Awesome first effort!
General
How to use fonts other than the usual web safe fonts in a web page [WEB DEVELOPMENT]
Here is an example page I made
In the example I chose a font called Inconsolata and it is was one 18 fonts that Google has chosen to include in it’s Web Font API. Normally, web developers have to use fonts such as Arial, Verdana, Times New Roman or Georgia to be sure of displaying the web page the same as the developer sees. The trouble is using those web safe fonts aren’t very exciting anymore!
By simply copying one line of code into the <head> of the html documents and then applying the style, hey presto your page now shows text in the font you chose.
You can find out how it’s done at the Google Web Font Directory
Catch you later!
Jonathan
.:: Welcome to Tweetminster – the place where real life and politics tweet. :. [POLITICS]
.:: Welcome to Tweetminster – the place where real life and politics tweet. :..
Tweetminster is a site that enables the visitor to analyse tweets on politics. Sounds boring I know! However, I have found it to be interesting. Why?
PREDICTIONS
It seems to be possible to make predictions on the outcome of certain events. For instance predicting the revenue of box office films as reported in this BBC article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8612292.stm
The same (they say) may be possible for the upcoming UK election in May. Take a look at the Tweetminster Predicts section at the top of the Tweetminster page. There is even a realtime sentiment tracker!
SOMETHING I NOTICED
I did notice something though – that the conservatives in Plymouth do not use Twitter! Or if they do, then it is hard to find their Twitter pages! How short-sighted is that? If having an online presence is important, then labour and the liberal democrats seem to be ahead of the game.
FASCINATED
I’m certainly fascinated with statistics and very intrigued as to whether a site like Tweetminster can accurately predict the outcome of the election based on Tweets!
I’ll be watching it closely :-)
Jonathan
Plymouth web design and hosting services
It’s about time I reminded visitors to this site what it is I can do to help get them and their business online in an effective way.
WHERE I AM COMING FROM
I have a job. It’s a job that’s busy and I often work long hours. But…this has actually helped me think how I can help get people and businesses a website that they can somehow manage themselves without too much intervention from me! Creating websites this way means that there is less need to call upon a web designer/manager who might not be able to react quickly or indeed my cost too much!
HOW IT WORKS
This site is using something called WordPress. WordPress is essentially blogging software that has evolved into a fully fledged CMS (Content Management System). In it’s simplest form, sites like this one have website pages that visitors see when they arrive at your website and also a ‘behind the scenes’ website which is used to manage the pages and so on (see screenshot of this admin page below).
SCREENSHOT
DESCRIPTION OF THE DASHBOARD
So what you see above is the dashboard of a typical installation of WordPress. On the left are the links to the various sections of the dashboard such as creating pages and posts; appearance so you can adjust the look of the site; plugins so you can add functionality such as eCommerce etc.
In the middle is where you edit whatever section you are currently viewing. In the case of the screenshot above, I am editing this post. As you may be able to see, you can format your text and there are various buttons used for uploading photos and videos (for instance).
WHAT DO YOU NEED
To get a WordPress site online, you first of all need a hosting company and space that supports MySQL (the database) and PHP scripting (the pages and files that run the site).
There are other WordPress requirements but for now this is all you need to know.
You will also need some technical savvy to install WordPress. For instance, you need to be able to download WordPress, extract the files and then upload them (via FTP) to your web space. Once you’ve done that, you go to your website using your Internet browser and following the instructions. If this part is daunting, then simply ask someone who has experience installing WordPress (like me!) who will do it for you (at a cost of course).
FINALLY
I know this has been a short post and I will definitely write more on this subject in the future, but for now I think this should be enough to get your thoughts going in the right direction.
Regards,
Jonathan
Facebook chat emoticons/smileys
Want to know how to make more emoticons and smileys in Facebook chat? Here’s a list:
| (^^^) | Shark |
| <(“) | Penguin |
| :|] | Robot |
| :v | Pacman |
| <3 | Heart |
| :-* | Kiss |
| O:) | Angel |
| 3:) | Devil |
| :/ | Duhhhhh |
| -_- | Dork |
| O.o | W00t |
| :p | Tongue |
| 8-| | Cool shades |
| 8) | Glasses |
| :o | Shocked |
| :’( | Crying |
| :( | Sad |
| >:o | Laughing eyes |
| ^_^ | Happy eyes |
| ;-) | Wink |
| :D | Big smile |
| :) | Happy |
| :putnam: | Putman |
Try them out and have fun!
The most common passwords
Is this you?
THE MOST COMMON PASSWORDS:
- 123456
- 12345
- 123456789
- Password
- iloveyou
- princess
- rockyou
- 1234567
- 12345678
- abc123
Do you use one of the above or similar? Probably not a good idea you know! Neither is using a combination of your name or children’s name. Don’t use names of vegetables either! In fact try not to use any word that can be found in a dictionary!
A SOLUTION:
Here’s a way you can come up with a memorable password. Memorable to you that is!
Combine parts of two or more words or names and then chuck in a number or two to replace letters. Here’s an example:
EXAMPLE:
Let’s pretend I used to have a pet called Rover. Let’s also say I used to live in a house that had the name Primrose Cottage. Remembering that I could use numbers to replace some letters, I could come up with a password like this:
r0vpr1mcott
EXPLANATION:
That’s a lower case ‘R’ followed by a zero ’0′ and also a number ’1′ to replace the ‘i’ of prim.
Ok this might be a little complicated but I think you get the idea?