Posts

Posted on

Using Dreamweaver Spry and Data Sets

I’ve just changed how my custom website portfolio is rendered. You can check it out here. I used to have a Flash portfolio but now have created a Spry portfolio that uses an XML data set that allows you to click a website name to view an image and accordion style information reveal.

Spry is Dreamweaver’s name for AJAX widgets that use JavaScript and add a new level of interactivity to websites. I already have implemented a Spry drop down menu that runs horizontally across the top of the page of my website at www.McCordWeb.com, but was looking for ways to use some of the other cool new Spry features.

The big deal is that Spry with XML data sets can be used in all kinds of ways. By creating your data set with any attributes you want, you can then use cool Spry widgets to return the data on your web pages without using a database. The XML widget acts as an easy “database” that is client-sided versus residing on your server accessed through a browser action call. The difference is the speed and the fact that your browser performs the functions versus calling up information from your website hosting server.

For me, you can click the column header and sort the websites by name or click the pages header and sort the websites by the number of pages. When you click a link in the list, a new image is shown and data under the image changes. If you click the accordion folds under the image you will see additional dataset information specific to that particular website. The folds open and close based on your click activity.

Dreamweaver facilitates the set up of the features, but it is no walk in the park. I ran into a few major problems in regards to syntax and the fact that the xpath.js file did not render HTML in the accordion folds. It worked fine to show text but when I wanted to show a bulleted list only the source code showed. I upgraded my Spry files and still had problems. I eventually loaded a saved copy of the xpath.js file and all was well.

It certainly pays to do significant testing on the new features if you add them as I did. I found that Safari does not show the accordion tab colors when highlighted as IE, Firefox, and Chrome do. But the major browsers do render nearly everything else the same.

With time to customize the style sheet that controls both the accordion panels and list you can style the widgets to complement your site. All in all, I learned quite a bit about Spry implementation and am looking for new ways to integrate more features. My next project is to “properly” skin my Spry drop down menu and move away from the default skin.

If you don’t know what Spry is or AJAX, click in to my custom web design portfolio and check out the implementation.

Posted on

Associated Press Charges Now By The Word

You need to watch this video to understand the changes that the Associated Press is making in how writers on the Web can use their content. You can view the video blog that contains their new rate sheet at the Search Engine Guide blog.

What is very scary to content writers and bloggers is that if you use even just 5 words you will now need to pay $12.50 just as an example. Here is the Associated Press’ new rate sheet:

5-25 words $12.50

26-50 words $17.50

51-100 words $25

101 to 250 words $50

250 words and up $100

The Associated Press is also rolling out a special content tracking program and is clearly posturing itself to start raking in the cash if you use any combination of words that just might appear in one of their content piece titles or articles.

Seems like they should get something if they create the content right, but what if the article title was “Obama pushes health care” and you just by accident, without even reading their piece, use the same words in one of your blog posts. Are you going to want to click to PayPal to pony up the $12.50 when they send you a bill via email?

The Internet is changing our world, just look what it has done to travel agents! Now, you book your own ticket and hotel online and sometimes hotels even let you bid on their rooms. The world is way different in that regard and traditional travel agencies have had to cope with these changes. Some have gone out of business and some have focused on niche travel needs.  

The news media will also be having a major adjustment just like the travel industry did. They will need to look to new ways to provide value and cover their expenses. Personally, I don’t feel that what the Associated Press is doing is the right approach. I think for people such as myself and the speaker in the video it smacks of “old school” and a “death grasp” for cash.

I don’t begrudge a writer fair pay for creating a newsworthy piece but how we get our news is no longer through the traditional news mediums. It is time to brace yourself for big changes in the world of newspapers and magazines as well as online content in the very near future. You may end up not getting a paper on your driveway but have to subscribe to see your news online.

Posted on

Twitter is For Us Big Kids!

This past week on August 6th, Twitter and Face weathered denial of service attacks. Although Facebook did not go down entirely, Twitter was hit hard. What I found out from this attack is just how much I depend on Twitter for news and information exchange.

Twitter is not just like an instant messaging program, although newbies when they first interact with Twitter  equate it with instant messaging. It is more like a hotline to news and topics much like the old pre-Internet water cooler routine. With Twitter you are tapped in automatically as news happens. You get to hear it online first instead of from a news media resource. The people who pass the news on Twitter are usually eye witnesses and/or participants. Take Michael Jackson’s death. It was on Twitter before it was even reported on TV or the radio.

Here’s another example, Ashton Kutcher film star and Twitter Poster Boy had an emergency plane landing on August 6th with fire trucks all around. Not only did he tweet about it, but then offered a special password to all Twitter followers to meet up with him at a specific New York City at a club and get half priced drinks on him to celebrate life. It was a close call that Twitterverse heard about as it happened.

Twitter has forever changed the way we interact with others, promote ourselves, get news and information, and share the same. Twitter is not the medium for kids as recent report stated that the majority of Twitter users are business professionals between the ages of 34 and 52, so don’t think this is another “My Space” thing. Twitter is for us “big kids”.