Google’s new artist themes rock! What if the Beastie Boys designed iGoogle’s home page? Or Dale Chihuly, or any number of artists around the world … well, now you know …it’s awesome! If you don’t already have an iGoogle account, just go to google.com and sign up. It’s free, it’s takes about a minute, and it’s like walking into a room of easy to use applications, interesting people and beautiful art. What could be better?

I saw Jane Goodall speak recently. She greeted the audience with chimpanzee vocalizations and took us through the adventures of her life. Her message, however, was not about chimps or Africa, it was about peace. Achieving peace is central to stopping the environmental degradation that is destroying native species and polluting our planet.

In 2005 I left a cubicle in corporate America to work for myself. I had no idea if I’d make it but I needed to do meaningful work. I wanted to feel like I was part of the solution instead of the problem. Now I find myself serving nonprofit organizations. Back in 2004 I didn’t know where I was going, but it seems that I’ve arrived!

And, I’m not alone. When I look at the dozen nonprofits I work with and their hundreds of volunteers and staff serving thousands of people I KNOW that we are all part of a wave of change. Now, that change has inspired a documentary:

Check out the preview for The Shift Movie

We all have the choice to be part of a better future or do nothing out of despair. What will YOU do with this unique moment in time?

This is hysterical!

The website for Jodie Foster’s new film is pretty cool, if you have a few minutes to spare, strike up the band and even record your tropical creation. Who knew that lizards had such good rhythm?

Need a Burqa? Now there’s a stylish and affordable place to shop from home! It’s HijibGirl and she’s got moxy. Check out the new styles! American-born HijabGirl admits to challenges. “Unfortunately, some people do not want to live in a multi-cultural world. They are determined to maintain their level of ignorance and are eager to eliminate any lifestyle that doesn’t correspond with their world view. Anti-hijab regimes, bigots, and many others fall into this category.” In a post-feminist, post-9/11 world, lots of people have opinions about the veil. What if we all swapped judgment for acceptance a little more often? You go HijabGirl! Plus your Yahoo store is nicely done.

This vaguely disturbing DIY memento hit my radar today. Maybe it’s the celebrity cache of Billy Bob & Angelina’s lovestruck jewelry, or perhaps it’s another step towards mass customization. Now that we’re buying and selling body parts, maybe we’re just intrigued with the value (sentimental or cash) of our physical bodies? Either way, it’s quite a conversation piece whether filled with synthetic blood, tears (extra yucky if you ask me), or the real deal. I like how the video sales dude suggests adding anti-coagulant. Thanks for the tip!

I hate to think of the marketing opportunities - would you buy Elvis blood if you could? Okay, but what about Paris? I think she could sell a few. Who can forget the vial of biological ABBA treasure purchased in Priscilla Queen of the Desert? Shudder.

I LOVE the new service from Gmail.

With Custom Time I’ll never miss another birthday, even if I forget to send a card until AFTER I get the photos of the party! Gmail has really outdone themselves on this one. I already sent a bid this morning that arrived before the Bid Closing announcement through which I heard about it. Cool! Thanks Custom Time. Google, what would we do without you?

P.S. This is almost as cool as Copernicus Center!

I’ve been asked by several clients about internet speeds, specifically what’s “fast” and how can one know if one’s getting the speed one’s paid for. It’s easy to test your system and find out.

1. Conduct a speed test. It just takes a minute and it’s pretty cool. Write down your results when done.

2. Find out what you’re supposed to be getting by looking up the speed promised by your Internet Service Provider (ISP). Here are links to a few wired (ie, not wireless) plans in the San Diego area:
Cox - Economy/Value/Preferred/Premier
RoadRunner - Basic/Standard/Turbo
AT&T - Basic/Express/Pro/Elite

3. Compare your results from Step 1 to the promised speeds in Step 2. If your numbers are in a mixture of Mbps (Megabytes per second, aka Mb/s) and Kbps (Kilobytes per second, aka Kb/s) you’ll need to translate them to compare. 1 Mbps = 1024 Kbps. Here’s a handy calculator to translate them for you.

Voila! If your speed is not what’s promised, give your ISP a call. If you’ve been suffering with slow speeds you may notice that upgrading is only a few more dollars a month. Personally I’ve had great customer service with Cox and the Preferred plan, while not the fastest they offer, works fine for me.

Likewise, if your speeds have slowed to a crawl, you might need some tech assistance. Your internet speed is influenced by a number of factors in addition to your ISP speeds and most companies offer decent troubleshooting assistance. Either way, a little check up is the first step in making sure you are getting what you’re paying for!

Creating a website represents an investment of time & money. But how do you safguard that? It’s not a tangible item…or is it? The data that makes up your site is indeed tangible - or it should be anyways. Once you have paid your developer for their work, you should receive a written document with your usernames, passwords, and a back up CD with all of your website files AND source files. With this information you can restore your site or work with a new developer if needed.

I have frequently been hired by people who built a site but do not have any of the access information to maintain it. They don’t have any of the artwork they bought, they don’t know where the site is hosted or when it’s due to expire and, in most cases, they are calling me because their previous developer has disappeared. At the conclusion of a project I provide my clients with a Website Data Sheet that documents all of their site access information as well as notates any special functionality we might have used in their project. Whenever a new account is added to their site (say we set up a Constant Contact Newsletter) I add this info and send an updated Data Sheet. I also provide a CD back up of all site & artwork files, and do so periodically and upon request throughout the year.

Your site should be designed based upon industry standard software & technologies. When meeting with a developer, ask what they use. Some common languages are html, css, action script, php, asp.net, and javascript. Common development software programs are Dreamweaver, Flash, Photoshop, and Illustrator. Ideally, your website files should be in these formats, which enable any developer to work with them. If your developer is not available for any reason, you should be able to hire someone new and provide everything they need to carry on.

This does it for my “10 Thoughts on Creating a Website”. I hope you’ve found it useful. Look for more entries on Email Troubleshooting, SEO, Website Add-Ons, and more coming soon!

<<What Do I Do If My Site Goes Down?

If your website or email stops working, you need to know who to contact. Here at Pixel Lava, I serve as the front line of support for my clients. If you have a problem, I want to know about it because it might pertain to other clients. However, if I am not available, my clients know who hosts their website and how to contact that company directly. If you are meeting with a new developer, ask them about this.

For Pixel Lava clients on Blue Host, if your site goes down, call me. If I am not available, call Blue Host toll free at (88 401-4678. I recommend calling later in the day if possible to avoid being on hold. You can also log in to your website hosting account and view your server status yourself. While Blue Host maintains an impressive record of up time, server problems do occur. In my three years with them I’ve had sites go offline six times and in each case, the site was back up within an hour. I think they’ve been great.

If your email goes down, you will first need to determine where the problem originates. If you are sure that the problem is not your computer or internet connection then do contact me or Blue Host (or whoever your hosting company is). Email has a lot of different parts, I’ll provide some email troubleshooting tips in an upcoming post.

<<How Do I Maintain My Site? -  Disaster Recovery>>