Google Chrome To Highlight Non-Secure Websites From July

May 17th, 2018

Google Chrome to Highlight Non Secure Websites

On July 1, 2018 Google is set to release version 68 of its popular Chrome web browser. The new version of Chrome will mark all HTTP websites as ‘non secure’ in a move to make for a more secure Internet. This new security measure will affect all Chrome browser users. Websites using HTTPS are not affected as they are already secure through end to end data encrypted. In addition to Google’s new security measures in Chrome 68, the new version of the browser offers improved performance and other features not available for HTTP only websites.

If you only have an HTTP website URL, your website will start to show warnings in both search results and when a visitor visits your website as of July 1, 2018. The warning will be displayed in the search path bar at the top of the web browser.

If you have an HTTP only website URL, EverWeb has solutions to make your website secure!

 

HTTP and HTTPS

When someone visits your website the web address URL typically has a format such as http://www.yourdomain.com.

HTTP stands for HyperText Transfer Protocol and is not a secure method of transmitting data from your visitors’ browser to the website server as data is not encrypted and can be seen by anyone who may be monitoring Internet traffic.

HTTPS URL’s, however, use website addresses in a format of e.g. https://www.yourdomain.com.

The ‘s’ at the end of ‘HTTPS’ stands for ‘Secure’. All data transferred is end to end encrypted from your visitors’ browser to your website server. No one can see or steal information between these two points. HTTPS, therefore, makes browsing much more secure and private.

An HTTPS URL also protects your website from relatively common ‘man in the middle’ attacks where  the internet connection is hijacked sending a visitor to a fake URL without the visitor realizing.

 

Advantages of HTTPS over HTTP

The advantages of an HTTPS URL over an HTTP URL are that:

  1. HTTPS is much safer than unencrypted HTTP URLs
  2. Websites using HTTPS URLs appear higher in search engines page rankings
  3. HTTPS protect your website visitors from end to end
  4. HTTPS URLs after July 1, 2018, will not show Google Chrome’s and other web browsers warnings.

 

How to Implement HTTPS For Your Website

EverWeb makes it extremely convert a non-secure HTTP URL to a secure HTTPS URL:

 

EverWeb+Hosting 10GB or Higher Accounts

For EverWeb+Hosting 10GB or Higher accounts, just go to File-> Edit Publishing Settings menu in your Project and select the ‘Use Secure HTTPS URLs’ option. Republish your website using the File-> Publish Entire Site menu option. There are no additional costs or set up required as EverWeb makes it easy with just a tick of a checkbox and a republish!

 

EverWeb+Hosting 2GB Accounts

If you have an EverWeb+Hosting 2GB account you just need to the ‘EverWeb Secure Shield’ add-on to your account. This will add the 256bit encrypted SSL certificate required to enable HTTPS on your website. Site Shield Addon can be purchased in your EverWeb Client Area.

Once you have purchased Site Shield Addon, go to File-> Edit Publishing Settings menu in your Project and select the ‘Use Secure HTTPS URLs’ option. Republish your website using the File-> Publish Entire Site menu option. There is no additional set up required.

 

EverWeb Standalone (Software Only) Accounts

If you are using EverWeb Standalone (Software Only) you will be hosting with your own third party web hosting provider. You can still use HTTPS URLs and EverWeb. However setting up HTTPS may be a bit more technically involved.

  1. In EverWeb, go to the File->Edit Publishing Settings menu
  2. Change the website URL to include https://
  3. Next, contact your web hosting provider and ask them to set up an SSL certificate for your site. Usually there will be an additional cost for providing this service.
  4. The last step is for your web hosting provider to work with you to you properly redirect your non-secure HTTP URLs to secure HTTPS URLs.

One of the benefits of an EverWeb+Hosting account is that we are able to make the process of switching from a non-secure HTTP URL to a secure HTTPS UTL incredibly simple. All you need to do is click a checkbox and re-publish your site.

 

HTTPS Secure Websites Video Walkthrough

Watch our step by step video tutorial showing how to set up EverWeb Site Shield Addon with your website so that you are fully prepared for the new version of Google Chrome with your website secure in just a few minutes!

 

EverWeb on Social Media

Facebook

Google+

Flipboard

YouTube

Twitter handle @ragesw

SEO and Blogging in EverWeb

May 3rd, 2018

SEO and Blogging in EverWeb

 

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is often important in website development as a good SEO implementation makes for better Search Engine Results Page (SERP) rankings. In EverWeb, these SEO features are “baked in” making it easy to add SEO to your website. Find how to effectively implement SEO in your website in our SEO for EverWeb Video Course.

The video course covers SEO implementation throughout EverWeb, but how can this be applied to any blog you create for your website? Read on to find out how…

 

Content Is King

When talking about blogging and SEO, the most important topic is content! Content is king as it is the key to better SEO and SERP rankings. Always remember never sacrifice content for the sake of SEO and page rankings. Blog posts that just target SEO and SERP rankings will ultimately result in less visitors to your blog and website. Your blog content is very important in this respect as outlined below.

 

How Long Should a Post Be?

This is one area that always causes debate, both from an author’s perspective and from an SEO perspective. Generally the consensus is that blog posts should be at least 300 words long. For SEO, longer articles are better, however, if your post is too long you may dissuade people from reading it. Again, the consensus seems to be that between 750 and 1100 words is ideal although this is not set in stone. For longer blog posts consider splitting the post in to two or more parts. Add links to previous and next posts in the series in the post. Relevant links within your posts to referenced, credible sources is also good for your SEO. Finally, do not forget to include one to two keywords per 1000 words in your text. Our SEO video course has more details on how to find appropriate, effective keywords to use.

 

Create New Content Regularly

For better SEO, try posting on regular basis. Your readers are more likely to come back as your site is ‘live’ and if you post regularly e.g. every Tuesday, your readership will be more inclinded to visit your site every Tuesday. Remember though, never create content just because you feel olbligated to do so and always make sure your content has something to say. Planning your posts in advance is the best strategy!

The other advantage of posting content regularly is that Google and other search engines will crawl your website and blog more often. If your website is not updated regularly your page rankings may be negatively impacted.

 

Create Original, High Quality Content

Google and other search engines rank posts higher if they are original and of high quality. Original, high quality posts are also good for your website’s readership who will appreciate that you have put thought and effort in to what you are writing about.

If you plagiarise content from others this can negatively impact your SERP rankings and could also get you sued. If you quote from someone else’s work, always acknowledge the author and provide a link to the source. Check out the blog post ‘Create Your First Blog Post in EverWeb 2.0!‘ for some useful pointers on this subject.

 

Structure Your Blog Posts

Your blog post should always have a proper title. When you hit the ‘New Post’ button in EverWeb’s blog post editor window, edit the default title to make one relevant to the post. The title should include one or two keywords and be 60 characters or less if possible as this is better for SEO.

When writing the blog post itself, it should be focused with only one message or idea. In this blog post, for example, the focus is on how to achieve better SEO/SERP rankings in your blog posts.

Any blog you write should be structured with a beginning (introduction), middle (the message/idea) and end (conclusions/wrap up). This form usually holds the reader’s attention but is not obligatory.  Using this structure, however, gives you the opportunity to create a logical flow throughout the  post, and allows you to introduce paragraph headings in to your post, which are used for SEO purposes.

Include Paragraph Headings

Using paragraph headings benefits you and your readers as it helps organize and signpost text content in your post. Paragraph headings break up text and ideas in to a more digestible format. It also enables your readers to quickly scan the post for what they may want to pick out of it.

The other reason to use paragraph headings is that it is good for your SEO! Google and other search engines use paragraph headings to index the structure and content of your web pages. This is then used to improve your SERP ranking. Paragraph headings are used in a hierarchy of ‘tags’ from h1 to h6, where h1 is highest and h6 the lowest tag in terms of importance to SEO.

The first button in the Blog Post Editor Toolbar is the Paragraph Headings button. When you click on the ‘Return’ symbol button, a dropdown will appear with a list of options, ‘Normal’ for normal text, ‘Heading 1-4’ for paragraph headings and ‘Code’ if you need to add code snippets in to your text. If you apply ‘Heading 1’ to your selected text it will adopt the h1 tag and will be the most important heading in SEO terms. It is advisable to use just one ‘Heading 1’ paragraph heading in your blog and multiple Heading 2 and Heading 3 paragraph headings for paragraph titles and sub headings as required.

 

Link to Your Other Content

Linking to other relevant posts is also something that search engines like so if you have already posted content that is relevant to the post you are writing about now, add a link to it. Link text should beunique if possible e.g. use the title of the post you are linking to instead of ‘Click here’. Everyone uses ‘Click here’ so it gets zero traction in SEO.

 

SEO and Images

When adding images to your post the same SEO rules apply as they do when you add images to regular pages in your site. The image filename should say something about what the image is. If possible name the image file before dragging and dropping it in to EverWeb. If you have already imported images that use just a camera generated name, edit the filename in the Assets List.

When you add an image to your post in the Blog Post Editor window the Image Toolbar is displayed when the image is selected. Click on the ‘i’ icon for Alt Text, add your descriptive text and press Enter to finish. Adding Alt Text is useful for those who are visually impaired. It also replaces the image itself if it cannot be displayed and may benefit your SEO. Always make sure that the Alt Text describes what the image file is about.

As mentioned before, the file name should describe what the image is before being added to the Assets List if at all possible.

Blog Main, Archive and Post Page Settings

If you have not done so already, remember to complete the Page Settings for the Blog Main, Blog Posts and Archive Pages using the Inspector Window as these input fields are also used for SEO purposes. As mentioned previously, the SEO for EverWeb video course has all the details you need to add effective keywords to your Page Settings fields.

 

With some thought and planning you can have effective SEO in your blog posts as well as in the regular pages of your site.

 

As always please let us know if you have any comments and questions. We’re happy to help. You can also find EverWeb on the following social media platforms:

 

EverWeb on Social Media

Facebook

Google+

Flipboard

YouTube

Twitter handle @ragesw

Using EverWeb’s PayPal Widget Donate Button

April 19th, 2018

Using EverWeb's PayPal Widget Donate Button

 

The PayPal widget is perhaps one of EverWeb’s most feature rich widgets. As you may know, PayPal has over 203 million active user accounts and over 16 million merchant accounts active in 200+ markets worldwide. PayPal can be used even if you do not have a PayPal account as it accepts popular credit and debit cards from sources such as Visa, MasterCard and American Express.

EverWeb’s PayPal widget is ideal for facilitating e-commerce on your website without having to use code. Once you have signed up for a PayPal business account and have been authorised to use its e-commerce system, you can do many PayPal tasks within EverWeb just by using the PayPal widget.

 

The New PayPal Widget Donate Button

The latest update to the PayPal widget came with EverWeb version 2.6 when it gained updated button styles for the ‘Add to Cart’, ‘Buy Now’ and ‘View Shopping Cart’ icons. EverWeb also added in PayPal’s Donate button so that it is easy for you to help visitors give money to worthy causes.

The Donate button works in the same way as the Buy Now button in that it sends the donation funds to your PayPal account. Also be aware the usual fees for Credit Card transactions apply, although you can apply for discounted rates if you are a registered charity. Check out your local PayPal site for more information about how PayPal transaction fees apply in your country and for localized information relating to PayPal and registered charities and non-profit organisations.

 

Using the New Donate Button

The new Donate button works in the same way as the Buy Now button. To use the Donate button:

  1. Add the PayPal widget to your page and move it to where you want it located on the page.
  2. In the PayPal Widget Settings, enter the email address that corresponds to your PayPal account. You can set up different email addresses linked to your Merchant ID so e.g. you can set up an email address for donations. In this way, any donation transactions will be notified to the donations email address.To add an email address to your PayPal account, log in to your PayPal account and click on the Profile settings cog. Add a new email address to your PayPal account by clicking ‘Update’ in the Email section of the screen and completing the required fields. Once set up you can use this email address in the Email Address field of the PayPal widget.
  3. Next set the Button Type to ‘Donate’. You can select the Button Sub Type as either ‘Product’ or ‘Service’.
  4. In the Item Name field enter a name that reflects that this is a donation.
  5. The following field, ‘Item ID’ is a key field that you must fill in. If you do not, then transaction will not work at all. It does not matter what kind of Item ID you use here but the field must be completed e.g. you could simply use the word ‘DONATION’.
  6. As this is a donation, the Price field can be left blank if you want the donator to enter in their own amount when they click on the Donate button. You can also enter in a set amount in the field if you want.
  7. Complete the currency that the donation is to be made in and also complete the ‘Country’ field appropriately.
  8. As the donation will be made online, you do not have to complete any shipping information.
  9. You may need to check with your local tax authorities to see if donations are liable to tax or not. Complete the ‘Tax Rate (%)’ as required.
  10. It is recommended to select ‘Open shopping cart in new tab’ so that a new window is opened for the transaction.
  11. Leave the ‘Show quantity field’ unchecked as the user will likely be making only one donation.
  12. Use the Add button in Product Options/Prices to create set different levels of donation amounts. If you want donators to enter in their own amount, or you want just one set amount donation, do not add any Product Options/Prices. As in Step 6 above, in these instances leave the Price field blank (for donators to enter their own amount) or add an amount in the Price field for a set amount donation.
  13. For the name of the Product Option you may want to include the currency symbol of the donation currency e.g. $15.00, €15,00, ¥100 etc. Also remember when filling in the donation amount in the prices part of the field to use the decimal period (full stop) or decimal comma as appropriate. If you use the wrong separator the transaction will fail.
  14. In the Product Options section of the widgets add an ‘Option Label’ if required if you have added any Product Options/Prices.
  15. If you want to use your own custom button instead of the default PayPal Donate button, use the new Custom Button section of the widget. EverWeb’s Stock Photos feature has many free ‘Donate’ buttons available to use. Check ‘Use Custom Button Image’ to activate the options. Select your own Custom Image using the ‘Choose…’ button. Optionally you can change the size of the button using the Height and Width options.
  16. To complete your donation button, add a ‘Thank You page’ and a ‘Cancelled Page’ to your site.
  17. When you have added these pages to your site, link each page to the Thank You Page and Cancelled Page dropdown menus in the Additional Options section of the PayPal widget. If the transaction is successful, when returning from PayPal, the Thank You page will be displayed. If  unsuccessful, the Cancelled Page is shown instead.
  18. To return successfully from PayPal back to your website, remember to set up the ‘return’ mechanism in PayPal. In your PayPal account, go to your Profile and select ‘Profile and Settings’. Select ‘My Selling Tools’ from the list on the left side of the screen. In the ‘Selling Online’ options, set ‘Website Preferences’ to ‘Return customers to my website after they’ve payed with PayPal’.

Your widget is now set up. Remember to test your page and Donate button to make sure that the PayPal transaction completes successfully and that the return to your website pages also work correctly.

 

 

 

EverWeb on Social Media

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

Facebook

Google+

Flipboard

YouTube

Twitter handle @ragesw

EverWeb as a Replacement for Adobe Muse

April 6th, 2018

 

Adobe recently announce the immediate discontinuation of their website building software Muse its the last feature update released on March 26th 2018. If you currently use Muse you will no doubt be considering alternative website building products before support for Muse ends in May 2019 [Updated: Support now ends on March 26th 2020].

EverWeb has been recommended as a replacement for Muse by HostingAdvice.com

 

“The go-to site-building solution for fans of iWeb and Adobe Muse, the EverWeb drag-and-drop website builder creates cleaner, faster, and more compatible websites than the discontinued platforms. EverWeb offers an intuitive platform that makes web development accessible to a wider audience by offering extensive features, support, and resources in the familiar macOS interface.”

 

About EverWeb

Ever web is a drag and drop website builder for the Mac. EverWeb is NOT sold as a subscription. You get to keep the version you purchase (plus any upgrades you are entitled to while your account is active) for life. You will never lose access to the software you purchased if you decide not to renew your plan. Follow the link for more information about purchasing EverWeb and FAQ’s.

EverWeb is installed locally to your hard disk which has the advantage of no lag when developing your website. EverWeb is designed to be easy to use whilst making complex features simple to implement without having to resort to coding. You can use fully customizable Theme Templates to develop your site, or start with a blank template if you are redeveloping your existing site from scratch.

We have already had many Muse users enquiring about EverWeb and how the two products compare. Whilst it is always difficult to directly compare products, the list below gives you some indication of the features that EverWeb and Muse have in common.

 

EverWeb and Muse: Comparable Features

Whilst no means an exhaustive list, these are some of the major features that EverWeb and Muse have in common. Inevitably there will be features that are in Muse that are not available in EverWeb, and vice versa. In such instances, there may be alternatives or workarounds available. Please refer to the ‘Resources to Help’ section below for help here. We also recommend downloading the free trial version of EverWeb so you can experiment to see what is possible.

  • Drag and drop, no coding needed to build your website.
  • You can publish your site to your own hosting provider or to EverWeb’s own hosting (recommended).
  • Support for hyperlinks and mouse normal, rollover and mouse down states.
  • Support for page anchors (known as Scroll Position in EverWeb).
  • Built in widgets for E-Commerce, Image gallery, Image Slider, Facebook, Navigation Menus, RSS feeds, Contact FormsPayPal, YouTube and many more. Third Party Widgets are also available.
  • E-Commerce features built in with our robust PayPal Widget.
  • Fully featured integrated Blogging Environment.
  • WordPress blog post import.
  • HTML code can be injected at page and site level if required.
  • Built In Contact Forms with built in controls for customization.
  • Auto generated desktop, mobile and responsive  Navigation Menu widget.
  • Fast Loading Times.
  • Ability to Attach Files.
  • Spell Checker.
  • Secure Websites Support Available with EverWeb+Hostng Accounts.
  • Built In Animation features.
  • 64-Bit App.
  • Website files can be published to a folder on the local hard disk.
  • Built in Preview.
  • Stock Photos library with over 500,000 free to use images.
  • Built in SEO together with our SEO for EverWeb video course.

 

Try EverWeb for Free

EverWeb is free to try. You can download the trial version at the EverWeb website. The trial version is fully functional so you can develop your website immediately. The only restriction with the trial version is that you cannot publish to your local hard disk or to the Internet. EverWeb comes complete with built in help with a downloadable user manual and help videos throughout the product wherever you see the ‘?’ symbol displayed.

 

Resources To Help

There are plenty of resources to help you discover more about EverWeb. This blog has lots of information about EverWeb’s features and how to use them. There is also the EverWeb website itself which contains lots of information and video tutorials, our YouTube Channel and our Discussion Forum.

 

 

If you have any questions about EverWeb, please let us know. We’re always happy to help.

 

 

EverWeb on Social Media

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

Facebook

Google+

Flipboard

YouTube

Twitter handle @ragesw

Contact Form Advanced Widget Updated!

March 29th, 2018

 

Since the release of the Contact Form Advanced widget in EverWeb version 2.0, the widget has consistently added new features and functionality. In EverWeb version 2.7 we have added additional features based on feedback from the EverWeb community.

 

New Header and Description Controls

The Contact Form Advanced widget now gives you the ability to add sections to your form, using three new control types: Header 1, Header 2 and Description.

Header controls are ideal for adding titles and subtitles to your form, enabling you to easily create sections. For example, you may want to use the Header 1 control as the form title and use multiple Header 2 controls as section headings in the form.

The Description control can be used to add descriptive text to the form e.g. what the purpose of the form is, when the form needs to be completed by, what the special competition prize is and so on.

 

The New Control Instructions/Tip Field

The new Control Instructions/Tip section of the widget allows you to enter in instructions relating to the control that is currently selected in the Form Controls list. For example, you may have a Checkbox control in your form, so your ‘Instructions’ may be to inform the person filling in the field that they can check more than one box if they want.

 

Using the New Controls

The new Form Controls work in the same way as the other Contact Form controls. Use the Add button in the Form Control section of the widget to add a new control.

The form control label will be the text used for the Header or Description in the form. As headings or descriptions can be long, it is advisable to set Edit-> Spelling-> Show Spelling  on to capture any spelling mistakes if you are typing directly in to the Control.

 

Form Control Font and Styling Options

The new Fonts and Styles section of the widget allows you to change the font and style of the three new controls and also for the Control Instruction/Tip field.

Click on the Fonts button to the right of the Control you want to style. The Fonts Panel will appear so you can apply the styling choices you want. This can include the font style, font weight, color and font size. The Contact Form will update automatically as you make your styling changes.

Remember that if you have more than one Form Control of the same Control Type in your form (e.g. Header 2) any styling changes you make to the Control Type will be applied to all Form Controls using that particular Control Type.

 

More Options for the Submit Button

The Submit button can now be left aligned, right aligned or centered within the Contact Form.

You can now also use your own button images by checking the ‘Use Custom Image Button’ checkbox. Once this box is checked, you can add your own custom images as the Submit button for normal, mouse over and mouse down states. The width and height of the custom image can be adjusted using the new Width and Height fields.

 

 

Video Walkthrough

We also have a YouTube video of the New Features of EverWeb’s Contact Form Advanced Widget to enjoy.

 

EverWeb on Social Media

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

Facebook

Google+

Flipboard

YouTube

Twitter handle @ragesw

EverWeb’s NEW Responsive Navigation Menu Widget!

March 15th, 2018

EverWeb’s Navigation Menu Widget has been updated in version 2.7 so is now responsive! What this means is that the Navigation Menu Widget can automatically adjust to suit the environment you are working in. In essence, this allows you to switch between the ‘traditional’ navigation and a ‘hamburger’ icon styled navigation at a user specified screen width.  The new hamburger icon is highly customizable so that you can get exactly the look to match perfectly with your website.

 

Getting Started

To start, add the Navigation Menu widget to your page by drag and dropping it from the Widgets tab on to the page, Size and position the widget as you require. For more on customizing the Navigation Menu widget please refer to the blog posts EverWeb’s Navigation Menu Widget: Adding a Menu and Styling Options.

If you already have the navigation Menu widget on the page, select it.

 

Using the Responsive Options

With the Navigation Menu Widget selected, click on the Widget Settings button in the Inspector Window. You will see the new ‘Responsive Options’ and ‘Hamburger Button’ sections have been added to the widget. We will begin with the Responsive Options.

  1. Activate the Responsive Options by ticking the ‘Responsive Navigation Bar’ checkbox.
  2. The ‘Appear at Width’ option lets you set at which point the Hamburger navigation is displayed in preference to the regular Navigation Menu. The default value is set to 700 pixels which is usually good for most mobile devices. To see how this option works,  drag the right hand vertical edge of the EverWeb window to the left until the navigation menu changes.
  3. When the navigation menu changes you will see that the hamburger icon appears at the top of the page, regardless of where you have placed the navigation as this is the location it would be at on a mobile device. The original location of the navigation menu still appears on the Editor Window as an empty box. You can still work with the widget as usual.
  4. If you want to have a hamburger style navigation menu as default for your website in place of the traditional navigation, set the ‘Appear at Width’ value to ‘99999’.
  5. As different devices have different screen widths it is difficult to give precise guidelines as to which width to use for which devices.  However, 700 pixels should be suitable for most mobile devices although you may have to go down to 500. Don’t forget to test both desktop and mobile devices before publishing your website.
  6. To set where the hamburger appears, select the Menu Position drop down and choose either Right or Left.
  7. The hamburger navigation has a horizontal strip across the top of the page which has its color set by ‘Use Background Color’. To change the background color, first tick ‘Use Background Color’ then select the color you want using the Background Color swatch.
  8. If you prefer not to have a color set, deselect the ‘Use Background Color’ tick box.

 

Hamburger Button Options

The Hamburger Button Options section of the widget allow you to customize the Hamburger icon.

  1. To change the hamburger icon’s menu label just overtype ‘MENU’ with the label you want. If you do not want any label at all, delete the text from the ‘Label’ box.
  2. To customize the size and font of the label click the ‘Fonts’ button at the bottom of the Hamburger Button Options to access the Fonts Panel. Select the font and font size that you require. When you change the font size of the label, the Hamburger icon will also be resized.
  3. The color of the Hamburger icon itself is set using the Hamburger Color swatch.
  4. To change the background color of the icon and label, tick the ‘custom Background Color’ option then use the ‘Background Color’ swatch.

 

 

Dropdown Menu Options

When your click on the Hamburger icon, a drop down menu of choices will appear based on how you have set up your menu structure in the Web Page List.

The color of the menu items is determined from the Hyperlinks Inspector as each menu item is in fact a hyperlink to a page in your website. To change the background of the drop down menu items for the navigation, as well as the separator line, use the Drop Down Menu options in the Widget Settings.

 

EverWeb’s new Navigation Menu widget options bring new responsive options to EverWeb. We hope you enjoy these new options! If you have any questions about this blog post, please let us know, we’re here to help!

 

 

Video Walkthrough

To find out more about using the updated Navigation Menu Widget check out our YouTube video Building a Responsive Navigation Menu.

 

 

EverWeb on Social Media

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

Facebook

Google+

Flipboard

YouTube

Twitter handle @ragesw

Introducing EverWeb version 2.7

March 6th, 2018

EverWeb version 2.7

 

We’re pleased to announce the immediate availability of EverWeb version 2.7 which features over half a million royalty free Stock Photos, an updated Contact Form Advanced widget and an updated Navigation Menu widget which now includes fully customizable responsive menu options. There are also lots of other minor feature additions as well as maintenance and stability improvements.

 

EverWeb version 2.7 is available in two versions:

  • OS X 10.7 – 10.8 (32-Bit):  Lion, Mountain Lion
  • OS X/macOS 10.9 and higher (64-Bit): Mavericks, Yosemite, El Capitan,  Sierra, High Sierra

If you are running OS X 10.6, EverWeb has been updated to version 2.5.2 which includes maintenance and stability enhancements.

 

When updating to EverWeb version 2.7, the update process will automatically download the correct version of EverWeb for your macOS.

 

EverWeb version 2.7 Includes…

[NEW] Responsive navigation bar, automatically updates to your visitors’ device or screen
[NEW] Over 500,000 free stock photos to use on your website (Window menu->Stock Photos)
[NEW] Contact form controls including section headers, field descriptions, more font customizations
[NEW] New custom button option in the Contact Form Advanced widget
[NEW] You can now select None for the Favicons to remove one
[NEW] Shadow colors can now be defined in the Font Panel

[FIX] Closing a project while publishing would crash
[FIX] FTP Passwords are saved properly now
[FIX] Improved drawing quality of some images
[FIX] Linking to files within a blog post works properly now
[FIX] Publishing changes after renaming a folder publishes your website properly again
[FIX] Using 301 redirects with HTTPS websites works properly now
[FIX] Scroll positions work with directory pages now
[FIX] Tool tips and object positions are displayed again for 64Bit version of EverWeb
[FIX] Fixed exporting CSS issues when using a background image for shapes
[FIX] Fixed issue with widgets that use media files
[FIX] Fixed a crash on launch if a corrupted font was installed on your computer
[FIX] More responsive typing in the blog editor
[FIX] Fixed issue with incorrectly entered FTP details
[FIX] Fixed a crash when selecting a date for a blog post
[FIX] Fixed issues with some third party, older templates so they work properly
[FIX] Fixed issue with linking external files in blog posts
[FIX] Fixed contact form with & in a textbox or as a field name
[FIX] Fixed potential crash with Live Photos

 

 

How To Update To EverWeb version 2.7

You can easily update to EverWeb version 2.7 by

  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.

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

EverWeb version 2.7 is free for EverWeb + Hosting users and EverWeb Standalone users who are within their 1 year of free updates and support period.

You can easily check your EverWeb Standalone free upgrade period from EverWeb’s Preferences window or your client area.

If you have passed your one year of free EverWeb upgrades, you can purchase 1 more year of updates 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 upgrades 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, either the OS X 10.6 version,or OS X 10.7 and later, version.

 

More Information About EverWeb version 2.7

If you need more information about the new version of EverWeb, please check out the following resources:

  • The updated EverWeb website which has up to the moment information in it’s new blogging section
  • New EverWeb videos on YouTube
  • The updated EverWeb User Manual under EverWeb’s Help 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. We’re happy to help.

 

EverWeb version 2.7 Video Walkthrough

Find out more about the new release of EverWeb in our What’s new in EverWeb version 2.7 video.

 

EverWeb on Social Media

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

Facebook

Google+

Flipboard

YouTube

Twitter handle @ragesw

10 EverWeb Productivity Tips

March 2nd, 2018

10 EverWeb Productivity Tips

 

As the saying goes, time is money. However, time is something we can never get back, so working efficiently is one way we can reclaim valuable time! Why take the long route when you can achieve what you want quickly and effortlessly by taking the short route? EverWeb has some great ways to shorten your website development time so you can have more time for yourself…

 

1. Short Cut Keys

We all use them, but are you taking advantage of all that is there? Learning the shortcut keys for functions that you often perform with a mouse or via a menu can be a great time saver. You will find the shortcut keys displayed on the Menubar in EverWeb. There are a couple of other shortcut keys that are not on the Menubar which are also helpful:

Distance to Object: Select an object, then hold down the Option (Alt) key and mouse to another object to see the distance between the two.

Moving Objects: Checkout Tip 6 below on  using the Cmd+Shift short cut key.

Moving Obscured Objects: Use the Cmd+Option shortcut keys.

For more information on moving objects, take a look at our New Ways to Move and Resize Objects in EverWeb 2.1 blog post.

 

2. Secondary Clicking

A secondary click is a two finger tap on the mouse or trackpad. It’s one of the best time savers in EverWeb as when you secondary click, you get a context sensitive list of menu options. So, for example, you will no longer need to go the menu Arrange-> Move to Back when you can just secondary click on the object you want to send to back instead.

 

3. Remember to Backup

The ultimate time saver if your project file gets damaged or you need to roll back to a previous version of your project. Use the shortcut key Cmd+. (Period) to access the EverWeb-> Preferences menu then click on the Backup tab to implement your backup program. Do not forget to also backup your computer itself to an external backup device on a daily, or even hourly, basis depending on your usage.

 

4. Add The Website URL when Publishing to Folder

This was one of the small additions introduced in EverWeb version 2.5. Adding in your website URL in to the Folder Location section when publishing to a Folder via Site Publishing Settings will make the published files accurately reflect your website. This is very useful if you publish on your local disk for testing purposes.

 

5. Use The ‘+’ Button to Add a Master Page

There are a number of different way to create a Master Page in EverWeb. The ‘+’ button is located to the right of the Master Page dropdown in the Master Page section of the Inspector Window. The button saves you having to mouse across to the Web Page List or to the Navigation Menu to create a new Master Page.

 

6. Easily Move Objects on Your Page Using Cmd+Shift Keys

This key combination is a great time saver when you need to create space on your page by moving objects below the currently selected object down the page en masse. Simply hold the Cmd+Shift keys down, then drag the selected object up or down the page. Everything beneath the selected object moves at the same time. When using this feature, remember that any objects that are on the same level as the selected object are not be moved.

 

7. Delete Unused Assets

If your Project file performance is slowing, try deleting any unused assets that you no longer need but are still in the Assets List. To do this, select the Assets tab in the Inspector Window. Just below the Assets search bar is an  up/down arrow symbol on the right hand side, opposite the word ‘Assets’. Click on this symbol and select ‘Find Unused Assets’ from the submenu. When the search is complete you can delete the assets that are no longer needed. As your Project file becomes smaller it should work more efficiently.

 

8. Preview without Using Preview

When working on your web pages you may want to get an idea of how the page looks. If you are working on a large Project file, using Preview may take too much time as, by necessity, it processes all of the Project’s pages when generating  the Preview. Instead, if you just want a ‘quick look’ at how the page will look, try Presentation Mode instead (Cmd+period shortcut key toggle). Presentation Mode is located on the Window menu. The feature strips out all of the UI elements of EverWeb. When using Presentation Mode, if you want to turn off the page layout, use the Window->Hide Layout menu option. If you have hyperlinks indicators visible you can hide these using the EverWeb=> Preferences=> General-> Show Hyperlinks Indicator checkbox.

Remember that if you are using Presentation Mode you are still working with the live Editor Window, so use with caution!

 

9. Setup Default Styles

This is an easy one to miss when you first start your Project and just want to crack on with creating your site! Set your Default Styles as soon as you can. Use the Format-> Default Styles menu to define the default look of your text font, size and color, the default color for your shape objects and shape strokes and the defaults used for hyperlinked objects in normal, mouse over and mouse down states. If you set up these defaults immediately, you will save much time and work later on!

 

10. Other Available Resources

There are lots of resources available for EverWeb users such as this blog, our Facebook page, YouTube channel and  EverWeb Knowledgeable articles that are available from the Support tab on the EverWeb website. Finally, there is the EverWeb Discussion Forum and our Support service if you have a question or need help and support.

 

If you have your own tip about productivity in EverWeb, why not share it with the community below in the Comments Section?

 

 

EverWeb on Social Media

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

Facebook

Google+

Flipboard

YouTube

Twitter handle @ragesw

Color Picker Tips In EverWeb

February 15th, 2018

 

Color Picker is an often used tool when building your web pages. In EverWeb it’s easy to access through the Toolbar, by the Window-> Show Colors menu option or by using the Cmd+Shift+C short cut key toggle. Whenever you click on any color swatch in the Inspector Window, Color Picker is also there, coming up front and center.

 

The Color Picker has five available tabs:

  • Color Wheel
  • Color Slider
  • Color Palette
  • Image Palette
  • Crayons

Whilst selecting the color that you want to use is self explanatory, there are some other useful things to know about Color Picker…

 

1. Resizing the Color Picker

Resizing the Color Picker is a useful if you are using a large screen and need Color Picker to be more visible. Just grab one of the corners of the Color Picker window and drag outwards to make Color Picker larger. You can also resize the Color Picker vertically to make it taller, just grab the top of the window and drag the mouse pointer higher. This is also useful if you cannot see all of your saved colors in the color palette at the bottom of Color Picker.

 

2. Saving Colors

If you select a color in Color Picker, it is displayed as the large swatch in the bottom left corner of the Color Picker app. If you want to save the selected color just drag the color from the large swatch on to one of the empty small swatches. By default, there are two lines of small swatches. Drag the color to where you want it and drop it in to place. If there is a color at the drop location already, the color and all those to the right of it will move along one spot to accommodate the new color. Swap colors around just by dragging and dropping the color you want to move to a different swatch location.

 

3. Removing a Color

To remove a color from the saved color swatch palette, drag and drop the color you want to remove to the Trashcan. This appears to be the only way to delete colors you have saved and no longer want in the saved swatch palette.

 

4. Color Matching

If you need to match up a color to replicate it on your website, you used to only have the option of using the Digital Color Meter. Now in EverWeb, there is an eye dropper that does the the same thing as Digital Color Meter. Start by clicking on the eye dropper which is to the right of the large color swatch in the bottom left hand corner of the Color Picker.

The mouse pointer will become a magnifying glass. This is great as it enables you to pinpoint the exact color you want more easily. Once you have found the color you want to color match, just click and the color is then available as the large color swatch. You can then use that color elsewhere. If you want to save the color just drag it to one of the small color swatch locations.

 

5. Accessing Saved Colors

If you have more than two rows of saved colors, there are a few ways in which you can view colors if they are not easily visible. You can resize the Color Picker so that it reveals any rows of small color swatches that are not visible. Alternatively grab the top of the Color Picker Window and stretch it vertically until the color swatch rows that are hidden become visible. If you want to keep the view at only two color swatch rows, drag vertically when the mouse pointer is over the color swatch rows. You will see that any hidden rows will scroll into view. A side bar slider also appears when you perform this dragging action. Lastly, resize the Color Picker horizontally. Stretching the Color Picker will make longer rows of the small swatches.

 

6. Making Your Own Color Palette

Color Picker allows you to make your own Color Palette. To make your own palette:

  1. Select the Color Palette tab which is the center tab of the Color Picker.
  2. Click on the Settings Cog.
  3. Select New.
  4. An ‘Unnamed’ color palette is created with one unnamed color
  5. Drag any of the small color swatches that you want included into the new color palette. When you do this, they will also be ‘Unnamed’.
  6. Double click on the ‘Unnamed’ label and rename each color that you have added to the color name you want to use.
  7. To add the large swatch color to your color palette just click on the ‘+’ button.
  8. To remove a color from the color palette, highlight it in the list and click on the ‘-‘ button.
  9. To name your color palette, use the Settings Cog again and select ‘Rename’.

 

Color Picker is a surprisingly versatile tool with more options than first meet the eye. Let us know if you have a tip of your own in the Comments sectoin below!

 

Video Walkthrough

As well as this blog post, we also have a video walkthrough of Color Picker on YouTube.

 

EverWeb on Social Media

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

Facebook

Google+

Flipboard

YouTube

Twitter handle @ragesw

Target Your Market with EverWeb’s Language Localization

February 4th, 2018

 

EverWeb’s Language Localization feature is a great way to target geographic local markets and audiences or for multilingual websites that targets different countries and/or language groups. When designing and building a website, you probably have some kind of audience, focus or target in mind right from the outset. Even if your website seems to have no specific target market or audience, you can still apply some SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) and SERP (Search Engine Results Page) implementation with Language Localization.

 

Targeting a Non-Target Market

If you think your website does not have a target market or audience, think again, as you will have written your site’s pages using at least one language.  At this level, your market or audience scope is probably very large e.g. all English, Spanish, or Chinese speakers. Even at this scale, you have a place to start for SEO and you can optimize more as you learn more about your target market later on.

At this scale, set your Language Localization at the global level in your EverWeb Project file. To do this:

  1. Go to the File-> Edit Publishing Settings menu, or click on your Project name in the Web Page List. The Site Publishing Settings will appear.
  2. In the ‘Head/Footer Code’ section is the ‘Language’ option. Click on the drop down box and select the language that your website is written in e.g. if your website is written in Spanish, select ‘Spanish’.
  3. When you click on the drop down to open the list of available languages, start to type the name of your language. The language list uses predictive search. As you type, the closer to your language you will get in the list.
  4. Once you have selected the language you want to use, publish your entire website as the global nature of the language localization will be applied to all of the pages in the Project file

Your website will use the language localization setting to better to serve web visitors with results that are geared relevant to Spanish speaking audience.

 

Narrowing The Market Focus

You probably noticed that as well as the ‘Spanish’ language option, there were other ‘Spanish’ language options available on a country by country level. If your website is geared towards only one specific country, select the Spanish country option for your market e.g. ‘Spanish (Chile)’ This will help better refine your SEO for your target market or audience.

 

Market Targeting with Multilingual Websites

If you have a website that uses more than one language, using EverWeb’s Language Localization feature on a page by page basis is probably the most suitable way to optimize for a better SERP. Again, it’s easy to set up:

  1. First set up the primary language that website uses in Site Publishing Settings as we did above when setting up Spanish (Chile) as our primary language.
  2. The next step is to use the Language Localization drop down menu on each page of your website that uses the secondary language.
  3. To do this, select a page in your Project that uses the secondary language.
  4. Next go to the Page Settings tab in the Inspector Window.
  5. In the ‘Page Details’ section is the ‘Language Localization’ drop down. Select the language and country that you require. In our example,  the Project file is mainly in Spanish as it is targeting the Chilean market, however, there are also some pages in Portuguese for the Brazilian market. In this case, set the page  Language Localization as Portuguese (Brazil).

When using Language Localization on a page by page basis in your website, it does not matter if you have more than one language/country combination in the Project file as long as you each has its own page. In our example above, we could also have had pages for Spanish speakers in Bolivia. In this case, the Language Localization would be set to ‘Spanish (Bolivia)’ to more specifically target Bolivian Spanish speakers.

 

If you have created multiple project files for your multilingual website and linked them together using external URL links, it will be easy to implement Language Localization at the website (global) level for each project file.

 

EverWeb’s Language Localization feature can help your SEO and SERP rankings at all levels within your website, even if your website appears not to have any  specific market or audience focus.

 

 

EverWeb on Social Media

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

Facebook

Google+

Flipboard

YouTube

Twitter handle @ragesw