If you know me at all then you know I’m a big fan of MonsterQuest and MysteryQuest on the history channel.  Yeah, sometimes the "cheese" is a bit over the top, but it’s always very interesting to see how they try to find real monsters, or conspiracies and scientifically prove them.  Personally I think Bigfoot is an Alien but who’s asking.

So, lately my search for a really good IDE for PHP has felt like the search for "Bigfoot".   Lots of "sightings" that turn out to be disappointments.  Now granted I come from a Visual Studio background which has pretty decent tools for everything.  So that has colored my judgment.  I’ve also used Dreamweaver quite a bit but only the coding part.

So what are my criteria:

1. Syntax Coloring
2. Code Completion (a.k.a. Intellisense)
3. HTML/CSS Code Completion.  I can’t remember every attribute of both HTML and CSS (who could)
4. Code Folding
5. Integrated FTP sync.
6. Code Snippets Library

Sounds fairly simple right?  Think again…

First I tried Aptana but it was so complex trying to figure out where this tool was, or that tool.  It uses "views" and to me changing the IDE all around is really confusing.

Next I gave Netbeans a try and I have to say that  I like it the best of all the free ones I tried but it is still confusing.

PhpED from NuSphere has some great built in tools.  But sadly some of them don’t work with CSS or HTML.  Code Navigator in particular. 

I really, really like phpDesigner 7, it does almost everything I need.  But the lack of code folding is very frustrating.  Working with Ecommerce files that are huge is a pain.

So, I’m back to using WeBuilder 2010.  Great HTML/CSS tools, built in FTP publishing, PHP code completing (sort of).  But it’d be nice to have the debugging tools built in.    I’m happy for now, but I’d really like to see some improvement in this area.

The website, built on WordPress, creates a dynamic data driven site that will allow the district to update the content themselves, providing a cost effective way to grow and change the website without requiring significant developer time.

Well that was until today.  While working looking for some information I stumbled across this advertisement.  I was very offended, but not for the reasons you might think.  You might think I was offended simply because God was listed.  Or if you’re politically motivated that God was equated to Oprah and Lance Armstrong.  Nope, although that does somewhat offend me. 

I’m offended because some knucklehead at bing (or worse Microsoft) thought this was a “cute” advertising technique.  Even more that somebody let this slip by.  Microsoft (who I am also a stockholder in) has enough problems without inciting the religious establishment in this country.   Remember what happened to Disney? 

As a Christian, yeah it bugs me that people think Oprah, Lance Armstrong and God are on equal footing when it comes to power, or that God has a Twitter account.  God doesn’t need a Twitter account.  Not that he doesn’t know everything about technology, who do you think gave us the brains to conceive of this stuff?  If you don’t think it was God, then explain to me why we can’t even come close to duplicating the human brain??  But I digress…

Microsoft, and by extension bing, has gotten a black eye for so long on everything from security, to browsers, to corporate greed they don’t need to beg for bad press.  I would think that a company who has spent so much money on the Windows 7 launch would have really been sensitive to the timing of such a bad ad going out.  But that’s me thinking again.

Oh well, guess this is just another example of Proverbs 1:22.  As for me, I’m going back to Google.

I’ve been using the Release To Manufacturing (RTM) for a month or so and here are my favorite things about it:

1. Document Libraries – You can now create libraries for documents, images, media and in my case “Projects” and have access to them in all of the different windows explorers from “Opening” to “Saving” files.  Really cool.
2. Task Bar – Finally the task bar is useful.
   • You can pin program shortcuts to it and it will give you (if the program is developed that way) a cool “jump” menu.
   • Groupings are useful they will show you what windows are open for that app, and you can even close them that way.
   • The Action Center keeps you from having a ton of messages always popping up, but you have to remember to look at it.
   • The Task Tray is now in one pop-up menu that you can customize much easier.  VERY handy.
3. User Account Control – if you used Vista you know what a headache this was.  Now it’s easy to adjust the settings, or even turn it off.  But know the risks.
4. Search – You can finally search for documents again and it works.  It works inside the windows explorer with a interface similar to a web-browser.  Very smart.
5. Homegroup – while this is designed primarily for families with multiple computers it would work just fine for businesses with only a couple of computers too.  I’m using it with my computer, my wifes computer and a Network Storage device.  It’s very handy and easy to share all kinds of files.

All in all I really like Windows 7.  While it’s not as “pretty” as Mac’s Snow Leopard it is very functional, and if you’ve been using Windows for a while it’s a refreshing change.  It’s not perfect yet, but it’s definitely worth the cost of the upgrade.

Simply put, the web is more important now than at any other time…

It’s a very good article on why a company should be creating a website now.  The reasons are pretty brief so I wanted to elaborate on a few them just a bit and throw in a couple of my own.

The Web is Cost Effective

Not only does a typical website cost roughly the same as a large advertisement in the newspaper, but it’s comparable to other forms of advertising such as direct mailers.  And having a website gives people another point of contact for your other marketing initiatives.

The Web is Measureable

You can analyze traffic via Google, and other tools, often for free.  You should also have a form that requests people tell you how they heard about you.

… now mine

The Web is Green

No matter what your stance on global warming, having most of your detailed information on the web saves trees.  You can even purchase “carbon offset” web hosting now if you’re so inclined. 

The Web is Local

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone to the web to find a menu for a restaurant, or to order a pizza, or look up something about a merchant.

The Web is Your Friend

You don’t have to be scared of the web.  It can be overwhelming I know but there are people to guide you through the process. 

In an economic downturn when funds are tight, don’t ignore the web.  It could just be the most cost effective way to market your business.

You’ve developed, or had somebody develop, a website.  How do you know if it was worth your money to put it online, or to keep paying for maintenance every year?   Simple answer, you measure the results.  But what are the results?  Website hits, sales leads or phone calls?  Well that depends on what your product or service.  Lets look at a couple of examples.

First, lets say you’re a restaurant owner.  How do you know if any of your customers are looking at it.  First, ask them.  I would make it a practice that every time a waiter or waitress takes an order from somebody that they ask how they heard about you and put a note on the ticket.  At the end of the day add up the responses and the ticket value and track it.  You could also put a coupon on your website, or create several and rotate them, it’s fairly easy to do since most hosting accounts have database access, and a good web developer can handle the programming.  Setup the ability to take order by e-mail and be sure and track the dollar amount that comes in with the orders.

Next lets say you’re a home builder.  Setting up a contact form is fairly standard.  But are you asking the right questions?  For instance, how did the customer first hear about you?  Is the customer an individual or a real-estate agent?   Think about ways you can use your website to do more than just advertise.  Can the customer request service, send you documents by e-mail?  Can an architect send you plans?  Those things could make your website investment worth the money.

Finally, keep up with your Search Engine ranking.  Google, Microsoft and others.  This is bound to change over time and if it starts to slip downward look at your trends from the data you’re keeping.  Ask your web developer if there is a way to improve those, or look for a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) specialist.  That can be worth every dime you spend on it. 

Marketing without a website these days is virtually impossible, but with a little work you can make the most of every dollar you spend on it.