Web

Comments on web practices and design

Damn Scam

Posted by kbs

This week a web client emailed me asking:
Did all of your clients get this (domain transfer) notification?
I assume it’s legit? I just paid for the five year renewal of the domain name.
Will you handle the transfer or should I?

Well, it was not legit and it makes me furious. The client had received a snail mail letter informing them to transfer their domain name to Domain Registry of America (www.droa.com). It was worded in such a way that they thought it was imperative. Sneaky bastards.

I did a search:
1. This from PCmag.com – http://blogs.pcmag.com/securitywatch/2007/10/beware_of_domain_name_scams_in.php

2. From someone who describes a letter like my client’s: http://trinaallen.wordpress.com/2008/04/11/domain-registry-of-america-scam/

droa.com letter
droa.com letter

3. In trying to explain why the registration WHOIS information is public, I found this:
“The problem is two-fold: ICANN (the guys who “overlook all the domain stuff on the Internet”, for lack-of better phrasing) voted in a new rule that states all domain owners _MUST_ have legitimate contact methods shown in their WHOIS records. That is, the owner of the domain must put a legitimate address and telephone number in their WHOIS records.” (from http://www.broadbandreports.com/forum/remark,16948194 )
(see UPDATE 4 below) 

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Novo Navigation

Posted by kbs

I have spent many hours exploring the terrific navigation methods developed by Gerard Fernandez at DHTML demos. This has been a great education and I would like to write about all that I have learned: DHTML, CSS, JS, SVG, VML, XML, AJAX, Spry, MooTools and DOM. But I think I will wait until I get feedback from you, my loyal readers, about which subjects are most important. Also ask about browser redirection. Not all of these work in older browsers. (Add surfing you web site on a smart phone to the list of future discussion.)

July SYSTEMS

Posted by kbs

Another July deadline was completing the redesign of the SYSTEMarchitects.net website before the opening of the Home Delivery exhibit at MoMA on July 17th. This was an exciting challenge. Jeremy Edmiston is a talented architect, who does brilliant work and is the principle of SYSTEMarchitects LIc. Several factors fascinated me about this assignment. First, I graduated from the University of Minnesota with a major in architecture and worked for a number of architects in Minneapolis before I was sidetracked by the other muses. But my design foundation was most certainly laid back then. My professors used to say that architecture is the mother of all arts. Let’s just say that it is a “culture” I am familiar with and love. This was a wonderful opportunity to reacquaint myself while working with a visionary in the field.

Second, Jeremy had unique demands. He showed me some sites that he liked and told me he wanted his site to be “an experience.” This would be a test of my design methods. Generally, my approach to site design is Continue reading →

The Future is Now

Posted by kbs

Yesterday WordPress made note of awaytogarden.com, saying “a beautifully designed new WordPress powered blog.”

This is fantastic. I had put blogs on Kurt’s and Jamie’s sites, but there I adapted their blog to the site design. Awaytogarden.com was to be only a blog. There are thousands of blog templates out there and Margaret’s friend Kit had short listed about forty of them, but I had my own idea about what functions best for reading that kind of information. So I adapted. (note to self: make blog entry listing my skill levels in various software. ie: HTML = expert. PHP = copy & paste)

Long Story Short: for WP to say “beautifully designed” is, well, personally thriLLING!!!

Margaret, Me and Blogging

Posted by kbs

Last December Margaret Roach contacted me about doing four websites for her. She was leaving Martha Stewart after twenty some years to get back to her roots. Roots, as in gardening. She is an amazing gardener and garden writer. You can read all about it here: www.awaytogarden.com.

That is the blog that I set up for her. She had not blogged before and we set out to learn together. She is a master now. As you know (or more likely have heard/read) the blogoshere is vast, complicated and growing. (yes, i am going to say it: Viral.) Margaret is smart, hard working and a very good writer. She is my source for blogging needs. Not that I need them, but my clients will.

I expect to be designing more sites with blogging software (right now WordPress) because it allows the client to manage/edit his own site through his/her browser: Safari, IE, Firefox. Tip: check out the browser Flock. If you are into Web 2.0 and social networking (Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, etc.) this browser wants to be your tool.

That is why you are reading this, right? You are thinking about your website? You may not want to blog or even hate the idea of blogging, but you would like to edit your own text, yes? I do have clients using Adobe Contribute to edit their sites now. Foremost all of this depends on the client’s level of digital savvy. Just knowing how to do email and surf is probably not enough. But close.

Why am I moving from Contribute to blogging? Mostly because WordPress offers so many add-ons. They are called plugins: guest books, mailing lists, photo galleries, newsletters. Maybe too many. Part of what can be annoying about blogs. But I am on a quest to make websites with WordPress that doen’t look like a blog. I want your site to have your identity when a visitor arrives, not the feeling you are coasting in the blogosphere slipstream. (I couldn’t help it. I get a metaphor in my head and I just can’t trash it)

That is the beginning of my journey with WordPress. Next I want to add more about the WordPress theme Revolution.

Feedburner

Posted by kbs

(Below is an entry from my previous Blogger blog that is very relevant.)

MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 2008
Learning About Feedburner

Today I read an interesting article in the NYTimes about a site www.politcalbase.com. NYT describes it as Web 2.0
I went to check it out and saw that it is also a blog. Its RSS link (in Safari) took me to their Feed with extras that I would want for my client’s blogs. On the page http://feeds.feedburner.com/PoliticalbaseBlog, is a Subscribe Now! box.
Did some more investigating and signed Kurt up with a Feedburner acct (Google now owns Feedburner)
Haven’t finished investigating but i did get this:
!!!! http://feeds.feedburner.com/KurtAndersenBlog !!!!!
That is what I would want an avid reader of to find, a way to subscribe to the client’s blog. I subscribe to Richard Lacayo’s TIME Looking Around Time blog and now I have a link to it on my Yahoo! home page. It tells me the title and when it was posted.

Well, I have not figured this out completely. If you look at the above address in FireFox and you will see what I want. But it is not giving me the Extras I want in Safari though it does for politicalbase.com. Maybe I need the free Pro account. Tomorrow.