or - GRSM: Now in Technocolor...

I've been writing a lot lately, it's just been in the form of site content, quotes and proposals. Since the next Grand Rapids Social Marketing Lunch is dawning on us again next week, I thought I'd post something about last month's meeting. In case you don't know, The GRSML is a free, open to the public, lunch and learn, Networking opportunity. You bring your own lunch (generally). The Free Water GRSM was pretty well attended as the speaker was a good draw. @aaron_creo or Aaron Creo (outside of the twittersphere) spoke on Video as a Social function. He listed all the various stats that many of us have seen and showed a couple videos that have gone viral along with a couple campaigns like the Old Spice one and the Toyota Sienna Swagger Wagon. I've talked these up quite a bit on Twitter and Facebook over the last few months, so it was nice to see Creo adding some cred to my posts. That wasn't my take away from his talk, however.

Aaron touched on a few things I put into my craw:

• Video is a captive audience
• You can craft messages for specific types of people
• With online video there's no media buy
• People are sharing more than ever before
• Not for profit organizations are great candidates for video use

Mr. Creo also gave a few do's and don'ts for organizations wishing to dive into social video:

• Only make videos that make sense
• Utilize tips on framing and lighting from sites like http://www.tiltnpanstudios.com/videotraining.html
• Ask questions like "What does your audience expect from you?"

He also reminded us that Video is permanent. Once you post it, someone somewhere has downloaded it and can repost. So, make sure it's done right and that your message is clear, on-target and well thought out.

I've been talking up YouTube over the last several months and am writing some scripts for clients, to give my company some visual/verbal feedback on work done for them. These are mostly bullet points reminding my clients of what was accomplished and things they said to me, like "Wow!" or "That's exactly what I wanted". Things like saying, "that is so cool" and a hug after the meeting I can talk about but until the permanency is posted on YouTube and linked from my site... It's just me talking about it. There is so much more credence to the client in their own words. LinkedIn is great for recommendations, but watching someone talk about how well you've performed for them is even better.

Just this morning I posted a video to a client's site linked from a local news outlet. The article was about ArtPrize, a local arts event that you can win. This client is a venue for ArtPrize and when the news channel did the report, it was mostly about the event and not the venue, but the clients face and venue exterior were actively shown throughout the piece. She was able to help explain ArtPrize. Not only did she receive some free press, but now has the better ability to showcase her business to the world from her website.

My recommendation is to incorporate YouTube or other social video sites into your overall Social Media and Marketing strategy. YouTube is the 2nd most used search engine in the world, behind Google. If you can be found there, how much business do you think you'll garner?

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This company got so many requests they just had to blend one...:

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With the exit of The US from Soccer's biggest event, World Cup, this past weekend, I decided to finish writing this post about The ESPN. ESPN has touted the previous US game where they beat Algeria to go on to the round of 16, as having a viewership of 1.1 million people in the US. Before I lay into my diatribe, let me say that ESPN's free iPhone App is cool. It gives scores, schedule, and the brackets in real time. I wouldn't be surprised the pay-for-app has real time play by play like FIFA's site. I value the fact that they are covering World Cup with out all the life stories about the athletes like NBC does for the Olympics.

ESPN's initial coverage of the start of World Cup was ok. They hired some of the brightest commentators to help explain soccer to the uninitiated and comment on the matches for the avid fan alike. This year's World Cup is being played in South Africa, in case you've not heard. Most games started at 8:30 in the A.M. here (they're ½ a world away... I understand the logistics). I don't know about many of you, reading this today, but I'm in the US's EST zone. I'm generally working at 8:30a. Yes I know about TiVo, and actually have a machine expressly purchased to record TV, but it's not hooked up yet. Time issues.

So when I noted that many of the games were to be re-broadcast in the evenings, I was happy. I sat down in my favorite spot to watch the Netherlands play at 8:30 PM., and grabbed the laptop to work during the game. I tuned in to ESPN to see the game as listed in the schedule, but was delivered a college baseball game between Texas A&M and Dartmouth. "What the...." First I called Dish Networks. ESPN had listed notices during the games that they would be re-aired. They showed it in their schedule! Dish explained they had no control over ESPN's coverage of anything, but that they'd log a complaint on my behalf.

I went on to ESPN's site to ask why, in all things holy, they would do this. They responded with an automated boiler-plated message, that "We have all the Soccer World Cup Games" - Great! Just the message that I wanted to smooth my fur back down. I was given an email address in their message, to which I replied:

I live close to the largest population of Dutch people outside of the Netherlands. You aired a baseball game in an area that could care less about Texas A&M or Dartmouth. I'm sure there were about 7 people in the greater Grand Rapids Area (Near Holland MI), that tuned in just for that game, but how could they have know it was on, WHEN YOUR SCHEDULE LISTED WORLD CUP SOCCER?!!. I might be estimating high. There are at least 500,000 people in the West Michigan Area that are of Dutch Decent. You pulled your own listed coverage of the biggest sporting event in the world for something that only a few people care about: College Baseball. I could *maybe* see if it was between Michigan State and the U of M. I could see if it was The Masters. I could even see if it was a local high school tournament soccer game. I wouldn't have been happy, but wouldn't be this angry.

ESPN sent me a followup message Thursday saying the same thing. No apology. No explanation. Just "The Netherlands vs. Denmark match re-aired at 6pm ET on Monday, June 14th 2010 on ESPN Classic." That's it. One line. They didn't even refer to the above.

I know that ESPN is the largest sporting network in the world. But when you say you're going to do something, and you don't deliver, and then you can't even respond to concerns adequately, sometimes you have to talk about it. Yes, I consult people to write positive Tweets and respond to comments positively. To post things that you'd want your grand mother to read on Facebook. That blog posts should be constructive. I also comment on Customer Service on this blog. So let me tell you about some good customer service in all this:

The day after I called Dish Networks, where I had actually talked to a real person, they called to follow up! Seriously! "Did we fix all your problems?" So where ESPN fell down and still has yet to get back up with regards to Customer Support and Service, Dish has done a bicycle kick shot on goal. They let me know that, yes for more money, I could order an "Enhanced" package to watch the replay games on Classic. I know that's an up-sell. But the Customer Service is worth it.

So is the fact the ESPN is so big, and they're getting a million+ viewers mean that they need to disregard my issue? You tell me. How many of those 1.1mil were watching via Dish Networks? How many missed the Netherlands first game? Are we all going to let ESPN go on this one? I'm not. I value good customer service. I try to provide great customer service. Tell me, reader. Is customer service valued by you?

EAVB_SYYWBIDRYY and EAVB_CYAGELEPQX

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I just like well written and executed ads. Comes from having worked in Advertising, I guess.

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Last week 250 West Michiganians and I attended the AimWest Google Lunch at the Devos Place. I won't get into what a cool venue Devos Place is, or that the Devos-Provided WiFi didn't work for most of the day, or that I took 3/4s of a day off to go. I won't get into the price for AimWest Members being only $10 less than non-members... Ok I guess I just did... I just couldn't believe for the price of the event, that the WiFi wasn't adequate.

Was it cool to go to a great venue to listen to The Almighty Google speak? Oh Yeah! Was it cool that a local organization can pull in a Google Rep? You betcha. I will start with saying, that I knew most everything presented by all 3 speakers I listened to, and if I didn't, I could've Googled It. I also made up a half dozen people's mind on what they were going to attend – solely because they believe I know what I'm doing. I picked events based on packaging and name instead of really asking what the product contained. To all of you that decided to attend the break out sessions based on my going: I am sorry.

I did come away with some minor notes. Google's John Black (I'd so change my name to Jack!) was the Keynote speaker. Google's retail online sales manager didn't have all the techie info I had hoped to glean. John briefly talked about Google's association with Dish Network for TV ads. That was cool to hear. They have set-top boxes helping to manage ad integration. The ad supplier is only charged for when someone actually views an ad – local or national. That was pretty much it. The coolest take away.

Some of the other areas Black touched on were:

• Based on customer feedback they are also working to make it easier to use Google Adwords.
• In 3 years Google's seen a 300% growth in mobile search, with 50 times more search on mobile devices than regular cell phones.
• Google believes more and more computing will be done on the Cloud than on your C: drive. (This is not news)
• Google.org tracks flu trends world wide
• Some of what's next: Consumer Internet, Smart Grid Technology, and Green Energy

You know what? I could have Googled all of that. It was cool to see the Flu graphs and how Google is predicting breakouts around the globe on similar numbers with the CDC. Some of the other numbers were slightly noteable. But John Black didn't come with anything new – seriously new. 25 minutes after his key note finished Google released a statement that they were rolling out Font API and Font Directories. No one in the room knew about that! It could have been the Steve Jobs-esque end to an address. Then on Friday (or Monday, I don't exactly remember), Google released a notice that Google TV was coming to a provider near you. Ok, I get it: Google's a HUGE company and all, but come on! The GR Press was there. One of the local TV news outlets had a camera going. Grand Rapids is number 1 or 2 (depending on the poll) to get Google Fiber. John made a comment about GRGoogleFiber initiative, but that was it. No major announcements. No major un-Google-able points.

I'll back off Google for a minute. The best thing I've enjoyed about AimWest events, even when I could have given the talk my self, has been the Q and A. Even if I know most of what the speaker discusses, the questions fired and the answers given help me with my potential clients. I ended up walking out of the Mobile break out session, when the guy went long, and we never had any question period. For one thing the guy was extremely boring, wasn't used to giving speeches, was visibly unprepared, and spoke above many people's heads. Part of what he talked about was essentially Business 101 – but for iphone apps. I attended the mobile session because I believed it was going to be about new trends, or how Google and iPhone/Android were going to revolutionize the world. I didn't really want to hear about the steps to rolling out an app. I only jotted down a couple things during his session:

• Launch your App with friending to gain stickyness
• Plan for Participation
• Support Social Networking and Location
• and expect emergent uses because you may have envisioned it being used one way, but the marketplace may find another way.

I only noted these because they cemented what I already knew and spoke to Social Media. The guy talked about who you need to have buy in, from Legal to IT. Any department that wants a new site, app, marketing expenditure or corporate direction knows and lives by this. It's called “Red Tape”. I almost walked out to find another session, not caring who I offended or what I missed, because I made the terrible assumption that it would get better – or end soon and the Q&A could begin.

So ok – 1). the food was good. 2).I saw 40-50 people I know. And, 3).I met someone that I've only talked to on Twitter. I set up 2 meetings from this event. Those are good things and if I close any business out of it, will probably change my tune – but even the last breakout was google-able. Pete Brand was a much better speaker than either Mobile Guy or Google Guy. But he only read a list of Google Apps, that anyone can find on Google's App Site. He did give one sentence describing each... (psst, you can also read that from Google Apps), what I really wanted to know was how his company helped organizations save money. How he helped them migrate from Microsoft to the free Google Apps. How much money did his clients save? How easy was it? I only tweeted a couple things from Brand's talk:

• Use forms to easily roll out marketing questionnaires with out needing IT support.
• The other was that I already knew all of this.

There was some Q&A, like “How did you migrate your clients from MS to Google. Brand deferred to the audience. The Grand Public Library rep tried to answer that going Open Office was pretty easy. Does it sound like I'm griping here? It should. For $40 I got to have a Google Search recited on 2 different topics, and some guy review Business classes. I can believe that, in the West Michigan area, there are many knowledgeable individuals. Having the audience answer other's questions isn't really as bad as you might think. I attend a local Social Media Free Lunch where the group founders have asked me to answer some questions. It really shows that there are several topic savvy individuals locally. The difference between a lunch/learn and a conference, however, is that the speaker is supposed to be an expert.

Am I asking too much?

I know that the AimWest Board works really hard to pull these things off. I respect all and know many  board members. I also bet that they don't review presentations pre-event. After this one, I hope they start. If any of you attended the AimWest Google Lunch and took some good things away, please for the love of all things Google, comment. I love Google. I love AimWest. I'd like AW to get better. I think all comments here could be reviewed by the board. Google, on the other hand, is getting too big - in my assumption. They'll not be reading this blog. But if you're from Google, change my mind!

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For about 6 months, I've been networking pretty heavily. As I said in a recent post, I'm out looking for new business after a few client jobs drew to an early close. They had been long term, but either changed their direction, added staff to do what I accomplished for them, or just ran out of money. So I needed to get back into the sales game to generate some new revenue streams. Last month I listened to Tony Rubleski speak about marketing and networking, where he said one should spend at least 3 hours per week networking. However, he didn't really explain how to network more effectively. Tony also talked about setting yourself apart from the herd. Be the Yellow Tulip in the sea of Red. More on that later in the post.

I've been attending AimWest, GRAPE, GRSML and GRSBBC pretty religiously for a few months. I have joked that if I could only get paid to network... I've gotten involved with the GREC and GRYP, and attended events like Free Lunch Friday and a Community Expo. I've tried to work the room, meeting people, talking to them about their businesses and accumulating cards. I've called on several, emailed many, and mostly attempted to create relationships with repeat attendees, hoping to garner business. This effort has gotten me some call backs and a few alliance partners, but my funnel is still not full.

This week saw me at the Breakfast Club listening to Dave Kersjes speak on Networking. Dave's a very analytical guy (we've had coffee before), having been an engineer prior to becoming a business development specialist. He spoke about having a process and tracking procedure for networking. Perhaps I need those but I'm more of an artist, free flowing, type of guy, tracking it in my mind. I figure if I have new clients it must be working. But conceivably I should start being more organized with the contacts I make and do some tracking. I use Google Analytics, why not Business Card Analytics?

A few, of Mr. Kersjes' suggestions, I've always done: Have a Firm Handshake, Identify Areas of Mutual Interest, and Eat Before You Go. One point, however: I don't always Avoid Controversial Topics. I don't like weak hand shakes, so don't give them. I always look for ways I can help. And, if I don't eat before I go, I'm not sure they'll be anything there I can eat. The reason, Dave says, that you eat previous, is that it's not about the food. It's about meeting the people that are there. You don't want to spill a glass of wine on your prospect - or spit food on them.

The greatest points I took away from Dave's presentation was “keep eye contact”, “take their card, but don't give one of yours unless they ask for it”, and to meet as many people as possible while you're there and ask if you can call them. The biggest thing that hit me was, “listen to them and their needs, looking for an opportunity” to interject your businesses' talents. Essentially tying your value statement to the other person's business. Focus on them while you're talking to them. It's all about them. I do that! I listen. I love to hear what people are passionate about and why they love their job, what they do to help their clients. It's one of the best parts of my job. I can't create a solution if I don't understand their business and their problems.

Dave talked about 2 hour networking events and spending 2 minutes with each person you meet, to get as many cards as you can. Here's my problem with the “meet as many people as possible point”: I can't really get a good understanding of their issues and what hurts, if I don't spend enough time listening. Two minutes is just not long enough for me. But 6 might be. Some of you, reading this today, might be at my blog as a result of our meeting at an event. Would you be here if I ignored you at a networking opportunity because I had already met you once? If I only spent 2 minutes with you? Now Dave did impart that you want to follow up with that phone call and have a longer meeting with them. That's my next biggest point – and one I implemented successfully this week. I have 4 meetings this week and a couple next week because of the “can I call you next week to learn more of your business” strategy.

One of the concepts Kersjes shared was Networking is the opportunity to “Share Your Network and Your Knowledge”. Well I'm very willing to share my network, and help others gain opportunities. I'll share some knowledge as a free take away, but am getting a little reluctant to give away all of my knowledge. I pretty much sell my knowledge and talent. I don't have a widget or product that I sell. What's the old adage, why buy the cow when you get the milk for free? But my network is another matter. You can get LinkedIn with me and view my entire collection of contacts. If you want access to someone in my network, I'd be happy to introduce you.

The next strategy that worked for me this last week, was creating a name tag to wear to networking events. It has my twitter handle, name and company, and says that I'm a Website Beautician and a Social Media Evangelist. Not that I do “Website Design and Development” and “Social Media Consultant” << Borring! (that's a SM thing). And it's my own badge, not the peal and stick, sharpy marker-written kind.  I also stood up at the SBBC to give my name, business and title and said “I have 5 titles, come ask me what they are”. People did! They also wanted to know what a Website Beautician was. They wanted to learn more about being a Social Media Evangelist. Hello! Yellow Tulip over here! It probably helps that I like to laugh and am not quiet about it. It might also bolster me that I'm a big guy with spiky hair, long goatee and ear ring. I kinda stand out in a room full of suits. But just being noticed isn't enough. “Why do I want him to call me?” Because I can make your website a pageant winner, and I can explain Social Media and develop a strategy to use it effectively. Check my name tag, you might notice I'm a little creative.

The last thing that stood me apart at the SBBC, was throwing a giant business card into the door prize fish bowl. A new alliance partner has a slightly oversized card that helps her stand out (at least in the rolladex). She has won the door prize at 3 events I've been to. So I thought I'd try out her scheme and go large. I got more people coming up to me after the event was over, when I won the $100 golf outing, to ask if I golfed, ... or to say that I cheated. I might not have gotten to talk to them this month, but I can guarantee at the next event I'll still be noticed. Oh and if I keep winning, that's almost like getting paid to network, right?

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Once you can get past the pretty patronizing announcer, this video is pretty close to truth. Nice the interface is 20Xs better though.

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The headline of this post is a quote by Tony Rubleski of the Mind Capture Group. Tony recently spoke at a GRAPE Lunch and Learn/Networking Opportunity. Tony's talk was driven from his background as a marketer and was built out of his 3 books on sales and marketing. Tony is correct, we are all selling something to each other. Ministers are selling to their faithful and sinners alike. I saw this first hand at a local Community Expo, where there were at least 5 local churches with booths. Small Business Owners, sales personnel, advertisers and marketers are selling their products or services. Workers are constantly selling their abilities and talents, to their bosses. Managers have to sell their decisions and direction to their employees.

I joined GRAPE, or Grand Rapids Area Professionals for Excellence, as a way to network with local professionals. I've actually joined 5 groups and, by the end of last week, attended 8 separate networking group's events. I sell best to people I've met or know. Gaining referral customers is how Evolve has done business since it's inception. I'm, personally, out meeting as many people as I can, looking for new business. When Evolve Solutions started out, our sales guy joined a business networking group called BNI. I found them a little too ridged, and we didn't get as many quality referrals or as much business as I'd hoped. We quit after the 1st year. In the last several months, I've joined a few "free" groups and did pay to join one, here in West Michigan: AimWest. Tony's 3rd point on referral strategy was, "network, network, network" - I think I'm pretty well getting that down. A new friend said I should get paid to network, I'm that good at it. I think it's just, mostly, I like to talk and I like to listen.

One of the questions on my mind at 2:30am is "How can I find new clients or better yet how do I differentiate myself?". "Mind Capture", as Tony discussed, and being that "yellow tulip in a sea of red" is what I'm trying to find. How can I stand out from the rest of the herd. I'm fighting a major marketing challenge in this digital age: choice, and what Tony called "Word of Mouse". There are at least 300 web design firms and freelancers in Grand Rapids, alone. Almost everyone says they can build a website.

Rubleski quoted Amazon's founder, Jeff Bezos, "Sometimes you have to be willing to be miss-understood", during his speak. Any of you that know me, probably have noticed, that I don't fit any real concept entirely. But for the rest of you, yes, I wear an earring, sport the spiky hair and goatee, but did you know that I own guns and hunt? Did you know that I hate taxes and big government, but recycle? A couple friends call me a hippy, and yes I love my Teva Sandals, mountain biking, tent camping, kayaking, commuting by bike and there's that recycle thing. On the other hand I shower daily, own a suit, a couple dozen ties (shocking to some) and love martinis. I do not fit into any political group.

I believe, if you're my potential client, you're going to hire someone that doesn't fit any mold. I love to listen to clients, learn of their business and what they create, or their business philosophy. Sales engineering has been one of my duties for Evolve Solutions, as well as for a previous company. This means that I engineer a solution as part of the sales process. I can accomplish this because I can empathize with the guy on the other side of the table. I built my house; so I can talk blue prints with architects, I can talk about cabinetry with builders, and I can converse Watts with Electricians. I've worked on all 14 cars I've owned, so I know how to talk to mechanics and automotive parts suppliers. I spent time in the Air Force. I've fixed computers, Mac, PC and Linux. I ride bikes, motorcycles, snow mobiles and jet skis. I own 2 chain saws and solely heat with wood, but I've researched pretty much all forms of heating and cooling. I was a Graphic Designer before I became a Web Designer. This stacks up that I've lived a pretty full existence and can probably relate to something in your life.

Clients that I've worked with produce stone adhesives, car parts, big heavy machines, adhesive labels, and jewelry. I've created for clients in the medical field, horse ranchers, parts suppliers, furniture manufacturers and suppliers, non-profits, automobile sellers, soap manufacturers, retailers and missionaries. The best part about working with so many, varied clients is that I am so much more well rounded. I understand many supply chain, manufacturing and sales processes. Most likely you're not going to have to spend too much time training me on the broader aspects of your company. I probably already know your market, but I'm still going to ask about it. How do I stand apart from the rest? Start by reviewing my linked-in profile, and then decide for your self. Since 1997, I have worked on over 800 websites, either hands on, or managing the teams. I started writing HTML before you could take a class on it.

So if you've hired or are thinking of hiring one of those other guys: Here's a couple questions to ask yourself, "How well do they do it?" or "How much experience do they have?". Do they understand your clients, what browsers they're using, and how they find you. If you have already hired them, did they listen to you and provide you with the perfect design the first time? Or, did it take more than 2 compositions to get it right? Did they provide a solution to your problem, or just a website? I again refer you back to my LinkedIn. Check out my recommendations. I will make your business's site better looking, more functional and easier to use for you existing and potential clients.

Wheew! That was a long rant. Thanks to those of you that made it to the end. Douglas steps off his soap box.

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From iJustine

I recently had an episode with my MacBook Pro wherein some coffee was spilled across a table and sucked into the fans on the back. As it turns out caffeine DOES NOT increase a computer's speeds. I know all you PC users, reading this, know what it's like to have a hard drive go, or your monitor give a puff of smoke and keel over. I've had the same thing with PCs my company has repaired or at places I've worked. But this type of thing had never happened on any Mac I've ever owned (6 now). Luckily business insurance covered replacement. One bonus was the prices of Apple computers had come down to pricing where I could upgrade substantially from the previous model. This is only one reason I've not blogged in a couple weeks. The old suped-up Mac G4, I was forced to use, didn't have all the passwords in the Key Chain. Yes, I could have gone to each of the websites, I use daily/weekly, and asked for a new password, but figured I'd have to do that on the new machine anyway.

One warm, sunny, February day (6 days after the "event"), Girl Friend 2.0 entered the house with little fan fare, and the box was opened carefully (but I must admit I was drooling a little). It is sexy. If you've not driven a Mac before, you seriously need to take one around the block. I know some of you like your Windows machines, and the new Windows 7 is much prettier than any other MS version, but Apple is like the 20 year old string-bikini clad bronze-beauty at the beach, pole dancer at the strip club, or that hot girl at the bar: Sleek, sexy, fast... Ok, I digress...

Again to you PC owners: I do own this Mac because it's easier to design art, websites, logos, graphics, illustrations and business cards. Yes it's also easier do image manipulation, documentation and categorization. It's better at chunking through data, massive files and multiple functions. But I use it for churning out spreadsheets, documents and emails easily. I can play games on it... but I don't. You shouldn't play games with your girlfriend. The ONLY thing I can't do, natively, is Dot Net code. You may not know that you can use Parallels, Bootcamp or VMWare with Windows running. If I'd have gotten a PC laptop instead of the MacBook, I'd have issues of software licensing – that goes with out saying, but please tell me 2 reasons to own a PC over a Mac. Valid ones. Not beliefs. Back up your rants with statistical information. I can't see any reason anyone should own a Windows PC over a Mac. Oops, I digressed again...

There are soooo many great traits to this new MacBook Pro: from the LED glossy screen, or the multi-touch track pad, to the ultra quiet fans, the up-to 8GB of RAM, to the 7 hour battery. There's the high end video card (or cards) that come standard. Most everyone knows that Apple builds their machines to work with their operating system and vice versa, making everything scream faster than (almost) every other operating system. I say "almost" because I've seen some bench marks with Linux on the same hardware that quite compare, if not exceed the Mac Snow Leopard (OS10.6) OS. Most of you also know that with an Apple machine you're not going to have to worry about viruses, popups or adware. They are going to run for a very long time (sans coffee), and give you few headaches.

The best thing about this Mac was when I was starting the machine for the first time, believing I was going to be spending the next 3-5 days loading software and configuring it, she asked me if I had and old girlfriend I was upgrading from. I said, "yes", to which it replied, "well go get her". I told her that Girl Friend 1.25 was lying in a coma upstairs, but went and removed her hard drive anyway. I inserted her brain into a SATA external enclosure and plugged it into the USB port. She asked me if I'd like to suck in all the applications, settings and passwords from the old machine! I exclaimed, "Yes, oh yes". And then she did it, in just under an hour. My Tweetdeck, Facebook, Firefox, Photoshop and even Terminal settings and plugins were all there. When I started Firefox the first time, it told me that I had crashed the last time and did I want to reopen all previously opened tabs! No amnesia. My Calendar was there. Thunderbird still held all my mail from immediately before the "event";. It was AMAZING! It was worth $500-700 right there - just for that - not to mention all the other sexy things she sports.

Now, I do have to tell you, a couple things that had to be updated, like the program that needed to be upgraded to Snow Leopard from the Leopard (10.5) version I was running on the old machine. Also my iPhone apps didn't make the move. That could have just been a jealous-lover thing or more likely some way that Apple messes with you, machine to machine. I may have lost $.99 worth of apps, that if it's that all-fire important, I'll re-download.

That's the short of it. If you run into me at a coffee house, sitting in the middle of the place, away from a power source (7 hour battery, remember?); or out at one of the local networking events, I attend weekly, ask me about my sexy new girlfriend. I'll probably gush.

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I've Been talking over the last months about things that interest me, namely Cell Phone Technology, my kids, and I've discussed Social Media as well as some Social Media related events I've attended. Which, by the way, I'm drafting one about a recent Grand Rapids Social Media Luncheon I participated. But, this week, I really wanted to touch on some best practices that I've found lacking in sites I've visited lately. There were non-working forms, miss-aligned graphics (most likely due, in part, to bad browser testing), large slow loading images and other issues.

I'm going to start with the large images. There is absolutely no call for giant graphics in websites. As web designers we have asked web tool companies, like Adobe, to add features to decrease image size. This is so, even on slow internet connections, our sites will load quickly. So why, after 14-16 years of some pretty good web design advances, I'm still finding people that are creating background images upwards of 200 KiloBytes?! I don't really care if 50% of your market is using broadband. A 200KB image is still going to take 20+ seconds to download on a DSL connection. Close to 60% of internet users are still on dialup in the US alone. If you want to comment more on this - bottom of page.

Next, there's this new thing called Grid Layout. And by new, I mean from 2007. Essentially, it has to do with using grid systems and column grids for website layouts. We can also apply the theory of a baseline grid with print techniques. On an article on A List Apart (ALA), I found this: "The main principle of the baseline grid is that the bottom of every line of text (the baseline) falls on a vertical grid set in even increments all the way down the page."

I started using this technique while working as a contractor/consultant for a large local international firm. There was a guy there, ahead of his time, that has since moved on to an up-and-coming company on the West Coast – That started using it in a blog that we co-created the code. To me it was like an epiphany.

We've moved from the 3 column layouts down to 2 with best practices, but the theory remains. If you want your lines of text to line up, you have to use the techniques listed on ALA. It does take a little time at the beginning of your CSS creation, but like most of CSS, once it's done, it's done.

Before I discuss more about standards I need to define some terms:

Development layers

• Content and Structure- markup layer – HTML or XHTML
• Presentation Layer – CSS is referenced from the markup
• Behavior Layer – JavaScript elements that enable user events and interactions
• Software and CMS layers – have their own UI layer
• Teams and Processes - To build all of the above

Where to start

Web standards strategy starts at the markup level. It is where the offense of mixing HTML markup with the Presentation and Behavior details are usually committed. A web standards-based approach means creating markup that conforms to the specifications as closely as possible.

There are several reasons why you should be using CSS for your structural markup.

• Makes your pages load faster
• Makes your redesigns more efficient and less expensive and easier to administer
• Helps you maintain visual consistency throughout your sites
• Gets you better search engine results (SEO)
• Makes your sites more accessible to all viewers and user agents

POSH

POSH code (Plain Old Semantic Hypertext) brings meaning to content. It is a fundamental principle of web standards-based markup and will aid in fully reaping the benefits of modern best practices. Use POSH whenever possible in order to convey as much information about the content. By its nature, it also means that all presentation information is outside of the markup. Descendant selectors match any element inside another element having space between the 2 elements.

div p {color: red;}

In this example above, any element from a <div> element will be red. This technique can be used to IDs as well as Classes. Using this simple technique authors can remove the complexity from their CSS.

There is a term going around the coding community called “classitis”, which means putting too many classes in web sites markup and CSS. The term is a funny word for a valid concern. Having dozens of CSS classes to remember and reference is difficult for web authors and business users alike.

A more practical and scalable solution is to use element and descendant CSS selectors. These selectors automatically apply styles to XHTML elements without having to apply classes to every item.

Using the example below notice all of the classes being applied to the markup. This is an example of classitis.

The next example use descendant selectors to get the job done.

By using descendant selectors, we can eliminate redundancy in the code.

Here is the relevant CSS for the above example:

CSS Best Practices

Break style up into multiple style sheets.

Place your CSS rules in an external style sheet, so that they do not need to be downloaded again each time a new page is loaded. Use of Print, Global, Main CSS files helps with load-times as well as ease of browser/print display. Also use of Browser specific CSS files is preferred over hacking a Global Sheet. This means using a separate Style Sheet for IE6, IE7 and previous versions of IE (eg. IE5.5). It is possible to put W3C compliant Mozilla and Webkit styles directly into the Base or Global CSS

Build and test your CSS in the most advanced browser available before testing in others, not after.

If you build a site testing in a broken browser, your code begins relying on the broken rendering of that browser. When it comes time to test in a more standards-compliant browser, you will be frustrated when that browser renders it improperly. Instead, start from perfection and then hack for the less able browsers. Your code will be more standards-compliant from the start, and you won’t have to hack as much to support other browsers. Today, this means Mozilla, Safari, or Opera.

Naming Conventions

For naming conventions it is best if you name the ID or Class name to what it does not how it looks. Example: if you create an error class and choose to color the text red. ".errorRed {font-color: red;}" A decision is made to change the color to orange then the naming convention no longer matches the way the class looks, this can cause confusion to anyone besides the author that made the change. It removes from the markup what the element looks like.

ID names are unique in a document; you can only use them once in the markup. IDs are used for an element that does not need to be duplicated such as #nav, #nav-sub etc. Classes can be used multiple times. Classes in the CSS are represented by a "." In front of the name such as ".content", IDs are represented by an "#" as in #nav.

Use functional names for your classes, avoid words that describe how they look.

Applying Styles to HTML

For the most part, styles should always be applied with a CLASS attribute. Only use the ID attribute when absolutely necessary. Applying a style inline with the STYLE attribute should also only be used when necessary - hopefully that means never.

TABLEs are quirky in the various browsers. They are not "appropriate" to use for layout, they don’t to mix well with CSS, and they pose accessibility issues. It is best to use DIVS instead for layout. TABLEs are fine when displaying tabular data, but that is about the extent of their use.

Try to avoid applying padding/borders and a fixed width to an element.

IE5 gets the box model wrong, which really makes a mess of things. There are ways around this, but it's best to side-step the issue by applying the padding to the parent element instead of the child that gets a fixed-width.

Combine selectors.

Keeping your CSS light is important to minimize download times; as much as possible, group selectors, rely on inheritance, and reduce redundancy by using shorthand.

Use and Knowledge of Specificity

Understand the actual specificity of a group of nested selectors and what their calculations are per selector.

Use Web Typography Standards

Pixels and EMs for Font Sizes

Set the BODY to the designated size and allow the rest of the page to utilize calculations of that based on Ems. Ensure that the line height and word spacing follow the calculations. When you declare a font-family, include at least one semi-ubiquitous option for each major OS (Windows, Mac OS, Unix), and always end with one of the generic font keywords (serif, sans-serif, etc.)

Use the Liquid Layout where you can

The "Stretchy Layout" nicely fills all screen sizes without wasting any space. A floating Box layout could be preferable to allow for more content to fit larger browsers and mini-browsers alike.

Anchors and Images

• Hyperlinks should always be underlined unless they are in a group of clearly-defined navigation links.
• Use :link, :hover and :visited instead of "a" to set link styles.
• Use image replacement methods that are compatible with non-graphical browsers

Don’t use quotation marks around paths/URLs.

When setting a background image, or loading in an imported file, resist the urge to surround the path with quote marks. They’re not necessary, and IE5/Mac will choke.

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