blogging

Nov 4 2006

Designing handheld-friendly websites

Years ago I had a Palm. Back then I used it pretty much just as an organizer. Now I have replaced my mobile with a Palm 700p smartphone (which runs on old [deprecated] Palm software but has a very sharp and bright screen) so as to be able to get online while mobile, without having to drag along a laptop computer.

I've spent the last few days browsing the web, and learning some things — mainly that when viewing them on a handheld, the vast majority of websites out there not only look like (excuse me) crap but don't even work! On many sites, I would scroll all the way down through the page to the bottom, and never find the content. It was all off to the side, where (hello, Blazer designers!) the handheld's web browser will not scroll.

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Jul 21 2006

by Laura

On Pew, and when is a blog a blog?

There's much buzz about the new report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project written by Amanda Lenhart, Senior Research Specialist, and Susannah Fox, Associate Director, titled Bloggers: A portrait of the internet's new storytellers (pdf). One of the highlights that many have glommed on to is that:

Thirty-nine percent of internet users, or about 57 million American adults, read blogs – a significant increase since the fall of 2005.

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Jul 19 2006

by Laura

BlogHer site scaling as the Conference approaches

The buzz on BlogHer is booming. I think we got the main BlogHer site moved to a scalable multi-server setup just in the nick of time. Kudos to our hosting partners on the BlogHer website project, Firebright, for their hard work! The new setup is humming!

Via BlogHer Contributing Editor Jeneane Sessum, I've learned that also speaking of (not at, unfortunately) BlogHer is Shelley Powers, who's back blogging on three blogs (so far). (Her old flagship, Burningbird.com, now seems to showcase some of her beautiful photography.) Shelley has noticed the incredible growing sponsor list on BlogHer's home page. The sidebar full of sponsor logos indeed has shot roots down deep 'below the fold' of the pages. (In fact, the sheer weight of the logo images was becoming a server load issue on the former hosting configuration -- a 'good problem to have,' to be sure, but still something that kept the server working harder than anticipated.)

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Apr 25 2006

by Laura

Evangelizing Drupal, one module at a time

One of the challenges with marketing Drupal is that, since it is so powerful and flexible, it doesn't really focus on any niche area of application. With well over 300 contributed modules, it can be hard to get a grasp of what's do-able with an "out-of-the-box" installation. There is no One Way to use Drupal.

So how to get the word out? One way that helps is by explaining, mentioning and reviewing various contributed modules that expand the core Drupal feature set in interesting and powerful ways.

In the past couple of weeks, a handful of stand-out blogging efforts have taken on, in various ways, what particular Drupal modules and module packages can do for a Drupal site.

Ted Serbinski at Lullabot has written a nice review of the audio module:

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Taking it a step further

Submitted by Laura on March 25, 2006

Continuing this discussion of "web 2.0"....

Moving beyond the basic dynamic website model, we get up into the realm of the content management system, or "CMS" -- a dynamic site where not one but several people -- thousands, even -- have direct access and ability to update and add to the website's content. This is what we create with websites powered by Drupal.

What's appealing about CMSs like Drupal is that they can be used for just about any website, from small business to large corporation to online community to non-profit organization. Just about any organization with any sort of web presence can benefit from having a website where many people can participate at different levels of access.

Web 2.0 redux

Submitted by Laura on March 24, 2006

Continuing from the previous discussion....

This chart illustrates just how much easier creating and updating websites have become: you are the one in charge; you are the one who holds the keys to the site; you are empowered to change the content to how you want it, and make those changes whenever you want. Your website doesn't sleep -- it's there to receive changes night and day.

This isn't to say that there never is any design involved in a web 2.0-type site -- but it's much easier, because what we (designers) do is design your templates so that every new addition you make to the website content is automagically formatted to fit in with your site's overall design.

Set up and go

[img_assist|fid=4486|thumb=1|alt=The web 1.0 model]
This means that the "web 1.0" phase of your new website is limited only to the initial setup, or when you want to make design changes to the site. (And there are always free options with pre-designed templates.) Content changes, updates and additions are things you can do on your own. (Changing your prices? Just change them! Have a new service? Just change them!)

Mar 23 2006

by Laura

So what is this "web 2.0"? (And how does Drupal fit in?)

The term "web 2.0" is bandied about quite readily. Today the Wikipedia defines web 2.0 as:

Web 2.0 generally refers to a second generation of services available on the World Wide Web that let people collaborate, and share information online. In contrast to the first generation, Web 2.0 gives users an experience closer to desktop applications than the traditional static Web pages.

If that isn't as exciting a description as you had hoped you'd find, in the following posts I've sketched out a brief run-down of some of the most-basic concepts behind web 2.0, dynamic websites and how the worldwide web today is little like the hyperlinked billboards of the 1990s.

I'm hoping some people find this helpful. More

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Mar 4 2006

by Laura

BlogHer on the cover of the Austin Chronicle

At the risk of seeming like every post of late here is about the BlogHer site, I just thought this was worth mentioning....

Never mind the cheesy sci-fi poster imagery for a moment (more on that below), it's some pretty good ink, getting on the cover of Texas capital's paper. The Austin Chronicle article opens with the topic that BlogHer founders Lisa, Elisa and Jory are addressing in sessions at SXSW:

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Feb 11 2006

by Laura

BlogHer beta site getting some (nice) attention

And we haven't even officially launched the site yet!

Liza at BlogSheroes says:

The new BlogHer site is up. It was fantastically conceived by BlogHer founding mama Lisa Stone and truly knocked out of the park in development and design by Laura Scott of PingV.

She adds:

Blogher is doing a bang-up job at being the preeminent women bloggers metanetwork on the web.

Her own network, built on Drupal-powered CivicSpace, also promotes women's voices.

Jason at Google's Blogger Buzz takes note:

BlogHer, the fine folks behind the conference of the same name, now have a community site.

(Okay, it's just a mention. But it is Google.)

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Feb 5 2006

by katherine

Thoughts on Oprah-gate and POP culture

I have to thank Melinda Casino on BlogHer for an interesting link about Oprah-gate. The blog she cites is called James Frey and the pornography of confession. and it appears over on "chandrasutra." The blog isn't so much about pornography as it is about public confessions.

It seems an author, James Frey, made up an "autobiography" and people believed it was his true-to-life personal story, or so my sources say who are following this story closer than I. Oprah then endorsed the book for her Book Club, only to find out later that it was a "manufactured" biography. At first I believed this furor to be a bit pedestrian; that is, until I read some of the pithy insights that raised a mirror to middle America. Why this scandal? Why the outrage? What exactly happened? Well ...

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pingVision

blogging

Designing handheld-friendly websites

On Pew, and when is a blog a blog?

BlogHer site scaling as the Conference approaches

Evangelizing Drupal, one module at a time

Taking it a step further

Web 2.0 redux

Set up and go

So what is this "web 2.0"? (And how does Drupal fit in?)

BlogHer on the cover of the Austin Chronicle

BlogHer beta site getting some (nice) attention

Thoughts on Oprah-gate and POP culture

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