Stupid Sucks!

An article I had written for the ThemeForest.net blog was published today (”Using AWS S3 to Power Your Digital World“) and one of the comments to the article mentioned Mosso’s Cloud Files. I had heard of Cloud Files before but I couldn’t remember if I had really looked into it. Due to the comment I thought it would be a good idea to take a look at Cloud Files and give a quick comparison.

There are a few arguments as to why you should use Cloud Files instead of Amazon’s CloudFront + S3 and Mosso even wrote a blog post with 10 reasons why Cloud Files provides a better experience than CloudFront + S3. They have some really good points but from my perspective it comes down to two things, price and performance. So after taking a look at Cloud Files I’ve come up with a quick comparison.

read more…

If you’re like me, you just want to save time and have a professional web designer and coder just tell you what you should be doing. Unfortunately life is almost never that simple…

I have heard some of the differences between XHTML and HTML 4.01 but haven’t taken the time to really make an educated decision. I’ve done the research now, so I can make the educated choice and advise appropriately. I’m going to make this very easy for you and most importantly help you understand the important differences. read more…

**EDIT**: Drop.io gave away more than 20 – 5Gb 1 year premium upgrades to the first people that twittered them with a suggestion on their service! I just got one myself! This is why Drop.io rocks. Thanks Drop.io

Awhile ago I wrote a review about a pretty cool service offered by Drop.io which I was a big fan of right off the bat. Although the features they had to offer were helpful, there were some drawbacks that threw a kink in my work flow.

There is one thing for sure though, Drop.io is not twiddling their thumbs on the job. They know what needs to be done and are doing it and doing it well. To make things even better, they’re listening to what people want and need. They even picked up on the blog I made about it. They’re on twitter too!

So what new features has Drop.io been dropping in the mix?

• Small improvements (design wise) of their home page and drop page(s).
• You can subscribe to drops via email, which is great when you need to know when something is added or changed.
• The way you interact with documents has greatly improved (added links to delete, comment, send & save).
• You can now send files between drops which is a really helpful feature I think.
• Improved embedding
• Sending files via mms, email, fax, or existing drop.

The feature I have been the most happy to see added was a delete link per document (you had to view the file then delete previously). As great as it has been to see these features added there are still some drawbacks I find annoying during my daily work flow.

On a daily basis I have to proof files with clients (I’m a graphic designer) so Drop.io is a great service to do just that. But I work at a newspaper which means I have to proof anywhere from 10-50 or more ads per day. Within 20 minutes I have proofed several versions of an ad with a client. What am I getting at?

The way files are managed should be improved upon more (which I’m sure they’re doing). I think the following features would really help improve the service.

• Multiple file deletion at once – it’s a pain to have to delete one file at a time.
• Selective archival – it would be nice to be able to archive/download multiple files at once rather than the entire drop or a single file at a time.
• Send multiple files – many of the clients I interact with have several ads. It would be great to see a feature that would allow for sending multiple selected files at once.

So, aside from multiple file management, what else could Drop.io possibly do to make their already awesome service even better?

• User management or selective password protecting. Since I deal with multiple clients, it’s not a good idea to leave the drop unprotected. Clients would be able to view each other’s files. If the drop could be setup so that you could password protect files individually that would be great. Although if the following was an option I suppose this wouldn’t be necessary..
• Send files via link rather than sending the actual file. One of the main reasons why I use Drop.io is because sending large attachments via email isn’t fun with clients. When I noticed that you could send files via email I was pretty happy but quickly disappointed to find out it sent the file itself rather than a link. I don’t want to clutter my clients’ inbox.

All in all, Drop.io is one of my favorite services. It’s super simple to use and is actually quite powerful. Recently I used the conference call feature and was really impressed at how easy it is to use, tell other people how to use and the quality was fantastic.

If you haven’t checked out Drop.io, take a few minutes, it’s well worth it. If there is something you feel is missing, contact someone and let them know, they are really nice and want to hear what people think of their service. They have stated that what is available now is just the tip of the iceberg so I’ll be watching for the upgrades!

The internet, a magical place, where bloggers roam free, techies abound and newbies frolic about. The internet really is the ultimate form of communication with the rest of the world. Places like Myspace, Facebook, Blogger, WordPress and other social networks or blogging networks have made it an easy 3 step process to sharing yourself with anyone else of your liking.

You don’t have to know how to code or have hardly any interweb skills Well, for some of us, that just isn’t enough. If you’re like me, you want your own domain, your own website or blog, on your own hosting server!

Now, I have spent the time learning the coding and all the techie stuff but you would be surprised at how easy it is to get yourself or your business on the web. I have outlined a 5 step guide to the DIY website that just about anyone can follow.

1. Brainstorm & Establish – Most people want to just jump right in and get something, anything on the internet. Don’t do that, it will look like crap, function like crap and ultimately you’ll loose interest and it will just become another piece of crap in the internet junkyard. Here are a few things you should establish:

• Content subject
• Objective and goals for the site/blog
• How you want the page layout
• What colors you would like it to be

Go old school and write all this stuff down. Sketch out some ideas or layouts. I always loose anything I write down so I prefer to type everything up in notepad or similar but people seem to loose that just as easy. Whatever works for you!

2. Find Web Hosting – The most common hosting uses PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor), MySQL for your database needs and Apache (Apache HTTP Server). If those sound like foreign words to you, don’t worry, you don’t need to know anything about them.

I did mention those however because you will want to make sure you find a host that supports those (easy). You might want to read “5 Steps to Finding a Quality Web Host“. If you want to keep reading to a minimum, be sure the one thing you DON’T DO is use a “Top 10 Web Host” list. You’ll end up using a web host not worthy of your hard earned cash. Here is a list of web hosting companies I would recommend:

Shared & Reseller Hosting Services

• Steadfast.net
• Liquidweb.com
• Godaddy.com (cheap, quick, dirty )
• InnoHosting.com

VPS Hosting Services

• ServInt.com (who I host with, VPS & higher)

• Steadfast.net
• Liquidweb.com

Confused on which service to go with? No problem!

• Running a small personal site/blog? – Shared Hosting
• Running multiple small scale websites for yourself or others – Reseller Hosting
• Running medium/large scale website(s) for yourself or others – VPS Hosting

NOTE: Some web hosts offer a domain name when you sign up, before choosing a domain name/web address please refer to step #3 below.

I recommend using Cpanel for the web host control panel software. It’s easy, common and flexible. Control panels like VDeck, Plesk or others might be available and will likely work just fine.

A good resource to find more information on web hosting is WebHostingTalk.com The members are friendly and you’ll be able to find a solid, quality web host given you spend the time to research the companies.

3. Web Address / Domain Name – Once you have chosen and signed up with a web hosting company, it’s time to find a domain name. This is going to be the address people use to navigate to your website. If your web host offers a free domain name with your sign-up, you can do this step at the same time as step #2.

Tips for picking a domain name:

• Pick a domain name related to your content subject or objective.
• Try to keep it short so that it will be easy for people to remember.
• Feel free to get clever (ex. del.icio.us, ma.tt, website.name) but don’t make it too complicated.
• Type out your chosen domain name a few times to get a feel for how difficult/easy it is to type.
• “I suggest not buying your domain from the same place as you get your web hosting, sometimes trying to change it doesn’t always work out.” – Simon Koldyk

Places to register your domain name (Domain Registrars):

• www.namecheap.com
• www.domaincentral.com
• www.enom.com
• www.name.com
• www.godaddy.com

Once you figure out what domain name you want to use and you begin the process to register it, you might be given the option to change your nameservers. It’s easier to do this now, rather than later (later isn’t hard just takes a few more minutes ). What are nameservers? Thats a good question, I wondered the same thing when I started out. You can read about DNS (Domain Name Servers) at HowStuffWorks.com or Wikipedia.org

Basically, your domain name points to your nameservers, which point to the IP address for your server (like your server’s phone number). When you sign-up with a web host they will tell you what nameservers to use, if they didn’t you can find them in your control panel or by calling your web host. Usually they are something like NS1.EXAMPLE.COM & NS2.EXAMPLE.COM – it doesn’t matter what order you put these in for your domain name.

Once you register your domain name it will take awhile to activate/process (usually anywhere from a few minutes to 24 hours).

4. Setup Your Website / Blog: You’re almost there! – You have a couple options at this step. You could go get a website template and update the content yourself (which would require HTML editing) or you can setup your website using a Content Management System (CMS). By using a CMS you will only have to get things setup and from there you can use an easy control panel to update your content. This is the recommended way to go and what I will cover here.

Here are some CMS’s to consider:

• WordPress (Ok, not really a CMS but used as one by many)
• Joomla
• Drupal

If you’re just starting out, I would highly recommend using WordPress. It has probably the easiest install process of any blog software or CMS available. You can find an install guide for WordPress here. To make things even easier, you can have it installed FOR YOU, FOR FREE! (install4free.wordpress.net) It doesn’t get much better than that.

5. Load Your Content! Yay! You made it! – This is the easiest step and the most fun. All you need to do now is load your site/blog with content. There are a few things you might want to read if you installed WordPress to customize and optimize it for search engines and your visitors. “Ok WordPress is installed. Now What?“

Don’t worry, they are very easy steps and will help you get one step closer to a website you’ll really be happy with.

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While researching some other web technology today I kept running across mentions of Drop.io Now, I actually came across Drop.io about a month ago. I took a peek at it and set it aside for later. ….and then I forgot about it.

Well, now that I’ve come across it again I thought i’d take some extra time to really see what can be done with it and what they have to offer. I have to say that thus far I’m really impressed. It’s simple, it’s easy, and it works…really well.

The first thing you’re going to notice (since it’s the entire point of drop.io) is the file storage/sharing capabilities. It’s simple, name your drop, upload your files, pick your settings (super simple) …and drop it!

They don’t ask for an email, you don’t have to go through any sign-up, and it’s fast. Once you choose your drop name and drop it, you go right into the drop (account). As the front page will tell you, you’ll see in your drop that you can do so much more than upload and download files.

Drop.io sets you up with an email address that you can send notes and files to, a voice mail number, the capability to setup a conference call and faxing. So here’s a breakdown:

• Email Address: You can send text for a note or attachments to upload files
• Voicemail: Simple, call your voice mail number, punch in the extension, and leave yourself a message. It will save the message as an mp3 in your drop that you can listen to, share, etc.
• Conference Call: I haven’t tried this one but you have a number setup as your conference call line.
• Receive a fax: You can have people send you faxes, which show up in your drop. They have to print out a cover letter with a special section at the bottom but thats a minor inconvenience.
• Send a fax: I really like this feature. You can easily just send a fax from a .pdf or .doc to anyone in the US.

So thats the gist of the list of features. There are a couple other minor ones like adding links, notes, etc. The last two things I want to mention are premium and widget.

You only get 100MB for free. I know that is not nearly enough for getting some of the files I handle moved around but thankfully you can upgrade the service to 1GB for $10. That also upgrades the drop life to last 1 year. The point of Drop.io isn’t long term storage or large storage, it’s a quick “drop” space but I have a feeling it will turn into much more than that. One thing they don’t mention anywhere except on the “Custom” page is you can purchase more space.

Now about the widget! I don’t like having to go to the drop site every time I want to upload a file. I don’t like having to tell person after person the drop address either. Thats where the widget comes in. Just get the code snipet for your widget and put it in your site.

You can even customize the widget a little bit (assuming you know a little html and css) which is easy. The image above is an example (the View Drop button was added). You can also have the look customized by Drop.io

So there ya have it! Quite a useful site, even for those old faxing goobers out there. This is definitely something aiding the fight against stupid!