There are two ways that e-commerce retailers collect taxes from online orders.

E-commerce retailers either charge the buyer’s local tax rate, or establish a “NEXUS” rate, which means that the retailer has registered as conducting business from a particular state or county because they:

• Have a physical location in the state
• There are resident employees working in the state
• The business has property (including intangible property) in the state
• If there are employees who regularly solicit business in the state

Let’s say your business is registered in Los Angeles, and the NEXUS is 8.75%. So, in that case, you can charge your (seller’s) local tax rate even though you are selling to San Francisco.  The state only requires that you collect state tax rate (which is 7.75%), so at 8.75% you fulfilled state tax requirements.

It can all get a bit confusing, so be sure to consult with The California Board of Equalization!

Better to be safe than sorry!

Popcorn.js is an HTML5 video framework that allows video and audio elements to interact on a webpage based on a selected time frame of the video or even live information from other online sources, such as google map, twitter, and wikipedia.

It’s a cool way to interact with a video. For example, take a look at the changes we’ve made to our introductory video:

At 4 seconds into the video we added a link to our About Us page.

At 20 secs link to Victors Facebook page

At 50 secs we added a Google map

At 1:20 change the whole website’s   background color.

So, what did you guys think? How would you use this on your own website?

Join us next Wednesday for more!

All the way back to 1998. Let’s have a quick flashback to the good ol’ days:

• The #1 song on the Billboard Top 100 charts was “Too Close” by Next. 
• Saving Private Ryan and Armageddon were competing for the top film of the year.
• Gasoline sold for a whopping $1.03! 

And the internet was a very different place from what it is today. Yahoo’s main page looked like this on November 11, 1998:

Now, let’s return to present day. May 2, 2012!

• The #1 song on the Billboard Top 100 is “Somebody That I Used To Know” by Gotye
• The #1 film of the year so far is The Hunger Games
• Gasoline prices are hovering around $4.18

The web has vastly grown and advanced in the past 14 years. Yahoo’s homepage now features an incredible variety of daily news items, weather, celebrity gossip and useful links to social media. Photos and ads take center stage.

What changes and improvements have you noticed on the internet? Or do you have any fond nostalgic  for the days of dial up internet and AOL?

Filing your taxes online? Making a credit card transaction? Transferring funds from your checking to savings account? Secure Sockets Layer, also known as SSL, is an encrypted connection between the site you are visiting and your web server that makes these online transactions safe. Unless you have an encrypted connection, every piece of valuable information can be viewed by others. SSL helps prevent your credit information, social security information, and any other personal information from getting into the wrong hands.

You might wonder… how does SSL work?  The internet runs through multiple layers on a server before reaching the needed information on a web page.  The outer layer is composed of high level protocols such as HTTP, IMAP, and FTP protocols.  Then these high level protocols go through the SSL, if it is a non-secured connection then it passes through.  If the client requests a secure connection then the SSL layer will begin the security process.

In order to enable SSL on a company website, the company needs to get an SSL Certificate from a Certificate Authority that verifies whether or not the business and its online services are trustworthy. Once SSL is installed, the company can access the secured site by changing their URL from http:// to https://. Having a SSL certified website and site seal increases the chances of your company conducting business online because visitors will know that their private information is safe.

A few of the SSL Certification programs are:

So, before you make your next purchase online, be sure to check for the SSL Certificate!

Wikipedia defines Modal Window as:

[A] child window that requires users to interact with it before they can return to operating the parent application, thus preventing the workflow on the application main window.

It’s pretty straight forward. A modal window is a window that floats above the original window without the hassel of having to load an entirely new page. For example, modal windows make browsing through images in a gallery much quicker.

Some examples:

1) Light Boxes

2)

3)

Until next time!

The most common usage of this word comes from your web guy when he asks you, “Do you have Google Analytics?” (It probably isn’t the case, but it’s the most common time I use the word.)  And you’d say, “Why yes, yes, I do use Google Analytics.” Great, then we are done here… Move along…

Anyone still around? Then good, I’ll get to the definition of today’s word…now!

Today, Wikipedia defines analytics as:

[T]he process of developing optimal or realistic decision recommendations based on insights derived through the application of statistical models and analysis against existing and/or simulated future data.

Basically, this means to gather data, analyze it and present it in a meaningful way. When relating to the web, we can have Google perform all the analytics for us. Google Analytics will track data of tracking our visitors, getting information on how they are coming to our site, where they are going after each page and for how long they are staying on our site. This analytics data can be used to improve our website if used properly.

Want to learn more? Contact us!

The Next Web – Instagram Bought by Facebook for $1Billion

Instagram’s parent company OMGPOP was sold for $180 million; Facebook
paid more than 5X that amount for Instagram. Here at Ready Artwork we
use Instagram for many of our social media accounts. Keep your eye
out for more Instagram pictures from our team!

Twitter is an online social networking tool in which users post 140 character updates of what is going on in their lives along with links to things they think are interesting, funny, or useful to their followers (“following” being essentially what “friending” is on other sites).

Every other Wednesday, I will be introducing some Buzz Words, trending topics, and various other jargon about the Web, Technology, and/or Platforms (or even Web Technology Platforms?!). This will hopefully educate myself first (obviously), and the readership of Ready Artwork’s Blog, about these awesome words. I will try my best to define words that maybe familiar, current, and a bit interesting.

Today’s word is “Future Friendly:” 

The quantity and diversity of connected devices—many of which we haven’t imagined yet—will explode, as will the quantity and diversity of the people around the world who use them. Our existing standards, workflows, and infrastructure won’t hold up….

We want to make things that are future friendly. By anticipating what’s next, we can react to today’s concerns but also build long-term value for people and businesses.

And it’s 3 core values:

1. Acknowledge and embrace unpredictability.
2. Think and behave in a future-friendly way.
3. Help others do the same.

via www.futurefriend.ly

Future friendly thinking is about considering the future of how content is displayed on the web when developing a website. What does that mean? Well, browsing the web today is no longer about sitting in front of a Desktop Computer with a keyboard and mouse. I can view Ready Artwork on my Wii, my phone, and my iPad. A few years ago, I didn’t have that, and who knows what happens in the future.

Future friendly is a collection of knowledge to address these concerns.

The social media talk of the town today revolves around CNN rumored to purchase Mashable for over 200 million dollars. The story was leaked to a writer for Reuters.

Founded in 2005 in Aberdeen, Scotland, Mashable currently boasts 20 million monthly unique visitors and 4 million social media followers. The blog is headquartered in New York City, with an office in San Francisco.

If the little birdie, and this is unrelated to the blue Twitter birdie, is true then it will be the latest social blog acquisition. In 2010, AOL purchased TechCrunch, another wildly popular social blog that talks about the latest technology advancements and much of the same. Kind of funny how AOL and the parent company of CNN, Time Warner, use to be intertwined with one another and now they’re vying for the same market.

It’s likely that we’ll see more acquisitions by larger companies to sustain their growth, much like how pharmaceutical companies purchase smaller start ups that have a few drugs in the pipeline to keep the innovation and patents running. What do you think about this possible buyout?

Source: http://thenextweb.com/insider/2012/03/12/cnn-to-buy-social-media-blog-mashable-for-200-million-a-little-bird-tells-reuters-reporter/