Category: BlogHer

Understanding iTunes and iPod

Is an iPod may be on your shopping list for this holiday season, or perhaps on the wish list you’re submitting to Santa? As part of my series on iPods, this article will tell you some things about iTunes. I’ll explain about setting up playlists, using the Jukebox, getting music from your CDs into iTunes, making iTunes accessible if you need those features, and using the iTunes store.

One thing this article won’t cover is how to work with iTunes when you have more than one iPod in the family. That topic will get a separate post of its own later in the series. Other topics coming later include using an iPod in your car, iPod accessories, and finding free music for your iPod.

If you’re still trying to make a decision about which iPod to buy, see Planning Ahead for Christmas: Which iPod is Right for You?

You can use all the iTunes features even if you don’t own an iPod. But if you have an iPod, you must use iTunes as the bridge between the iPod and your Library on the computer. If you don’t already have it, the first step is to get iTunes. You can download it free from Apple.com for either a PC or a Mac.

Read the full post at BlogHer. This is the second article in my iPod series at BlogHer.

Women in Tech: Addison Berry

Meet Addison Berry, a woman who traveled a roundabout path into tech and is now one of the most visible leaders in the open source content management world of Drupal. My thanks for Addi for agreeing to answer some questions and let us get to know her.

Q: Let’s start off with Drupal. You work for Lullabot, a company that does Drupal books, podcasts and videos. And, you’re head of the Drupal.org documentation team. How did you become so interested and involved in Drupal?

A: Well I was a WordPress user for a while and had started doing little side jobs building sites with it. I managed to do quite a bit with it. Then at my old job, in the midst of redoing the website there, I told them that it didn’t make sense for me to hand-code the whole thing and be the only one who knew what was going on. I convinced them that we needed to use a CMS instead. The only problem was that I didn’t know of one to use. I quickly realized that WordPress would not stretch that far for us. So I sat down and started reviewing open source CMS. I needed to decide quickly and honestly Drupal just made more sense to me, more quickly than the handful of others I was looking at, so I put my stake in the ground and started building.

As chance would have it, a few months after I decided on Drupal, Lullabot offered their first Drupal workshop and it was located in Washington, DC – literally three blocks from my office. It was an easy sell to the boss. After the workshop, I really grasped the full potential of Drupal and got really excited about what I’d be able to do with. That got me excited about the software and they mentioned some community stuff, but ya know, I needed to get my work done. Several months after that a new thing called the Drupal Dojo started up and I plunged in full-speed ahead. It was a great learning opportunity, but more importantly I really got to know people and finally engaged with the community. The Drupal community is just amazing and once I was there, I jumped in everywhere I could. Lots of people helped me and so I did what I could to help others. That ended up coming back to me in a job offer from Lullabot that allows me to work with Drupal full-time.

Read the full interview at BlogHer.

Findability: Is your blog as findable as possible?

Everyone has heard of search engine optimization, right? But have you heard of findability? I hadn’t, until recently.

The term “findability” seems to originate with Peter Morville, who published a book called Ambient Findability in 2002. Blogger DonnaM wrote about it in 2004 in Usability testing for findability. Jakob Neilsen wrote about it in 2006 in Use Old Words When Writing for Findability. In 2008, I happened to read Building Findable Websites: Web Standards, SEO, and Beyond by Aarron Walter and I got very excited about how simple changes to my blog might make it more successful.

In fact, when I wrote Review: Building Findable Websites on my blog, I said,

Building Findable Websites: Web Standards, SEO, and Beyond by Aarron Walter (New Riders, 2008) is one of those rare books that is so full of good ideas, it makes me enthusiastic about what I can do when I put the book down and go work on my blog or website.

As Walter defines it, findability includes accessibility, usability, information architecture, development, marketing, copywriting, design, and, oh yeah, search engine optimization. Walter continues to try to popularize the concepts, and recently published Findability, Orphan of the Web Design Industry at A List Apart. He starts right off with the orphan metaphor and works it all the way through:

Once upon a time in a web design agency, there lived a sad little boy named Findability. He was a very good boy with a big heart for helping people…

* find the websites they seek,
* find content within websites, and
* rediscover valuable content they’d found.

He used his arsenal of talent for planning, writing, coding, and analysis to create websites that could connect with a target audience.

A bit later in the article he sums up findability as,

The fundamental goal of findability is to persistently connect your audience with the stuff you write, design, and build. When you create relevant and valuable content, present it in a machine readable format, and provide tools that facilitate content exchange and portability, you’ll help ensure that the folks you’re trying to reach get your message.

What are some of specific techniques for findability discussed in the book? The book talks about markup strategies, which include web standards, accessbility, and microformats.

In terms of web standards, that means to separate stucture (the (X)HTML) from presentation (the CSS) from behavior (the JavaScript) to create sites that are accessible both humans and machines. Use modern code that follows the rules and check how you’re doing with a validator. Use alt attributes with images, encode characters, use tags that communicate semantically by making page hierarchy clear. There are a number of other markup tips such as which tags are essential and whether or not to use meta tags. Regarding images, get rid of image maps, and if you replace headings with snappy looking images make sure you do it accessibly. Microformats include hCalendar, hCard, hReview, hResume and others. These are nothing more than standardized ways to present certain information with HTML and CSS that the search engines (and a lot of other apps) recognize. I’ve been using hReview on Web Teacher for some time now. I can verify that reviews I write this way make the search engines very happy.

In terms of server-side strategies, the book talks about building file structure, 404 pages, URLS, and server optimization for speed. It discusses naming everything from the domain name to files, folders, and URLs. There’s advice for moving pages or whole domains and how to use redirects and custom file-not-found pages to keep them findable in the new location.

Creating content that drives traffic is another important aspect of findability. Walter says quality content is on topic, fills a niche, conveys passionate interest, is trustworthy, appealing, original and appropriate. There are also many types of content beyond the blog post. You could consider other types of publications such as white papers or articles, links, reviews, recommendations, syndication, and user generated content in comments and forums as part of your content. You can also add RSS feeds from other sources such as Last.fm, Flickr, job sites, events and other worthy feeds to your content.

Of course, most of us here are concerned with blog findability. The strategies include regular posting, linking and trackbacks, original templates, post titles, archives, topics, and special sections on the blog for things like popular posts and recent posts.

Be sure your site has a search feature. If you use Ajax, Flash, audio and video be sure you are not locking out some of your potential readers. If you have a normal web site and not a blog, try to build a mailing list so that you can contact readers and lure them back to the site regularly.

Merely summarizing the high points here created quite an imposing list of things to do. Fortunately, Walter thought through which actions are the most important and beneficial for you. The final chapter in the book tells you how to prioritize the changes you may need to make and helps you tackle them starting with the most useful first.

I happen to know Aarron Walter. We work together on a curriculum project for the Web Standards Project. I contacted him about this article and asked him to identify the two most important things a blogger could do to improve findability. Here’s his response:

1. Customize your permalink structure to include keywords in your URLs. Many blog platforms make it easy to define the structure of each blog post URL. Ideally you want each URL to contain the same keywords as those in your post title.

2. Define your update services. When you publish on your blog, it automatically notifies (called a ping) many tracking services instantly so your content gets indexed by search engines and various other services. Be sure to define which update services your blog should notify. WordPress keeps a comprehensive list of the top updates services at http://codex.wordpress.org/Update_Services.

Helpful resources for making your blog more findable:
– Aarron Walter’s site: free download of Findability Strategy Checklist
– Findability Checklist
– A Blog Not Limited: Getting Semantic With Microformats, Part 1 the first of a series on microformats by Emily Lewis
– SEO Blog: 10 Coding Guidelines for Perfect Findability and Web Standards
– SEO Blog: The 10 Worst Findability Crimes Committed by Web Designers & Developers
– BlogHer: Melanie Nelson’s Basic Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Tactics

Cross posted at BlogHer.

Related post: Review: Building Findable Websites

Women in Tech: Shelley Powers

This is the first of several interviews with women in technology. Today you’ll learn about Shelley Powers. Shelley is perhaps best known as a writer. Her most recent books are Learning JavaScript and Painting the Web. She’s also a programmer and web developer, and she applies a powerful and logical mind to everything she does.

Q: I looked you up on Amazon and found a list of books you’ve written that includes Learning JavaScript, Painting the Web, Adding Ajax, Learning JavaScript: Add Sparkle and Life to Your Web Pages, Unix Power Tools, Practical RDF, Powerbuilder 5 How-To, Developing Asp Components, Dynamic HTML, Dynamic Web Publishing Unleashed, Javascript How-To: The Definitive Javascript Problem-Solver, and Using Perl For Web Programming.

Wow!

How did you get started on a career as a writer? What was your education and background?

A: I’m a late bloomer educationally. I quit high school when I was 15 and joined a religious cult, Children of God. When I came to my senses and left the group, I went from the frying pan to the fire by marrying, at 16, a man who had learning disabilities and resented the fact that I liked to read. We lived in a house in the country and if it weren’t for the fact that the local library would send books out, and allow you to return them in pre-paid envelopes, I would have had very little to read for two years.

. . . Read the full post at BlogHer.

DonorsChoose Challenge: Journalism students need a computer

A group of high school students in a rural community in South Carolina thought their school needed a journalism program and a school newspaper. They had no support or funding from the administration, but they went ahead with efforts to make it happen.

Raising money with bake sales, and using a computer and camera borrowed from the teacher, this group of enthusiastic students produced 8 issues of a student newspaper last year.

Their teacher turned to DonorChoose.org to raise money to fund a computer that the journalism class can call its own. The project is Computer Needed for New Student-Run Newspaper!. Here’s how the teacher explained what the students need:

In order to continue the success of the journalism program, it is crucial that the students have some technology to help them continue the creation of the newspaper. Many of them have expressed desire to explore careers in journalism after college, and I would love for them to have a laptop to call their own in the classroom so that they can make their dreams come true! We are asking for a HP Pavilion Widescreen Notebook Computer for the students to compose stories, complete layouts, and submit issues of the paper. The HP Pavilion Widescreen Notebook Computer would be the most integral part of the program, and it would be utilized everyday in the construction of the newspaper.

The total needed to make this dream come true for these future journalists (and future bloggers!) is $1057, almost half of which has already been raised. It’s a tax-deductible gift and amounts as small as $1 are welcome. This will help the 35 students currently in the program, as well as students who will use the computer in coming years. These students worked hard to prove themselves, and produced a school newspaper that benefits the entire high school. I want to help them keep the momentum going with a donation toward that new computer, and I’m asking you to help, too. Give a dollar (or 5 or 10) to provide the technology to keep the news alive in Moncks Corner, South Carolina.

The BlogHer Contributing Editors’ Challenge page has the give button. The project for Computer Needed for New Student-Run Newspaper! is on page 2. You’ll find a link to page 2 near the top of the list of projects on page 1. Please give. Even a single dollar will help. Click this ad, it will whisk you there. After you click Give, look for the “change” link to adjust the dollar amount to whatever you can afford to give.

You can learn more about BlogHer’s participation at Blogger Challenge in Support of Public Schools. If you can, give a dollar or more to other supported teacher requests, as well as to the one featured in this post. All the BlogHer Contributing Editor’s projects are listed on the BlogHer Contributing Editors’ Challenge, along with that all important Give button. Just look for the project called Computer Needed for New Student-Run Newspaper! and click that Give button.

If I tell you that my high school journalism teacher was a frumpy woman with her hair in a bun who tugged on her girdle all the time, you’ll realize how long it’s been since I was in high school. In spite of her appearance, that teacher and that class started me on a path than I’m still on today. Every word I wrote that was “published” in the school newspaper was a thrilling encouragement to me. Our equipment was provided by the school district. However, the students in the Computer Needed for New Student-Run Newspaper project have struggled to get the equipment they need. They’ve raised funds of their own by working in the community to get the supplies. These students produced newspapers on their own, in spite of the difficulties. Surely, you can spare a dollar or two to support this dedicated teacher and her hard-working students.

You can start your own blogger challenge in support of any of the DonorChoose programs. Start at the DonorsChoose Blogger Challenge Page. Add information to your own blog in support of the journalism students in North Carolina who have worked so hard to create a school newspaper, or in support of the other available projects at DonorsChoose.

Cross Posted at BlogHer: DonorsChoose Challenge: Journalism students need a computer

Sidebar changes for Blogger Challenge and Lijit Search

If you read these posts in a reader and never see the sidebar, I hope you’ll click through and take a look today. I’ve added two features.

The first is a skyscraper ad for the BlogHer DonorsChoose Blogging Challenge in support of public schools. It’s part way down the sidebar under the images of my books. You can click the ad to donate to numerous projects selected by BlogHer Contributing Editors that are part of the donorschoose.org program. My supported project is “Computer Needed for New Student-Run Newspaper!” I hope you’ll give a dollar or more to help some hard-working journalism students who need a laptop. I’m working on a post for Oct. 4 that will explain more about this project.

The second sidebar change is that I’m trying the Lijit search again. I’ve finally made peace with the terms of service, but so far I’m not impressed with the search results. I listed everything I wanted searched in my “content.” When I test it, things I know are there don’t get found. So, that may or may not remain after a period of trial.