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How I Made $66 From One Link
2008-03-05 18:17:00
It’s time for story time. Hopefully you won’t mind that I’m dealing with $66 instead of $6600. Yesterday, I checked my mail and I saw what looked like a check through the cellophane window on the envelope. I thought to myself that this was likely the result of me being included on some sort of ...
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Avoid Imagery In Your Website?s Header
2008-03-03 15:38:00
I believe (and I’m not alone in this Web 2.0 train of thought) that your website’s header should be void of the use of imagery. I’m having a hard time finding a well-known organization or companies website to use as an example because modern companies have realized their mistake. So I whipped one up as ...
More About: Web Design , Website , Header , Avoid , Imagery

Applications That Make Web Development Easier
2008-02-28 18:20:00
Programming is something that can be done in an application as simple as Notepad or TextEdit, however, there are programs out there that will make your life easier. Notepad++ - This software is your lightweight freeware alternative. It supports color coding for over 30 languages and makes it easy for you to edit how you ...
More About: Applications , Web Development , Development , Make

New Big Contender in the Text Link Market?
2008-02-27 18:41:00
I was poking around DigitalPoint forums, and there was a promotion from TNX.net, a new contender in the text link brokerage market. You could get 5000 points, points they use as currency. Of course, tempted by anything free, I bit. (See the thread here). What I found, was a site that was really serious about what ...
More About: Market , Link , Text

10 Tips Every Beginner Should Know About Web Applications
2008-02-25 17:30:00
Here’s a really, really basic list for all you beginner’s out there who aren’t quite familiar with some of the aspects of web applications. ASP.NET and ASP (sometimes known as classic ASP) are not the same. ASP, PHP, ASP.NET is a short list of server-side languages. HTML code and other server-side bits are generated based on these ...
More About: Applications , Web Development , Tips , Beginner

Don?t Forget To Kern Your Headers and Logos
2008-02-21 03:29:00
This is something you’re taught as a print designer. You’re taught to kern all large text. I’ve peaked around and I’ve come across pages produced by web designers and developers that overlook this very small detail. That being said, I think it’s important and does make you look professional. What Exactly Is Kerning? Simply put, Kerning is ...
More About: Web Design , Logos

Yet Another (Easy) Way To Make a Web 2.0 Button
2008-02-19 03:56:00
Here’s yet another easy, detailed tutorial on making a web 2.0 styled button in Adobe Photoshop. Enjoy. 1 - In Photoshop, go to File -> New. In my example, I set my canvas to 150 pixels by 150 pixels. Replace the background color (if needed) with the desired color. In my case, it’s off white. 2 ...
More About: Web Design , Button , Make , Easy , Easy Way

Building Online Communities - What Benefits Are Members Getting?
2008-02-13 18:58:00
Anonymous for a reason brought up an interesting point in last week’s article: Be Interested Before You Start. He illustrated in his real-life example that 186 viewers (all of which were golfers) were shown content, content which consisted of images and movies, in attempt to recruit members for their online community. Of course, most (if ...
More About: Building , Online , Benefits , Communities , Members

Hundredth Post - Looking Back On The Blog
2008-02-12 18:27:00
I logged into my control panel and was surprised to see that I had written 99 posts. Not bad! I figured it would be a great time to recap on a century’s worth of posts and statistics. Quick Statistics My first visitor: July 1st 2007 Most visitors from: San Francisco Most visits in a day: 298 on September 30th ...
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How To Do Easy Tooltip Popups
2008-02-08 19:14:00
This was something I thought of doing (originally, I was trying to make it CSS only, but I ran into problems with IE), so I figured why not make an extra easy to understand, good looking CSS/Javascript tooltip. What we’re going to be making is a popup tooltip (or help box) that pops up once you ...
More About: Web Development , Easy

Building Online Communities - Be Interested Before You Start
2008-02-06 18:50:00
The newest weekly series will talk about building online communities. There will be tips, tricks and procedures for building, developing, maintaining and monetizing your online community. Building an online community is a lot like building a business (in real-life and virtually). You should be interested with the subject matter you’re dealing with and the audience you’re ...
More About: Start , Online , Communities

Devil?s Advocate - 6 Reasons To Keep Using Tables For Your Layout
2008-02-04 18:48:00
Kevin commented on my previous post on 6 Reasons To Ditch Tables For Your Layout and reminded me how easy it was to do a column-based layout. This article, I will tackle all the advantages I can think of for using a table-based layout instead of a css-based layout. (For those that may be ...
More About: Web Development , Devil , Advocate

6 Reasons To Ditch Your Table Based Layout
2008-02-01 18:37:00
As table-based layouts are slowly being phased out by CSS elements, there are a few that cling to the concept that a website should be laid out in a table. As someone who’s made the switch a long time ago and now uses tables rarely (a majority of those cases are to display actual tables), ...
More About: Web Development , Reasons , Table , Layout

Develop Multiple Revenue Streams Online
2008-01-30 18:22:00
I’ve read articles in the past where financially successful people were interviewed and they gave tips. These tips outlined that it’s important to have multiple revenue streams in your life. In the event that one of your streams succumb, you’ll always have a backup to help rebuild or to absorb some of the impact. This ...
More About: Online , Revenue , Develop

Examples of Web Usability
2008-01-28 18:40:00
It’s not uncommon for someone to have questions about web usability. It does apply to a lot of facets in web design and development. Generally speaking, the definition of web usability refers to how usable a website is to a user. Good usability would be a site that’s relatively easy to use. In this article, ...
More About: Usability , Examples , Sabi

New Web Application - Looking For Suggestions
2008-01-25 18:36:00
I discussed in a previous article that I had a domain name (BigGirlfriend.com) that I had no idea what to do with. Turns out I developed an application that I was going to use (regardless if it’s released to the public or not) and figured I’d whip up a quick skin and throw it on ...
More About: Application , Web Application

8 Examples of Logos Using Only CSS
2008-01-23 18:56:00
In the event that you’re a developer, and not a designer, I’ve quickly thrown together eight examples of logos/headers that don’t require you to open a single image or vector editing program because they use uniquely CSS. I’ve provided examples and the inline CSS so that they can be inserted anywhere required. If you’re someone that respects website validation, you’ll be pleased to hear that the CSS validates. patrickburt <span PATRICK BURT <span PATRICKburt <span PATRICKBURT <span patrickburt <span PATRICK BURT <span patrickburt <span PATRICK BURT <span That’s all for now, hope that helps.
More About: Examples , Logos

What?s He Got That I Don?t?
2008-01-21 18:35:00
I’m currently looking into why my portfolio site is not ranked above a jeweler’s website for the keywords “patrick burt” on Google. The jeweler’s site is currently ranked as Number 1, and I’m kicking around in 3 or 4 +. Here’s a table comparing both elements: ELEMENT OILDRIP.COM (Me) PATRICKBURT.NET (The Competition) PageRank 4 2 Keywords In Meta Tags Yes Yes Domain Name Age 5.5 Years 2 ...
More About: Object

10 Beginner SQL Tips
2008-01-18 18:42:00
Since it hasn’t been all that long since I’ve been dabbling in SQL (a little bit over a year), I’ve decided to share some tips that would be useful to beginners working on their first query statement. Here are 10 tips in no particular order. 1 - Take The Time To Design Each Of Your Tables Forecast what it is you’ll be using this table for. Devise a naming system that you’ll adhere to for all your column names. (eg. firstSecond or First_Second). Prepare for expansion and try to keep your layout as clean and concise as you can. 2 - One Query Instead of Two In most cases (I’m not sure about exceptions, so I’m using the word “most” on purpose), it’s always best to use the least amount of queries that you need. More queries means more work on the backend which, when compounded, might lead to a server running like molasses. 3 - Join Tables To Make One Statement Since we’re aiming for as little queries as we can, learn how...
More About: Tips , Beginner

How To Center Your Website in a Browser
2008-01-16 18:34:00
If you’re like me and you’ve tackled micro-sites or webpages that you want to have centered horizontally and vertically in a browser, you might have noticed that it’s difficult to get it to work in all browsers. Typically, the solution I’ve seen is to have hard returns at the top of your site until it’s ...
More About: Web Design , Website , Web Development , Browser , Center

Devil?s Advocate - Why You Shouldn?t Use SWFObject
2008-01-14 18:20:00
This is a forewarning that this is an article that I made to see other people’s points of view that differ from my own. I take the opposite standpoint and make an effort to defend it. This article will deal with why you shouldn’t use SWFObject to integrate your Flash piece into your website. If ...
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Mini Project - Guild Wars Damage Calculator
2008-01-11 18:36:00
Here’s a post detailing an ultra mini small project that I’ve taken on. About a year ago, I was heavily into Guild Wars . What I had done was that I created a damage calculator (php script) for internal use within a Guild I was playing with. It looked terrible, but got the job done. Click here ...
More About: Guild Wars , Calculator , Project , Mini

10 Tips To Make Your Website?s Layout More Usable
2008-01-09 17:58:00
In this article on our series detailing web usability, I will be discussing what can be done with your website’s layout to improve it’s usability. Usability can be defined as making your website as easy as possible for a visitor to manipulate and find whatever it is they’re trying to find. Here’s a list ...
More About: Website , Tips , Make , Layout

Devil?s Advocate - Why Web Usability Should Be Ignored
2008-01-08 02:26:00
Before you start thinking that I’m a terrible human being, let me remind you that this is the Devil ’s Advocate Series, where I take the opposite viewpoint of an issue I feel strongly about. This week, I’m tackling Web Usability . Normally, I’m a huge usability fan and do my best to keep websites highly ...
More About: Sabi

Ad Revenue Driven Websites Series Wrap-up
2008-01-04 18:31:00
Since my New Year’s resolution was to publish my experiences with creating websites with the sole purpose of generating revenue through ads and other streams, I figure it would be a good time to wrap-up the Ad Revenue Driven Websites series with additional comments in Cole’s notes form. Step 1 - Brainstorming Brainstorm your idea. You need to either: Solve a problem Make someone’s life easier Be better then the competition, if they’re present Do something new Using techniques like mind-mapping can help you think of ideas you wouldn’t of otherwise though of. Read the article » Step 2 - Develop Ideas Critically look at every idea, does it have potential to have a revenue stream? Show it to a friend or relative, ask them what they think. Can you explain it well without speaking for half an hour? Do you have the resources at your disposal or the ability to get these resources? Read the article » Step 3 - Choose Your Idea Pick your idea and run with it....
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2008 New Year’s Resolutions for the Blog
2008-01-02 01:10:00
It’s that time of year where we buckle down and write through a list of things we can do in the following year. Here are mine. (The ones that have to do with the blog, anyway.) I resolve to make efforts to get this blog to five times the current viewership. I resolve to complete one side project (a feat by itself) and post about it’s conception and development in this blog. Accommodate any readers that may try to access this site using a mobile device. Finally write some stuff about the elusive “Web 2.0″ buzzword. That’s all I can think of. Let’s see how I’ll do.
More About: New Year , Blog , Year , Resolutions , 2008

5 Reasons To Use Flash On Your Website
2007-12-28 16:58:00
Sometimes people get caught up with bad reasons to use Flash including “all my competitors are using it”, “it’s cool” and “isn’t that what everyone does now”. Not the best reasons, but here are 5 important reasons to use Flash. Right Demographic You are certain that the demographic will be able to accomodate Flash’s basic needs ...
More About: Website , Reasons , Adobe Flash

6 Reasons Not To Use Flash On Your Website
2007-12-27 15:53:00
Although this may come off as a devil’s advocate article, there are reasons you shouldn’t use Adobe Flash on your website. Even though I do have a hat as a Flash Developer, there are things people should know. Here are the reasons I came up with, in no particular order. Load Time This always strikes a chord ...
More About: Website , Reasons , Adobe Flash

My Blogging and Working Environment
2007-12-24 15:49:00
I figure that the holidays are the best time to write articles so you can get to know me more. I’ll start off with my article featuring my very own blogging (and working) environment or, my lieu of zen. Just a note that items were not rearranged for this photo. That’s as natural as my environment ...
More About: Environment , Blogging , Working , Workin

Ask a Question, Get an Answer
2007-12-24 05:59:00
Since we’re winding down into the holiday season, let’s get a relatively low-key discussion going here. If you have a question, any question, about life, what your lunch should be, or topics I actually know things about. Throw me an email (patrick_burt@hotmail.com) or write a comment. I’d love to hear from you. You could be stuck on ...
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