Tips & Resources


"Opt Out of Behavioral Advertising "

This came from The Nitpicker, Kent Butler. Good thing to have:

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Using the NAI Opt-out Tool, you can examine your computer to identify those member companies that have placed an advertising cookie file on your computer.

To opt out of an NAI member's behavioral advertising program, simply check the box that corresponds to the company from which you wish to opt out. Alternatively, you can check the box labeled "Select All" and each member's opt-out box will be checked for you. Next click the "Submit" button. The Tool will automatically replace the specified advertising cookie(s) and verify your opt-out status.

Opting out of a network does not mean you will no longer receive online advertising. It does mean that the network from which you opted out will no longer deliver ads tailored to your Web preferences and usage patterns.

www.networkadvertising.org/managing/opt_out.asp

Please Tell Your Senators!


From SaveTheInternet.com

I am taking the liberty of paraphrasing an email sent out by SaveTheInternet.com ... Please send a copy to your own email lists!

On February 17, 2011, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to block the Federal Communications Commission from protecting our right to access an open Internet. If successful, the move would give phone and cable companies absolute, unrestricted power over the internet.

In the U.S. Senate, Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) and John Ensign (R-Nevada) have introduced a "resolution of disapproval" that would strip the FCC of its authority to protect our right to free speech online. Both of these moves come at a time when phone and cable giants are already restricting our ability to connect with others and share information.2

We can stop the resolution in the Senate by getting 51 members to stand with us for online freedom. Tell your senators - defend our right to free speech online!

Tell Your Senators


A House vote is on the books. It's now up to the Senate. If it doesn't stop this resolution, the FCC would be barred from enforcing its Net Neutrality rule, and from acting in any way to protect Internet users against corporate abuses by the largest internet service providers.

Imagine a world where these companies are allowed to do anything they want, ban any speech they don't like, charge anything they can get away with, hold innovation hostage to their profit margins and make online business owners pay to have their web sites display.

If this resolution passes, there's nothing anyone could do about it.

The resolution is filibuster-proof. We need at least 51 senators to beat it. PLEASE contact YOUR senators here:

Tell Your Senators

The World Wide Web Consortium


What is W3C?

“The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is an international community that develops standards to ensure the long-term growth of the Web.” I didn't know that.

What I did know is that various people have griped at me for not being W3C compliant in my web site designs. And, frankly, all it did was aggravate me.

I full well remember back in the Stone Age of web site building, what a horrible time I had. I had to check for compatibility with all the browsers, for all the different resolutions people used on their computers and I'm sure there was more. I was constantly tearing my hair out over it.

However, somewhere along the line, most of those problems faded away. Since I worked in Firefox, all I really checked was Internet Explorer (IE) because it's always done weird things to web pages.

I'm sure my annoyance with being told I need to be “W3C compliant” was two-fold. First, that word “compliant” automatically strikes resistance in me. My question was always, “Who says?” Second, I didn't want to go back to all that hair pulling.

I had gotten used to doing things pretty much however I wanted to without it causing big problems. For instance, I long since stopped worrying about nesting tags in order. I stopped using close paragraph tags because they weren't needed, and I didn't tell every single paragraph what font to use. Once did the job - until I wanted to change the font.

Apparently not so with W3C. All of the above, along with those stupid span tags all over the place simply, in my opinion bloated the code. And, I still believe that.

In working with Word Press for the Chamber web site, I had all kinds of problems! The damn thing would actually change my code after I shut it down. I spent hours re-doing things.

I think my biggest frustration is that I simply don't have the time to run an organization such as Chamber of Commerce - on the Web™ and learn all over again how to build a web site. There are only so many hours in my day and I won't allow members to be ignored while I'm back at Web Site Building 101.

However, a member of Chamber of Commerce - on the Web's™ Advisory Council explained it to me, last week. John Zinda had to bail me out several times when I had problems with the Chamber web site. It always seemed to be a browser problem.

Below is what John wrote to me. I'm sharing it with you in the hope it will explain things to you if, like me, you need to understand.


The way different browsers display web pages has been a problem for a long time, and it will not get better soon. That is just my opinion, but here is my reason.

There are more web browsers than you can shake a stick at, and it is getting worse. Most designers only take into consideration IE, Firefox, Chrome and Opera. The operating system, whether it be Windows or Mac, will display differently, and now we have the 32 bit versions vs. the 64 bit versions of the operating systems to contend with. Also there are issues with screen resolution on the desk top, iPad and various cell phones using the Web.

To help bring all this mess into a common way of displaying information W3C has been the group that is working on standardizing how displays are supposed to be implemented. The site is very tech heavy, but here is the link:

www.w3.org

To add to the problem for designers, many people are not updating their browsers and thus they aren't getting the full benefit of the newest HTML and CSS standards. The biggest contention is with people and companies still using IE6 and even IE7. There are many reasons for this, but that doesn't help the designers.

The type of DOC Type that we use in the head of our web page will also affect the way a browser renders a page. You can see a list of Doc Types at the W3C site.

There is another web site that I use often to learn the correct way for implementing code. It is W3Schools and has good tutorials.

www.w3schools.com

As far as tags getting moved around by Wordpress ... This happens with other content management systems also, and is mainly caused by the type of editor we are using in conjunction with our management system.

With my Joomla site for an example I have the option for no editor and that is what I use as, then, I have just a blank entry area much like you will see with note pad. Since there isn't an editor to automatically enter code for me, it doesn't change anything I have entered.

I know this was a bit long and probably didn't relieve any of your frustrations but I wanted to give you my take. While I believe time will solve these issues we all have to struggle with the problem for now. Many designers are deciding to not support older browsers and that would speed up the process of compatibility, but it might loose some visitors.

John Zinda
www.PuzzleAttic.com

AOL Buys HuffPost


So, Now We See it CAN be Done!

Ever since blogs became popular online, “monetizing” a blog has become fodder for those who writing and selling “How to ...” information for making money online. As with everything else, a few have made it work and most haven't.

AOL's recent purchase of "The Huffington Post" for $315 million from Arianna Huffington drove home the point.

HuffPost, of course was never billed as an actual blog. It's stated purpose is an internet newspaper. And, it is. Nevertheless, it was operated like a blog with readers given free access to comment on every article.

Nothing is ever done online without controversy. Apparently some of the writers who contributed free articles to HuffPost aren't thrilled about this acquisition.

However, it's about much more than a simple purchase. As part of the deal, Arianna Huffington will now be in charge of all AOL's content.

Since Huffington has already established herself as television personality, there's much more involved here than the simple purchase of an internet newspaper. Her popularity on talk shows can do nothing but raise AOL's visibility and reputation.

Article Copyrights


Creative Commons License
These works are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 License
To re-publish articles by jl scott from this site, please include the following byline - with live links - after each article you use.

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* dr. jl scott is the Founder of Chamber of Commerce - on the Web™ http://www.ChamberofCommerce-ontheWeb.com - and also the publisher of the Online Business Trade Journal™ - the blog that keeps you up to date with online business coming of age. Visit: http://www.OnlineBusinessTradeJournal.com

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