Only Network

A Christmas clean

2009-12-26T15:54:48Z

I’ve just given this blog a bit of a clean-up. It’s funny how chaos starts to intrude on any system, but with Wordpress blogs, there’s a constant churn of upgrades and new plugins that you need to keep an eye on. I’ve upgraded to WordPress 2.9, updated my plugins and cleared out my comment spam. It’s not like you need a Ladybug steam cleaner or any fancy equipment, just some time on your hands.

Have you cleaned up your blog for the new year?

Make your own website

2009-12-11T22:37:37Z

Do you have your own website? If not, the question is why? It’s easy for anyone to build the our site and it just gets easier and easier. The great thing about a personal website is that it’s a great way to share your experiences, photos and even movies with friends and family. You can also link to your website from a variety of places too, whether its from Facebook, or any other social network. So, instead of uploading your photos to Facebook, where you don’t know if they’ll be there the next day, you can upload them to your own website and just link to them from Facebook.

So what does it take to create a website? Well, in the past you needed to learn how to use packages like Dreamweaver and teach yourself HTML, but nowadays its much easier than that. There are a number of websites out there that will walk you through creating a website, choosing a domain name and helping you put your content on it. It really has become as easy as that, which means that practically anyone can create their own site.

It’s great when technology really works for you isn’t it? All you need is the want to learn how to do something new.

WordPress Guru

2009-12-11T22:08:40Z

: Image via CrunchBase

Have you been to my WordPress website? It’s dedicated to all things Wordpress and is called WordPress Guru. You can find information on upcoming WordPress releases, themes and plugins, all there strewn across the garage floor. It’s great there’s so much information out there sometimes, but it always helps to be able to find stuff you need in one place. The site is aimed at collecting different titbits that WordPress users may find interesting and, hopefully, useful.

So if you’re into EordPress, head down there and have a read.

Appearances matter

2009-11-29T00:10:09Z

When you meet someone you’re going to entrust with your website, their appearance is immediately going to give you some sort of impression. And that’s why you must always look after your grooming when meeting a new client. Well, any client for that matter, but the first time you meet someone is going to be more important. The last thing you want to do is turn up smelling of cheap cigars and booze.

Just pay attention to appearanecs, you know they matter!

Compare your websites

2009-11-25T23:55:18Z

Are you a stats fiend? If so, you might be one of those people who likes looking at all the metrics around your websites and comparing how they’re all faring against one another. There’s a good tool to add to your repertoire if that’s the case. It’s called the Site Stats Tool and can be a spot of fun pulling together figures of different websites. It doesn’t matter if you’re looking at a website about dental implants Plano or even a joke shop, you can always have fun with stats.

Looking for business T1?

2009-11-25T20:41:00Z

Whether you run an online business, or one that is purely traditional, an Internet link has become absolutely crucial to the daily ins and outs of your organisation. Not only do important transactions flow through this link, but so do ancillary services, like email and IM with which you can communicate with clients and suppliers. And for more and more businesses today, VOIP is also become critical to their business, and you guessed it, without a proper Internet connection, all this would fall apart. So where can you go to get a connection you can rely on?

Well, one of the leading suppliers of business T1 is Megapath, a company who offers a wide range of telecommunication products, from Connectivity Services to Security Services, from VPN Services, all the way to Voice and Data services. They run an MPLS network all over North America with POPs in all the major cities. Their network map will gie you an idea of just how comprehensive their coverage is:

That’s pretty comprehensive and something you’re going to need if your company spans multiple cities, or if you need a good link from your head office to your data centre.

Take a step back and think about all the services you run on your Internet link. There’s your internet access for one, your email and instant messaging, your VOIP connection and maybe even some video conferencing. Now, imagine walking into the office one day and finding all that has been taken away. It’s a nightmare scenario that few of us dare imagine. Preventing this should be right up there in your list of priorities. The bottom line is that you really want to make sure you have the best business ethernet you can get your hands on. One with back ups and a great level of support. If that’s the case, check out MegaPath.

jQuery FTW

2009-11-23T00:04:50Z

Spent a few hours this afternoon coding away and every time I do some AJAX work with jQuery I’m stunned at how efficient and effective it is. It’s almost like the team who designed it have had to deal with real life problems and designed the language to cope with this. I’m sure other languages are also designed in this way, but jQuery jut keeps surprising me in just how good it is. It’s like looking at promo keychains which work without even trying. Much better than soething that doesn’t work.

Laptop Love

2009-11-20T00:05:30Z

Well, I must say that since I’ve had my laptop I have actually got more productive. It’s great to be able to carry everything around with you and snap off a blog post whenever you have two minutes. It’s great to be able to research stuff and it’s great to be able to do stuff with the laptop on your lap while you’re watching TV. I’m not sure who invented laptop computers, but they certainly did the world a favour.

So, are you a laptop or desktop user?

Need to learn Linux

2009-11-17T21:28:48Z

Well, I’m finding that I keep bumping into Linux at every turn. My phone runs Android, which has a Linux core and I’ve spent a few geeky days playing with my Dreambox, which also runs Linux. I’m finding I’m learning new stuff all the time and I can’t help but feel that it’s a great way to be learning a new technology. Obviously, it’s hard; moving out of one’s comfort zone does make one feel more vulnerable and uncertain, but I also know I’ll be stronger for it, my skill set is growing. Learning is one thing that no one can take away, good thing you can’t get the equivalent of weight loss pills for learning.

In the meantime, maybe I should get myself a book on Linux …

A picture is worth 100 words

2009-11-15T23:29:53Z

If you’re looking to attract people to your website, then there are ways to do this, but once you have them there, how do you keep them? Well, one answer is to make your site attractive and usable. An attractive picture, a good choice of colours and a welcoming layout can make all the difference.

You can go over the top too. For example, I think this site: No5 Ltd is a bit too much, but if you look at this Outer Banks rentals website, adding a picture would really help to the front page.