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WordPress Website Hosting and Maintenance for 2023

On November 30, 2022   /   Uncategorized   /   Leave a comment
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WordPress Website hosting and maintenance for 2023

For Connection Group Hosting Customers with WordPress Websites:

It’s that time of year when we talk about WordPress website maintenance plans and WordPress and website hosting. 

WordPress is a popular solution for small business websites for a few key reasons:

1. Ease in website content updates – editing or adding new text, photos, etc.

2. Multitudes of free/inexpensive plains that allow for custom features.

3. Availability of security and functionality updates for WordPress, themes, and plugins

Now…. the cons of WordPress. 

1. WordPress CMS and themes have a shelf life. Code becomes outdated. Decreased functionality and increased vulnerabilities occur. 

2.. Adding more features, and functionality can make updates more complicated for the novice user.

3. Due to its popularity, frequent updates are required to keep websites safe from nefarious hackers.

Definitions:

Website hosting is the storage of your website pages and content on servers that are accessible to the World Wide Web.

We offer website hosting specifically optimized for WordPress.  

Website Maintenance is the upkeep of those files. 

The WordPress hosting plans we offer do not include any form of maintenance, otherwise, we could not keep them at $20 per month. The fee covers the space on the server so your customers and prospects can access your website from anywhere in the world. We do offer optional WordPress website maintenance plans for our website hosting customers.  Please also see a previous blog entry ‘What’s the Difference Between Website Hosting and Website Maintenance” for more detailed comparisons. 

There are two kinds of website maintenance that we offer.

1. Backend Website Maintenance – this includes regular (monthly updates to themes, WordPress versions, theme updates, updates for plug-ins, and backup of your website.

2. Content Updates – this includes adding new copy, photos, pages, blog entries, or other information to your website. 

Although both types of maintenance are recommended the most important for your website’s health is number 1, to maintain the backend.  Although not critical for security, regular content updates help you score extra points with search engines. You also score with customers who are looking for the most current information. 

We receive desperate calls throughout the year from customers who have not updated their plugins and they discover:

  1. Their website is completely down and has an error when visitors go to it. (100% of these calls happen right after sending out an important proposal or new campaign.)
  2. There are photos or text on their website that they did not add (they have been hacked.)
  3. Features stop working because the code is outdated and will no longer feed/communicate with other features.

This happens most frequently with websites that are three years or older. However, it occurs anytime there are security compromises on plugins or themes – no matter the age. When WordPress, plugins, or themes have not updated for a couple of versions (say you are on WordPress version 5 and the current version is WordPress 8.2) there is a higher likelihood of incompatibility issues with add-on plug-ins, etc. when you get around to making updates. Updating regularly can avoid this. 

If your website is older than 3 years you want to start budgeting for a refresh.

Consider how many system updates your phone or computer has had over three years. Code gets outdated whether you’re watching or not. Maintaining the back end monthly will help extend its life. However, at some point, a refresh will be in order. Websites three years or older should get a refresh. Websites older than 5 years likely require a complete revamp. Design style and features also become dated quickly. Using a 3-5 years timeline will help keep everything current.

DIY WordPress Website Maintenance: 

Updating WordPress website elements is not hard. Often it is a click of a button. Make sure you cross your fingers though! Sometimes a quick click and you’re done. Other times one update affects other features and disables them, or the entire site. This is another reason why we do not recommend automatic updates. If you want to do your own updates please schedule a time to do them every month and put it on your calendar. Following are some resources for DIY WordPress website maintenance. Google more if you encounter issues.

Update WordPress Versions: WordPress Versions don’t happen frequently, they will be noted on the backend of your site when you log in. We also recommend holding off a week or so before your do a major WordPress version update. This will give the WordPress plug-ins time to update to the most recent version. Allowing the plug-ins to update will ensure they continue to be compatible.

Update WordPress Themes: (look for the name of the theme creator in the backend of your website. Going to your original theme creator’s website can make this even easier.) 

Update WordPress Plugins

Plug-ins need to be updated most often. Make sure you check the live site once you update one. Look at everything. You may not realize the interrelationship between plugins and how one plug-in update can disable another one. 

If you ‘hope’ to do the updates yourself and by March you realize you haven’t done any, reach out. We want to help our customers keep their websites functioning optimally. When we get your desperate call asking why your website is down and we’re booked out for two weeks we want to cry for you! Seriously! Don’t do that to us – or yourself! Keep your site optimized. If you know you’re never going to get around to the updates, ease your mind and save us stress! If we host your WordPress website get your monthly maintenance locked in today.  Complete the form and indicate if you need backend maintenance or both backend and content updates. We’ll send you the current pricing and get you started once we receive your order.

Good luck and maintain.

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Adobe® End Support of Postscript Type 1 fonts

On March 16, 2021   /   Branding - Marketing, Design Tips, Graphic Design and Web design, Uncategorized   /   Leave a comment
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Adobe® Ends Support of True Type fonts

Nothing is fixed and everything changes. 

With the creation of web fonts, responsive design, and apps in the Cloud, the way fonts are built has changed too. Our team started noticing the adverse effects of these updates when our trusted creative design apps started crashing frequently. We discovered it was often when using older fonts or some designed by certain foundries.  Plus some super fun free ones that maybe weren’t coded well, to begin with, may have played a role. We have come to accept that Adobe Creative Cloud applications (you know the ones all graphic designers live and breathe by) only play well with Adobe cloud fonts. In addition to this realization, Adobe has also announced that they will be ending support of Postscript Type 1 fonts in 2023. 

This all matters to brand owners because the Helvetica typeface your designer used in your business card design from 2017 may not render correctly in your next update. If your brand visuals and logo were designed with Postscript Type 1 fonts or are not developed by Adobe your designer may need to make adjustments.

Options available to ensure your brand fonts are up to date:

  • Change your font entirely if there is not a compatible version of the brand font (stab to the heart)
  • Show certificate of license – depending on how many years ago it was purchased this may be impossible  (the license is probably on some installation CD that was obsolete 5 years ago)
  • Purchase a new font license to continue use, update the font files and ensure they are not type Postscript Type 1 (cha-ching!)
  • Font license pricing is across the board. First, you have to know if your brand materials just incorporate Helvetica Bold or a combination of Helvetica Medium and Helvetica Light Condensed? One font style, like Helvetica Light, can be $9.99 to $99.99. If you need to purchase the whole Helvetica family of fonts (30+ styles) this can begin to break brand marketing budgets.

How can Adobe® dictate how fonts are supported and End Support of Postscript Type 1 fonts?

Connection Group has been using Adobe® Creative Suite since its invention. We started with installation CDs for each software product from Photoshop to InDesign and even Flash. Changing now would be reinventing the wheel – plus there aren’t other compatible options at this time. It’s also not just Adobe® making changes, it’s a digital revolution – nothing is fixed and everything changes.

Personally, I love that we don’t have to frantically locate a license key when a computer station needs a fresh install of Adobe® Creative Cloud.  Adobe® Cloud allows us to install fonts under the Creative Cloud platform at a whim – a font hoarder’s dream. As long as we maintain our Adobe Cloud membership we have the license to use the fonts. However, for fonts to function in all media and for font foundries to protect their licenses, changes had to be made. The font license (like the Adobe cloud license) covers a specific number of users or computers.

When we design brochures, sales sheets, print magazines, etc., the logo graphics and the brand fonts can be sent to the commercial printer or pre-press company. This is still a legal option. Sending fonts to others, such as a virtual assistant, or even your IT personnel may not be covered under the brand design firm’s license.

For new brands and others who have updated their brand visuals recently your need for Postscript Type 1 font support is not likely. Most software applications stopped supporting Postscript Type 1 font in early 2005. Adobe® is one of the last applications to phase them out. If you use Postscript Type 1 fonts in Adobe products and need help preparing for the final demise visit this article in Apple Insider for more information.

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Font Copyright Infringement – Protect Yourself and Your Brand

On January 13, 2021   /   Branding - Marketing, Design Tips, Graphic Design and Web design, Uncategorized   /   Leave a comment
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Font copyright infringement

What? What is that all about? Anyone who has designed social media graphics, posted photos to blogs and websites, etc. has encountered information about art and photo copyrights. But font copyright infringement may be new to many of you.

When you hired a graphic design and marketing firm to develop your brand and design your logo you also may have received a brand standards guide. In that brand standards guide, the graphic designer provided names of the fonts utilized for your visual brand. Intentional use of fonts and colors is key to establishing visual consistency in all communications and media promotions.

If you are designing images connected to your brand you will want to purchase licenses for the fonts. Fonts are designed by independent graphic designers and type foundries. Therefore, fonts hold copyrights and require licensing. Much like we do not own our domain names for our corporate websites, we do not ‘own’ fonts. These days with the cloud and digital marketing, discovering font copyright infringement is much easier than it has ever been.

Use of Fonts on Products and Apparel

This is also very important if you are selling products that use fonts. Whether you are designing and selling decorative signs, t-shirts with professional lettering, and any digital artwork for download and reproduction be sure to check the copyright of the fonts you use. Some sublimation printers come with software and fonts that may allow unlimited use, fonts you find online may not. Be sure to check the usage license on all fonts you use. If you are designing products or digital graphics for the mass market, learning to design your own original fonts may be fun. Another option is looking for font designers on Etsy and other marketplaces. Original font designs by freelance artists may be less costly and have more flexible licensing than the large foundries.

Keep in mind, even if you design a clever typographical design, font copyright is different from fine art or graphic design copyright. Just varying the fonts size, color or using a combination of bold, italic, small caps, etc. in a typography design is not enough to claim originality. Protect yourself, read all font licenses very carefully.

Font Copyright Infringement is a Honey Hole for Foundries

Font copyright infringement by individuals and corporations is often done by mistake because of an under licensed or unlicensed font. An innocent mistake doesn’t mean they get off with a warning though. Some foundries look for infringement and get as much revenue from enforcement as from normal licensing! There are now automated bots that can scan for font usage in web pages and posted PDFs. The public seldom learns of lawsuits for font copyright infringement because most are settled out of court.

Although there are some tricks like converting fonts to outlines or only using open-source fonts, etc. it is best to play it safe.  So when you need us to create a new team member business card and your brand font is not up to date or licensed please don’t blame your brand design team for adding a font license fee. It’s not revenue for us. It’s protection for your company and brand and it’s an homage to those clever coders and typeface designers who need to feed their families too.

For more information, we referenced this article on Communication Arts for this blog post. 

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What Skills Makes Great Graphic Designers Stand out?

On October 13, 2020   /   Branding - Marketing, Design Tips, Graphic Design and Web design, Uncategorized   /   Leave a comment
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Great Graphic Designers Grow with Targeted Training

Great graphic designers are trained in Lansing, Michigan! Each year I spend time with local graphic design experts as well as Lansing Community College’s, (LCC), Communication, Media, and Arts Department faculty members. The LCC Annual Advisory Board Meeting is a time where faculty and selected professionals from the Lansing, Michigan graphic design community discuss what is most important for students to learn to succeed in the graphic design industry. It is interesting to hear other professionals and instructors share what talents they are seeing from students and what skills are sorely lacking as they enter the workforce.

Because LCC is a community college, many students are enrolled for an Associates’ degree. This means they receive a mere two years of training. Other students are there to earn credit to transfer to a four-year college. When students are able to attend a four-year university the additional two years at University offers educators the ability to dive deeper into philosophy.

Graphic Design Theory Including:

  • Design concepts
  • Color theory
  • Drawing techniques
  • Nuances in typography
  • Problem-solving
  • Graphic design software training

However, the majority of LCC students plan to earn their Associates’s degree in Graphic Design, Website Design, or Animation, and enter the workforce right after graduation. The challenge for the faculty and Advisory Committee each year is to determine the most important graphic design training for students during their limited enrollment. These students need to have skills and knowledge that employers find valuable. They need to hit the ground running to be able to compete in a competitive field.

In an ideal world, training would cover all areas. This luxury is saved for the colleges and universities where students will receive Bachelor’s in Graphic Design degrees or hang out until they earn a Masters in Graphic Design.
It is a dilemma that we face each year. In the era of COVID, decreased enrollment, reduced budgets, and inflated graphic design software costs, the questions are even more important. What I appreciate most about our annual meeting is that we are determined to address the needs of the students.

Some of the questions we ask include:

  • What can we do to build better graphic design modules for students?
  • What does a graphic designer need to know to hit the ground running when they graduate?
  • Should there be a strong focus on teaching drawing techniques?
  • Are problem-solving techniques most valuable?
  • What about software, is Adobe Creative Suite® the only game in town?
  • How much time should be allotted for learning specific software?
  • What if graphic design firms switch to a different software?
  • What is a process that separates the creative graphic designer from the novice?

So many clearly important questions and all are difficult to answer. Each of our views is distinctive to our chosen areas of expertise. As designers and art appreciators, we consider what we like and what we look for as employers and instructors. My favorite discussion from this year’s meeting was the list compiled of creative prompts and practices all great graphic designers would benefit from establishing. I would love to adopt many of these into my own daily practice as well as my team of the graphic designer team at Connection Group.

Every Graphic Design Student will:

  1. Complete 7 sketchbook pages each week
  2. Design and develop at least one web component with each brand project
  3. Show process – steps taken to get to the finished design
  4. Demonstrate a clear understanding of fonts and how it relates to other visuals
  5. Create a clean design of a boring project, such as a form (shows tenacity!)
  6. Share designs in public – on Pinterest, Facebook, or other platforms and forums
  7. Develop an online portfolio and a solid, neat interview portfolio
  8. Research great design in print and digital format
  9. Subscribe to Communication Arts and other print or digital design magazines)
  10. Students and designers will enjoy doing some of the tasks above and some may find them tedious.

The interesting part is that all of these tasks are important if a graphic designer is going to be well-rounded and successful.

I believe the skill of graphic design can be taught. However, graphic design that stands out, conveys and emotes a moving and clear message is created by those who are skilled in the ability to see things others don’t see. Great graphic designers can break down complex ideas into simple visuals and messages the mass market understands. Neither a two-year or four-year degree ensures this ability.

Whether it is determined that a sketchbook is required in all graphic design classes, or that software training should be the focus, regular review is ket. I am happy LCC critiques their program and is always striving to bring the highest value to their students and to the organizations that hire them. I am proud to be a member of the LCC Graphic Design Department Advisory Board. I know the entire committee is committed to the success of the students and the value they will bring to the industry we love.

So what did I miss? What daily practices do you think great graphic designers can implement to stay inspired?

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