Cool, it's not just an attitude, it's my name.

Tips for installing Google Analytics on Case and other Web servers.

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 22:24:14 -0400

Tips for installing Google Analytics on Case and other Web servers.:

Traffic sources: a wee fraction of the data available

There comes a time in every Web maintainer’s life when the boss or client asks to see the Web stats for the past 6 months/year/5 years…

Plurk: Social Media Marketing in Action

Sun, 08 Jun 2008 18:04:46 -0400

Plurk: Social Media Marketing in Action:

Messages appear in a horizontal stream on Plurk

Something interesting happened last Sunday. Plurk, a new social network, grew it’s subscriber base from a handful of beta users to over…

CaseLearns: 2008 Summer Semester Classes

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 17:54:45 -0400

CaseLearns: 2008 Summer Semester Classes:

Classes take place in Kelvin Smith Library

Registration is now open for summer classes at CaseLearns. Whether you’re building your first Web site, adding video to your blog or just want to…

Meme: How has blogging impacted your work?

Wed, 28 May 2008 23:05:53 -0400

Meme: How has blogging impacted your work?:

I never feel chained to the computer
when blogging.

While driving home tonight I began pondering this week’s blog entry. As I considered various topics, my mind wandered back to the…

Things we can learn from del.icio.us—for use in our marketing endeavors

Tue, 20 May 2008 23:54:05 -0400

Things we can learn from del.icio.us—for use in our marketing endeavors:

de.licio.us results for this blog

Last week, while catching up on podcasts, I listened to Can Social Networking Build Your Brand?, Jason Schwartz’s presentation from SXSW Interactive…

Uploading files with Dreamweaver (WebDAV)

Sun, 18 May 2008 19:06:12 -0400

Uploading files with Dreamweaver (WebDAV): If you’ve been using Dreamweaver to upload files to a Web server using FTP, and you’re about to start using WebDAV—either because of the Case Web server upgrade or because you’re looking for a…

Uploading files with the WebDrive WebDAV client for Windows

Sun, 18 May 2008 15:55:41 -0400

Uploading files with the WebDrive WebDAV client for Windows: Whether you’re about to start using WebDAV because of the Case Web server upgrade, or you’re just looking for a more secure protocol than FTP, you may have heard that it can be tricky to use on…

Uploading files with the WebDrive WebDAV client for Windows

Sun, 18 May 2008 14:52:26 -0400

Introduction to WebDAV

Thu, 15 May 2008 01:08:32 -0400

Introduction to WebDAV:

Using WebDAV, I can view the files here on the Web Development Blog. Note: It’s not a good idea to use this to edit actual entries, but you can use this to add static .html files such as your…

The Web server upgrade happens May 19, 2008. Are you ready?

Tue, 13 May 2008 18:14:28 -0400

The Web server upgrade happens May 19, 2008. Are you ready?:

The main Case Web server, Aurora, will be upgraded on May 19th. If you’re an end user you shouldn’t notice a thing, but if you maintain a Web site on this server there are a few things…

5 reasons your blog should have an editorial policy

Sun, 04 May 2008 17:05:48 -0400

5 reasons your blog should have an editorial policy:

Yorkshire pudding, fresh from the oven, is yummy,
but does it have a place on your Baking Blog? Let
your editorial policy be your guide.

While the medium is different, blogs have much…

Embedding YouTube Videos the Standards Compliant Way—SFWobject 2.0

Sun, 20 Apr 2008 19:27:02 -0400

Embedding YouTube Videos the Standards Compliant Way—SFWobject 2.0:

This version came out oddly cropped after being uploaded, I’ll work in a replacement.
In the meantime, you can also view the video in higher resolution .mov…

Maximize your marketing through blog networks and aggregator sites

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 03:05:46 -0400

Maximize your marketing through blog networks and aggregator sites:

“Machines Like Us is dedicated to keeping you informed about the latest research in the areas of evolution, cognition, artificial life and artificial intelligence.” While not a typical…

How did I get by before Firefox Add-Ons?

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 00:19:56 -0400

How did I get by before Firefox Add-Ons?:

How to Fix the Web with Greasemonkey in 3 minutes.

Last night, whilst catching up on my RSS feeds, I discovered Paul Fenwick’s video, “How to Fix the Web with Greasemonkey in 3…

Reflections on social media networking and marketing

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 09:10:41 -0400

Reflections on social media networking and marketing:

With Bitstrips you don’t need to be able to draw to create your own comics. Alas, that’s still no guarantee that you’ll write something clever.

These days everyone seems to be talking…

Icicles and Objects in Playhouse Square

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 14:11:15 -0500

Icicles and Objects in Playhouse Square:

Yesterday I was running 15 minutes early for a meeting in Playhouse Square. Taking my little back-up camera out of my pocket, I slowed down and took a look around. Here is some of what I saw.

Wayfinding within your Web site

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 20:45:39 -0500

Wayfinding within your Web site:

Door for a store in Cork, Ireland

In Your home page is NOT your index; it’s your store front, I discussed some of the goals of homepage design and navigation. Today we’ll consider how users navigate within the site. As my friend and fellow developer Wayne Smallman correctly surmised—when commenting and following up on that entry, the pages inside your site are like the aisles or departments within a store. Each page needs to be identified so that users know both where they are…

Common Craft's Plain English Video Series

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 15:45:08 -0500

Common Craft's Plain English Video Series:

Alas, I’ve not yet finished the article I had planned for this week. In the meantime I highly recommend the amusing and informative videos produced by commoncraft. These easy-to-follow videos cover a variety of Internet related topics and provide a great introduction to everything from RSS to photo sharing.

For those of you who are already in the know, try sharing these with your less tech-savvy friends. Teaching them the basics of your world may (or may not) stop them from giving you…

Social media opportunities for Web Developers at Case

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 13:48:44 -0500

Social media opportunities for Web Developers at Case:

University Web Developers site

Do you ever wish you could network more easily with your fellow Web developers at Case, and beyond?

If so, how would you would you want this to work? Would you want to communicate by listserv as the writers do with wordnerds@case.edu? Would you follow discussions on the Case Forums? Or would you want something more robust?

Gretchen Denaro—from the Annual Fund Office—and I have been discussing this lately and think it may be useful to create our…

Your home page is NOT your index; it's your store front

Wed, 16 Jan 2008 19:45:36 -0500

Your home page is NOT your index; it's your store front:

You don’t need to speak German to know this store sells hosiery

In preparing this article I asked some friends, designers and users, for some of their recommendations or pet peeves regarding home page design. Here are some of their Do’s and Dont’s. (Thanks to Dan, Nicole and Zeke.)

Do Include:

Clean easy to follow layout.
Navigation that is apparent and doesn’t require precise mouse movements to get to sub items.
Tailor your navigation to your target audience and their primary…