Mac Sage

Quick Tip: Screen Capture Shortcut

patrick — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 18:14:59 +0000

Most folks know about using Command-Shift-3 for entire screen captures, and Command-Shift-4 for crosshair control of screen capture.These capture the screen and place a screenshot file on your desktop.

But, did you know that if you add the Control key to these sequences the screen capture image is simply placed into your Clipboard memory for easy pasting into the app of your choice?

I thought not.

It’s a nice way to get screenshots without cluttering up your desktop.

Great Web Analytics Book

patrick — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 23:03:58 +0000

The Book

As part of my WordPress obsession these days, I have begun to look closely at SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and many of the other aspects of web analytics. I am, admittedly, a relative newbie in this area.

Web analytics is a critical component of developing a successful business site. Without it, you are making important decisions about your site without relevant information about the behavior of your visitors. If you are like me when I first started, I installed the Google Analytics script and began watching my site’s traffic. But I didn’t go much beyond looking at the traffic, the referrers. and maybe some of the keywords. But there is so much more. Google Analytics is really quite deep, and the information is rich.

I don’t have the resources now to hire an expert analyst, so I decided to do some research on sources of information about web analytics. I’ve looked at dozens of books and hundreds of websites.

One of the best books for someone wanting to get up to speed on web analytics is “Web Analytics 2.0″, by Avinash Kaishik. This guy not only knows his numbers, but he brings a true sense of joy and excitement about web metrics. With a crisp, confident, and occasionally humorous writing style, Avinash helps you navigate the tools and methods of interpretation necessary for gaining insight to your website’s visitors. I never realized just how much information could be extracted from a free tool like Google Analytics.

Throughout the book, Avinash emphasizes that you should focus on customer behavior, and not on aggregate numbers:

“Measuring the number of Visits to your site during a month is interesting… What’s more valuable is focusing on a behavioral metric like Bounce Rate because it measures, as you already know, the customer behavior: ‘I came, I puked, I left’. “

Web Analytics 2.0 is a must read for anyone wanting to gain a clearer (and more valuable) picture from their website’s numbers. I highly recommend it.

The Power of WordPress Series

patrick — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 17:46:53 +0000

The release of my eBook The Power of WordPress: Building a Successful Business Site is near!

As a way to build interest, I have released a free 22-page eBook on WordPress Plugins. In this eBook, I cover what I consider to be the top 10 essential plugins for any WordPress website. Plugins are at the heart of added functionality for WordPress, and understanding how to use them effectively within your WordPress site is critical. I explain what they do, why it’s important, and how to install and configure them.

As many of you already know, I’m a huge WordPress advocate. I now have all of my clients on WordPress sites and they are pleased to have the kind of control and autonomy that comes with a website built on the WordPress platform. They are also realizing added savings by not having to pay me (or any developer) for making additions or changes to their site. This is a win-win situation for the me and my clients. I prefer to focus on the design and creation of websites, and not so much the ongoing maintenance. My clients prefer to have a site built for them that allows them to easily tweak and fine-tune it as their business grows.

In the days leading up to the release of The Power of WordPress: Building a Successful Business Site, I will be adding quick posts to this site on various aspects of WordPress. Please come back and check them out.

In the meantime, you can get the “Top 10 WordPress Plugins” eBook by subscribing on the upper sidebar.

iPhone 4 Woes

patrick — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 18:05:26 +0000

I’m still waiting for the dust to settle before I get the new iPhone.

An article in today’s L.A. Times takes Steve Jobs to task for suggesting that competitor’s handsets share the same antenna issue that plagues the iPhone 4. It’s a little disappointing to hear that Jobs has chosen to handle this issue by attacking the competition; even if what he suggests is true. Since when does Apple want to set the bar that low?

The signal issue seems to be mitigated by simply putting the iPhone into a protective skin. I thought that most people get skins for their iPhones anyway. Maybe not. But this suggests that Apple should have provided a suitable skin with each iPhone from the beginning.

I felt the same way about the iPad. The naked iPad is, in many ways, a design failure. It is not comfortable to hold and is awkward on both a table or the lap. However, Apple’s iPad cover is a design success, and transforms the iPad into a comfortable, usable device. Apple should have provided the cover as part of the purchase price of the iPad.

A while back, Apple stopped providing video adapters with their laptops. I was surprised and disappointed when I learned of this. What’s next? Will the power cord soon become an optional, extra purchase?

Obviously, I’m still a huge Apple fan. But I’m concerned that Apple is beginning to engage in some of the same less-than-honorable practices of many of its competitors. I expect more from Apple and Jobs.

Perhaps Apple will learn a valuable lesson in this latest public relations failure.

Apple’s iPhone OS: It’s No Flash in the Pan

patrick — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 17:05:20 +0000

Anyone still out there that doesn’t yet realize that Apple has become quite savvy about design, development, marketing and business strategy, is clearly brain-dead.

Apple’s new developer agreement stipulates that “applications that link to documented APIs through an intermediary translation or compatibility layer or tool are prohibited.” That pretty much means that Flash is prohibited as a development tool for the iPhone/iPod/iPad. This takes much of the wind out of Adobe’s CS5 announcement and the Packager for iPhone tool.

It’s clear that Apple will no longer tether itself to any technology that may impede (or potentially impede) it’s innovation and growth. Apple may lose a few developers, but even the angriest of developers here know that this loss will be insignificant to Apple.

It’s projected that by the end of this year, there will be more than 100 million iPhone OS devices in the wild. If you are running a content site that doesn’t support this OS, there are 100 million reasons why you may be out of work.

Flash’s days are numbered… HTML5 will be the final nail in the coffin.