position: absolute - Design resources and inspiration.

Update 2007-10-19: as our readers Aaron and Kai have kindly pointed out to me, this is no longer an issue. Hyphens & underscores are now treated equally by Google.

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Well, here’s something I wasn’t aware of until moments ago. When using SEO-friendly and user-friendly URLs, always go for hyphens instead of underscores.

Good:
/seo-quicktip-underscore-or-hyphen-in-urls

Bad:
/seo_quicktip_underscore_or_hyphen_in_urls

Why? Because according to this post, Google doesn’t recognize the underscore as a divider. Basically, that means you would have to include the underscore in your search term to bring up the URL. I don’t think anybody actually does that. Clearly a point for Team Hyphen. I’m just glad WordPress does “good” URLs out of the box.

Aviva has put together a great collection of online tools to check your website. The 31 tools are grouped into code validation, accessibility, speed tests, browser simulators and search engine optimization (SEO). You’ll also find keyword analyzers and link checkers among the bunch. These tools are all very useful to ensure you are making the best out of your website, and as such I can highly recommend them.

This has to be one of the most comprehensive collections of relevant links on the subject of web development that I have seen until now: The Web Developer’s Handbook.

It covers most of the essential links on creativity, CSS, CMS, color tools, SEO, semantics, typography, usability, and much more. Definately worth a bookmark.