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Nice little tutorial on how to take a regular wifi antenna and very quickly and inexpensively turn it into a high gain longer range wifi antenna.
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We are pleased to report record results, including the highest September quarter revenue and earnings in Apple’s history. Revenue of $6.22 billion increased 29% over the prior September quarter. The revenue was driven by record Mac sales and continued s
There hasn’t been one month that has gone by without one of my friends or relatives asking me about how a website is built. Most want to learn how they can build a “simple” website. The response expected would be, “Sure! It’s easy! I’ll show you.” For the most part, this is true as long as you’re willing to put a little time to learn some things.
Recently a friend of mine asked me this precise question: “How do I make just a website? You know… just a basic website.” Truth be told, there is no basic way to explain how to make a basic website. Anyone can Google for sites that can make cookie-cutter web pages based on some pre-made template. This article isn’t about providing that venue though… The purpose of this article and the succession of articles to come is to educate you, the reader, on what is involved in building a website.
My goal is to clarify what is involved in making a website, because a basic understanding of web development is crucial to learning how to build a website– even a simple one. By the end of these articles, we will have a good grasp of the technology used, why one is created in the first place, and finally how to get started in building your very own website.
We often take surfing the web for granted. Sometimes we pass from site to site without a second thought about the graphic design, styling, or page flow of any of site we come across. Besides the HTML and CSS we see when visiting a site, there may be some dynamic code that drives the site on the server it’s hosted on. — Hold on a second, what the heck is all this crazy jargon? HTML, CSS, dynamic code, server, host??? I’ll clarify with some definitions.
Basic Terminology to know:
- Server - A computer accessible through the internet that holds the files of one or more websites.
- Hosting - Service provided by an entity or third party that owns a server. The purpose of hosting is to have somebody else responsible for maintaining the technical aspect of keeping the resources on the server available to the world.
- HTML - Stands for, “Hyper Text Markup Language.” It is programming code that is contained within a web page. HTML controls some (not all) of what you see in your web browser when you visit any page on the internet. For example, the text you are reading now is part of the HTML code within this website.
- CSS - Stands for, “Cascading Style Sheet.” It is a programming language that is contained within HTML to control the style of most pages on the internet.
- Why is CSS on “most” pages and not all? HTML has some basic capability of styling a website, but when a more elaborate or complex design is wanted, CSS has the flexibility that HTML does not.
- Dynamic Code - Programming languages that are usually used when databases and/or cookies are required for a website to function. Dynamically coded websites display content that changes due to information that you give it. Note: In order for this kind of code to display something in your web browser for you to see, it will at some point output in HTML.
- Why do websites use databases? If you login to a website to access your personal information, order products, or write on your blog, the website is using dynamic code to connect to a database. The “dynamics” in dynamic coding come into play when the website has to make decisions like, “Are you allowed to access this private page?” For example, you provide a website a user name and password in a login box. The website then compares that information you gave it with a list of user names and passwords in a database. If it finds a match with the information you provided, it will allow you to proceed into a member-only part of the website.
- Yes, I said languages. Dynamic code can be written in more than one language. For example, ASP, PHP, PERL, Cold Fusion, and Ruby are fine examples of dynamic coding languages for the web.
- Cookies - Small files that a website saves onto your computer that contain information the website requires for your next visit.
- What kind of information can a website possibly require to save onto your computer? Commonly, many sites choose to save your user name on your computer to keep you from having to retype it every time you visit the site. For example, when you make your next visit to a site that previously saved a cookie onto your computer, it will access it and display its’ information onto a part of the page you’re on (likely the text box where you would usually type in your user name.)
Here’s a diagram that illustrates how HTML files, a server, a host, and you are involved with a website:
For now, the preceding diagram and terminology should get you started on understanding some rudimentary techy concepts of website development. In Part 2 of this article we’ll learn about the reasons why a website is created and how one can benefit from one.
Visit www.duckypc.com for the future Part 2 of this article and more!
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Cool looking design blog website with nice front page scroll feature.
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Great website where you can purchase cool vector graphics to supplement designs.
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Free vectors, graphics, and texture for web designs.
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However, not all plugins are useful, in fact some are very bad written that will mess up your site or harm your WordPress installation. So how do you know which plugins are right for you? Well, here is a list of plugins that I have used or played around b
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This article from Philstockworld.com is a great informative piece about what an Options Mattress play is and how you can use it to hedge yourself against options trading loses.
I am very proud to announce we have officially launched the Philstockworld.com redesign.
Phil’s Stock World, which owner and author Phil Davis, describes as “High finance for real people,” has been redesigned to create an online community of informed members who exchange stock option tips and learn from each other’s successes and setbacks.
The new site is filled with articles, a beginner’s guide to options trading, portfolio tracking tools, and links to the financial websites the philstockworld.com team use. Daily briefings come from several authors: technical analyst Andy Wang; advanced options strategies from OptionSage and Andrew Wilkinson; and from Phil himself, who delivers on his promise that “This is not your run-of-the mill, dry financial reporting.”
Transforming all this content into a visually engaging site was a great challenge. Managing content from multiple authors was just one of the many goals of the new site. There are constantly changing links to the latest financial statistics, forecasts, and websites. We have also setup an advanced member management system and partnership, helping to build Philstockworld.com’s online investor community through search engine optimization and pay-per-click services.
The latest development…
Britney Spears losing children “justified”
According to Richard Holt at the Telegraph:
On Monday, Los Angeles Superior Court commissioner Scott Gordon ordered that Spears, 25, must give custody of Sean Preston, two, and Jayden James, one, to Federline from “until further order of the court”.
Okay enough!
I really just wanted to give you a little update on the success of my previous post “Ugly Celebrity Custody Battles.” Additionally, my colleague, Jermaine wrote a terrific post about the power of blogging called “How Blogging is Helpful.” I think my highlight of Yahoo’s new search tricks is a great supplement to his post, revealing how powerful blogging can be.
In referencing what Yahoo was doing (having major sections of their homepage link to search queries) I was also referencing one of the actual search queries at the time: “Ugly Celebrity Custody Battles.”
My example was a little far fetched; a web company shouldn’t really rank for Celebrity battles like K-Fed & Britney, or Anne Heche and Coley Laffoon! But the results were profound:
We are now appearing at #1 on Google for the search “Ugly Celebrity Custody Battles!”
We are now appearing at #6 and #7 on Yahoo for the search “Ugly Celebrity Custody Battles!”
I know what you are thinking…
… that’s great Zach, but what do I care? I still don’t see the point of all of this…
The above image is a screen shot of the stats on our website. In the last month we have now received 20 people visit the site. 10 from “Ugly Celebrity Custody Battles” and 10 from “celebrity custody battles.” These are 20 people that would have never otherwise found our site, and taken the time to read our content…. and they did spending on average between 3 - 7.5 minutes. Again, the idea is that by quickly creating content centered around these popular search links and queries you can increase your site’s visibility and traffic. Additionally, the search queries are a great window into the mind of Yahoo - and consequently, the minds of Yahoo’s audience. The topics they select are there for a reason.
How can you connect what’s popular with your particular industry or website?
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Press release related to the debut of the stock options trading website, Philstockworld.com
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I found this really great compilation of Press Release websites. Whether you own a website or not, web press releases are a powerful way to spread the word about your company and services.
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Great resource with some in depth info on how to use wordpress as a CMS.
