Archive for May, 2009

Censorship of the internet

Monday, May 18th, 2009

Censorship of the internet internet

Well, the Internet has always seen as a complex, living organism inhabited and lured by people from all nationalities, ages, and cultures, political and religious backgrounds. The Internet has spread useful information and global friendly messages to every nook and cranny on the planet despite international differences, languages and other odd factors. But today, the Internet is currently under fire because it is being blamed for having the irresponsible content.

Unfortunately, the problem arises with this freedom of expression of the World Wide Web and there is going to be distasteful material and indecent exposures. No one disagrees that some of the material that can be viewed is inappropriate, but this also couldn’t be ruled out that to some people it may be unacceptable who don’t have any sort of intention to access the available information in wrong manner. Web sites which contain pornographic material are the ones which we fear the most for our innocent children, however, censorship should never be used as the ‘easy way out’ as it has been so often used before by governments.

The Internet is Getting Slower

Monday, May 18th, 2009

The Internet is Getting Slower internetexplorer 1No matter how fast your Internet connection is, there are times when things slow down to a crawl.

The type of Internet connection you use is the most important factor in determining your connection speed. The three most common ways to connect to the Internet from home are dial-up, DSL, and cable. If you have a choice, cable is usually the fastest, but both DSL and cable are faster than dial-up. The health of your computer can affect your Internet connection. Spyware and viruses can definitely cause problems, but your Internet connection speed can also be affected by add-on programs, the amount of memory the computer has, hard disk space and condition, and the programs that are running.

Browser add-ons also cause performance problems. Browser add-ons are programs, such as multimedia add-ons, search bars, or other programs that usually appear on your browser’s toolbar. Many browser add-ons can add to a rich browsing experience, offering multimedia or specialized document viewing. However, some add-ons can slow your Internet connection. If you suspect that add-ons are causing slow performance, try starting Internet Explorer in Add-ons disabled mode. Add-ons are disabled only for the session, but if you find your performance improves, you can use the Add-on Manager to turn them off permanently.

Unfortunately, there are events and conditions that are outside your control. Even with a fast connection, external factors, such as busy websites or spreading computer viruses, can slow the entire web. Popular websites can become overwhelmed with users. For example, when a television commercial mentions a website, many people might try to visit the site at the same time. If the website isn’t prepared to handle the traffic, you might encounter delays.

Customer Relationship Management for nonprofit community.

Monday, May 18th, 2009

Customer Relationship Management for nonprofit community. microsoft 039 s customer relationship management solution v4 0 2

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a hot topic in the nonprofit community, but there seems to be some confusion around what CRM is exactly and how it can work for nonprofits. The fundamental concept behind CRM is relatively simple: the consolidation of information from disparate data sources within your organization to provide a single, complete picture of each constituent. This holistic view enables your organization to coordinate activities and enhance communications with the people most important to you.

So, is CRM right for you? Ask yourself a few questions: Is the data you need to make informed strategic decisions scattered over multiple databases? Do you want to deliver more personalized attention to your loyal constituents? Would you like more time away from administrative tasks? If so, you may want to consider how a CRM approach to information management could work at your organization.

As nonprofits, we constantly talk about cultivating constituents, but we often forget to “cultivate” those closest to us — our own staff. Everyone — from the development director to support staff — plays a role in setting development strategies and helping to reach fundraising goals, so any information shared internally (whether through articles, thank-you notes, reports, newsletters, Web pages on fundraising, or general e-mail updates) can only help your staff become more knowledgeable and better-prepared to work toward your mission.

Why a blog?

Monday, May 18th, 2009

Why a blog? blog logo

Blogs began as personal opinions, journals, and diaries, allowing people an opportunity to express themselves. They have evolved into other things. Still, they shouldn’t lose that feeling of personal, which makes blogs different from websites.

Blogs are great marketing, monitoring, conversing and learning tools that should be taken advantage of by individuals and businesses everywhere. This is a great article that stresses the importance of blogs and also gives advice on how how breaking into the blogosphere will help you. The positive qualities of blogs are abundant and should be considered by all people wanting to expand their persoanl and/or business horizons.

It really makes a difference when the voice we read is consistent in opinion and style, and we know what to expect when visiting and reading. One of the greatest compliments I can get on my site is when people say “I feel like I know you”, or “I totally understand you”, or my favorite “We have so much in common, I feel like you are a friend before we’ve even met.” While a tiny part of my site is dedicated to my personal opinions and experiences, the articles and information we share is a reflection of our life on the road traveling and people like the personal way we tell the stories.

Let your site speak for you and about you and show us who you are by your writing.

RSS Syndication

Monday, May 18th, 2009

RSS Syndication rss

Publishing your RSS feed is just the beginning. RSS, really a mini database containing headlines and descriptions of what’s new on your site, is a natural for layering on additional services. In addition to displaying your news on other sites and headline viewers, RSS data can flow into other products and services like PDA’s, cell phones, email ticklers. And even voice updates. Email newsletters can easily be automated with RSS. Even more compelling, affiliate
Networks and partners of like-minded sites (say a collection of Linux sites) can harvest each other’s RSS feeds, and automatically display the new stories from the other sites in the network, driving more traffic throughout.

In this Web-like way RSS encourages in context multiple points of entry to one primary article, rather than multiple copies of the same article (which introduces its own maintenance problems). As we’ve seen, the sites with the most back links win, and those with the freshest content also win. RSS creates a win-win situation. Once you have data in a standardized format, new forms of content distribution channels are only limited by your imagination, and scripting ability.

There are a number of RSS news aggregators out there that automatically suck up RSS files from content providers and present the news in a variety of ways.

Web Standards

Tuesday, May 5th, 2009

Web Standards keys

There are no excuses for ignoring web standards. And no real professional would ignore the basic requirements for doing a good job. Using standards can help us in the future, by limiting the number of “adjustments” made for each and every browser. You can’t do everything right, but there is a good point in trying doing some stuff. And about the accessibility – a person ignoring it should be living inside a closed room with no connection to the real world.

It is frustrating to see so many “web designers” ignoring standards. I think we need to do a better job of spreading the message and convincing these people that standards compliant design methods are worth learning. There are millions of people selling web design who don’t even seem to know what professionalism means, and Standards are just a small part of that.

Validation isn’t an end result or a final deliverable; it’s an ongoing process that continues long after a site launches. If we don’t put the proper tools and commitment in place, our work will start looking like a late ‘90s throwback, and if we don’t provide guidance and education on validation, the polished, perfect pages we produced will be of little use.

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