Archives
April 29, 2009
Before MySpace, Facebook and Twitter there was once GeoCities. Yes back in the 90’s, GeoCities was going to take over the world and change the face of the Web. So Yahoo spent a bunch of cash ($3 billion) and bought up that very ‘valuable’ piece of Web real estate.
…. Hmmm this kinda reminds me of the Facebook and Twitter hoopla.
Geocities is closing its’ doors
After a decade of spuddering about, it seems that Yahoo has finally figured out that there is no money in having a bunch of lame web sites filled with lame content:
Yahoo Inc. said Thursday that it would shut down its GeoCities free Web-hosting service after paying about $3 billion for the unit in 1999.
GeoCities isn’t accepting new accounts and will close later this year, Yahoo said. GeoCities, Yahoo’s second-biggest acquisition behind Broadcast.com Inc., lets users design personal websites to show off photos, promote local clubs or publicize business services.
.. As reported by the LA Times.
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April 18, 2009
The recent Ashton Kutcher vs. CNN Twitter race opened my eyes to the fact that celebrities are jumping all over Twitter. Being a curious nerd who is sometimes (mildly) interested in the next Internet fad (anyone remember Geocities or Friendster?) .. and so I decided to finally take a quick look at Twitter.
… Also, being a former student of psychology, I was curious as to why celebrities seem to be falling over themselves to get on the Twitter bandwagon?
So first, what is Twitter?
In a nutshell, Twitter is a virtual-home for narcissist and people who have no lives. The narcissist send out the messages and the people who have no lives, wait around to learn what fascinating things the narcissist chooses to write about in 40 characters or less.
Note: typo there, it is actually 140 characters.
… Wow.
😉
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April 11, 2009
Hi,
I just wanted to make a quick announcement: I’ve released about 40 minutes of new video tutorials on beginners Javascript. Check out my new micro-site:
www.killerjavascript.com
This is a ‘sneak peak’ of a new video tutorial course that targets total beginners to Javascript and programming in general. If you want to learn Javascript, I think these videos will be helpful.
Let me know what you think.
Stefan Mischook
www.killersites.com
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April 6, 2009
Since killersites.com is largely a web learning portal, I figured that I should outline my top 5 learning tips.
Tip #1: Making mistakes is normal. Actually it can be a good thing!
When it comes to web design and web programming (PHP, ASP etc) making mistakes is par for the course. Even old web-nerds are constantly correcting errors, so don’t sweat it. Actually, making mistakes can be a great way to learn. I actually recommend that people ‘break’ things on purpose to see how errors occur in a controlled manner.
… This will soon teach you how to better read errors which in the end, will save you a lot of time in your work.
Tip #2: Be patient
Web design can sometimes be a frustrating process, so one of the most useful qualities of character you can develop is patience.
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March 25, 2009
There are plenty of articles on how to build an e-commerce website. The problem is that they speak to web-nerds and not to the business people who want to build on online business.
This article speaks to those not so tech savvy entrepreneurs.
What we want to do:
The goal is to create an e-commerce website that builds a business using all the cheap and free tools available in the market today. One great thing about the nerd driven computer revolution, is the strong sense of community and desire to give opportunity to the masses.
Because of this freely available cheap and/or free technology, it is just so much easier today to start a business than it was just 15-20 years ago.
These are some of the questions this article will answer:
- What are the components of an e-commerce site, and how do you best get those components into your web site?
- What makes an e-commerce website successful?
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February 2, 2009
With the economic crisis is in full swing, many have been laid-off or are about to be laid-off, and are now looking at new ways to make a living. Web design is a great choice.
Why is web design a good choice?
I imagine people could come up with many reasons (don’t be afraid to list them in the comments) but for me, it comes down to a few simple things:
- Web design as a profession is growing as quickly as the Web itself continues too grow. The future of business is on the Web, and Web technology continues to evolve as well. That means there will be an increasing need for web designers for the foreseeable future.
- Web design is an open market. No corrupt associations and fake certifications are required to jump in. All you need is dedication, a strong portfolio and a touch of talent. You got to love a true meritocracy!
- Web design does not require a huge investment to jump into the game. There is no need for expensive equipment or ultra expensive training. Your home computer and some free or inexpensive software … and you’re on your way!
So, how do you land that lucrative web design job?
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February 1, 2009
Some of you may know that killersites.com was originally founded by David Siegel to support his best selling book on web design: Creating Killer Web Sites.
What made this book important, was that it taught the web design community that design principles should be used in web design. Believe me, in those days, that was ground breaking!
So what is Dave up to these days?
Besides flying around the world taking pictures of orchids, David has been involved with something called the Semantic Web. I won’t go into details about it here, but suffice it to say that David is a strong advocate and he believes that it will shape the future of not only the Internet, but perhaps the way we do business and live.
That all said, the reason for this post is to help David get out the word that he is open to the possibility of helping to run Apple computers. Yes, he does have big ambitions … but why not? Apple is about forward thinking and innovation and David has a track record of both.
You can read more about his ideas on this personal web site: David Siegal
Thanks for reading,
Stefan Mischook
www.killersites.com
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January 15, 2009
Hi,
Have you ever loaded up a web page and found funny looking symbols in your text where there should just be normal text? Take a look at this screen capture:
Those funky symbols are appearing because you are using symbols (in your web page) that fall outside the normal character space range … you need to tell your browser you want to use international symbols.
To do this, you need to add the UTF8 meta tag:
<meta http-equiv=”Content-Type” content=”text/html; charset=utf-8″>
And this is what you will get:
Hope that helps.
Stefan Mischook
www.killersites.com
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January 14, 2009
Hi,
I’ve been using Paypal to process my credit card orders since 2001 and overall, it’s a pretty good service.
… In fact, I would argue that Paypal is essential for just about any e-commerce site since it is used by so many merchants and most importantly, just ordinary people.
Paypal’s main advantages are:
- Easy to set up.
- Can accept several types of electronic payments: credit card, e-checks and Paypal.
- Since Paypal is so well known, it will put your clients at ease. You’d be surprised at how nervous people still are of buying products online!
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January 8, 2009
Hi,
I’ve been a advocate of website templates in commercial web design for years now, because it saves the designer a lot of time and in saves the clients a good chunk of cash.
… There are occasions where from-scratch custom design makes sense, but for most web design projects, templates are a great solution – especially with a little customization to make it look unique.
How to use Templates in the Web Design BUSINESS process?
I was recently asked by a web designer how I would show clients the templates that are out there? Do you send them to a template site (free or commercial) or do you do something else?
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