Josh Zapin’s Musings

Have you heard of Digg.com ?  If you want to improve traffic to your website, you should.

Digg is the Web 2.0 version of a newspaper/newsource.  Here is how it works:

• Users submit stories to Digg.com.  This includes a headline, a brief paragraph and a link to the article
• The story gets posted on Digg.com where users can "vote" (called a "digg") on the story.  Presumably, people will vote on it if the story is relevant, interesting, and/or accurate.  The higher the "digg" the more prominently it gets displayed on the site.

So, in essence, the users of Digg are the writers, publishers and the editorial staff of the Digg newspaper.  It's pretty neat.

It's also a great way to increase traffic to your own site.

A few weeks ago, I  wrote an article on this website on how a Microsoft Internet Explorer Hotfix actually breaks Internet Explorer.   For days, I received little or no traffic to my site about it.  While I wouldn't call myself the greatest journalist in the world, I thought it was a pretty good article and seemingly interesting to some folks out there in Techie-land.

On Wednesday, I decided to post it on Digg.com.  Nearly instantly, I received a huge spike in visits to my website:

{mosimage} 

 If you go to the page on Digg.com, I even have people commenting on the article.   Pretty cool.

While I wouldn't say that this is a way to make tons of cash off this discovery, it certainly is a good strategy to increasing traffic on your site.  Best of all, it's totally free.  Check it out.

Read more…

If you are in the business of building digital dashboads, those web-based executive views that give you, instanatly a sense of the health of things, then check out DashboardSpy .

Personally, I think good design always comes from other good design.  In other words, take pieces of other sites, and use them as our own.  This site, for example, uses the color scheme from JetBlue Airlines .

DashboardSpy is a site that collects real-life digital dashboards from around the business world.  If you're looking for inspiration for your dashboard, this site will give you lots of it.   Just go to the site and be inspired.

Some of the dashboards include:

• Crime Analysis
• Cellular Telephone Service
• Remote Netowrk Stability
• Healthcare networks
• And, lots, lots more.

 Take a look at it and let me know what you think.

Read more…

If you are in the business of building digital dashboads, those web-based executive views that give you, instanatly a sense of the health of things, then check out DashboardSpy .

Personally, I think good design always comes from other good design.  In other words, take pieces of other sites, and use them as our own.  This site, for example, uses the color scheme from JetBlue Airlines .

DashboardSpy is a site that collects real-life digital dashboards from around the business world.  If you're looking for inspiration for your dashboard, this site will give you lots of it.   Just go to the site and be inspired.

Some of the dashboards include:

• Crime Analysis
• Cellular Telephone Service
• Remote Netowrk Stability
• Healthcare networks
• And, lots, lots more.

 Take a look at it and let me know what you think.

Read more…

You certainly have seen the GoDaddy Super Bowl ads: A voluptuous woman teasing some stodgy people into running a commercial for GoDaddy while experience a “wardrobe malfunction.” 

The ad was so successful (it was really funny) that it made GoDaddy a household name overnight as well as the biggest web host in the world a year later.  They definitely got their million buck’s worth.

But, is GoDaddy the best deal for registrars or web hosts?  Definitely not!  One of the ones that I am fond of, 1&1.com is is a better value than GoDaddy in almost every capacity..

1&1 has a better beginner package than GoDaddy

1&1 has a better personal package than GoDaddy

1&1 has a better business package than Go Daddy

Are you convinced now? Go ahead and try it:

Read more…

Microsoft is about to release a HotFix that will break Internet Explorer.

Huh?  If that is true, why is it called a "fix?" 

Because it "fixes" a patent infringement that Microsoft has with a little known company called Eolas, Inc. 

Internet Explorer Hotfix 912945 works around a patent 

Eolas owns a patent that allows objects to be embedded within a web browser (not just Internet Explorer).  For example, if you go to a site that has a little "movie player" on it, the movie player is an object being initiated up by your web browser. 

Microsoft’s Internet Explorer accomplishes this through ActiveX components.  In the movie player example, an ActiveX component wraps your media player allowing the browser and the media player to communicate.

Based on recent judgments (Microsoft has been battling this in the courts for years), Eolas owns the patent around that communication.  In other words, if the browser tells the movie to "play," it’s Eolas’ intellectual property that is doing it.

(Apparently all browsers do this, but Eolas is only going after the 800-pound gorilla in the browser space, Microsoft Internet Explorer.  They’re trying to get some money (actually about $500M worth).)

Internet Explorer Hotfix 912945 affects anything embedded in Internet Explorer

Not a big deal, you say?  Think again!  Media players are just the start.  Other commonly used objects that will be affected by this ruling include:

• Flash
• Any Java application
• Acrobat Reader

Even Microsoft’s own Windows Update, http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/, will be affected by this too!

Degrading the user experience one click at a time

Microsoft Internet Explorer Hotfix 912945 will break this communication and will force users to click on the object to activate it.  Here is a screen shot of what it will look like with a flash movie in a sidebar:

{mosimage}

The "fix" forces you to click once to first activate the component then do whatever clicking you need to do with that component.  If you go to another page on the site with the same component, you will go through the same process all over again.  Websites that are Flash based will find this "fix" especially problematic.

While it is only a minor annoyance, it will definitely piss off enough luddites to hopefully make Microsoft cringe.  Then, hopefully, they will make a deal with Eolas and make things work the way they used to.

If not, you can always use Mozilla FireFox.  It won’t be affected by this change at all. 

Read more…