EDI: We Need To Talk About Retail Fashion

 

What's wrong with this picture? At first glance it looks fine but a peek underneath shows a vast disparity between the idea of a suit for women and for men.

Greater Manchester Police Museum: More Than Law and Order

My father, brother, and nephew came to visit me today. I'd booked the day off work and spent the time with them exploring the great city of Manchester. One thing they haven't seen before is the Greater Manchester Police Museum, which is on 57a Newton Street, Manchester. It was amazing.

If You Build It, They Will Come, And Other Internet Myths

I've got a friend who is coming around on Tuesday night to get some help with her business. She's a life coach/personal consultant-type professional trying to get off the ground, and has run into the same problem as every business owner ever: how to win clients. I'm writing this to send to her so she's got something to be getting on with.

Counter-Speech On Trial: When Slanderers Strike

Click to enlarge

Well we all know what I think about speech and counter-speech where freedom of expression and my personal experiences are concerned. Today I've got a perfect example of negative speech and its consequences for individuals and groups: some nutbucket is attacking me online using Twitter to share "reviews" that "he*" has posted on Complaints.com, Pissed** Consumer, Ripoff Report, and Yelp. He's even trying to get me sacked from my job.

So You Want To Be A Web Designer: What You Should Know

I've been fooling about with HTML, CSS, and PHP for years as an amateur, setting up small specialist forums, then moving on to galleries, blogs, and other CMS (Content Management Systems). I even had a go at setting up a ZenCart ecommerce site but the owner wanted to tack on some pages and a gallery as well. The result was a multi-platform site that I could probably have done better on WordPress. When temp work dried up and I had to claim benefits, the benefits advisor suggested I turn my hobby into a business. This is what I learned.

How To Become Debt Free And Financially Independent

My friend Sam came to our house this morning for brunch and an opportunity to talk about debt freedom and financial independence. While I'm not in debt and have a bit stashed away, I'd like to be able to afford more holidays and a comfortable retirement. Enter Genistar's Game Plan.

Piracy And The Ethical Imperative

Today's post on Falkvinge on Infopolicy's blog was one of those linkbait pieces that gets me hot under the collar because I'm basically conservative and Zacqary Adam Xeper's stance goes against a cherished position of mine: I believe in the rule of law. It's not easy being a Pirate Party supporter when things like this come up because, for the most part I agree with them. But then, the Pirates are not and have never been about conformity.

Too Good To Be True? Five Ways To Find Out

Today I found a notice in my inbox advertising a new website hosting service. I'm perfectly satisfied with iPage but if I wasn't, these guys might have tempted me. They really caught my attention with their excellent offer but I've had cheap hosting before and ended up paying for it via rolling blackouts in which my website would go down for hours because of the junk on the servers. I've learned my lesson; if you buy cheap, you get cheap.

Here are five ways to spot whether or not you're getting a good deal or being taken for a ride.

How Customer Service Makes Or Breaks Your Company

I don't know if this happens to you but one of the banes of my life is unwanted marketing communications. I really can't be dealing with them and the worst thing is that in the age of the internet they really, truly seem to think that sending me unwanted letters is the best way to get me interested in their products. Hint: it's not.

What Does A Web Designer Do? Five Things They Should Know

I often get into conversations with people who want me to think of them as designers who need a bit of help to get their websites to work the way they want them to. However, it often transpires that they knows very little about what's involved in actually building a website. Hint: it's not about making a pretty page on the internet.

ISG Marketing

SMS Marketing services

From time to time I partner with other companies so we can promote each other's services and I can offer services I can't deliver myself. Everybody benefits.

ISG Marketing Solutions is offering a 30 day trial of their SMS/Text Marketing services.

Statistics show that within 10 minutes, 95% of text messages sent are read by the recepient... Imagine 95% of your customers will see your offer within the first 10 mins... no other marketing platform comes close to this. Email only has an open rate of 23%

If you have a list of customers and are not sending them offers with text messaging (as long as they agree for you to send them offers via text) you are missing out on a lot of recurring business.

Try out the service FREE for 30 days. We will work with you to discuss the best type of promotions to send to your customers to help build your customer mobile phone list and the type of offer to send your customers that brings in more business for you.

To get started, Visit isgmarketingsolutions.com/contact, fill out the online form and we will contact you and help you to start connecting and promoting to your customers with sms, and bring in more business for you.

What Is Text Message Marketing?

SMS (Short Message Service) Text Message Marketing is the ability to send “permission-based” text messages to a group of people who have opted-in to your mobile list.

The small, yet powerful, 160 character space is one of the best marketing tools available today.

 

Why Text Message Marketing?

• Most Mobile Users Send and Receive Text Messages Daily


• Text Messaging is the Most-Used Mobile Service


• Consumers ALWAYS Have Their Mobile Devices with Them

 

Text Message Marketing Ideas

• Offer Mobile Coupons and Discounts


• Use Appointment Reminders to Cut Down on “No-Shows”


• Send Text Message Offers on Slow Days to increase traffic

Choosing a live chat service

I'm experimenting with Live Chat, a customer service application that enables customers to talk to me in real time rather than email back and forth.

I've been casting about to find a way to communicate instantly with potential customers. After a spat with CyberSource, a payment gateway company that seems to view customers as a necessary evil rather than people they want to talk to, I realised that being able to get hold of someone to discuss the service you want to use in real time is better than sitting around twiddling your thumbs while you wait for someone to reply to the email you sent several days before.

Customer service ethics

I always answer my emails promptly because I don't like being kept waiting myself. And I give advice and support to people whether they are already paying me (take note, CyberSource!) or not, the idea being that when they see how speedy and reliable my service is, they'll choose me as their designer. People like to be reassured that they are being taken seriously and that they are valued by their service providers, and this can't happen when emails are either ignored or answered several days after being sent.

Live chat V emails

The beauty of live chat is that you're being seen to NOW instead of waiting for the company rep to get back to you. I've always found it more efficient when I'm trying to get something done on iPage, e.g. setting up an applications program (blog, online shop, etc.) that needs to have the database amended to let me set it up because I don't have to wait for someone to get back to me. I can have it done while I wait, and receive confirmation that it's been done.

Choosing a live chat service

I went hunting for opensource providers yesterday and came across a few. The best ones (free and easy to use) are Volusion and Comm100. I'll talk about Volusion in a separate post. Suffice it to say they are friendly and helpful, but you have to download the software onto your own PC, and if you have a 64 bit operating system like I do, it won't work. I appreciate the effort their operator went to in order to figure this out. I went with Comm100 because they host it on their secure servers so all you have to do is add a bit of code to your website.

Implementation

You set up an account and provide the relevant details. Then you have the option to use custom images instead of the ones they provide for you. As a designer, I was pleased to be able to use my own images to give clients a seamless experience when contacting me. You have to host the images and enter the links into the custom form in order to use them. After choosing all your options for buttons and images, you copy and paste the code into a spot on your website.

Once you've done all that, you go to the monitoring page (you might have to refresh your dashboard page to bring up the link) and choose the online option, then wait for people to chat to you.

I'm very excited about my new feature, and hope to see it being put to good use.

Owning The Narrative: How To Control Your Online Image

The narrative, or story of you, your business, and how you are perceived, encompass all your internet real estate holdings and all the places you go or are mentioned online. It's about the perception of you, what's important to you, and the message you want people to receive, understand, and accept.

You can only really own your narrative if you have the support and consent of your audience. Forget that at your peril. There's no point in complaining about your reputation if you're not doing enough to present yourself in the best possible light. Reputation management companies will offer to bury bad news about you under positive posts in blogs, etc., but if you want to be respected there are some rules you need to follow or you're going to have to spend a lot of money on a professional publicity machine. Everything I'm recommending here is free.

Your professional narrative: your website IS your business

I'm working with a client at the moment. We're at the pre-deposit stage and talking about how the website will look when it's finished and the thing I'm pushing harder than anything else is the need to make it look crisp and professional. The advantage of working with a client who thinks you're great is they trust you, however, when they have ideas of their own you often find you have to work hard to save them from the perils of bad design decisions.

I'm never less than 100% honest with my clients and since understanding how the internet works is as essential to my business as it is to theirs (I describe myself as an internet consultant for a reason), if I think they're making a bad decision I will say so. Let me get this out of the way right now: if you don't have a crisp-looking up-to-date mobile-ready website, call me now on [deleted] or email me on info@wendycockcroftwebdesign.com. Don't wait another minute. The trouble with a shoddy website is it says you just don't give a rat's, which means you'll probably give a shoddy service. Think about it; have you ever bought services from a website that looked dodgy and old-fashioned? Don't make the same mistake they did.

If your website is the first point of contact, how will it drive business to you? Look at what your rivals are doing. Here's where they get it right:

• Immediately visible contact details


• Clear, concise information that tells you what they do and who they do business with


• Pictures that reflect their core business


• Clean graphics


• Navigable website that scales well on a mobile phone


• Attractive colour scheme


• Legible text


• Clear, well-worded content with no spelling or grammar errors

The graphics on your website should be of the highest standard — no dodgy .jpgs with red eyes or fuzzy .gifs. I love animated .gifs and make them myself but please note that people often get annoyed by insistent flashy things going off on the side like mini visual bombs. And don't use huge images. They load slowly.

Your narrative on social media

You know those rather narcissistic posts you see on Twitter or FB that go, "Me me me! Look at me!" They rarely get likes unless the sycophantic followers of popular celebrities have posted them, or they're funny, sad or useful. Anything that provokes a visceral response will be retweeted, liked, or shared. That's how memes get started. Anyway, I've seen FB accounts that receive posts but there's no engagement. I don't get a lot of action on my FB account but I live on Google Plus and Twitter. Sooner or later you've got to decide which of the social media websites you're going to "live" on because that's where you do your marketing as well as yakking about stuff with those people you find interesting. Let's take a look at the essential social media websites.

Twitter

Twitter is what is known as a microblogging site. Many people think it's just about posting inane comments but actually you can post images, videos, and links there. I use it mostly to promote my business via my blog posts. The way it works is quite complex: I use Facebook's Networked Blogs app to receive my RSS stream and broadcast it to Facebook, Twitter, and Linked In, which receives my Twitter feed. I have to post to G+ manually.

You can have conversations with people there by replying to their tweets. It's considered good netiquette to retweet those tweets you like and not to post too many items in a row either by tweeting your own stuff or retweeting other people's. That's spamming and I've dropped a fair few people for doing it. Sorry, but the last thing I want to see is a whole page full of one person's tweets. Use TwitLonger for tweets longer than 140 characters.

Facebook

Facebook is for family and friends. They have business pages where you can post blog updates (Networked Blogs takes care of all that for me) and assorted information and they're great for interacting with other businesses and people. That's the page you have to keep an eye on because failure to respond quickly to enquiries via your Facebook page makes you look bad. Respond every time. It could be a deal-breaker.

Linked In

Linked In is the professionals' network and the socialising is mostly done via groups. You post a topic and people either reply or you sit there looking like a lemon. I've seen some people come a-cropper there by being obnoxious, trolling (starting a fight for the sake of it), or spamming the various threads with links to their businesses. Always be courteous when posting an opinion and work on building relationships with potential clients and employers as well as your peers.

Google Plus

Google Plus is nerd heaven. There are also a number of conspiracy freaks and fascist nutbags who frankly terrify me. This is where I do all the politics, and I've been doing a lot of that lately. I mostly get on with the liberals and there's the odd conservative with whom I have the odd heated discussion but we end up being friendly even if we disagree. After politics it's cats, science fiction, and pop culture. I'm a bit of a grammar nazi so couldn't resist it when Social Media mogul Kim Beasley shared a post that went along the lines of "Are you a sci fu fan? Come and join our hangout later on."

My response: "Is that a typo or is it about martial arts with aliens? Think 'Star Wars' meets 'Blood Sport' and there's cage fighting in the cantina. I can has finance?"

I got a few lols from other Plussers. The point is, in conversations, be friendly and funny, or relevant and reasonable, but never obnoxious. I've got nearly 500 followers at the moment, which is important because sooner or later at least one of them may want to employ me. They'll only do that if they like me enough to trust me, then pay me.

Leveraging social media

Since most businesses have been persuaded to get social accounts, it's a great way of getting customer service issues resolved if you can't get satisfaction over the phone. I've resolved a few things by visiting the Twitter accounts of someone who has annoyed me and leaving a tweet @ them. They don't like receiving negative press so they're pretty quick off the mark when that happens. The pic on the left shows a crook being thwarted by PayPal, who agreed to remove a domain I own from another user's PayPal account even though I'd broken their rules by setting up an account in that fellow's name. When the phone-based customer service didn't work, I took it to Twitter. Job done.

This is a fantastic way of demonstrating good customer service so rather than being annoyed or upset if someone criticizes you on your social media account where others can see their comments, turn the negative into a positive by saying, "Sorry you've had a bad experience, Mr. X," then present them with a solution. You can either get their email address and get all the details sorted out in private or follow them, ask them to follow you back, and do all the back-and-forthing on Twitter. Same goes for Facebook and your other social media accounts. The idea is to get a resolution sorted out and a happy customer at the end... and more customers when they see how well you resolve disputes.

On and offline media

There are a few rules to getting it right in order to own the narrative of who you are and what you do. If you don't take careful steps to manage your image, you're going to have a situation where what you want to project diverges significantly from what your audience perceives.

Discussions

I get so distracted by Google Plus discussions, it's untrue. I've just been involved in a rather spirited one about adverts, ad blocking, and whether or not it's ethical. The way you behave in discussions can make or break your reputation. I'm often seen as well-meaning and idealistic because I am. And since I'm always trying to learn new things I seem childlike to some people because I don't pretend to know things when I don't. I try to be positive because being negative is not an option for me. People appear to perceive me as I actually want to be perceived. While the discussions can get a bit heated, if you want to be perceived as being reasonable, you have to be reasonable no matter what.

Remember that what you say on the internet stays on the internet, even if the moderator removes the comments and deletes the thread because some aggrieved person might screencap your comments and send them viral on Twitter, etc. If you find you're at the name-calling and flouncing-out-in-a-huff stage, get off the internet. Switch off your PC and find something else to do. You don't need a horde of trolls and troublemakers to destroy your reputation when you can do it well enough yourself by flying into a four-letter rage online instead of high-tailing it out of there.

Media

I haven't been the subject of media reports but I do like to read them. Since the American ones I spend the most time on are political in nature, I'm particularly interested in the narratives provided by each one on any given subject. The polarisation between the right wingers and the liberals creates some interesting stories and because this is an election year, there has been some considerable heat in many of the articles. One thing to note is that there is dishonesty on both sides as each of the more extreme ones seek to demonise the other while ignoring the central truths of a given situation.

The lesson for us is that the way each side seeks to portray itself is often very different from the way it ends up being perceived. The US Right wants to be seen as the party of the family and social stability and continuity. They have become American Dad's Stan Smith. The US doesn't really have a left. The Liberals range in opinion from a quasi-Socialist agenda to centre right, as represented by their current president. The uniformity of right wing opinion on the hot button issues (Libertarianism is mostly about breaking down Federal control. They're not centrists, as a rule) is due to the litmus test that I've never seen even the mildest Republican fail.

Building the narrative

To begin taking hold of the narrative in order to change the way you are perceived, you need to start with a clear plan of how you want to portray yourself. I like to be perceived as a fair and reasonable person who is willing to stand up for what she believes on the personal level, and as a competent skilled web and graphic designer on the professional level. For the most part I've achieved this. Try finding any negative comments about me via an online search. Now check out the links on my Testimonials page. They're checkable.

How not to do it

Building the narrative requires collusion with your audience. It's not and never can be a one-sided endeavour because you want them to believe and perceive the story of you and your business that you're telling in your online interactions. This is why the MPAA and RIAA end up being called the MAFIAA. They don't own the narrative of who they are and what they stand for; we do. If they wanted more sympathy they'd have to give up the sense of entitlement they have towards their content, and that's not going to happen in a state-sponsored and enforced monopoly. As it is, any deviation from their preferred narrative is characterised as "misinformation." The correct, and indeed the most common, response to this is "Aww, diddums!" because they never bother to engage with the public except as potential criminals bent on stealing their work. The correct response to that is to support the Pirate Party. Engage with your audience in a positive way, is what I'm saying, if you want to get people behind you and whatever policies you're promoting.

Case study: PPUK's Loz Kaye

Musicians and writers sometimes feel threatened by the Pirate Party's policies because they tend to rely on copyright royalties but I've managed to win some people over by pointing out alternative revenue sources. By doing this, I've taken over the narrative from detractors by giving people an alternative viewpoint to see them from. In the press, we are perceived as being reasonable, decent people. The recent Loz Kaye quote in the BBC's report on ACTA shone a bright light on the digital rights cause. It doesn't hurt that his remarks came across as patriotic, that he's a working musician, that he often blogs about digital rights in the Guardian and the Huffington Post, and that he gets involved in local issues and events like the March Ancoats Canal clean-up. In the slideshow, you can see the back of his head as he labours away. Loz owns the narrative of the UK's Pirate Party because he's a thinker, a professional, and he engages with his audience. He's a great musician, too. See his work. It's a great brush to be tarred with.

Taking over a narrative owned by others

This is the story that prompted this blog post:

She will always be a victim without a name.

It only took a second for Associated Press photographer Huynh Cong “Nick” Ut to snap the iconic black-and-white image 40 years ago. It communicated the horrors of the Vietnam War in a way words could never describe, helping to end one of the most divisive wars in American history.

But beneath the photo lies a lesser-known story. It’s the tale of a dying child brought together by chance with a young photographer. A moment captured in the chaos of war that would be both her savior and her curse on a journey to understand life’s plan for her.

“I really wanted to escape from that little girl,” says Kim Phuc, now 49. “But it seems to me that the picture didn’t let me go.” - New York Daily News

That little naked girl, running in fear and pain from her burning village, grew up owned by a narrative that was exploited over and over again for propaganda purposes. Only the photojournalist who took the picture cared enough to make sure she got medical attention and followed up with her to see to her welfare. Later on, when she was finally free from her Communist minders, she was able to reverse the process and own the story of what had happened to her. It started with her decision to bring out a book and a documentary, which she followed up by becoming a goodwill ambassador. She engaged with her audience to build the image she wanted them to have of her and the plan worked.

Possessing the narrative

Once we have built the narrative and own it, we need to manage it in order to continue possessing it or ownership might slip into other hands. Controlling the perception others have of us relies on getting and keeping their support and belief in us. Lose that and you've lost everything. Even if you have some supporters they won't be highly regarded and you'll pull them down with you. Eventually they might quit and leave you on your own. Here are a few rules to follow in order to remain in control of your narrative.

• Be available


• Be approachable


• Engage with your audience


• Be flexible


• Be reasonable


• Be professional


• Control your temper


• Be transparent


• Be honest


• Be willing to stand up for what you believe


• Be willing to admit it when you're wrong


• Be willing to change or try new things

This is what I do and it works for me. The fact that people who disagree with me on many of those issues that are dear to me still like me and are willing to associate with me nonetheless says it all.

How I can help you

If anyone needs help with social media marketing I can help with that by making templates for social media accounts, advising on how to make the most of them, then following those accounts on mine. Web design and development services include content writing based on the information you provide me with. Graphic design is integral to this and doesn't cost more when it's part of a website building project. If you need any help with your online presence, let me know.

SEO No-Nos: Five Ways To Lose Me At Hello

I get a lot of emails from companies offering me SEO services. Sometimes I respond to them. A professional approach will at least get you time of day. Here are five mistakes SEO service providers have been making with me.

How Do the IP Wars Affect Us?

Wars have all kinds of costs, some of which are easy to calculate, others less so. In any case, they won't pay for themselves. What are the benefits, and how do they affect consumers?

It's war in Silicon Valley. As I write, the latest salvo of heavy weapons fire is being aimed by Facebook, who have just bought Instagram for $1BN. The reason? To mess with Google. It's like nuclear war, but this arms race is about acquiring enough patents to protect themselves against patent lawsuits from competitors while having the power to go against infringers, real or imagined.

This ridiculous patent trolling is part of a rising trend in the tech world where companies that have lost their innovative edge resort to petty tactics such as licensing shakedowns and IP infringement lawsuits.

Meanwhile, Microsoft just bought up a load of patents from AOL, also to mess with Google. The most commented-on effect of this is that it chills innovation because the broadly-worded patents make inventors too afraid to come up with new products in case they get sued, particularly if their idea interferes in any way with established legacy business models. Netflix is encountering the same problem with Big Content because they refuse to accept that file-sharing and bitTorrents are legitimate ways of experiencing content, whether it was generated by them or not.

Caught in the crossfire

Meanwhile, consumers are caught in the crossfire. Lawyers are costly and those bills won't pay themselves. Litigation and the cost of the hard-won license fees will force up prices and further chill innovation, keeping it in the hands of the monopolists with the biggest and broadest patent portfolios.

It's not just that. Big Content want their share of the tech millions so they're trying to force them to police us or limit what we can or can't do online. If they get their way I'm fairly certain that in the future there won't be an internet. There will be internets, with each country having its own and locking out other countries' internets, which will be accessible only through authorized gateways and all interactions will be closely monitored. There's room for unauthorized gateways in this scenario, but they'd be playing cat and mouse with global authorities which would consider it to be in their best interests to limit our ability to interact with other people and discover unauthorized information.

Think I'm nuts? We've got that now with "pirated content," a ridiculous scenario that insists you cannot own what you pay for, you can only license it. Mind you, the globalization of industry and tech in particular requires an open internet. Shutting it down or restricting it overmuch would limit the ability to do business, thereby damaging the economies of authoritarian regimes, but can Big Content see that?

Big Data out of favour

The revelation that Big Data companies like Microsoft have been putting the squeeze on governments all over the world shouldn't come as a surprise. Why don't the governments of those countries just make their own software? Patents and licensing. They're currently switching to open source, to Microsoft's chagrin.

If they can't milk the government cash cows for license fees, they'll have to squeeze consumers for them. If that doesn't work, the next stop is litigation against open source program providers. That's why ACTA and TPP are such a threat. We the people are easier targets.

The best we can do is to push our representatives to work on IP reform, and if they don't listen, vote Pirate or Green in the next election. I will.

An Open Letter To Potential Employers

Hello,

thank you for viewing my profile on Monster and associated job boards. I appreciate you taking the time to view my profile and consider me for employment with your clients. I am also flattered that some of you called me, but there are a few things I might not have made clear. I need to in order to help you decide whether to call me or not in future.

Dreamweaver

First of all, although Dreamweaver is the industry standard and I have a working knowledge of it, I don't actually use it day to day. I use Kompozer, an opensource WYSIWYG HTML editor. In layman's terms, I use a simple tool to do my work, then hand-code as and when necessary. Most people who use Dreamweaver, if they value web standards, will tell you that they end up having to compensate for the fact that the code generated by DW is messy and it doesn't always do what they want it to do. The way I do things is faster and easier than using that clunky ol' thing, is what I'm saying. And I do it well. My clients are certainly happy with me. See my testimonials.

The trouble is, the clients you might end up putting me with might not like the thought of employing a hand-coding nerd with a deep and abiding love of all things opensource. And free. Which Adobe Design Suite tools are not. Sorry I didn't make that clear enough in my CV. Please be sure to ask your clients if Dreamweaver is a definite must, and if it is, you can screen me out and save yourselves a call. I'm not going to buy it. Why should I, when I've got better tools? It's overrated, if you ask me.

Illustrator/Photoshop

I'd be lying if I said I've used Illustrator, but I have used Photoshop. Like other Adobe products it's flashy and clunky. There's that word again. I say it because doing the simplest thing, like taking a screenshot and resizing it, for example, is insanely complicated compared to the way I do it in GIMP, my opensource image editor. GIMP has a screenshot option in the File menu. Photoshop makes it much more difficult, and don't get me started on the layers. They're compulsory. In GIMP, they're not. I can get rid of the layers menu if I don't want to use it. And most of the time, I don't because I don't need it. Again, Photoshop is the industry standard. If it is required to be an experienced regular user, I fail at the get-go because I've used it in college but use GIMP and Inkscape for day-to-day graphics.

Grids

I use them when the design calls for it, and favour the 960 Layout System for its ease of use and ability to create stacked columns of content. However, the trouble with grids is they're rigid and complex, and there's not much wiggle-room if you need to make changes to the content - which you need to have in advance before you set it out. Changing the content in any way can upset the balance of boxed content. If you suddenly find you have more pictures or text than expected, you have to work hard to find a way to make it all fit nicely.

As top designer Jeffrey Zeldman said,

Content precedes design. Design in the absence of content is not design, it's decoration.

Tweeted by Jeffrey Zeldman, 5 May 2011

As a designer, I believe that content is king, and my purpose as a designer is to present the content to its best advantage rather than design for its own sake. That, in a nutshell, is what I offer: beautiful functionality, and I will use whatever technique is best suited to deliver it.

So what DO I do that employers might want?

First of all, I'm a hardworking and reliable problem-solver, taking full ownership and responsibility for my work. I don't make excuses; if a client wants something, it's my job to make sure they get it and I won't be happy until they do. I'm tech-savvy and can find ways of delivering the results a client wants - nine times out of ten they don't care how a job is done as long as it's done.

Remote Freelancer

The biggest advantage of taking on a remote freelancer like me is you can give me a job to do, and if I do it well, you use me again. If not, they won't. It's less of an investment or risk on the part of an employer. I know they're not keen on such casual arrangements, but I am reliable and never let my clients down. Working from home gives me instant access to all of my scripts, books and tools - everything I have on my PC. It also means I'm never late for work and I have no distractions. I can simply get on with the task at hand.

Keep up with the latest trends in web design

I'm an avid reader of Twitter, where I follow Jeffrey Zeldman, Ethan Marcotte and Jason Santa Maria. I'm also subscribed to Cruzine and Smashing Magazine, where I read up on and practice the latest tutorials for CSS3 and HTML5. That said, all my designs are in HTML4 for cross-browser compatibility.

Validate my work

Web standards are important to me, so I use W3C's validator to check my work to make sure it's properly done. That way, my sites will load quickly and be SEO friendly.

Cross-browser compatibility

The trouble with CSS3 is that it looks fantastic in Gecko and Webkit browsers but dreadful in older versions of IE. The good news is that, because I'm so keen on reading Smashing Magazine, Jeffrey Zeldman and tweets from other web designers and developers, I've come across some excellent scripts for correcting the discrepancies. Therefore the gradients, rounded corners and transparencies I'm so keen on can be made to display properly in older browsers. I also have tools for checking my work in different browser sizes.

Multi-disciplinary approach

I'm a one-woman band. I do absolutely everything myself except for those services I use partners to deliver, i.e. hosting, domain registration, and things like that.

As a DHTML specialist I have a library of scripts to call upon for particular purposes. For example, I'm very keen on slideshows and use them all the time. I've got several of them. Signing up to forums has helped me with my PHP-coding skills: I don't and won't outsource email form data collection. That goes straight to the client. And I will make sure it works properly before it does.

My knowledge of PHP and JavaScript grows with each job because I use them all the time and often consult help forums to learn more. I also advise on scripts and best practice for website development to help the client to take control of their websites.

Applications programs

My particular speciality is opensource php-based applications programs such as online shops, blogs, galleries, and forums. I can upload them, configure them, update them, add modules or plugins as required and match them to the website theme for a seamless viewing experience.

Social media

As an avid user of social media, I can add apps, customize the accounts and automate posting from a blog to Facebook and Twitter. Tweets would appear on the client's Linked In account.

Content writing

My creative writing background comes in handy sometimes, particularly when a client needs a bit of content adding to his site. I edit and advise on content and can generate it as required. I can also present it nicely so it sits neatly on the page, which I am required to do for Acore Development and Training, which has me on retainer to make changes to the site every now and again.

Partnerships

I partner with other companies in order to offer services above and beyond my capabilities. More often than not, this means taking on affiliate deals to offer hosting and other services. The fact that I'm affiliated with so many means I'm not tied to any particular one.

Oh, and did I mention my office skills? I'm an experienced office administrator, once described as the perfect utility temp because I can turn my hand to anything. I can use most reception switchboards, I've worked in call centres and can use PowerPoint.

I think that's it. Anyway, if, after reading all this, you still think you can make me an offer, feel free to call me. I'd love to hear from you.

Is Google Plus Any Good?

I'm amazed at the number of tech blogs that have been writing off Google Plus. I myself wrote it off last year as destined to go the way of the ill-fated Buzz, but that was mostly because I wasn't on it since they weren't letting Apps users on yet and I'd been paying attention to the nay-sayers. Actually, it's not the ghost town some bloggers claim it is. I should know: I virtually live there.

Who uses it?

It's not dead, it's a nerd's paradise. When I first got into it I circled a few people, got nothing from it and got very bored with it very quickly. This appears to be the experience of some of the bloggers who have weighed in against it. The fact is, as Vic Gundotra put it, "You're doing it wrong" if you're not getting into lively conversations there. The trick is to circle active people. If you only circle people who rarely post, you're not going to have the stimulating conversations that keep me going back again and again.

The people who use it span the social and political spectrum but most of them appear to have some interest in tech matters. Many people use it to connect with other people while some users simply want to promote themselves and their interests.

How do you use it?

The beauty of Google Plus is that it's integrated with the other Google services, including YouTube. This is handy if you're linking a video. Web addresses, images and videos automatically link when you post the URL. If you want to get a conversation going, insert the URL of a blog post or news article into a status update. The URL will automatically link, bringing up an excerpt of the post or article. Then sit back and wait for the comments to flood in. Pretty images may attract shares and comments, funny ones usually do. Contentious images or blog posts will bring up a range of responses. Be prepared for creepy or aggressive people. I've had to uncircle a few for Fascist and creepy comments.

What's the difference between G+ and Facebook?

One comment posted by a member put it succinctly: Google Plus is about other people, Facebook is about yourself and what you're doing. That's why you get into conversations on Google Plus. Of course, you have to have a Google account to have G+, and the changes to the privacy policy mean that all Google services are now fully integrated. Facebook has apps that integrate it with other social networks, G+ doesn't. Hopefully that will change soon but there are workarounds to get it to post to Facebook and Twitter.

So how do you find all the interesting people?

Same way I did. I was looking for people to talk to about SOPA when it came out and stumbled across the Internet Freedom Movement. From there I met a range of interesting people, some of whom I circled just because they circled me. I've had to uncircle a few of them because I don't like right-wingers, particularly if they're extreme or misogynist. I can live with the more moderate ones, but scare me and you're out faster than a greyhound from the trap. If you want to control your stream when you've got a spammer, the trick is to create circles and either uncircle the spammer or put the spammer in a circle by himself. I did that to one chap who is very friendly but posts so much he often fills a page with funny pictures with Spanish captions. Since I only know English, but don't want to offend him, limiting him to a circle of his own while moving everyone else to a circle called "Mainstream" was the answer.

Is there any truth in the stories, then?

You have to remember that G+ is a new network. Uptake has been very fast but it's not Facebook and was never meant to be. The fact that it's a social network will inevitably bring up comparisons but G+ is what it is and I love it. Yeah, the figures are probably correct, but even if there were only a few thousand people on it, there are enough to create a stimulating atmosphere and I can talk tech without people's eyes glazing over. I save the light entertainment, etc., for Facebook, where I tend to be more personal. That's what it's for. G+ is for nerds and meeting new people.

StockArt And The Internet Mob Of Great (In)Justice

A tweet from graphic designer David Airey caught my attention today. He was asking about a story that was evidently hovering on the edge of his memory, a murky tale from April 2009 of a graphic designer who cried foul until it emerged that he was a liar and a fraud. In the light of the current debate on IP legislation, it's well worth revisiting.

Are you sitting comfortably? Then we'll begin.

The Plagiarist Who Sicced The Internet On StockArt

Once upon a time there was a naughty little boy called Jon who wanted to be a graphic designer. He wasn't very good at his chosen career, so he decided to half-inch artwork from StockArt to enter into logo design contests as if he was a real designer.

When StockArt found out what he was up to, they naturally billed him so they could pay the illustrator who had originally created the artwork.

Alarmed at the $18,000 bill and unwilling or unable to pay it, Jon did the only thing he could think of; he told a big fat lie. "Help," he cried, "the big bad wolf is coming to eat me up for his dinner! the stock site watchdogs ran across my portfolio and is now threatening to sue ME."

But everybody promptly forgot all about it and the problem utterly failed to go away no matter how much he ignored it. Six months later, Jon, who had not won any design competitions, decided to try to get some attention. That bill wasn't going to pay itself. "It's becoming a bigger problem," he whined. "I was banned from Design Outpost this morning which led me to start talking to clients. Apparently they're calling EVERYONE they can find to tell them I'm under investigation for copyright infringement."

Well the other designers, real and deluded, immediately got their pitchforks, torches, tar, and feathers out and went straight to the house of the evil sent a flurry of angry emails to StockArt demanding the immediate cessation of the legal proceedings. Few, if any people stopped to think that there might be another side to the story and didn't bother to check the facts, at least for a few days. They even set up a fund to raise money to cover his legal costs. But slowly, gradually, common sense began to trickle in as people asked why any law firm might leave themselves open to charges of libel and slander. Others simply wanted more details to keep the fires of their outrage burning. All of them wanted to know the whole story, and they began to ask Jon all sorts of questions, which he promised to answer in a blog post.

Jon had not anticipated this alarming development. He knew that it was possible to rouse a mob to a fever pitch of fury and sic them on the company that wanted to be paid for the images he had blatantly ripped off, but never thought about what a mob actually is. You see, people don't tend to think rationally when they're all riled up, but when the emotional heat begins to cool down they tend to do unwanted things like asking questions — and expecting detailed answers. But Jon didn't give them what they wanted. Instead, his blog post was really vague and he focused on how he felt rather than on what had actually happened, so the mob became suspicious.

Eventually, the story he had so carefully crafted began to unravel and Jon found himself increasingly ostracized from the designer circles he had previously frequented. He shut down his websites, cleared out his portfolios on the various design websites, sodded off, and was never seen again.

The End.

The upshot

'Nuff people need to make a living, and they use the internet to give them a bigger audience reach. The way in which the alleged villains of the piece, the illustrators who are registered with StockArt, make a living is by licensing their artwork. What this means is, someone draws a pretty picture of a squirrel or something, then someone else comes along and pays StockArt for the image.

I've drawn this thing on the left with my mouse on GIMP. I'm not claiming to be Rembrandt or anything but it's clearly a squirrel and if I made a bit more of an effort and vectorised it, I might even be able to sell it via a clip art vendor. Here's the rub: for about half an hour's work, Scrappy Squirrel here can be sold for anything upwards of $250 a pop. Such was the case in 2009.

Let me state that again: half an hours' work = $250 per download till the copyright runs out. If I made more of an effort and vectorized it, the job might take a bit longer. Three, maybe four hours. A day's work, even, depending on the amount of trouble I'm willing to go to. My cut of that $250 might be half, but still, it's the idea of being paid OVER AND OVER again for the same flippin' thing that raises the question of why that's the case. I mean, we don't pay in that way for anything else, do we?

Why is content different to any other product?

Think about it: you go to a shop and buy a bar of chocolate. When you have paid for the chocolate, you walk out, unwrap the bar, take a bite, chew it, then swallow it. Repeat the chewing and swallowing till the bar has been consumed. The item has been paid for once, is what I'm saying.

So why oh why is content of any kind, including my squirrel drawing there, any different? And while I'm on the subject, it might be worth trawling around to see if there are any similar images around because it is now possible to own an idea. A quick search brought up several images of squirrels with acorns, but not in the same pose as mine, so I should be okay unless there's someone in Manchester or the North West of the UK who wants to take a pop at me.

Back to the chocolate. Imagine you buy the bar and walk to the door to leave the shop. Security accost you and make you pay to leave the shop. You don't want any trouble so you pay. You unwrap the bar and are hit up again for unwrapping it. You share some with your friends, only to see each of them charged for taking a bite at the same rate as you paid for the bar. One of them films the whole incident on her mobile phone and you are fined for copyright infringement for displaying the torn wrapper of the bar; you've infringed their copyright by not asking for permission to display the wrapper and you've violated their moral rights because the wrapper is torn. That's the problem.

I've seen some blog posts you really need to read in order to understand how IP laws are stifling creativity and allowing Big Content to lock it up:

Open, moral and pragmatic

Vote fraud or incompetence in the European Parliament?

Emboldened by Megaupload shutdown, Hollywood targets Hotfile

Seriously, check 'em out. I don't condone piracy or IP infringement but I don't like the way our government is dealing with it.

WordPress on Go Daddy. Is It Worth The Effort?

So you've bought some domains on Go Daddy, now you want to set up a WordPress installation. It's easier to get them to do it but that particular site is a minefield of links to offers that are fiendishly designed to squeeze money out of your pocket. Should you do it yourself or leave it to them?

Go Daddy is an Internet domain registrar and Web hosting company that also sells e-business related software and services. In 2010, it reached more than 45 million domain names under management. Go Daddy is currently the largest ICANN-accredited registrar in the world, and is four times the size of its closest competitor.

- Wikipedia

As of last weekend, they sold their 50 millionth. Although I am an affiliate and genuinely think they offer good service I grouch about them from time to time because I'm accustomed to hosts that offer cPanel or variant thereof and therefore find it awkward to use.

Anyway, while trying to install WordPress for my latest client, TEDxSalford, I ran into a wall of trouble I don't usually have to deal with.

Installation

Grouch #1: you have to set up a config file even though WP offers an interface for doing this. The thing to do is launch the Hosting Control account for that particular domain then go into FTP file management. Click on wp-config-sample.php then look for the edit icon with the button picture near the top of your screen. Click that to open the file. Click inside the file then select all the text, copy it then exit. Near the top of your screen is an icon with a piece of paper and a +. Click on that to create a new file. Paste the text from the sample config file into it. Now fill in the details for your database username, database name, password and host. Your database hostname is NEVER "localhost." Go to your database and near the top of the page you will find 'mysql###.securehost.net' or something similar. In my case it ended with .mywebsite.com. Now you can go back to the installation screen you started at and complete the installation.

Plugins

Grouch #2: Go Daddy offers WP-compatible hosting so they can do it for you. Forget this at your peril because all the things you now have to do manually can be done for you if you ask them to do it. First of all, you now need to go back to your FTP file manager and change permissions on the wp-content folder and its children or you'll have no end of trouble installing the plugins you need to make WordPress work as you want it to.

Support

Grouch #3: never before have I uploaded TinyMCE Advanced only to have it wipe out the default text editor from the Visual tab. Bear in mind that if you ask for help from Go Daddy about a product they have not developed themselves you have to take pains to point out that they are the ones at fault unless you have goofed up in some way. In any case, it's their system that makes what ought to be a straightforward job so flippin' hard. Be as polite as you are firm in your dealings with them. I have to remind myself of this because I have been blown off from time to time when they tried to send me to the product developer instead of taking ownership of the problem.

Nine times out of ten they'll send you a scripted response from an FAQ they have about the problem, but nine times out of ten it's the right one so that's fine. You don't need an individual response when a common one will do.

Find out all you need to know about manually installing WordPress on Go Daddy here.

What happened next

If you want to do it the easy way get Go Daddy to do it for you on WP compatible hosting. I don't think it's worth the aggro to do it any other way. To be fair to them, when they take ownership of a problem they're pretty quick at solving problems and getting you going. This is what they told me to do:

To Install WordPress on Your Hosting Account on a standard hosting plan, follow these instructions:

1. Log in to your Account Manager <http://mya.godaddy.com/default.aspx?prog_id=GoDaddy> .

2. From the My Products section, click Web Hosting.

3. Next to the hosting account you want to use, click Launch.

4. From the Content menu, select Go Daddy Hosting Connection®.

5. Click WordPress.

6. Click Install Now!.

NOTE: The Install Now! button displays only when the selected value application is compatible with one of more hosting plans in your account.

7. Select the domain name you want to use.

8. If you don't have a Go Daddy Community <http://community.godaddy.com> profile, enter a display name, agree to the Community terms of service, and then click Next. You have to scroll down the page to find the Next button.

9. Enter a database description and password, and then click Next.

10. Choose an installation directory, and then click Next.

To install WordPress in your root directory (ie, it displays as soon as someone goes to your domain name), remove any text from this field and leave it empty.

11. Enter the Admin Name, Admin Password, Email and Blog Title for your WordPress installation.

12. Click Finish.

WordPress will be installed to your hosting account with the options you selected within 24 hours. When it is complete, you will receive a confirmation email. It's a much slower way than doing it yourself, but it's a lot less hassle in the long run.

Troubleshooting

When things go wrong for me online, I usually turn to t'internet to find solutions and nine times out of ten, it delivers. This is what to do when your Go Daddy installation on the standard hosting package moves more slowly than an elderly snail.

One thing people seem to do best on t'internet is have a good old moan. Apparently it's to do with relative anonymity: we end up doing and saying things we know we'd never get away with in real life.

It was on a WordPress forum where people were discussing the slow performance of their WordPress installations -- a situation I didn't think I'd be able to resolve without moving hosts -- that I discovered something interesting. Go Daddy apparently has a rep who will show up at discussions in which they are being dissed and give advice to solve the problem.

Anyway, there are three steps to the solution they offer and I'm going to go through them one by one because there are good principles at work here.

1. Identify the problem

Sometimes when a problem occurs we're too busy being annoyed about it to actually find out what is going on. In my case, the site was... I don't want to use the word "running" to describe it. It was crawling slow. Page loading time ws 87 seconds which is the kiss of death for a website.

Go Daddy says:

Every time a visitor goes to your WordPress® blog, the server processes PHP scripts and establishes a database connection—in laymen's terms, it's doing a lot of work. The busier (i.e. the more visitors are browsing) your site is, the slower this process becomes.

Slow page loads are problematic as they discourage visitors from visiting your site. The usual culprits are improperly configured or misbehaving plugins or using images that are hosted on other, slower servers.

Have you noticed that the last update to this was in June of this year? The WordPress forum thread in which I discovered the link is two years old. That means they update this article every once in a while, giving us the latest news as it becomes available.

2. Try some common solutions

Go Daddy offers shared hosting. Dedicated hosting means you get a server to yourself. Go Daddy offers dedicated hosting, too, but obviously this costs more. The advantage is that you have more control over what is on the server and therefore are less likely to suffer slow loading on your web pages. It's an established fact that shared hosting is slower if they have a lot of busy sites on their servers.

WordPress has been aware of the problem with shared hosting for a while and developers have come up with some excellent plungins for us to use. I've uploaded WP-Super-Cache and WP-DBManager. The site now loads like greased lightning. The plugins work by loading your web page as a static HTML page to viewers who are not logged in, but even though I am logged in it's pretty fast.

Go Daddy says:

Consider installing third-party plug-ins like WP-Cache, WP-Super- Cache, and WP-DBManager.

Replace links to external images with images uploaded to your WordPress site.

I took the first piece of advice and the second I've been doing for a while now. Hotlinking can hurt you as much as it does the person you're too lazy to upload the image from because you need it to load where it is for you, then project itself on to your site. Text links to external sites are okay. In fact, I usually set the link to open in a new tab because I don't want people leaving my site. I know they could always hit the back button, but sometimes we can (okay, I can) get a bit lost when we're distracted by the content on another site, particularly if it's interesting or useful.

3. Trial and error

Ah yes, cause and effect. Too often it's easy to yell at people when something goes wrong when we ourselves are the culprits. Too many plugins or extensions on CMS like Joomla, Drupal or WordPress can slow them right down.

Go Daddy says:

• Disable all plugins.


• Re-enable plugins one-by-one to see which causes the slowness.

For help using plugins, see Getting Started with WordPress.

When I use plugins, I only choose the ones I need and use DHTML code in the widgets where I can. It saves me a great deal of hassle.

It's important to remember that while Go Daddy hosts WordPress and offers it as one of their applications programs, they didn't make it themselves and can't be held responsible for their performance.

The point is, don't just moan at them if something goes wrong; look for solutions and report the problem to support if you can't find what you're looking for. It works for me.

Loading time at the installation I was working on dropped from 87 seconds to 25.

Update: the WP- supercache plugin keeps disabling itself so you have to change the settings, then change permissions. The whole thing turns into a Kafka- eque nightmare if you failed to get Linux hosting in the first place. NEVER choose Windows hosting. We had to move this site but there are still a lot of complaints about Go Daddy not working with WordPress even on Linux so you might be better off going elsewhere for hosting for it.

Since When Was Copyright Infringement A Serious Crime?

Copyright infringement has been hitting the headlines as the copyright holders in the music and movie industry battle to control distribution of their products in the name of artists and performers. This has led to laws like SOPA and PIPA, which have been beaten down by the concerted efforts of concerned citizens, to be put forward to protect their interests. Now an alarming trend is emerging that causes many people to ask whether controversial trade agreements including TPP and ACTA are even necessary given the recent high-profile arrests of German citizen Kim Dotcom in New Zealand and a man connected with RnBXclusive.com.

What is SOCA?

SOCA tackles serious organised crime that affects the UK and our citizens. This includes Class A drugs, people smuggling and human trafficking, major gun crime, fraud, computer crime and money laundering, according to their website. Hang on a bit... isn't copyright infringement a civil, not a criminal offence?

Copyright Infringement and the law

Take a look at the copyrightservice.co.uk website. It's a civil offence. So why did Plod show up at some chap's house yesterday and arrest him for a civil offence? They don't usually touch that, not even for fraud. I found that out when I reported Stan Freeman for not paying me for the work I did on Elite Business to Business. The Copyright Service also helpfully points out that you go to a solictor to deal with this, not your local cop shop.

Is this a taste of things to come if ACTA goes through? Mind you, the fact that the domain has been seized and a man arrested tells me we don't appear to need it; the legislation we have is sufficient, if improperly applied.

Just look at this:

Now look at the law: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201012/cmselect/cmeuleg/428-xxx/42814.htm

Here's the part that concerns copyright infringement and its status under the law:

Enforcement agencies must therefore continue to work together to share intelligence and resources and to co-operate with each other to tackle counterfeiting at local, regional and national levels. They must ensure that they properly consider the priority that needs to be placed on work to tackle IP infringement, whether criminal or not, taking account of its economic and social harms.

However,

Deliberate infringement of copyright (piracy) on a commercial scale may be a criminal offence. There is specific legislation that outlines where an offence can occur... On a larger scale, distributing unauthorised copies as a commercial enterprise e.g. uploading films and making them widely available in the internet, using a company's computer system

- Intellectual Property Office

If you're not sure about the implications of this, contact them here: http://www.ipo.gov.uk/about-feedback?maildest=23775&src=35965.

Appropriate law enforcement or unnecessary heavy-handedness?

Okay, fine, it's possibly because it was a popular site so they could claim that the infringement was "carried out on a commercial scale." Fair dues.

Now please explain this:

The majority of music files that were available via this site were stolen from the artists

This is a direct quote from the intimidating message left on the RNBXclusive website, which has since been removed due to its nonsensical nature. Infringement is not theft, it's infringement. It's the difference between apples and pears. They're both fruit, right? Yes, but they're different.

But SOCA didn't use copyright laws to shut down the site, instead claiming conspiracy to defraud. Why? Because copyright law requires a pesky court order to block UK users from visiting the site.

No court order was sought in this case for SOCA to take out the site. Instead, after arresting the site's owner in Leicestershire this week, police went straight to the source, paying the hosting company -- which is not based in the UK -- to replace the site with an intimidating message. - CNet

Wait, what? They PAID the hosting company to replace the site with an intimidating message? Hang on... none of that sits right with me at all. There's a lot more going on behind the scenes than any of us know but that is terrifying. Will it fall flat when a judge throws it out for improper procedure or is this a taste of things to come? In which case the question is, who's next?