Webmaster Blog

If you’ve been paying any attention to the web development world in the past few years, you’re likely already familiar with the one thing that’s remained constant: change. Every new year brings new innovations, especially given how mobile web browsing continues to climb in popularity. More websites are optimizing for mobile use through responsive design, and developers are even launching apps that allow for coding on tablets and, in certain situations, even smartphones. Talk about mobility. But those advancements, though groundbreaking, are now technically old news. So, that begs the question: What can we look forward to in 2014? If we look at past trends as indicators of a possible future, this year is already shaping up to be one ripe with new features both for design and development. For example, keep a lookout for... 1. Long-Scrolling Websites This one harkens back to the early days of user-made sites, when GeoCities seemed to rule the web. Before site designers fully figured out that a lengthy post could be parceled out over separate pages in order to score more ad space, readers could just keep scrolling for what seemed an eternity. Now, with mobile technologies becoming absolutely ubiquitous, there’s a move back...

      2014 is poised to be the biggest growth year in the IT and web development sectors in recent history.  Look at the statistics: Nearly 70% of CIOs polled said they are looking to hire IT professionals for open positions, marking an 8% increase over the last six months of 2013. Yet the type of IT skills being sought out have drastically changed in the same time period. Whereas before it was enough to hire an IT generalist, someone who could dabble in web design, data management, and networking, companies are looking for specialists in 2014. Specifically, they’re looking for experts in mobile web development and data storage management. Mobile Development Is the Key to A Rapidly Expanding Market Since the introduction of the iPhone in June of 2007, mobile usage has skyrocketed, both in the United States and across the world. According to the Pew Research Center, more than half of Americans use a smartphone to access e-mail, social media, and eCommerce websites. It shouldn’t be any surprise, then, that mobile web searches showed a 65% increase in 2013. Even with a clear need for mobile optimization, KissMetrics statistics show that 73% of mobile users have experienced a...

Cyber threats used to consist of annoying viruses or college-aged hackers looking for a challenge, but today cyberthreats are a real danger to businesses, governments and other organizations. Hackers have grown to be much more sophisticated, from groups hired by nation states, to hackers stealing business secrets for profit. Unfortunately, many organizations continue to be unaware of the danger they face even though any company no matter how big or small could be attacked at any time, and has probably been attacked before. Even those who are aware of the danger and use firewalls and a secure web gateway are often overlooking certain vulnerabilities that hackers can exploit. 1. Physical Access Sometimes organizations will put so much emphasis on protecting the IT system’s firewall from outside attacks that they forget that physical access to the server can give hackers just as much leeway to cause damage. Sometimes getting in is as simple as an employee holding a door open for the person behind them after the employee has entered in the access code. For example, in April of this year thieves broke into Walmart’s video service and stole the hard drives that contained customer data. A huge part of securing the...