Still Using FrontPage?

In July 2009, I put an article in my newsletter titled "Say Goodbye to FrontPage":

FrontPage2003 was discontinued over two years ago when Expression Web was introduced. There are some issues involved in continuing to use it.

• FrontPage can no longer reliably be hosted on UNIX/Linux as the server extensions were “end of lifed” in 2006.
• The code that FrontPage produces is nowhere close to meeting the current W3C standards.
• From a practical standpoint, editing  the newer CSS positioned templates in Design View can be very difficult since the pages do not display correctly.

It is time to move on up to a current, standards-compliant, web editor.

For those who do not want to pay for a new program, I gave information on SharePoint Designer 2007:

Microsoft has announced that as of April 1, 2009, SharePoint Designer 2007 will be offered for free. For the FrontPage fans, this may be a good solution for those who do not want to pay the upgrade price for Expression Web. You can learn more at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepointdesigner/HA103607621033.aspx

After our last newsletter, we got a flood of emails from customers who were concerned, perplexed, unprepared, and generally confused as to what steps they should take since their current sites were built using FrontPage. While there is no "easy button", you can find some helpful links on my site that should help you sort through some of the basic information you will need. Visit http://www.rtbwizards.com/news.asp. [Note that this link takes you to the current newsletter page and will be archived when our next edition is published.]

Time to Dump IE6

A common email question I receive often is when a customer writes to say that their new site does not look right on their friend's computer. Usually either the sidebar or the content area is dropping down on the page. In almost every case the culprit is Internet Explorer 6. So let's talk a bit about IE6....

Internet Explorer 6 was released in August 2001. The last patch for it was issued with XP Service Pack 3 in April 2008. At the worst, IE6 reportedly has several security vulnerabilities some of which are listed as critical. For more information, head over to the Wikipedia site at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IE6.

From a web design standpoint, IE6 does not fully support CSS2. This means that some of the features you pay for in newer templates just can't be displayed properly in this browser. As a template designer, I try to make sure that any template will work well and display correctly in a wide variety of browsers, but there's a limit as to how long anyone can be expected to support an older browser. After all, technology moves forward.

In a perfect world, everyone would upgrade to a new browser. It's quick and easy and relatively painless. If you're worried about what could possibly go wrong, set a restore point on your computer before you upgrade. After all, no one wants to run risks on contracting a nasty virus or having their computer hijacked as a spam-bot. Yikes.

As a webmaster, however, you cannot control which browsers your visitors are using. If you discover that a large percentage of your visitors are using IE6 (view your site stats), then you can use a nifty little trick called a "Conditional Statement". I'll be covering this trick soon in another post.

I'm Back

It's been one hell of a year for me, which is why I haven't posted anything in so long. Last year in September we were facing Hurricane Ike and the aftermath of cleaning up. Then came the holiday season which is always busy.

My father became very sick right before Christmas and spent months in and out of the hospital. In late January it looked like things were getting much better, but another setback put him in the hospital in early February and he passed away on Valentine's Day. This was crushing for my mom, and so the family rallied around and helped her through those tough few weeks. There's just something indescribable about losing a parent, even when they have lived a very long, full life.

In March my husband went to the doctor with some nagging heart burn issues. He'd gone through it before several months prior, but it returned with a vengence. The doctor decided to do an EKG, and Charley was immediately sent to the emergency room and admitted into the hospital. Further tests showed that it wasn't heart burn at all, but he had been having silent heart attacks. He underwent an emergency quadruple bypass on March 12th.

Everything that could go wrong happened. He had a stroke during surgery, stayed on the respirator for weeks, contracted MRSA, had two more surgeries to clean that up, and the list just went on. Finally after a month, he was moved to an acute care rehab facility. After a month there, he was moved to a different rehab facility where his weight dropped from his normal 195 to a little under 140. The stroke had made it very difficult for him to swallow, talk, and he could not move his right side at all.

On June 7th, he was admitted back into the hospital because he was running a high fever. On June 8th, just 20 minutes after I visited him, his heart just gave out and he passed away. The cause of death was listed as sepsis.

So I slowly started picking up the pieces of my life. To lose a partner you've spent 30 years with leaves a hole in the heart that nothing can fill. I'm still angry and want to know why a man who was healthy (no high cholesterol, perfect weight, got exercise) could now be gone.

Today would have been our 30th anniversary. I've learned that sometimes there just aren't any answers. Life does go on. My daughter has given up her apartment and has moved back home. Integrating her household into mine has been an adventure and our home now has two dogs and three cats. (Never a dull moment!)

Work helps.....so I've been adding new templates, learning some new tricks (WordPress and ProStores) and  I'm working on some tutorials on migrating from FrontPage to Expression Web.

It's good to be back.

Biz Growth in a Tough Economy

It's certainly not news that the economy has seen better days. All businesses are feeling a pinch and some are feeling a definite squeeze.

Small online business owners have an advantage, especially in tough economic times. Because your business is available 24/7, you don't have to cut hours, reduce inventory, or even cut staff. Customers may be reluctant to drive from store to store in search of a bargain, but they will turn to the internet as a way to shop faster and smarter.

You have strategies available that most traditional stores don't have. Taking some small steps now could put you closer to the top of the game when the economy begins its upswing.

• Rethink your market. You should know who your customers are. If you rely on big-ticket items, you may want to offer some additional lower-priced products. Low-cost products could bring in different group of customers.
• Consider giving your website a new look, especially if it is older than two years. Nothing says success than a site that announces "We've changed our look to bring you more!" New site designs that are built to current web standards are more search engine friendly, too.
• Improve your customer service. It's too easy for a customer to go to a competitor, so do things a bit better. This means having your contact information easily available. Responding to emails, returning phone calls, and giving help when needed will encourage your customers to tell their friends. It's how businesses grow.
• Slow traffic means slow sales. If you aren't saavy on internet marketing tools, take the time to learn how to better position your site in the search engines. Almost any business can benefit from some targeted keyword ads and you can set your ad budget so it doesn't hurt your wallet.

This is your chance to view the glass as half-full rather than half-empty. Be proactive. The results will be worth it.