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We've written some insightful, entertaining articles that span topics from support to design to content management and beyond!
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It’s time to adjust...
While your customers are taking a break from visiting your physical store, let us help keep your business thriving with online transactions through our easy, affordable eCommerce solution.
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Every time a person hears about an interesting product or service, they're not likely to have a computer at hand. After all, when do you usually hear about something interesting? It's generally when you're hanging out with friends, having a beer or a coffee. Sure, there might be times when you get a good recommendation at work but, in general, people are too busy working to look up the website immediately.
So it's important to make sure that people are able to follow up on the recommendations they receive when they're not near a computer. And this means having a mobile-friendly website which will give them all the information they need immediately.
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Any website can be made mobile-friendly as long as you use the right images and text. Yes, it may be difficult to fit a panoramic image into a phone. But it's always possible to avoid panoramic images and use close ups instead. Plus, it's a good idea to keep your content brief and to-the-point so that people will be able to read it on a phone as well. As long as you follow these two rules, you should be able to come up with a mobile-friendly website which serves you well.
Think about it from your own point of view. Haven't you often been tempted to look something up when you were with a friend—maybe the exact definition of a word or some information about a book or a movie that you want to recommend to someone? Maybe they told you about a dating site and you wanted to look it up. Or maybe you were trying to get some health information that would be pertinent to you or your friend. Maybe you were just looking for a good place to go to dinner.
Either way, the fact is that a lot of your internet searching nowadays is now done on a mobile phone. There are even people who don't own computers, only mobile phones. So it's a good idea to make sure that your website is mobile-friendly. Contact us for more information.
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Ontario AODA Website accessibility compliance crucially aims at making sure every person can use a website. It plays a primary role in the building of websites, and through its application, Ontario AODA aims at achieving universal standards of inclusivity. With increased ease in use of Websites arises additional potential revenue opportunities. Cost benefits also materialize if your website's accessibility is integrated into the development process right from the onset.
Accessibility refers to the product design, devices, services, and the experiences for persons with disability, more so visual impairments. Ontario AODA Website accessibility compliance runs in tandem with SEO. Indeed, the most significant benefit of Ontario AODA website accessibility standards is the positive effect on search engines. Accessibility improves functionality, efficiency, and user website experience.
Websites form the basis for which people continuously rely on for information and specific services. People with disabilities are not left behind in the use of the web in their daily life. By the use of accessible Websites, this particular group garners a sense of dignity and independence. In effect, receptiveness is likely to make a considerable difference in inclusivity, resulting in more collaboration and innovation.
In regards to people with disability, it makes good business sense to implement accessible websites. The potential increase in site visits translates to broader markets and higher profits. Ontario AODA compliant websites are in line with web standards and to a higher degree receptive to most browsers across multiple devices. Browser receptibility increases the potential lucrative audience accessing your site. Generally, Ontario AODA compliant websites have overall ease of use for everyone through the use of visual design and interactivity.
Compliance to website accessibility standards in Ontario is mandatory, with non-compliant firms facing fines and penalties. In Ontario, Organizations are required by law to accommodate people with disabilities by adjusting certain website practices. Firms with 50 employees and above are required to file accessibility compliance reports.
In case your website is not compliant to Ontario AODA accessibility rules, the best time to act is now. Ultimately, building or redesigning your site will be least costly as compared to having to change a finished Website. You as well can do without the inconvenience of responding to formal complaints. Creating accessible sites helps you achieve your objectives while setting you apart as a professional. Contact us for more information.
Make your website AODA compliant! Visit aodawebsites.ca |
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Small business owners are typically very busy running their own organization. However, even for busy small business leaders it would be difficult not to notice that voice-activated searching, both on mobile devices as well as "smart" homes devices, is becoming more and more popular. Those businesses who still think a desktop web presence is enough to garner ample interest in their organization need to take a second look at what is happening around them, or they risk getting left behind by emerging technologies.
Any business in 2019 that does not have a web presence optimized for mobile devices will find themselves among the very few. Lagging behind the vast majority who have caught on that mobile is now the norm, is not a good place for anyone who hopes to succeed above their competitors. If they have not already done so, 2019 is the year for stragglers to commit to optimizing their web presence for mobile.
Millions of individuals now heavily rely on voice commands to drive their activity on traditional devices such as smart phones and tablets. With voice activation of these devices now also very popular by way of Bluetooth-assisted vehicles, potential customers are changing the way they interact with the companies they want to do business with. One simple walk through a big box electronics store also reveals that smart home devices are becoming increasingly popular and are poised to add an entirely new way in which users surf the web.
A few years ago mobile web design was a newer concept. Now it is a mainstream concept with voice-activated smart devices coming up from behind -- within a few years, smart home devices may very well take the lead. Businesses who hope to continue to garner attention, must ensure their web presence is optimized for the changing way in which users will interact with the web. Namely, voice searches using natural language rather than cryptic fingertip searches.
If you would like to know how voice and mobile concepts are going to change the future of the world wide web, please contact us!
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A lot has been written on the subject of website accessibility, but there's a lot of confusion about it. Put simply, accessibility refers to designing devices, products, or services for people who have disabilities. Designing for accessibility issues gives the ability of potentially everyone, regardless of their condition, to have access your website. Not only is it law in several parts of the world, it's a way to respect the basic rights and dignity of everyone, regardless of their abilities. What things should you look for when trying to improve accessibility on your website?
Ontario's Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) defines several areas addressing accessibility issues with government agencies, organizations, and businesses, including websites. If you are a private or nonprofit organization with 50 or more employees, or a public-sector organization, your website is required to meet the accessibility requirements. The compliance deadline for new websites to comply was January 1st, 2014, and beginning January 1st, 2021, all public websites must meet level AA requirements.
Thankfully, when Ontario codified guidelines into law, they adopted the W3C WCAG 2.0 guidelines. The guidelines are fairly thorough, covering everything from making sure images have alternative text, to making sure that pre-recorded audio and video have captions, to making sure your website can be navigated entirely by keyboard. Since Ontario requires double A compliance, it also requires things such as minimum contrast ratio of text to background, and making sure that artwork on the website doesn't trigger people with photosensitive epilepsy.
If you're looking to upgrade your website while maintaining compliance, contact us. Our experienced staff is always ready to answer any questions you may have or assist you with developing your online presence. Our guiding principle is that you, the customer, come first, and will work to build a compliant website optimized for desktop and mobile use.
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Designing your own website is not as easy as you think. Of course, these days making a website with nothing but notepad and determination isn't your only option, but even when using a website builder there are a lot of aesthetic and technical issues that can come from saying no to the professionals. There are so many things that have to be considered when designing a website,
One of the most common mistakes and often the hardest to fix is making your website responsive so that it loads cleanly and formats well on any device a user might visit your site on.
Your site may look good on a desktop monitor at 1080p, but someone trying to navigate your site on their phone might see everything as a jumbled mess because it's compressing everything onto a tiny screen. Even users who own tablets or laptops could be using different resolutions that while they aren't too far off still don't respond well to the formatting of the site.
Your site must be able to be used by people with varying disabilities ranging from problems with sight, hearing, or even difficulty with motor functions. Having captioned videos, images to important information, laying out your content in a non-confusing way, finding the right contrast colors for your site, even adding support for users to navigate your site with only a keyboard are all things that you need to think about when designing a website. You don't want to cut out a portion of your clientele because your website was too frustrating to navigate.
No one is going to see your site if it isn't optimized. Having good SEO and lots of keywords that connect to your site is vital to gain any traffic online these days. When someone searches something related to your company online, you want to be the first result they see. Optimizing your website and connecting it to your content takes some finesse.
Designing a website yourself is all well and good if you want to take the time, money, and resources to do so, but a company requires many things to grow and stay successful, and a website is too important these days to afford any mistakes with. In most cases, it's best to leave the design of your website to the professionals rather than to go at it yourself. There are so many things that have to be considered and it takes years of experience to know what works and what doesn't when talking about web design. To learn more, contact us.
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Updating your web browser will make your browsing experience more ideal. An updated web browser supports modern technology and applications used in websites. Browsers also often have security fixes that you will only have access to if you are using the latest version. Updates to browsers add new useful features to make using the web easier.
The latest browsers have support for HTML5 and CSS3. HTML is the language that specifies web page content. The latest version of HTML, HTML5, has many new features to streamline web browsing. For example, external players are not required to play video and audio, and you can embed video directly into your web design rather than linking a user to YouTube.
Web design with HTML5 creates more attractive and accessible content. CSS is a language that specifies how web page elements should appear. CSS3 is the current version of CSS. CSS3 makes websites appear more attractive and makes interaction easier. Using an up-to-date browser ensures you will see the website in the way the web designer intended.
I would personally recommend using either Google Chrome or Opera, as they have the most robust and modern technology available today.
No application is perfect, including web browsers. Often, new security issues arise that can impact the security and safety of your browsing. Using the latest version of a browser protects you from viruses and malware. Your privacy is also better protected by using an up-to-date browser.
You need to be especially careful of using completely obsolete browsers such as Internet Explorer, as you will be extremely vulnerable to virus and malware attacks such as the infamous "WannaCry" ransomware attack that recently swept the planet. This is because those browsers no longer produce updates to defend against things like these.
Each browser release contains new, useful features. By keeping your browser updated, you will have access to the latest and greatest features. These will make web browsing more pleasant. These features may include things like caching your browser history to save bandwidth on future visits to the same website, saving your passwords so that you don't have to type them in every time you visit a page, and add-ons such as AdBlocker which prevent those pesky pop-ups and sidebar advertisements from appearing. You will save time by using features meant to make your browsing efficient.
Using an up-to-date browser will optimize your web browsing experience. Check to make sure you are using the latest version of your web browser today.
If you have any questions or concerns about your browser use, feel free to ask these to our support team and we will be happy to follow up with you.
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The calendar year has rolled over to 2016 and our latest quarterly general meeting has completed.
It is safe to say that our entire team is so overwhelmingly enthusiastic about our next set of technical objectives, that they are bursting to spill the beans.
But I can't....not yet. Let's just say that our technical accomplishments of the past are about to give the REM team the tools to jump even farther ahead of our competition!
Stay tuned for more details....
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By the time you read this post, we've probably already selected a winner for our Holiday Greeting Card Music Puzzle but you still might have fun taking a look at what our team accomplished over a few Friday afternoon Creative Jam Sessions!
Our core culture revolves around a few guiding principles and it takes a lot of our effort to fulfill those objectives to a standard that makes us feel proud.
We often counter balance that hard work with some sort of activity that helps us stretch our legs (often literally) but in this case figuratively with a project that didn't have many business rules to adhere too.
Our Team Had Fun Creating Everything From Scratch
It's cliche to say, but still true: a team that plays together stays together. Thank you everyone for your kind words and feedback and I can't wait to see what happens in our next goofy project.
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REM has always provided our customers with a higher degree of attention than our competition. It is our number one value proposition put towards the "Customer Success Comes First" guiding principle.
Our existing customers already enjoy 150+ hours each month of free access to our live humans, located in Kitchener, Ontario, to solve business challenges, improve website aesthetics, and rank higher in Google searches.
They already trust our account facing team leaders, Laura and Jillian, to help take great business ideas and make them successful digital strategies, and REM has been working hard to extend that concept to our other leaders!
If the title of the post wasn't a clear enough spoiler, REM is quickly creating our next fantastic customer success centred offering:
The idea has been matured enough to finally give this teaser post and I can share some of the initial details to get you thinking about reaching the next plateau of excellence with REM.
Start Thinking:
Direct access to accomplished graphic designers - You Bet
Direct access to SEO strategists - No Problem
Bigger cloud storage repositories - Bingo
Come back in a few weeks to get the complete picture. You'll enjoy the new opportunities to advance beyond your competitors!
Ryan Covert
December 30, 2015 at 11:52 AM
It was a total blast to work on this with the team over the few weeks leading up to the holiday. I can't wait to see what we come up with for next year!