeine.com. The new architecture is said to include size, indexing, speed, accuracy and ranking changes and Google is asking searchers to give it a try it and report their feedback.

Matt said Google hasn’t made an update of this magnitude since 2006 and that it will make internet search much faster and more accurate than ever before. In other words, it’s a huge change for Google search!

Here’s an excerpt from the official blog post:

“It’s the first step in a process that will let us push the envelope on size, indexing speed, accuracy, comprehensiveness and other dimensions. The new infrastructure sits ‘under the hood’ of Google’s search engine, which means that most users won’t notice a difference in search results. But web developers and power searchers might notice a few differences.”

By the way, I tried the search phrase “search engine” on Caffeine and voila! Bing is listed before Google!!

Watch Matt Cutts on a video interview about the Caffeine update:

So is Caffeine really good for you? Have a sip and let me know…

“The Telecommunications Regulatory Commission has instructed Internet Service Providers in Sri Lanka to filter/block porn and obscene web sites.”

The full article can be read from the Official Government News Portal of Sri Lanka, titled: “Govt. Regulatory Body Act Against Porn Websites”

This is, without doubt, a huge achievement for Sri Lanka and we extend our congratulations to the Government of Sri Lanka and the Colombo Chief Magistrate for his directives.

Research suggests that there are many reasons marriages break up, but a new, and increasingly common, is due to Internet pornography. Unlike a few years back, porn is so easy to watch at home or at work and many men are spending time and energy on it. The filth escalates and many suffer the consequences.

Online filtering tools have been around for some time now. When one searches for undesired keywords or when a URL is typed at the address bar and once the content of the requested web site passes through the required search algorithm, it gets blocked by the service provider.

Although such a system is not absolutely fool-proof, it is definitely a good start. Let’s face it though, no automated tool can beat the requirement of checking out ones self and keeping ones mind filtered!

Microsoft’s new search engine, or “decision engine” Bing is probably the first competitor to Google. What’s more, research even suggests that Bing has gained a tiny increase in market share in the search engine war.

Without doubt, there are some cool features in Bing that would attract even some of the ardent Googlers of this earth. At first glance, the results page looks similar to Google but the similarity ends there.

In fact, the results look nicer than Google, especially the image search (multi-size thumbnails and grids, different choices of detail, filters by image size, colors, etc). I just love how sounds and videos are embedded into search results and how there’s a mouse-over for a small preview. Then there is this nice hovering feature at the right edge of a search result where more information is displayed without having to click through to the page.

I also love the colourful front cover photo that changes each day and how you can float over it to find more information.

Bing has now released a mobile version that generally works as well as on the desktop. In addition, Bing would begin including the latest output of popular Twitter users in its search results as well.

It may be too early to say who is superior but the results that come back are sometimes highly relevant and more on target but sometimes not.

I have made the switch to Bing, at least for now. But I know, not many would move with me, especially if one is hooked to Google… Oh how we hate Change!

Firstly, we are very thankful to God for his guidance throughout these seven years. Webvision started small, still remains small and are truly confident that “small IS beautiful”. We also express our sincere gratitude to all our customers from near and far for having patronised our business. We trust we would be of service to you in the coming years and continue to innovate in order to meet your website requirements.

A special thanks to those of you who obliged us with some superb testimonials. This is truly encouraging and would certainly portray a positive image to our business.

To those of you who have never visited our website, there are many firsts in this revamped version. To start with, we have moved our website URL from webvision-lk.com to webvision.lk. Then we have this blog! When one cannot write eloquently, starting a blog may sound ludicrous! Hey, but com’on, I can’t be that bad and come what may, I plan on knocking my keyboard!

From a design angle, we have introduced silhouettes on our header and footer. This has added an element of simplicity and the local flavour provides a Sri Lankan identity. We have also embedded an introductory video clip and included a search bar for easy navigation.

The video, I think, is a timely addition since more and more websites are using this media to convey powerful messages to their target audience. I would have preferred a pretty damsel for the introduction but being stranded in the “outback”, we found this a difficult task!! Now having said that, if you think you can do a better job than our introductory/amateur video, please feel free to contact us. We would definitely look forward to hearing from you and would reward you for your efforts!

There are many Sri Lankans who prefer the Sinhala or Tamil language as a mode of communication. This fact has been further strengthened by the numerous mails that we have received from potential clients. As a result, we have made a start to penetrate this segment by introducing the Sinhala and Tamil Unicode. This means that customers are no longer restricted to the English language to get our message but can also write to us in either Sinhala or Tamil as well. Our online forms are also Unicode friendly and anyone can submit their preferred language effortlessly.

So let me close my first-ever blog post with an incentive… If you are new to this site and are interested in web design or web hosting, then use the promo code Seven7 and receive a 20% discount on your introductory bill!