What is it – Tech Warrior

What is a domain?

Judson Dawtrey — Thu, 03 Dec 2020 00:30:00 +0000

Every website has a domain name. This is because a domain name is the address of your website. It is what people will type into the URL when searching for your website.

Why the need to have domain names?

A domain name is needed because the Internet is basically a giant network of computers which are all connected and communicate to each other through network cables which span across the whole globe. Due to the vast number of computers that are connected and are communicating with each other, they need to be able to identify each other. This is done via an IP address which is assigned to each computer.

IP addresses are basically a series of numbers which allow other computers on a network to identify each other. These IP addresses could look as follows: 67.233.88.2 or 55.298.76.4 etc. Now if you are quite an advanced Mathematician, it could be quite simple to remember these numbers, however, if you’re like me who struggles to do maths without using my fingers, it can be quite a task to remember numbers such as those previously mentioned.

Domain names were created to help make remembering an IP address a whole lot easier. Now to visit a website you only need to remember the domain name of a website, ie "takealot.co.za" or "breadfactory.com" etc. This makes finding a website a whole lot more attainable rather than having to type in a set of numbers that you’ve most likely forgotten the moment you’ve started typing it into the URL.

Purchasing domain names carefully is a very important aspect of owning a website. Having a website is an important part of running a business. Make sure you are the rightful registered owner of your domain name.

Registering domain names

Registering domain names is also quite a simple task, if the domain is available, that is. If the domain name has already been used, it is still possible to use it, however, you will have to go through a potentially arduous process in order to obtain this domain name. This could involve having to find the owner of the domain name and ask if they are willing to sell it to you. Depending on how in demand the name is or how badly you want it, will affect the price of it.

Domain names are an extremely important aspect when having a website designed. Think of it as online real estate. Your architect has plans ready to build the house, but you need a place to put that house. This is your domain name. For more information on registering domain names and the importance of it, check out our article on registering domain names.

An entrepreneur tends to bite off a little more than he can chew hoping he’ll quickly learn how to chew it.
—Roy Ash

Are website cookies dangerous?

Matthew Green — Tue, 01 Dec 2020 00:30:00 +0000

What is a cookie?

Simply put, a cookie is a small piece of data in the form of a text file sent from the website you are visiting to your browser (Chrome, Safari, Firefox et al.) The process of saving this text file is referred to as setting a cookie.

It’s more interesting to explore the reason behind why the website wants to save this small file onto your computer. Let's say you are logged in to a website like Facebook. To save you the hassle of having to login each time you visit facebook, a cookie is set. You could be shopping for the latest special - Black Friday anyone? - and get interrupted. A cookie is used to remember what you have looked at and what is in your online trolley or cart. Currently it’s vogue to have a dark theme option on some websites. In order to remember whether you prefer light or dark, you guessed it, a cookie is set.

History of cookies

In June 1994, Louis Montulli invented the concept of the http cookie (to give it its full name) whilst working at Netscape. The original intention for the cookie was mostly benign. It was designed to store the state of someone’s shopping experience so they could pick up from where they left off.

Types of internet cookies

As the Web evolved and grew, third-party cookies evolved and became more wide-spread in their use. These are set by websites other than the one you are visiting. They can show up in banner ads. Some third-party cookies are useful such as one YouTube might set in order to show a video embedded into a webpage that you're visiting.

Advertisers wanted a way to track what people did across different websites so they could better target their advertising efforts and cookie abuse was born and with it concerns around privacy. Advertisers started setting cookies from different sites to track user habits, browsing behaviour and purchasing preferences.

Cookies should be deleted by your browser when you close it. These are known as session cookies. There are also cookies that stick around forever, although the law in some places stipulates for how long. These are known as persistent cookies.

What’s in a cookie?

As mentioned above, a cookie is a small text file and it usually contains the name of the website from where it comes as well as how long it must live and some other information relevant to the website. According to Google, it uses cookies to remember safe search preferences, to make the ads you see more relevant to you, to help you sign up for things like Gmail, to protect your data or to remember your ad settings.

The truth of the matter is that you always know the right thing to do. The hard part is doing it.
—Robert H. Schuller

Why do websites have cookie warnings?

In early 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation went into effect. A broad effort by the European Union to regulate and offer protection on how people’s data is collected and used. In order to be compliant with GDPR, websites have to explicitly say what cookies they are setting, what information they are collecting and offer the opportunity to not have them set.

Should I accept cookies?

Although the cookie popups can be annoying, we advise that it’s better to accept them. Blocking cookies can cause the website to break and not work the way it is intended. The next statement is a bit controversial but we believe, given the widespread abuse of tracking cookies, that it is far more practical and useful to install add-ons or extensions to your browser that block things like the advertising and tracking cookies.

Cookies started out with good intentions and can be used for practical purposes that ensure a pleasant web surfing and browsing experience. However, like many things, they have been twisted and can be used for dubious purposes. You could say cookies are both good for you and bad for you. So it’s best to practice savvy browsing by installing add-ons or extensions that can limit the potential for cookie abuse and keep your web habits private, where they belong.

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What is SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)?

Judson Dawtrey — Fri, 27 Nov 2020 00:30:00 +0000

SEO explained

SEO or “Search Engine Optimisation” involves the processes used to increase the amount of quality unpaid traffic to your website through search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing, et al. SEO is important if you want your website to succeed. If nobody is viewing your website, then people won’t see what your business provides and therefore you won’t get the sales and customers you deserve. SEO helps rectify this by helping Google, or whichever search engine is being used, to rank your website higher on searches so that your business pops up more frequently when people are searching for specific information or solutions to their problems.

Why is it important?

Search engines use clever apps or programs called bots which gather information about specific pages. These bots, also known as internet bots or web robots, are automated software applications that are linked to the search engine in question and they traverse the internet to gather information about websites. This information is analyzed by specific algorithms, another part of the search engine. These algorithms focus on special ranking factors and signals which work out and determine the context and relevance of order certain pages so the best ones show up in search results. Content quality and keywords are important factors for content optimisation. Crawlability is a search engine's ability to access and crawl content on a website. A website’s crawlability, content quality and mobile friendliness are all important so that search engines can provide people with the best user experience when searching for specific information.

I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.
—Thomas Edison

Other ways to enhance SEO

Other important SEO actions include pagespeed, which is explained in the name. The speed at which your website loads is very important in SEO as it deals with user satisfaction. Search engines, specifically Google rate this very highly. If your website does not load fast enough, your customers will most likely leave and try another website which can have a negative impact on your website’s traffic.

There is also search intent which involves website owners pasting a topic into a keyword research tool to help find certain keywords and phrases that people search for often. These keywords and phrases can then be included in the website content. It is very important when doing this is to ensure the overall page content aligns with the search intent of the keyword or phrase.

There are other ways to enhance SEO for your website, however those mentioned stand out the most when it comes to Google’s ranking system. Not having SEO is not the end of the world, however, it will result in a lot less traffic moving through your website and your main aim for a website is to elevate your professionalism and get as much business as possible.

What is a WordPress theme?

Tristan Green — Fri, 06 Nov 2020 00:30:00 +0000

What is WordPress?

Firstly let’s clear up any confusion about what WordPress is. Simply put, WordPress allows anyone, individuals and organisations, to build websites and blogs. In more technical terms, WordPress is a free content management system (CMS) that is open to the public. It utilises features such as plugins and themes. It is also the most widely used tool for building websites in the world.

Quality means doing it right when no one is looking.
—Henry Ford

How does a WordPress theme work?

The term ‘theme’ is used as an umbrella concept that includes things like page layout templates and stylesheets for colours and headings. A host of profession-specific themes such as a photography theme for wedding photographers or a restaurant theme for a pizza joint or coffee shop are available. General use themes which can be implemented for a variety of websites are also available. These themes can be further adjusted and tweaked through the use of plugins.

A template in WordPress forms a foundation or skeleton for content to be added to, modified and removed. Content can include images, text and videos.

Stylesheets in web development dictate how and where content is displayed. I always remember this as a rulebook which tells your browser, Google Chrome, Opera, FireFox or Microsoft Edge, how the content of a website needs to be displayed. It is the instruction for the browser that the font on a website is a specific size, an image is displayed at that particular place, etc. This is arguably one of the most important aspects of a WordPress theme.

How much does a WordPress theme cost?

Some WordPress themes are free. WordPress comes with a few bundled in to give you a start when building a website. These themes can be limited in their functionality, power and overall ease of use but they give bloggers and small businesses an opportunity to have an online presence with minimal effort.

Of course there is also the option of buying a theme. Usually paid for themes are more versatile and flexible. They offer so much more in terms of how sleek a website can look, how much more control you have in terms of page design and some of the time, you can design your own page layout templates to use across your website.

What is a WordPress plugin?

Plugins are free or paid for extras you can add to your website or blog. They are generally quite niche and often offer something specific to the website. An example of this can be a popup for a competition that gets displayed when someone visits your site; a gallery to showcase beautiful artwork and images; or a plugin to make your website more secure and less likely to be hacked or broken into. You can get more powerful plugins that monitor how many people visit your site and how much time they’ve spent on different pages as well.

Plugins aren’t always necessary as many themes have features built in that plugins offer, making sure there are ‘less cogs that need oiling’. Plugins can be a weak spot for hackers to target so only having necessary ones is a more prudent approach.

As with anything, if you have the budget and spend some cash, you can get your hands on some pretty powerful themes and plugins ultimately making your WordPress themed website more and more standalone and a cut above the rest. If you don’t have the funds available it’s okay, the free themes are more than capable of delivering a great looking website.

What is it – Tech Warrior

What is a domain?

Why the need to have domain names?

Registering domain names

Further reading

Are website cookies dangerous?

What is a cookie?

History of cookies

Types of internet cookies

What’s in a cookie?

Why do websites have cookie warnings?

Should I accept cookies?

What is SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)?

SEO explained

Why is it important?

Other ways to enhance SEO

Further reading

What is a WordPress theme?

What is WordPress?

How does a WordPress theme work?

How much does a WordPress theme cost?

What is a WordPress plugin?

Further reading