Remove Xara from Head

[Big Frank]

I think it's more about people showing off what hardware they can afford.

my thoughts exactly

mind you it is an assumption to take the machine listed in the sig as the machine in use during whatever is described in the post

a lot of people take as gospel what they see in a sig - look at the number of times people call me david

[gsthunder]

I don't care about the Xara meta tag info personally. I am not ashamed that I use design software vs doing it all manually with code. A web site is a web site regardless of how you build it in the end. I have a life and doing it that way takes way too long. Xara makes it quick and easy. All I have to do is concentrate on what I want it to look like, what content to include, and so on.

However, I will tell you that contrary to some saying no one ever looks at the meta info that is untrue. I have actually been contacted a couple times for advice( not through here - via the e-mail on my site s)on how I did something in Xara. The person contacting me did not know me nor are there any Xara logos on my sites. The ONLY way they could have known was to look at the source code and see the Xara meta info.

So people do look. Doesn't bother me if they know but I can see how it might bother some.

FWIW

[andymack]

Once again, to reiterate my point, I am not ashamed of using Xara, it is a great tool. What I have been trying to put forward is that competitor web designers or, especially, SEO "salesmen" point out that tag to potential victims, er clients, to iterate an inane point that THEY know what they are doing and a WYSIWYG designer does not.
Some people are looking into thread this from a different angle, my only point is when it is highlighted by charlatans that it puts us at a disadvantage, no matter how good the software is.

[handrawn]

I think the point is made

that said you are ashamed of xara in a sense if you want that tag removed - SEO sharks are quite as likely to say: 'oh look, no tag, god knows what he used to make this..........'

of course you could always stick in dreamweaver instead, but I sincerely hope you wouldn't....

decent clients will always ask you before jumping ship so you need arguments to hand, in fact sometimes, attack is best defence and get it all out up front proactively maybe

[ankhor]

I don`t design websites, but I think it should be removeable, the tag. On the other hand, I am Dutch, so mentioning that if I would build a site, using Xara software would be cheaper, all would be forgotten and forgiven.
So one might ridicule the use of Xara software, if it gets the job done faster and cheaper, why would anyone complain?
I work construction, and yes, I look down upon how work is being done today, using Victaulic instead of good old fashioned craftsmanschip welding, but the work is done cheaper, faster, and less skilled workers can do it.(so cheaper).
And yes the welding would last longer, but the office buildings nowadays have a livespan of like 20 years before they are overhault
and those Victaulics will last that long, (if they don`t forget to grease the rubbers).

And yes, some brands are frowned upon (Dockers), and others hyped (Nike), and yes it is snobbish, but still a fact of life. And some people are influenced by this. So chosing for the tag or not, might be a nice option. I would probably leave it, it is a sign of "cheap"
which is a good thing here. (Unless you have a snobbish client)
Besides, once I bought a 100 guilder cheaper TV, when I opened the box, it had the Philips schematics book in it, so it was a Philips
only not on the front logo, so I payed less for not having the logo on the outside of the TV, it is a strange world.

[mwenz]

I think I responded somewhere in this thread about my "preference"...

Any SEO or developer worth more than two centavos can look at the code and know or figure out easily enough what was used to build a site. More importantly, they will know how well the site was built. From that standpoint, it really doesn't matter a hoot what it was built with.

People--customers--who hire SEO people post site build are ready to listen to everything they have to say. It doesn't matter one wit at that point what was used because you, the developer, are cut out of the loop.

Personally I would be more concerned about why my customer(s) are going outside my services to "improve" the SEO benefits. Why not instead become SEO savvy enough to sell that service as well? Legitimate SEO companies only add head tags and some tracking abilities (to justify their work). Why not have a value-added option for clients to further optimize SEO on the site you build?

Take care, Mike

[pauland]

It's as much about the perception of the website builder and their rivals. If you sell websites "cheaply" as a lone developer, you can't easily compete with the clients perception that a specialist company that charges more is better for their business, if they have that budget to spare. The Xara tags just help the SEO snake to re-inforce that perception. Even without the tags the SEO snake will rubbish your efforts, in any way they can.

I lost a client because they wanted a paper listing in yellow pages. It was easy pickings for the company then to offer a comprehensive package with "free" website and include SEO as well as the paper listing - and that was for a site built with DreamWeaver and the client was delighted with it. I'm sure I charged them a fraction of what they were eventually charged by those guys.

I think the only way to really combat these guys is to offer SEO services, but you'll always be prey to a larger competitor when your client sees them as a way to improve their business.

[jinker]

This thread is deviating away from my own original concern regarding the Xara reference in the heading code. I think most of us who design websites 'check out' the competition, especially if we are asked to create a new design for an existing site. The first thing we all do is look at the 'page source' for a quick look to see how it starts. We all immediately notice the Dreamweaver templates and the Wix driven ones and other third party design tool references.
My OWN problem with the Xara reference is that it is easily leveraged against us by SEO salesmen. They can quickly show the Xara tag to prospective clients and deride the designer (me) as unknowledgeable enough to not know how to code sites 'properly'. And that they can re-code and optimize a new design for only a thousand dollars or so and guarantee top search rankings. I actually have one such case for real, and I can supply my original site link and the new 'optimized' site link if anyone is interested enough, a before-and-after if you will.
I don't mind too much that I lost this client, (she was really pleasant about it all) as I was paid for the design anyway. It is just a shame that people are so easily duped out of hard earned cash by these 'snake-oil salesmen'. ( In fact, I ran both the old and new sites through an online SEO tester and my original came out much higher. I do not want to publish on the forum the actual URL, but I will share this info individually to anyone interested enough.)
The analogy with the pen is not accurate at all, most of us can write and design, but some of us cannot create cross platform XHTML, CSS code that is created by placing text and objects within a program. The writer with the pen might have created the story and words, but did not necessarily know how it eventually got printed, bound and sold afterwards.

Simple. Don't use a programme that places information in the code you don't want or open up the code and make a manual deletion. The pencil , not pen analogy is still good because Mr King sells lots of books and all the other authors in his field come no where near as he's better than them. (or so they think) I would have thought if you're worried about the SEO guys (had one of them ring me this very afternoon) then make sure you have a proper discussion about SEO with your clients, then they'll know they're fully covered in that area and wouldn't have any need to pay out any further money. I would bet they'll quote you word for word if you give them the right script.
I'm not knocking your concern but getting rid of "made by xara" isn't an answer to the problem.

[Big Frank]

getting rid of "made by xara" isn't an answer to the problem.

Money isn't the answer to all life's problems either, but it sure helps

[jinker]

Money isn't the answer to all life's problems either, but it sure helps

I don't follow that quote? Are you thinking the made by xara in the code is going to stop you making money? Like I said; your random quote is hard to follow?