Mac SEO Blog

The expression “a picture is worth a thousand words” is truer today than ever before. Adding the right images to your EverWeb made website can save you time and effort that would be used on crafting text that perhaps, is unnecessary. When you have found the images that you want to use, adding them to your EverWeb website project, is easy, but before you do, there are some important things you may want to check first. Here are some recommendations for preparing your image before you import them in to EverWeb.

Optimizing Image Size

When choosing images to display in your website, always check to see if any of them should be optimized before adding them to your project file. Properly optimized images will display properly on screen and will avoid problems such as dragging on the page’s loading speed in the browser. As most display devices today are ‘retina ready’, i.e. can display high quality, high definition images, you can easily create retina ready images for your site.

Optimized images are those that are of the smallest file size possible, but in the highest quality possible. For example, you may have a photo file that you want to use that is 16MB in size, 4096 pixels wide and has a resolution of 600 dots per inch. This would be a large file to load on a page, and if I had many image files that had the same type of attributes, my page load time would seriously drag. Additionally, the consequence of using such large files would impact your website traffic, your SEO and your website’s server resources. 

The first step to optimizing the image is to decide how to scale the image width. In our example, the original width is 4096 pixels. To display this on my website I can reduce the width down to 400 pixels wide. However, as most displays today are retina image, I will make he image 800 pixels wide instead.

Use an image editor, such as Apple’s Preview app on a Mac, or just open the image file in Windows, to adjust the image’s dimensions. When changing the width dimension from 4096 to 800 pixels, remember to check the image editor’s ‘constrain proportions’ option. This will keep the image height in proportion to the image width during the resizing. 

In our example, the image is scaled down to 800 pixels wide, and not 400 pixels wide. This is so that it will appear properly on retina quality devices. 

Optimizing Image Resolution

Reducing image dimensions can bring down the size of the image file considerably. In addition to this, you can also check the image resolution. In our example, the resolution is set as 600 which is overkill when displaying an image on screen. Typically, this resolution would be used if you were printing the image. So, we can reduce the image resolution from 600 dpi (dots per inch) to, for example, 72 dpi or 144 dpi, which should be more than adequate for displaying the image on your website.

If you are using image editing software, see if the software has an ‘Export for Web’ option. This will optimize the image file when you save it. Remember to save the changed photo as a new file so you do not overwrite your original file as you may need it later.

When saving your changes, you can reduce its file size further if the image is in a PNG file format by saving it as JPG format instead. PNG files are useful if you want to preserve a transparent background, but if this is not necessary then a JPG file type will be preferable for display on the web. 

When you use you image on your page in EverWeb. resize it so that it is equal to, or less than, half the original saved size.

Use Image Optimisation Software

Use image optimization apps to further reduce the file size of your images. Many image optimization apps strip away non-essential data from the file without noticeable degradation in image quality. Obviously use such software before importing the image file in to EverWeb.

Using Edited Photos

Image editing software can be very advantageous for enhancing an original image file. When editing such your image, the end result can be a much larger file. Remember to check the file size of an edited file before importing it in to EverWeb. As we mentioned previously, check to see if your app has an ‘Export to Web’ option. 

Naming Your Image Files

Giving your image files good descriptive names has advantages. First, they will be easier to locate on your computer or in the cloud. Properly named files will also make it easier for you to find them in EverWeb’s Assets List.In addition, a descriptive file name will benefit your website’s SEO. Where possible name, or rename your image files importing them in to EverWeb. This will maximize your SEO. If you have already imported your images in to EverWeb, you can still rename them in the Assets List. Just double click on the file name in the Assets List to do so. Doing this will still be of benefit to your SEO although renaming the image file before importing it in to EverWeb is more efficient and effective.

Time To Publish…

When you come to publish your site, you can further optimize your images using the project file’s Site Publishing Settings. To access these features, either click on the project file name in the Web Page List or use the File-> Edit Publishing Settings option. Check the option ‘Export Optimized Images’. This will further optimize your project file images but requires EverWeb 4.1 or later.

You can also improve your page loading times when using images, but selecting an image on your page, then using the Shape Options-> Fill -> Lazy Loading option.

Optimizing image for the web is an important consideration when you use images in your website! Make sure that you do your best to make your images lean for the web!

If you have any questions about this post, or anything EverWeb, please let us know in the Comments below!

In the first part of this blog, How EverWeb Can Keep Visitors Interested in Your Site, we looked at how you should prepare before going live with your EverWeb made website. We also looked at how to create an SEO strategy so that your website’s chances of being found on the Internet are the best that they can be. In this second, concluding part, we look at things that you can do in EverWeb from a design and content approach that will help keep visitors interested in your site.

Create and Maintain a Dynamic Landing Page

Perhaps the most important page of your website is the Landing page, also known as your site’s Home page. This page, typically, will be the first page which new and returning visitors will access. So, it is important to keep it up to date. For example, anything that is time sensitive should only be on the landing page whilst it is relevant. If you have, for example, an event on your page that is three years old, chances are that your visitors will think that your site is no longer active and may stop visiting you!

New Content Creation Is Important for SEO

Adding new, fresh content to your website is an important ingredient in keeping visitors coming back to your website. Use the Home page of your site to highlight what is new and trending. Updating at least the Home page of your website on a regular basis is a simple, effective way of telling your visitors that your site is active and alive and kicking! How many websites do you know of that are not updated for years? If you are selling goods and services on your site, this is doubly important.

When creating content for the Home page of your site, make sure your message is clear and simple, typically with only one objective in the message. Clear and simple is always best. Avoid just updating your Home page just for the sake of it, and whilst using SEO Keywords on your Home page is great, do not sacrifice your content for the sake of SEO.

Blogging – Is It For You and Your Audience?

One great way to add new content is to add a blog to your site. This can become a tool that will hook your visitors on your site if you add content that is fresh, relevant and interesting to your audience. A regular blog is something of an investment and it is not for everyone but if it is right for your audience then it is worth trialling.

Remember To Keep EverWeb Up To Date!

One other vital factor in keeping visitors interested in your site is to keep EverWeb up to date. In addition to maintenance and stability releases, major point version releases of EverWeb will bring new features, or enhanced existing features, for you to use. EverWeb usually gets three to four major point releases throughout the year so don’t get left behind!

Consider Revamping Your Site From Time To Time

Sometimes keeping your visitors interested in your site can just come down to revamping your site from time to time. Changes in colors, fonts and layout can have a huge impact – both positive and negative – so figuring out what works for your target market is important. When it comes to design in EverWeb, remember to use Paragraph Styles in all of your pages. We also recommend that you assign Document Colors to your site as well. When it comes to revamping your site, you only need to update your Paragraph Style and Document Color defaults which will then ripple throughout your site, saving you lots of time and effort!

Spreading the Word About Your Website

One of the best ways of getting more traction to your website is by spreading the word through social media such as Facebook pages, Instagram, Pinterest, LnkedIn and other social media platforms that are appropriate to your business, or interest group. Linking your website’s content to social media is a good way of keeping visitors and customers informed and up to date about your site and business.

Remember as well that social media is not for everyone either, again think of what best suits your audience. For example, including an email newsletter sign up Contact Form in your website. Creating a regular newsletter may be a better alternative to social media and blogging for some audiences. If you choose to go the newsletter route, you can use EverWeb’s Contact Form Enhanced addon to manage the contact forms that are submitted to you from the Contact Form Advanced widget.

Keeping Visitors Interested: Final Take Aways…

There are a number of different tools within EverWeb that you can use to help keep your website live and fresh to your current visitors as well as potential new visitors. If you run a business over the Internet, remember that your website is your calling card so needs attention!

When you build your website in EverWeb it’s a great feeling to finally publish it to the Internet for the whole world to see. All those hours of effort you put in to designing and building your site are rewarded when you ‘Go Live’. So does this mean that it is now time to sit back and let your site do the work that you intended it to do? It’s a tempting thought, but the reality is that going live is only really the start of the journey…

Is Your Website Achieving Its Objectives?

Anyone who builds a website is doing so for a purpose. Behind the purpose will be one or more specific goals or objectives that the website should meet, both now and in the future. Once your website has gone live, you should check if its goals are being met, or if they need to be modified, on a regular basis. It is also important to think about how your website will need adapt in the future to meet ongoing changes in business, or personal, goals and objectives.

Fix Issues Before They Become Problems

After going live, the most immediate task for any website developer will be to fix any issues that may have come to light after go live, as quickly as possible. The best test of how any website is going to work is when it goes live on the Internet. Obviously, it is important to test your site as thoroughly as possible before go live as this should help iron out most, if not all, potential issues or problems.

Prior to going live, your testing phase is also a good time to double check your site’s workflow. Is your site easy to use and to navigate? This is an important part of your site’s development. If your site is difficult to navigate you will probably lose you visitors once it has gone live. Remember as well to check all of the links in your pages and navigation menus.

In addition to looking at your site’s workflow, also make sure that you include a ‘404 Page Not Found‘ page to your site’s pages. The 404 page appears if a visitor clicks on a link to a page that does not exist or cannot be found. Using a 404 page in your site helps keep the visitor within your site and helps you direct them back to another page within your site e.g. your 404 page could include a button to take the visitor back to your Home page. In EverWeb, add your 404 page to your site in the Site Publishing Settings page which can be accessed from the File-> Edit Publishing Settings menu option.

When it comes to rooting out potential problems before you go live, often developers publish the site to a ‘test’ area on Internet until all issues have been resolved. This is as close to a Go Live as you can get. Once any problems have been resolved, the site can then be published to its true URL for Go Live.

The final way of checking for any potential issues on your site is to test it once it has gone live and to look out for any feedback from the site’s visitors about things that do not work, or work in unexpected ways. It may be possible that you cannot test some features using a test setup and Go Live is the only way to try out some of your sites features. In this case, whenever possible, fix any such problems as soon as possible. This will add credibility and professionalism to your site. If a visitor to your site posts an issue on social media, respond quickly, courteously and positively as possible. Also remember to update those who flagged the issues as to the progress in fixing the problem they highlighted. This approach is good PR for you even though if it is hard work at the time.

Get Your Website’s Stats!

Once your site is up and running, you can find out how interested visitors are in it by analyzing your visitor statistics. If you have an EverWeb+Hosting account, you can access your site stats through your EverWeb Client Area. If you use your own Hosting Provider, please contact them for more information on getting your stats.

Using your visitor statistics, over time, will detail how your site traffic is holding up. It is also useful to check your stats after you have made any major changes to your site as this may indicate whether the changes you have made have been successful or not. Site statistics can also be affected by your site’s SEO in relationship to Google, Microsoft Bing, Alexa and other search engines algorithms.

Is Your SEO Strategy Working?

Often you will attract visitors by having your site found in internet searches. Your site’s visitor statistics is a good indicator as to whether your site’s SEO strategy is working. If your SEO strategy is working properly your chances of being found in an Internet search will be better.

SEO can be tricky to evaluate, as any changes that Google (or other search engine providers) search algorithms may affect your site’s traffic. As such, monitoring traffic on a regular basis may provide you with valuable insights in to whether your SEO is on target or not.

For more information about SEO in EverWeb, either follow our SEO for EverWeb Video Course or check out the chapter on SEO in the EverWeb User Manual. Additionally, you can also fine tune your SEO using EverWeb’s SEO Power Up Addon.

Keeping Your Visitors Interested: Initial Take Aways…

Keeping visitors interested in your site is a constant task that needs attending to. If you fail to do so, over time you will find that the number of visitors to your site will decline. In addition, you should also review at your SEO strategy on a regular basis to make sure that you are still in synch with search engine algorithms and that you are targeting your market audience properly.

In the next post we will be focusing on website design and content as ways to keep your visitors interested in your site. Hooking visitors to your site is key to retaining and growing your site’s traffic and your business!

The new global styles feature that debuted with the release of EverWeb 4.0 makes setting up default font styles and color palettes for your site easy and flexible. You can now define all of the text styles that you want to use in your EverWeb project file in one place as well as define the color pallete that you want to use for your site.

We recommend setting up your global styles as one of the first things you do when you create a new website project file. If you already have a project file, that is also no problem as you can apply global styles to any existing pages of your site.

In this post we are going to look at how to create global text styling and document colors.

Accessing Global Styles…

To access a project file’s global styles you will need to be using EverWeb 4.0 or higher, for Windows or Mac. Once you have opened your project file, go to the Format-> Default Styles menu option. The default styles dialog box will appear.

About Default Settings…

In the top left hand corner of the dialog box are the project file’s Default Settings. These settings are found in all versions of EverWeb and they set default the site’s default font family, font size and color for TextBoxes. It is also where you set up the defaults that you want to use for Shape Objects and Hyperlinks.

Note that if you change these settings they will be applied to any new TextBoxes, Shapes and so forth, but will not affect any existing objects.

When finished changing your Default Settings, click on Save. Your changes will be applied to any new object or hyperlink that you create.

Preferred Fonts

To the right of the Default Settings is the Preferred Fonts column. Preferred Fonts are used by everWeb’s Styled Text Editor that is found in widgets such as the Text Section, FlexBox and PayPal widgets. By default this column is filled with nine web safe fonts. You can add fonts to the list by selecting the font and font style you want from the dropdown menus below the list of fonts, then clicking on the Add button.

As with all list boxes in EverWeb you can move the fonts in the list simply by dragging the font you want to move from its current location and dropping it where you want it in the list.

To delete fonts from the list, first select the font you want to delete then press the backspace key. If you have used a font that you have deleted, the text will default back to Arial.

When finished with your changes click on Save.

Paragraph Styles

In the second row of settings you will find the defaults for your Project’s Paragraph Styles. You can apply paragraph styling to any text in a TextBox, text used in the Styled Text Editor in some of EverWeb’s widgets, or text within Blog Posts in the Blog Post Editor. By default there are eight predefined Paragraph Styles. To change the name of a Paragraph Style, double click on the name of the Paragraph Style you want to change, edit the name, then press Enter to finish.

Click once on the Paragraph Style to manage its properties. For example, click on ‘Secondary Body’ to select it. Use the Font Settings in the middle column to change the styling of the selected Paragraph Style.

One of the great new additions to EverWeb 4.0 is the addition of scalable text for TextBoxes. In the Default Settings dialog box, set the Minimum Font Size that you want the Paragraph Style to have e.g. 16 point. Next, set the maximum font size for the Paragraph Style using the Font Size field to the right of the Font Style dropdown e.g. 24 point. Now you have set up the Paragraph Style to automatically scale the text between 16 and 24 point depending on the device the text is being displayed upon.

Click Save when finished with your changes. When you apply the Paragraph Style to your text, it will automatically scale if needed. in a nice and smooth way.

When you set up your Paragraph Styles you also have the option to use a Back Up Font if your main Paragraph Style font is not available. We recommend setting this up, preferably using either Web Safe Fonts or Google Fonts.

If you want to add a new Paragraph Style simply click on the ‘+’ button below the Paragraph Styles section. To delete a Paragraph Style, click on the Paragraph Style, then click on the ‘-‘ button. If the Paragraph Style being deleted is used in your site, you will be asked to select another Paragraph Style to replace the one you are deleting.

When finished with your changes, click on Save. Your changes will be applied to any text in your site that uses the Paragraph Style that you have change.

Document Colors

In addition to setting defaults for text, EverWeb 4.0 and higher also lets you define settings for the colors that you use in your site’s pages. The Document Colors section is where you define your site’s color palette. If, for example, you want to set the Page Background color of a page in your site, you can choose a color to use by clicking on the color swatch in the Page Background section of the Page Settings tab. You will see a selection of color swatches to choose from. In this example, I am going to choose the blue color at the top of the first column.

The color swatches you see in the color swatch are the ones defined in the Document Colors section of Default Styles. In my example, I have a blue background for my page, but I can change this default to something else if I want. The blue color swatch is at the top of the Document Colors list. To change the color, click on the color and adjust it using the Color Picker. When finished, close the Color Picker and click on Save. Wherever the blue swatch was used in your site, it will now be changed to the new color.

It may be useful to note the hex number of the default color before you change it in case you change your mind later on and want to revert to the original default color.

EverWeb’s Global Styles feature allows you to easily set up default font styles and document color palettes for your site. If you change any of these defaults in Document Styles, the changes will be applied to any object that uses the global style making updating your site super easy!

If you have any questions about this post, about EverWeb 4.0, or EverWeb in general, please let us know in the Comments Section below.

One of our most requested feature requests for EverWeb has come to fruition in EverWeb 4.2: The ability to copy pages between project files!

If you are developing more than one website, you may want to copy pages from one, or more, existing project files for use in a new project. This saves you both time and effort as you can recycle your work and be more time efficient as well.

In this blog post we will be looking at copy pages, folders Master pages and objects between project files.

Copying Pages Between EverWeb Project Files

EverWeb 4.2 introduces the ability to easily copy pages between project files. To copy a regular page between project files, first open the project files that you want to use. In this post, we will refer to one project file as the ‘source’ i.e. the project which contains the page that you want to copy, and the other project file as the ‘target’, i.e. the project file that will receive the copied page.

We recommend that you open the target project file first, then the source project file. This will make it easier for copying the page from one to the other as the source project will ‘float’ above the target project on your computer screen.

After opening your project files, position the source and target project files on screen so that you can see both project file’s Web Page List. Now simply drag the page you want from the source project in to the Web Page List of the target project. You may need to wait a moment before you see that the page has been copied over.

If EverWeb encounters any problems, or issues, when copying a page from one project file to another, a dialog box will appear informing you how to proceed. The most common issue that you may come across is if the page name in the source project already exists in the target project. In this instance, the page will not be copied across, so before you copy the page over check that you do not have a duplicate page name in your target project. If you do, rename that particular page in the target project to something else.

Copying Folders Between Project Files

In addition to copying regular pages from one project file to another, you can also copy directories from one project file to another in exactly the same way as you do for copying pages. If you have many pages within the directory, it may take a few moments for the copying to complete.

Copying Master Pages Between Project Files

Master pages are another type of page that can be copied from one project to another. Once you have your source and target project files open, go to the source project file that contains the Master page that you want to copy. Drag and drop the Master page that you want to copy from the Master Page section of the Web Page List in to the regular page section. This will create a copy of the Master Page in the regular page section. Next, drag and drop the Master page ‘copy’ from the regular page list in to the Master page section of the target project file. Once you have completed the copy, delete the Master page ‘copy’ from the regular page section of the Web Page List in the source project file.

Copying Objects Between Project Files

EverWeb 4.2 also allows you to easily copy and paste objects such as widgets, TextBoxes or images, from one project to another. The easiest way to do this is to first select the object you want to copy in the source project file. Next, either use the Edit-> Copy menu option, or the Command+C shortcut key on a Mac, or the Ctril+C keyboard shortcut in Windows to copy the object to the Clipboard. Once the object has been copied, go to the target project file and use the Edit-> Paste menu option, or Command+V (Mac) or Ctrl+V (Windows) shortcut key to paste the object in to the page that you want it added to.

EverWeb 4.2 makes copying pages and objects between project files easy saving you time and effort! if you have a question about this post, or about anything EverWeb related, please let us know. We are here to help!

If you want to improve your website’s page loading times, EverWeb 4.1 is just for you! Our new release introduces two new features to EverWeb that will dramatically improve the time it takes for your site’s pages to load in a browser: Lazy Loading and WebP format support. We looked at the latter, WebP format, in a previous blog post, so now we turn our attention to the new Lazy Loading feature.

What Is Lazy Loading?

Usually when a web page loads in a browser, all of its content is loaded at that time. This can cause page loading times to become very slow, especially if you have a lot of large images on the page, or if your page uses other media content that takes time and resources to load. Slow loading pages can deter your visitors from remaining on the page until it loads. As such you increase the potential for visitors to click away from your site.

To solve this problem, lazy loading was developed as a way to help improve page loading times. Typically, lazy loading is usually applied to images on the page, but it is possible to apply lazy loading to other resource intensive content as well.

When a page that uses lazy loading is loaded, only the content that is necessary for the user to interact with is displayed. Any other content that is not displayed, or needed at the current time, will be loaded on demand as the visitor scrolls the page.

How To Use Lazy Loading in Your Site

In EverWeb 4.1, or higher, you can apply lazy loading to images on your pages. Simply select the image you want to lazy load, then go to the Shape Options tab and check the ‘Lazy Load Image’ checkbox. That is all that is required, so super easy!

Once you have check marked all of the images in your site’s pages that you want to lazy load, publish your website and see the difference it makes when your site loads in to a browser window.

The Benefits of Lazy Loading Images

There are a number of benefits gained by using lazy loading in your site:

1. Faster Initial Page Load: By deferring the loading of non-essential elements, lazy loading reduces the initial page load time, allowing users to access the core content more quickly.
2. Improved Performance: Lazy loading helps improve overall website performance by minimizing the amount of data transferred and reducing the server’s workload.
3. Bandwidth Savings: Users may not view the entire page, so lazy loading helps save bandwidth by loading only the content that users actually interact with.
4. Better User Experience: Users get a smoother experience as they navigate the page since the browser loads content progressively as needed, rather than waiting for all resources to load before displaying anything.

Lazy loading is especially beneficial for pages with a large amount of media content, such as image-heavy websites or pages with embedded videos. However, it may not be necessary, or suitable, to use it on every page of your site. As always, it is important to first think about the requirements of your website and your site’s visitors.

Other Ways to Improve Your Website’s Page Load Speeds

In addition to Lazy Loading images on your site’s pages, there are a number of other ways in which you can improve your page speed loading times:

1. Use WebP Format when publishing your website. The size of the image will be reduced, but image quality should still be good.
2. Other Image Optimization Techniques: Use image compression software to strip the image file of data that is not needed without losing image quality. You may also find benefit in reducing the image’s dimensions and additionally, you may benefit by changing the image file’s file format from e.g. PNG to JPEG.
3. Minimize HTTP Requests: By reducing the number of elements on your web pages, such as images and any scripts or code you may have you can tweak your page load times.
4. Enable Gzip Compression: If you are using EverWeb Site Shield Addon, Gzip compression is automatically enabled for you on the server side reducing the size of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files before they are sent over the internet. This reduces bandwidth usage and speeds up loading times.
5. Use less resources on your page. The simpler your page is in structure, the faster it will load.

Using a combination of readily available tools, in EverWeb itself, with EverWeb addons and external tools, you will easily be able to improve your page load speed times.

If you have any questions about page loading times, or about EverWeb in general, please let us know in the Comments Section below. We’re happy to help!

EverWeb’s Blogging feature was introduced in November 2016 when EverWeb 2.0 debuted. In the intervening eight years, there have been lots of improvements and feature additions in EverWeb’s blogging environment to enjoy. Often many of EverWeb’s blogging updates have been more incremental than blockbuster, so in this post we are going to round up the features and updates that have been introduced since our last update on blogging which came with the introduction of EverWeb 3.5.

Paragraph Styles

One of the highlights of our EverWeb 4.0 release was the introduction of Paragraph Styles to the app. You can apply Paragraph Styles anywhere in EverWeb, to text, within the Styled Text Editor in widgets and also within blog posts! All you need to do is highlight the text that you want to apply the Paragraph Style to in the Blog Post Editor, then click on the new Paragraph Styles button in the Blog Post Editor’s Toolbar – the second icon on the left hand side. Select the Paragraph Style that you would like to use from the dropdown list.

The Paragraph Styles are the same as the ones that you find in the Text Inspector, so if you ever want to modify, add or delete a Paragraph Style, you can do so either from the Text Inspector or by using the Format-> Default Styles… menu option.

SEO Key Words and Short Summary Options!

Although introduced in EverWeb 3.5, this is always worth a mention! You can add SEO Keywords and a Short Summary description to your blog post just by selecting your blog post from the Blog Posts List. Next, click on the Settings Cog then choose the Post Options… menu option. Note that ‘Post Options…’ was renamed from ‘Edit…’ as of EverWeb version 3.9 onwards.

Dark Editor Mode

For computers that support this feature, you can now set EverWeb’s Blog Post Editor to Dark Mode. This feature was introduced in EverWeb version 3.9. To access Dark Editor Mode, click on the Settings Cog on the left hand side underneath the Blog Posts List, then choose Dark Editor from the list of options.

Video (and Audio) Embedding Made Easy!

EverWeb made embedding videos in to a blog post a lot easier in EverWeb 3.9.1. Now all you need to do to embed a video in your post is to add the video file to the Assets list, then secondary, or right, click on the file, then select the ‘Copy File Path’ option. Next, go to the place in your blog post where you want to embed the video. Click on the ‘Insert Video’ button in the Blog Post Editor Toolbar then paste in the File Path link. Click on ‘Insert’ to finish.

The great thing about this option is that it also supports Audio file embedding too!

Clearing Text Formatting

In addition to the introduction of Paragraph Styles in EverWeb 4.0, this release also saw the introduction of the ‘Clear Formatting’ button in the Blog Post Editor’s Toolbar. Simply select the text that you want to clear the formatting from, then click on the Clear Formatting button at the far right of the Blog Post Editor Toolbar.

Importing Blog Posts from Other Sources

You used to import blog posts from WordPress or iWeb through the Settings Cog’s Import… menu option. From EverWeb 3.9.1 onwards you can now use the File-> Import menu for importing from these sources instead. If you are using EverWeb 4.0 or later, you can also import image galleries from WordPress, iWeb or Sandvox.

Blog Post Settings Changes

Most of the updates that come to EverWeb’s blogging environment can be seen in the Blog Post Settings when you are editing a blog post.

• Alt Text for the Blog Post Cover Image: This feature debuted in EverWeb 3.6. We recommend that whenever you have the ability to add ALT Text that you do so. Primarily the function of ALT Text is to help vision impaired people. As such, it is important that the text you enter simply describes what the image is about. Nothing more. The second role of ALT Text is to replace an image that cannot be displayed in a browser window. A third possible role also exists for ALT Text in that it might help boost your SEO if you use it. As SEO rankings involve complex algorithms, no one is certain how much of a role ALT Text plays in SEO, if at all. We strongly recommend that you add ALT Text based on its original intended purpose.
• Add Padding To The Blog Post Cover Image: Another nice feature add allows you to add padding around the Blog Post Cover Image, available from EverWeb 3.8 onwards.
• Blog Post Header and Date Fields Alignment: You can now left, center or right align the Blog Post Header and Blog Post Date fields since EverWeb version 3.8.

Improved Blog Editing Performance

Since our last update on blogging, back when EverWeb 3.5 was introduced, we have made improvements to ensure that typing on large blog posts in the Blog Post Editor is smoother with minimal typing delays. We have also improved the scrolling of the Blog Post Settings making the whole blogging experience snappier!

EverWeb’s blogging experience continues to evolve, but if there is anything that you would like to see come to blogging in the future, or in EverWeb in general, please drop us a line in the Comments Section below!

In our latest EverWeb release, version 4.1, we have introduced support for WebP format which has the power to dramatically improve your page load times. In this post we take a deep dive explaining all that you need to know about the format, the advantages of using WebP in EverWeb, and some things that you may want to consider before publishing your site using WebP format…

What Is WebP Format?

WebP is a modern image format developed by Google, who first announced the format in 2010, but only released their first stable version of the format in 2018. The goal of the WebP format was to replace JPEG, PNG and GIF file formats with a new standard that provided better compression without loss of image quality. Using WebP format in your website, therefore, has a number of benefits…

What Are The Advantages of Using WebP Format in EverWeb?

Here are some of the key advantages of using WebP files on your website:

1. Smaller File Sizes: WebP typically offers better compression compared to other image formats such as JPEG and PNG. The result is smaller file sizes which is important for faster page loading times, especially for image based websites, such as photography websites.
2. Faster Loading Times: As WebP files are smaller than other image file formats, so typically downloaded quicker, resulting in faster page loading times. This benefits both the website’s visitor and the website’s Search Engine Optimization (SEO), where page speed is factored in to the website’s search rankings.
3. Better Bandwidth Usage: Smaller file sizes help reduce bandwidth usage for both the server and end-user. This can benefit users with limited data plans or slow internet connections.
4. Lossless and Lossy Compression: WebP supports both lossless and lossy file compression, so images can retain their quality whilst benefitting from smaller file sizes.
5. Alpha Channel Support: WebP supports transparency (alpha channel), similar to PNG, allowing you to create images with a transparent background. This can be useful for overlaying images on different backgrounds without a visible border.
6. Animation Support: WebP supports animated images, making it a suitable replacement for GIFs. Animated WebP files typically have smaller file sizes than equivalent GIFs, again resulting in faster loading times for web animations.
7. Wide Browser Support: Most modern browsers support WebP, including Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Microsoft Edge and Opera. Note that older browsers may have limited or no support for WebP format.
8. Google’s Preference: Google actively promotes the use of WebP so using their file format standard may benefit your site’s search engine ranking.

What Should You Be Aware Of When Using WebP Format

While there are clear advantages to using WebP, it is important to consider browser compatibility. Fortunately EverWeb does this for you. If the browser your visitor is using does not support WebP format. an alternative image format will be used instead.

Below is a list of some of the things you might want to consider when thinking about using the WebP format in your website:

1. Limited Browser Support: Although support for WebP has grown, it may not be supported by all browsers, especially older ones.
2. Fallback Requirement: Due to varying browser support, alternative image files (e.g., JPEG or PNG) should be available for browsers that do not support WebP. EverWeb takes care of this requirement for you so you do not have to do anything.
3. Compression Artefacts: WebP’s compression may result in noticeable artefacts, especially in highly detailed images. EverWeb will process and optimizes images to avoid this from happening.

How To Use WebP Format In Your EverWeb Made Website

If you decide to use WebP format in your EverWeb website, it is easy to implement. Simply go to the EverWeb -> Edit Publishing Settings screen if you are using macOS, or the File-> Edit Publishing Settings screen if you are using Windows. Check the box “Export Optimized Images”. This will be in either the EverWeb Location, Folder Location or FTP Server Details section of the screen. Publish your site and WebP support will be included automatically.

WebP Format and Lazy Loading for the Best Page Loading Speeds

WebP format is a great addition to EverWeb. This feature can be also used in conjunction with EverWeb 4.1’s new Lazy Loading feature for even faster page loading speeds. We will be looking at Lazy Loading in a future blog post!

If you have any comments or questions about the new WebP format feature, or about anything else EverWeb related, please let us know in the Comments Section below.

EverWeb on Social Media

You can also find EverWeb on the following social media platforms:

Facebook

Flipboard

YouTube

Twitter / X

Instagram

We’re excited to announce the release of EverWeb 4.1! Our latest release includes WebP support for images so that your pages load faster than ever in browser windows! Plus new draft mode, lazy loading images, Video backgrounds for your browser background and much more! See below for full details!

Which Version of EverWeb is for You?

EverWeb is available in the following versions:

• If you are running Microsoft Windows 10 or 11, EverWeb 4.1 is available for you.
• If you are running an Intel Mac running macOS High Sierra, Mojave, Catalina, Big Sur, Monterey, Ventura or Sonoma, EverWeb version 4.1 is available for you.
• If you are running an Apple Silicon Mac running macOS Ventura, Monterey, Big Sur or Sonoma, EverWeb version 4.1 is available for you as a Universal Binary. EverWeb will run natively without the need to use Rosetta 2.
• If you are running OS X 10.10 – macOS 10.12 (OS X Yosemite, OS X El Capitan, macOS Sierra) EverWeb 3.4.2 is for you.
• If you are running OS X 10.7 – 10.9 (Lion, Mountain Lion, Mavericks) EverWeb version 2.9.1 is available for you.

When updating to the latest version of EverWeb, the update process will automatically download the correct version of EverWeb for your operating system.

EverWeb 4.1 Includes…

[NEW] Lazy Loading images – Your images load only when they are actually needed.

[NEW] Video Browser Backgrounds from four different sources, such as YouTube and Vimeo.

[NEW} WebP images supported with automatic image optimization to WebP format with correct resizing

[NEW] Draft Mode. Pages set to draft will not be published.

[NEW] Alt Text is now available for images in the Image Gallery Widget.

[NEW] Alt Text is now available for images in the Responsive Image Gallery Widget.

[NEW} Import images from CSV file to bulk load images in to the Responsive Image Gallery Widget.

[NEW[ Tile Vertically or Tile Horizontally for images used as Page Background.

[NEW] Image Scaling available for images used as Browser Background.

[NEW] Fixed Position for images used as Page and Browser Background.

[NEW] Image alignment options for Page and Browser Background.

[NEW] Check Page updated to include new optimization suggestions.

[IMPROVED] Improved export of high-resolution images without relying on java script.

[IMPROVED] Code optimized for better W3C compliance.

[CHANGE] Updated Twitter widget to become the ‘X’ widget.

[CHANGE] Replaced the Twitter button with an ‘X’ button.

[CHANGE] The Google+ Button has been removed from the Insert-> Button menu.

[FIX] Blank Contact Forms Enhanced Addon field in Contact Form Advanced widget.

[FIX] Simple Passwords not being carried over has been fixed.

[FIX] Color settings issue in the responsive navigation bar fixed.

[FIX] Redefined styles from selection bug fixes.

[FIX] Full-width shapes exporting issue resolved.

[FIX] ‘Microsoft Edge Can’t read and write to directory’ Error for some users on Windows fixed

[FIX] Possible crash when using some widgets on ARM based Macs

[FIX] The URL field is properly changed to HTTPS when pressing the Use Secure HTTPS Urls option

[FIX] Fixed a crash when dragging from the Stock Photos on Windows

[FIX] Fixed ‘500 error’ on Preview

[FIX] Fixed crash when double clicking on a blank row in Manage Cache Window

[FIX] Fixed a potential crash on backup

[FIX] Some minor issues with SEO Check Page Fixed

[FIX] Many Improvements and bug fixes for EverWeb for Windows Users

[FIX] Fixes for the Stripe Payments widget

[FIX] Some Issues with Search fields fixed.

How To Update To EverWeb 4.1 for Windows

You can easily update EverWeb for Windows by either:

1. Launching EverWeb then opening a project file. From the Help menu at the top of the screen select ‘Check for Update’ or by
2. Downloading EverWeb from the EverWeb website.

After downloading EverWeb, double click on the EverWebSetup.exe file. Note that the file name may have the version number appended to it and that you may need to initially trust the file to be able to download it.

Follow the instructions in the Installation Wizard until the installation is finished. You can delete the EverWebSetup.exe file afterwards by dragging it to the Recycle Bin.

How To Update To EverWeb 4.1 for macOS

You can easily update EverWeb for macOS by either:

1. Launching EverWeb then going to the EverWeb menu at the top of the screen and selecting ‘Check for Update’ or by
2. Downloading EverWeb from the EverWeb website.

After downloading EverWeb, double click on the EVERWEB.DMG file. A window will open. Drag the EverWeb icon on to the Applications folder icon.

Once the file has been copied, you can close the installation window, delete the .DMG file and eject the EverWeb disk on the desktop by dragging it to the Trashcan.

About Your EverWeb Update

Remember, you won’t lose any previous data when updating as your website project files are stored elsewhere on your computer.

The update is free for EverWeb + Hosting users and EverWeb Standalone users who are within their 1 year of free upgrades and support period.

You can easily check your EverWeb update period from your EverWeb-> Preferences… window on macOS, from your Edit-> Options menu on Windows, or from your client area.

If you have passed your one year of free EverWeb updates, you can purchase 1 more year of upgrades and support from your client area.

You can easily re-download earlier versions of EverWeb from your client area if you are not ready to purchase an additional year of updates and support.

Login to your Client Area and go to the ‘Manage Product’ page. On the left of this page, select ‘Downloads’ and choose the version of EverWeb that you need.

More Information About EverWeb

For more information about the new version of EverWeb, please check out the following resources:

• The EverWeb website which has up to the moment information in its blogging section.
• New EverWeb videos on YouTube.
• The EverWeb User Manual in EverWeb’s Help-> User Manual menu.
• The EverWeb Discussion Forum.

If you can’t find what you need, or have any other questions, comments or feedback please let us know.

If SEO is important for your website and you are using EverWeb’s SEO PowerUp Addon, then EverWeb 4.0 will make things even easier for you! Our new EverWeb release includes the new, powerful, SEO Check Page feature. Check Page scans your site’s pages then suggests how you can improve the page’s SEO. Check Page is also context sensitive, making implementing suggestions and changes super easy.

EverWeb SEO Power Up Addon Gets Even Better!

EverWeb’s SEO Power Up Addon already includes the following great SEO related features:

And now EverWeb 4.0 adds new SEO Check Page functionality!

EverWeb SEO PowerUp’s Check Page Feature

EverWeb’s SEO PowerUp addon’s Check Page feature is a one click tool that checks how SEO friendly your website pages are. Check Pages also gives you SEO suggestions and actions that can be applied to the pages of your site.

To use Check Page, first select the page you want to check. It is recommended to only check the pages in your website that you want to apply SEO to. Pages such as Contact and About Us type pages will probably not require SEO, so do not need to be checked. Checking pages such as the Home page of your site, though, is a good idea. 

Click on the Check Page button in the Toolbar to scan the page. A window containing Web Page Suggestions will appear when the scan is complete. Note that after the scan you will be returned to the Page Settings tab in the Inspector Window if you are currently on a different Inspector window.

The Web Page Suggestions will list all SEO relevant suggestions. You may have already successfully completed some of the suggestions on the list. For the items that still need completion, click on a suggestion that requires attention. 

A second dialog box will appear at the place on the page where you should enter SEO applicable information. The second dialog box contains helpful information to guide you in completing the field successfully. 

In addition, you can go to the Previous or Next suggestion directly or just Close the information dialog box.

You can re-run the scan at any time to see updated results as you enter your SEO information.

Please note that you may have some suggestions that you do not want to, or have to, complete e.g. entering a business location may not be needed or relevant to you. Remember, that Check Page lists recommended suggestions for you to improve your SEO. It is not mandatory to follow any suggestions if it is not appropriate for your situation to do so.

Using Check Pages For Your Blog Posts

You can also use the Check Page feature in your blog posts. Simply select the post you are interested in checking then press the Check Page button to start the scan. Remember for blog posts that Keywords and Short Summaries are available to complete from the Settings Cog underneath the list of blog posts, on the left hand side. Select the Post Options… menu option to access the Keywords and Short Summaries for the selected post.

Once you have finished updating your SEO for your pages, publish your site. Remember that SEO changes take time to implement across the web so you may have to wait a while before seeing the results of your changes.

How To Purchase EverWeb SEO PowerUp

EverWeb SEO Power Up Addon is:

• Available to all EverWeb customers, whether you host with us or with your own hosting provider
• EverWeb SEO Power Up is FREE if you have an EverWeb + Hosting 10GB or higher plan
• Available for just $29.95 USD / Year if you have an EverWeb + Hosting 2GB plan or EverWeb Standalone

You can purchase EverWeb SEO Power Up Addon safely and securely from the EverWeb Client Area. Select the Services -> View Available Addons menu option, then choose the Product Addons option.

More About Using SEO in EverWeb

You can easily find out more about using SEO in EverWeb through our SEO for EverWeb Video Course. Alternatively there is also a chapter on SEO in EverWeb in the EverWeb User Manual.