Today, using your last name followed by your favorite year just doesn’t always cut it.  So how does one stay safe?

Firstly, don’t use words out of the dictionary to form a password.  Rather, make your password seem like a bunch of gibberish.  Create an acronym instead, or write out complete gibberish as a password (of course, make sure you wrote down this gibberish BEFORE you attempt typing it.  THEN, take that piece of paper you wrote your new password on and HIDE IT!) If you create a password with words, it’ll be easier for any hacker or hacking program to figure out your password.

If the above is too difficult, then try making your password complex.  Use upper AND lower case letters, numbers, and if applicable, use symbols like !, #, $, or %.  The longer and more random the password, the better.

Do not use your first, middle, and/or last name as your password.  If a hacker knows your name, it’d be no sweat to get to your account.

If the website you are subscribing/signing up to requires a security question just in case you forget your password and need to “reset” it, don’t use answers and questions that everyone might know.  Also, I find that if your answers are longer, your password will be that much harder to be obtained by a hacker.

Try changing your password from time to time.  I’m not saying to do it every day, but maybe every few months or so.  I try to change my passwords every 4 to 6 months.

Don’t use the “AutoComplete” features.  When you do this, your password is stored on your computer and will leave you more vulnerable to having your information stolen.

Lastly, do NOT use the same password for every single thing.  Using the same password for everything is an easy habit to get into.  Yes, it is a lot easier to remember, but it’s much more dangerous.  If a hacker gained your password from one website, what would stop them from using the same information on another?

“I think I get it, but how can I tell my password is safe?”

If you followed the suggestions above, you should be fine - but if you would like a second opinion, check out http://www.passwordmeter.com/ aka “Password Strength Checker.”  This website offers a simple, free service that allows one to check the strength of his password.

Just visit the website, type your password in, and the webpage automatically checks the strength of your password.  Your password is never stored or saved, so not only is it a FREE service, more importantly, it is a SAFE service.

So, be sure and check out http://www.passwordmeter.com/

Stay safe!

What Do You Think?

How do you stay safe on the internet?  What methods do you use to make your password strong and safe?  Whatever you have to say, I want to hear about it!  Leave your thoughts below in the “Comments” section, or send me an e-mail at david@funkytower.com

Take it easy,
David

Hello everyone!  A common problem for Vista users with Dreamweaver MX is the “Insert>Tables” function; it simply will not work.  I have already posted two articles on this issue providing some fixes for the issue.  In the first article, I show how to make the “Insert Table” function actually do something and that is insert a table.  The only problem with THIS fix is that it doesn’t allow you to change the specs before the table is inserted into your Document.  The second fix is a tip given by a user, and another tip given by me which has worked for a decent ammount of people, but not all (for some it only worked temporarily, then the problem occured again.)  In this tutorial, I will be giving a new fix which will make the “Insert Tables” function work like a charm.

1.  First thing is first, download, save, and extract this ZIP file:  newtable1.zip

2.  Right click and copy the “table.htm” file  (The code in this file was taken from an extension called “etable” that you can download from http://www.idest.com/dreamweaver/objects-fr.htm)

3.  Go to C:\Program Files\Macromedia\Dreamweaver MX\Configuration\Objects\Common  (NOTE:  Some users may have to go there AND C:\Users\YOUR USER NAME\AppData\Roaming\Macromedia\Dreamweaver MX\Configuration\Objects\Common and repeat the following steps in both locations.)

4.  In this folder, rename “Table.htm” to “Tableold.htm” so you can reuse this file as a backup.

5.  Now, press CTRL+V to paste the recently downloaded “Table.htm” file.

6.  Open up Dreamweaver MX and insert a table

Now, the customization feature won’t look exactly like the original, but it has all the functions - plus a little more!  If you want, you can even tweak this “Table.htm” file to do whatever you’d like.

For me, this is the best way to get Dreamweaver MX to insert tables on Windows Vista.

What Do You Think?
Did this help you?  Have you tweaked the Table.htm file to do something really cool?  Send your thoughts to david@funkytower or leave a comment below.  I look forward to hearing from you. 

Take it easy,
David Crandall

UPDATE:
I received this e-mail from Dave who has some useful information for those who may have trouble using this fix.

Just a heads up I had to change the file in all of these location in order to get it to work. Thought I would let you know in case anyone else had trouble with it. So thank you for pointing me in the right direction. The tables not working has been a huge frustration since switching to vista.

Thanks again!

C:\Program Files\Macromedia\Dreamweaver MX\Configuration\Objects\Common

C:\Program Files\Macromedia\Dreamweaver MX\Configuration-1\Objects\Common

C:\Users\David\AppData\Roaming\Macromedia\Common

C:\Users\David\AppData\Roaming\Macromedia\Dreamweaver MX\Configuration\Objects\Common

In Dave’s case, there are 4 file paths in which he had to paste the “Table.htm” file.  This situation is pretty uncommon, but if you find yourself STILL not being able to get the ‘Insert Table” function to work, search out some new file paths that are in relation to Dreamweaver MX.

Please note, typically, when you need to paste this file in more than the two file paths is when you’ve uninstalled and reinstalled Dreamweaver MX multiple times.  When uninstalling Dreamweaver MX, Vista leaves behind the hidden “Configuration” files, thus, when reinstalling, a second Configuration folder is created.  I hope this makes sense.  Thank you, Dave, for sharing your new info with us!

Internet Explorer 7 is fast. Especially on the Vista machine as it was made to match and work with Vista.  Each and every feature, at least with my experience, has responded very quickly.  So its performance has been great.

Internet Explorer 7 is safe. By safe, I mean it does indeed help prevent you from spyware, adware, and phishing websites.  Built in to IE7 is a pop-up blocker and phishing filter.

Internet Explorer 7 now has tabbed browsing. I LOVE tabbed browsing - in fact, I love IE7’s tabbed browsing feature more than Firefox’s.  IE7’s “New Tab” button is already on the toolbar, while with Firefox (at least when I got it) you had to browse the menu’s or use a keyboard shortcut to create a new tab.  Now with Firefox, there IS a button you can add, but you have to do the work in finding it and adding it yourself.  Having the button there automatically, like IE7, is just common sense.

Internet Explorer 7 is stylish. If you want a taste of the way Windows Vista looks and feels, Internet Explorer 7 is a good start.  The design of this browser is beautiful and elegant.  The great thing is that the beautiful looks of IE7 does not inhibit IE7’s performance and speed.

Internet Explorer 7 is free….enough said about that.

So which is it?  IE7 or Firefox?

And the winner is……FIREFOX!  Firefox is safe, fast, customizable in appearance and functionality, and its security measures are NOT annoying!  Sorry, IE7 just doesn’t cut it for me anymore.  Getting IE7 to test websites with Flash documents was a difficult process.  It usually gives me some warning that the web page I’m trying to access is attempting to use some sort of ActiveX control that could harm my computer….IT’S JUST AN SWF FLASH DOCUMENT!  Anyways, besides that annoyance, the pop-up blocker can also be annoying - Firefox’s utilities are just much more functional and tolerable.

I love almost more than anything that you can literally change Firefox’s interface.  You can make it look like anything by downloading themes from Firefox’s website.

Firefox is undoubtabley the best web browser I use, and I MUST reccomend it to you.  If you’re afraid that it’s going to be too different than the Internet Explorer you’re used to - don’t worry about it.  Firefox is SUPER simple and has a similar layout to Internet Explorer.

So do yourself a favor and download Firefox.

What Do you Think?
What is your favorite web browser?  Send in all your thoughts to david@funkytower.com OR leave a comment below!

Take it easy,
David Crandall

Firstly, Firefox is simple.  Many ISP (internet service providers) like AT&T/SBC, Comcast, and others love to give you a new browser that is full of complicated tools, toolbars, and features that crowd up the screen and ultimately make your web browsing experience cluttered, slow, and enjoyable.  Firefox is sleek and simple and has all that you need to browse the internet.  It’s simplicity calls for a faster, more enjoyable experience online which could cause anyone to make it their default browser.

Secondly, Firefox is safe.  Firefox has a built-in pop-up blocker and security tools which, much unlike IExplorer 7, are easy to customize and even disable.  It lets you know when you may be entering a malicious site that could infect your PC with viruses, spyware, and/or adware.  IE7 tends to block WANTED popup windows that you click on, which is an annoyance if you need to access that webpage - Firefox simply adds a new tab with it’s built in tab-browsing for links that lead to a needed/wanted popup.  This will save space on your taskbar.

Thirdly, Forefox has useful features.  Alongside tabbed browsing, Firefox reads websites the way they should be read.  This is great for web developers who need cross-browser testing utilities.  It has a “safe-mode” that removes any and all add-ons, and has a “No Page Style” option that removes all CSS and some other scripts.  This is great for security purposes.

If this isn’t enough, Firefox is customizable.  I love customizing the way things look on my computer, and knowing that Firefox has this feature makes it a winner in my opinion.  You can download themes at https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/browse/type:2 to have a totally custom webrowser.  On top of changing the look, there are other “add-ons” that you can download at https://addons.mozilla.org/  There are add ons that are useful for anyone and everyone.  Just go there and see what they have to offer!

Another great thing is that Firefox is Free…enough said.

Now there is alot more to Firefox that I just don’t have all the time to write about.  If you want to read about all that Firefox has to offer, go here: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/features/

What Do You Think?
Do you use Firefox?  What do you like/dislike about Firefox?  What is your favorite web browser?  Let me know what you think.  Send me an e-mail at david@funkytower.com, or discuss it with the public by leaving a comment!  I look forward to hearing what you have to say!

Take it easy
David Crandall

Recently, I have posted the article “Dreamweaver MX and Vista: Inserting Tables Fix” which has become one of the most popular recent posts I’ve written thus far.  This post shows how to get the Insert>Tables function in Dreamweaver MX to work in Vista - specifically Vista Premium (but should work with other versions.)  This has been a huge help to readers across the globe and I am thankful that I have been able to help so many people.

As you may know, FunkyTower.Com is not just about me helping you - the goal is to get you involved by offering ideas for content, solutions to problems, etc., that are all submitted or asked about by you.  This happened recently, thanks to Phil Chave.  Phil sent me this e-mail which may solve the ever so frustrating Inserting Tables problem in its entirety:

“Hi Dave…

Thank you immensely for publishing the fix for the DreamweaverMX - Vista, inserting tables problem.

You might like to add these details into your fix sheet at some stage.

For Vista Home Premium.  Follow the locations to both files as you suggest in item 1.

In the ‘UserName’ route, the table.htm file may be empty.  If this is true, it is probably true that this is the location that Dreamweaver is searching for the location of the table data, and finding nothing to use.

Rename this file to tableOLD.htm.

Go to the other location (the program files route location) and find the table.htm and the Java file also called table.

This is where the table data is stored.  Confirm this by hovering over the file and note that it is about 4kb and 2kb respectively, and therefore has some data.

Copy both files and paste them into the Common folder at the end of the UserName route.

Open DreamweaverMX and click the insert table button.

Beautiful, it works!

Hope this helps people with Vista Home Premium.

All the best

Phil Chave

www.antiquecollector.uk.com“

I have yet to test this out, but would love to know how this suggestion went for you!  Please let me know.

The other solution in which I have come up with, which is really quite simple is this: removing and reinstalling Dreamweaver MX.  You may have already tried this - but let me propose to you an extra step.
First, uninstall Dreamweaver MX by going Start>Control Panel>Programs and Features, then right clicking on the Dreamweaver icon and clicking “Uninstall”  It may ask if you would like to “repair” Dreamweaver, but choose to completely remove it.

Secondly, remove extra data manually.  That’s right, because Dreamweaver MX is not fully compatible with Vista, it leaves behind data which is not overwritten on the next reinstall.  Click the start button and select “My Computer.”
In the address bar, type in C:\Users\YOUR USER NAME\AppData\Roaming\Macromedia making sure to replace “YOUR USER NAME” with the actual username of your PC’s account.  Delete the Dreamweaver or Dreamweaver MX Folder.

Thirdly, be safe and restart your computer.  Upon, restarting, reinstall Dreamweaver MX.  Hooray, it’s working again!  This is what I did today, which has worked for me and have yet to encounter any problems.

So, please try Phil Chave’s suggestion before taking the measures I did.  I wish I had received his e-mail before I reinstalled Dreamweaver MX, as it seems like it would have saved a significant ammount of time.

So, I challenge all who read this to take Phil’s suggestion on a test drive and let me know how it works out.  This would be a GREAT help to me and users across the globe who just can’t afford to upgrade from MX to CS3 right now.

You can send me your feedback as a comment, or send an e-mail to david@funkytower.com
I look forward to hearing from you

Take care,
David Crandall

It’s a company called Stardock.  These people have come up with possibly the most wonderful programs I have ever used.  Using their products, you can change virtually anything on your XP/Vista machine.  Allow me to show you a few that I thoroughly enjoy.

Firstly, CursorFX.  This Product comes in two versions, a demo and a full version.  The demo alone, however, lasts forever and comes with alot of features.  What this software does is allow you to create or download animated, 3D/2D, just-plain-awesome mouse cursors.  You can choose virtually an unlimited ammount of cursors, and with the full version, you can add effects and sounds to them for any action they perform such as clicking sounds and trail effects.  My personal favorite cursor is the Finger.  No not the middle one, the pointer one.  It is a 3D hand with it’s finger pointing outwardly; when you click, the finger moves down as if it were pushing a button; in place of an hourglass, the hand roll taps its fingers from pinky to pointer; when hovering over a link, the finger points upward and “taps” the link repeatedly.  That’s right, it’s 3D and animated!  There are many others like this, and if you are a graphic artist or have pictures you’d like to make as cursors, you can do it with CursorFX!

Second is ObjectDock - This unique little gadget has taken the place of the common taskbar.  It is a nice dock that has animated effects and beautiful icons for various items.  It’s something that is difficult to explain, so you should just go and visit Stardock and see for yourself what it can do.  It makes accessing programs alot easier AND has a great look and feel to it.

Next is ObjectDesktop - this comes with ALOT if you buy the full $70 version.  This is a great deal because ObjectDesktop comes with alot of separate programs and allows you to use each one to their full capacity.  Now, I don’t have all of these programs, so I’ll show you a few that really catch my eye and are fun to use.

1.  WindowBlinds - This program allows you to completely redo the look of nearly every aspect of Windows.  You can do this by downloading skins for free from WinCustomize.com OR by creating your own if you have the “Bundle” version which comes with SkinStudio.  You can change your taskbar, start menu, scrollbars, and much much more with this handy little program. 

2.  IconPackager - I really like this one.  The full version is only about $10 but there is a free shareware version available.  It allows you to replace hundreds of common icons with new, sleek, amazing icons.  Trust me, the icon packages you can download are amazing.  If you get the IconDeveloper program, you can even make your very own!

3.  ObjectBar - If you have Vista, you know about the sidebar it comes with, well why settle for just that one look?  Why can’t XP users have the same bar or an even cooler one?  Well they can now!  And why just have one when you can have 2, 3, 4, or a billion?!  That’s right, you can have your own custom bars where ever you want on your desktop, each with a beautiful, sleek design.

4.  LogonStudio - This is a FREE program, but it also comes with ObjectDesktop.  This allows you to customize your Windows Logon experience.  You can download skins for your logon screen at WinCustomize.Com, OR use the included editor and make your own!

ObjectDesktop has ALOT more to offer than just the above 4; each program comes with several skins/presets to choose from, but you can always visit www.wincustomize.com and download as many as you’d like.  And, if you buy the full versions, you can always create your own!

So why wait any longer?  Make your computer’s look and feel reflect YOU, get your custom cursors, icons, sounds, docks, logon screens, and more at www.stardock.com

What Do You Think?
What do you do to customize your OS?  Is there another set of programs like the ones Stardock has to offer for Mac Users as well?  Have you designed your own skins/cursors/icon packages and would like to share them with me?  I would love to hear from each and every one of you!  My e-mail is david@funkytower.com and I look forward to hearing from you!

Take it easy,
David Crandall

http://www.funkytower.com/2008/08/06/dangerous-dns-problem/

DNS is what has revolutionized and, in many ways, helped create the spectacular online environment we have today, know as the World Wide Web.  We use DNS for virtually everything, from e-mail, to myspace, to online banking, to having internet access itself.  DNS is what converts an ip address (a bunch of numbers that identify a system) to a name like www.funkytower.com, or pop.domain.com, etc.  The flaw which has been found is very scary, as it can potentially change the course of our entire life.  This flaw could allow malicious persons  to duplicate any domain name.

“How could this change the course of my entire life?” you ask?  Simply this: say you went to www.wamu.com to work on your bank account, you enter in your information, log in, and everything seems fine - but what you wouldn’t know is you were logging in to a fake website that looks exactly like www.wamu.com, and you just gave all of your bank information to a complete stranger.  Next thing you know, all your money is gone and there is no possible way to have it recovered.

What an awful fear to have to live with.  There currently is no solution for this problem either.  Many engineers and developers have come up with patches for this problem - but it doesn’t solve it.  All it does, is make the problem alot harder to access.  This is not good enough to me.

I’m on a bit of a vacation here in Oregon and I keep having this slight fear in the back of my mind “I hope no one has managed to hack into my bank account and all my money is gone” and “I hope no one gained my password to my Paypal account!”

What causes people to do such things that we even have to worry about something like this?  Sadly, the world we live in today is hardly safe.  We are already worried about identity theft without hearing much about this problem.

I cannot wait until the day when this problem finally comes to an end.

Take it easy,
David

1. PixelToolbox

PixelToolbox is an 8-bit image editor for creating small 8-bit images, icons, patterns, and cursors. Now, the images you use do not have to be 8-bit; PixelToolbox converts them for you. To top it off, it’s got the option to have a transparent background. If you miss this feature, you’ll wind up with a cursor or icon with an ugly, square, white background - and who wants that?! If you don’t mind 8-bit graphics for your icons and cursors, this is a great product, and REALLY easy to use! You can use existing images that you may have - OR - you can draw your own as if you were using Paint. It’s really fun!

2. @icon sushi

I’ve been looking for a program like this for a long time. It creates high quality 32-bit icons with or without a transparent background. All you need to do is save your image as a jpg, png, bmp, psd, exe, icl, or dll file with an image size no greater than 256×256 pixels and it will do the rest. You have to import more than one image, for some odd reason - but the feature I find quite great is you can make an icon set. So, say you had a folder somewhere on your computer designated for each member of the family - you could literally design a custom icon for each folder and save that set as one .ico file. I was amazed at how easy it is to use - and honestly, when it comes to making icons, I prefer it over PixelToolbox by far. Use this to make desktop icons or your favicon.ico icon for your website - and it will have a great quality look.

So, below are the links to get to these great, free programs:

PixelToolbox

@icon sushi

Be sure to download these free programs right away, they’ll help you customize the look and feel of your PC!  I’m on vacation in Oregon right now, so me writing this article for you means these MUST be awesome programs.

What Do You Think?

Do you like these programs?  Got any questions about how to use these programs?  Know any other cool, free programs like these?  Whatever you have on your mind, let me know about it!  My e-mail is david@funkytower.com and I look forward to hearing from you!

Take it easy,
David Crandall

There are two things to do.  The first thing is to make sure you don’t have any spyware/adware/malware on your computer.  Get an antivirus/antispyware software and do a full scan.  If you run it, fix all problems, and still cannot get IE7 to work, here’s a solution.

Run a System Restore.  If you’ve done any updates in the past on your Vista machine, there is bound to be a restore point.  When you run your System Restore program, simply pick the most recent restore point, and let System Restore do it’s thing.

Once you start up, your Internet Explorer 7 should be running fine.  It worked for me.

It’s interesting; the System Restore option has come in handy for me.  I don’t typically use antispyware programs because if I ever run into a malicious website and begin to get popups, I simply hit CTRL+ALT+DEL, click the “Processes” tab, end the “iexplorer” process, then run System Restore.  This has always fixed my problems.  Now, I don’t really want to reccomend this for everyone, because I don’t really know how stable a solution this is for given problems, but for many things - system restore has been a big help and has saved alot of headaches for me.

Now, if you don’t want to do the whole system restore thing, get yourself FireFox.  It doesn’t look exactly like Internet Explorer, but it’s close enough to where you won’t have to put much effort into getting used to it.  I mainly use it to test my work with, but sometimes I often forget I’m even using a different web browser.  It’s very comfortable and I would definately reccomend it as an alternative to any version IExplorer.

What Do You Think?
Did this article help you?  Do you have another fix for this problem?  If you do, I want to know!  Send your comments or questions to david@funkytower.com :)  I would love to hear from you

Take it easy,
David

We tend to take lightly the warnings that our own online protection software notifies us about.  We don’t take the time to read where these files are located and what programs these files are associated with.

Recently, my sister had a problem - she had some massive spyware/adware problems; she had alot of pop-ups, which, in my opinion, were caused by some P2P (Peer-to-peer) softwares she had downloaded.  So, she took my advice and downloaded Spybot S&D on her Windows XP SP2 machine, downloaded it definition updates, ran a full scan, and deleted all unfixed files.  The result - extremely slow and incomplete bootup.  It seemed as if all that booted up was a black screen and the mouse cursor.  She called me and asked me to look at it to see what I could do.

Well, I went to her house and did the typical things: I booted up normal, but to only encounter the black screen.  I booted up in safemode, and got the same thing.  I booted up in safemod with DOS, but STILL couldn’t do anything.  After hours of trying different methods WITHOUT reinstalling Windows, at the end of the night, we decided to turn the computer on in the morning and just let it sit.

About a 30 min to an hour after booting up normally, we got a backgroundless desktop with the normal icons, but no start menu.  This told me that the taskbar (start menu) was having trouble booting up and was using up all the PC’s memory.  So, I conjured up some more ideas.

First, I tried to pull up the MSConfig menu and keep some programs from running on startup - sadly, MSConfig just wouldn’t pull up - it said I had to be running an Administrator account.  So, I restarted the computer and waited awhile, except this time, I tried to pull up MSConfig earlier on in the process.  It still did not work.  I tried this also in safemode and safemode with DOS - both got me nothing - no msconfig, no desktop icons, nothing.

So, since this alone took HOURS, I decided to come back the next day.  So, keep in mind, this is day number THREE.  The computer was painfully slow.  I decided that since explorer.exe was partially working (evident by the desktop icons) that I would pull up Windows Explorer to browse files and find the System Restore program.  If anything could fix the problem, one would think this would be it.

After an hour of browsing, I finally got to the folder where the System Restore program was located.  I tried opening the program, but an error came up telling me that System Restore could not repair my computer and to try again another time.  By this time, I was getting really frustrated.  Since we didn’t have the tools at hand to back up files, and since my sister really didn’t care anymore about losing files, I got a Windows XP SP2 disk to reinstall Windows.  I put the disk in the drive, restarted the computer, hit F8 for boot options, and booted from the CD Drive.

Now, this disk has the option to fix Windows, or install/replace windows on a hard drive.  The “fix” mode took me to a DOS screen, and all that really did was tell me useless information.  I exited THAT and rebooted back to the disk drive, and selected to reinstall Windows XP.

Now here’s where the SOLUTION is:

When you select a hard drive to install windows, it recognizes that there is already another version of Windows XP on that hard drive - so, it asks if you would like to repair that version, or replace it.  Well, if I replace it, all the files on the computer would be gone - which would stink, but repairing would keep all my sister’s programs, settings, and files installed.  So, obviously, since I had nothing to lose, I chose repair.

It went through the whole process and acted as if it was completely reinstalling Windows XP, it even took around 40 minutes - just like I was reinstalling windows!  How fun!

Well, the wait was worth it, because at the end of the day, I was able to boot up the machine like it used to boot up before encountering any problems.  I decided to get her AVG Free Antivirus - since she didn’t have that.  I installed it, ran it, and had all problems fixed.  There was a good chunk of “unfixable” files that could be deleted, which I checked to see what they were for.  I found they were not essential to the PC’s performance, and had them deleted.

Finally after midnight of the 3rd day, my work was done.

So what’s the point?

Simple, be smart and use common sense when dealing with  your PC’s safety.  Don’t delete things you don’t know about unless you’re sure it won’t effect your PC’s performance.  This applies to many things like messing with msconfig’s start up options.  Also, don’t use P2P programs, they are dangerous.  You can read about all these things in another one of my articles about speeding up your computer.

Also, when your at wit’s end and are about to take the step to reinstall windows, choose the drive to reinstall it on, AND THEN CHOOSE REPAIR!  This way, you can at least save your files.

So if you’re having that wretched problem of a black background and white cursor with no start menu or desktop icons, pop in that Windows install disk, pick the hard drive to reinstall it on, and choose the repair option.  I hope that helps ANYONE who has had this problem - which I have done some reasearch and know that there are many who have had the same issue - nothing seemed to work, so they just reinstalled windows completely, and sadly, lost all of their files. 

Again, be sure to use this repair option that the disk offers after you pick a hard drive to reinstall windows on, it could save you some head aches.

Note:  This solution was tested on Windows XP, nothing older, nothing newer.  I’m sure any newer version of windows would have the same option, but as far as an older version of Windows - I’m not completely sure.  Anyways, if you have a computer THAT old, you need to upgrade.  Just do it, you’ll aprreciate it

What Do You Think?
Did this help you out at all?  Do you have any questions?  Have you found a different solution to this “black screen and cursor only” problem?  Whatever you have to say, let me know.  You can e-mail me at david@funkytower.com and I’ll be happy to get back to you.

Take it easy,
David Crandall

Google is a great source for finding information, they are currently the number 1 search engine in the world.  “Google it” has even become a common slang in terms of searching for something online - from directions, to search-engine searches.  Google is popular for one good reason: they obtain content FAST.  Many of my articles here, on FunkyTower, wind up in Google’s database in less than 24 hours!  In fact, the majority of my website’s visitors are directed here by Google.  So, Google is definately a great source for finding information.

So, here are the tips:

1. When you search help or information online, be brief.  Don’t type something like “My iPhone froze and I can’t get it to work, so how do I get it working again so I can download apps and get updates?”  That is way too long.  Instead, type something short, between 3-7 words maximum, like “iPhone froze help.”
2. If you are looking for something specific - don’t be afraid to use quotes, but only use them on necessary words and phrases.  For example, if you can’t find the name or artist of that one song, type in quotes a lyric from the song, and then type lyrics after the quotes.  Try typing this in the Google search box: “break the spell of the typical” lyrics.  You will definately find results leading to lyrics to a song called Typical by MuteMath.  We’ve successfully found answers to our question without going outside of Google!

   If you’re looking for answers on problems with a specific item, put the specific item in quotes.  For example, say you’re having trouble with Dreamweaver MX and Windows Vista.  Put “Dreamweaver MX” in quotes so that all results will have Dreamweaver MX in them, not Dreamweaver CS2 or CS3.  OR, type “Windows Vista” in quotes; this way, all results will be in regaurds to Windows Vista - not Windows XP or Windows ME, etc.

3. Use proper spelling and grammar:  This is important - though Google has a “Did you mean: this” feature that let’s you know that you may have mispelled a word - many times this feature doesn’t react to slang.  Don’t type phrases like “Winxp dont werk fo nuthin.”  Honestly, no one types this way, so why would you find good results by searching this way?
4. If you are looking for results from a specific website, use the “site:” feature.  This will find results from specific websites.  For example:  “site:funkytower.com web design”   This will cause google to look for results from ONLY “funkytower.com” relating to “web design.”
5. Use common phrases, words, and statements.  This relates to tip #3.  Google picks up alot of content from alot of websites made by alot of people.  If you use unique phrases, statements, or words that most people do not use, you probably won’t find results.  When trying to find help on the internet through Google, use phrases that most people would use.  For example, if you want software like photoshop, type “Photoshop Alternatives” or “Software similar to photoshop” - DON’T type “Things that are like photoshop that I don’t have to pay for.”  Again - this not only is way too long, but no one is going to post a phrase like THAT on their website.

There we have it, five simple steps that will have you finding information on Google in no time!

What Do You Think?
What do you think?  What do you do to get the right results using Google?  Do you still have trouble getting results using Google while using these tips?  If so, let me know, I’d be glad to help you out with your problem.  And if you do have more tips on getting the right results out of Google, I want to know and share it with the world!  Send your thoughts to david@funkytower.com!

I must admit, the first time I tried to run Wordpress, I was confused.  The directions, to me, were confusing at the time so I just gave up on it.  Having come back to it recently to give it’s latest version a shot, the process flew with the breeze.  It was so easy to set up, configure, and mess with - I felt like I was five years old walking around Toys R Us, just playing with all the goodies.

Recently, they had an update from Wordpress 2.6 to 2.6.1.  Being the relatively young web designer that I am, I have to stay up to date with my programs - so I upgraded.

I have to admit, upgrading things like this is scary.  I backed up all my posts, data, and my entire server to a local folder on my PC- JUST IN CASE something happens.  I use other open source programs like PHPBB; the first time I upgraded PHPBB, I went through hell trying to get things to function properly.  This, of course, was an error on my part - but one must learn from his mistakes and move on, which I indeed did.

Before I upgraded Wordpress, I read the instructions on doing so.  Then, I backed up every file on my server, including all posts, pages, pictures, and data.  I even backed up things that I wasn’t using with Wordpress, just to be safe (I’m quite the worry wart - which, in my opinoion, in this case, isn’t a bad thing.)

Crossing my fingers, I replaced every necessary file, which was some 500+ files.  I was extremely nervous.  It only took about a minute and a half to upload all the files, but to me, it was like watching a needle poke into my skin (sorry for the image.)  I was so nervous that something would go wrong and everything would be lost.

Thankfully, having gone the extra mile to back EVERYTHING up, and following the directions on the Wordpress website, I deservingly had a successful upgrade.

Once finished, I decided to go and read up on the details of the upgrade.  As it turns out - the upgrade was very minor.  No real new features at all, in fact - they said if I’m happy with 2.6 to not bother running 2.6.1….boy do I feel stupid. 

Take it easy,
David Crandall

Woah hold on now, for this tutorial, you have to see it for yourself.  So, I’ve gone ahead and made a small navigation bar that you can download and observe for yourself.  Click this link to download it: buttons.zip

Once you’ve saved it and extracted the files, we can get started!

Step 1:  Creating the buttons:

As you can see inside the folder, we have 2 images:

1.jpg

2.jpg

1.jpg is going to be the button’s original appearance; 2.jpg is what you will see when the mouse cursor is hovering over the button.  Note that there is no text: the reason is that we will use text in our HTML document and modify it with our CSS document.

In order to create buttons, start by creating one image that you think would look best as a button.  Save the image as “1.jpg”  Then, modify it to how you want it to look when the mouse cursor is hovering over the button, then save it as “2.jpg”  It is important that the overall image size does not change when saved.  Both of these images are 100 pixels wide and 34 pixels in height.  We must know the size of our images as it becomes greatly important in the overall product of our buttons.

So now we have 2 button images saved in one directory

Step 2:  Creating the HTML Document:

This step is easy.  Create a n HTML document with a link, and save it to the same directory as the button images, and name it “navbar.html” for now.  That’s it.  In this case, I wanted to show you how a navigation bar might look using the button - so I made a table of one row and 5 collumns with no size defined in the HTML, and put one link inside each column.  The reason I didn’t define a size in the HTML is because we will define the size in our CSS.

The HTML code you should have in the navbar.html file, that came with the buttons.zip file that you downloaded, should look like this:

<html>
<title>Navigation Bar with Buttons Example!</title>
<link href=”style.css” rel=”stylesheet” type=”text/css”>
</head>

<body>
<table border=”0″ cellspacing=”0″ cellpadding=”0″>
  <tr>
    <td class=”nav”><a href=”navbar.html” class=”nav” >Page 1</a></td>
    <td class=”nav”><a href=”link.html” class=”nav”>Page 2</a></td>
    <td class=”nav”><a href=”link.html” class=”nav”>Page 3</a></td>
    <td class=”nav”><a href=”link.html” class=”nav”>Page 4</a></td>
    <td class=”nav”><a href=”link.html” class=”nav”>Page 5</a></td>
  </tr>
</table>
</body>
</html>

There are a few things to note in this code that you must do to your OWN code, if you are making your own HTML document.

1. The <td> tags class is “nav”:  This will be the name of the class we will be editing in our CSS document to modify the table cells.
2. The <a> tags class is “nav” as well, to apply the button and edit the text.
3. We are linking to an external CSS file, hence the <link href=”style.css”….> tag.  Using external stylesheet(s) should become a common practise for you, if it isn’t already.  Be sure that if you are making your own HTML document and CSS document from scratch that the “style.css” corresponds to a local stylesheet called “style.css” just like in the buttons.zip file that you can download.

Just in case you don’t know by now, “class” is like a name that can be identified on different things.  The CSS document will have these names in it, and “class” calls the names to function in the HTML document.

Step 3:  Creating Our CSS document:

Using notepad, type in your CSS code. 
If you’re following along with the buttons.zip file, here is our CSS Code in our CSS document:

a.nav {
 font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;
 color: #FFFFFF;
 text-align: center;
 background-image: url(1.jpg);
 background-repeat: no-repeat;
 background-position: center top;
 height: 34px;
 width: 100px;
 font-size: 16px;
 padding-top: 7px;
 text-decoration: none;
 display: table;
}

a.nav:hover  {
 background-image: url(2.jpg);
 background-repeat: no-repeat;
 background-position: center top;
}

td.nav {
 height: 34px;
 width: 100px;
}

Let’s break this down.

FIRST SECTION: “a.nav”
The main properties of the button

1. font-family:  this will be the font you choose for your text.
2. color:  this is the color used for your text only
3. text-align: this is the horizontal alignment for your text; it can be left, right, center, or justify.
4. background-image:  the url of the button we want to appear when you first load the page.
5. background-repeat: leave this property as “no-repeat.”  If you change it, the picture could repeat itself, destroying the whole design of your button.
6. background position: leave this as it is too, this will center your image and align it to the top of the table cell, leaving it looking nice and clean.
7. height AND width: these properties MUST match the size of the button images!!!
8. font-size:  however big or small you want your font; it is best you choose a font that will leave the text fitting inside the button.
9. padding-top:  this is the ammount of space from the top of the table cell in which your text will appear.  In this case it is being used to put the text right in the middle of the button.
10. text-decoration:  change this to whatever you want.  I chose “none” so that there wouldn’t be an underline when we first see the button.  I personally find the underlines, typically, to be tacky.
11. display: I chose “table” because this causes the background to be displayed throughout the entire table cell.

SECOND SECTION: “a.nav:hover”
This is what we want the button to do when we put our mouse cursor on top of the button.  Because we’re only working with the button, I changed only the properties of the button image.  You can change the properties of the text, too, if you’d like.

1. background-image:  the url of the button image we want to appear when we put our mouse cursor over the button.
2. background-repeat:  same as above
3. background-position: same as above

THIRD SECTION: “td.nav”
The properties of the table cell - we only need to adjust the table cells size.  This is really only needed if you put the button inside a table cell to use as a navigation bar.  If you’re not making a navigation bar or putting your link/button in a table cell, you can skip this section.

1. height:  This is the table cell’s height which MUST match the height of our button images.
2. width:  This is the table cell’s width which MUST match the width of our button images.

These are ALL the properties we need to complete our CSS document for our button.  Save this CSS document as “style.css”  As mentioned before, we are linking to a separate stylesheet called “style.css” and this will be that stylesheet.  Save your stylesheet to the same folder/directory as your button images and HTML document.

Step Three:  Testing

Now, if you’ve followed along properly, you should have 2 button images, an HTML document with one or more links, a CSS document covering the specs of our button, the specs of our button when we hover our mouse cursor over it, and (if you’ve chosen to make a navigation bar using a table with table cells) specs on the navigation bar’s table cells.

If so, open up your HTML document (navbar.html) and see how it looks.  If you coded the CSS and HTML properly, then it should look just right!  If your button doesn’t look right, make sure you defined the size of your images in the CSS documents properly - and that they are the same.

If your button doesn’t work, double check to make sure you identified the classes properly in the HTML document, and that the images’ URLs are correct in your CSS document.

Extra Tips:

If you want to change the font-color, font-weight, and text-decoration during your hover effects, be sure you define the way you want your text to look using these properties in both “a.nav” and “a.nav:hover”  If you don’t, you could confuse some browsers and your button won’t work properly.

If you want to use crazy text font, instead of a common text font - apply that font to your button images, NOT the HTML document.  When you do your HTML document, simply type a space for a link, like so:

<a href=”link.html”> </a>

In doing this, you won’t have to worry about any text properties in your CSS document.

If you are copying and pasting code from this page into notepad, this could sometimes cause a negative effect: the best thing to do is download the buttons.zip file and work with that.  It is always best so hand-type the code.  If you use dreamweaver, use “auto-html” features, or hand type the code.  This ALWAYS works best.

That’s it!!!  Now you have a functioning button and/or navigation bar with a rollover image effect!  Pretty neat, don’t you think?  AND it was easy!!!

What Do You Think?
Was making a roll-over image type button with CSS easy?  Did you try this out and couldn’t get it to work?  Did you use this method on your website?  If you did, I wanna see it!  Let me know if you have any questions or comments about this tutorial, and I’ll be happy to get back to you!  Send me an e-mail at david@funkytower.com,  or leave a comment below! 

Take it easy,
David Crandall

Step 1 - Creating the table:

The first thing we need to do is set up our table.  I’ll make it easy for you and create a verticle, 5 collumn table.  You can customize this table any way you’d like.  You can convert it to 5 rows instead of five collumns if you prefer having a side bar.

Open up Notepad or a text editing decoder similar to notepad and create a basic HTML document with a table like so:

<html>
<head>
<title>Your Website Title</title>
</head>

<body>
<table width=”400″ border=”0″ cellspacing=”0″ cellpadding=”0″>
  <tr>
    <td>Page 1</td>
    <td>Page 2</td>
    <td>Page 3</td>
    <td>Page 4</td>
    <td>Page 5</td>
  </tr>
</table>
</body>
</html>

Again, you can modify this table in any way you need to.  The only thing I suggest NOT modifying is the font, alignment, or size of the text - and do not be quick to add links to your navigation bar.  We’ll cover this in the next step.

But first, be sure that you’ve saved your work.  For now, save this document as “navigationbar.html” and continue saving your work after each step - just to be safe

Step 2 - Making our links

Instead of using the common <a href=”http://yourwebsiteurl.com”> tag, we’re going to go a different route.  Because we want the entire cell to act as a button or link, we need to modify the entire cell, not the text within it.  To do this, we’ll add a function called “onClick” inside each <td> tag.

To do this and find each <td> tag and add this function: onClick=”document.location.href=’http://www.funkytower.com’;”

Now all your <td> tags should look like this:

    <td onClick=”document.location.href=’http://www.funkytower.com’;”>Page 1</td>
    <td onClick=”document.location.href=’http://www.funkytower.com’;”>Page 2</td>
    <td onClick=”document.location.href=’http://www.funkytower.com’;”>Page 3</td>
    <td onClick=”document.location.href=’http://www.funkytower.com’;”>Page 4</td>
    <td onClick=”document.location.href=’http://www.funkytower.com’;”>Page 5</td>

Change the URL to whatever you’d like it to be so that it fits the purpose of your navigation bar.

Step 3 - CSS Properties for each button

Now that we have a dull navigation bar with no style or beauty to it, let’s work on our CSS.  Let’s first start by making our navigation bar look just how we want it.  Paste this code somewhere between the <head> and </head> tags:

<style type=”text/css”>
.nav {
 background-color:#990000;
 font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
 color: #FFFFFF;
 text-align: center;
 cursor: pointer;
}
</style>

Let’s break this down:

1. .nav - This is the name of the class we will use.  Change it to anything you want like “.navbar” or “.thebar” or “.thethingie”…what ever you want
2. background-color - This, obviously, will be the background color of our cell.  Change the color to whatever you’d like!
3. font-family - This is your basic font for your text.  There are different font-families you can use.  Here are some common ones1.  Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif
   2.  Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif
   3.  Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif
   4.  Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif
   5.  Courier New, Courier, Verdana, sans-serifNow, you can go online and find more fonts families, but these here are the most common - so if I were you, I’d stick to one of these. 
4. color - Simply put: the color of the text.  Again, this can be anything you want.
5. text-align - The alignment of the text.  Chose left, right, center, or justify.
6. cursor - This is what the cursor becomes when it is within the table cell.  The “cursor: pointer;” property will help indicate that the cell is, in fact, a link to another webpage by showing And it also will keep your cursor from turning into when hovering over the text in your navigation bar.

So now that we understand the basic properties of our CSS code, it’s time to add some effect to our navigation bar!

Step 4 - Adding Effect:

To do add a hover effect to your navigation bar, add the following code to your CSS style:

.nav:hover {
background-color: #CC0000;
}

“.nav:hover” indicates that we’re using the same properties as “.nav” except for the following properties (i.e, these are the properties that will change when we hover our mouse over the table cells in our navigation bar)

Note that the only property I’ve put here was the background color.  You can use/change whatever property you’d like such as ”color” for text - just ommit the “cursor” property, as it won’t matter since we covered that in the previous CSS properties.

Step 5 - Implimenting the CSS to the Navigation Bar

This step is probably the easiest step.  Simply add class=”nav” within your <td> tags.  Now your ENTIRE HTML document should look something like this:

<html>
<title>Untitled Document</title>
<style type=”text/css”>
.nav {
 background-color:#990000;
 font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;
 color: #FFFFFF;
 text-align: center;
 cursor: pointer;
}
.nav:hover { background-color:#CC0000; }
</style>
</head>

<body>
<table width=”400″ border=”0″ cellspacing=”0″ cellpadding=”0″>
  <tr>
    <td class=”nav” onClick=”document.location.href=’http://www.funkytower.com’;”>Page 1</td>
    <td class=”nav” onClick=”document.location.href=’http://www.funkytower.com’;”>Page 2</td>
    <td class=”nav” onClick=”document.location.href=’http://www.funkytower.com’;”>Page 3</td>
    <td class=”nav” onClick=”document.location.href=’http://www.funkytower.com’;”>Page 4</td>
    <td class=”nav” onClick=”document.location.href=’http://www.funkytower.com’;”>Page 5</td>
  </tr>
</table>
</body>
</html>

Step 6 - Save it and Test it!

Upload it to your server and test it out.  Now you have a fully functional navigation bar done completely in CSS!  Final thing to do is test it out!!!

Other Tips:

Now, this is totally optional, but I would reccomend adding your CSS to an external CSS document, rather than adding the entire CSS code to the head of your HTML document. 

To do this, copy and paste all the CSS code (excluding <style type=”text/css”> and </style>) into a new notepad document and save it as style.css in the same location as your HTML document.

Now, open up your HTML document and replace ALL your CSS code, including the <style> tags, with this:

<link rel=”stylesheet” href=”style.css” type=”text/css” />

Now save your HTML document and test it. 

What Do you Think?
Did this tutorial help you??  Got any other cool tips or tricks regaurding HTML/CSS?  Need to know how to do anything else with CSS or HTML?  Let me know and I would love to help you!!!  You can e-mail me at david@funkytower.com and I’ll do everything I can to help you

Take it easy,
David Crandall

Google Calendar is amazing. I’ve always seen it and have heard about it, but I never took the time to try it out. When I tried it out, I was really surprised to see what all it had to offer.

You have to have an account with Google to use it, but don’t worry, it’s easy to set up and it’s free as well.

Once you set up your account and logon to the Google Calendar page, it has a calendar waiting for you to use.  You can set up multiple calendars for multiple uses, like a private calendar and a public calendar, or a calendar for each member of the family.

You can set it up to receive notifications by e-mail, or text/SMS on your cell phone, when an event is added to the calendar, when changes/cancellations/responses to invitations are made, and daily notifications to update you on your schedule.  You can also get reminders by text/SMS or e-mail a certain ammount of time before the event is supposed to happen.  This is great, not only can you have your whole schedule on your cell phone, but you can be notified event by event right on your cell!

If you have GoogleDesktop with the Google Sidebar, you can add the Calendar Gadget that will retrieve information from your calendar straight to your desktop.  I tried this out, and the only downside to it is, in expanded view, the calendar is still too small to see all days of the week.  Every time you use the calendar you have to manually expand it to show all the dates.  To avoid this hassle however, you can make it show a list of the events/appointments you have scheduled on your calendar - rather than the actual calendar itself.

Another cool feature is the embed option.  You can embed your calendar into your own website or blog easily.  You can adjust the size, features, some colors, etc., and it will automatically generate a code that you can copy and paste into your web page/blog.

There are other ways to share your calendar if you choose to make it public, like RSS, iCAL, and a public accessable HTML code so people can embed YOUR calendar into THEIR webpage/blog.

There are more features to this neat calendar.  So if you want a calendar that notifies you by text/SMS and/or e-mail of your upcoming events, that you can embed into your web page/blog, that does so many things I can’t even list it, then you should head on over to the Google Calendar webpage and create your calendar.

What Do You Think?
Do you like Google Calendar?  Do you know of any cool, free calendar apps, or just cool, free apps in general?  Got a question on how to use the Google Calendar?  Let me know!!!  Send your thoughts to david@funkytower.com

Take it easy,
David Crandall

If you’ve upgraded to Windows Vista and have installed your old Macromedia Dreamweaver MX, you are bound to  run into some compatibility issues.  For many web designers, using tables is a huge asset for designing a web page.  Though you can do many of the same things using <div>, tables is fairly easy to use.  The only problem is, Dreamweaver MX and Vista = no inserting tables.  Is there a fix to this problem?  Why, yes there is.

Though, not the fix one would hope for, if you want to use the Insert>Table function in Dreamweaver MX on Vista, this tutorial will help you to use the function.  The only minor setback is this: you won’t be able to customize your table until after it is inserted into your document.  Sorry, but that’s just the way it is.  So if you’re ready to get SOME functionality into your software, here’s what you do:

1.  Locate the Tables.htm file located in the configuration folder of the program root.  This can be one of two places in Vista.

Try first THIS location:
C:\Users\YOUR USER NAME\AppData\Roaming\Macromedia\Dreamweaver MX\Configuration\Objects\Common

If there is no Table.htm document in this folder, try this location:
C:\Program Files\Macromedia\Dreamweaver MX\Configuration\Objects\Common

In some cases, there will be a Table.htm file in BOTH folders.  If that is the case, do the following steps 2-5 to bothfiles to be sure - OR - you can delete the Table.htm in the first folder location mentioned above - I deleted mine and this method still worked fine.

2.  Make a backup copy of the Table.htm file and save it somewhere like your desktop.  You can do this simply by right-clicking the document, then click copy, right click on your desktop, and click paste.

3.  Return to the original Table.htm file and open it in notepad

4.  This file is probably empty, but if not, delete all code within it.  Now, type a basic table code inside the document like this

<table width=”100″ height=”50″ border=”0″ cellpadding=”0″ cellspacing=”0″><tr>
<td align=”center” valign=”top”>
<div align=”center”></div></td></tr></table>

You may change the dimensions and text alignment in this table to a size more suitable.  Choosing low width/height dimensions usually work best for me.

5.  Click File>Save, and then close the document.

6.  Open up Dreamweaver MX and test it.  When clicking Insert>Table, a table matching the table you coded in the Table.htm file should appear.  You can customize the dimensions of this table as you would normally after inserting it into your document.

There you have it!  Though not a perfect fix, it certainly is an alternative so that you may continue using Dreamweaver MX until you upgrade to Dreamweaver CS3.  This definately worked for me, and it should definately work for you.

What Do You Think?
Did this help you?  Did this method, for some reason, not work for you?  Have any other tips or tricks regarding Dreamweaver MX+?  Let me know!  I would love to hear about it!  Leave a comment or kindly send your thoughts to david@funkytower.com - I would love to share your ideas with the world!  I hope to hear from you all soon

Take it easy,
David Crandall

“Claiming” your blog is verifying that YOU are the owner of the blog.  It would be a good thing if you could actually claim your blog!

Many users try to claim their own blog, but Technorati’s system won’t let them.  They get an immediate error message for no real reason.  When users contact the customer service, they don’t respond with a solution or reason why the users can’t claim their own blog.  Some people made it public by posting threads on Technorati’s discussion boards mentioning Technorati’s inability to create a decent claiming system and their lack of responding to e-mails sent to customer support.  As it turns out, TONS of users are experiencing this problem.  There have been reply after reply to these thread topics.

Seems that once Technorati’s administration got word of it, they claimed their faulty customer service on a “backlog” that they’ve been experiencing - I didn’t even know this was word.  I think the only thing that would cause them to have a “backlog” is they just stopped responding to people’s e-mails.  NOW they want to go back and address the issue since it’s been made public.

The reason I say THAT is now those topics aren’t open for discussion anymore.  I guess Technorati is tired of being embarrassed on their own website.  I still see more people posting new topics about the problem though.

Technorati needs to do two things - stop disregaurding e-mails or expand your customer support so you can start responding to people’s requests, and develop a better system for claiming a blog.

I tried to submit a blog to network with other bloggers, and I can’t claim my own blog.  I sent Technorati an e-mail, but I don’t expect an e-mail back.

What Do You Think?
Do you have the same problem?  Perhapse you have a solution to this problem!  Whatever you have to say, let me know about it, I’ll be happy to respond to your e-mail :)  So go ahead and share your thoughts with me by leaving a comment or contacting me at david@funkytower.com

Take it easy,
David Crandall

GoAnimate is free and easy to use.  They have a pretty decent selection of premade characters settings, props, sounds, special effects, and actions to choose from.  You can even import some images and sounds of your owns to use if you want to do your own voice overs or add your own background music, or use the stuff other people have imported!

When you’re done editing your cartoon, you can embed it to your blog/myspace/webpage, or get a URL to send to all of your friends.

It’s hard for me to describe everything that you can do with GoAnimate, so here’s a cartoon made with GoAnimate:

Pretty neat, huh?  And what’s great is you don’t have to do all the hard drawing and work involved in animating.  So if you’ve got a storyline and want to put some life to it….for free….then head your creative self over to www.goanimate.com and create a free account

What Do You Think?
Do you enjoy GoAnimate as much as I do?  What are some of the cartoons you made?  Do you know of any other cool websites/web-apps?  Let me know!  My e-mail is david@funkytower.com and I would love to hear from you

Take it easy,
David

<meta> tags:  When building a website, include meta tags to host a description and some key words.  Avoid being repetative and using terms like “Click Here!”  Do not use all-caps lettering, most people find it annoying - search engines like Google don’t like it either.  Make sure your description really does describe your website, and your keywords have to do with the content of your website.  Don’t use too many keywords.  Limit yourself to 10 or 12 keywords maximum.

Be Informative:  If you want to drive traffic to your website through search engines, it’s important to be informative and helpful.  When writing information on your website, be clear, detailed, and structural.  This way, when people try to find something through a search engine, your website will be pulled up earlier in the list of websites.

External Linking:  This is huge, and it could be easier than you think.  If you have a Myspace, Facebook, or other public networking account, put a link to your website on your page.  For example when spiders/search engine robots scan Myspace, they will find your link and it will be added to their database.  Also, if you’re a part of a message board, put a link to your website in your signature.  When sending e-mails, make a habit of putting a link to your website at the bottom of your e-mail.

Manual submission:  Submit your website to major search engines and major open directories.  Here are some links to do so:

1. http://www.dmoz.org
2. https://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/submit

Yes I know, that’s not very many places to submit your site, but Dmoz and Yahoo will send your site to various search engines - Yahoo powers alot of search engines.

Webmaster Tools/Sitemaps:  Generate a XML Sitemap and put it in the root of your online content folder (many times this folder is known as “htdocs” - it’s the folder where you store all content viewable on the internet.)  If you don’t know how to generate one, that’s ok!  Go to http://www.xml-sitemaps.com/  This website will generate one for you automatically that you can download.  Save the file as “sitemap.xml”

Now go and sign up to some webmaster tools/developer centers and submit your sitemap.  These services are free and they will help get your website in search engines sooner.  Here are a couple ”centers” that you can use:

1. www.google.com/webmasters/tools
2. http://webmaster.live.com/

There are more out there for different search engines that you can find.  Using these tools allow your website to be put in search engines faster, and having a “sitemap.xml” file on your server helps all your pages get scanned, and shows how often you would like the robots to scan your website as well.  This way, your content is updated regularly in search engines!

There you have it!!  Some good, free, and easy ways to help get your website in search engines.  If you complete all these steps in the span of a few days, don’t expect your website to be in search engines the next day.  All websites need approval before being submited, and it can take weeks, sometimes months, before a website is accepted, even if you take extra measures.  However, with my experience, I’ve never had to wait more than two weeks before my website got in search engines, and I didn’t have to pay a dime.

I do the same thing for my customers and, again, it has never taken more than two weeks before I got the websites in search engines.  So obviously, this works

Now there are measures you can take that guarantee you in the top listings in search engines, but you have to pay individual search engines for that - and it can be expensive.  So, if I were you, I’d suggest sticking with these tips - besides, what have you got to lose? ;)  Try them, and I’m sure you’ll be in search engines in no time

What Do You Think?
How do you drive traffic to your website?  Have questions about web design?  Would you like FunkyTower to build your website?  If you have anything to say, I’m all ears - just send your thoughts to david@funkytower.com, and I’ll do all I can to get back to you

Take it easy,
David Crandall

Esosoft for the past couple of years has provided me with the best web hosting service I could ever ask for. The offer about 1GB of web space, SpamAssassin, 1000 Multipurpose Email Addresses, Unlimited Forwarding Email Aliases, Support for PHP4/PHP 5, Free MySQL Servers, CGI/Perl, Frontpage 2003 Extensions, and the list goes on.

The one thing that captivates me most to refer EVERYONE to Esosoft is this: there flawless customer service - and when I saw “flawless,” I mean FLAWLESS! They have always responded to any question and problem I had in a timely manner. It has never taken them more than 24 hours to get back to me - no matter what the situation be.

On top of being uncanningly helpful, they are extremely educating and informative, and have been willing to work with me side by side to overcome challenges, or just learn more about different situations in webhosting.

I was once having touble with the settings connecting Dreamweaver to my MySQL server they had installed for me. They were able to resolve the issue and walk me through it and understanding why the issue was there.

When it comes to great service and prompt customer service, there really is none like Esosoft.

They also were prompt in regaurds to the Major DNS threat announced in July, and have already patched and secured their systems without ever disrupting my experience using their servers.

So, if you’re looking for a great company to host with, who has reliable services, and the best customer service EVER…check out www.esosoft.com

What Do You Think?
Who hosts your website?  Have any questions about web hosting?  Let me know what’s on your mind and I’ll do all I can to help out and interact with you.  Send me an e-mail at david@funkytower.com

Take it easy,
David Crandall

I was just browsing around the interweb today and decided I have a few devices that don’t connect to my computer using standard USB cables, and it would be really nice to have an adapter for them.  Looking around, you can find single adapters for around $10 a piece.  That seems a bit too pricey for me, so rather than looking for a couple of seperate adapters, I found a little travel USB kit.

This is really cool and only $6.75 at geeks.com!

As you can see, the kit comes with 9 different adapters along with a rollup USB Female to USB Male Adapter.  I think all the other adapters it comes with are male to male (odd, but I guess that’s why it’s only $6.75 )

The different types of adapters are:

1. USB to RJ-45 (male - we’re not sure what exactly this would be used for)
2. USB A to mini-B (4-pin standard) - typically seen on digital cameras
3. USB A to mini-B (4-pin highrose) - typically seen on digital cameras
4. USB A to mini-B (4-pin) - typically seen on digital cameras
5. USB A to mini-B (5-pin) - typically seen on digital cameras
6. USB A to B - typically seen on printers
7. USB A to PS/2
8. USB A to A
9. USB A (male) to USB A (female) roll-up extension (approximately 36 inches)

So really, for less than 7 bucks, this is a great deal.  They have others out there that are better quality I’m sure, maybe adapters that are already female to male, so you can just use a standard USB cable rather than the female to male extension - but those cost $20+!  So I honestly think this is a great deal, and I think I may get myself one

What Do You Think?
Have you tried these adapters out before?  Do you know of another even better kit?  Got any cool devices you want to share with the world?  Let me know it, I would love to post an article about it.  My e-mail is david@funkytower.com, and I would love to hear from you

Take it easy,
David Crandall