You have a tar.gz package that contains a lot of files for your website. Your web host doesn’t provide an easy option for you to untar it once it’s on the server. Uploading all of the files one by one is a very time consuming process and should be avoided if possible.
You could request SSH (secure shell) access from your hosting provider, which can be dangerous for those who do not understand exactly what they are doing. Also, some hosts will not give you this access. As a workaround, you can use this trick:
Open your favorite text editor and create a new file with the following code: <?php system("tar -zxvf my_tar_package.tar.gz") ?>
When entering the above code, replace “my_tar_package.tar.gz” with the name of your tar.gz file and name the file my_tar_gz.php.
Upload both the tar.gz archive and the newly created my_tar_gz.php to the directory in which you want to unpack the files.
Navigate to my_tar_gz.php in a web browser. The script will run and the tar.gz files will be unpacked with the quickness.
I used this solution on a site today and if I had to upload all of the files one at a time, it could have easily taken an hour or more. Instead, it was done in less than 5 minutes.
A splash page is a frequent request from clients. It’s basically a page that loads before the home page. Splash pages often contain obnoxiously overbearing flash movies that really serve no purpose other than to make the site owner feel cool.
IMHO, splash pages are a big no-no. Here’s why:
Splash pages usually take a loooooooong time to load. Do you like having to wait when you do your web surfing?
Your site’s most important page is the home page. Why would you want to make it harder for visitors to get there?
They get old real quick. Would you watch your own flash movie 100 times without losing interest?
Every portion of your site should have a reason for being there. What purpose does your splash page serve?
They are usually expensive. Flash development isn’t cheap and depending on the depth of your splash page, it could potentially cost more to create than the rest of your site.
I’m sure there are plenty of other good reasons NOT to use splash pages and it’s hard to think of a good reason for creating one. So, don’t waste your time or budget!
Our good friend Andy Stracuzzi over at ZedZedEye sent us this video featuring the world’s most enthusiastic marketer of business cards. Apparently, using words like “apprehension” and “trepidation” is a great way to open a sales pitch and convey your superior intellect to your clients. Love the hair, too!
I’ve discovered a solution for getting more work done: don’t play with your new iPhone all day. After being the unenthusiastic owner of a no-frills cell phone for many years, I was looking to get something a bit more aptly suited for a technically-minded individual such as myself. I have to say that I felt the same way I did when I bought my first Mac: overwhelmingly satisfied!
I was either going to get the iPhone or the new G1 by Google, but I didn’t like how the G1 forces you to use Google’s services exclusively (GMail, Google Calendar, etc.). For example, rather than letting you access all of your email accounts as the iPhone does, you can only pull up a GMail account on the G1.
If your website was built by Visual Harmony, you’re probably already familiar with Google Analytics. In my humble opinion, Google Analytics is the best website statistics tracking software available. And with the whopping price tag of $0.00, why would anyone use anything else?
There are plenty of paid alternatives to Analytics, but the features of them pale in comparison to what “The Big G” delivers for free:
Track multiple websites under one Analytics account
Accurate and detailed reporting
Conversion tracking
Custom reports
See which cities, states and countries are sending you traffic
Learn how long visitors are on your site and each page
If you have Google custom search built into your site, you can see the terms for which your visitors are searching.
Find out which websites are referring traffic to yours
Integrated with AdWords to track effectiveness of AdWords campaign
There are many other features that aren’t listed above, but you should really try Analytics and see for yourself, even if you are already using a paid statistics service.
How do I get Analytics?
Google Analytics is a free service—it’s just needs to be set up on your site. Here’s how you do that:
After you sign up, make sure you are logged in to Analytics.
Once logged in, you will come to the Overview screen. Near the bottom of the page, click the link that reads “Add Website Profile.”
Select the option “Add a Profile for a new domain” (if not already selected) and enter the domain name of the site you want to track. Click “Finish” when you are done.
Google will then generate and display the tracking code for Analytics. This snippet of Javascript needs to be added to the source code of all the pages you would like to track right before the closing body tag (</body>). After you have added the tracking code to your pages and re-uploaded them to your server, Analytics will be ready to receive data from your site!
Congrats! You are now ready to put Analytics to use for your site. Make sure to brag about it to all of your friends so they know just how cool and nerdy you are!
Great news for Flash designers: Google’s search engine spiders can now read the textual content from within your SWFs. Prior to this development, the content of websites designed in Flash was invisible to search engines. It’ll be really exciting when all of the major search engines implement this in their algorithms.
Google continues to impress me with its unrivaled innovation!
It takes some work (sometimes hard work) to get people to visit your website. So why chase them away with a site that isn’t usable? If you invest the time to make your site(s) visitor-centric (Warning! Additional work required), people will stay on your site longer and are much more likely to come back. To get a better idea of what I mean, let’s look at Merriam-Webster’s definitions of usable:
If your business does not have a website, here are 8 reasons it should:
Websites save your company time and money! A website can automate a lot of repetitive day-to-day tasks and free up time for your hourly employees which will save you money. Here are a couple of examples:
Do you get asked the same questions over and over again? Why not put them on a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page and refer people to it when these questions arise?
Let’s say that a client needs your address. She could call you, but it would be faster for both parties if this information was readily available on your website. Time saved!
