Generally I must say that all Mac OS X based browsers including Safari and the Intel optimized Firefox version are relatively slow. This is especially apparent when you run Windows XP under OS X in emulation using VMWare and try any browser, be it IE, FF or the brand spanking new Google browser Google Chrome. Windows based browsers are snappy and fast compared to a just acceptable performance on OS X.

I hope with time things will improve and I won't have to envy the Windows browser responsiveness anymore. Just maybe Google Chrome will come out for OS X soon and it will be as light as fast as it seem on my Windows emulation. But the Google Mac team is not committing itself to any deadline. Push Google to make it happen, sign up for their list to be notified when Google Chrome for OS X comes out.

Google is experimenting and will soon launch a new social bookmarking and commenting service that is much like Digg, but will work on any keyword. This may change the way SEO is done and I can already see hordes of fakers trying to manipulate the system.

I was looking for a good way to implement a simple theme switcher for creativebits' light theme and found this competition on smashing magazine. The winner has a very sexy OS X style box that moves around and allows switching between several themes. I think it's an overkill for our purposes, but it is certainly inspiring.

Firefox is about make history again. To help them all you have to do is download Firefox 3 during Download Day to help set the record for most software downloads in 24 hours. Do your pledge now!

FF has already overtaken IE in many countries and many site's stats show high Firefox usage. Here are creativebits.org's numbers: Firefox 45.66%, IE 33.78%, Safari 17.44%, Opera 2.06%.

First of all don't be fooled by SEO professionals. 95% of the offers are scam. The rest are serious professionals, but unless you are running a million dollar business you don't need them. Just follow these 5 suggestions and you can be sure you've done everything you can to rank high in Google.

1. Include the keywords in your domain name, page title and h1 article title. So for example if you want to sell squirrel food, register the domain squirrelfoodforsale.com. Include the keywords Squirrel Food in the page title and h1 article title. Include the same keywords in the body copy as well, but don't overdo it. Just make it natural.
2. Make sure as many related sites link you as possible. Not only the link has to include your keywords but the title of the article linking you should include it too. So if petfood.com links your site from the article Feeding your squirrel then you've got a valuable link.
3. Use Analytics and AdSense on your page, so Google can monitor the traffic of your site and make sure many people visit your page.
4. Update your site and page often. Google gives priority to content that has been updated within a week for obvious reasons.
5. Avoid links from spam and fake sites. You can get blacklisted easily and you will do more harm with such links than good.

Don't spend too much time on SEO, working on your product is time better spent, because there is nothing better than being linked organically.

For those of us whose work revolves within the realm of browser compatibility, we always want to make sure that our CSS styling works perfectly as planned out. However, different browsers have different ways of implementing CSS properties and worse case, some of them are not supported by some of the most widely and commonly used browsers. CSS3.info provides a useful tool that will quickly test your browser which CSS selectors are supported or not by your browser(s).

http://www.css3.info/selectors-test/test.html

Building and managing websites can seem like a daunting task for the uninitiated. Even if you've been designing sites for a while, managing links, uploading, even working with a design team can still be challenging stuff. Throw in some heavy CSS-driven page layouts, and web design is suddenly down-right freaky!

Deep soothing breath, grasshopper. I have some great resources to help you with these web design issues. First, a 3-part video series called Creatin' CSS Layouts In Dreamweaver, which will demystify CSS-driven page layout. It'll take you from the basics, through to code and layout refinement, right up to building a full-on centered layout. Check it out!

Next, how about managing that site once it's up and running? Things like finding and fixing broken links, file management--that sort of thing? Here's an article called 10 Dreamweaver Site Management Tools. Give it a read here.

So, whether you're just getting into building sites, or if you've been at it a while, I hope these resources will help you out! Enjoy!

Here is a handy little application that improves efficiency if you work a lot with html, css and graphics under Mac OS X.

Color Picker Pro as the name suggests is a beefed up color picker with a magnifying glass and a container for picked colors. Here are the steps on how you are supposed to make use of it:

1. Hover over the graphics on your screen with your cursor and locate the pixel with the color you want to pick.
2. Press Apple-X to copy the color to the picker.
3. If you're happy with the picked color drop it into one of the containers below.
4. Once all the colors required have been collected you can start working on your code.
5. Whenever you need the hexadecimal code of a specific color, instead of remembering and typing it, just drag and drop the small colored square from Color Picker Pro's containers to the text editor.
6. Color Picker Pro will insert the hex code including the # sign right into the document.

Keep CPP open when you code and use it whenever you need it. It's quick and visual. I find it much easier to use than goofing around with Photoshop for this simple purpose.

You can make CPP float above all other application if you don't want to keep switching to it, while you click around in windows.

Also, it's important to note that you can customize the textual output the way the colors are described. This can be useful when you're developing an identity guideline book and you don't want to use the technical HEX colors to describe the RGB values.

CPP has one additional small feature that you may find useful. With the key combination Apple-D you can set the Desktop color to the active color being picked.

If you're addicted to statistics like me you will love the new version of Dashalytics Max OS X Dashboard widget that is based on the new features of Google Analytics.

It gives an interactive overview of the most vital stats for your sites. The only thing missing is the hourly display of a days traffic, but I'm sure it's coming. Enjoy!

If you're a Google Analytics user, you must have noticed the new interface introduced a few weeks ago. It's mostly a visual upgrade, which is very important because the whole idea of the application is to visualize huge amount of data in a humanely comprehensible way. It also features a couple of new features that were not available in the old interface. It's a good idea to start familiarize yourself with the new interface as the old one will be phased out starting July 18, 2007.