21″ iMac Dual Monitor with Dell u2211h — Ugghh.
So I REALLY wanted to use my 21″ iMac in a dual monitor setup. Really. But my 21″ iMac + a Dell u2211 = NO GO (even vertically).
The Dell UltraSharp U2211h – as Close to iMac as you can get?
Now I have two u2211h’s living harmoniously in a dual-monitor configuration – in no small thanks to DisplayFusion Pro which revolutionized the way I manage dual monitors - (I run them horizontally and I should have gotten the 23″s, but I digress). As you may or may not recall, these u2211h’s are the Ultrasharp Dell Monitors with IPS Panels that are supposed to be the “closest” you are going to get to an iMac IPS display — at a reasonable price — e.g without buying another Mac. So I figured I’d set one of these u2211′s next to my 21″ iMac and see how it goes.
Run CS3 for Windows on the iMac or MacBook Pro?…Maybe
I’ve always been a die-hard PC guy, but since I purchased my first iMac I’m beginning to like the OS X platform. One of my biggest potential problems in moving my web development firm from Windows to the Mac, is the need for me to re-purchase a bunch of my existing software (read: Creative Suite). So I did a little experiment with my iMac and Fusion 4 and here’s what I found (BTW: to see a list of the software I use on my PC and the potential Mac equivalents, see this post — and please add to the list if you have more options to share)
The Setup
For this “Windows CS3 on the iMac” experiment I used an 3.06 GHz iMac with 12GB of RAM, running Snow Leopard. I installed the Vmware Fusion 4 trial and I assigned 4GB of RAM to the virtual OS. In the VM I’m running Windows XP SP3, with Avira and Zone Alarm. The only other installed software is the MS security updates, IE8, and Firefox 6.
How to Find a List of WordPress Category IDs – 2011 – in under 5 minutes!
There are a lot of way out there to try to find a list of the WordPress category IDs, but sometimes a simple, barebones approach is the easiest way. Let’s take a look at how to find your WordPress category ID’s in around 5 minutes.
A. Get into phpMyAdmin
1. If you are running WordPress then you have a database, and thus you have a way to access your database. For most of us this method is by using phpMyAdmin. If you are using cPanel then simply navigate to phpMyAdmin. If you are using a different control panel, ask you hosting provider.
B. Find the WordPress Table that Lists the Category IDs
2. Once you are in phpMyAdmin (or your database browsing client), look for your WordPress database. It’s the database you created when you first installed WordPress (and if you didn’t install WP on your own, look for a database that starts with “WP” or has “WP” in it.
Thoughts on AdWords MCC Account for Clients, with AdWords Account for your Business
So MCC is a pretty cool option when it comes to managing client AdWords accounts, but there seems to be confusion (myself included) about the best way to set everything up when you ALSO want to have an AdWords account to advertise your own business. From what I can gather there are many ways to make this happen, but here’s one suggested way that does work. This method assumes that you don’t already have an MCC account setup, and that you don’t have an AdWords account setup for your business. In theory if you didn’t mind losing your existing AdWords data you could create a new AdWords account and then move forward. If you already have an AdWords account and you can’t lose the data, there are some workarounds on the Google support forums to try to help you setup an MCC account while keeping your current data.
The Big Picture Here: You are going to create an MCC account to help you manage client AdWords accounts, but you are also going to create an AdWords account that you can use to advertise your own business’ services. So basically you will have an MCC with a bunch of clients, and your own busisness will be a “client” of yours, as well.
Top 10 Factors – How to Choose a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Company
If you are reading this post then you are well aware that Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can be a critical factor in the success or failure of your website. While there’s no perfect way to select an SEO company, in this article I’m going to cover the top 10 things one should consider when choosing an SEO Firm to work with.
1. Reputation. Let’s start with the most important consideration first. If an SEO company comes recommended to you from a friend or a colleague, then it’s a good bet that they will be a good choice. Naturally it goes without saying that you will favor products and services providers that come recommended, but you should still do some checking-up on an SEO Company — even one referred by a friend (see more below).
2. Niche. Many SEO firms focus on a specific niche and know their field. Much of SEO is conceptual, but it helps that your SEO company either has a background in your topic, or has at least worked with other clients in your field. Your colleague may have referred a great SEO Company to you, but if they have absolutely no experience in your field, then you may be better off with an SEO firm that’s more familiar with your topic (and has proven success with optimizing websites in your field).
Google Apps – Google Sites: How to Forward Naked Domain with GoDaddy Domain
As you already know, your URL has two possible formats:
www.yourdomain.com and yourdomain.com.
When using Google Sites for your website, setting up the “www” version of your domain is easy and is detailed in the Google Apps setup instructions. However, Google Sites makes it clear that at the current time you cannot — via Google Apps – get the “non-www” version (or naked version) of your domain to link to your Google Sites website.
Dropbox: Re-Sync Public Folder – Get Public Folder from Website Back on Desktop
Dropbox is a great tool, but recently I lost the Public folder on my desktop and couldn’t find a way to get it back. In this article we’ll go over how to recreate a public folder in DropBox and also how to sync back so if you’ve lost your Public folder on your desktop, but you HAVE it on the DropBox website, you can get it back.
1. I Lost My DropBox Public Folder. How Do I Create a New One?
If you’ve lost your DropBox Public folder (and you are not going to undelete what you’ve lost — e.g. you want to start over with a Public folder or you’ve never had one), then this step is easy. Simply navigate to your Dropbox folder and create a new folder called “Public”. Naturally you don’t use the ” ” and you need to make sure that the “P” in Public is capitalized. That’s it.
Best Practices – Google Account Setup for Clients for Web Developers and Agencies
In the first article in this two-part series I talked about best practices for setting up Google Accounts for personal use and for business use. In this second part I am going to discuss best practices for developers and agencies for setting up and managing Google Accounts for their clients. Before you read this article, you may find it helpful to review the first article as this article continues with example scenarios used in the first one.
Best Practices – Google Account Setup for Individuals and Small Businesses
Google offers a terrific array of products and services, but sometimes it can get confusing about the best way to implement these services, especially if you are a developer or an agency and you want to work with Google services for your clients. Naturally you want to be able to manage these products for your clients, as this is the reason they’ve hired you in the first place.
In this two-part article I’m going to go through a few scenarios to try to illustrate some best practices about how to setup a Google Account. This article will cover personal Google Accounts and Small Business Google Accounts, and the second article will talk about best practices for Developers and Agency who want to manage Google products for their clients.
Lynda.com – Video Bandwith – iPhone, iPad, and Mobile Devices, Oh My!
Lynda.com is a great service. Its price of $250/year for the account without the training files, is, in my opinion, a great value. On the the problems, however, with the service is the amount of bandwidth used by the streaming videos when it comes to mobile devices — specifically personal hotspots and mobile hotspots.
First let me say that I DO very much appreciate the high-quality of the videos when I’m at home using my wired connection or even my wi-fi connection. The videos are crisp and clear and do not skip.
