|
Welcome to the Summer 2008 issue of ZooNews,
from professional
Web site design company Zoonini
Web Services.
Once again, a Zoonini
client's horror story has prompted me to share
another caveat with you, my dear ZooNews readers.
A client was having troubles recently with all aspects of
her PC: Outlook was screwed up, and all kinds of other bad
things were happening. Her computer technician suspected
that a nasty virus had invaded her system, and recommended
a complete reinstallation of all her software. Before he
wiped her hard drive clean, the tech asked whether she had
backed up all her data. Knowing that she regularly backs
up all her documents, she answered confidently in the affirmative.
But when she got her virus-free computer back, she opened
up her email program and discovered that all her old messages
and email contacts were nowhere to be found.
Wait a minute, you ask, didn't I say she'd backed up all
her data? Well, Word documents and Excel files, yes. Unfortunately
she'd forgotten about her email data, and it was now gone
forever.
The moral of this story is: play it safe
and back up your data regularly. And that means all your data, including items
you may not think about often, like all the bits and pieces
used by your desktop email program (if you use one) including
mail filters, signatures, inbox messages, sent mail, sub-folders,
address books... etc.
The term micro-blogging has cropped
up more and more over the last year and refers to short-form
blogging applications like the increasingly popular Twitter ,
as well as newer-kids-on-the-block like Plurk (invented
by the creators of my beloved Todoist),
and the Montreal-developed Identi.ca.
Micro-bloggers can opt to "follow" other micro-bloggers,
to better keep up with their mini-posts of approximately
140 characters or less, and are able to ask each other
brief questions.
I knew that micro-blogging had hit the big time when I
heard a couple of months ago that the Phoenix
Mars Lander (28,624 "followers" and
counting) has its own Twitter account, full of folksy "tweets" written
in the voice of the interplanetary robot itself. To wit:
"Everything's going great! Using Atomic Force Microscope
for first time and getting ready to drill into the ice hopefully
next week" – 09:41 PM
July 11, 2008
"Are you ready to celebrate? Well, get ready: We have
ICE!!!!! Yes, ICE, *WATER ICE* on Mars! w00t!!! Best day
ever!!" – 05:14 PM June
19, 2008
"Got today off from new activities so the team could
check my flash memory. But now I have a long list of to-do's
for Thurs." – 03:37 PM
June 18, 2008
Zoonini partner Charlotte Riley swears by Twitter as a
business-blogging tool, and has already landed work due
to her "tweets"; some of her "followers" enjoyed
her Twitter writing style so much they were inspired to
check out her portfolio.
"I love Twitter; you can ask your Twitter pals
for quick feedback or advice, get industry news, share resources
and connect with people in a way that's very human – a combination
of professional and personal. It takes time to build authentic
connections, but it can be an invaluable tool," says Riley, who
suggests these articles for those who want to know
more:
Got a technology term you'd like
demystified in ZooNews?
Send it to questions@zoonini.com.
 Ontario's
All-Pest Control Services wanted
to convey the environmentally friendly approach of its pest-management
services through a new Web site design and freshly
optimized copy. Our remake features blue and green tones
meshed with soft silhouettes of images – from insects,
to flowers and trees, to icons representing the sectors served – that
subtly underline All-Pest's specialties and "green" philosophy.
Clearly defined sections target residential, commercial,
and industrial audiences. The site employs optimized text
by A.C. Riley Communications to
improve search-engine rankings and allow potential customers
to find All-Pest more easily in online searches.
In the category of odd Web design trends, I've noticed an interesting
retro design phenomenon among Montreal restaurant Web sites
incorporating 1970s-style fake
wood grain textures.
For example, see L'atelier (watch
the sound) and Fuschia
Epicerie Fleur. Though usually I
detest fake woodgrain as a real-world décor
element, I find something oddly appealing about these Web
incarnations. Still, since I suspect this is likely a passing
fad, I would probably hesitate to "date" any of my own site
designs with it. What do you think?
À la prochaine,
kp
aka Kathryn Presner |
