Lately there has been a lot of buzz with regards to Flash on the web. Apple is insistent about not allowing flash to run on it's iPad, iPhone or iPod devices and with good reasons. Flash Security issues and vulnerabilities, performance, and battery life are a few of the main reasons. That being said, I still think flash has its place, but if they don't do something to revamp the underlying flash core, they're going to be left behind.

Out of all of this comes some good news. Mozilla, Apple, Opera, and Google have been diligently working hard to implement the HTML5 standards into their web browsers. HTML5 is the next generation markup language for the web. With the new standard comes new structured layouts, and tags that will help make Rich Interactive Applications less restrictive. Some of the features that have been added are a Canvas, Audio and Video tags, inline SVG, advanced form fields, drag and drop support, offline caching mode, and even local storage. This will give the designers more flexibility to make their designs prettier, and add a whole new layer of functionality.

Being a programmer, I'm excited about the local storage, page caching, SVG support, and all the other stuff that nobody will every really notice, but the push behind HTML5 right now is for the canvas support. The canvas allows dynamic graphics, graphs, grids, images, whatever you want to be drawn in realtime to the page. For the average person that wouldn't seem very exciting, but if you think in relation to how flash changed the face of website design back in 1999, you'll get an idea of the possiblities of this new technology.

There are people out there already creating games, drawing utilities, and other RIA using the canvas. Click here for some demos on how the canvas is being used, but note that you must be running an up-to-date browser that is not Internet Explorer.

Other features of interest include:

• Audio and Video tags. New browsers will be supporting internal video players so that there will be no need for extra browser plugins and will allow a seemless experience for all users no matter which operating system and web browser they use.
• Advanced form fields. Changing the way our web forms look and the limited input types that we've been stuck with since the early days of the world wide web, HTML5 attempts to make things easier with new slider controls, spinboxes and date pickers.
• Offline Caching. Technically, if used correctly, web applications can be cached by the browser. If you don't have internet access, and you need to use a custom built web app, it will still be accessible, and usable until you are able to go back online.
• Local Storage. This can work with offline caching, where you will be able to store data locally using the browsers default storage mechanism. Mozilla and Safari use SQLite to store information into a local sql database, but the web developer has the option of selecting how they want to store the data; either in a SQL DB format, or as local session variables.

Here is a nicely laid out image of the browser support for HTML5.

With HTML5 on the horizon, and a lot of people bashing Adobe about their inability to produce a streamlined, mobile version of their flash product, it will be an interesting time for web designers and multimedia developers everywhere.

The Great Black Turtleneck has spoken, and he has decreed Adobe Flash to be a thing of the past. Now, it seems, despite many hopes to the contrary, Flash will never be supported on the iPhone or the iPad. But is Steve Jobs right? Is Flash obsolete? Is it a thing of the past to be cast aside, like VRML or Vanilla Ice? I don't think Flash is going anywhere, at least any time soon. There are many great articles out there that go into greater detail for the more tech-savvy, but here's a basic rundown, for designers and business owners considering using flash, of why I think Flash is still worthwhile.

1. Compatibility

Jobs talks a lot about HTML5 - the next major revision of the language of the World Wide Web. HTML5 will have a lot of cool features including a canvas element, timed media playback, offline storage, document editing, drag and drop capability, and exciting font handling, so there is a lot to get excited about. The only problem is browser compatibility. The HTML5 VIDEO tag is a great example: Safari and Chrome both support it, Firefox supports the tag but doesn't support decoding currently used by YouTube and Vimeo, and Internet Explorer doesn't support it at all without a plugin. A flash video, however, works in all browsers just fine. Designers and programmers the world over have been cursing Microsoft and their terrible internet browser for years as being a main reason for holding back web development, and I suspect IE will continue to disappoint us. With about a third of people still using some version of Internet Explorer, it's best to use a format most of us can enjoy.

2. Animation and Interactivity

While its true that HTML5 will have some 2D animation capability, and that many cool little interactive animations can be made with some advanced Javascript, they pale in comparison to what can be achieved in Flash. It's a great way to draw attention, and animated, interactive ads are a staple on most news and blog sites, often popping up and overlaying content, and even syncing with other ads on the screen (ironically, like this Apple ad). These aren't going away any time soon. Flash can also add extra impact and interactivity to your web design in ways HTML5 and Javascript simply can't. I think it will continue to be an effective tool to get your message across to the user. But what about if my user's on an iPhone or iPad, you ask? No problem. A good web designer should embed the Flash in such a way that if it can't be displayed for whatever reason, it's replaced with static content that will display properly in all browsers. It might also be a good idea to consider a second design tailored to mobile browsers, that will let your user access the data they need with ease while using very little bandwidth.

3. User Experience
There's a reason Flash is used on nearly every single movie website: it creates an unparalleled user experience. A well-built flash site or element mixes together video, audio, and interactivity in ways no one else can, and I think that's the biggest difference between home and mobile browsing. Mobile browsing on tools like the Blackberry, iPhone, and iPad, with their relatively small screens, low computing power and poor audio capabilities, will continue to be for finding information quickly and conveniently. Home computers, with their large, vivid screens, surround sound speakers, subwoofers, and DVD players have become media centers. They are, and will continue to be the place the majority of people will do their browsing, at least in the next several years. These computers are the perfect place to experience the best that the web has to offer, including in-depth, interactive Flash work. Here are just a few examples to show you what I mean - just don't try to view them on an iPad. =)

(Note that these are cutting-edge sites and may take a moment to load.)

We Choose the Moon - http://www.wechoosethemoon.org/
NASA's real-time recreation of the historic Apollo 11 mission

Verbatim Monster Championship - http://www.verbatim.jp/senshuken/
Verbatim Japan's awesome website that allows the user to create a creature out of various Verbatim writable media and fight other creations from across the world.

Wrangler Blue Bell Jeans - http://www.bluebelljeans.com/
Discover the Wrangler Blue Bell Spring/Summer 2010 collection, take control of Tony Ward and make him dance.

Whether you're creating an in-depth user experience like the sites listed above, or adding a bit of extra eye-candy to your website, Flash still has a lot to offer.

Since my brain has been buzzing with website design so far this week, I thought I'd share what I've discovered when it comes to web buttons.

Certain web buttons can help to make or break the design of your web page. And there's a lot to consider. For instance, do you want to keep it relatively simplistic with a button that properly uses subtle drop shadows and maybe a tad of beveling? Maybe you'd rather have a bold, and eye-catching button in an interesting shape for maximum attention? Or do you want a techy-looking button that's coloured vibrantly with gloss and sheen, and reversed type? Regardless of what you're after, there seem to be a few proven techniques that give your button a better chance of appealing to your website user. I've summarized a few below, but to educate yourself completely and to see good web button design in action, visit http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/10/13/call-to-action-buttons-examples-and-best-practices/.

1. Get attention with scale - Generally in web design the size of an element in comparison to that of surrounding elements indicates it's importance. So make the decision first thing when it comes to determining the importance of your button because this will directly affect how you should scale it.

2. Get attention with prominent positioning - Catch the viewer's eye by being particular where you place your button. Positioning a button in a prominent area like in a space with a lot of contrast or placed near the top with your navigation menu bar will lead to more clicking activity.

3. Use whitespace - Whitespace can give your page elements differentiation so ensure your button has some breathing room. This will make your button stand out and be more obvious to your users.

4. Be smart with colour - Your button will jump off the page with the proper use of contrasting colours so make sure the button doesn't blend in with the hues of your background or other nearby elements.

Finally, one of my own to add:
5. Less is more! - Don't go overboard with multiple effects, textures, patterns, embossing, outer glows, crazy outlines and whatever else you're itching to try. Better to lean towards simplicity and let the content speak for itself then to practically yell "CLICK HERE" and give the viewer a migraine..!

Don't know how many Tron fans there are out there, but a sequel is finally coming out this Summer. As part of the run-up to the film all kinds of viral and underground marketing has started to leak out promoting Flynn & crew.

One of our favourite pieces is this challenging visual puzzle game that contains 56 hidden video game titles in various pictograms. We won't give away any of the answers, but the top score in the office (nicely done, Dave) was 45. Let us know how you do!

http://www.arcadeaid.com/challengingstage/quiz.htm

Recently I had a client ask me for some tips at building a good blog. I thought I'd humbly pass them on, as she found them pretty helpful.

First off, very few people actually follow blogs religiously. While there are functions to subscribe to blogs, there are only a very few blogs that are visited on a regular basis, and they tend to revolve around pop culture (say TMZ or Perez Hilton's blogs). Particularly as you start out, it is not feasible to expect that people will find your blog and then continue to come back to read more. More and more, people are simply subscribing to bloggers' Twitter feeds, and just sampling the posts that interest them the most.

So, where do most blog hits come from initially? For us, there are three main sources - search hits, social network referrals, and self referrals.

Search hits come from people finding blog posts through Google. If you blog about topics that people are frequently searching for then your posts will be found by those searchers. For example, we blogged about Lululemon's Olympic clothing line (that VANOC pooh-poohed) and to date we've had over 300 hits to it; of those over 100 came from web searches.

Your social network can be a big source of blog traffic. When we write a blog we immediately post it on Facebook, Linked-in, and Twitter. This way people who follow us through those sites are instantly informed every time we add new content. Plus, we're always promoting the blog in our email signature, and there's a link to all our social media sites on every page of our website. This comprehensive social media strategy hits multiple people every time we create content, and works together to create fans of our brand.

Self referrals are simply hits to the blog from people that land on our home page. They see that Studiothink has a blog, and then they go check it out. They might not specifically be interested in our content, they're probably just curious as to what we blog about.

At this point you might ask "why even bother blogging if it's so much work to get traffic?" The truth is that even if your blog doesn't get a lot of hits, it does build an aura of expertise around you. When people visit your site, they see the blog and they see the quality of your content, and it adds to your reputation as an expert in the field. So, even if the blog isn't getting a ton of hits, it will still help people feel more comfortable choosing your firm.

It's the oldest question in web design: What's the best monitor screen resolution to use when building your website? The answer has changed throughout the years as technology improved and consumer needs changed. Here are my views on the present and short-term future of website size and screen resolution.

What's the best monitor screen resolution to use when building your website?
Unfortunately, there's no short answer to this question. Different people use different resolutions, and the popularity of devices like the Blackberry and iPhone have added even more screen sizes to the mix. Let's look at the data:

The Stats: According to the January 2010 Web Statistics and Trends at w3schools.com, only 20% of computers use the classic standby screen size of 1024x768, with a whopping 76% using a higher resolution. That's a huge jump from last year, when 36% used 1024x768, and 57% used higher resolutions. 800x600 barely registers at about 1% of users.

1024x768 has been the reigning champ in monitor resolution for a number of years, and most websites have been designed to fit comfortably in that space. Here at Studiothink, we design most of our sites to be 950-1000 pixels wide, meaning the main content fits nicely in that space with a slight margin on either side. We'll use a well-designed background to tie the site together and ensure there's something to look at on larger screens, but the main bulk of the site content sits nicely within 1000 pixels. Most web designers seem to follow this guideline. Take a look at CNN and Nike and you'll find that both websites fit their content in containers that span 1000 pixels wide.

So most websites fit a 1024 pixel width, but what about the height?
Just a few years ago most designers would tell you to keep your content, at least on the homepage, 'above the fold,' meaning within about 700 pixels high so everything would fit on a 1024x768 screen. Recently, however, due to increased monitor resolutions that give the user more real estate, and increased public comfort with the scrollbar, more companies and designers are embracing longer websites. Feel free to make your website longer than the average user's screen can contain, but not too long that download time is slowed by the amount of content on the page or the user gets lost in a pit of content. We tend to average between 1200 - 1700 pixels on our longer home page designs.

So keep it within 1000x700?
Not necessarily. Web design would be pretty boring if all websites were 1000x700 pixels, and don't think you have to be stuck in a 1000 pixel box. Websites can be built using a 'fluid' or 'liquid' design, where the content expands or contracts to fill the entire browser window, no matter the size. These are fun to build, but design opportunity is limited.

You could build a complete website in Flash and program it to fill the browser window, giving you much more design control, full screen content, animation, and even giving the user the option of going full-screen, rather than simply full-browser.

Other options, like side-scrolling or micro websites, give you or your company a great opportunity to stand out in the web.

Summary
Keep in mind most users are comfortably browsing websites that contain content within about 1000 pixels wide. While it's true, according to the stats above, that most users are using screen resolutions larger than 1024x768, that doesn't necessarily mean their browser windows are larger. For example, my computer at home has a resolution of 1920 by 1200, but it's very rare that I browse full-screen, partly because it makes multitasking easier, partly because nearly all websites are optimized for a smaller size.
So keep the content at a comfortable width for now, until trends or technology pushes common web design even further.

You can't please everyone and, at the moment at least, it's hard to make a fully fluid website that's both functional and stylish. Try to make your website so it's easily accessible to everyone, no matter their resolution. You don't need to ensure it looks the best at every size, but ensure the content is viewable and the site can be navigated with ease.

Finally, know your user. Is your target market aging baby boomers? Keep scrolling to a minimum, use a large font, and contain your content within a relatively small screen resolution. Does your target use smartphones to access your site? Consider getting a special site designed just for mobile browsers. Want to make an impact on a younger, more-tech savvy, or well-off crowd? Feel free to use large spaces, big images, and big, beautiful design to get your point across.

For most of the office the newspaper is the equivalent to a Walkman - an anachronism. But if there's one thing that might potentially get us to open one up, it's the funnies. Unfortunately, most of the strips in the comics section nowadays suck - Cathy is still bikini-less, Hagar is still browbeaten, and Dagwood is still not funny. I can't be bothered to read past Get Fuzzy.

Thankfully, webcomics have filled the void in bold and creative fashion, producing strips that are infinitely funnier than anything in hard copy. Here's a few of Studiothink's favourites:

Rob: XKCD
A web comic rooted in science, love, math, and comedy, started by a former robotics researcher at NASA's Langley Research Center in Virginia. Smart and funny at the same time.

Dave: Dinosaur Comics
Some webcomic Canadian Content! A comic where the panels, artwork, and characters are the same in every strip. And yet there is something hilarious about these talking dinosaurs that keeps us coming back.

Mike: Garfield Minus Garfield
Garfield hasn't been funny since 1988. But somehow when you remove every mention of Garfield from every strip, it becomes a strange brew of depressing and funny, all at the same time. It's just Jon's slow descent into madness, and it's fascinating.

Caitlin: The Oatmeal
A webcomic for design folk, but really for anyone who enjoys a cynical laugh now and then. I'd post a sample strip, but they're like 3000pixels long, and would probably crash the blog.

These are our picks, but we love to find new ones - please post your favourites in the comments section!

Sometimes in the rush of getting a website live a couple of items get overlooked in the process. The polishing process of a website can seem needless at times, but I can not stress enough the necessity to make sure that these points are addressed and corrected to help your brand and your search results.

1. The Favourite Icon - A lot of websites are taken live without ever considering the favicon. It is displayed by all of the latest browsers in or near the address bar and in the bookmarks/favourites list. You can add value to your brand by incorporating your logo, company initials, or even a colour scheme of some sort into that little 16 x 16 pixel image that people can use to identify your website from their bookmarks.

2. Page Titles - Many times, websites will have the same page titles for various different pages. The title not only helps with search engine optimization, but also is used for the default text of bookmarks. Forgetting to set the page titles to reflect what the content is about is detrimental to your search results, and will confuse people who have bookmarked your site, but forgot what exactly they bookmarked it for.

3. Keywords - Not only are meta keywords important for SEO, but the content of each page should promote the keywords you have chosen for your website, or at least coincide with the products and services that you provide. If you are not using your keywords in your text, then you should consider rewriting your content.

Try to remember, when was the last time you clicked on a web banner ad? In the last few months? In the last year? If it's been a while, don't feel bad. A recent study by ComScore and Starcom shows that the number of people online who click display ads has dropped 50% in less than two years and, what's more, only 8% of internet users account for 85% of all clicks.

It seems the days when flashy animated banners would successfully lure browsers to websites are officially over, and banner ad click-through rates have become useless. Does that mean it's the end of the banner ad?

Not at all. We simply need to change our perspective. While click-through rates of banner ads have dropped significantly (and those who do click seem to be primarily lower-income young adults), banner ads can still successfully deliver your branding and its message, and are still a strong component of our online marketing strategy. ComScore found that online users exposed to a particular brand's display ads conduct more searches on that brand's name, and there seems to be strong correlation between banner ads, higher interaction times on brand sites and better-performing paid search.

Don't start an online advertising campaign with clicks as the main goal, otherwise the data suggests that you'll be sorely disappointed. Instead, figure out how display ads fit into your larger marketing plan. Focus on building your brand awareness, or sending a particular message rather than enticing others to visit your site.

Okay, so you've signed up for Google Analytics, and now you can see exactly how many people visit your site everyday. If you read my previous blog, you can also analyse your bounce and exit rates (if you missed that post, you can read it here).

But, sheer numbers aren't everything. Sure, lots of people have looked at your site, but what are they looking at? It's vitally important to consider where users are going for two reasons:

#1: The pages users are most interested in (i.e. the pages they hit first) could give you insights in how to market to them better.
#2: Users could be bypassing content you consider important, which might point to an error in your site design.

How Do I Follow Users?
Thankfully, Google has been thoughtful enough to give us the tools to track how visitors navigate through websites. This great information is accessible in the Content directory, cleverly labelled "Navigation Analysis". There are two options to choose from, but we're only interested in the navigation summary.

Clicking navigation summary brings up a rather confusing looking screen, but what it's really telling you is how users came to this page, and where they went after. By default Google will display the index (home) page, but you can change which page you're looking at by using the drop down menu beside "content".

What Do I Look For?
The Navigation Summary tells you how many people looked at the site, but this isn't the vital portion of the page; instead we want to pay attention to the data underneath.

Entrances
This gives you the percentage of users who entered your entire site from this page. It's normal for the entrance % on your homepage to be quite high, as most people will enter a site from the index. You might also see high numbers on other pages like a blog, or news - its not always a bad thing to see. However, if your home page has a low entrances figure, but another page has a higher number, it could point to poor SEO , or poor home page design.

Previous Pages
This shows you where users were right before they landed on this page (presuming they didn't enter the site as above). I use this metric to ensure that users are travelling through our site as we designed. For example, if I had installation instructions for a product on my site, I would want to make sure that most of the people on the "step 3" page were coming from the "step 2" page.

Exits
As discussed in my last blog; exits tell you how many users left the site from this page. Generally, a high number here is a bad thing, unless it's at the logical "end" of your site (the contact page, for example).

Next Pages
The counterpart to previous pages, this will tell you were users went after visiting the current page. This is particularly relevant on the home page, as it shows you exactly where users tend to go once they arrive on your site - critical information if you're trying to guide users to certain pages off the index.

From here, it's just a matter of playing around, analyzing percentages, and massaging the data. You can learn all kinds of weird and wonderful things about your users, but be warned - it might not all be good news. Be prepared to take steps to improve the browsing experience, and you'll be better off in the long run.

Back in the olden days of marketing (circa. 1995), product placement was seen as a clever, ingenious method of non-invasive advertising. Today, our more advanced minds have begun to tune out product placement, and in some cases even detest it (I blame the Thomas Crown Affair)

"hey guys, I know we're having a conversation here, but excuse me while I down this whole can of delicious, refreshing, Pepsi One"

But, I argue that product placement does still have a role in marketing, as long as it's in an immersive role, as opposed to a starring role (seriously, did Pepsi One get an "and" credit in that movie?).

What's the difference? Immersive ads should be a seamless part of the environment. They shouldn't stand out, they shouldn't be noted, and they definitely shouldn't play any part of the plot (I'm looking at you, I, Robot). If they're part of the natural background of a scene, perfect. If it looks out of place or purposely placed there, that's bad.

What's Right and What's Wrong
Here's some examples of good, and bad placement.

First, here's good placement, from Activision's Playstation 3 game "Prototype":

What make it work? First of all, it's relevant - gamers are probably also comic book fans, so it's potentially content they'd be interested in. Second, it's just environmental. There's billboards in every city, so it actually improves the reality of the game by adding to the cityscape. And third, they're not obnoxious. It's not as though the game forces you to stare at them, they're just there to add a little character.

Now, here's bad ad placement, from EA's "Fight Night Round 4":

This screen is supposed to show you how you did in the previous round. Instead, you're treated to a jarring ad for "Bronson" (whatever that is). That's not even the worst of it - during the fight, a giant image of the ad actually takes over the center of the ring, so you end up playing on top of it. This does nothing to add to the atmosphere of a big championship fight; instead it turns an enjoyable game into an ad delivery vehicle - EA, we paid for gaming, not ads.

Deliver relevant content as a part of seamless environment, and gamers are much more likely to accept ads. In an age where the younger generation is getting harder and harder to reach, this is a relatively simple method of garnering impressions.

Here at Studiothink, we love food. Designers fight each other (safely with Nerf guns, of course) for the chance to design our next food packaging project. Contests are planned and held to see who can cook the tastiest chili, or bake the better cookie. Many lunch hours are spent swapping reviews of local restaurants, wines, and recipes. I've even been known to dig through Mike's lunchbox and evaluate the packaging of his granola bars and yogurt.

Our love for food and, subsequently, need of a diet plan has led us to many websites to peruse the menus or count the calories of our favorite local grub. Doing so has led us to several websites for well-established restaurants that are surprisingly lacking in content, design, and implementation. Here are just a few restaurant websites that, for whatever reason, aren't using the full potential of their branding, reputation, and design.

Subway Restaurants - http://www.subway.com
Outdated and strangely cluttered, this website does very little to connect with Subway's current campaign or long-term company culture. Multiple bright colours compete for importance while wall-to-wall text on the inside pages, poorly placed images and lack of any layout or organized flow confuses users. A flash feature advertising their latest promo sits awkwardly on the page trying its best to attract our attention. This site seems to ignore customers and primarily speak to potential franchise owners, doing little to express the culture and character of Subway and their products.

Compare this with: Mr. Sub (http://www.mrsub.ca). Clean, organized, and attractive with a solid, well-chosen colour scheme. The food is front and centre, and they don't try to shove too much information your way, giving visitors the option to choose to view the customer or franchisee information.

KFC Canada - http://www.kfc.ca
When I asked around the office for suggestions for this article, both Mike and Rob immediately offered "KFC Canada!" It seems both were feeling a hankering for KFC lately and went to the website to browse the various ways they could get their chicken fix when the search had to come to a quick and sad end: the website has no menu at all. A garbled image of the colonel? Sure. Quick, meaningless links to advertising? Check. A menu and pricing? Who needs that? Their latest food feature goes to a nicely designed website, and their careers page is obviously extended from the US site, but as it stands, kfc.ca is a woefully empty site that squanders a lot of potential.

Compare this with: KFC USA (http://www.kfc.com). Though similar in design, the US website of KFC is lightyears ahead of the Canadian version. First, a menu. Not the most in-depth, but at least it shows you your options. Next, a key feature many consumer-oriented websites should have - opportunities for interactivity: Join the "Grilled Nation", tweet about KFC products to win a prize, or order things online. More content, stronger call-outs, and a flash feature allow this site to communicate effectively.

Sammy J. Peppers - http://www.sjpeppers.com
Though not as large as the two previous restaurants, SJP boasts 7 locations in Lower Mainland and has been established for over 13 years, so there's no excuse for not making the most of their website. Where are the lifestyle shots? Young, happy models smiling around a table? Young, smiling servers offering you a seat? Closely cropped shots of delicious food? Sammy J. Peppers has a lot of character and culture to work with, but it is sadly lacking in this site. Another no-no: Menus only offered in PDF format. Users want to access information as quickly as possible, and forcing them to download and open a PDF is an unnecessary step. Keep a well-designed, easy-to-access menu on the website itself, and provide a PDF for those who want the option of printing it out.

Compare this with: Nearly any other local restaurant. Earls, Cactus Club, White Spot, Milestones - they all share the same qualities of a great restaurant website. Bright, beautiful photos of food, friends, and fun, a well designed interface, attractive graphics, and an easy-to-read menu.

The point here isn't to overly criticize someone else's design, but rather to point out a mistake many companies make when creating a website. Don't just get a website for the sake of being online. Figure out who your customers are, what they're looking for, and how you can connect with them using your company's culture and branding. Our goal is not to pick on people, but to make the web a better place.

"Google Ana-whatta?" If that was your initial reaction to the blog title, then you need to read this.

Google Analytics is the premier program for tracking and analyzing traffic on your website, bar none. If you're not using analytics to understand how users are navigating through your site, how they're finding your site, or where they go when they leave, then you could be losing out on hundreds of leads.

Adding Google Analytics is a simple process - if you're interested in using it on your site simply contact us and we'll walk you through the process.

Tip of the Day
Today's blog is directed towads people who already know and love their Analytics. It's a simple tip for understanding your "Bounce Rate" and "Exit Rate". While they might sound the same, they actually refer to completely different metrics.

Bounce Rate really only applies to your homepage (or in some cases Pay-Per-Click landing pages). The bounce rate lets you know how many people visit your homepage and then leave without clicking on anything else. In other words, they see your homepage, but they don't see anything they like, so they hit the back button and leave.

The Exit Rate can apply to any page on your site. A page's exit rate is the percentage of visitors who left after viewing that specific page. If I visit your homepage, then click on products, and then go to directly to another site after that, then I would be adding to the product page's exit rate.

What Does It All Mean?
The information you can get from both rates can be really helpful in analyzing users' behaviour on your site. Obviously no one wants a high bounce rate because it means visitors aren't even bothering to learn more about you. What are the reasons for a high bounce rate? It could be you're not communicating appropriate, relevant, eye-catching information on the homepage. Or, it could be that your navigation isn't easy to find, and people just get frustrated and leave. Whatever the reason, it's critical that you take steps to improve the browsing experience to lower your bounce rate.

This becomes particularly important if you're paying for SEO or Adwords - you're literally paying for every hit on your home page, and the only way to get your ROI back on those visits is to ensure that people use the site as you intended. You wouldn't use advertising to drive people to your showroom and then not keep it clean and easy to shop - your website should be the same way.

A high exit rate is not always a bad thing, depending on which page people are exiting from. For example, if you have a contact form and you find that most people are exiting the site from that page, then it's probably okay - people are likely just getting your email/phone number, and then leaving the site. But, if the main exit page is a seemingly critical page (like a product or service page) then it probably makes sense to do some research to find out why people aren't continuing onto the rest of the site.

There's a lot more information Google Analytics can tell you and in future Blogs I'll be sharing other useful tips to help you get the most from your Analytics results.

Have questions, or want to talk Analytics? Leave a comment below and we'll respond to you!

That is the question asked by many clients and prospects I meet. My usual response, "Do you have time to write in the blog?" That's typically where the conversation ends.

These days with less staff and more responsibilities, it's even tough to keep your News & Events web page up to date. However, if you have the time for weekly updates with relevant, well-researched and accurate information, blogs can generate extra web traffic and build relationships for little or no cost - other than time.

So if you're a new business, full of useful tips and educational information with a free hour to spend each week or have an owner who's adamant about having a blog (like Sherry ), go for it.

p.s. if you're going to make me blog, you can't expect me to resist the annoying, blinking emoticons.

With three guys in the office, you can bet lunch time conversation will turn to the topic of video games eventually. Rob helped temporarily slow production this week by sending us a link to this web-based flash game seductively called 'Crush the Castle.' Note that you'll need to have the Flash 10 player installed to play it.

Much to our delight, the game lives up to its name, putting you in charge of a trebuchet and a limited supply of castle-crushing boulders, you're tasked with destroying two dozen rickety castles of questionable architecture.

Not only does Crush the Castle serve as a great 5 minute diversion, it's also another great example of the power of Adobe Flash to make things fun, interesting and engaging on the web.

I stumbled on a great research tool a couple of months ago that I thought was really cool. The Way Back Machine is located at http://www.archive.org/index.php, and it allows you to view archived editions of many websites. Simply enter the website URL your choice, and the Way Back Machine will spit out all the old iterations of that site, sometimes going back over ten years! Not just a source of preserved sites, it's also a really good time-killer, allowing you to get a laugh over how some sites used to look:

- http://web.archive.org/web/20001109021600/http://www2.cnn.com/
- http://web.archive.org/web/19961225114023/http://www.nhl.com/
- http://web.archive.org/web/19981202230410/http://www.google.com/
- http://web.archive.org/web/19990421044406/http://www.hamsterdance.com/
- http://web.archive.org/web/20000817000029/http://www.studiothink.com/

Adobe Flash livens up websites with eye-catching animation, and adds a new level of user enjoyment with interactive interfaces and games (like the pong game on the new Studiothink website), but it doesn’t usually come to mind as a way to animate an entire feature film.

But that's what director Ari Folman used with his 2009 Golden Globe-winning film, Waltz with Bashir. A documentary about the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, the film was shot with three DVCAMs, then painstakingly transformed into animation by a team of eight animators, four illustrators, one After Effects artist, and one editor, thus creating a very artistic, original and creative production from a very limited budget.

I managed to catch the film shortly after its appearance at the Vancouver Film Festival, and was blown away; It's great to see the same tool we use to give your website a competitive edge on the web can be used in such a powerful way. It's out of theaters now, but set to be released on DVD on Jun 23, 2009. So if you're a fan of foreign films, documentaries, or creative animation, I highly recommend taking a look.