About Me
I've been designing websites for many years now. I remember way back in 1995, when I was working on the Helpdesk for Applied Materials in Santa Clara, CA. I would hack into the database (which was accessed by a basic intranet frontend) using only JavaScript...oh what fun! But then I got serious & learned XHTML coupled with PHP, & so I began to turn out website after website.
And all these years later, I'm still at it! A lot has changed, but the principles I've learned throughout the years have kept growing, & are evident in my designs.
I Train Dogs Too!
It's sounds kind of funny, but yes, I do train dogs :) I have been dog training on & off, for 20+ years now. My favorite type of training is in the sport of Schutzhund. Schutzhund is German for "protection dog", & it's a great dog sport that focuses on developing & evaluating those traits in dogs that make them more useful, which in turn makes for a much better dog/human relationship.
A Practical Website Care Checklist
A website needs occasional care after launch. A short routine helps catch broken paths, stale information, and small usability problems before they frustrate visitors.
Start with the visitor’s path
Simple checks you can repeat
Set aside time once a month to walk through your site as a visitor would. Try the same tasks on a phone and a computer, and note anything confusing or out of date.
- Open the main navigation and follow each important link.
- Submit contact forms and confirm that the confirmation step works.
- Check phone numbers, email addresses, hours, prices, and service details.
- Read a page aloud or scan its headings to spot unclear wording and missing structure.
- Make sure important actions are easy to find and usable with a keyboard.
Keep the site healthy
Security, backups, and performance
Technical care is easier when it is routine. Keep a known-good backup, update software in a planned way, and check that key pages continue to load as expected.
- Confirm that recent backups exist and that you know how restoration works.
- Review software and account access; remove accounts that are no longer needed.
- Check pages on a phone and a slower connection for layout or loading problems.
- Review analytics for broken landing pages, sudden changes, and content visitors use.
- Update your sitemap when you add, remove, or substantially change public pages.
For larger updates, make one change at a time and revisit the pages most affected. Keeping a simple dated note of what changed makes future troubleshooting much easier.
Need help maintaining your site?
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