Computer and Web Articles

Here’s a fun little distraction for you the next time you’re waiting for an email, watching a slooooow progress bar inch forward, or whiling away the time after that customer service representative says “May I put you on hold for a moment?”

Here’s what you do.

1. Go to www.YouTube.com
2. Type your birth year into the search box at the top of the page
3. Hit the Search button
4. Check out the videos of all that happened the year you were born

Whether you were born yesterday (in which case I must say, “Good job, you precocious youngster, for reading this article!”) or you were born long before video was around, I’d wager you’ll find the results quite entertaining.

(An alternative version of this game is to drop in the year you graduated from high school; that’s really a fun one.)

1. http://tinyurl.com/yf6rm4x - A great quick and to-the-point blog post by Gretchen Rubin offering eighteen suggestions on some of “the little things” you can do to boost happiness in your workspace and office.
2. www.GreenGoose.com – “Sustainable living made simple” through the use of . . . a Bicycle Commute Savings Kit and bike sensor?  Yep.  You see, when you ride your bike around this spring and summer, you’re saving money. GreenGoose keeps track of that money and then gives you the option take your savings and make one-time or auto transfers from your checking account to an interest bearing savings account. Not for everyone, but definitely a unique and noble concept.
3. http://tinyurl.com/ykm2yef - Courtesy of the Huffington Post, here we have an extremely amusing article called “Retracting the Ridiculous,” which gives us 12 hilarious newspaper corrections. “Due to incorrect information, Mr. XYZ was incorrectly listed as being fined for prostitution in Wednesday’s paper. The charge should have been failure to stop at a railroad crossing.”
4. http://tinyurl.com/yf66mdt - Focused on your website’s SEO? You might find this article, which lists ten tools for tracking inbound links, to be quite useful.
5. http://tinyurl.com/ydlnygw - Here is the million dollar question: should you (or your company) be on Twitter? This blog post, written by the ever-so-witty redheaded Denver copywriter Erika Napoletano, offers a fun read while answering the question in the redhead’s typical straight-forward, this-is-how-it-is style.

Have you ever found yourself clicking your browser’s Back button (you know, that left-pointing arrow up in the top left corner of the screen when you’re on the web) . . . but nothing happens? Hmmm. And now that you look at it, the button appears gray—as if it was turned off somehow. Hmmm. And the only way you seem to be able to move away from the webpage you’re looking at is to actually close the page down, right?

When you use the web, you typically bounce from page to page, site to site, by clicking on links. Links are how we jump about and navigate the web. We’ll go to Site X, then Site Y, then Site Z, but then maybe we’ll hit our Back button because we want to go back to site Y.

People find themselves in broken-back-button situations when they click links that, unbeknownst to them, force-open up the next page in a totally new window or tab. This means we’ll click a link on Site Y, but instead of our page quickly changing to Site Z, a totally different window (or tab) opens up with Site Z — with Site Y remaining open in the old window we looking at just a moment before. So we now have two windows (or tabs) open at the same time. Because Site Z is the first site to open up in the fresh new window, the Back button has nowhere to take you, which is why the Back button will look grayed out and won’t respond when clicked. The only way to get back to Site Y now (IF you’ve been able to figure out what happened) is to close down the Site Z window and return to the original site Y window.

Now WHY would a website consciously cause such confusion? Why would a webmaster knowingly “break” his site visitors’ back buttons by having links open up in separate tabs or windows? A variety of reasons exist; many of them are a bit dubious.  After building websites for ten years, though, I can tell you that one of the most frequent client requests I’ve received over and over again is. . . “Can you make it so that when people click links on my website, they open up in new windows? Because if they don’t like that link and they close it, then they’ll be back at my website again. It just keeps people from leaving my website.”

My “actually-if-people-want-to-leave-your-website-they’ll-leave-your-website-and-don’t-forget-that-people-are-accustomed-to-being-able-to-use-their-back-buttons” explanation never meets with much enthusiasm; the request almost always stands: “Make links open in new windows so people stay on my site.”  If this seems a little bit backwards or confusing to you, you’re not alone.

The “people-will-stay-on-my-website-if-I-open-links-in-new-windows” assumption has broken and will continue to “break” the Back button in my browser, your browser, and the browsers of others for a long time to come. And so the next time you arrive on a new page and find you can’t use your Back button, just close the page in order to return to the one you were on previously. And smile because, unlike so many others, you actually know what just happened. . . and possibly even why. 

1. http://tinyurl.com/q7v27r - What small business *wouldn’t* be interested in an effective (and cost-effective) method of promoting its website? This article, written by Matt McGee and posted on the Small Business Trends website, is entitled “If I were launching a new small biz web site today” and offers suggestions on what you can do to spread the word about your business’s site. Take a look; perhaps you’ll find a suggestion or two that you’d not considered before.
2. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/126449 - Simple, short, concise, printable list of Windows shortcuts for you to use.
3. http://tinyurl.com/yzbc7c7 - Create advanced, complex filters for your Gmail searches.
4. www.foratv.com - One of the web’s largest collections of “unmediated video drawn from live events, lectures, and debates going on all the time at the world’s top universities, think tanks, and conferences.” The featured video on the site’s homepage when I last visited was called “Civil Rights in the Age of Warrantless Surveillance.”
5. http://tinyurl.com/yhrdauh – In this blog post, online marketing strategist Samir Balwani discusses his thoughts on the debate of whether or not social media is overrated.

1. http://tinyurl.com/ycj66oc - Alright. Here’s a question for you. Yes, you. Tell me this: what is a web browser? If you have absolutely no clue how to answer that question, I hereby require that you to watch this simple, clear, short YouTube video. It’s not boring and it offers truly-useful information you really should know. Take a moment, watch the video. It’s good. Promise.
2. http://tinyurl.com/7yd2op - Seven reasons your social media marketing failed – and how to fix it.
3. www.pocketsmith.com – Pocketsmith is a “web-based calendar that forecasts your future cash position.” This online tool aims to help people become better budgeters and achieve their financial goals a their special calendar, tracking features, and cash forecasts. Sign up for a free plan (then, if you’d like, upgrade at any time to their $5/month Premium plan or $12/month Super plan).
4. http://tinyurl.com/2mznqy - Learn how to reduce the file size of your PowerPoint presentations.
5. www.cocodot.com - This is a lovely site/service created “for those who love design and take pride in the way they communicate.” (So no, the site was obviously not built for the customer service department of my phone company.) Cocodot offers beautifully designed online invitations and greetings. (We’re talking SUPER-beautiful here.) Unlike many of their competitors, Cocodot does *not* include advertisements in their eCards, announcements, wedding stationery, or invites. Instead, they charge yearly or per-use fees. Make sure to check out their site and their beautiful designs.

I recently received the following note in my inbox, courtesy of dear reader Joan Lavell:

Hi Erin, In response to your recent column in the SDN, Google also has an autofill feature you can set up with your name, address, email address, and even some other info I don’t use. I use this feature all the time when I have to fill out forms with my information; you can do it with one click.

… And Joan is exactly right. Lots of people love the Autofill feature of the Google Toolbar and use it on a regular (often daily) basis. For a great overview (with pictures!) of this convenience-offering, time-saving, easy-to-use-once-you’ve-set-it-up tool, visit http://tinyurl.com/ypl8fv.

For our tech terminology talk today let’s discuss the difference between a blog and a blog post; I hear these two terms used interchangeably on a regular basis. Problem is, they’re not interchangeable. They’re not the same thing. If you say one and mean the other, you’re going to cause confusion at some point. So let’s clear this up; it won’t take but a moment.

A blog is a website where people publish thoughts, commentary, stories, and/or articles on a (hopefully) regular basis. The term blog came about from the smooshing together of the words “web” and “log”. Examples of blogs include:

• http://sethgodin.typepad.com (for marketing and business development)
• http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/blog.html (training guidance for serious cyclists)
• http://www.themovieblog.com (for all you movie lovers)

A blog post, on the other hand, is nothing more than an individual entry IN someone’s blog.

So blogs contain blog posts. Blog posts are what make up blogs. Simple as that.

To wrap this lesson up, let’s look at a few examples of terminology usage. It’s correct to say “Hey, check out the new post in my blog.” It’s correct to say “I just added a new blog post (to my blog) yesterday; it’s sweet.” It’s not correct to say, “I wrote a new blog yesterday” because you don’t actually “write” entire websites.

Last week at Copper I found myself sitting on a chairlift with an older fellow who (it appeared) had just downed 5 shots of espresso. Everything would have been okay had he not (somehow) suddenly recognized me from the photo that regularly accompanies my articles.

And so I found myself robotically answering his questions as the chairlift continued to whisk us uphill. “Yes, version 3.0 this” “No, it’s not normal when that pops up every day.” “No, we don’t fix computers; we design and build websites.”

As we began to near the end of our ride the fellow leaned over and asked, “So. If you could only, say, choose ONE technology or tech-related-thing that you could use, what would it be? What’s your favorite technology??”

I quickly looked over at him. My grin faded as I discovered that he was, indeed, truly expecting an actual answer from me. I sighed but figured it would be more polite to respond than it would be to turn my music back on and ignore him for the last 30 seconds of our chair ride.

I sat in silence for a moment pondering how I could possibly provide an even semi-coherent answer in response to such an odd, uncomfortably vague question.

Pictures of online tools and blindingly-fast processors and super-wide-screen monitors and shiny iPhones and GPS gadgets and the like flashed through my mind. Yet nothing I visualized struck me as something I couldn’t possibly live without.

I remained quiet and in thought as we neared the end of our lift ride. The bar came up. The fellow continued to stare at me, waiting for my response.

And then,just like that, I knew exactly how to answer his question.

“Well,” I said as he raised his eyebrows expectantly. “In all honesty, if I could only choose ONE thing… I’d have to say that I’d choose that fancy technology they use at SureFoot down at the base there in Center Village. You know – they have those fancy scanners and they make custom footbeds for you? THAT technology makes it so I can have a super good time when I’m out here, way more so than I used to be able to. And to me, seriously, that’s way more important than iPhones and iPads and all those things. So yeah, that would have to be my answer. That’s my favorite technology. You really should go try it yourself. Plus all those guys are super nice in there and they help you out, so it’s really cool. You’d love it. I do. I mean, it lets me have way more fun, and that’s why I live here, you know?”

As we stood up and rode down the mellow slope away from the lift I glanced over at the fellow. He was frowning. Actually, it was more like he was … scowling. He went left, I went right. And I had an awesome run thanks to my most favorite technology.

1. http://tinyurl.com/4wxfuv - A guide on how to keep your computers and gadgets plugged in and connected as you travel the world.
2. http://tinyurl.com/yb2fqrq - Not everything on the web has to be read. Here’s a really nice photo for you to look at. A photo of skyscrapers. Made out of staples.
3. www.fonolo.com – A free service that makes it “easier and less frustrating to call large companies” by allowing you to skip the pressing-lots-of-numbers-to-talk-to-someone requirements and those annoying, time-wasting mazes of voice prompts.
4. http://tinyurl.com/m423r - Now THIS is why the web is such a wonderful thing. I mean, before you had internet access, where could one go to find 15 photos of amazingly fat cats like the ones you’ll see when you visit this link??
5. http://tinyurl.com/moe32q - A blog post discussing ten ways you can become a great social media user. Too lazy to read the article? Here’s the quick summary: socialize, diversify, participate, contribute, be real, be consistent, be meaningful, get creative, monitor, and be relevant.