Archive for the ‘Websites’ category

Advancing the Curve

March 17th, 2011

A few nights ago, I picked up a couple of books from a Borders bookstore that was closing their doors. Both books support my latest online project of developing a new website for Volkswagen and Audi enthusiasts, as discussed earlier this week, including the installation, set-up, and customization of Drupal 7 as a content management system.

I find the book helpful during this process, but would like more tutorials on real-world scenarios, such as setting up an event calendar, and an online storefront. What can I say; I have big dreams and would like to see The Wolfsburg Clique fulfill them as the project continues forward.

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I have thought about pushing this project through the customized way and develop the system from scratch from the top to the bottom using the latest W3C standards of HTML 5, CSS 3, XML, RSS agitation, and PHP 5, but for a project like this, it may take a while to build and set up. I’m no Mark Zuckerburg.

I also picked up a book about Google Analytics. This should provide some insight on understanding data traffic as it becomes available through the site.

Since my time at Network Communications came to an end in January this year, I have taken an interest in content management and writing for the web properly. Search engine optimization and marketing are going to play an important part of the project, as well as my own blog. Social media will also play a focusing role in it’s marketing. Mainly publishing on Twitter to hopefully generate online interest through an account.

I suppose it’s time to hit up Amazonfor SEO books.

My credit card isn’t going to like this.

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Posted in Google, Life, Projects, Technology, Volkswagen, Websites

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Beginning the Clique

March 13th, 2011

The start of this year has brought my attention to starting a new project to occupy my free time while I continue my search for a new job has begun to manifest itself into a self-teaching exercise.

In an attempt to better familiarize myself with back-end content management systems, I have begun working on an official ‘club’ for a group of Volkswagen enthusiasts and modifiers, such as myself, to connect, interact, and post information about their various cars along with a profile page.

Much like how Facebook brought the social circle of life to the Internet in an intermingled network, “The Wolfsburg Clique,” as the project is called, will bring the social Volkswagen or Audi enthusiast to a centralized location online in a more personal environment than other websites do with expanded forums and limited profile pages.Beginning the Clique 3685772693 b015778ae4 m

Currently the front end of the project is giving me a chance to expand my personal knowledge of content management systems, such as Joomla and Drupal. While this maybe ‘cookie-cutter’ applications, they give the project a bit of a head start until I can develop the system I want to showcase.

I’m also taking this opportunity to refresh my skills in front-end web development, including learning about the changes in HTML 5, as well as CSS 3. Learning these new coding practices is important to keep an online community going in order to cater to the latest version of web browsers and other applications in addition to the Web 2.0-movement a few years ago, as well as the current social networking movement.

While “The Wolfsburg Clique” maybe an idea to gather enthusiasts, I hope it will give me the real-world application and skill I need to continue the pursuit of my dreams, as well as my interests: web development, graphic design, photography, and Volkswagens.

I may need a new camera too.

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Posted in Automotive, Friends, Technology, Volkswagen, Web Broswers, Websites

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VWVortex Faces Dilemma, Changes Forum Software

May 5th, 2010

VWVortex Faces Dilemma, Changes Forum Software news 01Early Tuesday night, the forums at VWVortex were forced to be taken offline while a lawsuit over the forum software.

Jamie Vondruska from VWVortex posted a letter on the active side of VWVortex’s website. The letter stated that they were unhappy with the situation they were forced into over the lawsuit with the software.

To our readers -

Over the last year our discussion forum software became part of a lengthy legal battle between the two people who created it. That lawsuit finally ended and the verdict left the software in the control and hands of a different person than the company we had contracted to serve us. We have been working with the current owner in good faith to agree on a reasonable fee to continue to use the software. Those negotiations over a reasonable fee have rapidly come to an end and since no deal could be made, we legally must stop using the software – immediately.

This has left us no choice but to migrate to different forum software under less than ideal circumstances. After looking at different potential solutions, we have chosen to move to VBulletin. The newest version of VBulletin (4.0) has some very impressive features and the team behind it has been very supportive during this difficult move. We are genuinely excited about this upgrade and all the new feature everyone will be able to tap into.

I want to get it out there up front that because of the extreme time crunch on this migration we are going to have a number of potential issues till we get all of the pieces (hardware, software, performance enhancements, search and more) in place. We will work on getting things back to normal as soon as we can, but at the end of the day we are moving into a new house and things are going to feel a little different. Rest assured that all the furniture is moving with us and everything will eventually be moved over.

While we are unhappy that we’ve had to make this move so quickly and under less than ideal circumstances, we are excited at the same time about all the new features. During this transition period we will do our best to communicate what is going on and where we are at on a regular basis. We’ll post updates here, in the forums and on our Facebook pages. [...]

Thanks for listening and thanks for all the years of support.

- Jamie, George, Chuck, Anthony, Bryan, Stu and Dan
Edited, From VWVortex.com

The VWVortex editors will be posting updates on the announcement page with each update to their servers and the progress of their discussion forums.

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Posted in Automotive, Cars, Press Release, Volkswagen, Websites

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Apple, Fujitsu Battle over iPad Name

January 29th, 2010

Apple, Fujitsu Battle over iPad Name ipad hero 233x300

Apple's iPad Tablet Computer

After countless years of development, and an on-again, off-again project status with a tablet computer, Apple may be faced with yet another speed-bump with the “iPad” product name from Fujitsu. The Tokyo-based device manufacture filed for the “iPad” trademark in 2003, according to a New York Times article.

“Mobile is a keyword for Fujitsu’s iPad, too,” Mr. Yamane said [in the New York Times article] “With the iPad, workers don’t have to keep running back to a computer. They have everything right at their fingertips.”
~ Quoted from the New York Times article

» Read more: Apple, Fujitsu Battle over iPad Name

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Posted in AT&T, Apple, Apple iPad, Mobile, Technology, Verizon, Websites, iPhone

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Apple’s iPad Tablet Computer

January 28th, 2010

Apple’s Attempt at a Tablet Computer

Apple’s iPad Tablet Computer apple creation 0071 rm eng 300x199

Last time there was this much excitement about a tablet, it had some commandments written on it.
— The Wall Street Journal


Today, Apple’s CEO and co-founder, Steve Jobs, took stage to announce a new their latest product, something to ‘fill the gap’ between the smartphone and laptop market, a niche market filler. Apple named this “mobile Internet tablet device” the iPad… they should have named the “iFail”.

The Apple-based tablet is quite an interesting device by itself, but the name is just – wrong. “iTablet”, “Apple Tablet”, or “MacBook Touch”, or whatever, would’ve been a better choice for the device. The iPad name, however, really doesn’t strike or appeal to me. There’s no “wow” factor with the name that makes it a cool, or an attractive name. » Read more: Apple’s iPad Tablet Computer

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Posted in AT&T, Apple, Apple iPad, Events, Life, Mobile, Technology, Web Broswers, Websites, iPhone

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Browser Wars: Google Strikes Back

October 14th, 2008

Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Safari. Over the past few years, these browsers have become common names for web browsers on both Mac and Windows systems, with Apple’s Safari arriving to the Windows platform in June 2007.

Both Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and Mozilla’s Firefox have been big players in the recent browser wars. While Internet Explorer has been losing ground to Firefox over the past few years, the browser wars have appeared once again; this time it’s a battle between FireFox and the other guys: Apple Safari, Opera, and now, Google Chrome. Browser Wars: Google Strikes Back google chrome logo 711569

Google Chrome hit the web browsing market on September 2, 2008 for Windows XP and Vista, and was welcomed as an alternative to Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 7 browser. The open-sourced WebKit HTML-engine and a Google-built JavaScript engine, dubbed “V8 JavaScript”, help power the Chrome browser. » Read more: Browser Wars: Google Strikes Back

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Posted in Apple, Featured, Google, Life, Microsoft, Technology, Web Broswers, Websites

3G iPhone – Updates

May 3rd, 2008

So, the 3G iPhone news has reared it’s promising head once again – although this post has more research poured into it, and will hopefully be a more ‘accurate’ write up of the upcoming refreshed mobile device offered by Apple.

So far, AppleInsider.com[1] and TGDaily.com[2] both report that the iPhone is going on a diet, dropping around 38 and 48 grams over it’s current 158 grams. Along with the weight loss, TG Daily reports that the phone sliming down its thickness by about 2.5mm to 9.1mm from it’s current 11.3mm thickness. Gizmodo[3] also referances TG Daily about the thinner iPhone. Apple Insider quotes the Taiwan Economic News say that “In addition to weight advantage, the latest version is also more energy efficient and externally smarter[.]” and that the “LCD screen on the phone measures 2.8 inches diagonally, a downsize from first generation’s 3.5 inches.” I personally don’t see Apple dropping the size of its multi-touch screen, I see that the iPhone’s current screen size is one of its strong selling points. It’s a great display for Apple’s Mobile Safari, as well as Video Podcasts, Movies, TV Shows, and YouTube Videos.
» Read more: 3G iPhone – Updates

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Posted in Apple, Mobile, Technology, Websites