Here is a quick review of the debate as it comes to a head this week (via abcNews):

The Bills in Congress:

PIPA is a Senate bill originally called the Protect IP Act. “IP” is short, in this case, for Intellectual Property, such as movies, music or writing that, in the digital age, can easily be copied and transmitted online without payment to their creators.

SOPA — the Stop Online Piracy Act — is a similar bill in the House.
The idea of both, as described by their sponsors, was to stop the illegal copying of movies or music, something that Hollywood studios, music publishers and many others believe is threatening their businesses. Supporters range from the Country Music Association to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, from the Motion Picture Association of America to the AFL-CIO.

But not everyone agrees. These bills pitted Hollywood against the goals of many in Silicon Valley.

The Objections

Internet entities such as Wikipedia, Google, Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and Tumblr said the two bills would force them to be online police and hold them responsible if users of their sites link to pirated content.

The companies said the bills could require your Internet provider to block websites that are involved in digital file sharing. And search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing could be stopped from linking to them — antithetical, they argue, to the ideal of an open Internet.

“While I support their goal of reducing copyright infringement (which I don’t believe these acts would accomplish), I am shocked that our lawmakers would contemplate such measures that would put us on a par with the most oppressive nations in the world,” said Sergey Brin, one of the co-founders of Google, in a December post on Google+.

The White House weighed in on Jan. 14. In a post on the White House website, the U.S. Chief Technology Officer and two colleagues wrote, “While we believe that online piracy by foreign websites is a serious problem that requires a serious legislative response, we will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet.”

The Protest Movement

Several major websites, including Wikipedia, Reddit and TwitPic, said they would “go dark” on Wednesday to show their opposition to the two bills in Congress. (A list of participants is at SOPAStrike.com.)

If you visit one of the protesting sites Wednesday, you may get an error message, but they’re more likely to post messages urging you to join them in opposition to SOPA and PIPA.

Others, such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, have not said they would join. Twitter’s CEO, Dick Costolo, made a widely-cited tweet on Monday: “Closing a global business in reaction to single-issue national politics is foolish.”

Google today said it would remain online, but show its opposition to the bills with a link Wednesday on its home page in the U.S. “Like many businesses, entrepreneurs and web users, we oppose these bills because there are smart, targeted ways to shut down foreign rogue websites without asking American companies to censor the Internet,” said a Google spokesperson.

What You Can Do

• Send a letter to your senator with this online form
• Get in contact with Congress

It’s interesting to watch the way stress can affect people. Screaming children who simply don’t understand what’s happening or why they feel so stressed. Screaming adults who don’t understand why their unique needs don’t supersede those of the several hundred other people with whom they are standing in line. As the time of flight departures grew closer and closer, I watched people leave line to go to the security personnel, hopeful that by explaining their individual schedule problem they will get preferential treatment. And of course, when the security people refused to let them simply walk through, the passenger was left even more unhappy, still behind schedule and now filled with the thought that the security people were uncaring.

Uncaring? Really?

Really cool photo of what your stuff looks like when it goes through an x-ray machine.

I find it ironic that these people who were working diligently to keep us safe and move us through as quickly as possible were being vilified. How dare they do their jobs! The situation was unfortunate and I empathize with those people who now had to scramble and sprint to their gates (which is actually pretty funny to watch), but in all of this I was struck with an insight that I think can be applied to our business life and to the websites that we design.
Communication is about the receiver. The security personnel were polite, professional, efficient, and consistent – qualities their supervisors demand of their workers would love to promote. But is that the message our frantic air travelers took with them as they dashed to their planes? Fair or not, at the end of the day their impression of airport security was most certainly a negative one. Of course, those security folks are going to go to sleep tonight largely unconcerned about an individual passenger’s overreaction to a stressful situation. They realize one simple truth – the passenger leaving today is returning tomorrow and has prepaid. That’s job security.

Can your company make a similar claim? If a person visits your site and it is difficult to navigate how long will they stay before the go dashing off to your competition? If the site is dull or unappealing will it send the same message about you? If you have spelling errors, factual errors, or your page hasn’t been updated since the Bush administration (the first one), how likely is it that these people will take the next step and become a customer who recommends your site to others? Intentional or not, you must design and maintain your site with your intended audience in mind. And if that audience member is someone you hope to build a long term relationship with you must take care that your first impression is your best impression because if you fail it will be your only impression. Of course a site that is well organized, easy to navigate is critical to grow your business. Make sure important features can be found quickly and easily so that questions can be answered and needs met with minimal stress on your visitors.

Remember, just like at the airport, planning ahead will help make the process easier and more beneficial.

It’s been written from the ground up, making full use of includes and CSS to reduce code replication and make customization simpler than ever. Built based on the Bootstrap CSS framework from Twitter, consistent styling, colours, and a navigation bar supporting both full width and fixed width implementations makes the new design both look great, and be flexible, while still standing up perfectly well as a standalone portal design without any integration into the rest of a site.

Here is a sneak preview screen shot!

Norm is the kind of guy with whom you would enjoy killing several hours (and a few brain cells). He’s funny, intelligent, sarcastic, and steady. There are only two things you could do that would make him angry at you: Deny him his beer and sit on his stool. It’s funny, but you just can’t imagine anybody else sitting on that end stool other than Norm. It wouldn’t be right. That spot is his and nobody within Cheers ever dared take it from him – it would almost be sinful.

It seems funny, but we all have specific places and spots that we remember for reasons good and bad. Remember where you had your first kiss? Where you proposed and where she said yes? Where you were when you first heard you were going to have a child? Or conversely, do you remember where your first love broke it off with you? Where you were when you were hurt badly in an accident? The place where you received the news of the passing of a loved one? These places are etched into our minds. The scenes are vivid and it would take little effort to recreate the image in our mind’s eye – to hear the words, see the sights, and feel the emotion of moments gone by in a particular location.

So let me ask you this: What thoughts enter into your mind when you think about your website, or those you’ve recently visited? If the site is organized, the content is fresh, the perspectives unique, you’ll probably drop it into your favorites. If the site is confusing, unattractive, or frustrating for the user, you probably grow cranky just typing the URL. Offer your visitors something unique – something clean. Doing so will transform your website from merely being your web presence to being a comfortable place that folks will want to visit. Because even on the web, you want to offer a place “Where everybody knows your URL.”

The Model T was in production from 1908-1927, meaning that 84 years have passed since the last one was produced. That is a long time for anything to last – especially a machine with moving parts designed to be mobile. So even though I was looking at a vehicle that was clean and impeccably maintained today, it is an absolute certainty that this car has at numerous times been broken down, dirty, damaged, and in need of repair. How many times has it been fixed? How many of the original parts have broken or worn down and needed to be replaced? It’s hard to think about it in those terms when you see it out on the road – but I imagine that in order for that car to still be running today there must have been many, many hours spent in the garage repairing, preparing, and caring for this special vehicle.

In many ways our businesses parallel the Model T. We went into business for a purpose; to produce a product that will meet the needs of our customers and make a profit for us. As we set out on this course, things can run smoothly, but you also know that this will not always be so. Over time even the best business plan will change, stop, or even break down, causing us to stop and repair what had been lost. Like a Model T, our businesses didn’t start out as a classic. Over the years that car has been repaired and refocused scores of times. Before you get to that place where you are widely recognized as an industry leader (and even for a time after) you must determine how best to overcome the beats, brakes, and all of the other trappings of being in business. If you can’t you run the risk of never making it or never growing until you become a classic.

So how does a company repair itself as it strives to grow and reach elite status? One of the easiest ways to do this is through redesigning your companies’ website. Need help? Talk to WD International’s staff of experts who are just waiting to serve you. They can repair, redesign, and restore your website to meet all of your individual and business needs. And unlike the Model T – they use more colors than just black!

We’ve played around with hosting non-profits last year, and once again, it has come off the drawing board and back onto the discussion table. In an effort to give back to the community we are making plans to offer free lifetime web hosting to non-profit organizations. In order to qualify for the W.D. International Non-Profit Web Hosting Endowment, organizations would need to serve and benefit the public good – which is basically the only requirement. Organizations won’t even need to have 501(c)(3) status. These organizations would get lifetime CorePlan hosting. It’s a pretty sweet deal if you qualify. The only problem is there hasn’t been much support for this idea which is why it’s still roadmap status.

Give us your feedback.

If you’ve traveled through the heart of London, you already know that walking is often times faster than transit.  Of course that doesn’t stop people from filling the streets with thousands of cars so now you have the unique opportunity to let thousands of frustrated motorists interact with hundreds of thousands of pedestrians.  Now let’s throw in a twist – you all know that in the UK, cars drive on the left side of the road, meaning that when you come up to an intersection one should look to the right before stepping into the street.  However, because Americans drive on the right, we instinctively look left.  So to solve the problem of pasting people in traffic, the Brits devised a high tech system to keep people safe.  Painted on the curb at every street corner you will find two words: Look Right.  Brilliant!

I must admit that the first time I saw that I laughed and thought, “Duh!”  But even as I joked about it, the message was driven home – I looked right.  I didn’t realize how effective that was until I returned back to the US and was nearly converted to roadkill while walking to my car at the airport because I looked right, not left.  Thankfully my sister and the bus driver were paying attention, but I still kinda blame the airport for not painting the reminder on the curb.

Sometimes we spend hours looking for the most inventive, creative, and complex way of sharing our messages when in reality, less is more.  Websites should be informative, but they must also be simple.  Learn what your readers need and then design the site so they can find what they’re looking for quickly.  Share your message directly, offering more information to those who desire it without burdening people who want to get in and out.  Peruse your site with an eye for content.  Is it concise?  Ask readers for comments to get their opinions, or ask people you know whose opinions you trust to give you honest feedback.  And if you need help, be sure to ask the web hosting professionals at WD International for help.  We can help keep you and your business moving forward safely no matter which way you look!