Web Technology

Don’t let your SSL certificate expire without your knowing! Make sure it is up to date so you don’t lose out on any sales! If your certificate is set to auto renew, be sure you have the correct steps ready to install the new certificate to your server. We have heard about many websites who lose out on valuable online holiday shopping due to an expired ssl certificate, or just lacking one completely. If you’re unfamiliar with SSL certificates, and currently maintain an eCommerce website, this article is for you.

An SSL certificate allows you to do secure credit card transactions on the internet. If you don't have one, people won't shop with you because they'll get a bunch of warnings that the site is not secure when they attempt to pay with their credit card.

Here are a few indicators to let people know that you are safe to do business with online.

1. Make sure that your URL is actually https://www.yourdomain.com. When someone see that "https" they know that is the first line of defense.
2. Next, check to see if there is a "lock" icon in the bottom right or top corner of your browser. This informs the visitor that there is a valid certificate on the page to protect them.

If your eCommerce website is not properly secured, then your customers are at risk for identity theft. If you need help with your website, be sure to call the experts here at JVF Consulting.

Authorize.net has been down since just after midnight Pacific time this morning. We have been unable to hit any of their domains, and so far the toll-free lines all fail to go through. A call to their main office in Utah indicates that they are "closed for the holiday".

Our source then called and spoke with the UK branch. The information they gave us was that the Authorize.net data center experienced a fire. The combination of both the fire and our US 4th Of July holiday created a perfect storm effect. They are currently calling people in from holiday to man phones and answer questions. They are hoping to be back online today but there is no exact timeline.

Here are some things you can do to recover some of the sales that are being lost:
1. Place a notice on your website for customers to use Paypal for the time being.
2. Take information manually from the customers who call about the issue.

JVF Consulting, LLC would like to show off one of the latest technologies we have incorporated into the custom websites we have deployed for our websites that are focused around real estate. Let us significantly enhance your online marketing capabilities by integrating LoopNet's LoopLink 7.0 with your website, the result will instantly generate more buzz which will increase your business.

LoopNets cutting-edge mapping tools show street, aerial, and bird's-eye views of properties while providing visitors with the ability to search sale and lease listings at the same time. Allowing prospective buyers and tenants to quickly understand a property's location and surroundings will keep your properties filled with tenants. By integrating LoopNet into your website your available properties can be distributed to LoopNet's exclusive online newspaper network that includes The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, Miami Herald and over 100 other local and regional newspaper websites.

To see a few examples of the LoopNet integrations JVF Consulting has deployed visit the available spaces page of any of the following websites. Sand Creek Plaza www.sandcreekplaza.com, Brentwood Business Center www.brentwoodbusinesscenter.com, or the Sand Creek Business Center www.sandcreekbusinesscenter.com.

LoopNet integration is just one of the many technologies we have to offer at JVF Consulting, LLC, the Bay Area leader in custom website design and content management systems. Allowing real estate professionals to include the most latest information available about their real estate listings has significantly helped JVF  clients enhance their online marketing capabilities. The addition of LoopNet to the websites listed above has already generated more business by using the latest in cutting-edge technology. Integrating LoopNet to your website will better serve your clients needs and will streamline your ability to effectively market listings resulting in a high return on your investment.

Yesterday, we stumbled on to a link posted on the JVF Blog taking us out to a seemingly innocuous link found on my.nbc.com. What was odd was that when you clicked on the link, it would take you out to my.nbc.com, but after a few moments it would redirect you out to a site selling adult videos.


We scoured the source on my.nbc.com and found that there were no apparent "script" tags or "META" tags present to force the delayed redirect. However, after doing a little more digging we found the following tag smack dab in the middle of the page:


As always, something that was added to help aid a web master in alerting themselves or others of an error and gracefully exiting has been exploited. At least it keeps all of us on our toes!

Please beware of folks attempting to hijack your sites with leaving Blog comments, profile updates, etc with this method. If there is any way for you to have more control over your site to "strip tags" on all comments, I'd do so just to make sure you're safe.

Good luck!

CMS Technology Catches Up To Wedding Industry

Kasey and Melissa at Dream It Events have been best friends for over 7 years. They both received their certifications together from The Wedding Planning Institute, and they continue to make a perfect team while directing any event. They pride themselves in being able to be in two places at the same time while making sure that every detail is taken care of, but with both of them being overwhelmed with clients, they needed a surefire way to double check every detail.

Thanks to the JVF Consulting Amass Content Management System both Melissa and Kasey are able to keep track of their current clients, future prospects, upcoming events and parties. Not only can they login to their Amass dashboard anywhere in the world to access their information, they're also able to update the front end of their website with only a few clicks of a mouse. Now either of them can easily update their web pages whenever they have a new photograph of a successful event to show off, or a new wedding vendor to add.



We strongly encourage you to hire a professional wedding coordinator or an event planner for your special day. If you're on a tight budget Dream It Events is here to assist in making it everything you envisioned and more! Dream It Event's goal is to help you create an event that is tailored to your personality and style and to help alleviate many of the logistics and fine details so that you can relax and enjoy your day. Dream It Events specializes in customized packages for you based on your needs, wants and budget. Whether it is planning your entire event from scratch or just assisting you on your special day, Dream It Events is here for you!

Things Are Getting Interesting In The Browser Universe.

If you have not heard yet, Google just released an open source browser by the name of Chrome. The question around the office lately is how does it compare, and does it support the JVF Consulting Amass content management system (CMS)? Well, to make sure JVF is up to par we downloaded the beta version and gave it a spin. So... should JVF and other web designers be freaking out? The answer is: No.

Thankfully the wheel was not reinvented here, it turns out Chrome uses the same rendering engine that Safari, Adobe AIR, iPhone, and Android use. Something called 'Web Kit'. So as web designers, we don't have to worry about another browser rendering our code crazy. Chrome was also designed to improve on the way it handles JavaScript, one of the technologies used to make Web pages more interactive. The focus on JavaScript makes sense. JavaScript can eat up computer processor power, and if poorly used by a website, can crash the browser. One of the things Chrome promises is that if one browser tab crashes, it won't take down the whole program.

Chrome does puts together usability, stability, and performance under one open source roof. By keeping this open source and giving away the code, Google is practically begging other browser makers to take pieces from their browser and incorporate them into their own. Expect Chrome to be a platform for experimentation, since its only being used by a small percentage of the population don't expect this browser to be perfected anytime soon.

Unless you're a web developer, or like living on the technological edge, I don't recommend installing Chrome. But if you're daring enough and want a glimpse of what Chrome looks like, you can download it here.

Hands-on With Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8 Beta.

Here at JVF Consulting we are fiends for the latest in technology and software. Staying up to date with the most current versions of web browsers is a necessity for us, especially since we deal first hand with creating websites to work with these browsers. When Microsoft Corp. released the Beta version of Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) we were anxious to download it and give it a spin.

Upon installation everything seemed new and interesting. During the installation it wasn't really an install, it was more like an upgrade was in progress. The install went smooth, even though it did take about 5 minutes overall.

After patiently waiting for a reboot we launched the new Internet Explorer 8. Hoping to see a new look or interface we were let down. There were some small differences and features which left us scratching our head, but we moved on to why we really installed this browser. Our main goal was to test the websites we have built to ensure they will all work and look properly. At first glimpse we did not notice anything major, that is until we tried to log into our JVF Amass Content Management System (CMS). As you can see in the screenshots below we ran into a roadblock right off the bat. In Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) you can see that our username and password fields are centered on the login page.

Now check this out, in Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) our username and password fields are justified to the left. All of this is because IE8 can't center align a TD tag! Aligning a table column or a cell is some of the most basic html there is, IE8 fails at this miserably! After this bug we no longer had any faith in this new web browser and had to cease all further testing. This was not only a waste of time but another kick in the butt as to why Mozilla Firefox continues to lead the pack with their web browser.

Thankfully the uninstall was successful and IE7 is now running correctly on the machine we used. After reading other horror stories about IE8 we came across a warning put out by Microsoft Corp. This warning notifies users that if you're running SP3 on your machine installing IE8 may be permanent since uninstalls of the software were unsuccessful by many customers. You can find the article titled "Microsoft warns of IE8 lock-in with XP SP3" in the computerworld website.