ALEXA SPARKY FIREFOX ADDON
Well this could be useful – to check any random website’s traffic, I used to use the handy tool checksitetraffic.com but now alas it is some crummy spy tool.
I like to know roughly what a site’s traffic is and I cannot seem to find any data!
I’m experimenting with this:Â ALEXA SPARKY FIREFOX ADDON
Will keep you posted!
Twitterfeed.com – Update All Your Social Media From ONE Place (Your Website!)
I just signed up netdudette.com at twitterfeed.com and It successfully updated my twitter … now to test it on my facebook!
Here’s how it works:
you go to twitterfeed.com, create an account, enable it to update twitter & facebook (there are other services too, but those were the only ones I use personally).
Your website’s RSS feed powers the whole thing, so it’s rather foolproof… I hope.
I’ll keep you posted!
Here Is A Sample Event!
This should appear on the sidebar for October 5, 2010
iFrames, Hover Effects, Being Lazy, & So On
Honestly, sometimes I am too lazy to write out iframe code and with WordPress, I really need iframes sometimes.
Here is a handy iFrame code generator – all you need is the link:
http://www.htmlbasix.com/iframe.shtml
It’s inconvenient to add special CSS in the style.css (or add it to the ), then put code in the of a WP site,
and THEN add the little block of text, but because I wanted to demo it, here it is (code is from DynamicDrive):
HOVER YOUR MOUSE OVER THIS – JUST DO IT!
What a hassle – sometimes the expedient solution is to drop the code into a simple whatever.htm file and embed it in an iframe lock stock and barrel without going into 3 different places:
Web Safe Fonts – How Kooky Should I Get, And Do I care About Linux?
Web clients often ask me if they can use fonts like Impact or Century Gothic or some sort of script font throughout their site, body text and all … and I say no. 
But maybe I’m a bit of a fuddy duddy, but I insist on using a plain-jane web safe font like arial or verdana, or even MS Trebuchet for a sans serif font, and Times New Roman or Georgia for serif.
I have broken down a few times and made the first font something fancier (with a websafe second choice in the CSS obviously). This way, if you have the fancy font installed on your browser, you get the “full effect” and otherwise there is a respectable-looking plan B.
Today I went and did a little research, and I found a nice link about ‘web safe fonts’ which made me soften a tiny bit:
http://www.webdesigndev.com/web-development/16-gorgeous-web-safe-fonts-to-use-with-css
That said, what about choosing fonts that are most likely to display on both Mac & Windows? For that matter, what about the growing number of Linux users?!
Here is a GREAT resource – a list of most commonly installed fonts on various operating systems.
See, my instincts were right: Arial, Verdana, Georgia… Times is kind of yuk, but you know the Mac & the PC probably have it, anyway….
http://www.codestyle.org/css/font-family/sampler-CombinedResults.shtml
Now I’ve opened a whole new can of worms… what about those pesky Linux users?! OK – time for some field testing!
More Podcasting Experimentation …
How To Find Your WordPress Page ID When You Have Custom Permalinks
I use the plugin called Featured Content Gallery, and if you want to control which slides display on the homepage (as opposed to having ALL posts from a certain category), then you need to MANUALLY insert the numeric Page IDs into the gallery settings.
No problem… I can explain that to my clients too – it’s not that complicated… UNLESS you are using custom (search engine friendly) permalinks – like the ones on this website.
I always give my sites this kind of custom permalink:
/%postname%/
I was trying to figure out how to add posts to the slideshow without having to return to default permalinks, grab the page ID, then reconfigure the permalinks, and was losing my mind.
Then I noticed that in the Admin Panel, go to your list of pages or posts, and HOVER OVER the title.
Look wayyyyy down at the status bar of your browser which displays the hyperlink you are hovering over.
VOILA! The Page ID!!
Carousel Plugins for WordPress
Subscribe2
Subscribe2 is an excellent subscription management tool – featuring double opt-in signup and a nifty module right in the WordPress admin panel where you can send out plain text emails to your list(s).
Apparently, there is an upgrade for those who want a nice shiny HTML newsletter template, but so far I have stuck with the free version and it works just fine.
Free Web Surveys
This is an example from www.questionform.com – nice, but they have a 5-question, 5-answer limit, and doesn’t automatically direct survey participants to the results
http://netgenus.questionform.com/public/New-Website-Poll
Here is SurveyBob.com survey – you get more bang for your zero dollars, but it doesn’t have the “other” feature that questionform.com has, where you generate an “other” radio button or checkbox and it creates a text box beside it automatically:
This is from www.freeonlinesurveys.com – 20 question maximum, nice interface, fancy formatting:
Click here to take our Online Survey
This is from SurveyMonkey.com – also not embeddable, and you don’t see the results after taking the survey
Click here to take survey
This is from SurveyGizmo.com not free, but embeddable:
Urtak.com – really nice and you can see survey results, BUT … yes-no questions only:
Didn't work at all - wonder if it's just because my computer and i are tired
This is PollDaddy.com 10 Q max with the free package and only 100 responses. also just a text link and no results viewable after you take the survey
Here is a survey from KwikSurveys.com - embeds but you don't see the results after taking the survey: