Dynamic vs. Static and How They Relate to Site Development

Pretty much every web page you look at falls into one of two very broad categories: Dynamic or Static.

What is a dynamic web page?

Dynamic refers to a page being created “on the fly.” This means that the content from that page doesn’t actually come together until someone clicks on a link to that page. When someone views a dynamic page, some or all of the information on that page is pulled into the page from another location, like a database.

Unraveling a Domain Transfer

Have you ever attempted to transfer your domain and it seems like there are so many hoops to jump through that it’s not even worth the effort? Does it seem like it’s a confusing ball of knotted string that you just can’t unravel? As a member of a web development team, I have had the opportunity to transfer many domains (and as a result have taken my fair share of Ibuprofin). When you are transferring your domain, having a good checklist will help tremendously to take the knots out of the process.

Take Control of Your Domain! Part III

This is the third part in a short series about how to make sure you are master of your domain.

Take Control of Your Domain - Part I

Take Control of Your Domain - Part II

Your e-mail associated with your domain (address@whatever.com) can be “hosted” wherever. Many people use their host provider to also provide e-mail services. It’s probably the easiest way. Some people use an outside service. Although your e-mail is tied to your domain name, it is not required to go through the same server for the host or domain.

Remember “back in the day” when everyone was circulating those e-mails about how people were trying to pass laws that would make e-mail not be free anymore? Well, that really happened … sort of.

A Bit about E-mail Relays

E-mails can be sent several different ways. Every time you send an email - you use what is called a “relay.” This relay is basically the process of relaying your message to the appropriate places to get it to the destination address. If you put two people on your email as recipients, well then you are using two relays.

In the good old days, you could send as many e-mails as you wanted to and there was no end to your happiness and joy as you spread your words around the world. Unfortunately, for a myriad of reasons, greed, spammers, structure and [your favorite reason here], relays are now mostly limited. Servers that have open relays are blackballed by servers who don’t so even if you have a server with open relays, your mail might not get through. We all suffer oh I mean stick together on this as mail hosts.

Most hosting companies put a 250-500 limit per day on your email account. So if you have a lot of friends, or maybe just a lot of time, you’re pretty much out of luck.

Some hosts - let’s use GoDaddy as an example, like to charge for extra relays. Pay only $3 a month for 50 extra relays. Seems like it might be pretty cheap, however, if you run a subscriber-only newsletter and it has 800 subscribers, you better not be giving your newsletter away for free, because you’ll be paying and extra $33 a month for your relays. This is probably about 5 times what you pay for your hosting with Go Daddy. In my educated opinion, this is an egregious charge.

BUT!! There are options!! You can use a service called authsmtp (one I have been using for more than one year now, and have been VERY pleased with) to purchase more relays so you can send out your newsletter. Not only are the relays relatively inexpensive ($168 per year for 10,000 relays a month), but their IP addresses are clean and your email won’t be blocked as spam very often. They keep a tight reign on spam and if you use underhanded spammy black hat techniques to send out your e-mails, you will quickly be booted as a client.

Unfortunately, for Go Daddy clients, you can’t use authSMTP, because Go Daddy won’t open up the port for you to connect to an outside service. Why? I believe it is because they want your money for the relays that should really be free anyway [and of course, they do bulk business. If you get special treatment, even if it's valid, that's not bulk business practice].

We used to host all our sites with GoDaddy — but because of the relay issue, and other restrictions we host with Site5.com — a budding hosting company with just about the best reseller plan out there. And although they don’t have a 24 hour help line like GoDaddy, the service we receive is much more personalized than anything I have experienced before.

MX Records

MX Records are the part of the DNS records (referenced in Part II of this series). When you decide where you’re going to host your email - you will adjust your MX records accordingly. Many people just use their host’s e-mail offerings like Go Daddy, or Site5 - where you don’t have to do anything special with your MX records, you just follow the instructions from the host to know where to check your email.

Some places we have used for our clients:

• Go Daddy
• Site 5
• Mailstreet.com
• Google Apps for Your Domains

Each of these provide instruction for how to update your MX records to point to their mail servers. If you are not techie oriented, you should not be updating your DNS records — especially if you are counting on getting your email, or having your site be up and running. If you have a “practice” site, and you really want to learn, I recommend you do everything with that practice site until you get the hang of it.

A Final Thought About DNS Records Access

Wherever the nameservers are pointed — that is the place where you will change your DNS records, MX records included. The nameservers are what designate the physical hosting “place” for your web files. For instance, you could have your domain registered at GoDaddy, your site hosted at Site5, and your email hosted by MailStreet. In order to change your MX records for this example, you would have to change them at Site5 to point to MailStreet.

That’s all I can think of right now for understanding email and it’s connection with your domain.

Just my 2¢ anyway!

© 2008 Jennifer Poyer

TAKE CONTROL of your DOMAIN! Part II

If you didn’t read Take Control of Your Domain Part I, it has important information you need to understand regarding your domain. Go read that first and then come back to this one. This post, Take Control of Your Domain Part II deals specifically with the hosting aspect of your website owner experience. Some of this can get pretty technical (so put your nerd cap on and pay attention - heh heh), but it is important to understand when taking control of your domain and your website. And, if you have any questions about any of this, please feel free to drop a comment in below. At the very least it will make my blog seem popular, which is a good thing.

Once you have your domain, you need to find a place to put your web page files (your graphics, web page files, programming things and pretty much everything in your website). This place is called your “host.”

Your web page files sit on a server. A server is, simply put, a computer. This computer has special software or programs on it that allow other computers (servers) to access and view your files.

TAKE CONTROL of your DOMAIN! Part I

When you have a website, there are actually three different major parts that you need to know about and understand. Especially if you are working with an awesome creative firm like XPRT Creative to develop a superb, problem solving, useful, effective and aesthetically pleasing website. (plug? what plug?) Your web developer will need you to understand these things, so if you are considering getting a new domain, or hiring a new company to host or build your site, this is important stuff. Read on, read on.

Did You Get My Form Submission?

You know what would be so great? We could have a form on our site, and we’ll collect people’s information and then we’ll build up our contact lists and leads, because we’ll be sending out important information, specials and discounts through email, and people will come to our site from across the Internet to sign up and we’ll be able to email them regularly and keep in touch and increase our sales and customer interaction!

WON’T THAT BE GREAT?!!! Yes, it would be great IF:

… we didn’t get hundreds of bogus emails from random addresses that don’t exist.

… we get e-mails that contain characters we don’t recognize — like someone is submitting scripts or trying to hack our forms or something.

… people would fill out the information I really need, like mailing address or phone number.

… people would fill out the information in a useable format.

Socioeconomic lines drawn … MySpace vs. Facebook

Forbes blog posted about the differences in the MySpace and Facebook audiences. Working class vs. affluent well-to do. Read the post here. I have to say, I do see the discrepancies noted by Boyd’s research. There is also a somewhat amusing C/NET spoof video - stereotypically true?

Interestingly enough, not knowing any of these demographic statistics, or the experts weighing in on the issue, I recently e-mailed Facebook about their account confirmation tactics and my inability to join my alma mater’s network as an alumnae, and how both appeared to be related to a preference for higher-income earners.

Last Ditch Blog Recovery Solution

Have you lost months or even worse, years worth of blog in a server crash and you don’t have a back up? There are many ways to back up your site, but if you’re like me, and life gets in the way of intentions at times, it’s nice to have a BACK UP PLAN to your BACK UP PLAN.

Don’t have back ups? Think it’s too late? Try Wayback Machine - you might be surprised at what you can recover by copying and pasting from the pages available in this wonderful free internet archive.

On the down side, if you ever posted something that you wish you hadn’t, chances are, it could be sitting there waiting for someone to find (embarrassing).

Employers? This is a good place to search for back ups of potential employees old website resumes and postings.

Web designers? Have links available to old versions of sites you designed — so people can compare the before and after.

But most of all — this is a nice last shot in the dark to give you the opportunity to get some if not all of your postings and web content back.

General Back Up Help
If you have a word press blog that you installed on your server and you have access to the back end, you can back up your wordpress blog.

More Word Press back up info? Go here and here.

Need a Blogger backup? Go here.

Create a mirror site? Go here.

Adding this to my list to do. Back up Blog. Got it.

Just my 2¢ anyway!

© 2007 Jennifer Poyer

Tastes Great … Less Filling! The Web Development Team for Today’s Internet

What kind of team would you want to build your website? The battle wages on about the importance of content versus look versus usability. Does it taste great or is it really just less filling?

I recently stumbled upon a post arguing the importance and definitions of the roles involved in the web development process. I feel compelled to weigh in here because I think many are still trying to stand on ground that has already shifted.

Why you won’t read my blog … all the time

Blog reader forgive me, for I have sinned. It has been 19 days since my last blog.

There’s nothing like having plumbing problems in your home that lead to two rooms being evacuated, fogged, gutted and repaired to really pull you off your blog. Additionally, all the mold spores clinging to every surface in my home probably have affected my cognitive processes in some form or fashion. In fact, I can now blame the MOLD for everything happening around me. Sick children? It’s because of the MOLD in my home. Overdrawn checking account? It’s the MOLD. Global Warming? MOLD.