-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Columnists' Corner - We bring you a different person each week!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mark Shapiro very quickly responded to David Squier's column last week.
Unfortunately, it was so fast we misplaced his address. Going through
the CompuNotes subscription list found *three* Mark Shapiros. So, if you
want to send a response, send it to us and we will forward it to Mark.
And oh, Mark, could you drop us a line . . .
David Squier presented an excellent argument regarding the use of Java
on Web pages. Unfortunately, he got some of his facts wrong. He also
failed to consider the history of the Internet. The Internet started
back in the 1970's as a military research network. It soon spread to
educational facilities across the US, and eventually, across the world.
Only in the past few years has it become commercialized. Mr. Squier
asked why we let fools with Sun's and T-1 connections lead the Internet
movement. We let these "fools" (his word, not mine) lead the Internet
movement because it is these very geniuses who began the Internet
movement. If it were not for them, the Internet would not even exist
today. You should not join a regatta and then complain because everyone
else is going faster than your rowboat can handle.
While it is true that the majority of Internet access by individuals is
via 14.4 or 28.8 modems, this only holds true for individuals. Research
organizations, government and military facilities, and colleges and
universities, the original creators and users of the Internet,
overwhelmingly have a T-1 or faster connection. The Internet was not
ever designed to be accessed via dialup modem, so the fact that it is
possible now should be considered an unexpected benefit, not a
controlling factor.
Commenting on Java, Mr. Squier mentioned that there is another
alternative, called "server push", where a Web server sends a sequence
of images displayed on top of each other. One side effect of this, he
says, is that the Stop button is always lighting up, as is the hard
drive activity light. He then goes on to accuse Netscape of using this
very technique. In this, he is dead wrong. Netscape uses a technology
that has been around for a few years, called "animated GIF". One of the
extensions to the original GIF standard, called "GIF 89a", includes many
features that you have undoubtedly seen. GIF 89a allows for interlaced
images, which are images that display partially as they are downloaded,
so you can get an idea of what a picture is going to look like, without
downloading it entirely. GIF 89a also implements transparent images,
providing for a "floating" graphic, instead of a noticeably square
picture. Finally, GIF 89a introduced animation into the GIF standard,
which allows a single GIF file to have multiple frames, which can be
displayed with a delay, or in a loop. This technology, which has
recently been supported by Netscape, solves the constant load of the old
"server push" trick. It is this technology that Netscape uses to get
those nifty little ticking clock graphics on their home page.
Mr. Squier should check his facts and his history before he attacks what
he perceives as an injustice against those of us with less than optimal
Internet connections. If the Internet had been created for public and
commercial use, then Mr. Squier's commentary would have been right on
track. As it is, though, he was fighting windmills.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Columnists' Corner
------------------------------------------------------------------------
How To Register Your Web Pages
by Harold Goldstein, dcbiker@goldray.com
Okay, you've taken some classes and, lo and behold, you have produced
some web pages about Hlocuts, a mythical Mexican fruit! Now you'd like
people to visit. Whether personal or business you put your best efforts
into creating an interesting, informative, enjoyable site that you want
people to see, learn from and comment upon. This means that your page
must be properly registered so that it can be found by web surfers and
by people looking for particular products or services.
Why Register?
You've probably used one of the many superb search engines available to
hunt for some elusive information on the web. Altavista, Infoseek and
Yahoo are some of the best known and best performing. Wouldn't it be
great if your URL (Universal Resource Locator; i.e. web address) came up
when people searched for information about Hlocuts?
Some of the search sites, such as Altavista, use automated robots that
are constantly searching for new sites, indexing them for the giant
databases their engines use, and extracting the appropriate keywords.
These sites will find you, generally within 2-4 weeks of your initial
appearance. Others, such as Yahoo, wait for you to request
consideration to be included in their listings. Thus, while doing
nothing will still result in some exposure, you will have no direct
control over the keywords and the text used to describe your site.
Marketing Considerations in Web Site Creation
Here are a few tips to consider in the initial development of your web
pages.
Meta tags are optional lines that can and should be included at the
start of each and every one of your pages. Two of interest here are:
These tags are used by some of the web search engines to determine the
description of your site and the keywords for indexing. Even if you
intend to register your site you may not be exhaustive and using these
meta tags provides a bit of additional control.
The title tag is often ignored or misused:
The Internet Hlocut Home Page.
Some search engines also use this line in creating keywords for their
indices but, more important, when a web surfer likes your page and
bookmarks it then it is this title that appears in his bookmark list.
Three weeks from now, when looking through the list, he better recognize
your title or it will be deleted. How often have you seen, in your
bookmark list, the notation: Introduction. Using that title makes sense
in the micro-context of your own site but not in the macro context of
the web.
Finally, when search engines return the results of a search, many
provide a few descriptive lines about each site. Sometimes this comes
from the synopses you provide but often, especially if you don't
register yourself, these are taken directly from the first few lines in
the body of your page. It is to your advantage, then, to insure that
the first few lines concisely describes what you'd like a potential user
to know about your site. It is these lines that, often, determine if
you will get a quick visit.
How to Register
By using the URLs listed here and at my website
(http://goldray.com/register.sht -- and, from here on, all URLs will be
assumed to have the http:// prefix unless otherwise indicated) you can
have your pages integrated into the web in an afternoon. You'll need to
gather all your pertinent URLs, EMail and postal addresses, contact
names, phone and fax numbers, 25 and 100 word descriptions of your site
in text and html format and maybe a few other things before you start.
If you'd rather not bother with all this work, you can have it all done
for you. Costs range from zero to over $1000; the results range from
registration on a dozen search engines, to a full blown advertising
campaign with hundreds of registrations, mentions on pertinent mailing
lists and usenet newsgroups, press releases sent to all the right
places, etc.
My listings are divided into several parts and each part has but a few
of the URLs on my website. First I provide some sites that further
discuss the concepts of Internet Marketing. Then come several of the
best free registration services as well as some inexpensive pay
services. Then comes some of the important web search engines; even if
they are covered by the free services you'll want to register with them
since they are so heavily used. I also list some of the free Internet
Yellow Pages/Malls which are expressly intended for sites of a
commercial nature. My website also shows Yellow Pages/Malls that charge
for their services.
Finally you'll find some Usenet Newsgroups which are expressly for your
site announcements. While you don't want to become a spammer by
indiscriminately posting on unrelated newsgroups, it is quite reasonable
to post tasteful notices on relevant newsgroups and mailing lists whose
policies do not frown upon this practice. Also it is a good idea to
read related newsgroups and, when appropriate, mention your pages
whenever, for example, the topic of Hlocuts comes up.
Please do check out my registration site: (goldray.com/register.sht) and
let me know if it is useful to you. Please remind me of any links that
are outdated or, if you have found any new gems, let me know so that I
can add it to my list. Good luck!
Discussing Publishing On The Web
Yahoo, (www.yahoo.com/Computers/World_Wide_Web/Announcement_Services/)
as with many subjects, has a great listing of World Wide Web
Announcement Services. Start here, end here and you've almost exhausted
your choices.
Publicizing Your Web Site, by Webcom,
(www.webcom.com/~webcom/html/publicize.html) has pointers to discussions
of the nature of Web publishing, preparations to take before publishing
and excellent site listings.
Sites Offering Registration Packages
wURLd (www.ogi.com/wurld/) provides one-stop registration of your web
resources with all of the popular search engines, catalogs, and What's
New pages. It is fast, easy and free.
Submit It (www.cen.uiuc.edu/~banister/submit-it/) also allows direct
submissions to about fifteen sites. This is a quick, painless way to
get good exposure FAST.
AAA Internet Promotions (www.websitepromote.com/home.htm) has packages
costing from $90 to $160 with wide coverage.
A1 (www.vir.com/~wyatt/index.html) lists over 500 sites that accept URL
registrations; some being general directories, some being electronic
zines'. They'll register you with 100 sites for $159.
General Web Indexing Services
Yahoo (www.yahoo.com/bin/add), one of the best known Internet sites,
allows registration by category with short descriptions.
Send Email with your URL to Infoseek (www-request@infoseek.com) to get
listed with one of the most powerful and most seen search sites.
Alta Vista (www.altavista.digital.com/) is Digital's entry into the
search market. It, probably accurately, boasts the largest web index in
cyberspace. It may be the fastest as well.
On Excite you can 'suggest' (www.excite.com/) that they include your
URL; Excite has supplanted Yahoos at the top of Netscapes Internet
Search URL.
Lycos (fuzine.mt.cs.cmu.edu/mlm/lycos-register.html) is one of the
oldest, and still one of the most powerful search and register sites
available.
The Webcrawler (webcrawler.com/WebCrawler/SubmitURLS.html), likewise,
collects URLs and creates indices. It is an important registration site
since Webcrawler is AOL's search engine.
New Site Lists
There are many sites that specialize in listing new Web Sites. Three of
the better high volume ones are:
Netscapes What's New Page
(home.netscape.com/escapes/submit_new.html),
NCSA Mosaics What's New page
(www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/SDG/Software/Mosaic/Docs/whats-new.html),
The What's New Too Page
(newtoo.manifest.com/WhatsNewToo/submit.html).
It is difficult to be listed but it could mean thousands of visitors!
Yellow Page Services and Internet Malls with Free Listings
The World Yellow Pages Network (wyp.net/) has placed the entire USA
Yellow Pages into a searchable database. Any business is given a free
home page with its own URL. They also provide a useful listing of
other Yellow Page services that you should consider using.
The New Riders Yellow Pages (www.mcp.com/nrp/wwwyp/submit.html) is a
directory type service indexed by category. If they like you they may
also put you in their annual book.
The World Wide Yellow Pages (www.yellow.com/) is also a key word
directory type service.
Newsgroups/Mailing Lists for Possible Announcement of your Sites
You can post an announcement telling about your new site in appropriate
Newsgroups. Some newsgroups even welcome these messages; take a look
at; alt.internet.services, biz.misc, comp.infosystems.www.announce, or
comp.internet.net-happenings for this purpose.
You an also send Email to the Net-Happenings mailing list (through its
web site at: www.mid.net/NET/). To keep up to date, consider
subscribing to this list (email to listserv@lists.internic.net with
subscribe net-happenings YourFirstName YourLastName in the message).
Other newsgroups or mailing list may be appropriate vehicles based on
the nature of your site and the openness of the Newsgroup/List.
While on the subject, you might consider subscribing to one of several
mailing lists on the topic of Internet Marketing. I find the Internet
Marketing list informative. Subscribe with any message to:
IM-SUB@I-M.COM. Or try their web based newsgroup at:
news://news.popco.com/im.general.discussion. I also enjoy the Web
Marketing Mailing List. You can subscribe by email to:
Majordomo@maillist.garlic.com with subscribe web-marketing in the body
of the message.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Columnists' Corner
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Royal Flush
by Jefferson Bushman (jbush@indirect.com)
The Trouble and Delights of Shareware Shareare is a wonderful idea.
The concept behind shareware is that you get to try a program, and if
you like it, you're honor-bound to pay a fee to the author/seller of the
program.
It beats the bejesus out of the "normal" way in which software is
obtained, i.e., you buy it and if you like it you're gratified. If you
don't like it, you're like the guy who bought a new house sight unseen,
thinking it was made of brick. You get stucco.
I use, everyday, a product which was created as shareware, called
PC-Deskteam.
Among other things, it shows me the time in the upper corner of my
monitor, allows me to set alarms, gives me a notepad (particularly
useful when trying to grab URL's from the 'net), and allows me to look
for files while I'm in an application.
It's useful and it was cheap.
On the other hand, some of the programs I've obtained have
been...uhh...marginal.
I've obtained a "spool" program, which is supposed to be like an in-line
printer buffer, thus allowing me to "multi-task" on my antique DOS-based
system.
I've gotten it to work once.
Then, there's the ultimate frustrater, "Memsim." Memsim is supposed to
allow the user to utilize unoccupied space on the user's hard drive to
simulate RAM (Random Access Memory).
Greater RAM would be useful fr a variety of purposes (especially in St.
Louis, but that's for another publication), including faster running of
programs and (dare I say it after my last column about GUIs?) being able
to load and use Windows.
I have consulted the manual-on-disk (most shareware programs come with
such aid) numerous times, tried everything it said, and the puppy gives
me an error message every time.
The first time I tried the program, I had downloaded it. Like I said,
didn't work.
When seeing a shareware collection in a local computer store, I found
Memsim and bought it, thinking I might just have had a bad copy.
No such luck.
Typically, when you obtain shareware and have yet to pay for it, y get
no support from the company which created it (in this regard it's
similar to a number of programs you purchase commercially, even after
you buy it).
Nevertheless, I called the number that was listed for the makers of
Memsim, and they tried to be helpful, but still no go.
When I migrated, finally, to a '286, I tried loading Memsim again. You
guessed it. Nada.
On the other hand (we're running out of hands here, and need help!
Friends, Romans, Countrymen -- lend me your hands!), I did obtain a
somewhat useful word processing program which I didn't need, called
Galaxy Lite.
I didn't register it, because I don't use it, but it does do a pretty
good job. The reality is that with all of the word processors I own,
the second one I bought, "Q&A," is still my fave.
If I didn't already have a functional word processor, Galaxy Lite might
be a good choice.
The present problem with shareware, however, is price.
Some commercial programs (OK, not Word, WordPerfect, Lotus, etc.) are
selling for $30-$35, and shareware is selling for only a little less.
It still has the advantage of "try before you buy," but when you do buy,
it's relatively too expensive for what it is.
Alas, it's time for shareware providers to take the next step and reduce
their prices to make their programs more attractive.
That, however, seems as likely as gasoline prices dropping
substantially, before the end of summer.
þ