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Wizcrafts Computer Services

Freelance Webmaster services, including layout and code modernization, website security and page optimization.

Wiz Feinberg

About Wizcrafts' Website services:

Wizcrafts Computer Services, under the sole-ownership of Bob "Wiz" Feinberg, Webmaster-At-Large, provides complete website design, development, code correction and optimization, graphics optimization, as well as organic Search Engine Optimization (SEO), to help get your site indexed properly by the search engine "spiders."

This page is readable across multiple devices through the use of responsive layout coding techniques. I can do the same for your web sites.

My Webmaster services include:

  • Website design and development and Webmaster services, including Domain name registration and web-hosting assistance.
  • Secure, spammer-proof, Perl-based, comments submission forms installed, configured and updated on web servers.
  • .htaccess controls created for Apache-based web servers to block unwanted or hostile bots or visitors, including those that spam your forms, blogs, guestbooks, or your access logs (referrer spammers).
  • Responsive website layouts designed, or converted existing static pages.
  • Old table layouts converted into positioned, responsive Divs.
  • Code cleanup to eliminate bloat, removal of proprietary non-standard html tags, broken links repaired.
  • Conversion of FrontPage and Publisher websites to standards compliant modern layouts that can be edited by modern text and wysiwyg code editors and uploaded via FTP.
  • Custom error pages created. Customized redirection conditions and rules applied to your .htaccess file to deal with deleted, renamed or relocated files.
  • I can assist you with converting your website protocol from the old, insecure http - into the new, secure https standard. Read why this is so important right now.

In the old days of the World Wide Web (www), all websites used HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) to display web pages and accept input on forms and guestbooks. As time went on it was discovered that this was an insecure method of transferring data between web pages and users' browsers. This is because the data being sent to and from those HTTP pages was sent in plain text; not encrypted in any way.

Unencrypted data transfer between users and web pages allows for Man In The Middle (MITM) snooping attacks that began happening in public Internet cafes, coffee shops, and businesses providing free Wi-Fi. It basically means that things a user types into a form on a web page can be viewed in plain text by an interloper who has installed a "packet sniffing program" on his or her computer/laptop/device, and is able to log onto the same wired or wireless network. This intercepted data could contain personally identifiable information, credit card numbers, PINs, as well as Social Security numbers.

On the other hand, websites that have applied a security certificate, known as an SSL Certificate, are able to transfer data securely, using the HTTPS (S for Secure) protocol. These web pages apply a high level of encryption to all data that flows to and from the site and browser. This makes it much harder for a MITM attack to succeed.

For a long time, browser makers let this problem slide. But, as of July 24, 2018, Google Chrome, the most widely deployed web browser in the world, along with Firefox, began marking non-https websites as Insecure, or Not Secure. Google announced that not only are they marking http websites as insecure, they are also demoting them in search results. This can cause a serious problem if you spent a lot of time optimizing your website for high rankings in search term results. If you expect to earn any fame or money from a website, it must be made secure and show a green https lock in the browser's address bar.

One more thing you need to know is that if you have a contact form, guestbook, or comments widget, if your page is not fully https (green lock), some browsers will actually warn users not to type anything identifiable into any form field. In fact, Firefox will overlay that security warning directly over the form field you are trying to type into. You're probably going to lose inquiries, leads and sales.

Click or tap the bold links below to show more details about the website services that I can provide.

Apache Web Server Access Controls

I can create website security controls for Apache web Server based websites, via .htaccess (if your web host allows custom .htaccess directives and overrides). These controls can be used to block unauthorized access to private directories and files, or from unwanted spiders and bots, email or content harvesters, hackers and script exploiters, or comment spammers.

While not 100% foolproof, it is possible to block access to your website or forum from significant portions of entire countries. I currently maintain 4 IP blocklists, which encompass China and other Asian and East Asian nations, Latin American countries, Nigeria and its neighbors - where 419 scammers operate, and a Russian blocklist, which includes the Baltic States and Ukraine.

Code Cleanup Services

Quite often websites are created with visual design tools that are totally out-of-date with current web standards, leading to problems with how the content is displayed in various web-browsers, and may take an unacceptably long time to fully display their content. Amateur code writers often make serious mistakes, which can lead to the breakdown of the layout, when viewed in various modern browsers. Professional Webmasters know how to write standards compliant web pages, and have them validated with the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium). Standards compliant web pages will usually display faster than their older counterparts, that used out-of-date HTML codes and deprecated presentational "tags."

Improperly coded web pages, and poor copy writing techniques can also impede your chances of being listed favorably in search engine indexes, and may become an embarrassment if the website is used for business purposes, and nobody can locate it via an online search. There are also certain unscrupulous coding practices that can get your website banned from search indexes, which defeats the purpose of having a public website. Wizcrafts does not use these so-called Blackhat SEO techniques. We do use common sense copy writing and SEO that makes sense to people first, and robots second, easy to understand navigation links, continuity, and the proper use of relevent keywords and layout.

If you have gone down one of the above-mentioned paths, and have ended up with a sub-standard, or inadequate result, you should consider enlisting my services to correct the errors, and /or re-write the entire website.

If you want to have a new website designed to modern standards, and be fast loading and cross-browser compliant, or have an existing one re-designed, completed, or modified, my expertise as a professional Webmaster will enable me to achieve the results you desire. Whether your purpose is business, informational, or personal, a well designed, standards compliant website will be greater value to you, and your potential customers, in the long run.

I have the technical knowledge and tools to achieve the expert results you desire. If you have an existing website, I can clean up any code errors, fix broken hyperlinks, tidy the code, optimize your content to be search engine friendly, replace out-dated font and presentational tags with modern CSS rules, and employ CSS-Positioning to replace tables, for the positioning of text, images and other code objects.

I also have the tools to reduce the file-size of graphics commonly used in web pages. This is accomplished without causing a noticable, or objectionable loss of quality. Smaller graphic file-sizes result in faster loading of your webpages, to the benefit of your viewers, or potential customers, who may leave if your website takes too long to load.

Image Editing Services

See my Rates page for my current webmaster service rates.

The following links go to some of the websites for which I have provided significant webmaster services.

For more information about my website services and rates please send an inquiry using my Webmaster inquiries form.