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Greetings, readers! Welcome to the December issue of ZooNews, from professional Web site design company Zoonini Web Services.
WordPress is a popular content-management system that's become ubiquitous among both bloggers and business owners looking for a flexible, easy-to-use, open-source platform with a large and passionate international community of users and developers.
Last month I co-presented an introductory WordPress workshop at a Montreal Girl Geek Dinner event with Shannon Smith of Café Noir Design. There was tremendous interest in WordPress among the Girl Geek community, and we got lots of great questions about how the software works and how it can be customized.
Check out a recap of the event by Girl Geek Dinner organizer Tanya McGinnity or take a look at the slides from our presentation – they include some useful online resources towards the end.
We hope to offer more hands-on WordPress workshops in 2010, so stay tuned. If you are interested in upcoming events in Montreal, let us know what you'd like to learn about by completing our brief survey.
 If you'd lke to get your feet wet with WordPress, Digging Into WordPress is an excellent resource. A well designed e-book chock full of over 400 pages of practical information in very readable, down-to-earth language, it's highly recommended!
Google recently unveiled a preview of its Wave software to much fanfare. Touted as email on steroids, Google Wave has great potential as a collaborative tool but is saddled with an interface that a lot of people, including me, find a tad... unintuitive, shall we say.
 What's wrong with plain old email, you ask? Check out this video that explores some of the current issues with email that Google Wave tries to solve. As a product that's breaking new ground, I think Google Wave will take some getting used to – and it'll be interesting to see where it ends up in a year or two.
Google Wave is by-invitation-only right now, so if you'd like to take it for a test drive and need an invite, let me know and I'll be happy to send you one. It's first come, first served – I've got a couple dozen to dole out. (A Gmail address or other Google account is required.)
Got a technology term you'd like
demystified in ZooNews?
Send it to questions@zoonini.com.
 Our client Picture This Productions, an award-winning producer of corporate videos and documentaries, recently unveiled a completely bilingual site to better serve the Quebec market. Picture This's revamped site features a page of impressive client testimonials, a video samples section with a YouTube-style scrolling playlist, snazzy video-player overlays on the homepage, invitations to connect on Facebook and Twitter, and a social-bookmarking widget.
 If you didn't catch the tips as they rolled out weekly, our public service announcement When Bad Websites Happen to Good People has now revealed all ten tips for making better websites. Created jointly with A.C. Riley Communications, the compendium showcases useful guiding principles for more effective websites, from the importance of maintaining credibility (tip 3) to why it's critical to resist corporate-speak and stay human (tip 9). Feel free to add your thoughts in the comments.
Our offices will be closed between December 24 and January 3, inclusive. Warmest wishes to all ZooNews readers, Zoonini clients, suppliers and partners for your support in 2009. May you have an enjoyable and re-energizing holiday season and a fabulous New Year!
À la prochaine,
kp
aka Kathryn Presner |
