OK - with nearly three full months to Christmas, we must be mad talking about the C-word already, but if you're a shopkeeper, the need for planning means that now is the time to be getting ready.

That's why you'll find many high street retailers have sneakily started  to display stuffed reindeer and turkey trimmings at the back of their stores, even as the last dregs of Indian Summer has had us all sweltering over the last couple of weeks.

Online retailers had the best-ever Christmas last year, believe it or not, right in the middle of the worst recession of a generation, with more than 2.1 billion UK visits to retail websites, and 44% of Britain's online adult population spending a total of £2.8bn in internet purchases.

So, E-retailers, now's the time to think about a pre-Christmas website health check from Sitemorse.

A staggering 22 per cent of web users say they have not been able to complete purchases because of technical problems with websites, according to recent research, and that must mean an enormous amount of lost sales because of duff links, bad code and sites that are still, despite changes in the law, inaccessible to disabled users who make up a solid percentage of prospective online buyers.

Our most recent retail survey in September covering the 250 top global companies found still only a handful have error-free sites and standards actually appeared to have dropped since the previous survey three months before. 

The start of the appearance of malware and phishing links in retail websites seem to indicate they are not being looked after properly by their owners - and that may mean the retailers involved will be paying via their cash registers for any neglect and consequential lost sales come Christmas Day.

Sitemorse offers independent, authoritative and accountable software to ensure the quality, compliance, performance, availability and compatibility of your web estate. Delivered as a web service , it not require any client setup or management, so retailers can swiftly be assured that their sites are ready to handle the high pre-Christmas traffic of the next few months.

You might be interested to read our recent retail surveys of the Global Top 250 companies and the UK retail top 500. And if you're a retailer wondering how much time you have to start improving your web presence, you might like this blog from Simon Heyes at Internet Retailing.

We are delighted to see Facebook is to offer users some protection against malware and scammers and from next week users will be warned if they are about to click on a link to a malicious website. Such tactics can often trick users into sharing passwords or confidential information.

Sitemorse has been warning against the dangers of 'phishing' and malware for some time, and the threat has grown so that these malicious links are starting to creep into otherwise innocent corporate sites. The web is a very changeable picture, and what your company links to today could be changed tomorrow .

Next month we will be launching a new 'every page' link checking and report service - this is an upgrade which will available to all subscription clients, at no charge.

The service will run once a week and clients will be emailed a link to the online results and a PDF summarising the links, identifying those with issues and tracking improvements compared with previous reports and a rolling 3 month average.Along with looking at every link and building a link inventory, each link will also be checked against known malicious sites.

We are also planning an 'iPhone app', delivering weekly push notifications that identify the key links not working or those that are linking out to phishing or malware sites.

This from the Tech Watch website from 6th March 2011.

A decade ago, the sixth version of Internet Explorer was born.

And today, Internet Explorer 6 is still hanging about like a bad smell. One which Microsoft is trying to get rid of with some liberal air doses of air freshener, and a new IE6 countdown web page.  (This shows that IE6 usage in the UK is 3.5%)

The IE6 countdown is Microsoft's way of saying goodbye to the rusty old browser. Its aim is to monitor the usage levels of IE6 across the globe, willing them to drop below 1%, so "more sites can drop support... saving hours of work for web developers."

And less headaches for MS, too. The site's breakdown of Internet Explorer 6 usage shows that 12% of the world is still running the ancient browser. It's most prevalent in the far east.

Microsoft makes several recommendations for how folks can help its cause in ridding the world of IE6, including displaying a "You are using an outdated browser" banner for websites.

Many high ranking websites have already implemented this, and MSN is apparently launching upgrade notifications soon.

What of the many businesses which are still using IE6? Roger Capriotti, Director of Internet Explorer Product Marketing, commented: "We know that many IE6 users are on the older browser because it's at their workplace. We've put together some resources for IT pros to help understand the business value of moving off IE6 and are delivering to them the tools to help them navigate the process."

GE comments:

This over simplifies the reason why businesses stick with IE6.  Actually they aren't sticking with IE6 they are STUCK with IE6.  Usually for technical reasons.  Often they have legacy systems that won't work with IE7 or IE8 (or other browsers for that matter).  It's not inertia on their part.

Liverpool Council have benefited from the use of the Tridion CMS and Sitemorse to achieve a very credible Sitemorse score of 9.77 with a 2nd place ranking in the Local Government survey in both April and May 2008.  The combination of a top class CMS and Sitemorse helps ensure that all the quality angles are covered to ensure that websites are at the top of their game.  Liverpool's 80% satisfaction rating by it's users is proof of this.

Here's the case study from Tridion:-  

With the help of the SDL Tridion Content Management System, Liverpool Direct Limited [LDL] has transformed Liverpool City Council's Web site into one of the top performing Local Authority Web site in the UK. The site has recently been ranked as the leading Local Authority Web site in the UK by Sitemorse - a nationally recognised Web site testing service that measures code standards, functionality and accessibility.

The accolade has come after LDL [a joint venture partnership between BT and Liverpool City Council] finished a major project to upgrade the site's content and renew and redevelop its infrastructure.

Background

Before the project, the Council's Web site was non-transactional and cluttered - the aim of the project has been to transform it into a clean, easy-to-manage site that people want to use. SDL Tridion was selected as a supplier of the Content Management Solution because it supported devolved content management across the enterprise; single branding with sub-brands; blueprinting across multiple channels; and centralised control. It was also the leading Web Content Management system on the market.

• It is fast, reliable, enjoyable and easy-to-use
• Enables the delivery of e-Government services
• Delivers cost savings to the Council
• Meets all relevant Web site quality and accessibility standards
• Can be scaled, managed and developed easily.

• Time-specified publishing and spell-checker
• Accessible Web content for people with visual or physical disabilities
• Easy navigation on the site
• Sharing of content with other sites.