NetSmarter @ 2008-12-28 10:39 (Web Traffic and SEO)

Sitemaps are starting to become nearly ubiquitous, but we've seen a lot of sites ignoring Yahoo! and MSN - a big mistake! You can seriously boost your search traffic referrals from these engines by not only submitting, but verifying/registering your sitemaps with them. Yahoo!'s registration is here, and MSN/Live's is here.

Category: Web Traffic and SEO

WordPress XML-RPC Remote Posting Problem

NetSmarter @ 2008-12-23 01:29 (Programming)

I was trying to use Windows Writer to post to a WordPress blog. However, I got an error message saying "xmlrpc.php 403 forbidden". After some research, I finally found the solution.

Just add the following lines to the .htaccess file:

<Files xmlrpc.php>
SecFilterInheritance Off
</Files>

Category: Programming

Lenovo ThinkPad and Slow IE New Window

NetSmarter @ 2008-12-13 01:17 (Misc.)

I just purchased a Lenovo ThinkPad notebook computer (T61). This notebook is supposed to be very fast. However, everytime when I used IE and clicked on a link that tried to open a new brower window, it'd be very slow and it'd take a long time for the new window to be loaded.

Finally I figured out the cause of this problem: It's the two ThinkPad add-ons: ThinkPad Password Manager and CPwmIEBrowserHelper. After I disabled those two add-ons, the problems were solved and it'd be pretty fast to open new IE brower windows.

To do so, go to IE's Tools -> Manage Add-ons -> Enable or Disable Add-ons and then disable "ThinkPad Password Manager" and "CPwmIEBrowserHelper".

Category: Misc.

Web Design: Boxes with Rounded Corners

NetSmarter @ 2008-10-18 07:06 (Web Design and Hosting)

You will find that boxes with rounded corners are just a taste of web 2.0 design. You will see the rectangular shapes are for more professional websites, but you’ll also find the the rounded boxes more it look more playful and even more modern. You’ll find these are used on sites that indorse entertainment. You’ll find that these boxes can be used in so many ways, but you’ll want to keep all of the following information in mind when it comes to rounded corner boxes.

First you can use them as images. This is where you can use the rounded box the most and it is the easiest. You will find that you can create these boxes by using your favorite graphics editor. You will want to use it and save it as a background image for the website.

You will want to keep in mind that there are some drawbacks. Basically, they add some time to the loading time frame. You will find that these are okay if the person is loading the pages with a bandwidth that is appropriate, however, the slower the internet connection, the least effective this box can be.

Then there is the use of CSS. CSS or Cascading Style Sheets is another way that you can create these boxes. You will find that these types of boxes will eat up less bandwidth and it will allow the page to load quicker then the other way. You’ll also find that this way takes a lot of time and energy, but most of all, some skill. You’ll find that there is a number of websites that use this method.

Category: Web Design and Hosting