Archives
January 9, 2010
Hi,
After a couple of months of hard work, we finally got the new video tutorial subscription system up and running.
About the University:
The Killersites University is a subscription based service that gives you total access to our GROWING collection of web design and web design related training videos. Not just a collection of tips and tricks videos, we provide complete video courses on popular subjects like:
* HTML
* CSS
* Dreamweaver
* PHP
* Javascript
* and much more
You can learn more about it here:
http://www.killersites.com/university/
What’s next?
Now that we have the University up and running, we will be able to focus a lot more time on new videos. Subscribe to the RSS feed or one of my newsletters to keep up-to-date.
Thanks,
Stefan Mischook
www.killersites.com
read more
January 1, 2010
Hi,
I occasionally use email questions sent to me as the basis for a quick article; this time around I had a question about Drupal:
Just enjoyed your website introduction video. I am a senior but am still a regular producer of ads books and booklets for my church, having been a printer all my life. A member has set up a Drupal site – I have been asked to ‘smarten it up’ – I am new to it but I don’t see to prospect of arriving at a graphically attractive site from that program. I think I would be better suggesting we start afresh and build our own site.
What do you think?
Kind regards
John
read more
December 30, 2009
Hi,
In 1995 David Siegel wrote one of the most important books on web design Creating Killer Websites. He taught in the book, the future of how the Web should look.
… I still have a copy on my bookshelf after all these years.
David is about to release a new book that should also be a ‘killer’ – Pull: The Power of the Semantic Web to Transform Your Business
I’ve just started reading about Pull on David’s new site and I’m anxiously waiting to get my copy of the book. This time around, I’m not going to be late to the game.
From the Amazon editorial:
The first clear guide to the Semantic Web and its upcoming impact on the business world
Imagine that, in 1992, someone handed you a book about the future of something called the World Wide Web. This book claimed that through a piece of software called a “browser”, which accesses “web sites”, the world economy and our daily lives would change forever. Would you have believed even 10 percent of that book? Did you take advantage of the first Internet wave and get ahead of the curve?
Pull is the blueprint to the next disruptive wave. Some call it Web 3.0; others call it the semantic web. It’s a fundamental transition from pushing information to pulling, using a new way of thinking and collaborating online. Using the principles of this book, you will slash 5-20 percent off your bottom line, make your customers happier, accelerate your industry, and prepare your company for the twenty-first century. It isn’t going to be easy, and you don’t have any choice. By 2015, your company will be more agile and your processes more flexible than you ever thought possible.
The semantic web leads to possibilities straight from science fiction, such as buildings that can order their own supplies, eliminating the IRS, and lawyers finally making sense. But it also leads to major changes in every field, from shipping and retail distribution to health care and financial reporting.
Through clear examples, case studies, principles, and scenarios, business strategist David Siegel takes you on a tour of this new world. You’ll learn:
-Which industries are already ahead.
-Which industries are already dead.
-How to make the power shift from pushing to pulling information.
-How software, hardware, media, and marketing will all change.
-How to plan your own strategy for embracing the semantic web.
We are at the beginning of a new technology curve that will affect all areas of business. Right now, you have a choice. You can decide to start preparing for the exciting opportunities that lay ahead or you can leave this book on the shelf and get left in the dust like last time.
Stefan Mischook
www.killersites.com
read more
December 20, 2009
Hi,
I am a big believer in WordPress as a platform for web designers to build off of … why only give your clients a simple static site, when you can for the same price, provide them with all the bells and whistles that a WordPress based site can give you:
- built-in search.
- ability for non-nerds to upload images and add new pages.
- built in password protected pages.
… And man, there is much more.
Anyway, you ought to learn how to use this blog engine (like creating WordPress templates) … or any other, if you want to beat the competition these days. Other WordPress like blog engines/CMS’ you may want to consider include:
– Drupal
– Joomla
– Movable Type
… There are many others out there, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. I chose WordPress a few years back because it was powerful enough for my needs and it had a huge community to lean on – and it still does.
WordPress 2.9 just released
The nerds in charge of WordPress seem to have no lives … they just keep coming out with new versions it seems like almost every three weeks! OK, it is isn’t that often but it still is moving along at a pretty faced pace.
Some of the new features in these release:
1. Global undo/â€trash†feature, which means that if you accidentally delete a post or comment you can bring it back from the grave (i.e., the Trash). This also eliminates those annoying “are you sure†messages we used to have on every delete.
2. Built-in image editor allows you to crop, edit, rotate, flip, and scale your images to show them who’s boss. This is the first wave of our many planned media-handling improvements.
3. Batch plugin update and compatibility checking, which means you can update 10 plugins at once, versus having to do multiple clicks for each one, and we’re using the new compatibility data from the plugins directory to give you a better idea of whether your plugins are compatible with new releases of WordPress. This should take the fear and hassle out of upgrading.
4. Easier video embeds that allow you to just paste a URL on its own line and have it magically turn it into the proper embed code, with Oembed support for YouTube, Daily Motion, Blip.tv, Flickr, Hulu, Viddler, Qik, Revision3, Scribd, Google Video, Photobucket, PollDaddy, and WordPress.tv (and more in the next release).
You can read more about it at the WordPress site.
Thanks,
Stefan Mischook
read more
December 13, 2009
Update:
I just installed VMware Fusion Version 3.0.1 (215242) … and it seems to have solved the problems I listed below. Thanks be to the nerds – I use Fusion a lot!
The original post …
Hi,
I use both Windows and Mac machines at work. But still, when on the Mac, it is useful to have Windows available for those rare occasions where you need to jump quickly into Windows … some programs can still only be found on Windows.
You have a few choices when it comes to installing Windows on your Mac, but for me, Vmware Fusion has been my favorite because it works really well and hasn’t given me any problems … until now.
VMware-Fusion-3.0 is Buggy
I just installed and soon after, uninstalled the latest version (VMware Fusion 3) because Fusion 3:
– ran really slow as compared to VMware Fusion 2.x
– could not connect to the netwok adaptor card and thus the Web.
So once again, I broke my own rule of NEVER upgrading software, until at least a few months after the release date … for the bugs to work themselves out.
… For Microsoft software, I would extend that to as long as a year!
I hope this post saves people a headache.
Stefan Mischook
www.killersites.com
read more
December 12, 2009
Hi,
Facebook is one of the predominate social networking platforms out there today … ok, we all know that. Anyway, I have problems with many social networking sites … Facebook though, is a special beast.
The top 3 things that I don’t like about Facebook:
- Security issues.
- Privacy issues.
- Lousy user interface.
Security
Putting all that information out there for everyone to see, for Facebook to catalog and sell … makes it really easy for people to create detailed profiles about you. Maybe I’m just an overly cautious nerd programmer, but I’m thinking that having all this personal information out there is not a good thing.
Privacy issues
Very much related to the security issue I just mentioned, privacy is lost when you start posting everything about yourself on Facebook. Another problem is the social aspect of it all – you may find yourself ‘connected’ to people by accident you may not want to be connected to.
It happened to me once, a friend of mine, who was friends with these Russian girls (that I did not know) … anyway, the Russian chicks started posting stuff to my profile page (something called The Wall) and that got me into trouble with someone, though I really had nothing to do with this.
.. Russian girls on Facebook can spell trouble!
Lousy user interface
Without a doubt, Facebook has a really sucky user interface. You’d figure with all that venture capitol money being pumped into that beast, they could get that right. Sending emails is a pain and Outlook, Thunderbird and just about every other email program works much better.
… The short time I used Facebook when I was traveling around Asia, I wasn’t sure half the time if what I was writing was public or private! It got to the point where I was a little nervous about posting anything.
Stefan Mischook
www.killersites.com
read more
December 5, 2009
Once in a while, I will step away from teaching raw web design and web programming and look at things from a broader, more strategic perspective. This is one example of that …
One of the biggest mistakes people often make, is trying to develop skills in areas that they suck in. For example, you maybe good at writing HTML and CSS code, yet you still have a terrible time at making your pages look good.
… Let’s face it, some people just don’t have that artistic/designers eye.
You can read more about in the web magazine
Stefan Mischook
www.killersites.com
read more
November 29, 2009
Hi,
I wrote a quick article on what you should know (in terms of nerd skills) to be a professional web designer. From the article:
The skills of a professional web designer are constantly changing because the Web is constantly changing.
This fast-paced nature of the Web is considered good by some (because it opens up opportunity) while others hate it because you have to be ready to learn new web design skills regularly.
… Personally, I see it as an opportunity with a headache!
I’m not sure how pretentious it is to quote your own writing .. I’ll let you decide. Anyway, check it out:
The skills of a modern web designer.
Thanks for reading,
Stefan Mischook
www.killersites.com
read more
November 6, 2009
Hi,
Yet another blog post based on an email question … the email:
Hello Stefan,
I just got through watching your video on basic web design. Before I decide to purchase this beginning video I wanted to ask a few questions.
I am currently seeking alternate ways to generate income. I live in a small town type atmosphere and think maybe there is a future in business web site development. I have built a web site many moons ago using Front Page and it didn’t turn out half bad for not knowing exactly what I was doing.
My questions are:
#1. Is it possible to gain the knowledge to develop attractive beneficial web sites without obtaining a college degree in computer science?
#2. I realize that starting out with the beginner course is the starting point, but where will (or should) that lead?
#3. What is a typical cost for someone to hire a web designer? I don’t want to rake anyone over the coals but feel I should charge a fair affordable price.
#4.In the old days when all we had was dial-up, the key was to keep website design to a minimum so that the pages load faster and keeps the visitor’s interest (same goes for the number of pages). Is this logic still true or are visitors looking for “wow” when they visit a website?
Thanks and look forward to your response.
Chris
My answer:
I’m going to answer you in point form – check it out:
#1. Yes. The best designers and programmers I know have neither.
#2. Once you understand the basics, your decisions as to what your web-specialization should be will be much easier to make. That decision will be largely made based on what you like to do. For example, some people may choose to get into Flash based work while others may choose to get more into PHP.
#3. Cost varies considerably based on the experience and talent of the designer and on where you happen to live.
#4. Speed of the site is always important. But, since we are in the age of Youtube, you have a lot more latitude than what we had in the 1990’s.
That all said, the best place to start your career as a web designer, is to start by learning the basics of HTML and CSS.
I hope that answers your questions,
Stefan Mischook
www.killersites.com
read more
November 6, 2009
Hi,
Once and a while I use an email question as the basis of a blog post. This time, someone wanted to know about Dreamweaver and PHP:
Hi Stefan,
I am looking to get some videos on using Dreamweaver cs4 creating dynamic sites with PHP and MYSQL, do you have any videos on this using the drag and drop features etc with some code writing also?
Many thanks
Andy
My answer:
Hi Andrew,
The short answer:
Dreamweaver‘s drag and drop features are very brittle. I was a beta
tester for DW CS4 and the programmers themselves told me that they would
be looking to trash it for the next version of Dreamweaver – they knew
it was a mess.
… It can be used for simple things (and prototyping), but the code is so messy and
convoluted, that any changes that you will probably have to make to
your project could be a nightmare. You are much better off learning PHP
and using Dreamweaver as a PHP code editor … and it’s pretty good at that.
In my basic course on PHP, I use Dreamweaver as the code editor and I
touch on in as far as how Dreamweaver can be used to write PHP code. You
can see a bunch of sample videos here: http://www.killerphp.com/videos/
Let me know if this helps,
Stefan
read more
