Tag: News

Google TV is growing in popularity, so it is becoming important to make sure that your website looks good on the big screen. Google has released some basic tips and guidelines that should be used to create a website that is designed to look great on a TV. While it may not seem like there will be many differences between viewing your website on your browser and your TV, the small differences make a big impact. Things such as extra horizontal space and usage of white space have quickly become focal points that illustrate how small differences can mean big changes for viewers.

Google recently released its updated SEO Starter Guide. Some of the content is relatively unchanged, while other areas are completely new or have been updated. It was designed to be an all-in-one SEO guide that targets primarily people with little knowledge about SEO, although it also offers some insight into how Google operates, which is valuable for seasoned veterans. Here is a closer look at what it is, what's inside, and what's been updated and added.

Plone 4 was recently released and has quickly proven to be a huge improvement over Plone 3. This release is noted as being much faster and much more user friendly. A majority of the feature upgrades have come directly from community requests. Plone 4 was not only built to create a better user experience today, but has also set up the foundation for the creation and release of Plone 5.

Recently, Digg rolled out the latest version of its website. There have been some highs and there have been some lows once you take a step back and look at all of the changes and the reaction of the Digg community. With all of the backlash in the community, it is difficult to tell whether or not all the changes will be considered successful until the dust settles.

CMS Made Simple. If you’ve never heard of it, you’re missing out. If you use it or have developed a CMSMS module, head to the CMSMS Geek Moot 2010 in Amsterdam to interact with fellow users and developers.

The number of publicly available technical articles in the web hosting arena recently took a sharp jolt upward with The Planet’s online release of its technical support library. It is a virtual treasure trove of over 1,300 how-to and explanatory articles which cover a wide swath of systems and environments.

The MODx Revolution 2.0 release has gotten a lot of coverage lately. Not only have they added a large number of new features, but it is considered to be a complete rebuild of its predecessor. There are two different download options to choose from, each containing the same functionality, however the advanced version is specifically designed for people who may end up moving a variety of different files and folders. The initial reviews all seem to be fairly positive and MODx Revolution 2.0 seems to be a quality content management system that many people may start considering.

ocPortal has recently released the latest version – 5.0 to the public. Anyone who has been using ocPortal prior to this release will immediately note a large number of changes, improvements, and enhancements. There have been changes to every aspect of this CMS ranging from overall design and usability to performance and backups. Along with all of these changes, 30 new optional addons have been released as well. Upon its release, the makers of ocPortal were quick to point out that while the visual changes are obvious; there was also an extremely large number of changes under the hood as well, to improve overall performance, while decreasing the resources necessary to use it.

Writing styles on the web have been as diverse as the content, with authors and editors using their own judgment when creating and editing pages. The Yahoo! Style guide offers the expertise of a company that has been writing on the web practically since its inception.

From the Senior Design Manager at Marriott.com to the Design Director of NyTimes.com to a Senior User Experience Researcher at Google, the aptly named Voices That Matter Web Design Conference is packed with some of the greatest minds in web design.

New Google AdWords tool has been released in Beta mode, but already seems to be very useful out of the gate. It allows you to compare the performance of your ads against all of your competition. It will let you know whether you need to do further optimization in order to maximize your ads impressions, CTR, and average ad position. Many AdWords advertisers have already found this tool to be very useful. Currently it tracks only the last two weeks of your campaigns history, however this may change as further improvements are made.

The Business of Wordpress conference is slated for June 23rd - 24th and will be held in Atlanta, GA. Unlike many other conferences, this one was created for non-technical business owners and staff that are considering, or already using, Wordpress for their business websites. There are a variety of topics, several are industry specific (such as real estate and non-profits), that will cover everything from the benefits of using Wordpress to Incorporating Digital Media.

HostingCon 2010 is a 3 day event, taking place in Austin, Texas. This year the big focus is on cloud hosting. It seems to be here to stay and at some point every hosting company will need to address it in one way or another. In fact, there is an entire education track dedicated to cloud hosting. HostingCon is a consistently successful event that continues to grow with each passing year and 2010 looks to be no different.

FatCow has launched a new giveaway “Host Smart, Drive Smart” and will be accepting entries until September 30, 2010. FatCow is known for being a green company and wants to raise awareness of the carbon footprint that can be left by datacenters. While many hosting companies have already taken proactive steps to minimizing their environmental impact, this giveaway was designed to raise the awareness of consumers as well.

Google I/O is being held in San Francisco May 19 – 20 and a new event known as I/O Bootcamp will be held the day before the event (May 18th). Google I/O has become an almost necessary event for developers that are using Google tools as well as open web resources. This year there are more than 80 sessions in 10 tracks that will cover everything from Google Web Tools and Chrome to casual Fireside Chats. Already, 2010 looks to be one of the most highly attended Google I/O events in history.

The latest release by Parallels, Plesk Panel 9.5, is the first control panel to seamlessly integrate all of Google's sought after service directly into the users control panel. Webmasters can now directly access, modify, and embed their Google products into their website with ease. While Google has made it simple for their services to be used by webmasters, nothing can compare with direct access through Plesk Panel 9.5.

Drupal E-commerce with Ubercart 2.x guides business owners and others through the process of configuring and marketing their online store using Drupal and the Ubercart module.

Wordpress 3.0 Beta 1 has officially been released for testing. While the user interface is still not as polished as it will be in later Beta versions, the functionality-coding is ready for testing. Wordpress 3.0 has introduced a new default theme as well as integrated the power of Wordpress MU. While a lot of testing still needs to be done, Wordpress 3.0 is poised to be a huge upgrade from the current stable version in both functionality and user interface.

PubCon South 2010 will be held in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas from April 13 to April 15. This year boasts an excellent lineup of keynote speakers and sessions. PubCon South 2010 is already shaping up to be one of the best conferences of the season.

Google has just opened its AdWords remarketing service, previously only available to large agencies and individual accounts, to the entire AdWords advertiser base. Remarketing, more commonly known as retargeting, is the practice of reselling a product or service that a customer has previously expressed an interest in but never purchased. Companies have been doing this via email for years, but now Google’s Remarketing allows them to reach people through the web, as long as they are within the Google Content Network.

Commission Junction has just released a new set of tools for publishers of all skill levels and experience, in the form of pre-recorded seminars. These seminars cover everything from the benefits of using Commission Junction to creating unique performance reports to ensure maximum profitability.

As Bing continues to grab more of the search engine market, they continue to get bombarded with more and more questions. Initially, there were several places where you could ask questions, and maybe get some answers. Bing has now created a FAQ PDF that will continue to be updated as information is added or is changed. The content for the FAQ comes from a variety of places including the Webmaster Help Center, Webmaster Center Forums, and a string or Q&A Blog posts.

You won’t get much disagreement with the statement: “WordPress is the best blogging platform available on the Internet.” Regardless of whether you are new to WordPress or an old hand, there’s always something new to learn and educational conferences are a great way to accomplish that goal.

Google continues its streak of innovations by announcing plans to set up ultra high-speed, fiber-to-the-home networks in several communities around the United States. It has released an RFI, or Request for Information, allowing communities and members of the public to comment on its proposal through March 26. The company plans to release the list of selected communities later this year.