Website 101 Podcast

• Sean's first website was a Geocities website built in 1997
• First client website built in 2008
• Started full time self-employment in 2013
• Provided official support to end-users of ExpressionEngine
• What does Sean like the least/most about web development
• Sean's advice for new web developers

We start off by defining what Typography is. Then the various types of fonts including serif and sans-serif fonts and when to choose which to choose.

• I (uppercase I), l (lowercase l), 1, a, g test
• The difference between legibility and readability
• Comic Sans and Helvetica fonts
• Avatar and Papyrus
• Heading, body fonts, and fonts that can be used everywhere
• Oliver Judges Sean's website headings
• Tips on how to choose fonts for a website
• Web font marketplaces
• 5 common web typography mistakes and how to avoid them
• Leading and line height
• line length
• Oliver gives a review of the Website 101 Podcast website typography.

[00:00] Intro

[01:37] Oliver introduces himself and talks about his background in design and typography

[02:14] Definition of typography and fonts, and the difference between serif and sans-serif fonts

[05:43] When to choose a serif or sans-serif font for a website

[06:01] Legibility vs. readability in web typography

[08:35] Oliver's thoughts on popular fonts like Comic Sans and Helvetica

[11:31] The importance of a good typographic choice in branding

[14:27] Tips for selecting fonts for a website (application, audience, limitations, etc.)

[19:08] Google Fonts and the pros and cons of using them

[23:05] Oliver's thoughts on using multiple fonts on a single website

[26:40] Tips for avoiding common web typography mistakes (not caring about typography, inappropriate font choice, too many different graphic styles, setting text too small, and having too little line height)

[39:50] Oliver offers to review the typography on the Website 101 podcast website

[47:30] Links to Oliver's resources (YouTube channel, free typographic review form)

• What is a bootcamp
• Why a bootcamp vs other paths
• Favorite part of web development
• Least liked part of web development
• How Owen became an instructor at Juno college
• How to keep up with changing technology
• Advice for a new developer
• How to evaluate what to learn
• No code developers
• Most important skill a developer should have

• Laura, talks about her role as a business owner, website designer, and building bespoke websites for her clients.

• The difference between a pre-built theme and a theme builder such as Elementor.
• Lauras default plugin stack for WordPress sites.
  
• Rank Math SEO vs Yoast
• Optimizing WordPress sites for performance
• Updating WordPress and Plugins
• Website Maintenance
• WordPress Hosting

Site speed is a ranking signal for google. Ensuring your website is fast and efficient can give you a boost in your SEO results.

We also discuss:

• How optimizing your site can improve your bounce rate
• Contributing factors to a slow website\
• What you can do to improve your site without touching code
• Limit the number of tracking scripts
• lazy loading images / maps
• Web hosting - shared vs VPS
• Caching & Minifying
• Image Optimization / Responsive Images

Google image srcset peas to find the article by Eric Portis that Andrew Mentions.

Stay tuned to the end of the episode for a bonus tip to help you improve your website.

The survey will be available anytime into the future. If you find it while listening to archived episodes, please fill it out.

Reasons to consider using an alternative to google analytics include concerns about privacy and a simpler, easier to understand interface.

• Google is very complex and difficult to understand
• Fathom Analytics is privacy oriented
• Fathom and Stat Counter have a simpler easy to understand interface
• Things that you want to understand and know how to track with whichever analytics you use
• If it's free (google analytics) then you are the product

Gaurav starts off by defining what content marketing is and why it's important. Later we discuss the similarities and differences between content marketing and advertising.

• Funnels
• Advertising vs content marketing
• SEO
• Long tail keywords
• Newsletter and blog
• Social Media & content marketing

We talk about ways that you can improve your website by making small changes yourself at no cost. Some changes may require a web developer but these will be low cost but with high value.

A website is like a garden, it needs to grow, it needs pruning, and watering. These tips will help keep your website fresh and exciting.

Matsuko starts off by explaining what accessibility is and why it's important. We also talk about what a screen reader is and how a screen reader works.

• Why should we care about accessibility other than the legal requirements
• The three levels of WCAG compliance
• Semantic HTML
• Header Order is important
• Accessibility is good for SEO
• Color Contrast
• Placeholder content
• Pixel and Tonic, CraftCMS, selected by the W3C for accessibility