• Domain - A best-rated web hosting service maybe having one of the most important features as enabling hosting of unlimited domain names. How this helps your account is that it’s cheaper and more feasible when it comes to paying hosting fees for every single domain name. The offer of some companies of getting “a free domain name for life” can also be worth considering.

• Bandwidth and disk space - There are a host of web hosting packages, from which you will need to pick up the best for you. You need to select a hosting package with a bandwidth and disk space to match with your business needs. For example, if you plan to insert high-resolution images and graphics as well as have music and videos posted on your website, you need to go for the offer having larger bandwidth and disk space. In case your website traffic grows quickly and exceeds the bandwidth limits, your website could be suspended. An estimate of the future growth and expansion of your business can also be kept in mind while opting elements such as bandwidth, disk storage, and email accounts in a hosting plan. The number of visitors estimated for the first year can determine the selection of abovementioned elements and the good thing is that you can upgrade your package at any time.

• Add-ons – For companies to carry on their online businesses where either just transactions are involved or a whole Ecommerce system, solutions are offered for business hosting and Ecommerce hosting by the best web hosting companies that include different add-ons such as online payment gateways and payment modes, shopping cart software, online customer accounts and, in some cases, an online merchant account. These options can be optimized according to the business needs related to the customers and the clients.

I finally end it here with a strict recommendation to consider all the factors explained in Part I and Part II before signing up a web hosting company for your business. This matters a lot for the success of your web presence.

Behind the scene

It was quick call from one of our client regarding issue that images are not being displayed on IE8 while checking their beta website. With my surprise, same site is rendering all images properly in Firefox 3.6, and Google Chrome. I tried once again with check back into the code and verified all the relevant IMG tags and it seems everything is fine.

Cause of Problem

The reason is Internet Explorer has issues displaying JPEG images that have been encoded using CMYK, rather than the default RGB encoding. Even Internet explorer does not supports other image formats like EPS, GIF created in CMYK mode.

Typically, JPG files are encoded in a three-channel RGB format.  It is possible, in some programs like Photoshop or Corel Draw, to create JPG files that are encoded in four- channel CMYK color format. Microsoft Internet Explorer is unable to display JPG files that are not in three-channel RGB color format.

Example of RGB vs CMYK images

Firefox 2.x and earlier version also doesn’t support images created in CMYK color format. You can refer below browser matrix that supports CMYK encoded images.

Solution

To resolve this problem, simply open the file in Image Editor i.e. Photoshop or GIMP, and re-encode it by copying the image, going to File > New, and making sure "Color Mode:" is set to "RGB" at "8-bit". Once the new canvas is open, paste the file, and save as a JPG.

Quick Solution for Photoshop users

Check the color mode of the image. In Photoshop, by clicking "Image," then "Mode," you can check it. If CMYK, change it to RGB before saving it for use on the web. To avoid JPG saving in CMYK, you can also use the "Save for Web" option in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements, instead of choosing "Save As…" and choosing JPG. "Save for Web" will convert your image to RGB before saving.

Now Firefox 3.x supports CMYK JPG

Good news for Firefox users is… Firefox has resolve the CMYK Image rendering issue and now Firefox 3.x supports CMYK images. For further reference, see Mozilla Firefox CMYK Image rendering Bug Post in their Bugzilla system… https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=44781

Browser Matrix for RGB vs CMYK Image rendering support

Conclusion

CMYK format is universally accepted format for Print Media, while Web Designing always prefer to encode your images to RGB format to avoid CMYK image rendering issue in IE. If your website’s images are not displaying in IE8, check the image in Firefox 3.0 or greater. If it displays there, it’s likely to be in the CMYK color mode. Fix the problem by changing the color mode of the image, re saving it and then replacing in your website.

The problem: Images displaying in Firefox and other web browsers, but not in Internet Explorer 8 (IE8). This is something diagnosed as IE8 having dropped its support for JPG files saved in CMYK color mode. It’s not so common an issue as saving a JPG in CMYK color mode is a rare manner for saving JPGs; Picasa will not save in this manner, but pre press programs like Photoshop will do.

Solution: Check the color mode of the image. In Photoshop, by clicking "Image," then "Mode," you can check it. If CMYK, change it to RGB before saving it for use on the web. To avoid JPG saving in CMYK, you can also use the "Save for Web" option in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements, instead of choosing "Save As.." and choosing JPG. "Save for Web" will convert your image to RGB before saving.

So, if any of your website image is not displaying in IE8, check the image in Firefox. If it displays there, it’s likely to be in the CMYK color mode. Fix the problem by changing the color mode of the image, re saving it and then replacing in your website.

Web development would make sense to many if I say that it is web designing, database management, content management, client-server communication, hardware and software configuration, or in other words if I say it is developing applications to communicate over some form of network that may be accessed by some client device, i.e., a web browser, a mobile device etc.

Let’s understand where do Silverlight and Flash stand in web development, how are they characterized, and how do they compete.

Position

Client-side web development skills can make use of the following set of technologies. The list includes only the most common technologies in use.

•     HTML/XHTML/XML
•     Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)
•     JavaScript
•     Ajax
•     Flash/Flex
•     Microsoft Silverlight

Characterization

Silverlight was released by Microsoft in October of 2008 as a free runtime programmable web browser plug-in using the .NET framework that could power Rich Internet Application experiences and deliver high-quality, interactive video across multiple platforms and browsers. It uses XAML (text based) with a simple XML object able to output it. Its rich internet application enabling features include vector graphics, animation, and audio/video playback.

Flash was introduced in 1996. Originally acquired by Macromedia, currently it is owned by Adobe Systems. It is a frequently used multimedia platform for ads and games and more recently has been positioned as a RIA tool. Containing an object-oriented language called ActionScript, it has a control over vector and raster graphics that empower it for animation of the text, drawings, and static images. It supports bidirectional streaming of audio and video.

ActionScript, coming from the early days of DOS, would mean adopting an imperative approach, while XAML is a rather declarative approach.

Competition

Let’s start with Silverlight. What all it offers! Silverlight supports animation through a time based model and not a frame-based. Known as WPF animation model, it has entirely eliminated matrixes. The system figures out the function just with the defined start and end conditions. It supports JavaScript, VB.NET, and C# programming languages and has an exclusive support for popular JPG and PNG formats. It allows the use of true type fonts directly. From a debugging point of view, it is relatively much more easy and versatile than Flash.

Setbacks: Can’t work on Linux. Missing features like buttons and grids affect functionality for some of the tasks. Socket programming and sound processing unavailable, useless for websites like YouTube.

On the other hand, Flash can work on Linux, and that’s a very important feature. It contains certain useful features that are missing in Silverlight such as buttons, list buttons, list views, checkboxes, and grids. It supports GIF and BMP formats.

Setbacks: Inability to work with .avi and.mov files and also to bind to models or connect to the network and obtain data.

Though not yet as prevalent as Flash, Silverlight definitely has emerged as a powerful cross browser and cross-platform browser plug-in able to design, develop, and deliver complex applications for companies on the World Wide Web. It also allows for rapid development. Its growing popularity can be measured by the fact that it has been used for video streaming in many high-profile events such as 2008 Summer Olympics and 2010 Winter Olympics.

Silverlight is a powerful development platform introduced by Microsoft for the creation of rich media applications for the web, desktop, and mobile devices. It is compatible with multiple web browsers used on Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X operating systems.

The technology:

Microsoft's entry into the sphere of rich internet applications reflects the company's desire to extend the reach of their .NET framework. Going beyond the traditional HTTP/HTML limitations, this technology uses XAML and .NET framework to write Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) applications. It can be used with the JavaScript and can also work within AJAX-enabled web pages.

The applicability:

All kinds of companies are using Silverlight to build interactive applications and deliver flawless streaming media to audiences on all types of screens wherever the web works. It provides high resolution images, great pixel shade effects, videos, 3D graphics, animations, rich internet application productivity, web designing, 60+ controls with source code, and smooth streaming. All its application processing takes place on the client machine that enhances the web experience for the client and decreases server resource utilization.

Well, it supports the usual array of Windows Media Video, Windows Media Audio, and MP3 content without requiring Windows Media Player, Windows Media Player ActiveX control, or even Windows Media browser plug-ins. Thus, we get an advanced internet multimedia center where there is no need to download different plug-ins for the same application.

The benefits:

With Silverlight 4, the latest version, the users are offered many improved or new functionalities like:

• Enhanced animation effects
• Enhanced data binding support
• Rich internet application (RIA) services
• Support for Google Chrome browser
• Microphone and web cam support
• Support for printing
• New and enhanced controls such as a RichTextBox
• New hosted browser support to render HTML inside Silverlight
• Clipboard and drag and drop support
• Deep zoom performance enhancements
• Out-of-browser support features like full keyboard access while running in full-screen mode and programmatic access to the local document folder of a user.

Progress path:

Though newer than its contemporary technologies Adobe Flash/Flex and AJAX, Silverlight promises to serve a good future to internet applications.