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Blogs ยป Archive for September, 2005
Answer: The winning press release is…..
http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2005/09/16/guess-which-press-release-generates-more-press-and-business/
The above blog asked which press release (one that piggy backed on Katrina by telling story of entrepreneur who is rebuilding his business using my services; one that is plain vanilla about the product: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/9/prweb286170.htm ).
Your posts were insightful; thanks! Personally, as you could tell from blog, I was hoping the Katrina story would be picked up. And it was, with a Reuters story (published) for one and some interest from a Wall Street Journal reporter. Unfortunately, the press focused on the entrepreneur and his struggles, not on my service! Not one local paper/media picked up the story here in Sarasota FL.
Meanwhile, the vanilla release about the service got me some actual customers. It was picked up locally in Sarasota FL publications (local press in smaller markets likes to announce new businesses and services), and response from prospects has been good — especially given a $0 investment.
Here are some lessons from this:
1. First, you never know when a press release will be picked up or by whom. The idea is to keep on trying, with a series of newsworthy articles and tips.
2. Build relations with targeted media. That’s the best way to get your release noticed. In this case, …
Matt Cutts: Gadgets, Google, and SEO - Filing a reinclusion request
Matt Cutts: Filing a reinclusion request w/ Google
Google engineer Matt Cutts with some nice detailed instructions on the process for pleading guilty, kissing up with Google, and maybe getting your website restored to the Google index. The old email address is apparently out of business or will be soon, and you need to go through the online form.
Unfortunately, he doesn’t address the collateral damage caused by some of their more aggressive filtering practices, or the possibility that following Google’s webmaster guidelines on redirects can do more harm than good.
Some folks reading this may have heard more than a few discouraging words about Google’s re-inclusion process, but I’ve heard from several folks lately, including a couple of my own students, that the process is working again as long as you follow Google’s rules.
Opera goes free without ads
After Opera’s 10th anniversary registration code giveaway, I suspected Opera’s registration fee wouldn’t last much longer. From the Tech Times #121:
With these kinds of stunts coming from Opera at a dizzying rate, I suspect the company plans to position its flagship browser as a promotional tool for its (more profitable?) embedded product versions, such as the recently-announced Opera Mini, which it is marketing to mobile phone service providers, rather than end users.
It looks like I was right on the money. As of today, Opera is a free (as in beer) browser. Step right up.
Greasemonkey beta available for Firefox 1.5
With our current feature article focusing on Greasemonkey, no doubt many of you have noticed that the extension doesn’t work with the new Firefox 1.5 Beta 1. A new beta version 0.6.2 of Greasemonkey addresses this, restoring compatibility with the new browser, while adding new features and fixing issues that Greasemonkey caused in relation to Firefox’s new back/forward cache (a.k.a. Fastback).
cssQuery(): query the DOM with CSS selectors
(Via Planet Web 2.0) cssQuery(), a new JavaScript library from Dean Edwards of the IE7 script fame, sits on top of the Document Object Model (DOM) and lets you obtain references to document elements using CSS selector syntax.
The DOM is a powerful and efficient API for reading, writing and modifying HTML and XML documents. Used with JavaScript, it’s the foundation of DHTML effects. But boy can it require a lot of code sometimes.
Consider this little snippet, from a table sorting script we use here on SitePoint:
function sortables_init() {
// Find all tables with class sortable and make them sortable
if (!document.getElementsByTagName) return;
tbls = document.getElementsByTagName(”table”);
for (ti=0;ti<tbls.length;ti++) {
thisTbl = tbls[ti];
if (((’ ‘+thisTbl.className+’ ‘).indexOf(”sortable”) != -1) && (thisTbl.id)) {
ts_makeSortable(thisTbl);
}
}
}
This code is perfectly good, but really all it does is call the function ts_makeSortable on every table element with the class sortable applied to it. Here’s how the code would …
Latest IE7 Updates from PDC
With the Microsoft Professional Developer Conference in Los Angeles last week, a lot of news on the Internet Explorer front has come to light. Here’s a summary of the tasty bits for developers:
- The Internet Explorer Developer Toolbar for IE6 and IE7 is ready in public beta form.
- IE7 will correctly skip a <?xml?> prolog at the start of an XHTML document when looking for the DOCTYPE declaration, without lapsing into Quirks Mode.
- Internet Explorer Web platform lead Chris Wilson confirmed a desire to properly implement XHTML support in Internet Explorer after the release of IE7.
- Microsoft and Amazon have collaborated to produce the OpenSearch 1.1 specification, which describes how browsers may provide site-specific search functionality, and how websites may return the results of those searches in HTML or RSS (0.9x, 1.0, 2.0, or Atom) format for display in the browser. The search box in IE7 will be built on this specification. No doubt other browsers like Firefox and Safari will follow suit.
Getting a feel for type with Typetester
I always like to think you can pick the web designer from print design backgrounds. They usually adore type — in fact, everything about it — and often still bear the scars of near madness brought on from being denied the control and subtlety they used to have in their print work.
There’s not too much doubt that getting the type right is one of the most fundamental elements of almost any design work, web or otherwise. It permeatates all levels of a site design from logo to footer and print designers generally have a better feel than most for the language of it’s ems, points, kernings, leading and whitespaces.
Enter a great little tool - Typetester. If you’re looking to develop more of a sense for the natural flow, proportion and balance of well-set type, TypeTester is a really nice way to play different text treatments off against each other.
It’s operation is fairly straight-forward.
- Use the provided ‘lorem’ text or, if you like, inject your own test copy.
- Select from a list of common system fonts (PC and Mac) or choose from ANY font on your home system — useful if you’re considering sIFRizing a font.
- Size it, color …
Jetty 6.0 to provide new architecture for AJAX apps
AJAX applications, websites that communicate with the server in the background to update displayed pages on-the-fly, are increasingly presenting a new challenge to Web servers that were not designed with AJAX in mind. The lightweight Jetty Java Web server software is set to offer a new AJAX-friendly architecture so that such applications can be supported without overwhelming the server with traffic.
Most Web servers, and the standards they comply with, were designed to handle a simple request-response cycle, where Web browsers will issue requests for content and the server will return responses as quickly as possible. AJAX applications break this mold, often requiring the Web server to send notifications of events when they happen, without the browser issuing a specific request.
To do this within the current capabilities of the Web, AJAX applications will often send a request to the server with the expectation that that request will not receive a response until the server wishes to notify the browser of some event (e.g. receiving a new message in a chat application). Because Web browsers will give up waiting for a response after a certain amount of time, the AJAX application will reissue the request whenever it times out.
On the browser side …
Guess which press release generates more press and business
I’m going on a short vacation and thought it would be interesting to see who can predict future best. This time (unlike the blog about which web designer makes more money) there are no trick questions. The question is: Which of two press releases do you think will do better in terms of getting press and customers?
Some background first — There are basically 3 types of press releases a company can issue:
1. Releases about new products and services. Common wisdom says that these types of releases get picked up by focused publications, but generally don’t get picked up because they are too “sales pitchy.” The exception is truly “Wow!” products that are really new and exciting.
2. Tips and information. These releases educate readers about trends, research, and advice related to their problems. You see these all the time. For instance, Wall Street Journal often publishes hiring studies by recruiting firms. But small firms can do the same, for instance, “New trends in rapid web development…”
3. Piggy back on major news events. For instance, if a major worm/virus hits, you can be the first to notify your local press about it, with advice about how to handle it.
Okay, so with …
Backward Compatibility? We’ve heard of it.
Recent events have brought about PHP’s biggest PR disaster to date, with yet more backward-compatibility bugs being marked bogus and such helpful advice from PHP’s inner circle as “…just stfu, okay?”.
This is the latest in a trend that is raising the ire of many of PHP’s brightest developers and casts a worrying shadow over the future of PHP as a serious web application platform. Many have pointed out how difficult it is to maintain claims of PHP’s enterprise readiness when said enterprise projects stop functioning after a PHP point “upgrade”.
There appears to be a noticeable exodus from the skilled top ranks of PHP developers to other community driven languages (Python, Ruby et al) in recent months. What will the future PHP landscape be like if/when the Marcus’s say enough is enough?
Will a shrinking pool of talented PHP open source developers create new opportunities for commercial PHP software production? Is this perhaps exactly what Zend is looking for?
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