Moondog Web Design News

File-Sharing Website Shutdown Spurs Anonymous Retaliation

2012-01-19T21:11:00.000-06:00

Those guys and gals at Anonymous are messing with the big dogs now. Today they may or may not have used a "low orbit ion cannon" to simultaneously crash the websites of the the FBI, The Justice Department, Universal Music, the RIAA, and MPAA in retaliation for the closing of file-sharing site MegaUpload.com.

MX Record Lookup

2011-11-07T15:41:00.001-06:00

To see where your MX records are pointing now, click the Lookup button below.

By DNSstuff.com

No wonder Comcast is always late

2011-06-23T20:14:00.006-05:00

Pardon me, boy
Is that the Memphis choo-choo?

My Internet connection was getting sluggish this afternoon, and since it was too early in the day for the neighborhood web porn hounds to be home from work and clogging the Interwebs, I decided to check Comcast's Speed Test program and see what it had to say about the slow down. The program worked fine, but when I moved my mouse over a Ping station in SOUTHEAST Tennessee expecting to see Chattanooga, I was surprised to find out that is where Comcast thinks Memphis is located. In the grand scheme of things, this is a minor mistake, but perhaps it does explain why Kabletown needs a 4 hour window to come to my house whenever I need service. They must be using their own maps.

Domain Registry of America Warning

2011-01-24T13:21:00.000-06:00

They go by several names ... Domain Registry of America, Liberty Names of America and probably a few others that I'm not yet aware of. Regardless of the name, they operate in the same manner - by sending out what looks remarkably like a time-sensitive invoice for a domain renewal. But if you read the letter carefully, you will realize that they are using an approach called slamming (trying to trick you into switching your domains to another company). They highlight that your domain is due to expire shortly, and that you risk losing the domain name unless you renew the registration. Although the letter states that it is not a bill, it is purposely designed to look like an invoice. Paying that "invoice" actually begins a very overpriced domain transfer - and undoing that mistake will be a major hassle. Often the transfer fails, but the fine print says that the fee is non-refundable. If you receive an invoice from anyone other than your Web host or domain registrar, you'll save yourself a headache if you simply send it through the shredder. MOONDOG WEB HOSTING does NOT send renewal notices via postal mail.

To Xfinity and beyond!

2010-11-16T14:22:00.000-06:00

Comcast/Xfinity/ (or whatever the are calling themselves this month) hates you. They do not want you to be able to enjoy your favorite recorded program without being subjected to excessive and loud commercials. For that reason, there is no pre-programmed "30-second skip" button on your remote control. Here are instructions for programming your own 30 second commercial skip button on your Comcast remote, while simultaneously giving Kabletown a digital middle finger.

Important note: Once the button has been programmed it is permanent, so pick a button you don't use or need like the Help button for the 30 second skip function.

Follow these steps if you have the SILVER remote

Hit the Cable button - It will blink.
Press and hold the Setup button until the cable button blinks twice.
Enter 994 - The Cable button will blink twice.
Hit setup. (do not hold)
Enter 00173 on your keypad.
Hit any button that you don't use. (like Help or a button close to your 8 second rewind / instant replay button)

Follow the steps below if you have the newer PLATINUM remote

You must temporarily reprogram Aux to Cable, set 30 sec skip, then change Aux to your auxiliary device.

Press the "Aux" button at the top of the remote to put it into Cable Box control mode.
Press and hold the "Setup" button until the "Aux" button blinks twice.
Type in the code 01376. The "Aux" button will blink twice.
Press the "Aux" button at the top of the remote again
Press and hold the "Setup" button until the "Aux" button blinks twice.
Type in the code 994. The "Aux" button will blink twice.
Press (do not hold) the "Setup" button.
Type in the code 00173.
Press (do not hold) the "Cable" button.
Press whatever button you want to map the 30-second skip command to (ex: A / Lock). The "Cable" button will blink twice if successful.

Enjoy skipping those commercials.

Get a FREE ticket for Museum Day (September 25th)

2010-09-20T10:02:00.000-05:00

Museum Day is an annual event hosted by Smithsonian Media in which participating museums across the country open their doors for free to anyone presenting a Museum Day Ticket. Several museums in Middle Tennessee are participating, including the Frist Center and The Country Music Hall of Fame.

What does this announcement have to do with web design or web hosting? Nothing really, but I think we can all benefit from a little extra exposure to the arts, and I wanted to help spread the word. Also, the price is right.

Click the link to learn more and get a free ticket: Museum Day September 25th 2010 | Smithsonian.com

New website: Medical Coding and Billing Plus

2010-09-09T14:06:00.000-05:00

Medical Coding and Billing Plus (MCBP) provides medical practices with a well-established, tested, and fine-tuned protocol for handling every aspect of authorization, pre-certification, coding, claims submission, tracking, billing and collections.

Eco-Filter Pro website goes "live"

2010-09-09T08:38:00.001-05:00

Eco-Filter Pro is an environmentally friendly gutter filter screen made with 75% recycled material. It screens out all leaves and other large debris, supports a heavy snow pack in Winter( preventing Ice build up in the gutter), and eliminates Mosquitoes from colonizing your gutters in Summer. Rainwater flows through with ease due to the extensive surface area provided by the fiber filter.

Web Resizer - Optimize pictures for websites and email

2010-07-03T12:30:00.000-05:00

This is a very handy online tool that allows you re-size/optimize your photos for use in web pages or e-mails. No special skills are required, and you can make the changes very quickly. Visit their website, and give it a try.

Google Voice goes public

2010-06-22T17:24:00.002-05:00

One of the best free services ever, Google Voice has been available by invitation only for the past year. Now it is open to the public (US residents only at this time). Click here to get your Google Voice account.

Keep Facebook from disclosing your personal information to their "partners."

2010-05-08T14:18:00.002-05:00

You can complete the whole process in a few minutes using the links below and your browser’s ‘back’ button. Here is how:

First, log into Facebook in a new window or tab.
Next, go to the "Instant Personalization" page (under Account/Privacy Settings/Applications and Websites) and uncheck the "allow" box.
To prevent the third parties from accessing your information through your friends who have not opted out, you need to visit Pandora, Microsoft, and Yelp and click on the "Block Application" link in the upper left corner of the page.

Finally, check Facebook's “Help Center” frequently to see an up-to-date list of applications that need to be individually blocked to maintain your privacy.

Blogger FTP shutdown reminder

2010-04-15T07:52:00.000-05:00

FTP publishing will no longer be available after May 1, 2010. If you have an FTP blog, and it hasn't been converted yet, or if you aren't sure if it has been converted, give me call.

Auto Art Body Shop redesign

2010-04-14T22:21:00.000-05:00

I designed a website a few years back for Auto Art Body Shop. The site was easy to navigate, did well with the search engines, and had a integrated blog so the owners could keep their customers up to date with company news.

A few weeks ago the owner called me and said he was ready to update the look of the site. He wanted the new design to complement a print campaign they were sending out to celebrate their 40th year in business. Moondog Web Design was happy to make that happen.

The Old Design

The New Design

If you have a website in need of a redesign, or maybe just a little Spring cleaning, send us an e-mail or give us a call, and we'll perform a FREE review of your site and offer recommendations for bringing it up to date.

Check your CNAME records

2010-03-04T14:15:00.000-06:00

Enter your verification string or custom URL prefix and your domain name, and then click Lookup.

Example verification string and domain name: googlefffffeee435.mightydinosaur.com Example custom URL prefix and domain name: mail.mightydinosaur.com

By DNSstuff.com
CNAME Record Lookup

Enter prefix and domain name

Google has spoken, and we must deal with it

2010-02-04T21:02:00.001-06:00

To everyone who has called, sent text messages, and e-mailed me today freaking out about the impending shut down of Blogger's FTP service:

This was Google's decision, not mine, and I am not happy about it either.
Yes, I can keep your blog(s) working by moving it to a Blogger-hosted custom domain; however it is not a simple one-click process, and I cannot do it yet because Blogger hasn't finished creating their "migration tool" to redirect and preserve the page rank of your old blog pages.
No, I will not perform this work for free. I have dozens of clients with integrated Blogger blogs, and the test conversions I performed took 2½ - 3½ hours. That does not include my research and planning the best practices for making the transition and seamless as possible. I will be charging a flat rate for the conversion, with discounts for clients with multiple blogs. I haven't set the price yet (I need to see a working copy of Blogger's Migration Tool first), but it should be in the $80-$120 range.
Yes, a few of you may have to transfer your domain name and/or web hosting to another provider that allows user total control of DNS records and the creation of sub-domains. If your domain name and hosting are with GoDaddy or Moondog Web Hosting (and possibly others), this will NOT be necessary.
No, you don't have to migrate to to a Blogger-hosted custom domain. I can (a.) remove the blog/news pages from your site completely or (b.) leave the old blog in place as an archive (you will no longer be able to update it).
No, I do not think the threat of a class-action lawsuit against Blogger would make them change their minds, nor do I think such a suit has any merit.

I will reply personally to everyone who has contacted me about this issue, but it is going to take some time. We have until March 26, 2010, so there is no reason to panic.

Blogger to Discontinue FTP Publishing in March 2010

2010-01-31T22:56:00.002-06:00

Citing a drain on their engineering resources, the Google-owned Blogger announced this week they will no longer support FTP publishing in Blogger after ~~March 26, 2010~~ (the date has been pushed back to May 1, 2010). For most Blogger users, this is a non-issue. But for web developers who use Blogger FTP and custom templates to seamlessly integrate blogs into existing websites, this is a definitely an issue.

Moondog Web Design currently has almost 100 clients with FTP published blogs integrated into their websites. The modifications required to convert these FTP published blogs to Blogger hosted accounts include updating hyperlinks site-wide, modifying the Blogger template and CSS file, creating new CNAME records, redirecting the XML feed, and possibly changing web hosting and/or domain name registrars (hosting/registrar changes will not be necessary for sites registered AND hosted through GoDaddy or Moondog Web Hosting).

Having a blog in a website is still a very good idea: it saves the client money on site updates, and the search engines absolutely love them, but I still do not look forward to contacting nearly 100 clients and telling them they going to have to pay for maintenance on their sites just to keep their blogs up and running after March 26. The good news here is Blogger is working on a "Migration Tool" that will redirect all traffic from the FTP URL to the new URL. That tool is scheduled to be available on February 22.

Note to all Moondog Web Design clients - if you have a Blogger blog(s) on your website, I will be contacting you during the month of February regarding the cost of the changes necessary to move your blog from FTP to a Blogger hosted custom domain blog.

Remove those "diamond shaped boxes with question marks in them" in your Blogger posts

2010-01-15T17:24:00.004-06:00

Microsoft Word uses non-standard characters for quotes, apostrophes, double dashes, and 3 periods in a row (ellipses). So, if you try to copy/paste a Word document into Blogger you are going to get some of those "diamond shaped boxes with question marks in them" wherever you had quotes, apostrophes, double dashes, and ellipses.
Saving Microsoft Word documents as US-ASCII (plain text) will remove all MS Word formatting and convert those characters into something most web browsers can understand. Here's how it works:
1. Open the Word document then click: File > Save As
2. Save as type: "Plain Text (*.txt)"
3. Click OK
4. A File Conversion Menu will appear. Choose "other encoding", then select "US-ASCII"

5. Check "allow character substitution"
6. Click OK to save
7. Open the new .txt document in a text editor such as Notepad
8. Copy the contents and paste into the Blogger compose window

This method is about 95% effective at removing non web-compatible characters from your document, but of course you still proofread the final draft before posting.

Moondog Web Design v 5.0 is finally online

2010-01-03T21:02:00.005-06:00

The new version is a bit more colorful, should be easier to navigate, and has a link to download our FREE Website Planning Guide. Also, the portfolio sample pictures are larger, and I have added links and information for our sister site, Moondog Web Hosting. At the last minute I decided to integrate the News and Tips page with my previously dormant Twitter account. I'm still tinkering with the page background, but I think I'm going to leave it as is for the time being. As always, I would love to hear any comments and suggestions to make the website better.

Going once, going twice...

2009-11-09T21:25:00.000-06:00

I just completed a new website for The West End Auction. The site is not yet "live", but the auction agent has given me permission to release a sneak peak at the condos that will be auctioned on December 5th. I've seen this place, and if you are looking for an upscale condo with awesome views of downtown Nashville and lots of "outdoor living" area, this place is pretty cool.

Back up your data

2009-09-15T08:18:00.002-05:00

Acronis True Image WD Edition Software helps you to completely clone your current system drive onto your new WD hard drive. Cloning makes an exact copy of your old system drive on your new WD hard drive, including the operating system, applications, data, preferences, and email settings. Everything will be present and operate exactly as it did on your old hard drive. As of 09/15/09, it is available as a free download on the Western Digital website.

Watch Out For Domain Renewal Scams

2009-02-25T21:37:00.002-06:00

They go by several names ... Domain Renewal Group, Domain Registry of America, Liberty Names of America and probably a few others that I'm not yet aware of. Regardless of the name, they operate in the same manner - by sending out what looks remarkably like a time-sensitive invoice for a domain renewal. But if you read the letter carefully, you will realize that they are using an approach called slamming (trying to trick you into switching your domains to another company). They highlight that your domain is due to expire shortly, and that you risk losing the domain name unless you renew the registration. Although the letter states that it is not a bill, it is purposely designed to look like an invoice. Paying that "invoice" actually begins a very overpriced domain transfer - and undoing that mistake will be a major hassle. Often the transfer fails, but the fine print says that the fee is non-refundable. If you receive an invoice from anyone other than your Web host or domain registrar, you'll save yourself a headache if you simply send it through the shredder. MOONDOG WEB HOSTING does NOT send renewal notices via postal mail.

"About Us" Web Pages

2008-08-23T21:30:00.003-05:00

Your About Us pages should include:

A brief overview of what you do, including the benefits you offer to customers, and how those benefits distinguish you from competitors.
Your company history.
Profiles of executives and other key managers if applicable.
Testimonials from happy customers.
A list of awards and other recognition you have received.
Press releases and other resources for the media.
Information on how to contact you.

source: Guide to Writing Effective "About Us" Web Pages

Express E-mail Marketing

2008-06-17T08:41:00.005-05:00

Face it: There's a right way and a wrong way to do most everything. This is particularly true when it comes to email marketing. The last thing any business ever wants is to be associated with spam. That's why we created Express Email Marketing. Now you can enjoy all the benefits of email marketing - and steer clear of ever being considered a spammer.

No one wants to receive marketing emails they didn't request. That's true! But there are many people who want to know about your products, company or organization. These people will welcome hearing from you and actually look forward to getting your emails.

Express Email Marketing includes everything you see here:

Subscriber Management

List import & export
Advanced segmentation (interest groups)
Bulk list removal
Custom exporting
Activity reporting
Member profiles/history
View campaign subscriber lists
Customize subscriber list view

Surveys

10 unique question types
Question sorting
Multi-page questionnaires
Custom design features
Link generator (text & button)
HTML code for link
Easily move questions within your survey

Campaign Designer

Personalization (e.g. Dear Mr. Smith)
Quick start templates
Huge 1,500+ Image Library
Upload a Personal Image Gallery
HTML & text emails
Auto Save
Web page import
HTML import
Advanced editor
Detailed customization
Scheduling
Recipient filtering
Campaign previews
Test messages
Spell checker

Sign Up Forms

Standard & custom questions
Question sorting
Double opt-in protection
Custom design features
Return links
Form preview
Link generator (text & button)
HTML code for link

Reports

Campaign responses
Survey results
Subscriber activity
Demographic drill-down
Interest groups

Other Features

Bounce handling
Unsubscribe handling
Opt-in confirmation
Anti-spam protection
Spam reporting links
Custom e-mail messages
Add file attachment

Express Email Marketing automatically adds the necessary disclaimer language to any email you send. Plus, it even includes links that allow recipients to automatically opt out.

Check out the Express E-mail Marketing page at Moondog Web Hosting for more details and get started today.

Moondog Web Hosting's Web-Based Email Upgrade

2008-05-14T09:44:00.002-05:00

Web-Based Email 4.13 is a feature-rich upgrade to Moondog Web Hosting's already successful email program, giving customers many NEW features:

Instantly preview email messages while scrolling through them in the inbox
Unique Drag and Drop to quickly move email messages for easy filing
Search your email OR the entire Web in a single click and save searches for future reference
Create folders from any screen view without a complicated folder management interface
Customize the program's appearance by choosing from among a wide variety of color palettes

If you already have an e-mail account with us, but you haven't tried accessing your account via web-based e-mail, simply open your favorite browser, type "email.cooldomain.com" (replacing "cooldomain" with your actual domain name) into your the address bar, then enter your e-mail address and password. It's just that simple.

Register.com Run Around

2008-04-09T07:31:00.000-05:00

Recently I tried to help one our clients transfer her domain name away from Register.com to Moondog Web Hosting. Our prices are much better ($8.95/yr vs $35.00/yr), and she already has a hosting account and e-mail marketing program with us, so it just made good sense to consolidate all of her web products under one roof. One of the first steps in transferring a domain name is obtaining an Authorization Code from the losing registrar. With most registrars, you can log in to your account and either find or request your Authorization Code. Not so with Register.com. The Register.com website proudly proclaims But if you want to transfer away a domain name from them, you must go through their "Business Center" to get the authorization code. The Business Center hours are 8am - 6pm EST Monday to Friday. But wait, it gets better. They still won't give you the authorization code until you provide a them with a "security code" which they must e-mail to the administrative contact for the account. They explained to me twice how this run around was purely for security reasons. So I asked, "How is e-mailing me a 'security code', then having me repeat it back to you over the phone to get the authorization code any more secure than just e-mailing me the authorization code in the first place?" They didn't have an answer.