Web-Stat has many nifty reports that are easy to view, and one of them is daily downtime over any length of time. I ran this report to see my own website’s downtime from 2011-1-1 to today (2001-12-3) and here’s what I found:

Average Downtime : 0.21%

You can see that on some days, my downtime was 7.2%, which equals 1.73 hours.

(Calculation:   (7.2/100)*24 = 1.73)

Yes, on those days, if the downtime happened during my working hours, I was certainly concerned and emailing DreamHost. But they always got things working again. On average, my downtime is 0.21% per day, which equates to 0.0504 hours per day, which is 3 minutes per day.

So that’s my average downtime per day: 3 minutes per day. For me and my business, that’s completely tolerable given the low cost of website hosting that DreamHost charges.

You may see other hosting companies who talk about downtime in terms of uptime, meaning the percentage of the time that the website is up. In these terms, you could conclude that my uptime per day would equal 100%-0.21% = 99.79%

So if you see a  website hosting company advertising 99% uptime, you’ll have an average of 14 minutes of downtime each day.

If a hosting company advertistes 99.9% uptime, you’ll have an average of 1.4 minutes of downtime each day.

Again, this data is easy to get if you’re using Web-Stat as your website traffic tool – which I highly recommend – especially because it alerts you to when your site is down so you can notify your hosting company if they aren’t already working on the problem. The sooner you notify them, the faster they can fix things, and the lower your overall downtime will be. Web-Stat offers a 30 day free trial, and is super simple to add to a website.

Leave me a comment and let me know what your average downtime is.

You can easily use Google Trends to see when it might be a good time for you to take a holiday. Let’s say you’re a therapist. You go to Google Trends and enter the word therapist click the button “search trends”. This is what you’ll see:

Let’s zoom in a bit:

Notice how in the last quarter of every year, there is this large dip in searches for the word “therapist” and then how it rebounds in January? If you look over the years, this is a fairly repeatable trend.

So if a therapist is wondering when a good time to take a vacation or holiday is, they can use Google Trends to take a look at seasonal search patterns. And if you’re a therapist and you’re wondering why your traffic has dropped of in December…well, I don’t know why, but we can say by looking at the data that it’s pretty darn consistent. So take that holiday and don’t worry.

Give it a try for your business. Use Google Trends to look for seasonality in searches and it just might be what you need to give yourself permission to go ahead and take that holiday.

Happy Holidays everyone!

So what’s a favicon you ask? You know when you go to a website and sometimes in your browser’s field where the URL (the website’s address) is, you see a teeny tiny image? This is a favicon.

For my own website, you can see this and it should look like a graphic representation of a bull’s head, front view (because my business name is Aldebaran which is in the constellation Taurus…but I digress). See the two blue horns and yellow head? You have to look real closely because favicons are small.

Most of my clients don’t ask for this, but today one did, and I wanted to share this really easy Favicon Generator tool from a site that I use frequently, Dynamic Drive because it has really robust scripts.

Study Suggests Internet Explorer Users Are, Um, Kind Of Slow

“The comparison clearly suggests that more people on the higher side of IQ scale have moved away from Internet Explorer in the last 5 years,” AptiQuant concludes.

Whew, I use Firefox

1. First off, check that the domain’s email is yours. Use a service like http://whois.domaintools.com/ to make sure that the email listed is yours. Or conversely, login to your current domain registrar and double check that the email associated with the domain is yours. This is important, because later in the process an approval email will be sent – and you need to be able to receive it.

2. In your current domain registrar, you need to do two things. First you need to UNLOCK the domain so that it can be transferred. The second things you need is the AUTHORIZATION CODE. Depending on the domain registrar, this may be tricky to locate – if you have trouble, call them.

3. Now login to your new domain registrar and submit a request to transfer the domain. It will ask you for the authorization code you got in the previous step. (At DreamHost, this is under Domains-> Reg. Transfer)

4. Next, your current domain registrar will send an email to you (that you verified you’d receive in step 1). You will probably need to click something in this email to accept the transfer away.

5. You may also get an email from your new domain registrar asking for approval.

6. Wait. Sometimes it takes two weeks for this process to happen. I often ask the new registrar about the transfer status, because sometimes they fail for different reasons and you need to do things over again. But eventually, if all goes well, the new domain will show up in your new domain registrar’s account.

1. Download and Install Text Wrangler: http://www.barebones.com/products/textwrangler/download.html and install it. After you’ve dragged it to your Applications folder, you’ll need to click on it to launch it and register it.

2. Open DreamWeaver, Click Preferences

3. Find File Compare in the list, click Browse, go to usr/bin and pick twdiff

4. Now you’re ready to compare files! Pick the first file, use the command key to pick the second file, then right click and select “Compare Local Files“.

5. Wow, that’s nice!

From the article:

“Though the competition is extremely close…Firefox 4 is strongly favored by HTML5 processing, boot time, and memory usage,” Rosenblatt concluded. “Overall, I’d judge from these results that Firefox 4 is the winner this time around.”

“In terms of safety, Chrome and Firefox seem to be the browsers of choice. The two were both unchallenged at this year’s PWN2OWN hacking competition, according to ComputerWorld.”

Go Firefox!

If you have a PC (not a Mac):

1. Press the print screen key (PrtScn). This takes a screenshot and saves it.

2. Open a program that uses images (Word, Powerpoint)

3. Edit and Paste. This pastes the saved screenshot.

4. Save the document and email it.

If you have a Mac (not a PC):

1. Open your “Grab” application.

2. Select “Capture” and the method you’d like to use.

3. Save the image to your desktop (it will be a .tiff) and email it.

I often have people contact me who are in various stages of breaking up with their current web designers. Sometimes the termination is friendly, sometimes it’s not. Here’s what you should know BEFORE you attempt to fire, or otherwise end your working relationship with your web designer.

1. Domain Name Ownership – Make sure that you own your domain name, and the domain name registration is not in the name of the web designer.  You need to make very, very, very sure that you, and no one else, legally owns your domain name. Here’s article you can use to find out who owns your domain name. You’ll want to be 110% sure that the domain name is owned by you, and that your name is listed in the public records. Some domain registrars will hide the names, and display a proxy – but you should contact the domain registrar and make sure that you are the owner of record. If you are not the owner, you should ask your web developer to transfer the ownership to you. If they refuse to transfer it, you might want to hire an attorney.

2. Hosting Plan Ownership – You can use the same method listed above to see who your current hosting company is. It will generally be listed in the DNS (Domain Name Server) area of the WHOIS record. If your web designer is doing your hosting, then you might want to consider moving to a neutral company (like DreamHost). Unless your web developer has sent you recent copies of all your website files, they may only exist on your hosting company’s server and your developer’s computer. This means that if you make your web developer mad enough, they can simply delete them from the server and your website is GONE. Sound unbelievable? It’s actually happened to a client of mine.

Why are these two things important?

If you don’t own your domain name, it means whoever owns it can sell it to another person – even a competitor, at will. There’s no logical or ethical reason why a web developer needs to own another person’s domain name – would you let a graphic designer trademark YOUR logo? Of course not. So make sure you are the domain name owner – and if not, make this your #1 priority.

If you don’t have direct control of your website hosting server, your website files could be at risk if your relationship with your current developer goes bad. It just takes a few minutes to set up your own hosting account with a neutral company – so if you’re planning on leaving your web developer – get an account set up and get your website files moved. Most likely you will need help from your current developer to get this done, unless you have duplicate copies of your website files handy, or have FTP access to your website’s server.

Other Things To Consider

3. Stock Photography Licenses – if your developer has purchased stock photography on your behalf, get documentation to prove this so you can’t be held liable for copyright infringement.

4. Software Licenses – if your developer has purchased software on your behalf, get copies of that documentation so you can prove that you own all  the software used by your website.

5. Databases – If your website uses a database, transferring your website from one hosting server to another can be complicated. Be sure you understand the scope of your current website before attempting to relocate.

6. Server-Side Language – Know what languages are used on your website. For example, if your website is written in PHP, it might need to be hosted on a Linux or Unix server, and if your website is written in ASP, it might be need to be hosted on a Windows server. Know what server-side languages (and corresponding database languages) are used on your website because they may prohibit you from moving your website to certain servers.

7. Email - Generally speaking, email servers are with whoever is hosting your website, and whoever is hosting your website has the ability to read your website-based emails. If you change hosting companies, your email accounts will be lost, and you will need to set up new accounts on your new hosting company’s email system.

Breaking Up Is Hard To Do – But It Shouldn’t Be Dangerous

While deciding to end your relationship with your web developer may be difficult, it should not put your website in jeopardy – if, and only if – you’ve taken steps to make sure that your website registration and hosting are independent from your web developer. If domain registration and hosting are under your direct control, you simply need to change the passwords on any accounts (control panels and FTP) to make sure your developer doesn’t have access, and you’re ready to start a new relationship with someone else.

Prevention Is Worth A Pound of Cure

This means that if you haven’t yet hired a web developer and are in the interviewing process, you can ask them about domain registration and hosting. You can avoid folks who say they’ll do the domain registration on your behalf, as well as folks who insist on hosting the website themselves. There’s no reason why a developer would need to register your domain in their name. While it’s possible that your website is so special and complex it has to be hosted on a developer’s server – find out the details and ask lots of questions, especially if all you need is a simple small business website. Domain registration and website hosting are relatively inexpensive things ($10 a year and $10 a month, respectively) – yet depending on how they are structured, can make breaking up with your web developer a nightmare.

The article is called “Why running the White House Web site on Drupal is a political disaster waiting to happen.” It’s very well written and fairly entertaining – and it lists many of the issues that I have experienced with other complex content management tools like Joomla and Mambo. In fact, I’ve had such bad experiences with Joomla and Mambo, that I simply refuse to work with them, and now, after reading this article on Drupal, I’ll add that to my list of what content management systems to avoid.

The only content management tool that I do use, is called Web-Yep, and it’s a much simpler kind of content management application that keeps clients out of trouble and gives them just enough control over their content without the headaches. Sometimes, simpler is the way to go.

For the past month or so, I’ve been able to use live chat to communicate with the folks at DreamHost.com, my web hosting company. While their support ticket system has been excellent, they’ve now improved their support system by adding a live chat feature for some of their customers. I’ve used it several times, and didn’t want to write about it until they officially announced it – and today, they did!

If you’re a DreamHost customer, you can get access to this Live Chat, if you have PS (Private Server) or if you’ve signed up for Premium Support ($9.95 additional per month).

For me, it’s great, because I get to use Live Chat to ask questions and resolve issues on behalf of my website design clients. I still use the Support Ticket system frequently, but it’s nice to be able to use the Live Chat as well for those times when I need an answer quickly.

Here’s the announcement from DreamHost’s October Newsletter (note, their newsletters are written in a style that’s, well, quite funny and a bit sarcastic, so it’s not your typical newsletter, because they’re not a typical hosting company):

Live Chat Support!

Ah, that’s better! I finally feel comfortable and can just continue withthis newsletter, knowing that without even the least bit of effort each section will be clear, concise, and clever! They will practically write themselves from here on out. Soooooo good.

If only our tech support tickets wrote themselves! Like the time we tried that robot-sales-chat thing, oh yeah! That thing worked GREAT! Well, now we’re giving it another go around, except this time our chat responses write themselves _with the help of HUMANS_!

What I’m trying to say is, we’ve now got 24/7/365 Live Chat support available from our web panel (there’s a link at the top of each page near the “Help is on/off” button)!

With one small caveat… you need either a DreamHost PS or our Premium Support add-on! You can add a PS at any time from:

https://panel.dreamhost.com/?tree=vserver.provision

And you can add Premium Support ($9.95/mo) from:

https://panel.dreamhost.com/?tree=support.msg

(Just act as though you’re going to submit a ticket.. it’s there at the end.)

Sometimes too, generally when we’re super bored, we’ve been opening up the live chat to everybody. So if you happen to see the link at the top of our panel even when you’re not a PS user and haven’t signed up for Premium Support, PLEASE REMAIN CALM.

While most of my clients might never need to actually contact DreamHost, this Live Chat feature has been a fantastic tool for me, and is enabling me to do my job more effectively and efficiently. And perhaps best of all, the folks who are on the other end of Live Chat, are in California, and work directly for DreamHost, so I’m not chatting with folks in India or Russia, or some other country overseas. So when you are a DreamHost customer, you can rest assured that you’re helping the economy of the United States, while supporting a company that offsets it’s carbon emissions. What could be better?

This tidbit of information is so valuable, that I want to capture it here so that if the other person removes it, I’ll still have it. The article was found on the Cyberstarweb.com website, and is entitled: “How to position a page within an iframe using CSS“. Just a brilliant solution that uses an outerdiv (that controls the size of the iframe) and an inner div (that controls the positioning on the framed page):

#outerdiv
{
width:446px;
height:246px;
overflow:hidden;
position:relative;
}

#inneriframe
{
position:absolute;
top:-412px;
left:-318px;
width:1280px;
height:1200px;
}
<div id=’outerdiv’>
<iframe src=”http://www.websitethatisinsideframe.com/” id=’inneriframe’ scrolling=no></iframe>
</div>

I have an iPhone and I love it. But recently I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease which means I need to avoid any foods that have gluten (wheat, rye, barley). It’s tricky and very time consuming to navigate a grocery store now, with all of the hidden sources of gluten in processed foods. Did you know that “brown rice syrup” can contain wheat? But a company called MidLifeCrisisApps.com has come out with an iPhone app that makes my life much easier: Is That Gluten Free?

I’ve been using the “Is That Gluten Free?” iPhone app for a month now, and just upgraded to the latest version of 1.1.1. The developers are quick to answer emails with suggestions for adding new items.

Not only does it help you when you’re shopping in a grocery store, it can also help you avoid trouble when eating over at a friend’s house. Just this weekend, we were getting ready to eat dinner and the hostess asked us about some Parmesan cheese in a can. I looked at the ingredients on the can, but didn’t recognize some of the chemical names – so I just whipped out my iPhone and opened the “Is That Gluten Free?” app, and looked up the ingredients. They were fine, and the hostess was happy and the meal was stress free.

So today, I just wanted to say thanks to the folks at MidLife Crisis Apps for making this great iPhone gluten-free app that is making my life a lot easier and giving me yet another reason to love my iPhone.

The vast majority picked the contact form: 76% of potential customers contacted me via my contact form, while 24% contacted me via email. This data was collected over the month of July of 2009 and covers a total of 37 inquiries. It does not include folks who contacted me by phone, but typically this is less than 1 per week. This would indicate that potential customers are three times more likely to use my embedded contact form than they are to click on my email address. To see what my contact form looks like, click here.

Let’s example possible reasons why this might be happening.

Reasons why people might like contact forms better than email

1. Less Thinking Required

When you fill out my contact form, you fill in fields that I’ve set up for you to fill in. You fill in your name, your email, your phone, your contact preference, and your question/comments. Very little thinking is required. But when you send me an email, you have to create a subject, an introduction, a closing, and remember to add whatever contact information you want to put down. Whenever you make folks think, you make them work harder than they should have to, and it decreases the usability of your website.

2. Don’t Have To Leave The Page and Open Another Application

When you use my online contact form and hit “submit”, you’re done. You stay on my website and get a nice friendly thank you message.  But if you send me an email, you first have to actually have an email application installed and configured. If this is done, then it will open automatically when you click on my email address. However, if this isn’t set up, then you need to carefully copy and paste my email address from my website into your mail application. Too much work!

3. Faster

As long as I haven’t required folks to fill out a lengthy form, it’s much faster for them to fill in fields and hit submit. Contact forms should be kept as short as possible for ease of use.

4. More Private

Let’s say you’re at work, and you’re looking for a marriage therapist. If you find a therapist that has an online contact form, you just fill it out and click submit. No need to make a phone call that someone can overhear. No need to use a work email application. Just fill it out and submit. Nice and private.

Reasons why I prefer contact forms versus email

1. Spam prevention: My contact form has math captcha built in – meaning that I get zero automated spam via my contact form. Not so with my email address.

2. Field Validation: I require certain information to be sent – email addresses and phone numbers are required – so that I can actually contact people back. Not so with some of the emails I get.

3. IP Address: When folks fill out my contact form, I capture their IP addresses. This way I can find out what city they are in, and actually match their visit to my website traffic tracking system, and see where they went on my website before I contact them back. Knowing what they’ve already viewed on my website makes our conversation more efficient.

4. I get to say “Thanks” right away. When folks hit “submit” on my contact form, they are automatically redirected to a page were I say “thanks for contacting me” and offer them links to some helpful blog articles. If they send me email, they get nothing until I respond to their email.

5. I get an email either way – it’s no more work for me when folks use my online contact form versus my email – both methods result in me getting an email to the identical address.

So for all these reasons, I always put contact forms on the websites I develop, in addition to providing email addresses and phone numbers. For my business, this has proven to be the way prospective clients prefer to make their initial contact. It’s possible that your business may be different, but unless you put all three (contact form, email, phone) on your website, you may be missing out on giving prospective clients a way to contact you that’s easiest for them.

And this is why you have a website, right? You want more clients? So why not make it as easy as possible for them to contact you! Say “yes” to online contact forms!

The name of this article is “On Horizontal CSS Centering using Absolute Positioning or how Relative Positioning can rock your css.”

In this case, I had a client’s website where they wanted these overlapping regions of content, so I had to use DIV’s to make this happen. I used the “z-index”, which worked just like it was supposed to, even in Internet Explorer.

But if you use this method, you run into an issue if you use “relative” positioning. You have to use negative “top” numbers to push up the overlapping divs, which naturally fall to the bottom. This leaves these big regions of emptiness at the bottom of the page, which looked terrible. So I changed to “absolute” positioning and was able to use normal, positive “top” values.

My next problem, is that my client wanted her website centered. But using “absolute” fixes things on the page, so that when you stretch your window wider, everything stays put. I needed it to move and recenter.

So this is where this lovely blog article written by “Candy by James” comes to my rescue. I’ll reprint the part that was most useful to me:

.wrapper {
position:relative;
margin:0 auto;
text-align:left;
width:whatever;
}

For good measure, you’ll need to apply the IE fix:
body { text-align:center; }

Then he uses this for the content:

.content {
position: absolute;
left: whatever;
top: whatever;

width: whatever;
}

Change the body tag, create wrapper, and then content inside it, and it will magically auto-center while letting you use absolute divs inside. I’ve tested this on PC (Firefox, IE7) and Mac (Safari, Firefox) and it works like a charm. Thank you James!

My question to Jefferson was regarding when and why a small business owner might want to trademark their domain name. Here was his answer:

It really depends on the domain name.  What you really want are domain names that match your trademarks.

Usually, if you have a trademark (Alderbaran Web Design), you want to also own the domain name the matches it (AlderbaranWebDesign.com).  This is a good thing when selling your business or if you are just creating a consistent brand message.  It also allows you to prevent Cybersquatting and other ills of the digital world.

I recommend to people that they make sure they can get a matching domain name for their product, service or business name BEFORE they decide on what to call themselves (or their products or services.)

If you have a trademark registration, then you can prevent anyone from offering competing goods or services thru a website with a similar name.  So, if you obtain a trademark registration for “Green Gopher” for a sustainability search engine and someone else pops up offering a search engine at www.1greengopher.com, you can use a quick (1-3 month) administrative process through the World Intellectual Property Organization to force the domain name to be transferred to you.  Or you can sue them in Federal court (much more costly and time consuming.)

I very much appreciate Jefferson letting me post his response on my blog. If you’re in need of a trademark attorney in Seattle, give Jefferson Coulter a call. He’s done work for me, and my partner’s business, and his work is excellent. Thanks Jefferson for helping to answer this prospective client’s question!