You may have heard of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the various lawsuits that have been raised against large and small businesses because their websites are not easily navigable by visually impaired folks using screen readers. That being said, ADA compliance is a super broad topic – and the act itself was originally drafted…
Climate change is no joke, and many people are taking steps to reduce their carbon footprint. You might try eating less meat, going paperless for your billing & invoicing, taking your bike to work instead of driving, or bringing reusable totes to the grocery store. But there’s a new way to reduce your impact on…
Not too long ago, Google announced that they will be introducing a new ranking algorithm that puts User Experience (or UX) into the equation starting around 2021. This is because of the influx of users relying on e-commerce websites due to COVID. Despite storefronts slowly re-opening, there are predictions regarding a 18% rise of online…
If you have been around a WordPress website you will know all about the notifications you see with the number of updates your website needs to have downloaded, installed, and configured. I am not sure I have ever logged into a website and not seen an available update notification! There are 3 main categories of…
We talk about email marketing a lot. It is incredibly effective and something we definitely recommend to almost all our clients and anyone who has a business. We recently talked about all our top tips for email marketing and you can read all about them at this link: https://surfyourname.com/email-marketing-techniques-we-love/ The communication landscape is always changing…
As Benjamin Franklin said, there are two certainties in life: death and taxes. Sometimes, it’s a bit of a toss-up which one is less fun to talk about, but let’s jump right in and talk about taxes, specifically collecting sales tax from purchases people make through your e-commerce website. Sales tax is very important,…
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into law by President George H. W. Bush in 1990. The Act applies to all areas of public life, including jobs, schools, transportation, and all public and private spaces that are open to the general public. At its core, it sets up guidelines for how entities…
If you’ve ever had a package stolen from your porch or your car was broken into, there’s a good chance the criminal was gone long before you even realized you were a victim. You can’t be everywhere at once to protect your belongings and loved ones. However, there is a way to keep an eye…
We offer live chat services to all of our clients and often handle chats on our own website. Live chat is a great way to help your clients, engage with them, and to make sure they come again. We started offering live chat services several years ago. All clients that have been using our live…
This summer Google announced a new platform that they will be charging developers who use Google Maps API on their websites with. Now developers will have to use the new Google Maps Platform to set up the Google Maps API on their website. This platform promises free support, pay-as-you-go billing, new maps solutions, and simplified…
Where is your smartphone right now? If you’re like any other person living in the digital age… it’s probably within an arm’s length. Mobile phones are a phenomenon that has developed rapidly over a short amount of time and have become an essential part of everyday life. Because of this, the idea of a mobile-first…
Facebook is a super-popular social network, but on the other hand, it’s also a place for all the customers to leave reviews for local businesses. Long dependent on a five-star evaluations framework, the social network is streamlining its approach with the new recommendations system for Facebook business pages. Rather than appointing a star rating and…
If you know Surf Your Name, you know that we love WordPress! But in 2018, WordPress is planning some noteworthy changes. In the next few months, WordPress will be releasing a brand new publishing experience in order to help you create posts and pages. This new editor is called Gutenberg, and with it comes a…
A while back we wrote about the steps that Google Chrome was taking toward a more secure internet by alerting all visitors to an unsecured website as well as adding warnings next to login credential boxes and credit card purchase forms. You can read that article by clicking here. In 2016, more than half of…
Netflix did not kill Blockbuster. The horrible late fees did. Uber & Lyft did not kill the taxi business. High prices and smelly cabs did. Apple did not kill the music industry. Being forced to buy full albums with unwanted songs did. Airbnb did not kill the hotel industry. Limited availability and confusing pricing did. …
The EU has fined the largest search engine provider with a $2.7 billion fine for rigging the search results to favor one of their own shopping comparison service over other companies. This is the largest fine ever imposed by EU regulators and could have been even larger since fine amounts are based on the…
Google has announced that starting in 2017, users of the Google Chrome browser will be warned when accessing non-secure websites. The initial rollout will only mark websites unsafe if they utilize passwords or take customers’ credit card information without having a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) installed on the site. However, Google has said their long-term…
Hackers from all over the world have been taking advantage of computers, websites, and other internet-connected devices for years. Their attacks have become more sophisticated and have been dealing more damage than ever before. The most recent attack on October 21, 2016, was proof that our defenses are not strong enough to thwart these attacks.…
Facebook has been under pressure from users for quite some time to add something more than the “Like” button for users to use when viewing their friend’s posts. Hitting that “Like” button isn’t always the best reaction for every occasion. Now Facebook is giving users more options; love, haha, wow, sad or angry are…
Computer users have across the world have become accustomed to the browser Internet Explorer for over 20 years now. In the 20-year history of Internet Explorer, users have seen 11 versions and updates of the iconic browser. Microsoft will stop supporting all but 1 version of IE (Internet Explorer) beginning January 12, 2016. What does…
A popular Internet and social media hoax surfaced again. Thousands of Facebook users have been copying and pasting a warning about changes to Facebook’s privacy policy. Below is a sample of what is being copied and pasted on millions of Facebook users accounts “As of September 26th, 2015 at 01:16 a.m. Eastern standard time, I…
