Site Promotion: How Do Subdirectories Affect Search Engine Rankings?
From: www.wilsonweb.com

"If you put your articles several levels down in subdirectories, you may risk (1) search engine spiders not seeing your content and (2) a slightly lower ranking for your webpages. Date: Dec 15, 2004, 13:34 PST"

Miscellaneous: Buying or Selling an Online Business
From: www.wilsonweb.com

"Discusses what to look for when you buy an Internet business -- reasons for the sale, value of site software, traffic, income, competitors, and potential for revenue in the future. Date: Dec 15, 2004, 10:53 PST"

Site Design: Identifying the Footprints of Web Analytics Software
From: www.wilsonweb.com

"Describes the two approaches to web analytics -- log file analysis and page tags. When a site is using JavaScript page tags, you'll be able to see them when you View Source. Date: Dec 8, 2004, 15:42 PST"

Ads and Affiliates: How Soon Do Affiliate Cookies Expire?
From: www.wilsonweb.com

"The typical affiliate program's cookies don't expire for 30 to 90 days and don't allow later affiliate links to preempt the first cookie -- but programs vary. Check the merchant's affiliate agreement to be sure. Date: Dec 8, 2004, 11:12 PST"

Site Design: Using Maps on Your Site
From: www.wilsonweb.com

"Links from your site to interactive maps at Yahoo! maps and MapQuest are okay, but hosting their map images on your site could be copyright infringement. It's probably better to make your own map graphics with PaintShop, PhotoShop, or MapPoint. Date: Dec 1, 2004, 17:39 PST"


Reporter Suspended For Trashing Paper In Blog
From: www.webpronews.com

"PaidContent has an interesting take on the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter who was suspended for writing a pseudonymous blog titled "Rage, Anguish and Other Bad Craziness in St. Louis.""

Why Advertising, Marketing and PR Pros Should Blog
From: www.webpronews.com

"A Fine Kettle of Fish posts 10 reasons why advertising, marketing and public relations professionals should at least consider adding a blog to their business plan."

Slate to thank for hyperlinks?
From: www.webpronews.com

"I'm catching up on e-mail as my flight is delayed in O'Hare and came across the following tidbit about Slate Magazine in the latest Edupage mailing ..."

More iProspect Acquisition News
From: www.webpronews.com

"Some more interesting details regarding the iProspect acquisition by Isobar Worldwide are revealed by Mediapost."

Netflix Launches Reviewer Blog and RSS Feed
From: www.webpronews.com

"Props to Netflix for giving their consumers a voice. According to Hacking Netflix.com, the online DVD renter has quietly launched a new blog for their in-house reviewer."


Dollar Signs on the Airwaves
From: www.wired.com

"The Bush administration is expected to press for speedier licensing of public airwaves for auction to private companies. But telecom regulators say wireless apps need unlicensed spectrum too. By Joanna Glasner."

E-Tailers to Post Strong Season
From: www.wired.com

"Online merchants are poised to record a much bigger rise in holiday sales than their offline counterparts. Broadband expansion, more luxury gift sales and late shoppers help the bottom line. By Joanna Glasner."

EU Court Rules Against Microsoft
From: www.wired.com

"After months of hearings, Microsoft loses EU court battle and must strip Media Player, share code. Also: Federal judge refuses spammer's guilty plea.... Mobile companies dispute evidence that phone radiation damages DNA.... and more."

Apple Sues OS X Pirates
From: www.wired.com

"Apple files suit against three men for illegally sharing test copies of the new version of Mas OS X. Also: IAC/InterActive spins off the online travel service.... PCs sprout second brain.... and more."

Lab Tests Show Mobile-Phone Risk
From: www.wired.com

"A new EU study shows that cell-phone radio waves damage DNA. Researchers say the results do not prove a risk to health, but advise mobile-phone users to take precautions."


Holiday Online Shopping Trends Emerge
From: webword.com

" "While many online shoppers are getting savvier, others are still too naive or ignorant of online dangers and engaging in risky and questionable buying practices. For example, a surprising 21 percent of respondents to a survey conducted in November by the Business Software Alliance and the Council of Better Business Bureaus admitted to having purchased software from a spammer."

21% 21% 21% 21% 21% ... This is why we get spam, folks. It works. (Damn.)

Read more..."

Redesigning American Business
From: webword.com

" Business Week -- "Once we worried about where our food came from. Now we don't. Once we worried about where our commodities came from. Now we don't. Today we worry where our manufactured products come from. I'm betting that soon, we won't. What will matter is how we put the pieces together, how we create new experiences for consumers."

Usability is more important than it ever was. In fact, it is getting more and more important, especially as you cross cultures, distances, languages, and so on.

Read more..."

Grouping by Taste and Flavor (Brilliant!)
From: webword.com

" Business Week -- "And then we threw in a system based on taste -- eight taste categories. We didn't dumb it down, we just reduced it to the level where anybody could understand it -- expert, novice, somewhere in between. And we used icons and colors so people could relate. Wine experts and wine writers have talked about the way individual wines taste for as long as there has been wine. But to use taste as an organizing principle for a store was radical."

Rhodes comment: It is obviously radical, or better, radically obvious. There are many radically obvious ideas out there. By applying their skills, usability specialists (and information architects) could help bring a lot of good ideas to the table. In this way, usability can be brougt far forward and into the development process, even to idea generation. (Advertisement: We do this!) Usability is too often seen as an "end of developement" tool. That's radically wrong.

Read the interview...

(Via peterme.)"

Visual Perspective and Contrast (Shaq vs. Boykins)
From: webword.com

" Here's a great picture showing visual perspective and contrast. In the picture you can see Shaquille O'Neal (7'1") standing next to Earl Boykins (5'6"). These two guys look like they are from different planets. It is interesting how perspective changes as you manipulate contrast. If Earl was standing next to most people, he'd look pretty normal. But, he's standing next to Shaq, and he looks like a toy or a doll."

Half-Life 2 is making me sick .... literally
From: webword.com

" The user experience is a crafty little devil. Designers and developers, especially in the gaming industry, shoot for stunning visual details, amazing sounds, and overall realism. The problem is that sometimes the experience is too good.

That's right. Sometimes you can have too much of a good thing! This seems impossible or certainly unrealistic. However, if you make some experiences too good, the experience is actually bad. There seems to be a breaking point where the visual system, for example, cannot handle the experience.

Read how Half Life 2 is causing motion sickness. It might be due to the range of view or refresh rate.

Motion sickness is probably caused by sensory conflict or perception-action mismatching, in case you didn't know.

Learn more about motion sickness here."