In addition to running a Web design and development business, I also run numerous "side project/hobby" sites and blogs that appeal to various interests of mine. Without exception they all suffer from copious amounts of spam -- and some of it might be coming from you without your knowledge.
This spam is virtually all "link building" spam. This means that -- unlike e-mail spam -- the intention of t…
The following is The Cracked Guide to Fonts. Yes, that Cracked -- the magazine we read as kids that was the Gobots to MAD's Transformers. I've recently started following their site, and absolutely love its completely whacked cracked sense of humour.
It's nice to see someone from the graphic design industry poking a bit of fun, as it's well needed -- as lets face it, there's no shortage of designe…
A friend of mine just forwarded me this video by The Poetic Prophet (AKA The SEO Rapper), and I enjoyed it so much that just had to break my DBD blogging silence to share it here.
The song lays out, with some slick verse, the importance of Web standards and proper design -- both for how it relates to the look of the site, and the way the site gets indexed by search engines. Check it out and see t…
I recently stumbled upon Stuart Bruce's "Top ten ways not to choose a social media consultant". Bruce offers some solid advice for anyone looking to hire a consultant, advisor, or otherwise "expert" in the social media field.
My favourites:
They describe themselves as an expert. This space is so new and changing so rapidly it’s impossible to be an expert, at Wolfstar we only claim to be ahead o…
Just stumbled upon this list of humorus taglines for the newly "officially named" Windows 7 and thought I'd share. The list contains more than this, but I wittled it down to my top 20:
Windows 7: We heard it’s a lucky number
Windows 7: Like Windows 6 — wait, there was no Windows 6
Windows 7: Correct iterations be damned!
Windows 7: Apparently 13 versions of Windows + 1 = 7
Windows 7: Experie…
One of the first posts I wrote on this blog was a tiny little script that detects whether your visitor is using a particular version (or less) of Internet Explorer and then redirects them to a page explaining that they should get their ass in gear and get a better browser.
Well, my loathing of Internet Explorer has not lessened, but I have begun employing a much easier way of notifying my visitor…
As some know, Dao By Design doesn't just create sites for others, we began with and continue to develop sites for ourselves, generally based on my wide-spanning interests.
One such site is the Hao Hao Report, a Digg-like social bookmarking/link sharing site that focuses on blog posts and news articles related to China (I live in China, so there's a vested interest).
Virtually since its inception…
Hey all - just wanted to let everyone know about what essentially amounts to a virus being spread via Facebook.
If you get a message on your wall reading:
"hi XXX, howdy?? lisen i got a new friend here..shex kinda new here..maybe you can give her a lil tym so she can enjoy here?? not forcin u but u can chk out =)
her profile is
http://www.facebook.com.profile.id.17lgot00.jn95fk.e77c98037.com/fac…
Bored? Fire-up your copy of Firefox 3 Beta 5 and type about:robots in the address bar.
Funny stuff - but I think the FF3 devs could be using their time more productively, namely, to get the damn thing out the door already! ;-)…
One of the least satisfying bits about my job is watching would-be Internetpreneurs come up and attempt to pitch the Next Big Thing, which is just like the Last Big Thing, just renamed and re-domained - with a bit of reflection added to the logo.
Such is the nature of the industry, I suppose, but with the exception of a few great leaps (Wikipedia, YouTube and blogging in general) - I find most of…
If Bud Abbott and Lou Costello were alive today, their infamous sketch, 'Who's on First?' might have turned out something like this:
COSTELLO CALLS TO BUY A COMPUTER FROM ABBOTT.
ABBOTT:Super Duper computer store. Can I help you?
COSTELLO: Thanks I'm setting up an office in my den and I'm thinking about buying a computer.
ABBOTT: Mac?
COSTELLO: No, the name's Lou.
ABBOTT: Your computer?
COS…
Great post on China Vortext regarding the Facebook Beacon service:
China Vortex: Facebook’s Beacon and Valuing Social Networks
Let me put it this way, I don’t think that there is a way to value social networks, even though this is what advertisers would very much like to see happen. And the reason that social networks cannot be valued in a top-down/corporate/advertising way is because they are en…
Found the following comic at designer Benjamin Tollady's blog. Hilarious.…
One of the things designers should be cautious of is "baiting" from clients. "Baiting" is when you're parenthetically promised more work down the road in a play by the client to get cheaper pricing.
Often the "we'll also have some additional projects for you later" line comes directly after an inquiry for a quote, and most, if not all, the time is designed to give the designer a sense that perhap…
The blogsphere is abuzz with Google's recent PageRank recalculations. The "slaps" and "pats" are controversial because big blogs (Problogger.net, Engadget.com, Johnchow.com, and many many more) have seen their PR jump around more than an Asian boy band.
The reason for the heated discussion that has come out of this is that Google is "punishing" sites that sell links, under the idea that such sale…
I've owned several Ford cars over the years, and never had one that didn't live up to the Found On Road Dead and Fix Or Repair Daily acronyms that were creatively given to the company.
Well folks, as the title of this post displays, I've got another one to use now.
Ford Motor Company is launching the Ford Blue Oval Scholars, "a national Web-based initiative that will provide Ford Motor Company F…
I've recently started using Craigslist as a source for design job leads, and largely, I think it's a great resource. With sites specific to 450+ cities around the world, it's easy to target certain geographical locations, and as it's the world's most widely known online classifieds stop, there's often no shortage of postings to browse.
Craigslist has got to be the fugliest site ever, and at #45 o…
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about Web 2.0 and what’s next.
Largely this was on my mind because I’ve been trying to come up with a good way to start my run as a writer here at Intelligent Drone. The other day, while elbow deep in PHP setting up a collaborative blog with a revenue sharing model, it hit me… revenue sharing is the next big thing.
Of course, it’s nothing new, but neither were for…
