February 13th, 2010
Recently we were sponsored to join the Microsoft WebSiteSpark program. Microsoft partners, through a certified hosting partner, are eligible to join. The program offers developers support and software to help promote building web sites with Microsoft site building tools. They actually have quite a few.
Expression Web, and Expression Studio, are provided as part of the program. This gave us the opportunity to take the software ‘out for a drive’. It turns out they are pretty impressive. In some areas maybe better then Adobe Dreamweaver the industry standard.
Style Sheets are created for the developer on the fly. At first it’s a bit odd, but after trying it for awhile it takes some of the work (pain) out of using detailed CSS.
Another feature that’s great is the built in Browser testing. Expression Web has a preview function that allows you to select the type of Browser to test (IE8, Firefox, etc.) and simulated monitor sizes. No guessing on how a page looks in different Browsers and monitors !
Expression Studio includes Expression Design. This is the new Microsoft graphics program. I personally find all graphics software to have confusing interfaces. Design is no different. It’s OK, but Adobe has nothing to fear with Design, at least not yet.
If you maintain your own site, especially an ASP or .Net site, Expression Web is a pretty good choice. PHP is supported also. No Coldfusion, but that makes sense.
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December 25th, 2009
Blogs, like any other software, require updates at times. WordPress is pretty good about providing updates and patches. In addition we install an ‘automatic update’ module for our clients that use WordPress to make the process easier.
The following is a quick review of running the updates:
When the message ‘Updates Available, Run Automatic Update’ appears in the Dashboard click the Auto Update link.
Follow each step displayed on screen.
Whenever the directions on a screen provide an option to ‘Skip’ a step select the ‘Skip’ link. Some steps are not needed on our servers, so just ’skip’ them.
The final screen will alert you that all updates have been applied.
To complete the process select the option at the the top of the screen to cleanup all temp files.
The screens displayed while running the patches is based on the type of update in progress. At times you may be automatically exited from the admin dashboard and need to login again. Other times the dashboard can display screens with just simple command buttons to click.
In general the process is straight forward and quick. WordPress blogs, like many other open source software, can be a frequent target of automated bots looking to insert malicious scripts and links. It’s best just to take a few minutes and run the Auto Update option we install.
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December 22nd, 2009
Email marketing, newsletters and other on-going client contact has become a standard. And why not? It is very cost effective and now perfectly acceptable, as long as you are not spamming.
The real issue is just how effective is your email? For several years we have used Constant Contact with our clients. They are not the only service, however they are the largest. This has helped getting Email past many strict spam filters in the past since they are a well known service.
We recommend CC because of the tools provided to monitor Email. Once an Email has been sent we can track how many were actually delivered, how many opened, and even the number of click-through’s to the clients Web Site or other links.
Tracking the actual responses quickly identifies strengths and weakness in a marketing campaign. Try a free trail for 60 days, send a small mailing, and track your results. I think you will find it interesting.
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