Category: Emphasis

A popular website design element that often comes up in discussions is the website slider carousel or slider for short. While this feature may seem appealing at first, at Emphasis.LA, we recommend that most websites avoid using slider carousels due to various reasons. When we create web designs we usually avoid adding sliders in the…

Most likely the answer to this question is: Yes, you need to have a privacy policy on your website. Let’s review the reasons why. Disclaimer: This is not legal advice, just our understanding. The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) The CCPA gives California residents four fundamental privacy rights that affect the information you collect and…

Since we work with a lot of small businesses and nonprofits, we see a lot of websites that are not set up for success. People know that they need a website and they know that there are services that allow you to easily create a website. But they don’t know the true value because they…

The speed of your website is important because it can lead to a better user experience (UX),  increase your conversion rate on your website, and lead to better search engine optimization (SEO). If you do a little research online you will hear a lot of terms such as caching, content delivery network (CDN), or time…

The simple answer to this question is, no, you shouldn’t use an accessibility overlay or widget. The main reason not to use an overlay is because they don’t make your site accessible. The only true way of making a website accessible is through testing. Accessibility overlays may, ironically, make your site less accessible and more…

A common complaint on WordPress websites are the excessive amount of spam comments on blog posts. Lets go through some ways we can reduce or eliminate the spam. Disable WordPress comments  Of course, the simplest thing you can do is disable comments. I’ve done this a few times. Some businesses or industries do not see…

I was recently at a networking event where someone asked me, “what are the newest things in the web development industry?”. While these are not necessarily “new” developments, these are the things you need to be considering this year (2022) when building a website.  Note: some of the links below may be affiliate links. If…

In WordPress, page builders are a type of plugin that add a visual editing process to the website with the ability to drag and drop items into place. You can picture putting together a website with a page-builder similar to building something with Legos. You can grab an image block for example and put it…

Often, at a meeting, I am asked by small business owners to review their website and give them my thoughts. These are a few common issues with websites, especially DIY websites. These are good tips on what to look for when doing a DIY website. Images missing alternative (alt) text Insufficient color contrast Improper heading…

In our line of work, we often help non-profit organizations to develop and expand their online exposure. We love to help organizations that have a mission to make the world a better place. These are a few resources that we have learned about that offer free services for nonprofits. Some restrictions may apply to these…

If you are building a website using WordPress, one of the most important decisions you make is choosing the right website hosting provider. The hosting you choose can affect your website speed, uptime, and security. Working with a good hosting provider can save you a lot of time and frustration in the setup process. Use…