All Things Cahill

Wordpress 2.6 - It’s a CMS, Baby!

I remember when I first setup Wordpress back in 2003, the old 1.x days, my comment was that “It’s just like a CMS (content management system) with most of the functionality removed.” Well, with the release of Wordpress 2.6, I can finally eat my words. It’s now simply a content management system, and a darned good one at that.

That’s right, content management system. To call it a blogging platform is to sell it short. It’s now all the features I expect to see in a simple content management system, and two that we do not expect to see: it is both easy to use and easy to maintain.

Is it Enterprise level software? No, probably not, although it is certainly scalable and customizable. But that doesn’t mean it’s not in use at corporations around the globe. I know of many that now rather than calling their Interwoven contractor will fire up a new WP install for certain needs.

So here is a run down of the new features that make the difference for me:

• Revision History: this was never a big deal to bloggers, as we generally are lone gunmen. However when you enter a multiple user environment, you need a fast and easy way to see who did what and when, plus the ability to revert to a previous version. This is a staple of the *big bad print cms editorial system* and has been a glaring hole in the WP system by my estimation.

• Image Editing: The previous version hinted at the auto resize capability of the system by offering thumb, medium or large image sizes for anything you uploaded. Now I can select the exact width I want for the image, assign any of the data I want, link it as I wish, all within a neat little flash app. Image editing in Wordpress.
  

  Image editing in Wordpress

• Image Resize: Now I can resize to any size I want (just upload the image, click “insert to post” then you can reopen the image by hovering over it in the editor, clicking the edit image that will appear on the image, and you’ll see you have complete resize options.
• Add Style Code to Image: Also, now I can edit style code directly into the image editor. This is the main reason that you always see my images aligned on this blog to the right, I never took the time to add a padding-right: 3px; to the style sheet, so I didn’t like the way it looked. These styles can now be added directly in the editor.
  
  
• Image Caption: Then there’s the image caption feature - again, I can just write in a caption and I’ve got an image caption. One of the little things, but it’s been missing from this (and many other cms systems) for a long time.
• More Edit Info In Editor: I can now at a glance see the last save time, last edited by and word count info. Also, I have direct link access to see comments, manage comments, manage all posts, manage categories, manage tags, and view drafts. Basically the stuff I need if I’m a production editor working on numerous posts, is right there, so I don’t have to go looking.
• Better Plugin Management: I love that they have separated my active plugins from my inactive plugins. Of course, it just highlights to me that if I am not using a plugin it should be removed.
• Gears Integration: Typically when we start to add so much functionality via a browser, performance starts to drop. I haven’t seen any issues, but Wordpress has added Gears support to handle this. Just click the “turbo” button in the far upper right hand corner.

The single biggest feature though, is one that will come in handy for the lone gunman blogger: they will now be able to do an automatic (single click) update for Wordpress when a new version comes out. That’s a huge feature, and will help the less technical stay up to date and secure.

So far, the only issue I’ve seen is that my Tag Suggest Plugin appears to have stopped working. A very small price to pay. I was able to update the site in about 10 minutes, most of which was spent downloading and uploading files. For the first time I did an autoupdate on the recently updated plugins, which was sweet.

Congratulations to the Automattic team and happy Blogging Content Managing to all!

(An after thought a day later: I should probably mention that I’ve got 10 high volume multiuser sites running on WP, where we use it as a CMS, some getting over 10 million visits a month. This update brought in the final bits the system needed in my estimation...)

Tags: Automattic, bloggin software, content management systems, Wordpress, wordpress 2.6, wordpress 2.6 review

Product Marketing 101 - Never Remove a Free Feature

I started working with Mysql Workbench 5.0.23 today, which they list as the successor to the sometimes buggy, sometimes brilliant FabForce DB4 mysql modeling tool.  I”m not the guy to give you a feature by feature breakdown on the product, but I can tell you this:  When you create a new product version you should never take what were free features in the predecessor and make them extras you only get in the “standard edition.”

In this case, the import tool and database re-engineering tools which were really the only reason I ever fired the product up are now blanked out in the new tool.  You want them, you pay $99.00 US.  The problem is I typically use this feature once a year or so, and frankly, if it isn’t dramatically improved in the new version, I’d be very upset to pay for it.

So for now, I stick with my old DB4 tool, which, warts and all, often can get the job I need done.

Oh, and the new Workbench UI seems like a complete paradigm shift.  I just wanted to do a gnarly little import, not learn a whole new application today.

Perhaps if you’re a MySQL DBA the tool would be useful, but for me, it looks like it’ll go unused.

Tags: engineering tools, fabforce, import tool, Mysql Workbench

The Shine is off Social Networking

Say it ain’t so, Joe! Over the past few weeks, it’s begun to look like Social Networking, the current darling of the conference and consultant set, might have jumped the shark.  I personally would peg the exact point where it went careening off track as the day that Waste Management (the guys that probably run your local honey truck) opened their own social networking site.

But it goes far beyond that.  Earlier this week Om Malik wrote a very interesting piece showing that social networking may have flattened out, or even may be decreasing. He notes:

Today there are numbers out from comScore that indicate plateauing growth for the big two — MySpace and Facebook — in the U.S. Last week, Revision3 canceled “SocialBrew,” an online video show dedicated to social networking. Meanwhile, Monster killed its Tickle social networking service (first reported in April by TechCrunch), following closely on the heels of CondeNast’s shuttering of Flip and Verizon’s decision to close up its virtually unknown network, which had managed to garner a mere 18,000 members. (Verizon has shifted its community to Facebook.)

And these just might be the tip of the iceberg, for there are way too many me-too networks out there failing to find the traction, and hence the volume, needed to grow their revenues. The lack of monetization will only accelerate this process.

I’ve also been detecting a subtle change in the “conversations” on Twitter lately, with some brave few actually taking a stand against the social networking Kool-Aid.  In one telling argument, it came down to a final comment from the prime Kool-Aid drinker that “You just never got Social Networking,” reminding my of my favorite line from a movie I dearly love, The Duellists, in which the lead character, D’Hubert, (a Napoleonic era officer who has served from Spain to Russia and back) is condemned with the single statement “You never loved the Emperor.”  Indeed, one might as easily be condemned for “Not being Politically Correct,” or whatever the actual flavor of the moment is.

Also, I find the current “Proactive Customer Support” wherein companies monitor social networking apps to create a two tier service network, in which the middle to upper income have a vastly different support experience than the lower middle to poor do.  Think about “Comcast Cares” on Twitter, a Comcast rep, who actively searches out support issues to help fix them.  I’ll bet he’s finding most of the problems are centered in Bel Aire, not in Compton.

Social Networking wasn’t invented by the current crop of Powerpoint wielding wannabes, and it’s been around a lot longer than most would suggest.  Honestly, I see it actually predating the internet, going back to the days of computer bulletin board services (Do you remember them?).  Most of the basic fundementals of Social Networking were really polished in online forums, on IRC, and in the first Instant Messaging Apps.  It’s not utterly new, in most cases, this is just a better presentation.

Some general Social Networking notes:

• “Join the Conversation” - I’m growing tired of hearing this.  If you already aren’t talking to your customers, then maybe there’s a reason.
• Just because Facebook says we’re friends, it doesn’t mean I will loan you money…
• Why is it the GuruVangelistPerts on Social Networking seem to Twitter from bars or about going to bars so often?

What is new, is that there is now a widespread understanding of Social Networking and it’s overall importance in both web design in particular and marketing in general.  I realize many readers may be rather upset at my saying the Emperor has no clothes, but indeed, that is not what I am saying. I am saying it’s a waste of time to talk about the clothes, rather than the more substantive issues about the Emperor, like taxes, etc.  When the medium is the subject of the message, there is a problem with that medium.

I’ve said it before, I say it again here.  Social Networking and Social Media are not ends unto themselves.  They are aspects of good web design, and should be employed as such.  To use Social Media for Social Media’s sake is a waste of time.  There is a limit to the number of Social Networks I want to be a part of, and I personally would prefer to have more in common with my fellow users than simple ownership of a computer.  Niche communities are the way to go…as Om so brilliantly notes.

Tags: comscore, condenast, facebook, kool aid drinker, social networking service, social networking site, techcrunch, twitter, waste management

Social Media - Shark Jumping?

One of the outcomes of my testing of Twitter lately is that I’ve come to question whether or not Social Media has jumped the shark (props to David Churbuck who tweeted on social media jumping the shark this morning - I initially left the attribution out to save the fall out, but since he linked, no need to save him…)

What I am finding is that most of the people I am finding in my general circle on Twitter are social media types. That’s to say, folks that attend a lot of conferences, and have generally drank fully of the social media Kool-Aid. The thing that calls it all into question for me is the number of people who are generally ex-online marketing folks now using strange titles like “Social Media User Guru” or something equally ludicrous. It reminds me of a networking group I once attended that turned out to be a room full of sales people, each hoping to sell something, and none realizing there weren’t any real customers there.

Now I’m not certain that this isn’t a function of my very own profile (apparently in Twitter, like objects attract each other, while differing opinions repel with remarkable force). It could be that it’s become like a bad cocktail party with people that know each other standing in one corner, doing their best to ignore the other strange groups.

One thing I know for certain - when the consultants move in so heavily to a space, such as they have in social media (and believe me, there are tons of newly minted “social media consultants” out there), it denotes a fundamental change in the ecosystem.

So where to from here? I think we move on in the direction which I have always said social media should go. It’s not an end to an end, or even a standalone solution in my mind. This is simply good web design, online marketing practice or branding. Call it what you will, let’s just lose the Social Media moniker and take a more holistic viewpoint.

(For the record, I’ve been doing niche community work since 1996, was one of the first bloggers, and date back to the days of Compuserve accounts that came with user numbers, not usernames. I too have fully drank of the Kool Aid, but I’m not so ready to take my advice from those who haven’t been dancing the dance for more than a couple years.)

Tags: conferences, good web design, guru, kool aid, marketing, media consultants, shark jumping, social media guru, twitter

The Web 2.0 Paradox

As readers know, I’ve been testing Twitter.  It’s fun, but for me the jury is still out.

One of the things I’m noticing is the preponderance of New Media Gurus inhabiting Twitter.  And inevitably, many feel the need to constantly evangelize on the issues of Web 2.0.  News flash: if you have to talk in broad terms about Web 2.0, Social Networking or Social Media, you’ve probably already missed the boat.  This is not some abstract concept that is coming down the pipe someday, it’s a trend that’s here.  If you’re a designer or a developer, it is not a trend, it’s a wrench your toolbox to be employed where it fits.  No more and no less.

Let me say that more clearly: the whole social networking thing is an extension of web design and development, not a radical departure from it.  It is an iteration, one more bit to add on and be aware of.  Think of it as a stop on the bus route of development.  This is all an evolutionary step, as will be the *next big thing*.

When I see “new communication tools” like Twitter, I have one standard that I apply.  If the discussion in the tool is mostly about the tool, it is a failed experiment.  I am not currently certain if Twitter has risen above that level of primordial ooze yet.  As John C. Dvorak noted, I don’t really want to know that you’re having a cheese sandwich for lunch…

Tags: abstract concept, cheese sandwich, communication tools, failed experiment, john c dvorak, media gurus, primordial ooze, radical departure, Social Networking, twitter, Web Design

Blog Aggregation

David Churbuck posts this morning on Blog Aggregation. We both did a blog aggregation project over at Reel-Time.com in 2003 which, as he notes, was well ahead of the curve (and probably the need). He’s got some excellent points, but I have a few things to add.

The idea of a blog is something that many of us don’t fully understand. It’s basically an online journal that was designed to allow users without server level access to maintain their own content and easily switch the appearance of that content via templates. Over time, they have become so much more.

One of the most powerful things about a blog is that the presentation you are most likely seeing, my own template on my site, isn’t necessarily the way everyone will see the content. RSS, which is essentially an XML stream of content, allows us to present our content in many different formats and many different places. The promise of XML, as it was presented a decade ago, was that it would allow us to separate content from presentation, and in that, it is indeed one of the few technologies to have fully delivered on it’s promise.

So we now have blogs, with all kinds of neat little RSS feeds which are quite granular, down to the category or tag level, that allow us to slice and dice our content, to mix and match by category, by author, etc. I’ve looked at the aggregators that Churbuck mentions, and basically barfed…yeah, they work, but their ugly and they don’t have to be. We should be able to easily design pages that will consume the rss feeds and present them in a useful manner.

I’ve been saying for years that the most misunderstood bit of blogs is their categorization capabilities. The better you categorize, the more useful your content (although you can also use tags…).

My ideas:

• Remember to sort by categories - make it easy to allow users to find what they want.
• Remember to provide direct links to the authors.
• Let users set up searches that trigger rss feeds so your content can reach them when it’s appropriate. And you can even allow search to create a page on the fly if you’ve got enough content.
• Leverage internal as well as external assets - you can use outside streams, although you may want to be able to editorially decide which bits of content you will present on your site. You can literally scavenge posts via Google Blog Search and Technorati.
• Think of your pages as homepages - each topic or category you present should be optimized as though it will be the only one your readers will see.
• You can have multiple feeds from blogs, some summarized, some containing the full content, and some broken into categories, tags, etc.  They can be reassembled into larger groups (all my authors writing about javelin throwing) in interesting ways.

Consuming RSS feeds and rendering them on pages is easy stuff and can provide that deep niche content we want. There’s no reason to settle for out of the box tools that make our content look like one of those “portals” companies pushed in 2001.

In the example Churbuck offers of the Olympics, I’d consider setting up pages for:

• Countries
• Main sports categories, track and field, swimming, martial arts, etc.
• Social and off the field categories
• Major celeb pages - some of the athletes get a lot of mentions, provide their own pages
• Search - once again, it’s key…

Then you ensure your bloggers are tagging properly and you’ve got the start. In fact, you can even have an editor retag stuff as “lead story” etc. This stuff works for splogs and it can work for high volume content situations as well!

The real take away secret is this: aggregation is simple content management. Think of it that way and you’ll jump way ahead of the pack.

Tags: blog aggregation, david churbuck, external assets, reel time, rss aggregation, simple content management, xml stream

Local Search Optimization - Your Path to Success

I recently rolled out the http://www.powerupgeneratorservice.com site and in reviewing the initial search results are very interesting. To begin with, some background.

Power Up Generator’s previous site was a single page, which hadn’t been optimized at all. They didn’t every turn up #1 when you searched on their own name.

My initial survey of the site brought forward a problem for search optimization: they do business across New England. Yet no one searches for “new england” when they look for generator service, parts, sales, etc. They search for the state.

So I was faced really with the chore of optimizing not for a single base keyword set, but 7 variants of that set. Here’s how I answered the challenge:

1. The pages were handcoded using php and tableless css design to minimize the code on the page. This provides a better keyword density, which is the first and most important thing.
2. I made full use of the metatags, title and description to echo the important keywords.
3. H1, H2, bold text are your friends. These identifiers are how search engines find important text, such as your keywords.
4. Image alt tags - by all means they should describe the photo, but they can also be used to restate your keywords. Instead of “Foobartronics HK236 Johnson Rod” you use “Foobartronics HK236 Johnson Rod - My prime keyword here Products.”

That’s pretty much it. I always load a Google Sitemap and load the site in Google Webmaster Tools, then set up a Google Alert for anyone linking to the site. Then it’s a matter of watching your analytics package and fine tuning.

Not sure it can work? Check this result less than 2 weeks after site go live…

Then try replacing Vermont with any other New England state.

Tags: css design, generator service, google, google sitemap, google webmaster tools, image alt tags, initial search results, keyword density, search engines, search optimization

Launches this week…

I’ve had a couple sites go live this week - first, some niche websites with NameMedia, Hotcars.com and Dreamwheels.com as well as Cats.com (I didn’t work as much on that one, it was in the hands of the talented Matt Busby and David Rodal).  These come on the tails of the launches on March 1 of Biking.com, Cycling.com, Boating.com, Yachting.com and Mommy.com.  I was lucky enough to work with Eugene Bernstein, Tom Willmot, Joe Hoyle, Peter Kuhn and Neema Dhakal on these sites, with designs by Dave Dellovo and Erik Stern.  A tremendous team!

The important thing to note on all of these sites is the application of so many facets of Web 2.0 to niche sites.  These are tightly woven niche communities that include all the things you’d expect, like friends lists, groups, internal messaging, blogs, forums, comments, and so very much more.  But it’s not a cookie cutter approach - we’ve looked at the communities we’re serving and attempted to provide the features that particular group needs.  On Mommy.com, there is an online baby book.  Or on Cats.com, we’ve come up with a means of dealing with the big internet question: how do I tell an expert from a loud mouthed rookie online, since the value of their advice is so vastly different.

On Hotcars.com and Dreamwheels you’ll see a major change to the forums setup.  It’s fully integrated with the rest of the system, and we’ve added features like the ability to link to youtube videos, etc.

There’s a lot more to come here, but for now, I think we’ve made a great start.

Additionally, I was able to launch PowerUpGeneratorService.com which has been on hold for several months (this one is not a NameMedia project).  It has an integrated project/product gallery and a homepage that is rotating between their major service/product offerings.  If you need a generator, no matter the size, PowerUpGeneratorService.com is the place for you!

Tags: biking, cats, classic cars, custom cars, cycling, generators, niche communities, social media, Social Networking, sports cars, Web 2.0, Web Design

Apple Wields the Power

Like almost every one of you, I get a regular “Apple Software Update” due to my ITunes installation. I got a little surprise today when the Apple update said it had Safari ready to install.  Safari?  On my PC?  What’s next, dogs and cats living together in peace and harmony?

Normally, I’d start off railing about this.  I hate it when software update functions, which I generally consider intrusive and unnecessary, try to install software other than that which they are professing to maintain.  I think back to the days of RealPlayer attempting to install all manner of crap on my drive.

But I’m now basking in the glow of Iphone-goodness.  I have embraced the light as it were.  In fact, I am considering limiting the number of buttons on my next computer’s mouse to one.  So I go light on them, this time.

I’ve been surprised they haven’t taken this step before.  Until now, the Apple Updater has pretty much stuck to the task at hand, handling the myriad of updates to Itunes in the background, in the hopes that I won’t notice that they send upgrades more often than I change my socks.   Honestly, if Microsoft did this, we’d be out with the pitchforks and torches, storming Castle Gatesenstein.  But we aren’t. In fact, very few seem to have commented on the issue (David Churbuck caught it though…), although Cnet did take them to task over an item in their license which would require you to only use Safari on a Apple machine.

Yet another Browser to Check?  Thanks…

So what do I think of Safari?  I’ve been using it for the past two weeks on my IPhone, so I guess I’m predisposed to liking it, but the truth is, I settled on Firefox with IE7 as a backup a long time ago.  As a web guy, I truly hate the idea of *YET ANOTHER BROWSER TO TEST* and I doubt that the IE version is that close to the characteristics of the Apple version of the browser that I can confidently use it to say “Yup, your site works in Safari.”

Yes, I’ll use Safari, but only rarely, or only if there is a compelling reason, such as some killer feature or software that I can’t get in Firefox.  And frankly, I use some of my Firefox extensions so much that if you don’t have extensions, and not only that, equal or better extensions, you won’t make it as my browser.

I think back to IE7, which promised extensions.  I downloaded their web developer-type extension, and it seemed like I’d opened visual studio.  The tool was nothing like my FF web developer tool which I use more than my telephone.

Browsers are tools, not consumer goods.  I’m not going to swap browsers just because a new one appeared on my desktop, any more than I would ditch a working wrench in my tool box.

This might be decent marketing, as it’s gotten me to try and write about their browser, but they’ve used up some capital here, to almost no gain.  As a techie, I get easily annoyed by this.  As a marketer, I wish I had that option for dispersing products…

Tags: apple, safari, software update, web browsers

Sun Buys MySQL

An interesting move - and for most of you thinking “this doesn’t affect me” I can tell you you’re dead wrong. You see over the past couple years, MySQL has become the back end database for a good deal of the web. If you’re CEO doesn’t have his own Gulfstream, chances are that some of your mission critical applications and quite probably your own website is using MySQL for something, if not everything.

I’ll withhold judgment on the whole thing for now. There’s more important issues here.

You see, we’ve come to the point that Open Source solutions, the LAMP solutions are winning out over enterprise solutions. The days when you needed an Interwoven or Vignette CMS system, constructed over an incredibly expensive Oracle database, running on servers the size of refrigerators are over. IBM realized this and embraced PHP. Sun has bought MySQL. The message is out.

Back in the day, the open source stuff was consider the province of the bootstrapper. Now the bottom tier is reaching up and its pressuring not just the middle level systems, its challenging the staid old favorites of business. MySQL 5.0 has many of the features that had kept the earlier versions out of the enterprise, such as stored procedures.

If you are running a business, you owe it to yourself to keep an eye on open source solutions, especially before buying any big, proprietary system.