Although I’ve been a web designer professionally for almost a decade, I was working on a college degree for far longer. That’s right, I learned this stuff before you could major in it. As a result, I decided to go for an e-business degree because I had no desire to sit through months of basic web design classes. Surprise! I already knew about 99% of the e-business material too.

But this meant I got to participate in some interesting classroom discussions and once again see how other people view the Internet.

In several classes there was confusion among students as to the difference between blogs, wikis and forums, what they did, and when to use them.

To add to the confusion, they each do have some similar functions. Yes, all 3 are web-based applications that allow people to communicate with each other. However, this doesn’t mean they are all ideal for the same needs or projects. (more…)

This handy little symbol is used to show that you can sign up to get a feed of the blog you are reading. In plain English: there is software out there (free) that you can get that will notify you when a new article is posted to this blog. Feeds are available on many sites, from news sites to personal blogs. Some retail sites use it to keep their customers notified of when new items arrive. Another term for this is RSS.

What is the benefit? Why do I want it?
Mainly, its a timesaver. You don’t have to hit every one of your favorite sites to see what, if anything, is new. At a glance you can see if there is anything interesting going on. Then you can read the article in your newsreader, or click the link in the reader to go to your favorite site and read the whole article.

How do you get these RSS feeds?
There are a variety of ways. (more…)

As a web designer, I need photos and illustrations to put on websites. Frequently, these are provided by the site owners. Every now and then, I get a completely unusable image which results in them either having to track down a new image or me spending time re-creating that image. That’s right: if you fax me a copy of your logo, I can’t use it on your website, business cards, or anything else.

This leads to confusion on the part of the site owner who asks, “isn’t there a program that will fix that?”.

Ah Hollywood, I love you, but some days I want to smack you in the nose with a rolled-up newspaper.

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