Archive for June, 2006

Content is everything

Thursday, June 22nd, 2006

The new culture of content

The web is no longer about surfing and passive reading, listening, or watching; it’s about creating, sharing, socialising and collaborating. Increasingly, many new websites and services are spawning the creative energy of countless souls cobbling together their own services from customisable sites. By the millions, they’re gathering and disseminating their own news with blogs and podcasts, creating articles and photo feeds from their favorite sites and even annotating them with helpful text tags.

read more of this article…

This is the culture of the web today – yet how can mere mortals produce the right content for everyone to see? Or do we find niche content that a few want to look at/read/utilise? A few people in every country still produces a viable site…

I’m not overly sure about the content of some sites. I prefer targetted content that is easy to get at and view with the least amount of time wastage. I particularly hate websites that are loaded with tables and graphics that take an age to load. I may put up with it if it comes from an amateur site – but not from a business site. Yet I do want content.

If I am operating at 1024×768 I don’t want to see a lot of wasted space around the page – I want content. May be a larger font if you need to fill up the space – but I don’t want a lot of block colour around the place.

And if a site could load in 1 – 2 seconds why put graphics and tables that make it take 30 seconds to load – even on broadband? Lets get serious and use good content. Not lots a pretty advertising blocks – just a good read.

Anyway – read the linked article above and see what you think?

Paul

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WinArchive – Now who owns the name?

Monday, June 19th, 2006

It's getting real confusing round here!

I managed a long time ago (somewhere around 7 or 8 years ago) to develop a product called WinArchive – which was a supersession of a product call "DIP System".  I actively stopped developing the product a long time ago (2 or 3 years) and yet a VERY early version seems to still exist out there! (With cracks and serial numbers and all sorts of things like that). That some decided to download it must mean WinArchive may have been an important product.

I also hold 2 versions of the domain name winarchive.com and winarchive.co.uk - I am actually prepared to sell the .com domain – I really don't need it.

I am thinking of redeveloping and finalising the WinArchive product – it's been used by a major company for 10 years (although I think they have finally replaced it) in one form or another.

There is also another version that is worth looking at – WinCMA – and I guess I ought to get that sorted – I reckon I need that myself! Its the Windows Church Music Archive. I've had it running under Windows98 and Windows XP (it prefers the latter of course!)

 Anyway – comments appreciated – Anyone want WinArchive.com??

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What’s this about resolution then?

Thursday, June 15th, 2006

I have been reading again – and that’s bad news. I will admit it – I hate designing for 800×600. But nevertheless I need to add a link to this blog entry:

Resolution by a Past Majority.

I guess it says everything – but still not sure that I can design all my websites for such a lowly resolution. On the other hand – I rarely maximize my browser window – I prefer to have umpteen windows open on my desktop…

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Search Engine Optimization

Thursday, June 15th, 2006

Not sure that I should be doing this…

But I feel that the article is of benefit…. so I have extracted it here… 

Entireweb Newsletter ( June 8, 2006 ISSUE #238)

Basic On-Page Search Engine Optimization

There are 2 different types of search engine optimization, on-page and off page. Here you'll learn the differences between them, and basic tips to getting your website optimized for the search engines.

(more…)

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What is the best configuration for my website?

Monday, June 5th, 2006

Who do you talk to? A perfectionist will say your design must be fluid and capable of being viewed at any resolution with any font size and any colour depth. Can you design a website like that? Possibly – do you want to design a website like that – unlikely. In the end we land up with compromises based on our own browsers and screens that we have installed on our computers. If it looks good then that often does. Should we do more? Perhaps. Can I suggest you read this IT World Article

Old-School Web Design – Fagetaboutit!

I enjoyed the article a lot – and found the content helpful – to the point that I think I will persue many of the items in it. Anything old – fagetaboutit!
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Christian Radio Broadcasting

Friday, June 2nd, 2006

It’s more prevalent than you might think – a look at the broadcasts listed on the World By Radio database will quick make one realise how diverse these broadcasts are.

I’ve recently come across a very interesting blog site – Christian Broadcasting. I wonder if I can get my friends at the FEBC to write a blog?

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Search Engine Optimization – Easy Tips

Thursday, June 1st, 2006

It's an ugly world when it comes to promoting your web site. Sometimes you just wonder whether it is really worth it. Of course it is – but when you try just about everything and get nowhere… but some of these tips might help.

  1. Does your domain have enough clout? Consider the name and if necessary purchase a number of these and point them all to the same place. It may mean you can have a number of bites of the same cherry! Remember .com, .net, and .org have a lot more going for them than .co.uk and .org.uk names.
  2. Get yourself a Google account and promote your site through sitemaps
  3. Look at your keywords, description and content – do they contain what people are looking for?
  4. Look at high ranking sites when you search for your site on Yahoo, Google, MSN et al – what are they using for keywords, description and content?

(more…)

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