What makes a good website?

So, what's your favourite website? Do you like ones that are strong on graphic design? Ones with your favourite colour? Or just ones that have all the information you need (like Wikipedia, I love Wikipedia). It's great to see the vast variety that's available online, sites of all shapes and sizes. And it doesn't matter if they're built by an Irvine web design company or a teenager coding alone in his bedroom; anyone with the right skills and passion can come up with something compelling that people will visit.

And it's these visitors that help the site grow. Whether it's by providing opportunities to monitise the site, or by providing a vibrant community that attracts more people to the site .. the people who frequent it are the life blood that pumps through it's virtual veins.

Getting all your streaming media

Image by Roo Reynolds via Flickr

Streaming services come in a variety of shapes and forms. Youtube for example, allows you to watch videos that people around the world create and upload. BBC's iPlayer for example, lets you catch up with TV that you may have missed. A professional live video streaming service will allow you to publish a stream in real time, as soon as it happens; which is something quite powerful and useful.

Have you noticed that videos and streaming TV are getting more and more predominant on the Internet. It's partly due to the fact that people have more bandwidth than they ever used to, and to the fact that the technology to make streams available is getting more and more common. This reduced barrier to entry results in the spread of this technology with more and more people getting comfortable and, dare I say, dependant on it.

How's your internet connection

Are you happy with your Internet connection? Is it too slow, too expensive, too .. what? You're not still on dial-up by any chance are you?

If you are, there are a bunch of options you way want to consider. First of all, there's ADSL. It's quite commonly accessible, available to most people through their phone line. If not, there's cable. Most countries have some sort of cable network available, through which they can get high speed internet. If none of those options are available, have you considered satellite internet? There are a number of options for a satellite service provider which cover different areas around the world.

Just look at all the options you have, look at the costs and the service you get. It's nice to have so many options, isn't it?

My Blogger Blog

I created this blog some time ago to experiment with what Blogger brought to the table. I had originally started playing with it way before Google acquired it. It's improved since then, but I don't think it's moved on as much as it has. My frame of reference is always tied to WordPress, as that's the blogging platform I tend to use most of the time; but it's always good to keep an eye on what's available and what new ideas are hitting the scene. It's like being into racing cars, but keeping an eye on the neighbour's Yamaha rhinos, just to see what's happening down that darkened alley.

I don't think I like the way Blogger doesn't have categorisation around posts, though the labels to allow a certain amount of taxonomy control. Still, can't help comparing it to what you can do with WordPress, especially now that it supports custom taxonomies.

Stay Connected

Image via Wikipedia

The more time passes, the more connected we all get. And it’s great because we can keep in touch with one another regardless of where we are. Tell me, can you live with your phone for example? I find myself more and more dependant on it .. and new I also have data which is great!

I’ve recently added a GPRS package to my phone and it’s been great playing around with some of the applications that require a data connection. GPRS is convenient, but unfortunately it’s no high speed satellite internet. I’m actually looking to upgrade my phone, so maybe my next one will have a 3G connection or something a little bit quicker than GPRS, just to be able to do things quicker, and use things like video which require a faster connection.

We do what we have to do

Image by Hamed Saber via Flickr

It’s interesting to be involved in supporting people; even though this is just a hobby for me. There are hundreds of firms around the world that supply computer services Orange County all the way to China. I’m not sure if I could ever run a firm like that, as I’m usually happy to help people out just to see their face light up when things work for them. Can’t feed the family on happy faces though … hence the day job!

It’s been an interesting week on the IT front, particularly as I had a lot of mates who seemed to have all sorts of computer problems. From Carol’s AVG who refused to start up, all the way to John’s mobile which refuses to show its contacts; and Steven’s mail which just refused to send email. Some I managed to help, others I didn’t but it’s just funny how you get those weeks where everything just seems to be going haywire.

Long weekend

It's nice to have a long weekend every now and again. Spend time with the family, grab your golf equipment and head off the the golf course, take the family to Butlins .. there are a million and one things you can be doing. Me, I'll be spending time with Arthur and Camille, we have lots of things to do around the house and who knows, maybe we'll get to spend some time outdoors, if the weather holds up.

The UK have a number of these Bank Holidays which are basically national holidays. Next Monday is Spring Bank Holiday; of which I have no idea what the origins are .. but hey it's a long weekend.