We Don’t Spam – Free Site Seal Program
by apheus on Mar.01, 2010, under Internet, Web Design
Apheus recently joined the site seal revolution by adding the Spam Free service. We are committed to making sure that any email address or other personal information you provide to our company will never be used in spam. Email marketing is a tricky thing, especially when it comes to trust. Opt-in rates continue to drop because of the fear of spam. Most marketers will just try to claim their list is free from spam by saying something like, “We hate spam as much as you do and will never share or spam your email address.”
There is, however, a solution. A way to actually prove your list has a clean track record when it comes to spam called the Spam Free Seal. Basically it’s a seal that you place on your site that links to a status page with instant proof you don’t send any spam to your list. Pretty cool.
Erie Signal Company Website is Live!
by apheus on Feb.17, 2010, under Web Design
Apheus recently completed a very simple ecommerce website for a client in Valparaiso, Indiana. The Erie Signal Company builds track detection circuits for model railroads. This is by far the easiest ecommerce website we’ve ever created – currently with just one product! Check out the new Erie Signal website.
Desktop Icons Split and Reversed
by apheus on Jan.08, 2010, under Computer Fixes
A friend of mine brought over his aunt’s computer not too long ago (running Windows XP Professional). She was complaining about various virus-related problems and not being able to browse the internet because of popup windows. The first thing I noticed when I booted the computer was that her desktop icons were split in half and flipped. Strange, but not entirely unexpected on a computer heavily infected with malware. The icons kind of looked like this:
After I cleaned up her virus problem, I went ahead and looked for a quick fix for this problem. I was surprised at how quick the fix actually was! Microsoft has a tutorial on how to rebuild the icon cache, but as with most tutorials, there are lots of small steps. Basically, here’s what you need to do:
- Right-click on the desktop and choose “Properties.”
- Click on the “Settings” tab and find the “Color Quality” menu (see below).
- Choose the 16-bit setting and click “Apply.” (Accept any changes that may appear.)
- Change the color quality back to 32-bit and click “Apply” again. (Again, accept any changes that may appear.)
- Click “OK” to exit from the Display Settings and you should be done!
Those steps worked like a charm to restore the desktop icons back to normal on that particular computer. However, when dealing with any computer, your results may vary.
Escape from Bad Web Design
by apheus on Jan.01, 2010, under Web Design
There are thousands of great web designers in the world today. Each designer continues to “one up” the next designer with easy flowing web pages, eye-pleasing graphics, and solid programming. Unfortunately, there are also thousands of bad web designers and “wannabe” web designers in the world. They make common mistakes that can ruin a website from a visutal standpoint.
Bad Color Combinations
How many times have you tried to read red text on a blue background? Take a look at the image below:
It’s pretty much impossible to read the text and it hurts the eyes trying! Staying clear of bad color combinations is paramount. A good designer can find different combinations of color to really make your text stand out, and make it easy to read. By making the blue background slightly darker, changing the title to yellow, and the paragraph to white, we can make the same text much more visually appealing:
Bad Linking
Another bad web design practice is bad linking. There are many ways to mess up linking. Almost everyone knows that blue text with an underline is commonly looked at as a link:
Website Design Services
Go ahead, click as many times as you want, it will not take you anywhere! Another bad linking practice is to hide links. A visitor to your website has to see the link in order to click on it.
Also, keep an eye out for links that don’t go anywhere. Every link on your website should go somewhere. If you don’t have the page designed yet, then there shouldn’t be a link. A good designer will not have any 404 page errors. If you’ve redesigned your website, then make sure you put in plenty of URL redirects to minimize these 404 errors. Bad linking can be very confusing for visitors when they are trying to navigate your website. If they can’t find your links, or become frustrated trying to navigate they probably won’t stick around for very long.
Broken Image Files
If a website designer doesn’t properly code your HTML, you may get broken image files that look like this when you view your website in a browser:
Don’t worry, it’s just a graphic of a broken image and not a real broken image (I wouldn’t dare create a real-life broken image!) Broken images are easy to fix, but occur quite often on the internet. Its very unprofessional and can detract from your overall design. When you view your website, you should never see broken images.
Blinking Text
Sometimes, you can use animation or Flash to draw attention to a particular spot on your website. This is OK if its done correctly. Blinking text should almost always be avoided in modern web design, mostly because it is quite annoying. Look at the blinking text example below:
Aliquam risus metus, egestas sed, convallis sodales, gravida ut, lectus. . Vestibulum et tellus tempor orci porta vehicula. Proin blandit luctus diam. . Mauris consectetuer, odio non hendrerit lobortis, orci orci bibendum mi, at pretium risus justo at mi. Curabitur tristique. . Sed tristique ipsum et est. Vestibulum eget mauris et dolor sagittis lobortis. Integer mollis fermentum erat.
Frames
Some web designers rely heavily on frames for navigation, advertising banners, content, etc. Frames are (in one word) bad. They are hard to handle in some browsers, never look quite right, and are another “old technology” that should no longer be used in modern web design. Frames are also bad for SEO and should just be avoided. The first website I designed utilized frames, but thankfully, I’ve moved beyond that! Unfortunately, I still see a lot of websites out on the internet that utilize frames. All I can do is scratch my head and wonder, “why?” CSS is a much better way to go if you want to create blocks of content that don’t move on the screen.
KISS
One basic rule of thumb applies to website design – Keep It Simple Stupid! A good web designer will always try to keep everything looking good, have good code, and will make suggestions that can improve the look, feel, and navigation of your website. An overly complex website can become a monster that is impossible to maintain and will drive visitors away rather than bringing them back.
Hawaii Perspectives Website is Live!
by apheus on Dec.31, 2009, under Web Design
Apheus recently designed a new website for Hawaii Perspectives. Amazingly, we built this website in just one day. It’s an all-CSS design with a very appealing format. Check out HawaiiPerspectives.org and let us know what you think!
Facebook Steals Focus in Firefox
by apheus on Dec.23, 2009, under Computer Fixes, Internet
If you’re like me, then you use social networking websites to keep in touch with your friends and family. My favorite is Facebook – that was until recently. For some reason, whenever someone started to chat with me, the browser window would “steal focus.” Well, even though I enjoy chatting with people, I want to do it my terms – meaning I’ll look at the chat window when I get a chance – not when Facebook wants me to. I experienced this problem many times while running Firefox and today, enough was enough! I started looking into the problem and discovered that I was not the only one who had experienced this problem. Fortunately, someone else had already come up with the answer – turn off the Facebook chat sound – a simple, yet effective solution. Here’s how you do it:
- Log into Facebook.
- Go to any page on Facebook and find the chat menu in the lower right-hand corner.
- Open the chat menu and find the Options button.
- Click on the Options button and uncheck the box “Play sound for new messages.”
While I prefer to have the sound enabled in Facebook chat, the stolen focus problem was just too much to bear any longer. Hopefully, Firefox or Facebook will fix the problem in the near future, but until then, this workaround is the way to go!
New Apheus.com Website Online!
by apheus on Dec.06, 2009, under Web Design
We recently released our new Apheus.com website. Check it out! http://www.apheus.com
How to Get IM Working with a Netgear Router
by apheus on Nov.20, 2009, under Computer Fixes, Internet
For no apparent reason, I could no longer login to my IM programs such as MSN Live Messenger or Yahoo Messenger. I looked into all of the ususal suspects (malware infections, firewall issues, my ISP, etc.) but I couldn’t quite put my finger on the problem until I did a search for “Netgear MSN problems” on Google. I quickly realized that it was my router most likely the culprit. I purchased a new Netgear WGR614 Wireless-G Router a couple of months back and everything seemed to be working fine up until recently. I have all of the latest firmware upgrades and nothing has changed on the router since I installed it. My IM programs had previously worked using this router, but for some reason I suddenly had a problem.
My Yahoo just wouldn’t connect at all – the program would sit idle and act like it was connecting, but wouldn’t. MSN would at least give me an error message (that sometimes changed), but the message proved to be almost useless. When I tried to diagnose the connection problem with MSN Live Messenger’s connection troubleshooter, it would say that there wasn’t a problem!
Apparently a Common Problem
After doing my search on Google, it became quite apparent that this is a common problem among people using all different types of Netgear routers, not just the WGR614 like I have. I browsed the forums and could the feel the anguish of other Netgear owners who simply couldn’t find a good solution to the problem. I felt their pain, but continued to trek on to find the solution – after all, I use my instant messenger programs to communicate with my clients, friends, and family – so it was imperative that I get this problem fixed!
The Solution to the Netgear Problem
After reading through several wise suggestions, I finally came up with a solution that worked for my Netgear router problem:
- Open a browser window and type the IP address of your Netgear router into the URL bar (my router’s IP address is 192.168.1.1). Don’t enter a “www” or anything like that, just type in the numbers.
- Enter your username and password information when prompted to access your router settings.
- Select WAN Setup in the left-hand column under the Advanced section.
- Find the MTU Size option and change the value to 1400.
- Click the Apply button.
- Restart your router.
Test the Results
After you restart your Netgear router, open up one of your instant messenger programs (such as MSN) and hopefully everything will now work. The solution was much simpler than I had expected but it did work for me. I can’t guarantee that these same steps will work on every Netgear router, but its a step in the right direction. If this doesn’t solve your problem, click on one of the links below for more help:
Watch the “Awaken the Possibilities” Video
by apheus on Oct.25, 2009, under Web Design
Watch the newest Apheus video on YouTube:
Don’t Save Your Passwords on a Public Computer
by apheus on Sep.04, 2009, under Internet
Recently, I took a look at my laptop computer to see how other people use the system when I’m not watching. It’s not really a “public computer” but my friends do tend to congregate around one system or another when the visit my home or when I visit theirs. After examining the laptop, I came to realize that people tend to freely give up their passwords when using browsers such as Firefox and Internet Explorer. Many web browsers have a feature that allows you to store your usernames and passwords on the system. But, many people tend to forget that they should never save their usernames and passwords on public computers.
The Problem with Public Computers
A true public computer is one that you would find in a library, mall, hotel, or airport. They are generally used by people to check up on their email when they are on-the-go or just to browse the internet. The problem with a public computer is that they are used by everyone – the good guys and the bad guys. Public computers are a welcome convenience for many people, however there are some security risks when using a public computer that you should be aware of before you use one.
Saved Passwords: This is the main problem that actually got me started on writing this article. I noticed that several of my friends had inadvertently saved their passwords to my laptop when they were using the system. I have password saving turned on in Firefox, but have it disabled in Internet Explorer. I went through the saved passwords in Firefox and noticed that I had just about everybody’s usernames and passwords for common websites such as MySpace and Facebook.
Keyloggers: There are many unscrupulous people out there. Even if you don’t save your password on a public computer, they can still get your password using a keylogger. Although far less common, it does happen. A friend of mine in Texas had his World of Warcraft account cracked into and later discovered that he had a keylogger installed on his computer. He has since taken extra steps to prevent that from happening again. Keyloggers record every keystroke on a computer system – usernames, passwords, IM conversations, documents, and basically everything else.
Prying Eyes: I’m sure you’ve all seen the commercials on TV with McGruff the Crime Dog and the people getting their credit card information stolen at the store. The same thing can be true for public computers – that guy standing behind you may be looking over your shoulder as you type in your personal information. A cell phone camera can record your keystrokes just as easily as a keylogger.
Failing to Logout: When you walk away from a computer, you may leave up several browser windows – but it only takes one for someone to gain access to your personal accounts and extract your information. Just walking away from a computer for a couple of minutes can give someone enough time to gain access to your personal information. For example, you could be sitting at a library computer and need to print off an email you received from a family member. While you’re walking over to the technology desk to pick up your paper, someone could easily sit down and gain access to your account.
Be Safe on Public Computers
The best advise I can give someone when using a public computer is plain and simple -
Don’t use a public computer!
However, there are circumstances that may require you to use one despite my best efforts to keep from using one. These same rules can apply when you’re using a friends computer or a computer at work.
Don’t Save Passwords: Don’t save your passwords on a public computer. You’re just asking for trouble if you do.
Don’t Type in Passwords: To prevent from getting burned by a keylogger, don’t use a public computer to access secure websites.
Watch Around You: If somebody seems a little shady, then they probably are. Don’t allow someone to see what you’re typing into the computer.
Logout and Close the Browser: If you did login to a secure website, make sure that you logout of the website and then close the browser.
A Word on Saved IM Logs
Most people don’t even realize it, but many instant messaging (IM) programs have a feature that saves each and every conversation you have with your friends. IM logs are used in all of the common IM programs such as Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger, and AOL Instant Messanger. You can turn these logs on and off, but you should be aware that your conversations are recorded, just like with a keylogger. When using a public computer, don’t use an IM program or else you could compromise your personal conversations.
Change Your Passwords
After using a public computer, change your passwords in case your information has been compromised. Also, don’t use simple passwords such as “123456″ or “password”. PC Magazine released its Top 10 Most Common Passwords and oddly enough, many people still continue to use these passwords. If you’re using a password from that list, I suggest you choose another one that is not on the list.
