Web

Google Hints on Gmail Update and Improvements

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At Moocow, we pride ourselves on having the most up to date knowledge on the hottest tech trends and web news. With technology and techniques developing daily, we’ll make sure you’re getting the latest info on what’s happening in the world of web.

Google has recently revealed that it will be making new updates and changes to its Gmail service. Although an official date has not been set for the release, sources have hinted that an unveiling may happen during Google’s yearly developers conference, which will be hosted this year on May 8th. The company has previously revealed upcoming developments at similar events.

Remaining fairly ambiguous with their announcement, Google are yet to clearly define exactly what changes and improvements we can expect to see. However, in a recent report from Android Authority, they have indicated towards ‘draft phase’ changes that we might be able to expect, including a feature for “snoozing” emails, “smart reply” options and other additional features that can already be found in the Gmail mobile app. The makeover seems to include a shift in making the browser version match up with its little brother app.

Although seemingly in its early stages, a launch of Gmail’s new updates are no doubt clearly in sight, and we can hopefully look forward to some handy web browser improvements headed our way in the near future.

 

 

Fancy Being a Dog For a Day? Google Japan Will Show You How

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At Moocow we make sure we’re always ahead of the game when it comes to the latest tech and web design trends. And this week we just loved finding out about Google Japan’s cute new edition to Google Street View.

Launching just over a decade ago, Google’s Street View has become a well known feature of both Google Maps and Google Earth. After its arrival in the USA in 2007, it soon spread worldwide, presenting panoramic views of streets, cities and rural landscapes from countries worldwide.

We’ve all become engrossed in the world of Google Earth at one point or another, whether it’s getting a glimpse of what it’s like to roam the paths of countries we’re yet to visit, or even just seeing what other homes and towns are like in nearby areas when planning to move (you can now even tour Disneyland from the comfort of your sofa) So it’s fair to say a reasonable amount of fun can be had with the feature.

However, in recent news, Google Japan have managed to trump all of its attributes to date – by adding a version from the viewpoint of a dog. That’s right – an adorable trio of Akita pups named Asuko, Ako and Pu. Now traditionally, Google’s Street View has been filmed using specialist cameras designed in house with images captured by car, however now it’s time for our favourite four-legged friends to take the lead.

Google’s tech team have developed a device suitable for the pups whilst out exploring, a small camera that comes attached to a soft harness the dogs can wear. A video released earlier on Google Japan’s YouTube Channel shows a guided tour led by the dogs themselves starting off in Odate City, the place of origin for the Akita dog breed.

Mapping out the city with a few of the dog’s favourite hotspots, the video takes you on a first hand doggy guide to Odate, including a stop off point to the Akita dog museum and a view of the city’s famous statue of Hachiko. You can take a look at the footage from Google Japan here!

 

7 Reasons Why You Should Choose WordPress to Host Your Website

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At Moocow, we pride ourselves on having the most up to date knowledge on the latest web developments and web design trends. Our job is to seek out the best in high quality web hosting, security and SEO awareness. When it comes to choosing a platform for your hosting, WordPress ranks higher than any other hosting service. Below are our 7 reasons why WordPress is top of the leaderboard.

Deciding on a platform to host your website is one of the first points to consider when getting started in creating a new or updated site. The platform we think ranks above all the rest is WordPress. This open-source CMS works as an ideal model for creating a wide variety of sites for both small and large businesses, ranging from e-commerce to blog based designs. Still not convinced? Well here’s our reasons why…

It’s popular

WordPress sites account for over 25% of sites on the web, with 1.1 million new domains being created every 6 months. The incredibly popular platform is even available in 62 different languages, making it accessible to businesses worldwide.

It’s beginner friendly

WordPress is easy to use, even if you haven’t had much experience. It allows you to add pages, blog posts, text and widgets at the click of a button. Even if your site is being professionally designed, it will be easy for you to make additional changes or touch ups yourself.

You’ve got access to tons of Themes and Plug-ins

WordPress guarantees access to a huge variety of themes and plug-ins compared to other sites. No matter what your business or blog, they have themes to suit all. From Jetpack, Yoast, Revslider to Woocommerce and Mailchimp, there are so many options to help improve your site.

It’s highly secure

WordPress core software is highly protected and comes with access to great plug-ins such as Wordfence to give you extra defences alongside firewall and malware scans. WordPress also offer plenty of guides and tips to keep you secure savvy.

It will improves your rankings

WordPress genuinely has the ability to help you rank higher in search engines. “WordPress” is searched 2,740,000 times every month, making it one of the highest searched keywords on Google. And WordPress has plenty of great SEO plug-ins and built-in features to optimize each page on your website.

It’s known for its great support

Need help? WordPress has a great technical support team on hand to help with any customer queries you may have. Their engineers offer first rate customer support and quick fixes to any technical issues, and you can access their support services easily online.

No.1 for media

If you’re wanting a website that can handle a multitude of different media content, WordPress handles images, audio, video and plenty more with ease, making it simple to upload and insert content when writing a post or a page.

SEO Tips and Trends for 2018

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At Moocow, we pride ourselves on having the most up to date knowledge on the hottest tech trends and web design news. With 2017 over, it’s time to take stock on what we’ve learnt over the past year and get ready for what the new year has in store for the world of SEO. Take a look at our advice below and get ahead of the game with essential SEO tips and trends for 2018.

Voice Search

Voice search is becoming increasingly popular with a surge in voice search and smart speaker sales. Both Amazon Echo and Google Home have become household favourites. Marketers feel voice search has a higher ability to analyse what shoppers are looking for specifically when compared with traditional search options.

Keyword Planning

When it comes to keyword planning it can be hard to get accurate advice without paying for help such as through Google Analytics Keyword Planner. Up your game when choosing good keywords by using free tools such as Moz’s Keyword Explorer tool. This can help you to get accurate information that can rank the best keywords to target relevant to your business.

Optimising Titles and Meta Descriptions

You can optimise Titles and Meta Descriptions on your web pages by ensuring things such as correct word length, correct keyword usage and making sure your keywords are featured in your tags and URL. This way they are more likely to rank higher in search engine results.

Keep Up To Date

Be sure to keep social media channels up to date and produce and publish new content weekly. Make sure content is of your best quality, is descriptive but gets the point across easily, and is enjoyable for your audience to read. Be sure to use relevant keywords and use both external and internal links to relevant content.

Link Building

Link building, when used correctly and adheres to a specific budget, can be extremely beneficial to SEO. Networking with other companies can be extremely beneficial to landing you “guest spots” or social media takeovers on as many public and published sites as possible.

Web Design Trends for 2018

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At Moocow, we pride ourselves on having the most up to date knowledge on the hottest tech trends and web design news. With 2017 over, it’s time to take stock on what we’ve learnt over the past year and get ready for what the new year has in store for the world of web design. Take a look at our advice below and get ahead of the game with essential design tips and trends for 2018.

 

Mobile First

Over the last year we’ve focused a lot on the importance of making sure your website is mobile first. And with m-commerce transforming and developing daily, making sure your site is mobile first is vital for the successful functioning of your business and web page. Mobile transactions are set to rocket in 2018, with a vast majority of orders already being made from mobile devices accessing your website. So if you’re still yet to update your site to mobile first, make this your new year’s resolution. Making sure your mobile site is responsive and easy to use is a top priority, otherwise you risk putting off customers from purchasing online.

 

Bold Colour Palettes

Each new year companies will always find a way to market a product as bigger, better and brighter – and it’s no different for web design. When it comes to planning your website, dare to be different, aim to create a site that’s vibrant, bold and colourful. Be creative but clever, customers don’t want to be left with a headache when shopping from your site. Make it fun and quirky, carefully selecting a colour palette that works with your business and brand. Less is more when it comes to sleek and sophisticated, so stand-out with large typography, geometric fonts and minimalist layouts.

 

Motion Animation & Video Marketing

Video marketing is booming, and incorporating animation or video into your web site design is becoming increasingly popular. People want to look at things they find visually exciting or pleasing and using imagery makes it easier to access information about your company. Whether it’s short video clips, gifs or cinemagraphs, adding animation to your site will no doubt create a surge in audience interaction. Many best-selling websites are adding videos or slideshows to their homepage, a more and more favoured tactic for creating customer interest. Text based gifs make written information more eye catching, promoting brand awareness whilst showing you have a fun side.

 

Voice Search

The concept of voice search is a simple one. It allows users to talk straight to their desktop or mobile device and command search options, the same as typing a request into a search engine, except it’s powered by speech. Voice search is starting to compete with traditional search engines. ‘Virtual assistants’ like Cortana, Siri, and Amazon’s Alexa all use direct speech to access search information.. Although met with mixed responses by some, the popularity of using voice searches is rapidly growing, so it would be foolish to not take certain steps and considerations into whether this could be a beneficial change to the way your website is run. It’s still worth a read up even if it’s perhaps a bit too futuristic for your liking.

 

Personalised Content

Make sure your content represents the mission of your company and targets your audience, not your personal preferences. Write content that your audience can relate to and feels comfortable with and is easy to understand. Reviews and testimonials from clients are a great thing to feature on your website, and is becoming increasingly popular. This helps new customers see that you are a service that is trusted and relied upon. If you’re using images or videos on your site, it can be a good idea to create your own – whether that’s product shots, background images or a look into how your business is run. Not everyone has the skills of a professional photographer and hiring one can be pricey so it’s not the end of the world if you can’t. But try not to make your images too generic and stock like if you want your website to stand out.

Web News: WooCommerce 3.2 Updates

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At Moocow, we pride ourselves on having the most up to date knowledge on the hottest web trends, software and programs. With technology and techniques developing daily, we’ll make sure you’re getting the latest info on what’s happening in the world of web.

 

Many of our clients manage their online business through platforms such as WooCommerce. WooCommerce is an e-commerce plugin, its intentional use is for either small or large businesses to create an online selling platform using WordPress. This Autumn, WooCommerce have been updating their latest version, offering a bunch of improved applications and extensions. Below is a list of current optimisations that have been finalised:

 

  • Improvements for coupon options and management of extensions

  • You can now apply discounts to coupon orders without having to do it manually

  • Alerts are sent for new updates on WooCommerce and other extensions giving you the option to download immediately if using outdated versions

  • An easier “unified shortcode” when itemising various products on your webpages

  • A new filter enabling you to simply browse your extensions and identify which are ‘Active’ on the webpage

 

Although the changes may appear small, they offer some nifty adjustments to help run the platform simply, creating smoother running for both developers and clients.

 

Web News: Twitter Increases Character Limit For Tweets

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At Moocow, we pride ourselves on having the most up to date knowledge on the hottest tech trends and web news. With technology and techniques developing daily, Moocow are continuously working hard to help find new ways to develop your business.

It wasn’t long ago that we were raving about the Tweetstorm feature in one of our recent web news blogs. Despite Twitter leading the way as the most successful social media platform for businesses, we debated it’s one major downfall – the length of posts you are allowed to Tweet. For some users, this has helped simplify things when creating a post – allowing them to Tweet info that is direct and uncomplicated. However for many – the 140 character limit can be particularly frustrating, especially when you feel you’ve got a lot more to say. Jogging your memory at all? Well, Twitter has just released today that you can now send tweets that are 280 characters long, doubling the limit from before.

This feature will be available to almost everyone on Twitter, however tweets in Korean, Chinese or Japanese would not be included as the developers felt the structure of these languages already enabled them to put much more information in one tweet. The Twitter team has already experienced a huge surge in users rushing to take advantage of the new feature this morning with everyone getting excited. Their analytics team have stated that those with tweets posted with a larger number of characters were receiving much higher interest, likes and engagements.

Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images

10 Of The Best Tech and Web Design Email Newsletters To Subscribe To

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At Moocow, we pride ourselves on having the most up to date knowledge on the hottest tech trends and web news. With our latest research, we’ve compiled a top ten list of what we believe are some of the best web design email newsletters to subscribe to, packed full of helpful tips, tutorials and freebies to get you going in all areas of design.

If you’re looking to get your hands on the hottest web development, coding and design news, subscribing to these email newsletters will leave your inbox filled with the best info, resources and design inspiration from masters in the world of tech.

The Download – A newsletter that appears daily in your inbox curated by MIT’s Technology Review. It’s one of several of MIT’s technology review and aims to offer a complete low down on what’s going on in the tech world.

Recode Daily – A round-up of the best news and trends relating to both tech and business. Signing up grants you access to articles and podcasts on what’s trending in areas including Commerce, Social media, Enterprise and Mobile and info on any upcoming events.

The Webdesigner Newsletter – Created specifically for developers and designers, the Webdesigner targets those wanting access to handy resources and plenty of free stuff. Top subjects include UI, HTML, Typography and help with design inspiration.

Hacking UI – An extremely useful product design and front-end development newsletter, dishing out articles, podcasts & master classes. Covering everything from VR, UX Photoshop and general web design.

Web Tools Weekly – If you’re searching for the latest info on tools for front-end developers, the Web Tools newsletter will be just the thing for you. This weekly newsletter offers tips and tutorials, and an inside guide to the latest apps, scripts and plug-ins.

Sidebar – Designer, developer and entrepreneur Sacha Greif’s daily newsletter showcasing her 5 favourite design articles, interviews and resources of the day. Helpful info on UX design, image freebies, CSS help, design program guides and general news in the world of web.

wpMail – A free, weekly WordPress Newsletter for general WordPress users with a handful of WordPress news and articles featuring SEO tips, themes and plug-ins.

MasterWP – Another weekly newsletter from WordPress, this time aimed at professionals who are proficient in all things WP. Every Wednesday get your hands on a variety of artciles, apps, tools and extras that will make life easier for WordPress pros.

DevTips – A collection of weekly developer tips from front-end developer and expert Umar Hansa. Those who sign up will get a developer tutorial or tip sent to you as a gif. Great for info on CSS, JavaScript, network issues and UI.

Frontend Focus – A once a week bundle of the best front-end news stories, tips and tutorials. From HTML, CSS, WebGL, Canvas, browser tech and more, the newsletter also includes the latest job vacancies in the tech industry if you’re currently looking for a career or new job as a developer.

 

Auto-Create Code Snippets with Ease Using WordPress Hasty

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At Moocow, we pride ourselves on having the most up to date knowledge on the latest web news. With technology and techniques developing daily, Moocow are continuously working hard to help find new ways to develop your business.

When it comes to WordPress, working with WP code snippets often proves tricky for developers and designers. Having to edit and add code from different programs using copy-paste actions is an infuriating task, whether it’s custom taxonomies you’re using or WP_Query loops.

WordPress have obviously decided to take these issues on board and have created an app that answers all your code snippet prayers. The WP Hasty app is the easiest way to create top-quality custom code for your WordPress sites. It’s super fast, so it saves both time and effort when jumping between projects, and not only that – it’s free.

The app allows you to create code snippets by simply clicking a category button, offering 9 different code generators for frequently used WP snippets. More are set to be released this November.

 

 

All adhere to the correct WP themes and plug-ins coding standards, literally allowing you to just copy and paste the code snippets. The generator interface loads onto a new tab, detailing custom settings for whichever area chosen. Your code output will remain on the page you are already on inside a small text editor interface, so the only work you have to do is copy and paste your codes into the chosen theme for your project.

 

Web News: Google Chrome 61 Launched

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At Moocow, we pride ourselves on having the most up to date knowledge on the latest web news. With technology and techniques developing daily, Moocow are continuously working hard to help find new ways to market your business.

News of the release of Google Chrome 61 came earlier this week, with the new update for browsers being made available over the next few days to weeks. It will be available to any device on supported platforms including macOS, Windows and Linux. The update comes with some fairly important security enhancements so making the move over will no doubt have some significant benefits. Other than this, details on any features have been kept fairly quiet. This is most likely due to the update focusing on bug fixes, security changes and behind the scenes modifications that won’t be majorly visible to day to day users.

A list has been posted showing several of the most important alteration:

  • Add initial set of new default user images.
  • Autoplay policy for HTML5 video: chrome://flags/#autoplay-policy
  • Data Saver site breakdown doesn’t add up to totals on version update. Also, don’t show negative savings.
  • DevTools: Add ‘Save profile’ toolbar button to performance panel.
  • Disable first run for managed profiles.
  • [Extensions] Don’t allow content scripts on the New Tab Page.
  • Enable automatically detected CUPS printers in the print preview dialog.
  • Enable asm.js -> WebAssembly by default.
  • Keep scanned host devices in the cache for longer (from 5 minutes to 2 hours).
  • Move extension unzip/unpack to background thread to prevent the blocking of the main utility thread.
  • On dual-GPU macs, blacklist MSAA for both GPUs if either is Intel.
  • Switch pause/mute buttons’ locations in RTL languages