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Welcome to
to the February 2008 issue of ZooNews, from professional
Web site design company Zoonini
Web Services.
When is it too much? On a couple of
occasions lately I found myself thinking "this is too much",
and both situations related to an electronic mailing list
I belonged to.
In the first scenario, a cooking magazine I subscribe to
sent me its 3rd or 4th email promotion within the space of
a week or so, advertising the same special offer. While I
had opted in to get their promotional messages, and was happy
to receive notices of discounts on their latest cookbook,
I felt overwhelmed. After receiving so many in such a short
space of time, I unsubscribed completely from the mailings.
So what's the lesson here? If you maintain an electronic
mailing list, don't risk losing valuable subscribers who
actually want to receive your email notices by abusing their
consent and sending mailings out too often. When in doubt,
as in so many things in life, moderation is the key!
The second case involved a singer-songwriter whose email
list I belong to. The performer is up for a songwriting award
for which the public is able to vote. Since I was excited
and more than happy to vote for her, I immediately went to
the link provided in her newsletter. But I was stopped cold.
In order to vote, the songwriting contest required both my
email address (all voters would automatically be put on the
organization's mailing list, it stated) and my birthday.
I was flabbergasted – that's way too much information
just to vote in a music contest! I opted not to cast my ballot
at all, but felt guilty about depriving the singer of a vote.
Hopefully she still manages to win the competition.
What's
the moral here? Don't put people off by asking for personal
information that isn't strictly needed for your purposes.
At the very least, make it optional, and explain why you're
asking for it.
Ever noticed this big orange icon on a blog or news site? Heard
the term RSS but never really knew what it meant?
RSS is an increasingly popular technology which allows
news headlines, blog posts, or other changing Web content – called
feeds – to be pulled together and read in one place.
If you already have a Gmail or Yahoo page displaying your
favourite weather, news, and entertainment stories, you're
looking at RSS in action. There are also standalone Web-based
RSS readers like Google
Reader and Bloglines,
along with desktop versions like the one built into the
Thunderbird email program.
An acronym that stands for Really Simple Syndication, RSS
is a feature of most blogs, as well as news sources from the
CBC to
The New
York Times.
Got a technology term you'd like
demystified in ZooNews?
Send it to questions@zoonini.com.
Our new bilingual site for E.M.E. provides
a wealth of clearly presented information on the Montreal-based company's range
of crating, export packaging, loading and warehousing services. Featuring optimized
copy by A.C. Riley Communications, the site makes it
easy for potential customers to learn about E.M.E.'s services, make an inquiry
using a Web form, or get directions via a custom link to Google Maps.
 RIP
Netscape. I recently caught wind of a low-key announcement
that came over the holidays, signifying the end of an era.
Considered the first commercial Web browser, Netscape
Navigator will no longer be supported as
of March 1. Wildly popular in the Web's early heyday in the
mid-to-late 1990s, Netscape's decline began when Microsoft
aggressively developed and promoted its own Web browser,
bundling it with Windows software. This launched what became
known as the "browser
wars" and eventually made Internet Explorer ubiquitous
among PC users, dramatically driving down the use of Netscape
in the process.
In its statement, the Netscape team recommends that loyal users
switch to the Firefox browser, an offshoot of the Netscape
project. Excellent advice.
À la prochaine,
kp
aka Kathryn Presner |
