Hobo SEO Blog

HTML is the ‘language’ that designers use to build websites. Valid HTML is code that validates to W3C guidelines, the organisation that develops good practices and standards for HTML. (more…)

We've recently updated our comments policy and increased the number of comments a visitor has to make to get seo friendly links in comment signatures to reward long term readers and make it a bit harder for dofollow spammers ;) - I told you dofollow spamming wasn't a long term strategy....

Unless you REALLY know what you are doing and why you are doing it…. Don’t Use Frames To Design Your Website.

If possible, avoid using frames. Some people have difficulty navigating within frames, either because the frames are confusing or because the software they are using simply cannot read frames. (more…)

Unless you know what you are doing…. Don’t Build Your Site With Flash.

Well not entirely in Flash, and especially not if you know very little about the ever improving accessibility of Flash. (more…)

Quite simply, the key that you as an author choose to activate a navigation option could very well conflict with keys that are already assigned by the disabled user’s assistive software.

Indeed, you may even conflict with Internet Explorer, and inadvertently bring up the program ‘Help’ menu if you assign the key ‘h’ to a navigational option. Many accessibility experts now advise against the use of access keys, and it is up to you to decide if they are suitable. (more…)

We are a seo company with a passion for accessible website design (and naturally search engine optimisation) but we think twice about including access keys to our website because of the issues surrounding them. We even removed them from our little superhero costumes test site recently.

The access key attribute, introduced in HTML4.0, is intended to provide keyboard shortcuts in that they provide an alternative form of navigation. This addition allows users with limited physical capabilities to navigate the organisation’s website more easily. (more…)

Web sites should be constructed using W3C technologies and guidelines. When this is not possible, or doing so results in material that does not transform gracefully, an alternative accessible version of the content should be provided. (more…)

In 2010, the best way is to build a dynamic website, for example using PHP, but if you are stuck with static html pages, consider using dreamweaver templates to manage your pages. (more…)

Keep Download Times Down to The Very Minimum

How fast should your website load? There is no best download time to try and reach – basically you need to try and download your page as fast as possible!

Some sites that require a lot of photography or virtual tours can be excused for slow download times and people will blame their network connection. Most sites however don’t have this luxury. (more…)

A key element of accessible website development is a clean, consistent navigation system coupled with a recognised, usable layout.

Don’t try and re-invent the wheel here. A clean, consistent navigation system and page layout allows users to instantly find important information and allows them to quickly find comfort in their new surroundings especially if the visitor is completely new to your website. (more…)

Many have written about the Three Click Rule. For instance, Jeffrey Zeldman, the influential web designer, wrote about the three click Rule in his popular book, Taking Your Talent to the Web. He writes that the three click Rule is “based on the way people use the Web” and “the rule can help you create sites with intuitive, logical hierarchical structures”. (more…)