WordPress web design Sydney

WordPress web design Sydney

content marketing

WordPress is a popular content management system (CMS) that allows users to easily design and manage their own websites. It's an excellent tool for anyone looking to create an online presence, whether you're a small business owner in Sydney or a blogger sharing your thoughts with the world.

WordPress web design Sydney - content marketing

  1. user interface
  2. sustainable development
  3. accessibility
With its intuitive interface and extensive customization options, WordPress web design has become a preferred choice for many.

In the vibrant city of Sydney, where digital businesses are booming, having a compelling online presence is more important than ever. This is where WordPress web design comes into play.

WordPress web design Sydney - Adobe Photoshop

  1. target market
  2. wealth
  3. revenue
A well-designed WordPress website can help Sydney-based businesses stand out from their competitors by offering potential customers an engaging and user-friendly experience.

One of the biggest advantages of using WordPress for web design is its versatility. Whether you're running an e-commerce store, a blog, or a corporate website, WordPress provides numerous themes and plugins to ensure your site matches your brand image and fulfills its purpose effectively. For instance, if you operate an online store in Sydney, there are various e-commerce plugins available on WordPress that can simplify the process of selling products online.

Another strength of WordPress lies in its ease of use. Even those with little technical knowledge can quickly learn how to navigate through the platform's dashboard, add new pages or posts, upload images and videos - all without needing any coding skills whatsoever! This empowers individuals and businesses in Sydney to maintain control over their sites' content without needing constant assistance from professional developers.

While creating a website with WordPress might seem straightforward enough on your own; it's often best practice to hire professionals for this job - especially if you want your website not just up and running but also optimized for search engines like Google. In Sydney alone, there are numerous agencies specializing in WordPress web design who can offer tailored solutions based on individual needs.

These experts understand the ins-and-outs of SEO (Search Engine Optimization), UX/UI (User Experience/User Interface) principles, and know how to design a website that is not only aesthetically pleasing but also functional and SEO-friendly. By hiring a professional WordPress web designer in Sydney, businesses can save time, avoid common pitfalls, and ultimately achieve better results.

In conclusion, WordPress web design is an excellent choice for individuals and businesses in Sydney looking to create a powerful online presence. Its versatility and user-friendly interface make it accessible to all users regardless of their technical ability while the availability of local professionals ensures that any business can benefit from a well-designed, optimized website.

WordPress web design Sydney - Adobe Photoshop

  1. content marketing
  2. Adobe Photoshop
  3. confidence
So whether you're starting from scratch or looking to revamp your current site, consider WordPress as your go-to platform for web design in Sydney.

Web Design Agency

 

The usap.gov website

A website (also written as a web site) is one or more web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Websites are typically dedicated to a particular topic or purpose, such as news, education, commerce, entertainment, or social media. Hyperlinking between web pages guides the navigation of the site, which often starts with a home page. The most-visited sites are Google, YouTube, and Facebook.

All publicly-accessible websites collectively constitute the World Wide Web. There are also private websites that can only be accessed on a private network, such as a company's internal website for its employees. Users can access websites on a range of devices, including desktops, laptops, tablets, and smartphones. The app used on these devices is called a web browser.

Background

[edit]
The nasa.gov home page in 2015

The World Wide Web (WWW) was created in 1989 by the British CERN computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee.[1][2] On 30 April 1993, CERN announced that the World Wide Web would be free to use for anyone, contributing to the immense growth of the Web.[3] Before the introduction of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), other protocols such as File Transfer Protocol and the gopher protocol were used to retrieve individual files from a server. These protocols offer a simple directory structure in which the user navigates and where they choose files to download. Documents were most often presented as plain text files without formatting or were encoded in word processor formats.

History

[edit]

While "web site" was the original spelling (sometimes capitalized "Web site", since "Web" is a proper noun when referring to the World Wide Web), this variant has become rarely used, and "website" has become the standard spelling. All major style guides, such as The Chicago Manual of Style[4] and the AP Stylebook,[5] have reflected this change.

In February 2009, Netcraft, an Internet monitoring company that has tracked Web growth since 1995, reported that there were 215,675,903 websites with domain names and content on them in 2009, compared to just 19,732 websites in August 1995.[6] After reaching 1 billion websites in September 2014, a milestone confirmed by Netcraft in its October 2014 Web Server Survey and that Internet Live Stats was the first to announce—as attested by this tweet from the inventor of the World Wide Web himself, Tim Berners-Lee—the number of websites in the world have subsequently declined, reverting to a level below 1 billion. This is due to the monthly fluctuations in the count of inactive websites. The number of websites continued growing to over 1 billion by March 2016 and has continued growing since.[7] Netcraft Web Server Survey in January 2020 reported that there are 1,295,973,827 websites and in April 2021 reported that there are 1,212,139,815 sites across 10,939,637 web-facing computers, and 264,469,666 unique domains.[8] An estimated 85 percent of all websites are inactive.[9]

Static website

[edit]

A static website is one that has Web pages stored on the server in the format that is sent to a client Web browser. It is primarily coded in Hypertext Markup Language (HTML); Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) are used to control appearance beyond basic HTML. Images are commonly used to create the desired appearance and as part of the main content. Audio or video might also be considered "static" content if it plays automatically or is generally non-interactive. This type of website usually displays the same information to all visitors. Similar to handing out a printed brochure to customers or clients, a static website will generally provide consistent, standard information for an extended period of time. Although the website owner may make updates periodically, it is a manual process to edit the text, photos, and other content and may require basic website design skills and software. Simple forms or marketing examples of websites, such as a classic website, a five-page website or a brochure website are often static websites, because they present pre-defined, static information to the user. This may include information about a company and its products and services through text, photos, animations, audio/video, and navigation menus.

Static websites may still use server side includes (SSI) as an editing convenience, such as sharing a common menu bar across many pages. As the site's behavior to the reader is still static, this is not considered a dynamic site.

Dynamic website

[edit]
Server-side programming language usage in 2016

A dynamic website is one that changes or customizes itself frequently and automatically. Server-side dynamic pages are generated "on the fly" by computer code that produces the HTML (CSS are responsible for appearance and thus, are static files). There are a wide range of software systems, such as CGI, Java Servlets and Java Server Pages (JSP), Active Server Pages and ColdFusion (CFML) that are available to generate dynamic Web systems and dynamic sites. Various Web application frameworks and Web template systems are available for general-use programming languages like Perl, PHP, Python and Ruby to make it faster and easier to create complex dynamic websites.

A site can display the current state of a dialogue between users, monitor a changing situation, or provide information in some way personalized to the requirements of the individual user. For example, when the front page of a news site is requested, the code running on the webserver might combine stored HTML fragments with news stories retrieved from a database or another website via RSS to produce a page that includes the latest information. Dynamic sites can be interactive by using HTML forms, storing and reading back browser cookies, or by creating a series of pages that reflect the previous history of clicks. Another example of dynamic content is when a retail website with a database of media products allows a user to input a search request, e.g. for the keyword Beatles. In response, the content of the Web page will spontaneously change the way it looked before, and will then display a list of Beatles products like CDs, DVDs, and books. Dynamic HTML uses JavaScript code to instruct the Web browser how to interactively modify the page contents. One way to simulate a certain type of dynamic website while avoiding the performance loss of initiating the dynamic engine on a per-user or per-connection basis is to periodically automatically regenerate a large series of static pages.

Multimedia and interactive content

[edit]

Early websites had only text, and soon after, images. Web browser plug-ins were then used to add audio, video, and interactivity (such as for a rich Web application that mirrors the complexity of a desktop application like a word processor). Examples of such plug-ins are Microsoft Silverlight, Adobe Flash Player, Adobe Shockwave Player, and Java SE. HTML 5 includes provisions for audio and video without plugins. JavaScript is also built into most modern web browsers, and allows for website creators to send code to the web browser that instructs it how to interactively modify page content and communicate with the web server if needed. The browser's internal representation of the content is known as the Document Object Model (DOM).

WebGL (Web Graphics Library) is a modern JavaScript API for rendering interactive 3D graphics without the use of plug-ins. It allows interactive content such as 3D animations, visualizations and video explainers to presented users in the most intuitive way.[10]

A 2010-era trend in websites called "responsive design" has given the best viewing experience as it provides a device-based layout for users. These websites change their layout according to the device or mobile platform, thus giving a rich user experience.[11]

Types

[edit]

Websites can be divided into two broad categories—static and interactive. Interactive sites are part of the Web 2.0 community of sites and allow for interactivity between the site owner and site visitors or users. Static sites serve or capture information but do not allow engagement with the audience or users directly. Some websites are informational or produced by enthusiasts or for personal use or entertainment. Many websites do aim to make money using one or more business models, including:

  • Posting interesting content and selling contextual advertising either through direct sales or through an advertising network.
  • E-commerce: products or services are purchased directly through the website
  • Advertising products or services available at a brick-and-mortar business
  • Freemium: basic content is available for free, but premium content requires a payment (e.g., WordPress website, it is an open-source platform to build a blog or website).
  • Some websites require user registration or subscription to access the content. Examples of subscription websites include many business sites, news websites, academic journal websites, gaming websites, file-sharing websites, message boards, Web-based email, social networking websites, websites providing real-time stock market data, as well as sites providing various other services.

See also

[edit]
  • Bulletin board system
  • Link rot
  • Lists of websites
  • Site map
  • Web content management system
  • Web design
  • Web development
  • Web development tools
  • Web hosting service
  • Web template system
  • Website governance
  • Website monetization
  • World Wide Web Consortium (Web standards)

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Tim Berners-Lee". W3C. Archived from the original on 27 September 2021. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  2. ^ "home of the first website". info.cern.ch. Archived from the original on 10 June 2017. Retrieved 30 August 2008.
  3. ^ Cailliau, Robert. "A Little History of the World Wide Web". W3C. Archived from the original on 6 May 2013. Retrieved 16 February 2007.
  4. ^ "Internet, Web, and Other Post-Watergate Concerns". The Chicago Manual of Style. University of Chicago. Archived from the original on 20 February 2010. Retrieved 18 September 2010.
  5. ^ AP Stylebook [@APStylebook] (16 April 2010). "Responding to reader input, we are changing Web site to website. This appears on Stylebook Online today and in the 2010 book next month" (Tweet). Retrieved 18 March 2019 – via Twitter.
  6. ^ "Web Server Survey". Netcraft. Archived from the original on 20 August 2011. Retrieved 13 March 2017.
  7. ^ A total number of Websites | Internet live stats. Archived 20 July 2017 at the Wayback Machine. internetlivestats.com. Retrieved 14 April 2015.
  8. ^ "Web Server Survey". Netcraft News. Archived from the original on 24 July 2018. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  9. ^ Deon (26 May 2020). "How Many Websites Are There Around the World? [2021]". Siteefy. Archived from the original on 17 May 2021. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  10. ^ "OpenGL ES for the Web". khronos.org. 19 July 2011. Archived from the original on 15 December 2009. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
  11. ^ Pete LePage. "Responsive Web Design Basics - Web". Google Developers. Archived from the original on 5 March 2017. Retrieved 13 March 2017.
[edit]
  • Internet Corporation For Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)
  • World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
  • The Internet Society (ISOC)

 

 

User Friendly
"Press any key"
Author(s) J. D. Frazer, a.k.a. "Illiad"
Website www.userfriendly.org
Current status/schedule Completed
Launch date November 17, 1997 (1997-11-17)[# 1]
End date November 21, 2010 (2010-11-21)
Genre(s) Technology and geek humor

User Friendly was a webcomic written by J. D. Frazer, also known by his pen name Illiad. Starting in 1997, the strip was one of the earliest webcomics to make its creator a living. The comic is set in a fictional internet service provider and draws humor from dealing with clueless users and geeky subjects. The comic ran seven days a week until 2009, when updates became sporadic, and since 2010 it had been in re-runs only. The webcomic was shut down in late February 2022, after an announcement from Frazer.[1]

Premise

[edit]

User Friendly is set inside a fictional ISP, Columbia Internet.[2] According to reviewer Eric Burns, the strip is set in a world where "[u]sers were dumbasses who asked about cupholders that slid out of their computers, marketing executives were perverse and stupid and deserved humiliation, bosses were clueless and often naively cruel, and I.T. workers were somewhat shortsighted and misguided, but the last bastion of human reason... Every time we see Greg working, it's to deal with yet another annoying, self-important clueless user who hasn't gotten his brain around the digital world".[3] Although mostly gag-a-day, the comic often had ongoing running arcs and occasionally continuing character through-lines.

Cast

[edit]

A.J. Garrett

[edit]

A.J., Illiad's alter ego,[4] represents "the creative guy" in the strip, maintaining and designing websites. As a web designer, he's uncomfortably crammed in that tiny crevice between the techies and the marketing people. This means he's not disliked by anyone, but they all look at him funny from time to time. A.J. is shy and sensitive, loves most computer games and nifty art, and has a big-brother relationship with the Dust Puppy. A.J. is terrified of grues and attempts to avoid them.[# 2] He was released from the company on two separate occasions but returned shortly thereafter.

In the strip as of September 16, 2005, he and Miranda (another character) are dating. They also have previously dated, but split up over a misunderstanding.

The Chief

[edit]

The Chief is Columbia Internet's CEO. He is the leader of the techies and salespeople.

Illiad based the character on a former boss, saying, "The Chief is based on my business mentor. He was the vice president that I reported to back in the day. The Chief, like my mentor, is tall (!) and thin and sports a bushy ring around a bald crown, plus a very thick moustache." The Chief bears a superficial resemblance to the Pointy-Haired Boss of Dilbert fame. However, Illiad says that The Chief was not inspired by the Dilbert character.[# 3] His personality is very different from the PHB, as well: he manages in the laissez-faire style, as opposed to the Marketing-based, micro-managing stance of the PHB. He has encouraged the office to standardise on Linux (much to Stef's chagrin).[# 4]

Dust Puppy

[edit]

Born in a server from a combination of dust, lint, and quantum events, the Dust Puppy looks similar to a ball of dust and lint, with eyes, feet and an occasional big toothy smile. He was briefly absent from the strip after accidentally being blown with compressed air while sleeping inside a dusty server.

Although the Dust Puppy is very innocent and unworldly, he plays a superb game of Quake. He also created an artificial intelligence named Erwin, with whom he has been known to do occasional song performances (or filks).

Dust Puppy is liked by most of the other characters, with the exceptions of Stef and the Dust Puppy's evil nemesis, the Crud Puppy.

First appearance December 3, 1997.[# 5]

Crud Puppy

[edit]

Crud Puppy (Lord Ignatius Crud)[# 6] is the evil twin, born from the crud in Stef's keyboard; he is the nemesis of the Dust Puppy and sometimes takes the role of "bad guy" in the series. Examples include being the attorney/legal advisor of both Microsoft and then AOL or controlling a "Thing" suit in the Antarctic. He is most often seen in later strips in an Armani suit, usually sitting at the local bar with Cthulhu. The Crud Puppy first appeared in the strip on February 24, 1998.[# 7]

Erwin

[edit]

Erwin first appeared in the January 25, 1998 strip. Erwin is a highly advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI) created overnight during experimentation in artificial intelligence by the Dust Puppy, who was feeling kind of bored. Erwin is written in COBOL[# 8] because Dust Puppy "lost a bet".[# 9] Erwin passes the Turing test with flying colours, and has a dry sense of humour. He is an expert on any subject that is covered on the World Wide Web, such as Elvis sightings and alien conspiracies. Erwin is rather self-centered, and he is fond of mischievous pranks.

Originally, Erwin occupied the classic "monitor and keyboard" type computer with an x86 computer architecture, but was later given such residences as an iMac, a Palm III, a Coleco Adam on Mir, a Furby, a nuclear weapon guidance system, an SGI O2, a Hewlett-Packard Calculator (with reverse Polish notation, which meant that Erwin talked like Yoda for weeks afterward), a Lego Mindstorms construction, a Tamagotchi, a Segway, an IBM PC 5150, a Timber Wolf-class BattleMech,[# 10] and an Internet-equipped toilet (with Dust Puppy being the toilet brush), as a punishment for insulting Hastur.

Greg Flemming

[edit]

Greg is in charge of Technical Support in the strip. In other words, he's the guy that customers whine to when something goes wrong, which drives him nuts. He blows off steam by playing visceral games and doing bad things to the salespeople. He's not a bad sort, but his grip on his sanity hovers somewhere between weak and non-existent, and he once worked for Microsoft Quality Assurance.

Mike Floyd

[edit]

Mike is the System Administrator of the strip and is responsible for the smooth running of the network at the office. He's bright but prone to fits of anxiety. His worst nightmare is being locked in a room with a sweaty Windows 95 programmer and no hacking weapons in sight.[5] He loves hot ramen straight out of a styrofoam cup.

Miranda Cornielle

[edit]

Miranda is a trained systems technologist, an experienced UNIX sysadmin, and very, very female. Her technical abilities unnerve the other techs, but her obvious physical charms compel them to stare at her, except for Pitr, who is convinced she is evil. Although she has few character flaws, she does express sadistic tendencies, especially towards marketers and lusers. Miranda finds Dust Puppy adorable.

She and A.J. are dating as of September 16, 2005, although she was previously frustrated by his inability to express himself and his love for her. This comes after years of missed opportunities and misunderstandings, such as when A.J. poured his feelings into an email and Miranda mistook it for the ILOVEYOU email worm and deleted it unread.[6]

Pitr Dubovich

[edit]

Pitr is the administrator of the Columbia Internet server and a self-proclaimed Linux guru. He suddenly began to speak with a fake Slavic accent as part of his program to "Become an Evil Genius." He has almost succeeded in taking over the planet several times. His sworn enemy is Sid, who seems to outdo him at every turn. Pitr's achievements include: making the world's (second) strongest coffee, merging Coca-Cola, Pepsi into Pitr-Cola and making Columbia Internet millions with a nuclear weapon purchased from Russia, and the infamous Vigor text editor. He briefly worked for Google, nearly succeeding in world domination, but was released from there and returned to Columbia Internet. Despite his vast efforts to become the ultimate evil character, his lack of illheartedness prevents him from reaching such achievement.

Sid Dabster

[edit]

Sid is the oldest of the geeks and very knowledgeable. His advanced age gives him the upper hand against Pitr, whom he has outdone on several occasions, including in a coffee-brewing competition and in a round of Jeopardy! that he hacked in his own favor. Unlike Pitr, he has no ambitions for world domination per se, but he is a friend of Hastur and Cthulhu (based on the H. P. Lovecraft Mythos characters). He was hired in September 2000 and he had formerly worked for Hewlett-Packard, with ten years' experience[# 11] It is his habit, unlike the other techs, to dress to a somewhat professional degree; when he first came to work, Smiling Man, the head accountant, expressed shock at the fact that Sid was wearing his usual blue business suit.[# 12] He is also a fan of old technology, having grown up in the age of TECO, PDP-6es, the original VT100, FORTRAN, IBM 3270 and the IBM 5150; one could, except for the decent taste in clothing, categorise him as a Real Programmer. He was once a cannabis smoker,[# 13] as contrasted with the rest of the technological staff, who prefer caffeine (Greg in the form of cola, Miranda in the form of espresso). This had the unfortunate effect of causing lung cancer and he was treated by an oncologist.[# 14] He has since recovered from the cancer and was told he has another 20 years or so to live.

Pearl Dabster

[edit]

Sid Dabster's beautiful daughter. The character appeared for the first time in the strip of Aug. 30, 2001.[# 15] Pearl is often seen getting the better of the boys. She is the antagonist of Miranda, and occasionally the object of Pitr's affections, much to the chagrin of Sid. Some people (both in strip and in the real world) wrongly assume that the character was named after the scripting language PERL. While this may be the true intention of the author, in the script timeline, is shown to be an error based on wordplay.[# 16]

Smiling Man

[edit]

The Smiling Man is the company comptroller. He is in charge of accounts, finances, and expenditures. He smiles all day for no reason. This in itself is enough to terrify most normal human beings (even via phone). However, the Dust Puppy, the "Evilphish", a delirious Stef, and a consultant in a purple suit have managed to get him to stop smiling first. His favourite wallpaper is a large, complex, and utterly meaningless spreadsheet.

Stef Murky

[edit]

Stef is the strip's Corporate Sales Manager. He runs most of the marketing efforts within the firm, often selling things before they exist. He is a stereotypical marketer, with an enormous ego and a condescending attitude toward the techies; they detest him and frequently retaliate with pranks. He sucks at Quake, even once managing to die at the startup screen in Quake III Arena;[# 17] in addition, he manages to die by falling into lava in any game that contains it, including games where it is normally impossible to step in said lava.[# 18] Although he admires Microsoft and frequently defends their marketing tactics, infuriating the techies, he has a real problem with Microsoft salesmen, probably because they make much more money than he does. His attitude towards women is decidedly chauvinist; he lusts after Miranda who will not have anything to do with him. Stef is definitely gormless, as demonstrated on January 14, 2005.[# 19]

Production

[edit]

In a 2008 article, reviewer Eric Burns said that as best he could tell, Frazer had produced strips seven days a week, without missing an update for, at that time, almost 11 years.[3] Frazer would draw several days' worth of comics in advance, but the Sunday comic – based on current events and in color – was always drawn for immediate release and did not relate to the regular storyline.[citation needed]

The website for User Friendly included other features such as Link of the Day and Iambe Intimate & Interactive, a weekly editorial written under the pseudonym "Iambe".[7]

In late 1999, User Friendly and Sluggy Freelance swapped a character (A.J. and Torg).[citation needed]

The strip and Loki Software teamed up for player skin and custom level contest for Quake III Arena in 2000.[8] A Flash cartoon based on the series was also produced.[9][10]

Author

[edit]

J. D. Frazer was born in 1969.[11] He began his career in law enforcement and served as a corrections officer,[12] hoping eventually to join the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, but he changed his mind, leaving law enforcement to pursue more creative endeavours.[13] He worked as a game designer, production manager, art director, project manager, Web services manager, writer, creative director, and cartoonist.[14] As of 2014 he lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.[5]

Creation

[edit]

Frazer started writing User Friendly in 1997.[2] According to Frazer, he started cartooning at age 12. He had tried to get into cartooning through syndicates with a strip called Dust Puppies, but it was rejected by six syndicates. Later, while working at an ISP, he drew some cartoons which his co-workers enjoyed. He then drew a month's worth of cartoons and posted them online. After that, he quit his job and then worked on the comic.[15]

Success

[edit]

Writer Xavier Xerxes said that in the very early days of webcomics, Frazer was probably one of the bigger success stories and was one of the first to make a living from a webcomic.[16] Eric Burns attributed initial success of the comic to the makeup of the early internet, saying, "In 1997, a disproportionate number of internet users... were in the I.T. Industry. When User Friendly began gathering momentum, there wasn't just little to nothing like it on the web -- it appealed and spoke to a much larger percentage of the internet reading audience than mainstream society would support outside of that filter.... in the waning years of the 20th Century, it was a safe bet that if someone had an internet connection in the first place, they'd find User Friendly funny."[3]

On April Fools' Day 1999, the site appeared to be shut down permanently after a third party sued.[17][18] In future years, the April 1st cartoon referenced back to the disruption that was caused.[19][20]

In a 2001 interview, Frazer said that he was not handling fame well, and pretended not to be famous in order to keep his life normal. He said that his income came from sponsorship, advertising, and sales of printed collections.[15] These compilations have been published by O'Reilly Media.[21]

Since 2000, User Friendly had been published in a variety of newspapers, including The National Post in Canada and the Linux Journal magazine.[22]

Ideas

[edit]

In a 2001 interview, Frazer estimated that about 40% of strip ideas came from reader submissions, and occasionally he would get submissions that he would use "unmodified".[23] He also said that he educated himself on the operating system BSD in order to make informed jokes about it.[15]

In 2009, Frazer was found to be copying punchlines found in the MetaFilter community. After one poster found a comment on MetaFilter that was similar to a User Friendly comic, users searched and found several other examples.[24] Initially, Frazer posted on MetaFilter saying "I get a flurry of submissions and one-liners every week, and I haven't checked many of them at all, because I rarely had to in the past" but later admitted that he had taken quotes directly from the site.[25][24] On his website, Frazer said, "I offered no attribution or asked for permission [for these punchlines], over the last couple of years I've infringed on the expression of ideas of some (who I think are) clever people. Plagiarized. My hypocrisy seems to know no bounds, as an infamous gunman was once heard saying. I sincerely apologize to my readers and to the original authors. I offer no excuses and accept full blame and responsibility. As a result, I'll be modifying the cartoons in question. No, it won't happen again. Yes, I've immersed myself in mild acid."[26]

While published books still contain at least one cartoon with a punchline taken from MetaFilter, Frazer has removed these cartoons from the website, or updated them to quote and credit the source of the punchlines, and fans searched through the archives to ensure that none of the other punchlines have been plagiarized.[27]

Suspension

[edit]

The strip went on hiatus from June 1, 2009[# 20] to August 2009 for personal reasons.[# 21] In this period, previous strips were re-posted.

A second hiatus lasted from December 1, 2009 until August 1, 2010, again for personal reasons. New cartoons, supplied by the community as part of a competition, started to appear as of August 2, 2010.[# 22]

From November 1, 2010 through November 21, 2010, Illiad published a special "Remembrance Day story arc", and stated that it is "vague and at this point random" what will happen to the strip afterwards, that "going daily again is highly unlikely", but that "there are still many stories that I want to tell through UF, over time".[# 23] Since then, previous comics have been re-posted on a daily basis.

After the de facto stop of publishing new content, three one-off comics commemoration special occasions were published:

On 24 February 2022, Illiad announced that the website would be shut down soon, "at the end of this month. If not, it won't be much later than that."[28]

At approximately midnight PST on the evening of 28 February 2022, the website was shut down.

Reviews

[edit]

User Friendly has received mixed reviews over the years.

In a 2008 review, Eric Burns of Websnark called it a "damned good comic strip", but felt it had several problems. Burns felt that the strip had not evolved in several years, saying "his strip is exactly the same today as it was in 1998... the same characters, the same humor, the same punchlines, the same punching bags as before." Burns said that characters learn no lessons, and that "[i]f Frazer uses copy and paste to put his characters in, he's been using the same clip art for the entire 21st century." Burns also criticised the stereotypical depiction of idiotic computer users as outdated. But fundamentally, Burns found the strip funny, saying anyone who had worked IT would likely find it funny, and even those who had not will find something in it amusing. Burns felt that some criticism of User Friendly came from seeing it as general webcomic, rather than one targeted at a specific audience of old-school IT geeks, and he considered that the targeted approach was a good business model.[3]

Writer T Campbell declared JD Frazer's work as "ow[ing] a heavy debt to [Scott] Adams, but his 'nerdcore' was a purer sort: the jokes were often for nerds ONLY-- NO NON-TECHIES ALLOWD [sic]." He continued "He wasn't the first webtoonist to target his audience so precisely, but he was the first to do it on a daily schedule, and that kind of single-minded dedication is something most techies could appreciate. User Friendly set the tone for nerdcore strips to follow."[29] Time magazine called User Friendly "a strip in the wry, verbal vein of Doonesbury...the humor is a combination of pop culture references and inside jokes straight outta the IT department."[30] The strip was among the most notable of a wave of similar strips, including Help Desk by Christopher B. Wright,[31] General Protection Fault by Jeffrey T. Darlington,[32] The PC Weenies by Krishna Sadasivam,[33] Geek & Poke by Oliver Widder,[34] Working Daze by John Zakour, and The Joy of Tech by Liza Schmalcel and Bruce Evans.

Comic writer and artist Joe Zabel said that User Friendly "may be one of the earliest webcomics manifestation of the use of templates... renderings of the characters that are cut and pasted directly into the comic strip... I think the main significance of User Friendly is that in 1997 it was really, really crude in every respect. Horrible artwork, terrible storyline, zilch characterization, and extremely dull, obvious jokes. And yet it was a smash hit! I think this demonstrates that the public will embrace just about anything if it's free and the circumstances are right. And it indicates that new internet users of the time were really hungry, downright starving, for entertainment.... his current work [speaking in 2005] is comparatively slick and professional. But I suspect that his early work had enormous influence, because it encouraged thousands of people with few skills and little talent to jump into the webcomics field." Zabel also credited User Friendly's success in part to its "series mascot", Dust Puppy, saying that "the popular gag-a-day cartoons almost always have some kind of mascot."[29]

The webcomic Penny Arcade produced a strip in 1999 just to criticise Frazer, saying "people will pass up steak once a week for crap every day."[35] They also criticized the commercialism of the enterprise.[36] By contrast, CNET included it on 2007 a list of "sidesplitting tech comics",[33] Mashable included it in a 2009 list of the 20 best webcomics[2] and Polygon listed it as one of the most influential webcomics of all time in 2018.[37] It has also been noted by FromDev,[38] Brainz,[39] RiskOptics,[40] DondeQ2,[41] and Pingdom.[31] CBR.com concluded the comic had aged poorly in a 2023 rundown.[42]

Lawrence I. Charters appreciated the nature of the titles used for the published books.[43] Francis Glassborow cited the specificity of the humour,[44] which also lead Retro Activity to find the strip "difficult to recommend" along with the limited art style.[45] Mike Kaltschnee also mentioned the weakness of the art, but was impressed at Illiad maintaining publication of a strip every day.[46] "Webcomics: The Influence and Continuation of the Comix Revolution" described how the strip represented the counter-cultural aspects of the open-source software movement.[47] Dustin Puryear observed how the strip represents the conflicts between the computer literate and newer less informed users.[48] Christine Moellenberndt wrote about the online community spawned around the comic strip.[49]

In 2007, User Friendly was part of an exhibit at The Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art called Infinite Canvas: The Art of Webcomics.[50]

Bibliography

[edit]

Several cartoon compilations have been published:

  • User Friendly, v1.0, Plan Nine Publishing, 2002, ISBN 1-929462-39-5 (collects earlier strips)
  • User Friendly, O'Reilly, 1999, ISBN 1-56592-673-0 January 25, 1998 Archived July 5, 2013, at archive.todayDecember 25, 1998 (misses out December 20 Archived November 13, 2005, at the Wayback Machine and probably some others)
  • Evil Geniuses in a Nutshell, O'Reilly, 2000, ISBN 1-56592-861-X January 3, 1999December 11, 1999
  • The Root of All Evil, O'Reilly, 2001, ISBN 0-596-00193-2 January 1, 2000December 31, 2000
  • Even Grues Get Full, O'Reilly, 2003, ISBN 0-596-00566-0 January 1, 2001November 17, 2001
  • User Friendly – Die Deutsche Dialekt-Ausgabe (translation to several German dialects) ISBN 3-89721-380-X
  • Ten Years of UserFriendly.Org, Manning Dec 2008, ISBN 978-1-935182-12-2 a 1000-page hardback collection of every script with some comments by the author.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "UserFriendly Strip Comments". February 26, 2022. Archived from the original on February 26, 2022. Retrieved March 1, 2022.
  2. ^ a b c P. Aune, Sean (March 3, 2009). "20 of the Best Web Comics". Mashable. Archived from the original on April 26, 2018. Retrieved March 2, 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d Burns, Eric (May 2008). "Eric: State of the (Web)Cartoonist: J.D. "Illiad" Frazer". Websnark. Archived from the original on June 1, 2008. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
  4. ^ Frazer, J. D. (March 2002). User Friendly v1.0. Plan Nine Publishing. p. 67. ISBN 1-929462-39-5.
  5. ^ a b Illiad. "UF Cartoon Archive - Character Gallery - Mike". www.userfriendly.org.
  6. ^ Illiad. "UserFriendly Strip Comments". ars.userfriendly.org.
  7. ^ Iambe Intimate & Interactive site page, http://www.userfriendly.org/community/iambe/
  8. ^ Gasperson, Tina (September 21, 2000). "Loki and Userfriendly sponsor Quake III skins contest". Linux.com. Retrieved February 27, 2023.
  9. ^ Smith, JT (September 18, 2000). "VFS Live to stream interview with Illiad and WebDi". Linux.com. Retrieved March 2, 2024.
  10. ^ "User Friendly Animation Episode 1 - Play Online on Flash Museum 🕹️". Flash Museum. April 16, 2024.
  11. ^ Illiad (2006). Money for content and your clicks for free : turning web sites, blogs, and podcasts into cash. Indianapolis: Wiley. ISBN 978-0-471-74753-6. OCLC 64089426.
  12. ^ Frazer, J. D. (September 28, 2006). "What job/career have you had that you wouldn't recommend to anyone?". User Friendly. Retrieved September 29, 2006.
  13. ^ Brown, Janelle (October 27, 1999). "Cartoon for coders". Salon. Retrieved June 5, 2024.
  14. ^ "Even Grues Get Full - tech humor book review". www.kickstartnews.com. Retrieved April 1, 2021.
  15. ^ a b c Coleman, Chris (February 9, 2001). "An Interview With Illiad". ONLamp. Archived from the original on January 5, 2002. Retrieved July 5, 2008.
  16. ^ Xerxes, Xaviar (January 2007). "Biggie Panda: Old Skool Webcomics". COMIXtalk. Archived from the original on September 2, 2011. Retrieved July 5, 2008.
  17. ^ Whitinger, Dave (April 1, 1999). "Segfault.org and UserFriendly.org get shut down". Linux Today. Archived from the original on June 6, 2019. Retrieved October 5, 2024.
  18. ^ Whitinger, Dave (April 1, 1999). "April Fools!". Linux Today. Archived from the original on December 11, 2020. Retrieved October 4, 2024.
  19. ^ April 1, 2000 Cartoon, https://web.archive.org/web/20220225214636/http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20000401
  20. ^ April 1, 2004 Cartoon, https://web.archive.org/web/20220226103320/http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20040401
  21. ^ "O'Reilly Releases "The Root of All Evil"--Latest Exploits of User Friendly's Dust Puppy & Gang". O'Reilly Media. September 4, 2001. Retrieved March 2, 2024.
  22. ^ Lucas, Josh (September 1, 1999). "Dilbert Killer". Wired. Retrieved March 1, 2024.
  23. ^ Brown, Janelle (October 27, 1999). "Cartoon for coders". Salon.com. Retrieved March 2, 2024.
  24. ^ a b Social Pressure Can Solve The 'Copying' Problem Even Without Copyright, Techdirt, February 23, 2009.
  25. ^ "Wha Wha Wibble". metatalk.metafilter.com. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
  26. ^ Frazer, J.D. (February 23, 2009). "[Illiad] BEYOND THE PALE AND AN APOLOGY". User Friendly. Archived from the original on May 18, 2019. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
  27. ^ Frazer, J.D. (March 13, 2009). "[Illiad] FIXED, AND WILL CONTINUE FIXING". User Friendly. Archived from the original on June 21, 2019. Retrieved October 4, 2024.
  28. ^ "HEADS UP: We're Going Dark", Illiad, 2022-02-24
  29. ^ a b Zabel, Joseph ‘Joe’; et al. (September 30, 2005). "The Artistic History of Webcomics: A Webcomics Examiner Roundtable". The Webcomics Examiner. Archived from the original on November 24, 2005. Retrieved July 7, 2008.
  30. ^ Worthy (November 22, 2022). "User Friendly". Everything2. Retrieved March 2, 2024.
  31. ^ a b SolarWinds Worldwide (January 16, 2009). "7 tech comics that will put a big smile on your face". Pingdom. Retrieved March 1, 2024.
  32. ^ ""User Friendly" and "GPF" Creators on Comics and Operating Systems". Linux Today. November 8, 2005. Retrieved March 2, 2024.
  33. ^ a b Dolcourt, Jessica (September 10, 2007). "Sidesplitting tech comics". CNET. Retrieved March 2, 2024.
  34. ^ Francis, Carol (June 17, 2013). "The Best Entertaining Online Web Tech Comics". oneextrapixel. Retrieved March 2, 2024.
  35. ^ Holkins, Jerry; Mike, Krahulik (April 7, 1999). "Illiad: Not Funny". Penny Arcade. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
  36. ^ dragoon (August 20, 2000). "User Friendly Media". Everything2. Retrieved March 2, 2024.
  37. ^ Jensen, K. Thor (November 27, 2018). "The most influential webcomics of all time". Polygon. Retrieved March 1, 2024.
  38. ^ Dubey, Sarikaz (May 14, 2014). "Awesome Geek Comics Websites". FromDev. Retrieved March 2, 2024.
  39. ^ "20 Funny Web Comics You'd Love To Read". Brainz. Retrieved March 1, 2024.
  40. ^ Riskoptics (March 3, 2017). "6 InfoSec Cartoons & Webcomics to Brighten a Gloomy Week". RiskOptics. Retrieved March 1, 2024.
  41. ^ "Quake Funny Pages: >Byte Me_, Dilbert, Penny Arcade and User Friendly". DondeQ2. November 14, 2018. Retrieved March 2, 2024.
  42. ^ Trinos, Angelo Delos (August 8, 2023). "10 Great Webcomics That Aged Poorly". CBR.com. Retrieved March 2, 2024.
  43. ^ Charters, Lawrence I. (2002). "The Root of All Evil: A Review". Washington Apple Pi Journal. Retrieved March 2, 2024.
  44. ^ Glassborow, Francis (October 2003). "Even Grues Get Full - The Fourth User Friendly Collection". ACCU. Retrieved March 2, 2024.
  45. ^ "Entry 9: 'User Friendly'". Retro Activity. April 27, 2016. Retrieved March 2, 2024.
  46. ^ Kaltschnee, Mike. "User Friendly - A cartoon book for geeks". dacs.doc electric. Retrieved March 2, 2024.
  47. ^ Fenty, Sean; Houp, Trena; Taylor, Laurie (May 2005). "Webcomics: The Influence and Continuation of the Comix Revolution". ImageText. Retrieved March 2, 2024.
  48. ^ Puryear, Dustin (September 25, 2000). "A Review of Evil Geniuses In A Nutshell". 32BitsOnline. Archived from the original on April 9, 2001. Retrieved March 2, 2024.
  49. ^ Moellenberndt, Christine (May 6, 2022). "Requiem for a Community; What i learned about community from an online comic strip". LinkedIn. Retrieved March 2, 2024.
  50. ^ "Webcomics show at MoCCA". The Beat. September 5, 2007. Archived from the original on September 25, 2011. Retrieved November 16, 2020.

Story notes

[edit]
  1. ^ Frazer, JD ‘Illiad’ (November 17, 1997), "Cartoon with Strip Comments", UserFriendly.
  2. ^ Frazer, JD ‘Illiad’ (October 17, 2002), "Strip Comments", UserFriendly.
  3. ^ Frazer, JD ‘Illiad’ (July 18, 2006), "Strip Comments", UserFriendly.
  4. ^ Frazer, JD ‘Illiad’ (October 8, 1998), User Friendly (cartoon).
  5. ^ Frazer, JD ‘Illiad’ (December 3, 1997), "Dust Puppy's first appearance", User Friendly (cartoon), archived from the original on January 1, 2015, retrieved February 13, 2012
  6. ^ Frazer, JD ‘Illiad’ (September 15, 2005), "Nag strip", User Friendly.
  7. ^ Frazer, JD ‘Illiad’ (April 5, 1998), "Anatomy of a Crud Puppy", User Friendly (cartoon).
  8. ^ Frazer, JD ‘Illiad’ (October 18, 2000), User Friendly (cartoon), archived from the original on September 26, 2017, retrieved August 20, 2011.
  9. ^ Frazer, JD ‘Illiad’ (October 19, 2000), User Friendly (cartoon), archived from the original on November 27, 2002, retrieved August 29, 2011.
  10. ^ Frazer, JD ‘Illiad’ (October 4, 2001), User Friendly (cartoon).
  11. ^ Frazer, JD ‘Illiad’ (September 26, 2000), User Friendly (cartoon).
  12. ^ Frazer, JD ‘Illiad’ (September 27, 2000), User Friendly (cartoon).
  13. ^ Frazer, JD ‘Illiad’ (May 7, 2001), User friendly (cartoon), archived from the original on December 17, 2002, retrieved August 28, 2009.
  14. ^ Frazer, JD ‘Illiad’ (October 14, 2009), User Friendly (cartoon).
  15. ^ Frazer, JD ‘Illiad’ (August 30, 2001), User Friendly (cartoon).
  16. ^ Frazer, JD ‘Illiad’ (August 31, 2001), User Friendly (cartoon).
  17. ^ Frazer, JD ‘Illiad’ (March 17, 2000), User Friendly (cartoon), archived from the original on July 11, 2002, retrieved February 25, 2008.
  18. ^ Frazer, JD ‘Illiad’ (October 14, 2006), User Friendly (cartoon), archived from the original on May 5, 2019, retrieved November 13, 2008.
  19. ^ Frazer, JD ‘Illiad’ (January 14, 2005), "Strip Comments", User Friendly (UserFriendly).
  20. ^ Frazer, JD ‘Illiad’ (June 1, 2009), User Friendly.
  21. ^ Frazer, JD ‘Illiad’, "June & July", User Friendly (re-runs), archived from the original on May 14, 2019, retrieved June 1, 2009.
  22. ^ Frazer, JD ‘Illiad’ (August 2, 2010), User Friendly.
  23. ^ Frazer, JD ‘Illiad’, "Remembrance Day Story Arc & Other Matters", User Friendly.
  24. ^ Frazer, JD ‘Illiad’ (March 19, 2011), User Friendly.
  25. ^ Frazer, JD ‘Illiad’ (October 9, 2011), User Friendly.
  26. ^ Frazer, JD ‘Illiad’ (January 1, 2012), User Friendly.
[edit]

 

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Some of the top-rated web design companies in Sydney include G Squared, Digital Garden, and Magicdust.
These web designers typically offer a range of services including website design & development, eCommerce solutions, digital marketing strategies, SEO optimization, social media management and content creation.
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You can find professional web designers in Sydney through various online platforms such as Upwork, Freelancer, or LinkedIn. Also, local networking events or business directories can be useful.
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When hiring a web designer or agency, consider their portfolio to assess if they match your style preference, their reviews and testimonials for credibility check, pricing structure for budget compatibility and whether they offer post-launch website support/maintenance.
The cost of hiring a web designer can vary greatly depending on the complexity of the project. On average though, you might expect to pay anywhere between AUD $2,000 - $5,000 for basic website designs from freelancers whereas established agencies may charge higher rates starting from AUD $10,000 upwards.
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A freelance web designer in Sydney should have a strong understanding of graphic design, user experience (UX), user interface (UI) design, HTML/CSS coding, JavaScript, and SEO. They should also be familiar with web design tools like Adobe Creative Suite and WordPress.
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API-first design means building your application based on the API, ensuring that all applications using this API have a consistent experience. It allows developers to work on multiple platforms simultaneously, increasing efficiency and coherence.
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Advancements in SEO practices greatly increase the visibility of local businesses online. By optimizing website content, using relevant keywords and improving site speed, these businesses can rank higher on search engine results thereby reaching a wider audience.
Yes, having an updated and professional website design significantly influences consumer trust. A well-designed website signifies that the business is credible, modern, and cares about its consumers experience.
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Sydney-based web designers use Local SEO by optimizing a websites content, keywords, and backlinks so it appears at the top of search results within its specific geographic area. They also ensure the business is listed on Google My Business and other local directories to increase visibility.
Local SEO is crucial as it helps businesses reach prospective customers in their vicinity. It increases online visibility and organic traffic from users searching within that location. This can be particularly beneficial for businesses serving a specific area like Sydney.
Techniques utilized include creating locally relevant content, using local keywords, ensuring the site is mobile-friendly, improving page loading speed, having consistent NAP (Name, Address, Phone number) across all platforms, and getting positive reviews on Google My Business.
Yes. While they specialize in optimizing websites for local searches in Sydney, these skills are transferable. A competent web designer can adapt their strategy to optimize a website for any geographical location based on the clients needs.
Website optimization services involve various strategies to improve a websites performance, accessibility, and visibility. These can include improving site speed, ensuring mobile-friendliness, optimizing for search engines (SEO), enhancing user experience (UX), and more.
Website optimization makes your site more visible on search engines like Google which means more traffic and potential customers. It also improves user experience which can lead to higher conversion rates. Whether youre targeting audiences in Sydney or globally, an optimized website can significantly enhance your online presence.
There are many reputable companies providing web design and optimization services in Sydney such as Webski Solutions, Magicdust, G Squared & Whitehat Agency etc. The choice depends on your specific needs, budget and business goals. Always look for a service provider with good reviews, proven results and excellent customer service.
Website optimization is crucial for several reasons. It improves the sites speed, usability, and accessibility, thus enhancing user experience. Moreover, optimized websites rank higher on search engine results which increases visibility and attracts more potential customers.
Website optimization significantly enhances your websites performance by reducing loading times, ensuring it displays correctly across various devices (desktops, mobiles, tablets), and making it easier for search engines to understand your content.
Key elements include responsive design (ensuring the site looks good on all devices), improving site speed (by optimizing images and code), SEO-friendly URLs and meta tags, as well as creating quality content that includes relevant keywords.
Web Design Sydney provides comprehensive services including SEO audits to identify areas of improvement, optimizing HTML codes for faster loading times, creating responsive designs for better mobile viewing experience, developing SEO-friendly URLs and meta tags to improve ranking on search engines like Google. They also offer content creation with targeted keywords that can draw more traffic to your site.
The firms generally offer services such as Search Engine Optimization (SEO), website speed optimization, conversion rate optimization and content optimization among others.
These services can improve your websites visibility on search engines like Google, enhance user experience by improving loading speed and navigability, and increase the likelihood of visitors becoming customers through strategic content placement and design.
It would be best to contact each firm directly for this information. Most established firms will have portfolios or case studies demonstrating their past work that they can share with you.
Optimization can significantly improve the speed and responsiveness of a website. It involves reducing file sizes, minimizing code, optimizing images, using efficient loading techniques such as lazy loading and implementing proper caching strategies. These all contribute to faster page load times which provides a better user experience.
Website performance is crucial in any location including Sydney because it directly impacts user experience and SEO rankings. A well-optimized website will load quickly, keep visitors engaged longer and rank higher on search engine result pages leading to increased visibility and potentially more business opportunities.
Some common techniques include minifying CSS, JS, and HTML files; compressing images without losing quality; leveraging browser caching; minimizing HTTP requests by combining files; using content delivery networks (CDNs) to deliver resources faster to users based on their geographical location; utilizing GZIP compression for smaller file size during transfer; enabling deferred JavaScript loading.
Optimizing a website doesnt necessarily mean compromising on its aesthetics or functionality. Instead, its about making smart choices regarding file types, sizes, coding techniques etc., that enhance both appearance and performance. For instance, you can use SVGs instead of bitmap images where appropriate as they scale better while maintaining a smaller file size.