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The I Follow “D-list”

Posted April 12th, 2007 by Randa in Blogging | Comments (26)

Eve of HomeBizBlogger added me to the D-list of those who have installed the “Do Follow” plugin. This is another opportunity to share the link-love. Obviously there are now a zillion people I could add to this list because of the great response that’s still pouring in from yesterday’s post, but I’ll just keep it to two- a couple of blogs that are new to me. I purposely didn’t include anyone on the list I published yesterday. If you’re on the list and don’t already have a badge for your sidebar, you can grab one here. So, Chris and Chris, should you choose to participate (you’ve both just written posts about this, so if you don’t choose to, I understand):
***Begin to copy here***
1. Write a short paragraph at the beginning of your post and link back to the blog that put you on the list in the paragraph. This isn’t a suggestion. You need to break up the duplicate content. Someone took the time to add you so the least you can do is give them an extra link back.

2. Copy the list of originals below COMPLETELY and add it to your blog. If you would like a different keyword for your blog then change it when you do your post and it should pass to most blogs with that keyword.

3. Take the adds from the blog that added you and place them in the “Originals” list.

4. Add at least 1 new blog that you KNOW us using the DO FOLLOW plugin to the list in the “My Adds” section. (Add no more than 5!) Let the people you’ve added know, so that they can keep the list going!

5. Leave relevant comments on the blogs listed and get a link back to your site thanks to Do Follow!
My Adds:

Chris of Solo Technology

Chris Stark of Fuzzy Future


Original List:

GeekySpeaky
Simple Kind Of Life
3DayMom
BuyMeBlog
The Hockey Dad
Midlife Musings
Utterly Geek
Whatever I Feel Like
My Dandelion Patch
Surviving NJ
BizMark Tech
Two Dog Zoo
TDZ Travel
Body, Mind & Solar
MidLifeMusings
HomeBizBlogger
Confessions of a Housewife
Andy Beard
Randa Clay Design

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The I Follow “Movement”

Posted April 11th, 2007 by Randa in Blogging | Comments (209)

I decided I’d like to have something in my sidebar indicating to my future readers that I’ve turned off the nofollow in my comments, and I thought others might be interested as well. So, I’ve set up a page that has the little logo you see to the right in several different colors and some CSS code that would work well if you weren’t interested in a graphic. What do you think? I think if you Digg this post, we could spread the “movement” to more than just the small (but growing) list of bloggers who are already on board*:

UPDATE: I appreciate all who have requested to be added to this list, but the list is now closed and I will be making no more additions to it. Thanks!

*Naturally, this list is too large to be kept up to date as to who has continued to follow comments.

You can make online college work no matter how busy you are! Take your web design hobby to the next level earn a web design degree in your free time. Learning online is great for your education and an online degree program will help you get that dream job.

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Something’s fishy about SiteMeter

Posted April 10th, 2007 by Randa in Blogging | Comments (7)

I’ve been considering trying out SiteMeter lately. I’m glad I didn’t. Turns out they have entered into an agreement with SpecificMedia to store tracking cookies on the computers of those visiting sites tracked by SiteMeter so they can sell your browsing history to their advertisers. They did this without informing their users, even though this new addition causes a slowdown in the load time of member sites. I use Statcounter as my main stats provider, and they refused the same offer from SpecificMedia. Do you use SiteMeter? Have you noticed anything fishy?

Thanks for your comments on previous posts Brian and Char.

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5 Reasons Why I Blog

Posted April 7th, 2007 by Randa in Blogging | Comments (5)

I’ve been tagged by Brian Gardner to write about the 5 reasons I blog. I have 4 different blogs that all have different purposes, so my reasons for blogging may be slightly different depending on whether I’m talking about my personal blog, monetized blogs or this “professional” blog. Here are the reasons I blog on this site and taking a new twist, I’ll also add a short list of things that are not reasons I blog.

outlet

1. To connect: I changed this site to a blog a couple of months ago because I knew that it would be a good business move. Blogging allows me to connect with potential clients in a way that a static site never could. What I didn’t anticipate was the resulting interaction with other designers and bloggers and how much I would enjoy and benefit from it.

2. To help: Though when I read the blogs of those more experienced than me, I feel relatively ignorant, the truth is that there are always people who are just behind me on the learning curve, who are searching for the same solutions I wwas searching for a week or a month ago. When I learn something really interesting, or come across a great tip that just makes life easier, I want to share it with someone. A blog is the perfect place.

3. To earn: I have already seen the positive impact that connecting with potential clients and networking with other design professionals through this blog has on my business.

4. To create: I need a creative outlet. I just want to make things pretty, and making pretty things for the screen is what I enjoy the most.

5. To learn: In working with tools to make my blog more effective, I learn how to better assist others. I have also learned a great deal from the interaction around my posts such as those about my (rather slow moving) progress towards launching my first WordPress theme, for example.

The following are not reasons I blog:
1. To write: I have never really cared for writing. I took all almost honors classes in high school because I enjoyed the challenge, but I took just regular old English so I would have to write as little as possible. Blogging has really improved my writing in general though. I enjoy producing a well-written post that communicates well and is helpful, but I don’t enjoy the writing process itself.

2. To get more traffic: I like to see traffic grow, and I hope it will, but it’s not a motivator for me on this blog. I hope that as I continue to grow and learn, that the traffic will grow as well, and I’m certainly very appreciative of anyone who takes the time to visit me here.

So, here’s the spot in the post where I would normally tag other lucky bloggers to continue this meme, but unfortunately just about everyone I know has already been tagged!

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A CSS flyout menu that works in Firefox AND IE

Posted April 3rd, 2007 by Randa in Design | Comments (12)

I thought it would be easy to find. All I needed was some CSS that would generate a nice vertical flyout menu for a site I’m developing. Turns out that’s not such an easy request. I googled around and found several different menu systems that looked great in Firefox, and didn’t work at all in IE. I was about to give up (which I hate to do) when I found the ADxMenu via a post in Veerle’s blog. Not only does Aleksandar provide the CSS for 4 different menu layouts, but he also includes some really thorough documentation. There is a small script that’s required as well, to address the gaps in IE, but the end result is a menu with complete cross-browser functionality.

[sigh of relief...]

Thanks for your comments on the previous post Char and David.


Start with the building blocks of educationg with kids learning games. Making education fun is a great way to help your child work towards and eventual college education. Everyone could use a little bit of math help early on and there are lots of online activities available.

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