Webtech Consulting

Sustainability Kit Website - Education for Sustainability

2011-08-28T17:03:00.000+10:00

After completing the Vocational Graduate Certificate for Education for Sustainability, I have create a website http://www.sustainabilitykit.net.au for teachers and trainers to embed sustainability into vocational courses. The activities in this website can be used to deliver sustainability workshops for accredited and non accredited training. The workshops that can be created out of this website content will give knowledge and skills to improve current workplace processes, procedures and technologies to have more sustainable outcomes.

Google+ New Social Networking

2011-07-27T17:53:00.000+10:00

Google+ is a new social networking service that's still in a "testing phase." Google are currently analysing, tweaking, adding and possibly removing features during the testing period.

Like Facebook, it's a place to socialize with friends. Like Twitter but unlike Facebook, Google+ makes it possible to follow people who don't follow you, which means you don't have to become fake friends with everyone. And like LinkedIn, it's possible to use Google+ to keep up with a professional network of colleagues and also use it as a social hangout for friends and family.

Google+ introduces "circles." You add friends and colleagues to one or more circles. If you don't put them in one of your circles they will only see what you post publicly.

Website Keywords

2011-07-10T18:16:00.000+10:00

How many words should you have on your homepage to optimise your search engine ranking?

It is a balance between good content that is easy to follow for visitors and multiple keywords that are there for the GoogleBot to find. A website home page needs to be easy for visitors to navigate through and keep them on your site, producing more sales or enquiries. The more words you have the more text there is for GoogleBot to find. I find a good default amount is at least 200 words. The more words there are will help the search engines but make sure your visitors do not get lost!

If your website needs a search engine boost contact us for a quote.

Excel 2010 Charting with Sparklines

2011-04-29T16:53:00.000+10:00

One of the new features in Excel 2010 is the ability to create a chart in one cell called Sparklines. They show how a range of data varies and can help people analyse their data and look at trends. Click on the Insert tab and in the Sparklines section choose Line. You will be asked to highlight your range of data and which cell you want the Sparkline chart to appear in.

Customising the Office 2010 Ribbon

2011-03-13T10:43:00.001+11:00

Office 2010 lets you customize the ribbon in all application including Word 2010, Powerpoint 2010, Excel 2010, etc

Within each Office 2010 application, you can create a custom Ribbon tab to keep all the features you use most right where you need them. Microsoft Office 2010 lets you group the commands you use most.

Open any Office 2010 application – Powerpoint 2010, Word 2010, Excel 2010 etc.
Click the File tab, and then click Options.
In the Options dialog box, click Customize Ribbon and then click New Tab near the bottom of the dialog box
In the Choose command from list, select your commands from the default list of Popular Commands, or use the down arrow to select from all commands. Choose the commands you use most, and add each to your new tab by clicking Add. Click Ok when finished

Excel VLOOKUP and #N/A

2010-12-29T14:07:00.003+11:00

#N/A errors in MS Excel using a VLOOKUP formula can be frustrating. It is actually Excel's way of telling you that the value you are searching for isn't in your table of values. To make it look more appealing use the VLOOKUP together with IFERROR function to return a result such as "Not found" or a blank value.

Excel Tips and Tricks

2010-12-02T14:26:00.004+11:00

Here are some cool Excel tips that will work in 2003, 2007 or the 2010 version of MS Excel;

Enter Today's Date
Click in the Excel formula bar of an empty cell and type Ctrl+; (semicolon) and it will insert the current date.

Debugging Excel Formulas
In the Excel formula bar highlight part of a formula and press the F9 key. Instead of seeing the calculation you will see the value. It will only evaluate the highlighted portion of the formula. To revert it back to the calculation press ESC.

Auto Filling Week Days
Start with a date typed into a cell. When going to auto fill for sequential dates do a right click mouse drag and when you release the mouse it will pop up a menu to change the date fill to WeekDays.

Troubleshooting Client Computers

2010-08-03T14:30:00.005+10:00

How I wish the saying "It works on my machine!" could be used as a valid excuse for technical problems that occur on different computers. You are never really sure how your website will appear everywhere which is why you need a comprehensive testing plan. I came across a cool tool that can help troubleshoot problems without leaving the office. Support details at http://www.supportdetails.com/ will let your clients email their computer configuration which should help narrow down technical problems.

If you need a quote on troubleshooting technical website problems contact us at http://www.webtechconsulting.com.au

Google Ranking and Site Speed

2010-05-23T16:31:00.003+10:00

Google have now released the information that web site speed is now a factor in your google ranking. To get some speed and performance measurements for your website go to www.webpagetest.org. It also lists some optimisation suggestions to improve your web site speed and google rank.

iPad Peek

2010-04-22T07:49:00.003+10:00

The iPad is becoming popular enough for website developers to include it as one of their testing platforms. iPad Peek is a nifty tool that lets you see how any website will be rendered on the iPad. You can switch from landscape to portrait mode but the virtual keyboard and the buttons are just for show. It is not identical to the “real” iPad experience as Flash works and it shouldn’t.

Search Engine Comparison

2010-03-13T18:57:00.002+11:00

Have you ever wanted to see how the major search engines compare when performing a search on the internet. Click here for a site that does a Blind Search Engine comparison http://www.blindsearch.fejus.com/

Unfortunately you cannot localise it for Australia but the resulting list will randomly vary and if you can analyse how your own website is ranking. Make sure you add a local Region/State/Town into your search. Once you vote the search engines will be revealed!!!!

The best URL for your website

2010-02-05T10:38:00.003+11:00

URL structure is an important SEO factor, so here are some useful guidelines to keep in mind when designing your website.

Homepage (www.mysite.com.au)
When choosing your domain name, try and include your primary keyword somewhere in the name.

Additional Pages (www.mysite.com.au/[keyword])
On additional pages use another major keyword as the directory and filename for this page.

About Us Page (www.example.com/about-[business name])
The about us page is a chance to make sure your website ranks strongly when customers search for your business name. Using the format /about-[businessname] with the business name in file name will help with this.

Following these guidelines is a good way to build your SEO browser ranking for your website.

Website Navigation

2010-01-12T18:03:00.002+11:00

Website Navigation is a very important part of designing your website. The aim is to give your customers and easy to follow consistent look and feel. When designing your navigation think about the following points.

1. Never let visitors lose your home page
2. If you have too many links consider drop down menus
3. Keep the links consistent on every page
4. Keep them clearly visible above the scroll line

Useful navigation will keep your customers happy and make it easier for them to find information in your website.

Windows 7

2009-11-08T18:36:00.004+11:00

This release of Windows 7 has not been plagued like Vista was. Below are some new improvements and reasons to upgrade.

1. Windows 7 has beter performance than Vista
2. Better search than Vista
3. Should have less compatibility problems with additional hardware and drivers
4. Improved User Account Control - can set it to not report as much as Vista does
5. WordPad and Paint using the "Ribbon" toolbars like Office 2007

Use the Upgrade Advisor to see if your pc has the minimum requirements to run Windows 7.

SEO

2009-10-06T08:17:00.002+11:00

Here are some simple Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) tricks you can try and use in your website
1. Try and use keyword rich url's and filenames
2. Use keywords in your title tag. This appears in the tab of the browser
3. Use heading tags h1, h2 and h3 with useful keywords
4. Write keyword rich content, but be careful not to make it a difficult reading experience for your visitor.

Shared Website Calendar

2009-09-16T17:11:00.001+10:00

Does your website need a shared calendar? Using google's free online calendar it is easy to track important events and have them imported into your website. Goto http://www.google.com/calendar to learn more. All you need is a google account!

Get in touch at www.webtechconsulting.com.au for more information.

Website Photos

2009-08-18T20:14:00.005+10:00

iStockPhotos is a collection of royalty-free photos that you can easily download for a small fee and incorporate in your website. The photos are provided by an international community of amateur and professional photographers. There are a great collection of images, audio and Flash animation to choose from. Check it out at http://www.istockphoto.com

Website Hosting

2009-08-01T13:32:00.002+10:00

How do you choose the right company for your website hosting? There are lots of differences in prices and services can vary widely. Below is some useful things to look for when deciding on who to choose for your website hosting

1. How much space do you get?
2. How much traffic do you get?
3. What services are included such as email addresses or e-commerce facilities
4. Is there a domain name included or a discount for bundling
5. Support - via telephone or email.

Use this checklist to compare various companies before deciding in what is best for you.

MS Word Keyboard Shortcuts

2009-07-20T09:33:00.000+10:00

Do you find that using the keyboard is sometimes quicker than using your mouse? Shortcut keys can help you bypass menus and carry out useful MS Word functions. Try some of these out to save yourself some time.

F4 or CTRL+Y	Repeat your last action
CTRL+F	Find and replace
CTRL+G	Go to page, section, line, etc.
CTRL+BACKSPACE	Delete a word
SHIFT+F3	Change case
CTRL+B	Bold
CTRL+I	Italic
CTRL+HOME	Go to the beginning of the document
CTRL+END	Go to the end of the document
CTRL+A	Select all
CTRL+Z	Undo
CTRL+S	Save
CTRL+C	Copy
CTRL+V	Paste
SHIFT+F7	Open the thesaurus

Bing Toolbox

2009-07-06T19:16:00.000+10:00

Microsoft recently launched a new search engine called Bing. Microsoft has launched a "toolbox" similar to Google's Webmaster Central that helps you analyse your website and links you to their website developer's community blogs and forums. Check out the toolbox at http://www.bing.com/toolbox. All you need is a windows live account to logon.

Website Testing

2009-06-28T14:52:00.000+10:00

Your website is finally live and you show all your friends, family and colleagues only to see it doesn't look right on somebody else's computer. There are many different browsers that people can use;

Internet Explorer
Google Chrome
Mozilla Firefox
Apple Safari
Opera

It is a good idea to download all browsers to your computer to make sure your website displays properly in each one. Another good tools is the IE Tester which will let you display your website in multiple version of Internet Explorer starting at Version 5.0. Download the IE Tester from http://www.my-debugbar.com/wiki/IETester/HomePage

Welcome to Webtech Consulting

2009-06-18T16:23:00.000+10:00

Webtech Consulting is a boutique IT company based on the Central Coast of NSW specialising in Computer Training and Website Design and Development.

Here in our blog we would like to share our tips and tricks with software and websites

Go to our website for more information http://www.webtechconsulting.com.au