howto

Making Websites Mobile Friendly

Jonathan design, SEO, web , , ,

Making Websites Mobile Friendly

Making website more mobile friendly – Google article on how to make your website more friendly for those people browsing using a mobile phone. This article from Google looks at both SmartPhones and traditional mobile phones (using WAP, etc.). It then talks about how Googlebot-Mobile trawls your website and the user-agent strings that help it ascertain the information required for mobile phones. The format used being:

[Phone name(s)] (compatible; Googlebot-Mobile/2.1;
 +http://www.google.com/bot.html)

The article then goes on to talk about:

*/ Websites with only Desktop Experience Content

*/ Websites with Dedicated Mobile Content

New Google search options

Jonathan general, tips & tricks , ,

More Compact Google Search Options

Google used to group the options from the search sidebar so you can quickly find the filters related to location, visited pages and the different ways to present search results. All these groups have been merged and Google only kept the group that lets you restrict the results to recent web pages. Google also removed the “related searches” view which showed a list of related searches at the top of the page and allowed you to compare the results for different searches.

The more interesting options now available include:

Wonder Wheel

A kind of mindmap of your search with links that you can follow easily with related information on the right hand side of the search window. Good option for drilling down into information or looking at the search in a different way.

Google WonderWheel Search Results

Timeline

The Timeline search view shows a graph of your search term over time with key dates and events over time. You can see from this view the popularity of the search over a period of time. You can also click into the various date segments and drill down further into the information.

As you drilldown into each segment – it expands to show a more detailed timeline of the search term. Again you can drilldown even further. Good for finding date related search information.

Google Timeline Search

ScreenCasting Video information

Jonathan photography, screencasting, tips & tricks, video , , ,

Some of my general notes about producing screencasting videos for YouTube, etc. using CamStudio and other products. There are settings at the bottom that describe the best settings for CamStudio and sending screencasts to YouTube.

CamStudio

ScreenCasting and VIDEO Production
==========================

Good forums for discussions
———————————–
http://www.tinkernut.com/forum/video-recording-software/what-screen-recording-software-do-you-use

Groups
———
http://groups.google.com/group/thescreencastinghandbook

Editors
———
http://www.bobyte.com/AviTricks/index.asp
Download: http://www.bobyte.com/AviTricks/GetAviTricks.asp

WinMorph – WinMorph is a high performance morphing and warping software
http://www.debugmode.com/winmorph/

Wink – Video tutorial creator and screen capture software
http://www.debugmode.com/wink/

Fraps is a universal Windows application that can be used with games using DirectX or OpenGL graphic technology.
http://www.fraps.com/

Windows Movie Maker v2.1
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/updates/moviemaker2.mspx

http://screenr.com/ (up to 5 mins with sound and connection to Twitter)

I really like Screenr.  If you haven’t tried it out yet, you should give it a whirl.  Here’s what I like best:

* Screenr is super easy to use and there’s nothing to download. You just click the record button on the website and you’re recording your screen activity and your narration.

* The image quality is pretty darn good.  You can even watch the screencasts back at HD-quality and they look great.

* Screenr gives you multiple ways to use your screencasts.  It works with Twitter and the screencasts play as Flash on the web.  You can also upload the screencasts to YouTube.  And you can even download the videos as MP4 files.  They also look nice on the iPhone.  All these options give you a number of ways to reach your learners.

* My favorite…there’s no branding on the downloaded MP4 files.  Since you can download the videos, you’re free to use them as you wish.  That means you can use it in your elearning courses without looking like one of those MLS soccer players.  Go Sounders!

* And of course, Screenr is free.  Free is always good.

TipCam – Record and share your screen in a video, it also has a zoom facility
http://www.utipu.com/app/

tipcam

Jing – record straight from the Web
http://www.jingproject.com/

jing screencasting

ScreenToaster – free online screen recorder
http://www.screentoaster.com/

BBFlashBack (and Express) – Record a window, region or full screen. BB FlashBack Express free screen recorder has an easy to use interface that makes it a breeze.
http://www.bbsoftware.co.uk/bbflashbackexpress/home.aspx?cc=true

http://photobucket.com/ (mixing video)
http://animoto.com/
http://jaycut.com/ (create videos)
http://www.onetruemedia.com/ (photos and videos into awesome slideshows)
http://editorone.ideum.com/ (timeline based video editor)

For Ubuntu – RecordMyDesktop
http://recordmydesktop.sourceforge.net/downloads.php

Video Captioning
———————
http://captiontube.appspot.com/ (YouTube adding captions free – login with Google user)

Converters
————–
Format Factory is a multifunctional media converter
http://www.formatoz.com/

AviSplit is an application for cutting and rejoining AVI/DivX files
http://www.bobyte.com/AviSplit/GetAviSplit.asp

AviScreen is an application for capturing screen activity (ScreenCast) in the form of AVI video or images
http://www.bobyte.com/AviScreen/InstAviScreenPro.zip

AUDIO
———
http://remixer.clubcreate.com/v1/scion/launch.html?scion
http://aviary.com/tools/myna
http://www.looplabs.com/
http://www.jamglue.com/
http://madringtones.org/
http://www.chirbit.com/
http://www.soundation.com/

Publisize
———–
http://showmedo.com/

VIDEO Intro makers
————————-
Animoto.com – create FREE videos from images and videos
monstertemplate.com – templates for Flash intros
Adobe AfterEffects – add effects for your intros
http://www.videocopilot.net/products/opticalflares/features/plug-in_overview/

Settings
———-

CamStudio settings (http://camstudio.org/)
——————————————————
640 x 360
856 x 480 = mid resolution
1080 x 720 (is roughly HD)
1280 x 720 = high def

Set watermark…
Options: hide flashing rectangle during recording

Autopanning = true (speed about 40 or 200)

Video options:
Techsmith capture codec or divx (256 bit rate on config)
Or can use Camstudio Lossless Codec v1.4 and use LZO compression
best compression under config
100 quality
key frames = 200
cap frames every 40ms (or 33 and 30fps)
playback rate = 25 fps

Or can use:
Key frames 30 frames
Capture frame every 50ms
Playback rate 20 fps

Audio
22.05Khz Stereo 16bit
PCM compression (or LAME MP3 needs to be downloaded)
22050 Hz 16 bit stereo

To convert to smaller size use MediaCoder: http://www.mediacoderhq.com/dlfull.htm

Tips for Google Wave

Jonathan tips & tricks , , ,
The Google Wave logo
Google Wave

If you want to see what’s happening on Google Wave type:

with:public

in the Search area.

If you want to see what’s happening on Google Wave specific to a topic type:

with:public cameras

in the Search area (that’s wave’s about cameras in the this instance).

Plus the following may help:

  1. Read Gina Trapanis online book / help “The complete guide to Google Wave“
  2. Double click and go into EDIT mode and format your replies to stand out
  3. Add an attachment to the WAVE – click the paperclick when in EDIT mode (If you have GEARS installed you can even add a file from your local drive)
  4. Select the text and add a LINK to the entry
  5. Add an IMAGE or VIDEO by clicking the G+ Icon and Search
  6. Add some built in GADGETS to to your Wave (Yes/no/maybe or the MAP gadget)
  7. COPY a blip to a NEW Wave to create a NEW Wave (Click the timestamp – select Copy to New Wave)
  8. Make a WAVE public by adding public@a.gwave.com to the contacts (Big + on the Wave)
  9. Search for WAVES using: “with:public:<search term>” (<search term> is what you’re looking for!)

Typing at the speed of thought

Jonathan general , , , ,

keybr.com | Typing at the speed of thought!

spend 30 minutes a day and improve your typing skills with this wonderful online touchtyping system – WARNING!!! it’s VERY addictive