Key Aspects of Work Practices:

• Methods and Procedures: Work practices define how tasks are performed, including the steps involved, the tools used, and the sequence of actions. 
• Formal vs. Informal: Practices can be formally documented in policies and procedures or evolve informally through established habits and routines. 
• Task Allocation: This aspect determines who is responsible for which tasks and the number of people involved in each activity. 
• Efficiency and Productivity: Well-defined work practices can streamline workflows, reduce errors, and improve overall productivity. 
• Safety and Compliance: Many work practices, particularly in industries with inherent risks, are designed to ensure worker safety and meet legal requirements. 
• Employee Well-being: Some work practices focus on creating a positive and supportive work environment, contributing to employee satisfaction and morale. 
• Adaptability: Work practices should be regularly reviewed and updated to incorporate new technologies, best practices, and evolving industry standards. 

Examples of Work Practices:

• Safe work practices: These include procedures for using ladders, fall protection, electrical safety, handling hazardous materials, and using personal protective equipment (PPE). 
• Remote work policies: These practices cover communication protocols, collaboration tools, and expectations for remote employees. 
• Communication policies: methods and strategies used to convey information and ideas effectively between individuals or groups, ensuring clear understanding and efficient collaboration.
• Quality control procedures: These practices ensure products or services meet specific standards. 
• Performance management systems: These practices guide how employees are evaluated and how their performance is improved. 
• Recruitment and hiring processes: These practices ensure fair and consistent hiring procedures. 

Importance of Work Practices:

• Increased Efficiency: Streamlined work practices can lead to faster completion times and better resource utilization. 
• Reduced Risks: Safe work practices minimize the potential for accidents and injuries. 
• Improved Quality: Well-defined procedures can lead to more consistent and higher-quality outputs. 
• Enhanced Employee Morale: Clear expectations and a supportive work environment can boost employee motivation and satisfaction. 
• Legal Compliance: Adhering to work practices can help organizations meet legal obligations related to health, safety, and employment. 

Tools used to enhance workplace communication and collaboration practices:

• Virtual Meetings
  • Zoom
  • Teams
  • Google Meet
• Shared Document editing
  • Google Doc
  • Confluence
  • Notion

By Device License: A by-device license allows the installation and use of software on a specific device or hardware unit. The license typically binds the software’s usage to that particular device and doesn’t grant permission for use on other devices.
Example: Windows OEM License – When you purchase a new computer, it often comes with a pre-installed Windows operating system. The OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) license ties the Windows usage to that particular device.

Per Seat License: Per seat licenses provide permission to install and use the software on a specific number of individual devices or seats. Each seat requires its own license, and the software can be used concurrently on as many devices as there are purchased licenses.
Example: Microsoft Office 2019 Standard – If an organization buys 50 per seat licenses of Microsoft Office 2019 Standard, they can install and use the software on 50 individual devices.

Network License (Concurrent License): A network license, also called a concurrent license, allows a certain number of users or devices to access and use the software simultaneously within a networked environment. The total active users/devices cannot surpass the licensed number at any given time.
Example: Autodesk AutoCAD Network License – Organizations can purchase network licenses for Autodesk AutoCAD, enabling a specific number of users to access and use the software concurrently over the network.

Site License: A site license grants the right to install and use the software across all devices or users within a particular physical location, such as a school campus or a corporate office. It often provides unlimited access to the software within that location.
Example: Adobe Creative Cloud Enterprise Site License – Educational institutions or large enterprises can acquire a site license for Adobe Creative Cloud, allowing unrestricted access to the creative suite within the designated location

Enterprise License: Enterprise licenses cater to large organizations and offer flexibility for deploying software across multiple devices and locations. These licenses may include features like volume discounts and centralized management tools.
Example: IBM SPSS Enterprise License – IBM offers enterprise-level licenses for their SPSS statistical software, which includes advanced capabilities and options for managing software deployments.

Subscription License: Subscription licenses provide access to the software for a specific duration, often on a recurring payment basis. Users can use the software during the subscription period, and access might be revoked if the subscription lapses.
Example: Adobe Acrobat DC Subscription – Adobe offers subscription-based licenses for their Acrobat DC software, granting access to PDF tools on a monthly or annual subscription basis.

Floating License: A floating license permits a certain number of users or devices to share a limited number of software licenses. When a user utilizes the software, it consumes one license; when they finish, the license becomes available for another user.
Example: MathWorks MATLAB Floating License – MATLAB provides floating licenses for concurrent usage within an organization. As users access MATLAB, licenses are dynamically assigned and released.

These diverse types of installed software licenses accommodate different user needs and business requirements, ensuring proper software usage in line with legal agreements and practical deployment scenarios.

There are several reasons why relying exclusively on licensed software for all PCs within an organization might not be the most efficient or effective approach:

1. Cost: Licensed software can be expensive, especially for large organizations with many computers. Purchasing licenses for every PC can strain the budget, especially if there are alternative solutions available.
2. Flexibility: Licensed software often comes with restrictions on how many devices it can be installed on or how it can be used. This lack of flexibility can be problematic for organizations that need to adapt quickly to changing technology needs or scale up their operations.
3. Maintenance and Updates: Managing licenses for numerous PCs can be administratively burdensome. Additionally, ensuring that all software is properly updated and maintained can be challenging, especially if there are different versions or licenses spread across the organization.
4. Vendor Lock-In: Relying solely on licensed software from a single vendor can lead to vendor lock-in, where the organization becomes dependent on that vendor for all its software needs. This can limit flexibility and hinder innovation.
5. Open Source and Free Alternatives: In many cases, there are open-source or free alternatives to licensed software that offer similar functionality. Using these alternatives can significantly reduce costs without sacrificing quality.
6. Piracy Risk: Depending on the region and the nature of the organization, there might be a temptation to use pirated software to save costs. This exposes the organization to legal risks and potential security vulnerabilities associated with unverified software sources.
7. Subscription Model: Many software providers are moving towards a subscription-based model rather than perpetual licensing. This can result in ongoing costs that may not be sustainable for all organizations, especially smaller ones.
8. Diverse Needs: Different departments or teams within an organization may have unique software requirements. Relying solely on licensed software may not accommodate these diverse needs effectively.
9. Cloud-Based Solutions: With the rise of cloud computing, many organizations are transitioning to cloud-based software as a service (SaaS) solutions, which often have subscription-based pricing models. In this case, relying solely on licensed software may not align with the organization’s broader IT strategy.

Overall, while licensed software certainly has its advantages, organizations should carefully consider their specific needs, budget constraints, and long-term goals when deciding whether to exclusively use licensed software on all PCs.

For more information about software licenses you can check out these links

https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/developer-for-zos/14.0?topic=tasks-managing-licenses

https://workingmouse.com.au/innovation/software-licensing-and-cloud-service-models/

Here are some of the most popular project management methodologies:

• Waterfall: This methodology follows a linear and sequential approach, where the project progresses through distinct phases of planning, design, development, testing, and deployment, with each phase dependent on the completion of the previous one.

• Agile: Agile is an iterative and incremental approach that emphasizes flexibility, collaboration, and customer feedback. Agile methodologies include Scrum, Kanban, and Extreme Programming (XP).
• Lean: Lean methodology emphasizes the elimination of waste and the optimization of the value stream. It focuses on delivering value to the customer with fewer resources, using a continuous improvement approach.
• Six Sigma: Six Sigma is a data-driven methodology that focuses on reducing defects and errors in processes. It uses statistical analysis and quality control methods to improve the quality of deliverables.
• PRINCE2: PRINCE2 is a project management methodology developed by the UK government. It provides a structured approach to managing projects, with defined roles, processes, and templates.
• PMI/PMBOK: The Project Management Institute (PMI) developed the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) methodology, which provides a framework of project management processes and knowledge areas.
• Critical Path Method (CPM): CPM is a technique used to schedule, analyze, and optimize the tasks in a project. It identifies the critical path, which is the sequence of tasks that must be completed on time to ensure the project’s success.

There are many other project management methodologies, and each has its own strengths and weaknesses. The choice of methodology depends on the project’s specific requirements, the organization’s culture and preferences, and the project manager’s experience and expertise.

WordPress

WordPress is an open source Content Management System (CMS), which allows the users to build dynamic websites and blogs. WordPress is the most popular CMS system on the web and allows updating, customizing and managing the website from its back-end CMS and components. There are 2 versions.

WordPress.com which is hosted by WordPress where they manage the security and maintanance and WordPress.org where you download the software from and hosted within your own hosting account and therefore you and your host are responsible for managing the security and you(site owner) are responsible for the maintenance. 

OpenCart

OpenCart is a CMS’s dedicated to providing ecommerce solutions. It is cost effective and very customisable. Experiences users can write there own modules and there are many available for purchase to extend Opencart’s core functionality.

Drupal

“Drupal is a free and open-source content-management framework that can be tailored and customized to simple websites or complex web applications. Drupal grows as you grow with thousands of free modules and themes that will help you attract the web audience you need to deliver your message, grow brand awareness, and build your community.”  src: https://www.drupal.org/docs/understanding-drupal/overview-of-drupal 

You need to self host it

It does have a steep learning curve so not for the faint hearted or newbie

Joomla

It is used to build, organise, manage and publish content for small businesses, governments, non-profits and large organisations worldwide. Joomla is supported by a large ecosystem that develop modules to extend its functionality and forums for support.

You need to self host it

Wix

Wix is an online website builder, with tools that lets you quickly create an online presence via a drag-and-drop interface—no coding or FTP knowledge is required. They have free and commercial plans. Everything is hosted on their web servers.

Fine for basic websites.

Shopify

Very popular eCommerce platform. It is a subscription-based eCommerce platform that helps businesses of all sizes sell physical and digital products. Because it is subscription based monthly cost can grow quite quickly. 
It is hosted on their web servers so you do not need to worry about security. Total cost of Ownership can be quite high.

SquareSpace

Squarespace is aimed at those in the creative industries for their websites. It can be used for blogging, photography, sales and resumes. It does not have a free version only a short trail version. 

Adobe

Adobe has several content management products which if you are heavily invested in the Adobe world can provide the right solution.

In print copy we use pt for font sizes because usually we want a “fixed” size because it is going to be printed out on a piece of paper that we have specified the size of. And in a similar fashion px, are fixed not relative sizes and it means that we have hardcoded the font-size to all of the users of the text on our webpage. This means that no matter whether our users are on a phone, desktop computer or tablet the font size will be exactly the same. Which will more than likely mean the font size will be tiny on a phone device. The end device can’t change the value so if they have set their device to show text at a large size you have said no way I know better and I’m not letting you.

So what is the CSS font best practice or solution?
REM and EM

Rem and Em is a relative unit that many developers use to preserve accessibility.

Rem (root em) stands for “root element’s font-size”

If the default root font-size is 12px. So, if we see a font-size that is 1rem, we are looking at 12px but if a user has set their default root size to be 18px then our 1rem will be 18px not 12px.

Because Rem means root element’s font-size, we can also override the default value by using CSS like this:

:root {
  font-size: 20px;
}

So now you have changed the root font-size, now 1rem = 20px

What if we want to use values on our pages other that other than 18px?

We can get the rem value of a pixels by using decimal options to go up or down sizes. For example, if we want to use a larger font-size we will write font-size: 1.25rem. And if we want a smaller font size we use 0.8rem

But it’s so annoying ?!

Yep, using rem will make the development process longer because we need to calculate the rem value. But this gives some freedom to the user, and we are not messing with the accessibility.

So how do em works?

Em stands for “parent element’s font-size”

Because css is cascading and support inheritance then em will inherit font-size value from the parent element. For example, we have a parent div, and p tag inside:

<div>
  <p>hello work </p>
</div>

<style>
  div {
    font-size: 0.5rem; // 8px
  }

  p {
    font-size: 1em; // ??px
  }
</style>

Because p inherit the parent element’s font-size, so 1em = 8px. This means, that the p will have font-size: 8px.

You can read more on W3Cschools site

Why Do You Need a Web Design Client Questionnaire?

So you understand your client’s motivation, strengths, pain points, objectives, and budget. You also need to consider the target audience, promotion tactics, and lead generation strategies right from the beginning. Designing a information website is different from a service website or ecommerce website.  from  It is important to keep in mind what the core purpose of the website is going to be.

11 Questions to Ask When Building  a brand new website

These are just meant to be a starting point to get you going and some of your clients answers will illicit further questions

1. What is your business about?

What they do;

• How long they have been in the market;
• Their company’s fundamental values;
• Products;
• Target audiences;
• Marketing strategies;
• A unique value proposition that differentiates them from the competition;
• Their short and long-term business plans.

Knowing the answers to these type of questions should assist you when making decisions throughout the project.

2. Why do you need a website?

Many clients don’t have the answer to this simple question – “what do you need a website for?” Increase brand awareness?, Sell my product or service?, create a community?

Asking a few more “why” and “what” questions will help you better understand your client’s real motivations and suggest solutions that will work best for them.

3. Who is your target audience?

• Demographics: customers’ location, age, gender, preferred device for online searching/browsing, etc.
• Psychographics: customers’ values, buyer personas, hobbies and interests, lifestyle, and online behavior.

4. What do you want your visitors to do on the website?

Such as:

• Purchase a product or a service
• Click links/buttons to get information or learn something;
• Download an app or another digital product;
• Receive online support for their questions/pain points;
• Read/engage with your content;
• Register for an event;
• Fill out a form/make contact/ lead generation, etc.

Likewise, you need to discuss the overall goals of the website with your client. Talk about each page’s individual goals, too (as each page usually leads to action).

5. What are the top features that will contribute to the website’s success?

• Call to Action (CTA) buttons;
• Live chat and other customer support software;
• Social media buttons and sharing options across all your client’s platforms;
• banners for highlighting promotions or discounts;
• contact forms
• blog section
• example work/past projects

Put them in priority order

6. What will makes this website stand out from the competition? 

•  Why are you and your business special?
• An exceptional service?
• Free shipping?
• Unique products people cannot find elsewhere?
• A robust product guarantee?
• Discounts and promotions?

7. Who are your top competitors?
8. What would you like to have on your website regarding branding and style?

• Do they have a style guide?
• Do they have a logo and colour scheme ?
• Have they got the content for the websites pages/products?
• Do they have any promotional material already that the website needs to be consistent with?

9. What pages besides the ones listed below do feel you require?

Clients may not realise but you must include certain pages on a websites for transparency, user experience, legal reasons, and better Google rankings. At a minimum, your client’s website should have:

• A homepage;
• An “About Us” page with information matching Whois data;
• Privacy policy page to let website visitors know exactly what happens to their info;
• Terms and conditions – a must-have page for all websites;
• A “Contacts” page;
• The 404 error page (website under construction);
• FAQ page to answer customers’ questions.

10. Do you have a domain name and host?

This seems obvious and some time straight forward and some times not so straight forward but here are some tips for choosing a good domain name https://tipsforyourwebsite.com/what-is-a-domain-name/

Domain names and webhosting within a website development project are also relatively cheap parts of a project so don’t get to caught up in going for the cheapest because you could end up paying a lot in time and energy managing them

11. Date to go live with new website?

Make sure it is a realistic time frame. Remember the business saying- under promise and over deliver. Things can go wrong- unexpected events can pop up so make sure that there is some breathing space in the development time frame and plan it out. (That is another post right there- actually breakdown planning of a project)

The HTML 2.0 specification was published in November of 1995. Since then, the HTML 3.0 draft specification expired on September 28, 1995, without becoming recommended, but HTML 3.2 became a W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) recommendation on January 14, 1997.

The public draft for HTML 4.0 was released on July 8, 1997 and was officially recommended by the W3C in December that year. Then the current HTML5 standard was first published in 2009 but not ratified as a standard until October of 2014.

In addition to this official work on HTML, the browsers have been making their own additions to HTML. Some changes were eventually adopted into W3C HTML Recommendations; others remain proprietary coding aspects that only the individual browsers recognize. The browsers’ versions of HTML changed, too, in a game of marketing and programming one-upmanship, hoping to lock Web developers into using one browser or the other exclusively.

HTML characteristics

html stands for Hyper Text Markup Language- it is a “formatting” language not a programming language. An extremely simplified explanation of how works is that it works by turning on and off formatting options TAGS.

for example the following html :

<p> the <i>silly</i> <b> dog</b> jumped up </p>

over the <i><b>tree </b></i>

would render in a browser as below:

the silly dog jumped up

over the tree

Writing html rules

• The formatting options are called TAGS
• Tags are always written within < > angle brackets eg <p> beginning of a paragraph
• Generally TAGS are closed off by writing the tag with a </  > eg </p> end of paragraph
• Tags can be nested but they should be closed in the reverse order of what they are opened
  eg: <i><b>tree </b></i>
  NOT
  <i><b>tree </i></b>
  
• With the implementation of html tags can written in upper or lower case
  eg <P> is the same as <p> and both are completely valid

As the title state this is just a quick overview so that will do on rules for now 🙂

HTML development Tools

To write html you only need the simplist of text editors (MS Word is not a text editor!!) a program such as Notepad will allow you to write perfect HTML – I’ll admit slowly but it is still a perfect tool. And then all you need is a browser such as Chrome, Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge, Firefox or Safari to name a few to check your rendered HTML documents.

In professional environments you would more than like be using tools along the lines of  Notepad ++, Sublime text, Composer, Dreamweaver or a million other options.

Your development tool doesn’t matter its how well you know and how well you use it!!!

Here are a couple of handy links

html tag reference guide

CSS reference sheet

html colour codes

1: Set Up Your Workspace Right

• Don’t work from your bed or in your bedroom if you can help it. It will encourage midday napping and ruin productivity.
• Have dedicated “work from home” clothes. So you aren’t in your normal “power suit” or your pj’s but you are in something professional but comfortable.
• Tidy off your desk. A clear desk is a clear mind!
• Invest in a quality work chair if you haven’t already so you won’t or give your self an RSI be distracted by back pain.
• If you are in a noisy environment or their other distractions use headphones to eliminate them.
• Get a second monitor to increase your productivity

2: Before You Start the Work Day

• Get a “please knock/come in” sign for your home office door.
• Make a personal ritual to indicate you are starting the workday
• Shower and get dressed. A clean body will give you a fresh start to the day.
• Do 10 minutes of exercise at least to get your blood flowing and your brain ready to work.
• Eat your normal and hopefully a proper breakfast to keep you going to your first break.
• Make a work productivity checklist to help you stay on task.
• Shut off social media notifications.

3: Make a Schedule and Stick to IT

• Start and finish your workday at the same time every day
• Set an achievable daily goal and achieve it. This is provide you with positive reinforcement
• a Schedule out a 15-minute break every hour and a half.
• Take at least a half-hour lunch break every day.
• Schedule phone calls for the afternoon between 1pm and 3pm when you are most likely
• to receive an answer and it will help to break up your day.
• Don’t ignore the schedule or you will blur the lines between work and home life

What are your top tips?

Bootstrap is a framework utilizing a collection of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript technologies that can be used to create websites. It was developed by and for Twitter. But now it is being used in so many other websites for many reasons such as it is flexible and easy to work with. And especially because it is responsive by design aso the developer doesn’t have to worry about browser and device compatibility. Bootstrap is consistent design by using re-usable components, and it is very easy to use and quick to learn.

So what does this have to with Richmond House cleaners– not much really except that it is the technology that Cleos Cleaning website was developed with. The development time was very efficient just like Cleo Cleaning services and like Cleos cleaning bootstrap is very adaptable.

1. Establish an official social media policy and ensure it is communicated across your whole organization. This is a document that outlines specifically how your organization as a whole and individual employees should conduct themselves when engaging in social media activity of any sort. It helps to establish a unified social media brand and provide guidelines for online messaging from a corporate perspective.
2. Change your social media account passwords monthly and also admins should do this. Randomize them, don’t repeat them, and don’t use common data points such as names, birthdays, or buzzwords.
3. Use at least a two-step authentication method for accounts. This is an increasingly common secure login method that requires users take at least “two steps” to verify their identity before they gain access to an account, such as providing a password and then using a code texted to them on their account’s associated mobile device.
4. Have a dedicated social media manager who constantly monitors account activity. This can be a full-time, in-house position or at least part-time, engaging someone on your digital team or a freelancer.
5. Curate your connections, Friends or Followers to weed out fake accounts. Delete connections that seem fishy, post repetitive content, or constantly post negative or harmful content.
6. Train all your employees on social media security awareness and procedures.
7. Set up an approval process for all social media posts across all brand-related accounts (and have it managed by the person you establish to oversee your accounts).
8. Do not list company vacation times on social media. This sort of information might allow public knowledge of vulnerable periods where you don’t have staff on hand to handle a hacking attempt.
9. Never post personal information, either of employees or customers. This lets you avoid potential identity theft or online impersonation.
10. Perform regular security audits that check elements such as your current security/privacy settings, user access, user publishing privileges, and current security threats.
11. Close any accounts that are no longer used or have been inactive for a while, to avoid them being hacked and used to access and compromise active accounts.

src: https://fraudwatchinternational.com/social-media/social-media-security-best-practices/