WebDevoMan Web Development Blog

Hi Readers and thank you for your continuing support.

I just wanted to write a quick and short update to fill everyone in on what will be happening soon at WebDevoMan.

I am currently working on our next FireFox extension entry. I decided to change the format around a bit and cover a variety of extensions with each entry instead of covering just one. I decided to do things this way because there are just so many awesome extensions and there are also so many different ways to use them. it would be fairly easy to have a blog just dedicated to this topic and that is not what we are doing here.

There are also variables that come in to play. Some extensions are great for developers but useless for the average web surfer.

The next entry will cover Sxipper which is a password manager etc. We will also cover Web Developer, SEO Quake, Web MYND, Fox Marks and maybe a couple more.

If there are any FireFox Extensions you would like me to write about please leave a comment. I am looking forward to finishing the next entry!

Don’t forget to check out our new “Blog News Page“..

Thanks,

WebDevoMan

As I wrote in my last Firefox Extension Article, Firefox is by far the most changeable and adaptable internet browser available today.  This is why I decided to write a series on my favorite Firefox extensions.  The extensions I am reviewing are general extensions that almost anyone could find useful. There are many other extensions I use that I also consider favorites but those extensions are geared towards SEO and Web Development. If I decide to take this series a bit further I may just review all of those extensions as well.

I did have a very hard time finding the second spot. It was even harder than finding the number one spot and to be fair, there were many other extensions that could have easily been in this spot.  There are so many great extensions and they keep getting better and better. What is a developer to do? Pic Lens is a great extension no matter how you slice it. Whether it is number two or not is up to you.

My review and number 2 Firefox Extension is Pic Lens or you may know it as Cool Irus. This is a new and amazing way to view images on the internet. Say you are searching for images of “Jets”, click on the “Pic Lens” icon and type “Jets” into the search box. Pic which search engine you want to use and your images come up in a really cool display! It is hard for me to explain but believe me, it is way cool!

Check out the image!

PicLens Firefox Add on

As you can see from the image, PicLens just grabs the images without any text and it aligns them very neatly in 3D. If you want more information and a larger view of a specific image you just need to click on the image. The image will expand a couple steps larger, click again and it will get larger, click one more time and you will have a full screen view. You can also press a play button and have it scroll through the images like a slide show. It really is amazing and after spending a few minutes you forget you are browsing images on a search engine!

I am not sure how useful this add on really is but it is really so entertaining. I have never really been one to just view images on the internet before but I find myself thinking of image topics I can view with PicLens.  You have the option of choosing from a limited amount of search engines. Right now PicLens works with Amazon, Google, YouTube, SmugMug, Flickr, Yahoo, DevienatART and Photobucket. This list is bound to increase with each updated version.

I have found some great image searches and please feel free to add some to this list.

• Grand Canyon
• Jets
• Fighter jets
• Hubble Telescope Images
• Space

I almost forgot to add that there are also some preset searches that are amazing! They have a fairly wide selection here including image selections from the Olympics, News, Sports, Science, Technology and many more. Below the images there is a article explaining what the image is etc. This is a great tool for kids reports etc. it is also a great way to get started.

In closing I just have to tell you that this extension is worth a look for sure.  While my number pone choice, Speed Dial is very useful for regular Internet users, PicLens is just plain fun! I am sure it can be useful as well but either way I am willing to bet that if you try it, you will love it…

Please feel free to comment and post your views on PicLens or add to the list of Image Searches.

Useful Links

Cool Irus

Firefox Add Ons

PicLens Add On

Thanks so much for reading!

Stay Strong and Live Long!

WebDevoMan

PR: wait… I: wait… L: wait… LD: wait… I: wait… wait… CY: wait… I: wait… L: wait… YCat: wait… I: wait… Top: wait… I: wait… L: wait… C: wait… SD: wait…

Chances are if you are a Firefox user, you are also a plug in freak like me. These add ons are what makes Firefox the most user modifiable browser there is. The many extensions available make my life as web developer much easier too.

The list I have made here are my favorites only and as I said, I am a web developer. There are many other extensions and plug ins that are for all kind of uses. Please feel free to add your favorites to this list as well.

This series is going to be 10 entries and each separate entry will cover one of my favorite Extensions. If I am contacted or if anyone wishes to add favorites I will possibly change my favorites to include what ever extensions are popular. I was going to make one large post about all 10 extensions but I would rather go a bit more in depth about each individual firefox extension.

I will include a description, a screen shot and a link. If you would like to contribute please do the same.

#1- Speed Dial - This Extension is by far the best and most useful extension I have found and used. I have it on all my pc’s and I use it daily. It allows you to display your favorite links in an organized fashion using thumbnails. If you have ever used Opera than you will see know what this looks like.  If you have not used this yet, Trust me and go grab it!

You can download the Speed Dial Extension Here!

Add-On-

Speed Dial is very easy to set up but if not set up correctly it can make loading very slow. I have is set as my home page and I have 4 columns and 4 rows and this works well for me. I have tried many combinations and this one works the best for me. Instead of squeezing too many thumbnails into a single page it makes more sense to just add more pages. I currently use 6 pages.

Since I started using this mod I barely use bookmarks at all. I am a web developer and I own many websites including development forums etc. I also perform search engine optimization and I have a need for having information close by. I have certain pages set for seo sites I frequent, other pages for clients and pages for my own sites too.  It just makes accessing any frequented site quick and easy.

The only option I would like to see is an easy way to sync my speed dial set up on all of my pc’s. I achieve this now by using Mozbackup but I would love an easier way. By the way- If you are looking for a way to easily back up your Mozilla products such as Thunderbird, Sea Monkey and Firefox Mozbackup is great. I have been using it for years. You can use it to sync your data too but you accomplish that by downloading a back up and restoring it on your other pc etc. So, it is not really syncing. It is a helpful program and it is free too.

Thanks

WebDevoMan

http://www.talkandmore.net

Useful Links

FireFox Extensions

Speed Dial

FireFox Download

MozBack Up

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Hey everyone,

I know I tell all of my clients to make at least one blog entry per week and the more the better. It is a shame I do not have time to follow my own advice. I give you my word that from this day forward I will try to post more often.

Because my activity here has been so dismal I am have decided to add some new categories and topics. I would like to discuss some of the work I am doing and I would like to introduce some of my clients.  Please feel free to comment on anything being posted here. Don’t be shy.

My newest client and project is Cannashops.com. I was not hired as a consultant here so I do not have full control over what goes on. Please do feel free to make suggestions though. I have just started but in the future the portal page will be modified, seo will be done, I will make the site more user friendly and then it will be time for promotion! I believe the site has potential.

I have some other projects I have been working on as well.  I am currently working on 2 VBulletin, Joomla Bridges.  I tried to build a bridge first, then I tried JFusion and finally I have gone with BBpixel. I will be posting links when I get further long. The sites are being built for iowawhitetails and whichwouldwin… One of these projects is going to contain a simple poll on the Joomla page, the other site is a bit more complex. I will by using the VBulletin style and css through out the whole site. The Joomla page will be wrapped if you will.

This integration has been more challenging than usual because of the new generation VBulletin script that just came out, 3.7. There are just not many decent bridges out there or at least there were not when I started these projects.

Part of the whitetail project was for me to pick a suitable CMS that could function the way the owner wants and the need for future modules was also present. Before settling with Joomla I did some research and testing with some other CMs. I tried Drupal, VBDrupal, VBadvanced and Joomla.  I believe Joomla is the most solid, feature packed cms of the bunch but it is also very complex unless you are a webdeveloper. I guess this could be taken as job security for me.

Not that I am halfway done with the projects though I am wondering why I did not think of using Wordpress. Most people probably see Wordpress as a basic blog script but I believe it can be worked into just about anything. I am sure there are some decent Wordpress/VBulletin Bridges out there as well. Live and learn I guess.

I do have another major project coming up in August and it is actually one of my own sites, www.talkandmore.net - I am going to completely rebuild the site from the ground up and I am going to tie it is with a cms as a landing page. Because of all of the added features and sub domains I really do think it is time for a landing page in order to kind of anchor all of those pages. I am really thinking about using wordpress for this now! If anyone has experience in integrating wordpress with Vbulletin please post here. I will be forever grateful.

My current plan for the site is to share the same style through out the forum and cms. I am not positive on this yet though. I am open for suggestions though.

That is it for this entry. If you have any comments or advice on anything I talked about please do not be a stranger. I am always looking for skilled developers and coders to help with projects etc.

Thanks,

WebDevoMan

Reading: “Child Support - Off Topic Forums For Living - TalkandMore” ( http://tinyurl.com/686bel )

Reading: “Free Search Engine Submission-SEOLater.com” ( http://www.seolater.com/ )

I will be working on clients websites today all day. I have major projects to finish with in the next week… Hope I can do it

As a busy, full time web developer I am often asked this question and I have come to the conclusion that Search Engine Optimization is the most important marketing and promotion aspect. It is surprising how many people still do not believe that Search Engine Optimization can make a difference with their websites.

I could easily come up with a book full of reasons to answer this question but I am just going to write about the main reasons I believe SEO is a good investment for any website. I truly believe that unless you make your site readily available to search engines you are limiting your success with any other campaigns you may do.

The first reason I would like to bring up is Targeted Traffic - By Targeted Traffic I basically mean traffic that is interested in your specific content. The more content you can get listed in the major search engines index’s, the more people will have a chance to find your website. It really is that simple! If you can make your content readily available to the search engine spiders you will have more of your content indexed and the better you do with your seo the higher up on the list you will be. Having your site on the first page of a major search engine under your websites main keyword will give you a boost you will not believe! The traffic you get will also be targeted traffic which means that these people are actually looking for the content on your website. This increases the odds that these people will stay for awhile and either join your forum or maybe shop at your store depending on what your website is. The bottom line is that with proper seo you can get targeted traffic and that is the best kind to have.

The next reason is The Price - Search Engine Optimization can increase the value of any website and in addition you will make your money back. I am not going to tell you that pay per click campaigns are not good because they do have their place but they can be expensive. Of course any type of site work can be expensive but it is an investment that you will have for the lifetime of your site. If you are willing to put the time in you can study and learn many aspects yourself. There are a number of fairly easy optimization techniques that can make a huge difference and not cost you a dime. You can even find more information right here on this blog. Information is readily avaiable for anyone willing to put in the work.

I tend to look at SEO a bit differently than most. My company believes in performing seo in combination with promotion. I believe that seo and internet promotion go hand in hand. It is a whole site concept that requires the site be properly filled with good and rich text. SEO does nothing on a site with no valuable content and content is still king as far as I am concerned. When I perform SEO on a site the whole site is changed to include useful content and text and clean and validated code.

The results can be amazing. Increased page rank, indexed pages and getting higher up on the scale with your main keywords can all be achieved and are great reasons to invest in seo. Just remember that Search Engine Optimization is not just a one time shot but more of a ongoing process. Use all of the tools out there to your advantage like Google Webmaster Tools and Analytic. Monitor your positions and see what you can do to improve things. Work hard at adding clean and valuable content. Make sure your code is clean and that all of your images have alt text. If you spend the time and seo your website I can promise you that you will be happy you did.

Thanks

WebDevoMan

“What ever didn’t kill me made me crazy”

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