The Fat Boy Chronicles Movie Trailer

Here is an amazing movie with a tremendous story line and outstanding cast from which we all can learn so much.

The Basic Web Design Principles Not to Forget

Home Page (Main/Index.html): Home page should clearly indicate what the site is all about. The first page should provide a top-level navigation bar with clear display, your logo, and tell to the visitor what he/she can find and do on your web site. Your home page should be informative, and should take your visitors on action and attention. The home page is the place where the visitor decides what he will do, where he/she click on your links to move along, or leave the site. If you have a discount, or if you offer some free service in attempt to make a contact with potential customers, make sure to provide link to that service on your home page that is important.

If you decide to implement flash intro on your first page, make sure to give the user possibility to skip the flash intro. The link “skip intro” should be outside of the flash, because you will force the visitor to wait until the Flash movie is loaded. If you have music or media on your site, the user should have the option to turn it “Off” if he/she wishes.

Navigation structure: Place the navigation on the place where the people are used too look for it; Do not get creative neither experiment with the navigation! I cannot stress enough this. It is recommended to keep the navigation system same on ALL pages. Visitors are not ready to learn your site navigation system and such can discourage them and leave the site. Consistency is the most important thing here. You should focus your effort on building consistent rhythm across all pages of your site “Very Important Point”. (VIP).

Font size: Your font size should be big enough so your text can be read without almost any effort. Many people will not bother to read very small letters, which is a turn off. Do not loose your visitors because of font size. Optimal size seems to be 11-12 points. Visitors should be able to read your text easy, break big chunks of texts in paragraphs and make them easy to follow.

Line Length: The length of a line of type should be comfortable to read. The optimal line length for printed materials seems to be about 10 to 12 words, or 55 to 65 characters. Somewhat shorter lines of about 40 to 50 characters may be more appropriate for larger displays. If the line is too long, the reader must search for the beginning of it; if it is too short, it will break up words or phrases awkwardly.

Emphasis: Creating emphasis is an important and integral part of designing and typesetting. Handled with taste and good judgment it can help direct and inform the reader accordingly. When these qualities are lacking, or someone feels that every word is important and must be emphasized in some way then your web page starts to look like a battlefield and becomes difficult to read!

The Graphics: It has well known that one picture worth more than million words. This rule applies on Internet too. Do your best to show clear, attractive photos of your products. If you offer a service, find a photo that will best describe it. However, be careful about file size. Do not compress your photo to that level to not be clear, but also do not leave the photo on full quality. That will make file size too big, and will increase download time.

Gif vs. JPEG: Less experienced web designers many times use the wrong format to store their pictures. Here are few guidelines, which will help mistakes to be avoided. If your photo has small number of colors (less then 64), GIF will be better choice. Make sure however to reduce the palette size too. That is, if your image have10-15 colors only, reduce your palette on 16 or 32 colors. Also, if your image contains text, GIF format should be your choice. JPEG use loose compression method and will cause text and edges to become blurry. If you are saving a photograph – save it as JPEG. JPEG images can contain over 32 million different colors. That is much more than the human eye can see.

If you want to incorporate large text into a photographic image, JPEG may be a good format to use. While the edges may still be blurred, danger of it becoming unreadable is slim. If you think your image is more important than the text, go ahead and use the JPEG format.

Speed: Do your best to reduce the download time. We live in a busy world and people are not willing to wait for long time. Try to reduce size of your graphics as much as possible without compromising the image quality. Image (s) must look good, but size (in KB) should be as small as possible, remember that.

Run a Test before publishing: Do your homework, and do it well, save time and be smart. Your visitors will not bother to send you an e-Mail telling you some of the links on the site do not work or that some of your images do not appear or display correctly. Even if someone do so, it is quite embarrassing. Perform spell and grammar checking. Remember that in many cases, visitors will build his opinion about you or your company based on your web site. When published, the site should not contain any “under construction” or a “coming soon message”, that is a turn off for some demanding people today.

For additional assistance visit: www.bisnerconsulting.com

OUTSOURCING Y LA WEB

Construir y administrar un sitio Web exigen habilidades que lo candidatizan para ser un proyecto efectuado por outsourcing. La construcción de un sitio Web, y su mantenimiento, bien podría aplicar como elemento candidato a ser efectuado por terceros, por las dos características. Por lo general, la construcción y el mantenimiento de un sitio Web se sale del objeto del negocio, excepto de las empresas que los construyen, y además, requieren conocimientos de muchas áreas, difíciles de acopiar al interior de una empresa.

La infraestructura para colocar el sitio Web mezcla conocimientos de redes, servidores, bases de datos, servidores de aplicaciones, servidores Web, correo electrónico y muchas otras tecnologías. Aunque al interior de las empresas pueda existir este tipo de tecnologías o conocimiento, su aplicación por lo general está orientada a la operación del negocio y no a la generación de un sitio Web. Elementos como alta disponibilidad, conexión permanente a Internet, y con buen ancho de banda para atender los usuarios, son temas que están mejor administrados en un ISP, cuyo negocio es precisamente ese, que en una empresa para la cual no es su negocio.

En el caso de la infraestructura la recomendación general es efectuar el proceso con un tercero, pero no se puede suponer que al encargárselo al tercero, la responsabilidad también disminuye. Debe ser claro que es responsabilidad compartida, entre el proveedor y el cliente, la definición de procedimientos y políticas para la administración del sitio. Por ejemplo, cambios tan obvios en la parte técnica como la actualización del servidor Web, pueden dar al traste con la funcionalidad de un sitio. Este tipo de situaciones deben ser acordadas en un documento que se conoce como "acuerdo de niveles de servicio" y se estipulan las responsabilidades y criterios de medición para cada uno.

Luego viene la parte interesante del asunto, la construcción en sí del sitio Web, para lo cual se requieren tres tipos de especialistas. El ingeniero de software, que debe construir aplicaciones sobre tecnología Web, de tal manera que sean fáciles de usar, fáciles de mantener, y rápidas para ser descargadas por los visitantes. También están los diseñadores gráficos que trabajan en la distribución de cada elemento en el portal, la concepción de colorido, tamaños y tipo de letras, y muchos otros factores que intervienen en el diseño gráfico. Por último, pero no menos importante, está la generación del contenido, tanto para la primera carga, como para el mantenimiento periódico del sitio. Esta generación de contenido requiere la habilidad de "incitar a la acción" para poder que el sitio en sí tenga el efecto deseado en sus visitantes.

Estas habilidades también son difíciles de encontrar en una sola empresa, lo que hace factible la contratación de la construcción del sitio Web a través de empresas especializadas en el tema. Tal vez el único de los temas que se deberá hacer al interior de las empresas propietarias del sitio, será la generación de contenido pertinente al sitio y a su objetivo. Si es una empresa que provee servicios médicos, el contenido puede ser información de conocimiento general para el mejoramiento de la salud. Si la empresa vende productos de consumo masivo, la comunicación deberá ir orientada a la generación de recordación de marca. Como se puede ver de estos dos ejemplos, se requiere un conocimiento sobre el tema, además de saber comunicar.

Construir y administrar un sitio Web exigen habilidades que lo candidatizan para ser un proyecto efectuado por outsourcing. Sin embargo, eventualmente el sitio Web será tan integral a los procesos de la compañía, que será absorbido por la tecnología de la misma empresa, de la misma manera en que los costos permitieron pasar de un esquema de "service" para el procesamiento de datos, a tenerlos cada uno en nuestros propios equipos.

Great Tips for a Better Website

Just some things need to be included in every website. If you integrate these tips into your next web site project, your visitors and clients will "thank you" for it later:

1) Navigation: Keep it simple (KISS), and make sure it is consistent from page to page. No matter where you place your navigation bar -- either at the top or down the side -- always include a small text menu at the bottom of every page. If you are one of those people easily impressed with Flash, do not design your navigation with it. There are still some people who do not have or want the plug-in, so they will not be able to navigate your site. Besides, search engine spiders cannot read it, so will not be able to spider the individual pages of your site if the navigation is done in Flash. These are the little things all web designer should keep in mind, but many tend to forget or do not explain this important fact to the client and you run into minor issues later around.

2) Privacy Policy - (TOS): With all of the concern over privacy on the Web today, if you collect any type of information from your visitors (even if it is just an email address) you need to include a privacy policy and a terms of service (tos). Many online templates will help you to create one easily. Once made, post a link to it on every page of your site to inform your visitors.

3) Contact Information: Nothing drives me more insane, nuts, and crazy than having to search through an entire website just to send the owner an email. Post your contact information at the bottom of every page of your site, along with your email address and keep it simple.

4) Logos & Graphics: Please keep your graphics down to a reasonable size. No one wants to wait two minutes while your huge, beautiful logo loads onto the screen. If you must use many graphics to get your point across, I have one word for you: Compression. For help with Logo-Graphic Design Click HERE

5) Fonts: Remember if you stray from using the standard, font (s) that everyone has installed on their computers (such as Arial, Verdana, Times New Roman) the viewer will not see your fonts as intended. Your users' computers will display your site in their default fonts. Stick to standards. If you must have a certain font used you will have to turn it into a graphic to maintain its look.

6) Make It Sticky: Include interactive features if possible, such as live news feeds, RSS or XML. Check out http://www.moreover.com for some news feed topics you can paste into your site free. Use chat rooms, discussion boards, forums etc. You want to create a sense of community where people will want to return.

7) Newsletter: If you are going to have a website, you need to offer a newsletter, even if it is strictly going to be about sale items, specials or site updates. You need to start collecting a list of your visitors' email addresses so you can keep in touch with them. Ezines help to keep your site fresh in the client's mind and helps to establish trust and credibility. For more on how to start your own ezine see http://www.ezineuniversity.com or consult with us we can help you.

8) Browsers: You would be amazed at how differently your website appears in different browsers. Make sure you peek at your site in Netscape, FireFox and Internet Explorer. Recent stats show IE has about 80% of the market share, but you will still want to make sure the other 20% can view your site without any problems.

9) Resolution: This is a highly debatable subject. "What resolution should I design for?" The norm these days seems to be 800X600 although there are still a small number of people limping along in 640X480. Look at your site in different resolutions to get an idea of what I am talking about. If you do not mind letting the small majority scroll right and left, I say go with 800X600 (that is what I do) and it still looks acceptable to those surfing in mega resolutions of 1024 and higher.

10) Index Page: This may seem like a given, but I must mention it anyway. On the very first page of your site (the homepage), the first paragraph should answer the "5 W's"; telling them who you are and what you are offering. You would be amazed at the numbers of websites that leave this out; and I wonder, "What do these people do, and what's in it for me?" You need to answer these questions and do it fast. Surfers are a very impatient group of people these days. The correct thing to do would be stop them before they click away and you loose a valuable client or visitor.

If you can remember the above 10 pointers when putting together your next website, you will create a winning site that visitors will want to return to, and not run away from in frustration.

For additional help visit: http://www.bisnerconsulting.com

Smart Ways to Promote a New Designed Web Site

Is not it great when you just finish designing the perfect web site? Regardless of how great it looks, it may not help your business unless people know it is available on the web. Here are some smart ways to promote and expose your site to potential visitors and future clients.

A) It is important to make sure your URL is easy to remember, spell and is descriptive of your industry or business. No matter how good the content is, few will visit it if they cannot remember or spell the name. Remember to choose an URL that is representative of your company's name, an abbreviation of your company's name, or a description of your product or services. People who use the web frequently seem to favor short, to the point descriptions. Keep that in mind when registering you company’s domain name. At Bisner Consulting Services, we can help you to process your domain registration, hosting, design and promote your business Identity on the web.

B) Include your web site information in as many search engines as possible to allow your web site address to come up during category and subject searches (SEO). Most search engines have instructions for submitting your URL, but if you cannot find them, use the "help" feature. Submission services such as "Add Me!” (www.addme.com) make listing your web site a snap by automatically sending information to the search engines with a few clicks of the mouse. Most of these are free or have a nominal charge. Remember though, that many search engines do not immediately update their files, so you may have to wait from a few hours to several weeks to have your web site added to their lists. Once you have added your URL to the search engines, make sure to check your email regularly to see if there are any follow-up instructions. Several search engines require a confirmation from you or they will not list your web address.

C) Another way to help people find your web site is to add your web site address to all of your promotional and print media materials including business cards, letterhead, brochures, 4x6 post cards and other marketing materials. Today people want to know more about you NOW. Make it easier for them by adding a signature line to your email with your company's name, tag line/slogan and web site address. It is a terrific marketing technique! One quick click and people have access to your site. Consumers can quickly access more information about you and your services if you remember to add your web site address.

D) Make sure that your current clients know about your web site. Send out a specially designed direct mail piece, a postcard for instance, announcing your web site and offering a brief overview of the contents and features. Current customers can be a great source of referrals and may even be willing to add a link to your site on their own web site if they are impressed with your services. Make sure to ask your clients to recommend your web site, and therefore your services, to others. Incentives are not a bad idea either. If you get a call based on your web site, and a current client made the referral, do not forget to send a thank you in the form of a discount on services or small gift. These personal recommendations can be powerful and extremely profitable.

E) If you are part of an industry that is represented by an association, professional or trade group, find out if they host a "circle" or link exchange program. A circle is a group of web sites comprised of common subjects that are linked together. Being part of this marketing tool is a great way to attract customers searching in a particular category or subject area. Potential clients may discover that you have just the service they are looking for! In addition, you may be able to collaborate your services with another company who needs your skill and expertise.
Promoting a new web site is not easy. It requires a lot of hard work, hours on the computer and ingenuity to attract potential customers and it cost money, “Time is Money” Be creative, because this is the age of the Internet. The rewards can be enormous if you do your homework and partner with the right team; “The BCS-LLC Team”.

There you have: Smart Ways to Promote a New Designed Web Site MR.B.

LIMPIE EL DISCO DURO DE SU PC

Situación

En la medida en que se usa el PC, vamos dejando rastros de nuestros actos en el disco duro. Esto sólo nos hace desperdiciar espacio, que con cada programa que montamos nos damos cuenta qué pequeño es el disco duro (¡de cualquier tamaño!). Es importante entonces efectuar procesos de limpieza frecuentes.

Recomendación

Se recomienda atacar dos depósitos de basura del PC - La Papelera de Reciclaje (Recycle Bin) y los archivos temporales de su browser.

Bote la Basura
Por más que envíe los archivos que ya no usa a la papelera de reciclaje, estos no abandonarán el disco de su PC hasta que no vacíe la papelera de reciclaje. Para hacer esto, haga presione el botón derecho de su ratón sobre el icono del cesto de basura, y seleccione "Vaciar Papelera de Reciclaje" (Empty the Recycle Bin).

Vacíe el Cache
Todos los visores (Browsers) tiran archivos a su disco duro a medida que usted navega de sitio en sitio por el Web. El problema es que los dejan ahí en su disco en una carpeta o grupos de carpetas llamados Cache. Usted puede tener miles de archivos en su disco que realmente le sirven para poco o nada. Con su browser activado, siga las siguientes instrucciones para vaciar el cache

Internet Explorer 3.x: Seleccione Ver/Opciones (View/Options). Bajo la lengüeta "Avanzado" ubique "Archivos Temporales de Internet" y haga seleccione "Configuración". En el dialogo que aparece, pulse "Vaciar Carpeta".

Internet Explorer 4.0. Seleccione Ver/Opciones Internet. En el diálogo que aparece, presione el botón "Borrar Archivos" bajo "Archivos Temporales de Internet" en la lengüeta General.

Netscape Navigator 3.X. Seleccione Opciones/Preferencias de Red (Options/Network Preferences). En el dialogo de Preferencias (Preferences) que aparece, haga presione el botón del ratón en "Limpiar Cache de Disco Ahora" (Clear Disk Cache Now)

Netscape Communicator: Seleccione Editar/Preferencias (Edit/ Preferences) para desplegar las opciones de Preferencias. Bajo Avanzado, seleccione Cache y haga clic en "Limpie el Cache de Disco" (Clear Disk Cache)

Situación

En la medida en que avanza la tecnología, cada vez más aumenta el uso del disco que hacen los programas que montamos. Algunos de los archivos que se trasladan a nuestro disco duro nunca los vemos, o solo se ven en la primera instalación del equipo o del programa Es importante entonces efectuar procesos de depuración de VIDEOS que ocupan una tajada considerable del disco, y no los utilizamos.

Recomendación

Los archivos con extensiones .avi y .mov son los que mayor espacio consumen en su disco. Una instalación estándar de Windows/Office97 puede dejarle alrededor de 2MB de vídeo. Siga los siguientes pasos para buscar y eliminar los videos que no utilice.
Use el explorador de Windows (presione el botón derecho del ratón cuando el cursor esté sobre el icono de MI PC, y seleccione EXPLORAR.

Inicie el buscador de archivos en HERRAMIENTAS – BUSCAR – ARCHIVOS O CARPETAS

En La casilla que aparece, introduzca "*.avi" (ó "*.mov" sin las comillas) para buscar los tipos de archivos respectivos. Haga doble clic sobre cada uno de los archivos para ver de qué se trata (debe poder ver el vídeo) Decida si lo quiere mantener o lo puede borrar. Para borrarlo, arrástrelo hasta la papelera de reciclaje (No olvide vaciar la papelera!)

NOTA: Se incluyen algunas traducciones para cubrir versiones que no se especifican aquí.

Para informacion adicional visite: www.bisnerconsulting.com

End user laptop Lock down in 10 easy steps

An end user laptop in the wrong hands—either physically or virtually—could turn into a disaster for any organization if it contains sensitive data. Here are ten things you can do to help protect your laptops, your company, your data, your intellectual property and your reputation.

1- Encrypt the contents of the hard drive - Laptops that roam the nation's airports, hotels, and trains are all very susceptible to theft. With a hard drive that's not encrypted, it's a simple matter for a thief to gain access to the private data on that machine's local hard drive, even without knowing a single username or password. Protect against this by encrypting the contents of the disk. Windows 2000 and Windows XP can do this transparently with the encrypting file system (although Windows 2000 users and users not joined to a domain should practice extra care to avoid permanent loss of data due to forgotten passwords). Linux laptops can be encrypted in a number of different ways with different products. Also, Mac OS X users can user FileVault.

2- Install a BIOS password and change device boot order – Particularly if you opt not to use EFS, make it harder for thieves to get at your data by only allowing the system to boot from the hard drive and set a boot password. If you ever need to boot from a floppy or a CD, temporarily change the boot order to do so. By preventing boot from external devices, you make it harder for someone to boot from a CD that contains hacking tools designed to get at your data. Even better, completely remove the floppy drive from the machine and, when on the road, have users only insert the CD drive when they actually need to use it.

3- Invest in recovery software – Laptops are pretty attractive targets for thieves. To counter rising laptop theft, a number of companies now sell software that silently "phones home" when it's eventually reconnected to a network. When software like this is used in conjunction with law enforcement efforts, your chances of getting your equipment back increase dramatically. In fact, Absolute, a company that sells such software, claims a better than 90% recovery rate for computers that are stolen and eventually connected to the Internet. Other products in this market include LOWJACK, CyberAngel, zTrace, and the XTool Computer Tracker.

4- Save as little as possible locally and upload often – The more data you have, the more you stand to lose. When users are on the road, they should load only the files they need on the laptop. If they are on a long trip, have them connect back to the corporate network through the company's VPN and upload files from the laptop back to a secure corporate file server. That way, if a laptop does get stolen, the data is safe and available and there will not be a productivity loss from having to recreate files.

5- Consider the thin client computing model for remote users – The reason, of course, that you provide laptops to mobile workers is because they require mobility to get their jobs done while on the road. However, servers and desktops within the corporate network are almost always more secured than laptops. Since high speed Internet connections can now be found in most hotels, airports, coffee shops, and bookstores, it is possible to set up a remote connectivity solution in which an end user simply connects to Terminal Services (or Citrix) or uses Remote Desktop to connect (over VPN) to a dedicated desktop machine within the corporate network. This prevents any work from actually being done on the laptop itself. Instead the laptops simply functions as a temporary terminal. While not feasible for every IT department, this can prevent data loss by separating storage from the device.

6- Institute a strong password policy – It would be extremely disheartening if you took other security measures to lock down a laptop but an attacker was still able to compromise the system because one of the passwords on the user's laptop was blank, or was set to "password." Create and enforce a strong password policy both through company policy and through the technology mechanisms available in Windows, Linux and Mac OS.

7- Quarantine returning laptops – When a laptop returns to the office, quarantine the system and scan it to make sure it doesn't carry any harmful viruses or spyware. After all, the device has spent time outside the corporate firewall in the wilds of the Internet where spyware and viruses are like cockroaches—everywhere and difficult to kill or even detect sometimes. Take this step to stop problems before they occur. Often, these kinds of infections result in a back door to the system, which can mean that the laptop is as good as stolen from a data perspective.

8- Lock up when not in use – This is probably pretty obvious, but it is so often overlooked that it has to be included. If a laptop isn’t in a physically secure area, then it should be locked it away—in a desk drawer, in a closet, etc. Even in your office, laptops might not be safe. Even if it's in an environment you consider safe, realize that cleaning people, security guards and others have keys, and can use them to gain access to your valuables, including laptops and company data. For a reality check, laptops containing patient records, company private information, client’s social security numbers, and credit card information were stolen right from an office.

9- Be wary of wireless – Wireless networks provide a quick and easy way to connect to the Internet and conduct business, but they also open up a huge potential for data theft when security is not included in the network design. When users are in a public area on a wireless network, tell them to never login to Web sites unless they're using SSL (HTTPS). Also instruct them not to use the company's VPN unless all traffic is encrypted (as opposed to having split tunneling enabled). And make sure any shares you might need to have on a laptop are protected with the appropriate permissions.

10- Report incidents – If a user happens to fall victim to laptop theft, tell the user to notify the authorities immediately, as well as the IT department and any tracking companies with whom you may contract. If a stolen laptop is used to commit a crime, such as hacking into a bank, the owner of that laptop can end up in hot water until things are straightened out. Further, if you do have users that are somewhat lax in their security practices and their system is stolen, you can take steps to shut down their account or change passwords to protect company assets. By taking the proper steps and immediately notifying everyone who needs to know, your employees can stem the loss and can often prevent your company from being the subject of unwanted headlines and headaches... For additional information visit: www.bisnerconsulting.com