MDBitz Development Resources

Often when developing we often get stuck in the mindset that we have to do everything in the language we are working with. When it comes to PHP this can sometimes lead to line after line of echo statements that do not contain any code but simply HTML or CSS elements. Due to the very nature of PHP we can however break out of php mode to have these text elements display without endless lines of echoes.

To illustrate lets assume we have a page that contains a lot of static html text we can display this text by closing our php mode having the html formatted text then reopen php mode.

<?php 
   .... // code
?> // close php mode
   <div> //HTML
        ....
   </div>
<?php  // reopen php mode

Most individuals having database experience with MySQL will find shortly after using Sybase DBMS that the backslash character does not escape characters. Instead in Sybase T-SQL the single quote itself acts as the escape character. Below is a sample UPDATE statement showing the difference in escaping the single quote character in MySQL and Sybase.

MySQL

UPDATE COMPANY SET NAME = 'Joseph\'s Shoes' WHERE ID = 3

Sybase

UPDATE COMPANY SET NAME = 'Joseph''s Shoes' WHERE ID = 3

The Description Meta Tag exists to provide an overview or summary of what you will find on the current page of your web site. This element serves multiple purposes in that it can effect your Search Engine Page Ranking and that if present it is also displayed in Search Results to provide search users with a brief summary of what can be found on the web pages listed. This summary displayed can greatly increase your click-through rate of your web-page leading to more traffic, more links, and a higher page ranking.

As always when it comes to SEO practices it is important to keep in mind that any and all content needs to be written or created for the end user and not targeted at Search Engines. This means that yes you will want to have keywords in your description but you do not want to have your description tag simply be a list of keywords. Below are some basic guidelines for creating Search Engine Optimized Description tags that are user friendly.

• Keep the description short. The typical guideline is to keep the description text to 1-2 sentences or up to 160 characters, however use as much space as needed to provide the overview of what is to be found on your site.
• While writing the text try to include keywords that are found within the content of the page or that will be used by searchers to find your page.
• Don’t simply copy and paste text from your existing page content. Use this area to intrigue potential viewers and to provide additional slightly different content.

Meta Tag Format

<meta name=”description” content=”Your User Friendly Search Engine Optimized text here”>