With the announcement that the beta version of Firefox 4 has been released, it’s that time again. Time to check how your own website looks on it, that is.

While the browser is only in beta (ie, a work in progress), it is currently available for download – its developers are hoping that users will report any bugs they discover before the official launch.

The new version, Mozilla tells us, contains “dozens of new features and improvements” (see them listed here) – each one of which might affect the display of your site. Of course, one hopes not – but it is always as well to check, especially with Firefox having a 46% share of the browser market as of June 2010.

Sounds complicated? We’d be delighted to do it for you: just one of the many services we can offer.

You may currently be preoccupied with thinking about how you’re going to optimise your website for the oncoming mobile web explosion. Well, if you want a break from that, we’ve got news for you – it looks like we’re also in line for a massive rise in Internet-via-TV.

Announcements this week point towards a new generation of set-top box, allowing for Internet access directly through the TV, without a computer. Presumably, this will lead not only to programme-watching on demand, but a blurring between TV and online advertising. There’s every possibility for an ad to give a link, inviting the viewer to switch modes and visit a website for time-restricted special offers, for example.

While mobile Internet users present the challenge of making your website navigable, attractive, clear and comprehensible on a small screen, TV Internet will of course bring the opposite issues – especially with the current trend of ever-larger plasma screens. Resolution may also be different.

Project Canvas, the BBC’s name for the new set-top box, isn’t expected to launch until next year, but it’s definitely worth thinking about it now.

Google’s homepage is the most-talked about blank space on the internet. Renowned for its one-option interface and clean minimalism, the page is often cited as a great example of ‘less is more’.

It came as a great surprise, last week, then, to see that Google had transformed itself. The page that logged-in users saw was taken over by a large photographic image, much in the style of its rival search engine, Bing.

Even more of a surprise came a few days later, when the white homepage returned. “Remove Google background” was apparently the seventh-most searched for term during the intervening days (the image can be removed, but a bug had prevented the link giving this option from displaying).

Read it how you will – panicking behemoth trying to imitate its competitor, then pulling the move when it realises it has blundered? Or service that listens to its users, and is uniquely positioned to do so, given that they are revealing their inner thoughts with every search?

Either way, it’s good to know that Google responds to the people who use it. The story, while amusing, shows us one of the strengths of the web – that you can try out something new, and change it sharply if it turns out not to be working for you and your business.

It’s very tempting, sometimes, to have all the latest bells and whistles on your website. Everyone likes novelty, which is probably what led to the many sites that used to play music as soon as they started up, back in the last decade. Thankfully, that’s a trend that has largely now gone the way of the dodo, but, human nature being what it is, there is always something else to replace it. Heavy animations, videos, or just tricksy fonts – they can all add to a site’s “weight”, and you might not even notice it.

The chances are that you visit your own site often, and your browser will be caching certain elements to make them faster to load. What’s more, you almost certainly visit predominantly on the same browser and the same operating system, so you simply might not be aware that what takes a few seconds to load on your own set-up is taking an unacceptably long time on someone else’s.

If you market abroad, stop to think about the distance between your server and your customer’s machine. Not everyone has broadband, and, globally, there are many users who may be used to long page loading times, but still unwilling to wait for your snazzy animation to load.

Not long ago, Google announced that page speed had become one of the many factors in their increasingly-complex ranking algorithm. In other words, it’s no longer just a courtesy to your customers that your site loads quickly, but a real business imperative for those who rely on top search engine rankings. Fortunately, at Notting Hill Internet Services, our best practice policy means ensuring, among many other things, that your site is always as streamlined and efficient as can be. Why not follow the Google link given above, where you’ll find some tests you can do on your website – and if you find it lacking, give us a call.

The best websites are those which appear simple – the most-often cited example being, of course, the Google website, with its plain search box. Of course, like the duck (serene on top; legs paddling frantically below the water), even the barest sites can have a lot of code beneath the surface.

Here’s proof. Twitter, often praised for the way that with its 140 character limit it forces users to be succinct, might be thought of as one of the simplest sites of all. This week, the BBC reproduced the image above, showing the huge amount of code required by a single tweet. Pretty, isn’t it?

Web design companies are not all the same. Unfortunately, what is an art for some is just a way of making money quickly for others. Do be wary of folk who have no portfolio to show you, and no qualifications to their name: web design is a serious practice that needs years of experience to get right.

A good designer will understand usability, accessibility, search engine optimisation, all the latest HTML protocols, and browser compatibility, among many other considerations that you may never even have thought about.

Here at Notting Hill Internet Services, we have a full range of options when it comes to website design for small businesses. Whether you choose one of our off-the-peg designs, or take advantage of our bespoke design service, you can be sure that our designers understand everything that goes into making a design both attractive and practical.

Read more on our website design page.

Traditional web design has it that the most important information and action buttons should appear “above the fold” – ie on the area of the screen that the user sees without having to scroll down the page – although we have seen research that appears to contradict this thinking. Nonetheless, it makes good sense to present as much as possible to the user without requiring them to make any effort. It’s also good practice to keep your text short and snappy.

Now Google is offering advertisers the chance to ensure your Adword adverts appear above the fold.

As they say, With a host of different web browsers, monitor sizes, and screen resolutions, it’s hard to predict where an ad will land, since the same placement may appear differently on each user’s screen. Filtering out below the fold impressions gives you greater control over where your ads appear..

If that sort of detail sounds like a step too far for you, it’s perhaps just one more reason why you might want to outsource your Search Engine Optimisation and Google Adwords to us. We are happy to tweak away at options like this until you get the very best possible results.

The great thing about the Internet… well, let me correct that: ONE of the many, many great things about the Internet, is that it allows you to be local as well as global.

As a Web Services company, we have customers from many different countries around the world. At the same time, though, we are proud of our locality – you only have to look at our company name to see that. As time has passed, we have helped a great number of local London small businesses build their web presence, even offering free websites to businesses in the W10 and W11 postcode districts. This initiative came from a strong belief that a company should give something back to the community that supports it. We want local businesses to thrive, because that does us all good.

While we absolutely pride ourselves on excellent service by email and phone no matter where you are, we also enjoy meeting our clients face to face. If you’re in London and looking for London Web designers, we’d be delighted to see you and really get to know you and your company.

How we love seeing the incredulous looks on our customers’ – and competitors’ – faces when we tell them that we offer free website design!

Not much is free in this day and age: bus travel for old age pensioners, the kind of newspapers you get handed at stations, and the samples they hand out at supermarkets spring to mind, but, in general, we live in a society where anything free is treated with a great deal of mistrust.

Well, it’s certainly true that most things have a hidden price. Some might say that our incredible free websites offer comes with strings attached. In a way, we agree – but they are very small strings, and the important thing is that we have laid them all out for you to see for yourself. At the foot of our free websites offer page you will see a small section titled ‘What’s the catch?’.

Personally, we don’t think there’s much of a catch at all – but we like to be transparent. Now you can decide for yourself whether this is a free lunch, or whether there is, as the saying tells us, really no such thing. Meanwhile, if your start-up business needs a website, you know where to come.

Large companies employ people full-time to design their brand. You, as a small business owner, are likely to have slightly fewer resources to hand.

It’s tempting to think it can’t matter, and write off web design as an unnecessary expense – but put yourself in the shoes of your customer for a moment. Isn’t a slick, well-presented site going to earn your trust faster than a generic, bland one? You put time and effort into presenting your shop-front and display windows: your website requires the same amount of thought.

Fortunately, excellent design needn’t cost an arm and a leg. Our website design packages for small businesses allow you to select from a large portfolio of off-the-peg designs, or to have one put together especially for you – all at very agreeable prices. Believe us when we say that it is really worth this small investment. You may not notice the benefit right away, but you will certainly see a return on your investment as time passes.