How to tune up XP broadband downloads.

June 9th, 2009

If you asked most people what they would most like to improve with regards to their broadband, we here at web design suffolk bet most people would go for faster downloads.  Amazingly though, with just a couple of of tweaks, most people can get a real speed boost that they would instantly benefit from.

TCP optimizer is a utility that edits network settings in the Windows XP registry. The most important tweak that it does is to the TCP receive window size. This is the actual amount of data the computer can receive from the intranet in one chunk, so increasing the value can improve the download speeds of even web design suffolk - give it a try, what have you got to lose. It also makes changes to Internet explorer too.  Don’t use TCP Optimiser on Windows Vista though, it wont work and and its not needed as Vista adjusts the values automatically.

Customise your IE Browser

April 23rd, 2009

it has to be said that Microsoft’s Intrenet Explorer is probably the least customizable out of the big three browsers, with the other two being Safari and Firefox.  The reason for this is because it is so tightly integrated into Windows, so web design suffolk discovered that is it nearly impossible to skin it. That said though, if you bother to delve a bit deeper, you will find that there is still a lot you can do to make it customizable. First if you change the look of Windows you will discover that this will change the look of Internet Explorer, but some people may want to go deeper.

If you use a theme package such as Window-blinds, this will really help you get something together with IE, but you might also want to consider installing IEPro, which web design suffolk discovered lets you bring a whole new range of features to IE7 such as mouse gestures for easy navigation and support for Firefox scripts that provide extra functionality and enhanced tabbed browsing capabilities. At the end of the day, you have to find the right tools to do the right changes, but you must always bear in mind that you are customizing to make your life easier - if it doesn’t then why bother?

What are RSS feeds?

March 30th, 2009

The incredible rise of RSS feeds online has been a wonder to behold, but a lot of users still do not actually know what they are.  RSS allows you to view feeds or news-feeds from blogs and other similar sites. Each feed consists of headlines and summaries of new or updated articles . RSS simply stands for ‘Really Simple Syndication’  and in simple terms - it has revolutionized the way web design suffolk customers view their web content on a daily basis.

When a person sees something they might like, they can click on the RSS headlines to view the full story./article One of the main bonuses of RSS is that it saves you regularly visiting your favourite sites to check out what is new. The real bonus with RSS as far as web design suffolk is concerned though is that you can use an aggregater, to combine lots of feeds from your favourite sites, which in effect is almost like having your own personalized favourite magazine online edited just for your own personal interests.

Just what exactly is a blog?

March 16th, 2009

A blog, or weblog, if you want to use it original name that was given to it way back in the day, is a unique kind of frequently updated web-pages (just like this one), consisting of usually short posts arranged with the most recent at the top. Where web design suffolk come into it, is that they have to build lots of them as they are very popular, even on corporate business sites, where they are used as a way of getting a message across in an informal way. Many major sites now feature blogs, sometimes written by a large team of people and sometimes just written by one individual voice.

Many of the most interesting and successful blogs that web design suffolk has been involved in over the years has been either journalistic or political in  nature, with up to the minute news delivered with a fresh angle. It is the immediacy of the Blog that makes it such an attractive and powerful force on the web and it is surely going to be around for a long time to come.

Forgot to bookmark a site?

February 9th, 2009

Whether you know it or not, whenever you visit a site, your browser stores its name and address in a list called the ‘History’. This is very handy if you want to return to a page that you’ve recently visited but you can’t remember the address and didn’t create a bookmark. Web Design Suffolk uses this function all the time, all you have to do is click the History button on your browser and view all of the sites listed on the menu.

With your History, web design suffolk has found that Firefox and Internet Explorer give you various options with regards to your History button. You can sort your History by date, name, or order of visit. You can also search through the contents of the pages listed. The browsers also allow you to choose how long a History you want your browser to record. A long History can be very useful, but it can also cause problesm and slow things down - especially if you are online a lot. To edit your History, go to Options in the Toole menu.

What are Active x Controls

January 22nd, 2009

We get asked lots and lots of questions here are web design suffolk towers about the internet and how it all works and a frequent question in out in-try is always what is Active X control and do I need it.

Active X Controls are kind of similar to plug-ins, but their scope is actually far wider.  When you land on a site hopefully built by web design suffolk, it might rely on an active x control. It will then check to see if you actually have it,  and if not, it will usually install it for you automatically after you approve the publishers certificate. As a rule, don’t approve a publisher unless you thin they are completely reputable.

What is Wi-Fi and Bluetooth?

January 16th, 2009

Wi-Fi, or if you are a geek, IEEE 802. 11X, is a set of wireless standards that allow computers and PDA’s to communicate using radio waves. Web Design Suffolk has seen it become very prominent in all laptops that are sold today, with 99% of them now having w-fi as standard. Wi-Fi works through walls and other obstacles with a range of up to a few hundred feet or more.Its nowhere near as fast as a wired network, but it is more than fast enough to deliver a solid internet connection.

Bluetooth is another wireless standard that is slower then wi-fi. and has a shorter range. It’s popularity is due to the fact that it is very easy to use with multiple devices, with mobile phones being the most commonly used. In terms of internet use, web design suffolk feels that it can still be useful for connecting a laptop to a phone to get online when you are out and about.

Are the Internet and the Web the same thing?

January 12th, 2009

The above question seems fairly straightforward, surely the internet and the web are the same thing - well actually they are not and the people at web design suffolk feel it is important to get the basics right in your online knowledge before you move forward.

So firstly, don’t be worried if you didn’t know the difference between the two, most so called web experts don’t seem to know either and Web Design Suffolk have only really discovered in the last couple of years as it became clear that a lot of people were getting confused.

The Web, or the World Wide Web, is the main face of the internet, taking the shape of billions of websites, with each comprising of one or more web-pages, with the best ones built by web design Suffolk. But the Internet is a much bigger, much older beast than the Web. Roughly speaking, anything you do online hat doesn’t involve websites, is part of the Internet (net). This includes stuff such as email, Video conferencing and file-sharing - so now you know.

What’s in a domain name?

November 5th, 2008

One of the most common things that people ask when starting a new website is how important is my domain name? Well, according to web design Suffolk, it is very important - A domain name should tell the world who you are and what you are about - ideally - but, that is not the whole story. Most names such as plumbers.com and alarmsrus.com are now gone, so you have to be a bit more creative about your choices and think of other ways of communicating who you are, by perhaps adding a trusty ‘-’ in the title or adding a regional name, such as plumberslondon.com.

Of course most of the big companies on the net don’t need a name at all, think of Amazon and E-Bay and you know instantly what they represent, but that is only after years of trading on-line under those names, if they started up tomorrow under those names, they would struggle without a huge marketing campaign behind the name. Ideally, you should take web design Suffolk’s advice and try to add some form of business connection in your domain name - its not crucial to your on-line success, but it certainly wont harm your efforts either.

Don’t waffle on-line and give information in small chunks

October 14th, 2008

A lot of web content writers think that it is a good idea to waffle and write lines and lines of text that can actually be condensed into one sentence. It is very important to heed the advice of web design suffolk and not waste peoples time with too much text. In this day an age, people are used to getting their information in short, succinct bursts, so remember this when you are online.

It is also important to have a CMS system built by web design suffolk that will allow you to break up your text with pictures and allow you to display the text in different layouts other than just way. This way people can digest your writing in new and refreshing ways and not get bogged down or bored with one long list of text.