What is a Content Management System? Here’s a little background. Lots of websites have dynamic content. Meaning, the content is located in a database, usually MySQL, and they are simply dumped into a web template when the page is viewed. That way, if you decide to change the structure or template of your website, the content need not be changed. You wouldn’t really have to mess with anything. Since you have one main template, a change in the template is propagated throughout all the pages because all the pages are created dynamically and use the same template.

A content management system or CMS allows a user to manage this content. Excellent description, I know. Basically the user simply edits the content of the web site and not the actual pages. They don’t need to know any HTML, they don’t need to deal with the structure of the website they simply edit content.

Xpert.com.au has a nice write up on CMS.

Advantages of a Content Management System:

• Decentralized maintenance.
• Designed with non-technical content editors in mind.
• Configurable access restrictions.
• Consistency of design is preserved.
• Navigation is automatically generated.
• Content is stored in a database.

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Personally, beyond a simple Flash banner, I don’t see much use for it in the web development world. Yes, it does have that coolness factor if you do it right. But the fact is that too many people do it wrong right now. My number one reason for not using flash is that it kills SEO. Well let’s say that’s my number two reason, number one: I can’t really use it :).
Loren Baker writes:

1. Flash requires bandwidth
2. Disabled back button
3. Flash ignores users needs
4. Problems with third-party Flash developers
5. Search engines do not like Flash

Popularity: 3%

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Does your domain have skeletons in the closet? We know that there is a lot of domain parking going on out there. People simply buy up a ton of domain names, sit on them for a while and see whether or not they can make a quick buck off of them. When domains expire they then go back into the market and are up for sale again. What you need to make sure of is that the domain that you buy has not been involved in any shady business. This came come in the form of simple ads or even porn. You may think your domain name is very clever and relates well to you, but do you really want DirtySanchez.com just because your name is Sanchez?

How do you safeguard yourself? You can check out the domain’s history. Way Back Machine can give you some insight into the history of your domain. Type in a domain name and if it’s been alive long enough you get a list of snapshots taken throughout its life.

Popularity: 3%

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Now I’m not sure how many of you bloggers and web developers out there have looked into email marketing. I personally find that the line between good email marketing and spam is a big gray blurry one so I tend to stay away from it. But for you guys who do use email consider plain text emails for the following reasons:

8 reasons why HTML emails will hurt your marketing efforts

1. Different email clients work differently
2. The problem with printing HTML emails
3. Connecting your users to the Internet when they don’t intend that
4. HTML emails load slower
5. Security problems with HTML emails
6. HTML emails are harder to forward
7. More variables to measure makes it more difficult to gauge your success
8. Do you want to maintain three lists?

One last pointer, from my personal experience, is that HTML emails may inadvertently be routed to the user’s spam folder.

Popularity: 3%

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Paypal’s website payments is perfect for small sites. You have a few products you want to sell so you don’t want to install a full blown shopping cart or anything. So we use Paypal a great solution but with a few limitations:
Dave writes:

The problem with Paypal buttons is that you are very limited in customisation options for your product. You’re provided with the option of up to two, yes two form fields within which you can store specifics about a product. So you could store, for instance, size of product in one field, and colour of product in another. But if you have more than two product options you’re basically screwed. Although there is an answer …Javascript. Using Javascript you can grab the Paypal button’s form as it’s being submitted, modify the form fields and then send it on it’s way.

Dave spells out every bit of code you need and the explanations. He even has links to the source code for these. It’s worth checking out. It’s an interesting idea that I haven’t seen done before.

Popularity: 3%

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Interesting article from the Decentralized Information Group talking about an HTML group which is being developed, whose goals include reinventing HTML as we know it.

Any development of HTML needs to be in minor increments. We’ve seen the movement, or lack there-of, to XHTML. The browsers all worked the same so who really cared, right?
timbl writes:

Some things are clearer with hindsight of several years. It is necessary to evolve HTML incrementally. The attempt to get the world to switch to XML, including quotes around attribute values and slashes in empty tags and namespaces all at once didn’t work. The large HTML-generating public did not move, largely because the browsers didn’t complain.

A new HTML group is in the works:

The plan is to charter a completely new HTML group. Unlike the previous one, this one will be chartered to do incremental improvements to HTML, as also in parallel xHTML. It will have a different chair and staff contact. It will work on HTML and xHTML together. We have strong support for this group, from many people we have talked to, including browser makers.

XHTML2 is the way of the future.

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mbeltzner Writes:

Apparently, people loves them some Firefox. Within 24 hours of the official launch on Tuesday, there were over 2 million people using Firefox 2, and we were seeing a peak rate of more than 30 downloads per second from our website.

With Firefox being my favorite browser, I can see what all the buzz is about. If this pace keeps up they’ll beat the stats of IE7 with about 3 million in 48 hours. I guess they have it right, make a good browser and people will download. Just for histories sack let me remind you guys of how the stats have been in the past.

• Firefox 1.0 - 1 million downloads in 24 hours.
• Firefox 1.5 - 1.5 million downloads in 24 hours.
• Firefox 2.0 - 2 million downloads in 24 hours.

Do I sense a trend here? Regardless Firefox has gotten out to a strong start.

One thing to note, however, when comparing these stats to that of IE7 is that Firefox is multi platform and there is no Windows Genuine Advantage to hinder those running not-too-legal copies of Windows XP.

Popularity: 2%

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Jeff Croft Writes:

But there was a mindset created in the 90s that anyone could make a web page. That line of thinking led bosses to direct secretaries and copy editors to produce corporate sites and a whole wave of self-proclaimed “designers” to start selling their services as web professionals.

That is so true. And like Jeff, I was one of them. Fired up my copy of Frontpage or Adobe Go Live and I was good to go. He also states that “many people never made that leap from hobbyist to professional”, which is so true.

I think it’s absolutely awesome that my 11-year old daughter could make a personal website if she wants to. Where I have a problem is when these people start to sell their services or get senior-level jobs in the industry.

I must say this is a bit of an over exaggeration. I don’t think that a lot of the “professionals” who sell their services can be grouped into this category of “hack” as he puts it. I feel that if someone is searching for a web design professional a simple look at that person’s/company’s portfolio should give a clear indication of what their skill level is.

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