Design Challenges

You are ready for an update

I recently read an entry on Eric Shanfelt's blog entitled "Publish Web First, Print Second" which further reinforced my accounts from a previous entry Instant Information entry. I have discussed this topic to death, which by the way is endless, in the past couple of month. I have discussed it with colleagues, friends, and just about anyone I know who is interested or willing to hear it.

Yet, little change has taken place. We all continue, day in day out, to use the Web site as a landfill. A place to dump all information, whether relevant or otherwise, and continue to save the best for print. I have also noticed that this is the case for most sites for which I visit and receive a magazine.

It dawned on my this evening that perhaps is not our sites or our processes that need an upgrade, but ourselves. We are at cross roads, a place where digital media is changing the way we obtained our information. We are at the point where most jobs are going digital, yet change hasn't taken place. People still walk into their desks and the only digital they see is their email. I'm referring to the mail clerk all the way up the food chain to the CEO.

I can assure you that less snail mail is receive every day than digital mail. We have completely revamped our immediate communication avenues, but have yet to see that we no longer wake up and go outside to pick up the paper. We instead turn to Google news, MSNBC.com, CNN.com, ESPN.com or some other .com avenue to be feed our daily dose of information.

Then why is it that most publishers insist in saving the best content for print? Because the senior level editors fear for their jobs, they fear that the pimpled face twenty something is going to come in and replace them.

My mother always told me and re-enforce two important things that I carry with me to this day:

1. Go into any career you want, just make sure you work to be the best in your field.
2. Always associate with smarter people, they will teach you new things and take you to the next level.

I used to think my mother was crazy, but what 12 year old wants to listen to their parents, let alone pay attention to any advice they might have to give.

The bottom line is that if you give the new generation a chance for expressing their ideas, and you surround yourself with the best and the brightest, you will rise in your career as you will have the best team working for you. If you insist in keeping them in the dark basement and cultivate them as mushrooms, they will grow to resent you and you will miss out in sharing ideas and growing your company to the next level. Ever noticed the Windows Update icon that pops up near the bottom right corner of your PC? A little box typically pops up notifying you of yet another update/upgrade to your current flavor of Windows. Don't you wish you came equipped with such an enhancement. Time to update!

Labels: advertising, cms, content management, CSS, Customer Service, Freedom of Speech, marketing

Teabagging

Teabagging is a slang term for the act of a man placing his testicles, specifically the scrotum, in the mouth or face of another person, often in a repeated in-and-out motion. The practice vaguely resembles dipping a tea bag into a cup of tea.

I first heard the term on Howard Stern and his filthy unrated show.

Most recently however, someone told me that simulations of teabagging are often used in video games. Sure enough, a quick Google search turn up a Wikipedia entry describing that simulations of teabagging are often used in video games, specifically first person shooters such as Counter-Strike, Resistance: Fall of Man and Halo, the last of these in which it is sometimes referred to as the "Halo Hump" or simply "corpse-humping". "Teabagging" is performed by repeatedly crouching down - a common movement in FPSs - while on top of an enemy corpse. The act is a form of victory dance to show ownership and to humiliate an enemy player.

I was not only left with my mouth wide open in disbelief, but with a sour taste for these types of video games. After all, I have young nephews and friends with small children who enjoy these games. The rating of the games may note that the game is inappropriate due to violence, but this is more than just violence, it is simply inappropriate sexual behavior, these games are to be rated NC-17, not just M for mature audience.

The bottom line is that although I'm far from a prude, I think that when it comes to the young minds we ought to draw some sort of line. I recently made a statement on how I disapproved of the computer age. I think what started out as a great method of communication and idea sharing has let to corruption of our society and a loss for moral values. What thinks you?

Labels: content management, Design, Google, video, Video Games

SEO Hackery and sales tricks

I was recently reading an article on SEO Chat, a large provider of SEO tools, articles, and news. I have been exploring and toying with the idea of hiring a consultant/ helper to get better rankings on some terms. I have a lot of experience on SEO, and keep with with the space, but it is always great to get third party validation.

The problem is that when it comes to SEO, you have to open up your entire site to some folks who just may do a hack job or worst, get you banned. This is why I get wary of SEO, thankfully SEO Chat is able to validate my worries, this article speaks of Network Solutions, one of the largest domain name registrars.

It is sad to see such a powerful company diminish the trust of the community by offering trickery and half-ass SEO programs to turn a profit on the less savvy.

Another point not covered in the article is that you do -not- get to select the keywords you want to rank for. They go after low volume low traffic "low hanging fruit" keywords (the sort a crappy site can rank for with the addition of the term into the title tag)

Another bad practice by these registrars, also not covered in the article, but I mostly seen it in godaddy.com, is that they keep track of the domain names you search for. If you search for a domain name a few times, they consider it popular and will self register to themselves and then ask you for a lot of $$$ to sell it to you. I notice this in the past and was happy to see validation from some other users commenting on it at the end of this article.

The bottom line is that we have to be very careful on who to trust. Don't open up your site to just any hack that comes along, especially if the price is too good to be true. Here are some tips to keep in mind as you are in the search for an SEO consultant from the king of all Search Engines, Google.

Labels: advertising, content management, CSS, Google, Search Engine, SEO

Instant Information

The Web is designed as an avenue for providing and finding information, yet many media companies insist on holding back on their content until after their publication is released to the market.

This is a fatal mistake, folks who read periodicals are not the folks tuned in to the Web. A once a month read is not bad, but what about the media junkies who just can't get enough, how do you deliver to that audience?

Some companies don't even bother to put their content online, while others drop 20 to 30 articles onto their site typically on a random fashion and without any organization. To most publishers, their Web site is but an after thought, designed to serve as an advertisement to drive subscriptions for the periodical. Other simply place news and press release items, but leave their readers hanging with original content living strictly on the print pages.

The bottom line is that in today's world the business and money is online. Publishers can save millions of dollars by turning their periodical into digital editions first. That is, release the content to the site as it comes in. Use the print medium as a place to publish the most important stories/articles. Showcase a variety of product and product release, while driving the reader to the site to see a list of all items. Use the medium as a way to sum up the news for the month, but the site as a way to keep the reader vested and interested in checking that site often to see the goings on of the profession.

The reader benefits because:

1. they can reach all the content instantly on the Web site
2. Monitor the RSS feed in their favorite rss reader
3. Get a weekly newsletter with all new content via email.
4. Get a monthly filtered view via print.


The Publisher benefits because:
1. More viewers to their Web publications
2. More viewers means a higher CPM for their Ads
3. A inherited CMS (Content Management System) for their Print Publication
4. A better staffed editorial team that is cross trained for Print and Online
5. Less crunch time, since the articles are pre-edited.

and many more benefits. Now go on and designed a great site with proper navigation.

Labels: advertising, Alexa, content management, Design, RSS, Web Design

Joomla Day!

I was just visiting the Joomla site and found out that October 13, 2007 i now declared Joomla Day. The event will be held in Google's NYC headquarters.

Joomla! will be presented for the first time in Joomla!Day format for Joomla!Day USA (East) in New York, in October. So if you're a Joomla! devotee, this is an event not to be missed. Inspired by the incredible success of J!Days East Coast and Central, New York looks set to be even more successful.

The event is open to anyone, and will be taking place in the heart of New York City, at Google's East Coast headquarters on Saturday, October 13, 2007 — 9.30am-5pm ET. If you don't know Joomla! then this event is for you. If you do know Joomla! it's for you too! If you want to learn how to launch a website in minutes for a business or other endeavor, this event will provide you with the foundations of how to manage the world's most popular open source content management system.

In case you didn't know, the Web site states that, Joomla! is one of the most powerful Open Source Content Management Systems on the planet. It is used all over the world for everything from simple websites to complex corporate applications. Joomla! is easy to install, simple to manage, and reliable.

Joomla! is led by members of the Core Team who are responsible for the overall Project Management. All working together as a single team, committed to moving Joomla! forward in the true spirit of the Open Source movement.

Joomla is produced by the Core Team whose members come from different backgrounds, a diverse array of disciplines, with varied experiences. The Core Team is has members located in 11 countries throughout the globe.

Labels: cms, content management, Joomla