March, 2010

Learning Management System (LMS)

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Learning Management System (LMS) s a software application for the administration, documentation, tracking, and reporting of training programs, classroom and online events, e-learning programs, and training content.

Learning Management System Review.

Now on the top of the board I would place two:
Moodle and eFront.

Winner 1


Moodle Online Course Management (FREE)

Moodle: Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment is a free and open-source e-learning software platform, also known as a Course Management System, Learning Management System, or Virtual Learning Environment. It has a significant user base with 45,721 registered and verified sites, containing 32 million users in 3 million courses (as of January 2010)

DEMO

DOWNLOAD

Winner 2


eFront (FREE)

eFront is designed to help create online courses with opportunities for rich interaction. eFront comes with a distinctive icon-based user interface that is intuitive to use. The platform offers a wide range of features from content creation, test builder, project management, extended statistics, internal messaging system, forum, chat, surveys and more. It is a SCORM 1.2 and SCORM 2004 compliant and certified system. Several features of the platform (e.g., skills management, organization structure) make it suitable for inner organization usage, especially at human resource departments. eFront is a multilingual platform offered in 39 languages.

DOWNLOAD

DEMO

JoomlaLMS (PREMIUM)

JoomlaLMS is a commercial component for Joomla Web content management system. The Learning Management System is PHP and MySQL based. JoomlaLMS enables users to create native LMS courses or import SCORM 1.2 and SCORM 2004 courses either created using Rapid Elearning authoring tools or off the shelf acquired SCORM packages.

DEMO

TRY&BUY

Claroline (FREE)

Claroline is a collaborative eLearning and eWorking platform (Learning Management System) released under Open Source license (GPL). It allows hundreds of organizations worldwide (universities, schools, companies, associations,…) to create and administer courses and collaboration spaces through the web. The platform is used in more than 80 countries and is available in more than 30 languages.

DEMO

DOWNLOAD

ATutor

ATutor is an Open Source Web-based Learning Content Management System (LCMS). ATutor is used in various contexts, including online course management, continuing professional development for teachers, career development, and academic research. The software is cited as unique for its accessibility features, (useful to visually-impaired and disabled learners); and for its suitability for educational use according to software evaluation criteria established by The American Society for Training and Development (ASTD). ATutor is used internationally and has been translated into over fifteen languages with support for over forty additional language modules currently under development.

DEMO

DOWNLOAD

ANGEL /Blackboard

ANGEL Learning, Inc. was a privately held educational software company specializing in eLearning. Its main products are the ANGEL Learning Management Suite (LMS), ANGEL ePortfolio, and services offerings. In May 2009 it was acquired by Blackboard Inc..

VISIT WEBSITE

Just to name few others:
# CCNet
# Desire2Learn eLearning Suite
# Dokeos
# eCollege
# ElearningForce SharePointLMS
# HotChalk
# ILIAS
# Jackson Creek Software
# Learn.com
# Meridian KSI
# NaMaYa
# Sakai Project
# Spiral Universe
# Thinking Cap
# TotalLMS
# Saba (Saba Software)

I have done some initial test for few of above’s, if you have some questions, let me know.
Z.

15 March 2010 at 23:33 - Comments
Maisha
Thanks for sharing. Share is caring after all.
11 October 10 at 07:25

SEO – learn how to do Search Engine Optimization part 3

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SEO – learn how to do Search Engine Optimization part 3

Now the trick with those is, to use dynamic META KEYWORD content instead of static.

Beside changing settings available by default in WP like permalinks to custom setting into %postname% we can use ready-to-go script doing exactly that. Well know script doing this is All in One SEO Pack (it’s FREE and available here).

See the code which does the magic here (http://gargasz.info/wp_seo.txt).

ClipShare script for example has this functionality build in. So any TAG words, or video file name with automatically appear in META KEYWORDS.

See how ClipShare script does it in here (http://gargasz.info/clipshare_seo_script.txt).

It is pretty cool functionality, and you if you will set up index and sub pages correctly, your blog might just end up on first 2 pages of Google very soon.

15 March 2010 at 21:02 - Comments
Scourna
You certainly deserve a round of applause for your post and more specifically, your blog in general. Very high quality ...
7 March 11 at 13:31
Jake Molder
Superb Weblog. I add this Weblog to my bookmarks.
2 November 11 at 21:02

SEO – learn how to do Search Engine Optimization part 1

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At this point, most businesses with an online presence understand the value of having an optimized website. The emerging industry of search engine optimization is providing the online market with a new way to be found by your target audience and, hopefully, potential customers. But in this time of belt tightening, there are a number of businesses who can’t afford the services of skilled SEO firms and they adopt a “Do-It-Yourself” mentality. Other decision-makers who choose to employ a third-party SEO company just like to know exactly what they are paying for. Either way, there is a learning curve involved with search engine optimization, especially because of its constant evolution with the web. There is a certain amount of time and energy required to bring yourself up to speed, in order to succeed in SEO. No matter the size of your business, or how you want to go about your SEO implementation, there is a basic foundation of knowledge you need to learn, in order to succeed online. Here are some insightful tips that can help you get started.

2. Learn Who To Trust

There is a lot of advice out there, and not all of it is good. Just like any other marketing niche, SEO has some shady individuals that will take you for the proverbial ride. But, there are some trustworthy sources that will give you a quick run-through of the basics of SEO and SEM. Check out SEOmoz’s Beginner’s Guide to SEO for a good place to start. Take a few hours and learn the basics. This will raise your preliminary knowledge to a level where you can make an educated decision. This can also make the task of choosing a trustworthy SEO company much easier. If you are DIY, then it will give you a great start on optimizing your own site.

3. Learn What Your Customers Search For

Google has this great resource called Google AdWords Keyword Tool, that will give you great keyword ideas for your website and business. Enter in the keywords or terms that you think your target audience and customers are searching for the most, or how you think they would describe your business, and AdWords will tell you how they are performing. You want to optimize for the keywords and terms that Google shows a lot of volume for, but not a lot of competition.

4. Create a Web Presence, Not Just a Site

Did you know that you can submit your business information to Google’s Local Business Center, Yahoo Local, and now Bing Local to get found in local search? You can also start business profiles on social media sites like Facebook Twitter, Yelp or start a blog using Drupal, a free and easy open source platform that has tons of free and affordable themes. Check out Top Notch Themes for great ideas.

The education needed to succeed with SEO can be done with a little time and effort. If you are a smaller business, then it may be optimal for your budget to DIY. But if you don’t have the resources or capacity, then you will only be doing yourself a disservice.

Volacci is the leading Drupal SEO company and very passionate about your online success. By the end of your contract you will have at least as much additional business from your web site as you spend on our services… or we’ll work for free until you do.

H.Walker

11 March 2010 at 23:16 - Comments
ownsand
I have just discovered your internet site and appreciate every article. I admire your talent.
7 November 11 at 09:27

Web 2.0 FUTURE MYTHBUSTERS

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The term “Web 2.0″  is commonly associated with web applications which facilitate interactive information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design and collaboration on the World Wide Web. Examples of Web 2.0 include web-based communities, hosted services, web applications, social-networking sites, video-sharing sites, wikis, blogs, mashups and folksonomies.

A Web 2.0 site allows its users to interact with other users or to change website content, in contrast to non-interactive websites where users are limited to the passive viewing of information that is provided to them.

The term is closely associated with Tim O’Reilly because of the O’Reilly Media Web 2.0 conference in 2004. Although the term suggests a new version of the World Wide Web, it does not refer to an update to any technical specifications, but rather to cumulative changes in the ways software developers and end-users use the Web. Whether Web 2.0 is qualitatively different from prior web technologies has been challenged by World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee who called the term a “piece of jargon”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0

Going this way, by 2020 we will have Web v 200. at least. But because internet is so crowded, and there are more and more people involved, well to make it easy, there is a need to implement new terms to describe new complex processes. From that point of view it does make sense?

I understand IPv6 internet network you can call Internet V2, because it is huge step, but still it is same idea, just increasing the number of IP available by changing infrastructure to 128bits addressing.

Now we have times where SEO is not enough. Social Media is coming to action. That is bringing question probably we all are asking ourselves, what it’s going to be after Social Media? Super Hyper new technology or some brilliant idea of 6 years old genius from china? Or maybe people will get bored and will get back to stone age? Some extremists probably will, but I wouldn’t be so drastic in those predictions. As it evolving day by day, it’s not going to be so shocking to us, but one day you will stop, look back and say OMG…amazed how far we went with technology.

How it’s going to looks like? just look on one of the current futuristic movies like Surogati (Bruce Willis) or Gamer (Gerard Butler). Well maybe not tomorrow, but soon it will be possible. You can picture this perfectly, just try to watch one of the ‘futuristic’ movies made in 1980-1998 for example. Where they showing future of 2012, most of it it’s possible, but it is not getting our attention as people back then thought it will. It is so ordinary, so usual to us that we do not realize the progression. It will continue that way, and no one will wake up, because there will be nothing to wake up from, it will be reality as today is for us.

11 March 2010 at 22:32 - Comments

Online manipulation? Mind programming? Where internet should go?

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I was reading this morning article about war between Google and AT&T. Everything started with Google Voice service for iPhone and case went to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to investigate Google’s alleged policy of blocking high-cost calls to rural areas.

“We urge the Commission to level the playing field and order Google to play by the same rules as its competitors,” AT&T Senior Vice President Robert W. Quinn, Jr. said in a letter sent Friday to the Federal Communications Commission.

AT&T Senior Vice President Robert Quinn said: “Google casually dismisses the bureau’s order, claiming that Google Voice ‘isn’t a traditional phone service and shouldn’t be regulated like other common carriers. But in reality, Google Voice appears to be nothing more than a creatively packaged assortment of services that are already quite familiar to the commission.”

That’s a claim Google has now refuted resoundingly, answering the FCC with a statement claiming that Google Voice is not a phone service. Rather, it enhances existing communications by offering a single portal through which to access those landlines, mobiles, IM, texts and other modes. Google’s Richard Whitt, senior counsel, also noted that AT&T and other LECs charge for their services and are the beneficiaries of Universal Service Fund subsidiaries. In contrast, Google Voice is a free application that cannot afford to remain so if it must pay “exorbitant” termination rates for calls to certain exchanges.

Those exchanges, Whitt argued, have higher-than-usual termination rates because they have profitable relationships with adult chat lines and free conference calling services. The result is a large amount of expensive traffic. That reality, Google said, arises from outdated carrier compensation rules that should be fixed.

Depending on the FCC findings, the case could result in any number of free Web services, like Skype, for instance, being regulated as traditional landline or mobile services. That’s a turn of events that Whitt warned would end up slowing innovation significantly. AT&T in turn looks at it as leveling the playing field. Free IP-based services have been steadily cannibalizing a segment of its bread-and-butter voice services, helped along by a lack of competitive regulation.

Fair point for google, but during this article AT & T have highlighted few subject no one wants to talk about. For instance as some people were saying google was blocking ads from certain senators campaigns as well blocking some news channels sponsored by organizations involved rather with competition then google.
This is something most people didn’t know. Is this google filtering really in the spot where it should be? Seems like it’s filtering big money and politics rather then content each ‘gray’ person is interested in. Is this the way to feed people with information they want? And let us think this is information WE WANT. There is simple word for it called manipulation or rather newage subliminal message?
Does google do whatever they want and everyone else have to adjust to them?
Is that freedom if internet?
Robert W. Quinn is not the first one and definitely not the last one putting out words like monopolization describing google politics.
On the end they are replaceable those times, would they change their way of thinking? Will they pick up the point where they have started and seem they forgot about – adjusting to people and stay away from the dirt? Probably not possible in the word ruled by big dollar..hmm?

11 March 2010 at 22:31 - Comments
Kleerk
I am a long time ago I read your blog and has long been saying that you're a great writer
20 October 11 at 06:56

ICANN to reconsider the .xxx domain registry

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ICANN announced that it will take into consideration the plan for .xxx adult domain . A spokesman stated that this issue will be discussed on 12 March 2010.

ICANN will take another look at the proposal and it will be on the agenda at the meeting on Friday.”

ICANN had previously given the domain the go ahead in 2005, but reversed the decision two years later amidst protests from US conservative groups. An independent review recently concluded that decision was unfair and that the plan should be reconsidered.

The ICM Registry sent a letter to ICANN ,explaining the importance of .xxx domain names.

Stuart Lawley,chairman of ICM Registry stated that ” “ICM remains committed to the .xxx project, and is eager to work with ICANN to take the steps necessary to launch the new sponsored top-level domain and, in so doing, ensure that the results of the first-ever ICANN Independent Review Process are fully implemented in accordance with ICANN’s own core values of accountability, transparency and objectivity.”

.XXX domain names will be used only for adult websites.

It is in business terms major even, opening many opportunities for online business. When we look on history of domains such as sex.com where its generated in 1995 25 million hits a day with income from click-throughs and other advertising, reportedly $50,000 to $500,000 per month.

Sex.com was reported sold to Escom LLC in January 2006. At a reported $14 million price, the domain name has widely been cited as the highest priced domain sale.

As of February 18th,2010, the domain name has been ordered to be sold at a foreclosure auction.

Read more about role of ICANN here.

15 of March 2010
Page 78 in below deocument:
http://www.icann.org/en/irp/icm-v-icann/irp-panel-declaration-19feb10-en.pdf

Seems like its not gonna happen this time either…

======================

And there we are, few months after and there seems to be some progress happening. As I was informed by applicant ICM Registry, ICANN case is still in progress.

As per latest report from 26 March 2010 available here ICM Registry is still working to clarify approval process with ICANN. There are many issues highlighted during this process, like for example:

———

ICANN’s decision has important implications for Internet freedom of expression. While a .xxx domain is undeniably controversial, ICANN must guard against becoming a tool of those who wish to discourage or censor certain kinds of legal content. A TLD string should not be rejected simply because some people or some governments object to the types of content that might be associated with it. ICANN’s mandate to coordinate top level domain names cannot and should not become a mechanism for content regulation or censorship.

———

So still no final word in this case. According to information provided by ICM Registry latest requirements appointed by ICANN were rather regarding technical facilities then politics. But there seems to be true on both sides on this disputes. What do you think?

11 March 2010 at 22:30 - Comments

useit.com

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useit.com is iconic website. It is reminder of the purpose of the website. Quite often it’s happening web designers are overloading websites with graphics and information.
Is the simplicity the key? Definitely for some categories of websites, for other complex but without loosing the usability is the true art of web design and web developing.
On useit.com you can find publications regarding such subjects as:

Eyetracking Web Usability
Prioritizing Web Usability
Designing Web Usability

Enjoy reading :)

11 March 2010 at 21:54 - Comments
Herman Pozzobon
Remarkable post as well as convenient in order to figure out description.
20 October 11 at 09:45

INTERNET DICTIONARY

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SEO  -  (marketing term, closely related to position of your website in search result in Google, yahoo and other search engines)

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the volume or quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via “natural” or un-paid (”organic” or “algorithmic”) search results as opposed to search engine marketing (SEM) which deals with paid inclusion. Typically, the earlier (or higher) a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine. SEO may target different kinds of search, including image search, local search, and industry-specific vertical search engines. This gives a web site web presence.

As an Internet marketing strategy, SEO considers how search engines work and what people search for. Optimizing a website primarily involves editing its content and HTML and associated coding to both increase its relevance to specific keywords and to remove barriers to the indexing activities of search engines.

The acronym “SEO” can also refer to “search engine optimizers,” a term adopted by an industry of consultants who carry out optimization projects on behalf of clients, and by employees who perform SEO services in-house. Search engine optimizers may offer SEO as a stand-alone service or as a part of a broader marketing campaign. Because effective SEO may require changes to the HTML source code of a site, SEO tactics may be incorporated into web site development and design. The term “search engine friendly” may be used to describe web site designs, menus, content management systems, images, videos, shopping carts, and other elements that have been optimized for the purpose of search engine exposure.

Another class of techniques, known as black hat SEO or Spamdexing, use methods such as link farms, keyword stuffing and article spinning that degrade both the relevance of search results and the user-experience of search engines. Search engines look for sites that employ these techniques in order to remove them from their indic.

Diffrence between SEO and SEM

Search Engine Optimization is term to describe all technuqies and processes of improving site positioning in organic search results (free).

Search Engine Marketing is term to desribe same as above but for “sponsored links” premium advertising (CPC type).

CPC -  (marketing term for paid advertising, where charges depends of how many user will click and follow the ad, most popular tool using this idea is Google AdWords, sponsored links on the right hand side on search results, plus it is possible to put your ads on other websites related by subject or category.)

Pay per click (PPC) is an Internet advertising model used on websites, in which advertisers pay their host only when their ad is clicked. With search engines, advertisers typically bid on keyword phrases relevant to their target market. Content sites commonly charge a fixed price per click rather than use a bidding system.

Cost per click (CPC) is the amount of money an advertiser pays search engines and other Internet publishers for a single click on its advertisement that brings one visitor to its website.

In contrast to the generalized portal, which seeks to drive a high volume of traffic to one site, PPC implements so called affiliate model, that provides purchase opportunities wherever people may be surfing. It does this by offering financial incentives (in the form of a percentage of revenue) to affiliated partner sites. The affiliates provide purchase-point click-through to the merchant. It is a pay-for-performance model — if an affiliate does not generate sales, it represents no cost to the merchant. The affiliate model is inherently well-suited to the web, which explains its popularity. Variations include, banner exchange, pay-per-click, and revenue sharing programs.

Websites that utilize PPC ads will display an advertisement when a keyword query matches an advertiser’s keyword list, or when a content site displays relevant content. Such advertisements are called sponsored links or sponsored ads, and appear adjacent to or above organic results on search engine results pages, or anywhere a web developer chooses on a content site.

Although many PPC providers exist, Google AdWords, Yahoo! Search Marketing, and Microsoft adCenter are the three largest network operators, and all three operate under a bid-based model. Cost per click (CPC) varies depending on the search engine and the level of competition for a particular keyword.

The PPC advertising model is open to abuse through click fraud, although Google and others have implemented automated systems to guard against abusive clicks by competitors or corrupt web developers

SMO – (marketing term related to promoting product or portal on social portals like myspace, facebook, beebo, twitter etc)

Social media optimization (SMO) is a set of methods for generating publicity through social media, online communities and community websites. Methods of SMO include adding RSS feeds, social news buttons, blogging, and incorporating third-party community functionalities like images and videos. Social media optimization is related to search engine marketing, but differs in several ways, primarily the focus on driving traffic from sources other than search engines, though improved search ranking is also a benefit of successful SMO.

Social media optimization is in many ways connected as a technique to viral marketing where word of mouth is created not through friends or family but through the use of networking in social bookmarking, video and photo sharing websites. In a similar way the engagement with blogs achieves the same by sharing content through the use of RSS in the blogosphere and special blog search engines.

Social Media optimization is considered an integral part of an online reputation management (ORM) or Search Engine Reputation Management (SERM) strategy for organizations or individuals who care about their online presence.

Business Strategy Social Media Optimisation (SMO), is not limited to marketing and brand building. Increasingly smart businesses are integrating social media participation as part of their knowledge management strategy (ie. product/service development, recruiting, employee engagement and turnover, brand building, customer satisfaction and relations, business development and more).

LMS – (describing engines/software used to manage self learning portals)

A learning management system (LMS) is “a software application that automates the administration, documentation, tracking, and reporting of training events”.

LMSs range from systems for managing training/educational records to software for distributing courses over the Internet and offering features for online collaboration. In many instances, corporate training departments purchase LMSs to automate record-keeping as well as the registration of employees for classroom and online courses. Student self-service (e.g., self-registration on instructor-led training), training workflow (e.g., user notification, manager approval, wait-list management), the provision of on-line learning (e.g., Computer-Based Training, read & understand), on-line assessment, management of continuous professional education (CPE), collaborative learning (e.g., application sharing, discussion threads), and training resource management (e.g., instructors, facilities, equipment), are dimensions to Learning Management Systems.

Most LMSs are web-based to facilitate access to learning content and administration. LMSs are used by regulated industries (e.g. financial services and biopharma) for compliance training. It is also used by educational institutions to enhance and support classroom teaching and offering courses to a larger population of learners across the globe.

Some LMS providers include “performance management systems”, which encompass employee appraisals, competency management, skills-gap analysis, succession planning, and multi-rater assessments (i.e., 360 degree reviews).

For the commercial market, some Learning and Performance Management Systems include recruitment and reward functionality.

LMSs are based on a variety of development platforms, like Java/J2EE based architectures, Microsoft .NET, PHP, and usually employ the use of a database as back-end. Some systems are commercially developed and have non-free software licenses or restrict access to their source code, Other systems are free and open-source and frequently used. Other than the most simple, basic functionality, LMSs cater to, and focus on, different educational, administrative, and deployment requirements.

CMS – content management system or web content management system (WCMS)

Is a software system that provides website authoring, collaboration, and administration tools designed to allow users with little knowledge of web programming languages or markup languages to create and manage website content with relative ease. A robust WCMS provides the foundation for collaboration, offering users the ability to manage documents and output for multiple author editing and participation.

Most systems use a database to store page content, metadata, and other information assets that might be needed by the system. Content is frequently, but not universally, stored as XML to facilitate, reuse, and enable flexible presentation options.

Mostly we can see PHP/SQL based CMS systems. Where most popular today would be WordPress, Joomla, SocialEngine. But there are thousands of others like dating scripts, video sharing scripts  (ClipShare,AVS,PHPMotion,ViMP,Vshare and many others).

TLD – Those are known domain extensions like .com .net .biz .gov, and all country extensions like .us .ie .pl .cn etc, but DNS system also allows to register domains like .bmw .kia .name .google .tpsa .you etc where root server will delegate it to the registrar, for Example IEDR.IE has bought rights for all .IE domains, their DNS server is controlling all other .IE domains and allows or not to propagate records from assigned name servers (domain name hosting company) . It is related to subject of Internet Governance and Alternative DNS ROOT servers, more on tld.webvague.com and igiic.com website.

A top-level domain or domain name (TLD) is the highest level of domain names in the root zone of the Domain Name System of the Internet. For all domains in lower levels, it is the last part of the domain name, that is, the label that follows the last dot of a fully qualified domain name. For example, in the domain name www.example.com, the top-level domain is com, or COM, as domain names are not case-sensitive. Management of most top-level domains is delegated to responsible organizations by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which operates the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) and is in charge of maintaining the DNS root zone.

Originally, the top-level domain space was organized into three main groups, Countries, Categories, and Multiorganizations. An additional temporary group consisted only of the initial DNS domain, arpa, intended for transitional purposes toward the stabilization of the domain name system.

DNS (in simplest word ever: it translate

human language    to   computer language

name                               to   IP

www.domain.com to 83.84.234.23

The Domain Name System (DNS) is a hierarchical naming system for computers, services, or any resource connected to the Internet or a private network. It associates various information with domain names assigned to each of the participants. Most importantly, it translates domain names meaningful to humans into the numerical (binary) identifiers associated with networking equipment for the purpose of locating and addressing these devices worldwide. An often used analogy to explain the Domain Name System is that it serves as the “phone book” for the Internet by translating human-friendly computer hostnames into IP addresses. For example, www.example.com translates to 208.77.188.166.

The Domain Name System makes it possible to assign domain names to groups of Internet users in a meaningful way, independent of each user’s physical location. Because of this, World-Wide Web (WWW) hyperlinks and Internet contact information can remain consistent and constant even if the current Internet routing arrangements change or the participant uses a mobile device. Internet domain names are easier to remember than IP addresses such as 208.77.188.166 (IPv4) or 2001:db8:1f70::999:de8:7648:6e8 (IPv6). People take advantage of this when they recite meaningful URLs and e-mail addresses without having to know how the machine will actually locate them.

The Domain Name System distributes the responsibility of assigning domain names and mapping those names to IP addresses by designating authoritative name servers for each domain. Authoritative name servers are assigned to be responsible for their particular domains, and in turn can assign other authoritative name servers for their sub-domains. This mechanism has made the DNS distributed, fault tolerant, and helped avoid the need for a single central register to be continually consulted and updated.

In general, the Domain Name System also stores other types of information, such as the list of mail servers that accept email for a given Internet domain. By providing a worldwide, distributed keyword-based redirection service, the Domain Name System is an essential component of the functionality of the Internet.

Other identifiers such as RFID tags, UPC codes, International characters in email addresses and host names, and a variety of other identifiers could all potentially utilize DNS

PHP – powerful and most common scripting language

PHP, or PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor, is a widely used, general-purpose scripting language that was originally designed for web development, to produce dynamic web pages. It can be embedded into HTML and generally runs on a web server, which needs to be configured to process PHP code and create web page content from it. It can be deployed on most web servers and on almost every operating system and platform free of charge.[2] PHP is installed on over 20 million websites and 1 million web servers.[3]

PHP was originally created by Rasmus Lerdorf in 1995 and has been in continuous development ever since. The main implementation of PHP is now produced by The PHP Group and serves as the de facto standard for PHP as there is no formal specification.[4] PHP is free software released under the PHP License, which is incompatible with the GNU General Public License (GPL) because of restrictions on the use of the term PHP.[5]

PHP has evolved to include a command line interface capability and can also be used in standalone graphical applications.[6]

SQL – database, together with PHP and CSS it is background 99% of internet websites and portals.

SQL (Structured Query Language) [1] is a database computer language designed for managing data in relational database management systems (RDBMS). Its scope includes data query and update, schema creation and modification, and data access control. SQL was one of the first languages for Edgar F. Codd’s relational model in his influential 1970 paper, “A Relational Model of Data for Large Shared Data Banks”[2] and became the most widely used language for relational databases.

CSS – as name says, Cascading Style Sheets. Next step in the evolution of HTML. Those times used as main template for HTML website.

All engines like Joomla, WordPress, Drupal, Social Engine etc are using combination of PHP commands calling to SQL dba and cascading of CSS, so it is crutial to know all 3, well it is not that difficult as CSS can be compared to HTML which is the simplest to learn.

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is a style sheet language used to describe the presentation semantics (that is, the look and formatting) of a document written in a markup language. Its most common application is to style web pages written in HTML and XHTML, but the language can be applied to any kind of XML document, including SVG and XUL.

CSS is designed primarily to enable the separation of document content (written in HTML or a similar markup language) from document presentation, including elements such as the colors, fonts, and layout. This separation can improve content accessibility, provide more flexibility and control in the specification of presentation characteristics, enable multiple pages to share formatting, and reduce complexity and repetition in the structural content (such as by allowing for tableless web design). CSS can also allow the same markup page to be presented in different styles for different rendering methods, such as on-screen, in print, by voice (when read out by a speech-based browser or screen reader) and on Braille-based, tactile devices. While the author of a document typically links that document to a CSS style sheet, readers can use a different style sheet, perhaps one on their own computer, to override the one the author has specified.

CSS specifies a priority scheme to determine which style rules apply if more than one rule matches against a particular element. In this so-called cascade, priorities or weights are calculated and assigned to rules, so that the results are predictable.

The CSS specifications are maintained by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). Internet media type (MIME type) text/css is registered for use with CSS by RFC 2318 (March 1998).

FLASH – for best animation and fancy websites. (best for multimedia presentations, irreplaceable for web cam support, not so good for SEO, especially if not using advanced FLASH design integrated with eternal XML source. So what usualy is used it the mix of CSS and FLASH for simple websites, and PHP+SQL+CSS+some fancy FLASH effects and banners for more advanced websites)

Adobe Flash (previously known as Macromedia Flash) is a multimedia platform originally acquired by Macromedia and currently developed and distributed by Adobe Systems. Since its introduction in 1996, Flash has become a popular method for adding animation and interactivity to web pages. Flash is commonly used to create animation, advertisements, and various web page Flash components, to integrate video into web pages, and more recently, to develop rich Internet applications.

Flash can manipulate vector and raster graphics, and supports bidirectional streaming of audio and video. It contains a scripting language called ActionScript. Several software products, systems, and devices are able to create or display Flash content, including Adobe Flash Player, which is available free for most common web browsers, some mobile phones and for other electronic devices (using Flash Lite). The Adobe Flash Professional multimedia authoring program is used to create content for the Adobe Engagement Platform, such as web applications, games and movies, and content for mobile phones and other embedded devices.

Files in the SWF format, traditionally called “ShockWave Flash” movies, “Flash movies” or “Flash games”, usually have a .swf file extension and may be an object of a web page, strictly “played” in a standalone Flash Player, or incorporated into a Projector, a self-executing Flash movie (with the .exe extension in Microsoft Windows or .hqx for Macintosh). Flash Video files[spec 1] have a .flv file extension and are either used from within .swf files or played through a flv-aware player, such as VLC, or QuickTime and Windows Media Player with external codecs added.

11 March 2010 at 21:00 - Comments
Omer Roswell
Thanks for taking the time to discuss this, I feel strongly about it and love learning more on this topic. ...
1 February 11 at 14:28
Kanarek
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20 February 11 at 07:34

SEO – learn how to do Search Engine Optimization part 2

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First of all IT starts when you start to design website and registering domain name. Decide which keywords you want and all related subjects and keywords. You keyword generator or thesaurus to design all content ‘around’ dedicated subject.

Register Domain name with desired keyword,  enter TITLE of the page with relevant keyword or related words to keyword.
try calling all deviders and alts, picture naming html files names and links to be called with names relative to the subject and desired keyword.

So from above you see it is the Content which matters.
As much text and related blog posts or articles for example will help.

META

META Tags or what are officially referred to as Metadata Elements, are found within the <head></head> section of your web pages. META Tags are still relevant with some indexing search engines. You should utilize your META Tags in accordance with the W3C – World Wide Web Consortium Metadata Specifications and those of the search engines you are targeting.

The following is a partial list of metadata elements that may be used in the overall site structuring, organization, and search engine marketing strategy.

We’ve provided HTML Comments (look for this <!-- Comment Here -->) in the source code to help you understand the metadata elements referenced in this series of topics.

  1. TITLE Element – Page Titles
    Every html document must have a TITLE Element in the head section. Some refer to the <title> element as a meta tag (title tag) when it is not.<title>META Tags Tips - Metadata Elements</title>To see an example of where the title element is placed in the html, view the source code of this web page. Look at the very top of the page right after the opening <head> tag.
  2. META Description Tag
    Some search engines will index the META Description Tag found in the <head></head> section of your web pages. These indexing search engines may present the content of your meta description tag as the result of a search query.<meta name="description" content="META Tags or what are officially referred to as Metadata Elements are found within the <head></head> section of your web pages. The following is a partial list of metadata elements that may be used in the overall site structuring, organization, and search engine marketing strategy.">
  3. META Keywords Tag
    The META Keywords Tag is where you list keywords and keyword phrases that you’ve targeted for that specific page. There have been numerous discussions at various search engine marketing forums surrounding the use of the keywords tag and its effectiveness. The overall consensus is that the tag has little to no relevance with the major search engines today.<meta name="keywords" content="META Tags, Tips, Metadata Elements, META Description Tag, META Keywords Tag, Language Tag, Link Relationship Tag, Title Element">
  4. META Language Tag
    In HTML elements, the language attribute or META Language Tag specifies the natural language. This document is mostly concerned with how to specify the primary language(s) (there could be more than one) and the base language (there is only one) in HTML documents.<meta http-equiv="content-language" content="en">
  5. META Link Relationship Tag
    It is helpful for search results to reference the beginning of the collection of documents in addition to the page hit by the search. You may help search engines by using the link element with rel="start" along with the title attribute. The META Link Relationship tag is part of the metadata that appears within the <head></head> section of your web pages.<link rel="start" href="/meta-tags/" title="META Tags Tips - Metadata Elements">
  6. META Robots Tag
    The Robots META Tag is meant to provide users who cannot upload or control the/robots.txt file at their websites, with a last chance to keep their content out of search engine indexes and services.<meta name="robots" content="noindex, nofollow">

    • META Robots Tag for Googlebot
      Googlebot obeys the noindex, nofollow, and noarchive META Robots Tags. If you place these tags in the head of your HTML/XHTML document, you can cause Google to not index, not follow, and/or not archive particular documents on your site.<meta name="googlebot" content="noindex, nofollow, noarchive">
    • META Robots Tag for MSNBot
      MSNBot obeys the noindex and nofollow Robots META Tag. Placing these tags in the heading of your HTML document prevents MSNBot from indexing or following specific documents.<meta name="msnbot" content="noindex, nofollow">
  7. META Revisit-After Tag
    The revisit-after META tag is not supported by any major search engines, it never was supported and probably never will be. It was developed for, and supported by, Vancouver Webpages and their local search engine searchBC.<meta name="revisit-after" content="7 days">
  8. META Tags Abuse and Misuse – Metadata Structuring and Standards
    This is a search engine marketing article published by our System Admin (Edward Lewis) that discusses the use of HTML Comments Tags and proprietary metadata elements.
  9. META Tag Myths – The Mythical META Tag
    2009 Article discussing the perpetuating myths surrounding the use of the META Description Tag and META Keywords Tag.
  10. DC Dublin Core META Tags – DCMI Dublin Core Metadata Initiative
    The Dublin Core metadata element set is a standard for cross domain information resource description.<meta name="DC.title" lang="en" content="DC Dublin Core META Tags - DCMI Dublin Core Metadata Initiative">
  11. HTML Comments Tag
    HTML comments are not metadata but, are typically found in the <head></head> section of web pages. HTML comments can be utilized anywhere within your documents HTML structure.<!-- HTML Comments (treated as HTML markup) -->There has been a myth that has perpetuated over the years where keywords and keyword phrases listed inside HTML comments tags would add a boost to the overall relevancy of the page. This is not true based on numerous tests we’ve performed during the years 2002 through 2009.

Don’t forget settings of Googlebot spiders allowance (Crawler access)

simple create robots.txt with content

User-agent: *
Allow: /

and upload it to root folder.
You can generate your own robots file
in Google Webmsater Tools – > Site configuration -> Crawler access

Also you can enter those in Meta settings in the Head section.

3. Sitemaps and Sitelinks ( IT IS NOT THE SAME!)
What are Sitemaps?

Sitemaps are an easy way for webmasters to inform search engines about pages on their sites that are available for crawling. In its simplest form, a Sitemap is an XML file that lists URLs for a site along with additional metadata about each URL (when it was last updated, how often it usually changes, and how important it is, relative to other URLs in the site) so that search engines can more intelligently crawl the site.

Web crawlers usually discover pages from links within the site and from other sites. Sitemaps supplement this data to allow crawlers that support Sitemaps to pick up all URLs in the Sitemap and learn about those URLs using the associated metadata. Using the Sitemap protocol does not guarantee that web pages are included in search engines, but provides hints for web crawlers to do a better job of crawling your site. You can use one of the online sitemaps generators, they are free and very easy to use.

Sitelinks
Google Sitelinks are little sub-listings that sometimes appear under the first listing on the first page in Google search results.

See the five links that are indented under the main listing? Those are Google Sitelinks.

Google has a help document named How do you compile the list of links shown below some search results? that explains a bit more on how they work.

Sitelinks created automatically by an algorithm. Google says they “analyze the link structure of your site to find shortcuts.”

Google formally named Google Sitemaps in September 2006. They’d been spotted and tested for well over a year before that, going back to at least July 2005.

Social Patterns once tried to analyze what generates the exact links that come up, back before the feature was formally named. I suspect they are now based on the link popularity of your internal pages, mixed with how many internal links you have pointing to your inner pages added with the popularity from external links.

4. Links to your site (be active on forums and blogs, give links to this page, all social websites like facebook, myspace, linkid etc….will help, be aware that submitting NOT RELATED posts is a spamming! so be active in forums which are related to the subject of your keywords/website)

5. Submit website on (you have to be gmail registered)

Google Webmaster Central = www.google.com/webmasters/

and verify by verification meta tag or upload dedicated verification html file (all details given when you submitting the website)

6. Domain is currently associated with the target country?

This might help, if it is small local business remeber to target the country. You will be able to change it for global domains like .com. Local domains like .us, .pl., .ie will target the country itself by domain extension for example .ie will target Ireland.

7. Check for ‘Crawl errors‘ and keep eye on Webmaster Tools dashboard, do Google positioning check by desired keyword to check your results.

SAMPLE OF HEADER OF THE WEBSITE WITH SEO FRIENTLY TAGGING:

————————————————–

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN”> <- at the top of the page (yours could be different)
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv=”Content-Type” content=”text/html; charset=iso-8859-1“>
<title>Your Web Page Title</title>
<meta name="verify-v1" content="your own code from google web dev panel" />

<meta http-equiv=”Content-Language” content=”en“>
<meta name=”description” content=”Your description“>
<meta name=”keywords” content=”
keyword1 keyword2“>

</head>

<body>
The viewable content of your Web page.

For example linke to subpage <a href=”keyword_related_subject.html”>

Also it is recommended to use general website naming for specific content. Like for example:

info.html or php etc General organization info
home.html or php etc Home page, general reception
reception.organization Reception
welcome.html Reception
contact.organization General contact page
mail.organization General contact page
order.organization Order department
orders.organization Order department
sales.organization Sales portal
product.organization Product info portal

</body>
</html> <- at the bottom of the page

Enjoy

Z.

11 March 2010 at 20:19 - Comments
loumphep
I love gargasz.info! Here I always find a lot of helpful information for myself. Thanks you for your work. ...
20 January 11 at 03:34

Google Social Search

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Introducing Google Social Search: I finally found my friend’s New York blog! Your friends and contacts are a key part of your life online. Most people on the web today make social connections and publish web content in many different ways, including blogs, status updates and tweets. This translates to a public social web of content that has special relevance to each person. Unfortunately, that information isn’t always very easy to find in one simple place. That’s why today we’re rolling out a new experiment on Google Labs called Google Social Search that helps you find more relevant public content from your broader social circle. It should be available for everyone to try by the end of the day, so be sure to check back.

More can be found on official Google blog  http://googleblog.blogspot.com here.

Check out Google’s latest ideas

Features: Google Social SearchPrint

Google Social Search is an experimental feature that helps you find relevant public web content from people in your social circle, when you’re signed in to your Google Account. For example, search for [ restaurants ], and restaurant reviews by your friends and other contacts may appear more prominently in your results. Join the Social Search experiment at http://www.google.com/experimental

Social Search adds relevant content from your contacts to your results.

Watch a video overview

When you join the Social Search experiment, Google may bring up results from your friends and other contacts. These special results appear at the bottom of the search results page, in a section labeled “Results from people in your social circle.”With Social Search, you’ll be able to more easily find relevant public content from your social circle, such as the following:

  • Websites, blogs, public profiles, and other content linked from your friends’ Google profiles.
  • Web content, such as status updates, tweets, and reviews, from social services that your friends have listed in their Google profiles.
  • Relevant articles from your Google Reader subscriptions.

You can also filter your search results to only see results from people in your social circle. Here’s how:

  1. Click Show Options at the top of the search results page to open the Options panel.
  2. Click Social to filter your results.

If you don’t want to see social search results, you can simply sign out of your Google Account, or opt out of the Social Search experiment at any time. To opt out, visit http://www.google.com/experimental and click the Leave button for the experiment.

Your social circle consists of contacts from Gmail and sites listed in your Google profile.

The following people make up your social circle:

  • People you’re connected to through social services that you’ve listed in your Google profile, such as Twitter and FriendFeed.
  • People in your Gmail (or Google Talk) chat list.
  • People in your Friends, Family, and Coworkers contact groups for Google.

If someone you don’t know shows up in your social search results, it’s likely that they’re connected to someone you do know. Social Search includes results from public connections of your immediate social circle, since there’s a high likelihood that you know them as well. For example, if you’re following someone on Twitter, and that person is following five other people, those five other people are also included in your social circle.

Watch a video explanation of social circles

Expand your social circle to improve your social search results.You can improve your social search results by expanding your social circle and encouraging your friends to publish content online. Expand your social circle by doing the following:

  • Create a Google profile.
  • Add content to your Google profile, including links to other social services you use.
  • Subscribe to your friends’ content in Google Reader.
  • Add people you know to your network of contacts in the various social services you use.
  • Tell your friends to start tweeting, blogging, and share more web content.

Create a Google profile to improve how you appear in other people’s social search results.

Make yourself more discoverable in social search results by creating a Google profile. Then do the following:

  • Add links to content you want to share, such as your blog or YouTube channel.
  • Publish additional web content and make sure it’s all linked to your Google profile.

When you add new links to your profile, it may take a couple weeks (or longer) for your social search results to take new contacts and content into account.

End user interface will probably look like:

google_social_search

11 March 2010 at 20:14 - Comments