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My Favorite WebComs, Cartoons and Riddles

No, I'm not that modest to forget myself here. This is my Squidoo Site... and the title says exactly what you get.

Woody Marx

My favorite WebComedian, publishing on the HubPages. He has a satirical and dry kind of humor, presenting himself on his Profile Page as "presently writing an autobiography about someone else". Some of his best "Hubs" (as they call the articles and stories on the HubPages) you could describe as being a "mockumentary", inspired by ghost and mystery stories, Victorian literature, mythology (both the "classic" and the "modern" one that is playing in the Urban Legend League, featuring ufo's and aliens). Some of my favorite pieces: "Letters To Santa", "Fairies As Pets", "How To Be a Conspiracy Theorist", "What to Do If Aliens Crash in Your Backyard", "The Future of Mankind"... 

Two Hot Girls in the Shower

Okay, maybe they are not that hot... But really, I think they are girls... And they are definitely in the shower, discussing trendy girly topics and answering all your burning questions! For instance, should you go all the way on Prom Night? YouTube StandUp Comedy about a boyfriend's sexual appetites that may not meet a mother's approval or some aspects of sudoku. If you want to ask these girls a question of your own, go ahead. They have email and you win a toaster if they don't answer!

The Dead Guy Interviews

Writer and performer Michael Stusser always wanted to ask Van Gogh what that was all about with his ear, and Beethoven what he thought about this whole American Idol business. Michael not only got his interviews in a book ("The Dead Guy Interviews: Conversations with 45 of the Most Accomplished, Notorious, and Deceased Personalities in History") but he also "audio dramatized" them on his MySpace page and produced some YouTube Vids, starring Sigmund Freud or Genghis Khan. (No StandUps here, but SitDowns!)

The International Organization for Investigative Cryptomystology

Your host Simon Boyd investigates mysteries and curiosities that have kept mankind spellbound and enchanted for centuries... For instance, how would Little Red Riding Hood look in bikini, now she has grown up? have looked if she had grown up? Simon has also some revelations for you about a group of people calling themselves "The Illuminati Society", that is found all over the world and goes for a New World Order. Great YouTube StandUp Comedy.

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Hunting Unicorns

Mystee is a renowned psychic, with credentials in Transgender Manifestation, Orbs of Love, Channeling Ghostly Activity into Financial Success, etcetera. She believes that you have to show some love to the spirits to find them (and making fine photographs of them). On her MySpace Blog she also organizes Mass Unicorn Hunts on the Gettysburg Battlefield. That can be dangerous though, because the Irish Brigade once fought there and there might be Leprechauns present. If you want to participate in a Mass Unicorn Hunt, you must also sign a list of safety rules, which include not go playing leapfrog with unicorns.

The Great Spam Recycler

I just love Spam! One of the great things that you can do with it, is recycle it into really dumb cartoons about the products that will help you regain control of your virility and length, male enhancement recommended by true herbal love doctors, outwitting Mother Nature with the new Karma (sic) Sutra Pills ("No One Will Laugh With This Giant Anymore!") etcetera. Yep, it's all about sex here, with these Great Pills of Fire. And of course, also about Britney Spears and that Hilton in Paris.

Alright, want to make your web pages look better? Well, first of all, I recommend that you have a good program for making web pages, such as Adobe Dreamweaver, and have a fairly decent knowledge of HTML, the language in which we construct web pages, and be able to write some CSS (cascading stylesheets) and JavaScript. However, we will not be dealing with that at the moment, but instead focusing on the conceptual part of web design.

Good Planning is Essential

When you are planning on making a web page, the first thing you should do is visualize. What elements will your page have? Think of a layout, and make sketches of your ideas while they are still fresh. Never erase, for ideas that you may not think are good right now may be invaluable when coming up with new designs later. Once you have found a design that you like, you can start manifesting it in the form of actual pages. Once you have done that, you can check it with the following guidelines:

Level of Organization

Basically this is organizing things based on their importance. More important things should be larger, and less important things should be smaller. Simple, no? But it is amazing how many people fail to understand even this simple concept. You should also place more important things farther up top. So bigger and further up top = more important, and smaller and further down = less important.

Cuttoff Point

You should also take into account that most people do not want to scroll down in order to see vital information. If it is important, then it should be further up. Placing content below the cutoff point is a surefire way to not get it read by anybody. Take Google for example. Its homepage is very sparse, yet is an excellent example of good web design practice. Only the essentials are on the homepage, and even having such a sparse page, Google has tons of content, tucked away into the corners. One thing that can help a lot is having a drop-down horizontal menu, with folders. This can help you cram as much stuff as possible onto the page, while still having it look neat, organized, and easy to navigate.

Kill the clutter

As much as you may think it looks cool, having a bunch of flashy images on your home page is not the best way to go about designing a page. It simply adds to the noise. Noise is when people's attention is diverted to multiple places at once. Things that add to noise are large blocks of text, multiple large images scattered across the page, and forms. For the home page, you should have preferably only a few focal points, else the reader will be distracted.

Visual Appeal

Yes, it is also quite necessary that you have a good looking template to start with, including a good banner/logo at the top, a a background that isn't a color that obstructs readability and visibility. If you are using a tab menu system, the user should be able to cleanly differentiate which page they are on. You should keep the pages as clean cut as possible, while, making it also look professional.

You should avoid harsh contrasting colours, such as yellow on black, or even white on black obstructs visibility. Clean cut pages are mostly white, and you can add some light tints as well.

Your banner should flow, and it should complement the rest of your page as well. A smooth flow is the most key element to looking professional.

Don't make me think

Your pages should require as little thought as possible to navigate. Users like to have the work already done out for them. You should not complicate things needlessly, and making up your own terms for common phrases, eg. using Submit Query instead of Search, is just another mistake that many users tend to make.

Usability

Last but not least, your design must also be practical. Pages should not take more than 3-5 seconds to load under a broadband connection, and less is preferable. Placing 3rd party javascript scripts at the bottom of your code can boost your load time significantly, and so can cutting back on large images and embedded videos that must preload. The important functions of your product or whatever it is you are making your website for must be in plain sight, and nothing should be hard to find.

Good luck, and I hope I helped!

Coming soon: Web Design 201- Stylesheets

1. Zero Punctuation

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Zero Punctuation is a hilarious series of game reviews. Each week Yahtzee brings a new review to the Escapist website. The show reviews newer titles such as GTA 4, Metal Gear Solid 4, Army of 2, etc. He usually talks about the games flaws. His reviews don’t have to be viewed to judge whether you buy a game or not, but rather to enjoy his rant and laugh at his jokes. Although that isn’t to say that his reviews can’t be taken seriously. Most of the points he makes about a game are completely valid.. The layout of the review is sort of like slides on a slide show with some animation. He does not use video footage and very rarely shows himself. His characters are cartoon, often without color. This allows for a very funny visual along with what he actually says.

To view Zero Punctuation go to

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation

2. The Angry Video Game Nerd

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The Angry Video Game Nerd is another game reviewer who instead of reviewing new games reviews older games. What he decides to review is often based on what is in the news, but sometimes they are completely random. For example, the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight, just came out. So that week, he released a video of him reviewing some old Batman games. He reviews games for systems like the NES, SNES, Atari 2600, Sega Genesis, and many other old gaming consoles. He only reviews game that are extremely bad. Each review is filled with hilarious dialogue along with in game footage. Along with the in game footage, there are scenes of James Rolfe, The Angry Video Game Nerd, playing, and talking about how horrible the game it. In many of the episodes he will have a guest appearance. An example of this would be in the episode Bugs Birthday Blowout. In this episode he has Bugs Bunny appear.

To watch The Angry Video Game Nerd go to

http://cinemassacre.com/AVGN/Nes_Nerd.html

3. Ask A Ninja

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Ask A Ninja is a web series where viewers ask a ninja a question. The show is very funny. It features some silly and some serious questions. Regardless, the ninja somehow seems to put a twist on their questions. The format of the show is basically just the ninja sitting in a chair talking. One bit that adds to the comedy is the movement of his hands. His body language adds to the show.

To see episodes of Ask A Ninja go to

http://www.askaninja.com/

4. Unforgotten Realms

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Unforgotten Realms is a web series about two guys and their characters in the game Unforgotten
Realms. The whole show is a spoof of MMORPGS (massive multiplayer online role playing games) and RPGS like Dungeons & Dragons. The main characters are the game characters of the two guys playing the game, if that makes sense at all! Their characters are Sir Schmoopy and
Eluamous Nailo. In the first season of Unforgotten Realms these characters are on a quest to save Sir Schmoopy’s dying grandmother. The characters travel through the land of Unforgotten Realms and get in to trouble along the way. I would start watching Unforgotten Realms if I were you! It is hysterical.

To see episodes of Unforgotten Realms you can either go to their website, or the Escapist’s website.

http://www.urealms.com/

or

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/unforgotten-realms

5. ScrewAttack                        

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Finally, I am including ScrewAttack. ScrewAttack isn’t just one web series. It is a whole website of web series. The people who run this website pumps our a video or two per day! The have series like Hard News, Out of the Box, Jose’s Puntos, Video Game Vault, The Scoop, The Armory, and lots more! This is a site that reviews games, talks about games, makes spoofs on game commercials, and anything else having to do with gaming. It is extremely funny and the best part is that the site is a community. You will see the same people in different shows and you can see their reactions to games, and their interactions with each other. Sometimes they show you just what its like to be at the ScrewAttack headquarters. The site is filled with fun and you should check it out right now!

To see everything ScrewAttack has go to this link!

www.screwattack.com

Final Words

This concludes my list of the top 5 web series. I hope you check them all out. They are fun and exciting. If you have any down time or if you are bored, these sites will give you countless hours of fun. So get out there and start watching!

1) High Quality Content

This is a must when getting people engaged in your creations. You can't just expect people to spend their time if it doesn't benefit them in some way, or if it's hard to use. If you make things more convenient for people, you'll exponentially increase the amount of exposure that you get. For example, in a Starbucks business model experiment, placing a storefront just 5 steps closer almost doubled the amount of customers the shop got.

2) Target Audience

Who would be interested in what you're publishing? If you've figured that out, (and it is actually entertaining) then it's simply a matter of getting your content out there. If you are able to show your content to your target audience, then you should be fairly successful. You can also target multiple audiences to increase your audience base. For example, (and again I draw upon the business model of Starbucks) Starbucks placed two stores across the street from each other, each with different decor, and surprisingly, the two stores did not cannibalize each others' sales. One attracted the business, corporate crowd, while the other attracted young people, all with a simple change to the facade put up.

3) Exposure

How easily available is your content? One of the most effective (and free) ways to getting your content viewed is Youtube. It is a portal site with millions of viewers each day, and if you can put interesting videos that are relevant to whatever you want to divert them to next, you can generally coax viewers to view your content. However, you must remember that if your content does not interest them in the first place, you will not be able to get them to view it.

Registering your content on search engines, and Digg (http://www.digg.com) are also ways to increase your exposure.

If you follow these tips, you should be able to increase the amount of traffic going to your content, but you must keep in mind that your content must suit your audience. If you are able to master that, then the rest will come easily.

The decision by Google headquarters to allow their passionate fans to twist and tweak the world-famous company logo was the most brilliant marketing decisions whether by accident or by plan. Google receives royalty-free, no cost advertising and marketing from their legends of loyal fans. This increases the chances that a Google doodle might become a viral marketing superstar, thus ever-increasing the visibility of the Google brand on the Internet and across the planet.

Google Bot

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Google Bot is a most creative depiction of the power of Google and the coolness of its users. Graphic designer Tyler Jordan created the Google Bot logo to enter into the Google Blogoscoped wanted his readers to attempt to redesign the company's iconic Google logo and Tyler stepped up and served up brilliantly.

Google Memorial Logo

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In honor of America's brave men and women that have and are serving to preserve and fight for freedom and an artist who goes by screen name “whatthecrap?” created this  simple but beautiful illustration and added to the ever growing logo Google-ness.

Andy Warhol Google Logo

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It is an amazing honor to have your image immortalized in the art Nuevo style or whatever the art style of Andy Warhol. Movie stars and famous leaders have had their images cast in paint and now, Google is among the most successful individuals in the world, even though Google is not a person, but a collaboration among millions of users around the world.

Google in Braille

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Google made a bold and daring statement (that screams no discrimination) when the company released “Google in Braille” honoring the inventor of Braille “Louis Braille” on his birthday.

Abstract Google

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Some times a word cannot do what a visual abstract logo can. The logo in both simple and complex together, thus making it oddly desirable and most memorable.

Google Notes

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This Google logo design is the product of children's' rich imagination and the result is a most entertaining logo transformation. Music plays an important role in billions of individuals' lives, just as Google play an important role to serve search results to millions of users on the Internet.

Google Hot Rod

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Google customized to serve up the fastest and most powerful search results on the worldwide web.

Google Power

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Worldly knowledge rest in the user's hands and Google is the gateway to discovering new things - quicker, faster and more abundantly.

Google Product Placement Logo

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The majority of times product placement is shameless marketing in otherwise pure zones on the Internet or other multimedia platforms, but in this case it works and says a lot.

Google DNA

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Google has earned the respect of millions of loyal users around the world and the best description that Google can be summed up with is “Google is a platform of millions of personalities and the DNA links us all together”.

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My grandmother didn't know diddly about computers but she used to wax lyrical about all the changes that she had seen in her life and wonder out loud - to anyone who would listen including her cats - whether or not life had been better without those transformations.  She hadn't seen a car or a plane until she was ten but it wasn't long after that she heard news about related fatalities.  So much for them being safe!  It was a great mistake, too, to start her on the subject of nuclear weapons - we just didn't go there unless we had an afternoon to spare.  It was a really good job that she died before she woke up, like Keanu Reeves' character Neo in The Matrix, in an enclosed pod encased in vile pink stuff with a USB port stuck in the back of her head.  That would have been way too much for her to take - let alone the rest of the family.  Having said that, the thought of her doing slow-motion kung-fu puts a wry smile on my face.

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Digression aside, I used to wonder whether or not I would be able to measure my life against such changes - ones which had so many global repercussions.  Surely the internet's next big phase will be something I can look back at but will I understand it then let alone now?  When I reach her age will I be able, in the supermarket, to turn with childish glee and announce "I'm ninety three you know!" (one of her many habits in that sometimes inevitable journey of the mind back towards infancy) and then pinpoint in an obviously well-rehearsed fashion the great changes I have seen?  Or even better, will I be able to word process it in to a poem (of sorts), upload it and share on a zillion social networking sites instantly, while drawing attention to my great feat of old age by zapping the store with my PDA to let everyone know it?

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Possibly, I can do some of that now and to list the changes I have witnessed in my lifetime would be noises off, as it were.  One revolution (it means change, after all!) I believe I will be able to comment upon was when the Internet became The Cloud.  The internet has been open to codgers for years, (and the Rise of The Silver Surfer isn't just about the sheer number of greys using the net - ahem!). But new stuff just keeps happening!  What exactly is The Cloud?  Find out here without receiving a withering look from a teen!

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I am preaching to the converted here, at least in terms of internet usage.  You are here already.  You expect it to be remote occasionally (perhaps not quite as remote as indicated in the picture above!), but some of the new terms have passed you by.  However, simply by reading this now, you must have already come a certain amount of the way to being in The Cloud.  You read on-line (perhaps the last time you felt the touch of a paperback was a while ago!) and you may even shop or bank online too.  As for social networking, let me guess!  Facebook? Bebo? MySpace? Friends Reunited?  You may use wiki spaces professionally as well as socially.  You may even write online - like myself - and be part of a growing an interactive community of people who think collectively and share resources on the internet.

So far, so Web 2.0.  What comes next, what is pretty much here already is, so we are told, The (mysterious to many) Cloud.  This is the envisioned era when all of your personal data storage needs - and any computer-based activities are carried out online.  In fact, hold it right there - takes those words ‘computer based' out of the sentence and you are even closer to what The Cloud may mean.  OK, breathing, sleeping, eating and going to see a man about a dog many never be online activities (until we become Ghosts in the Machine for real?) but what else are we talking about?  Pretty much everything, to be sure!

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If you are younger than twenty you may well have stopped reading this now, because you already know what is coming. That's because you are already doing most of it.  As you get older and have your own children they will take what you have learned and add upon it.  However, this article isn't really for you members of Generation C - you are living it already.  If, though, you want it defined or need something easy to digest, then maybe read on!

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Perhaps you should make a little tick list to begin with.  How many of the following do you already do online?  Do you work, spend and invest on line?  Do you gamble, meet new friends and listen to music online?  Do you watch the TV, movies and read newspapers and books online?  Do you take pictures, upload them and view them online?  Well, perhaps you already have your head in The Cloud as these are exactly the sort of experiences that it will encompass.  You may already be living in the clouds!

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Oh - and do not expect to be alone.  Everyone will be on this particular bandwagon, headed up by some of the world's biggest (and scariest) organizations.  The hard-drive is dead and SSDs (not some awful sexually transmitted disease but Solid State Drives!) are on the march.  However, you may find that these become significantly smaller as companies such as Microsoft, Google and Apple come up with more and more new stuff!

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Apple had one of the first hiccups.  Their Macbook Air made its debut in January 2008 and was laughed at by many.  What?  A broadband enabled computer with only 2GB of memory designed so that storage was separated from the device itself?  For too many it was too early for this particular (if metaphorical) umbilical cord to be severed.  Not too many tears before bedtime for Apple, however.  The iPhone cut the cord and ate the placenta with a smile on its face.

In October 2008, Microsoft launched Azure, their first response to Cloud Computing, a ‘hit the ground running' (as ever!) platform which is in direct competition with Google.  This is an operating system (like the one you booted up a little while ago and which enabled you to access your Service Provider and read this) which will be only available online.  In other words, it will operate without a hard drive.  From it you will be able to access the latest versions of applications such as Word, Access, Excel and PowerPoint.  It has, however, a lot to do to catch up with its rivals, despite the resonance its software products have with end-users (rather than practitioners) the world over.

Google beat Microsoft by a month.  In September 2008 they launched Chrome.  It is a first for Google in more ways than one as it represents the company's first attempt at a Web Browser rather than a search engine.  Although those of you who blog know that Google has ‘leased' sites for years, you might now possibly say that it owns the walls as well as the furniture.  If Google were to be absolutely honest, they would probably admit that they want to render extinct that lumbersome, cumbersome old creature we know as Internet Explorer (and which many sane individuals, and some not so, have already deserted for the likes of the slick and sexy Firefox).

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Google is trying, with Chrome, to gently lead people away from the safe and solid ground of the desktop and in to The Cloud.  They have done this by making Chrome - essentially a browser - look as much like your bog standard desktop as possible.  The hope is that people who fear change (and this is change!) will be a little relieved that their operating environment looks somehow familiar and friendly.  "Oh, it looks kinda like my PC's desktop," is their desired response from new users.

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It is off to a great start, particularly among the young.  Countless people have already got themselves a Gmail account (almost in unconscious anticipation of what moves may lay ahead for them).  At the College where I teach (hey Lewisham!) the number of students with active Google Apps accounts has sky-rocketed this year.  Google Apps, incidentally, is the name of the online suite of (Microsoft-like) applications that Gmail users can access free of charge (so far), with enough storage space to upload the Encyclopedia Britannica.   Their argument is why should they risk putting all their data on to a flash drive and risk losing it (or it becoming corrupted by a virus or a cup of hot chocolate) when all they need is an internet access and a PC to get to their work.  They have a point.  Before you ask, the answer is no!  They seem blissfully unaware - or rather blithely disregarding - of the implications for the privacy of their data.

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One way or another, Microsoft has a lot of ground to make up to lure away users - or to simply stop the "critical mass" element from ensuring Google's dominance of this market.  Another runner in this particular race is Amazon, who have offered it own Cloud based service ‘Amazon S3' since 2006.

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Let's go back to the kids for a second.  The advantages, they say, are manifold.  Not only does it replace the need to look after yet another college item - their flash drive - but they can access their work, their email - their life - through any computer device that is handy.  PC may just mean Politically Correct in twenty years!  The other advantage is that quite often they run software at home that is different to that which is used at College.  This can, obviously, cause problems, and Cloud Computing waves it good-bye in an instant.

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Companies are beginning to get wise and latch on to the advantages that Cloud Computing presents too.  They are discovering that it can cost significantly less to subscribe to data storage and software online than do what they do currently - wait a little while until Microsoft irons out the bugs (hopefully!) and then invest in upgrades every few years.  It could also mean that the traditional IT team goes the way of the dinosaurs.  What will lurk in the basements of our offices if the servers aren't there anymore?

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What about the problems in this Brave New World of ours, up in The Cloud?  Well, they are already happening.  As any Gmail user will tell you, there have been some problems recently.  If you organize your life up in The Cloud and then the day turns out sunny, what happens if there isn't a ‘Cloud' in sight?  Systems go down, we all know that.  Plus, data gets lost, leaked or stolen.  Google have not suffered any data leaks yet - but there wasn't a car crash for a little while after the invention of the motor vehicle (though with metaphorical hindsight we could argue that its very invention was a car crash in slow motion). 

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There are arguments, of course, that online storage of our data is in fact safer than keeping it in our own possession (on our hard and flash drives) and what we are fearing is not so much how it is stored but its physical immediacy to us - as if that makes it any safer from things such as theft.  I for one will not be discarding my drives just yet!  As for many, a hybrid solution (in other words, a little of each!) is the best solution for me, myself and I just now.

Dumb Dinosaur

You really don't need to know the real ins and outs of why the dinosaurs became extinct after you have watched this animation!  Global warming?  No!  Great big meteor?  No!  Crass stupidity!  Oh yes!  If you are a little serious minded it may be an idea to have a few drinks before you watch this!

Everything You Know is Wrong

Everything in life is uncertain, or so this short animation would have you believe!  Set to a Weird Al Yankovic song, this will have your chuckle muscles well and truly organized.  If you believe that the mundane in life is somehow hiding a really bizarre world, this is one for you!

Samples! 

If you have ever had to give a sample, or are planning to do so in the near future, this short mat make you spare a thought for the canisters in which your various body fluids may have to go!  If you think your own life is not too grand at the moment then you can always rest assured that these guys are having an even less pleasant time of it!

Door Bell Mechanics

You press a doorbell and a simple electronic circuit makes the bell ring, right?  Well, not according to this short animation that goes behind the scenes and shows us what we might not suspect.  Technology is a truly amazing thing, really!  How we ever go to the moon is anyone's guess (though I would like to see the animation of that!).

Tiny Plaid Ninjas

This follows the adventures of a pair of, yes, you're right, a pair of Tiny Plaid Ninjas and so is not for the faint of heart!  Watch them battle their nemesis, the Argyll ninja (well, at least for a while!) and if you enjoy this then there are two more episodes of their adventures to watch.  Yippee!

The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny

Your favorite superhero has to appear in here somewhere - and if not then you should email the creator and complain about their exclusion!  Basically, this animation takes that wonderful teen-nerd fantasy scenario - if lots of our heroes had to go in to battle, who would come out on top?  The conclusion that this laugh of loud animation suggests may surprise you!

Glumpers!

A very unfit individual receives inspiration for an idea from an unlikely sport.  If you have ever felt that you were out of shape and a spell on a tread mill might do you some good, you may well get some inspiration from this wonderfully put together short.

The Singing Bird

Bird song is perhaps one of the beautiful things in the world.  Take a look at this short animation to really feel at one with nature - you will be in a state of bliss once you have heard the beautiful tones of this gorgeous bird.  Or you may well be heading for the bath room cabinets and reaching for a few head ache tablets!

Europe and Italy

Many people, especially our American friends, tend now to lump the whole of Europe together and see us as one seething mass of (fairly unclean) people who speak strange languages.  As this animation points out very funnily is that there is still one nation that remains singularly different from the rest of the Europe.  That, of course, is the irrepressible Italy.  How they ever had an empire, who can say, even if it was two thousand years ago!

Vegetarian Rhapsody

There are times when you just have to sit back and take something in - regardless of whether it makes any sense or not!  Here we have a strange take on Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody - by vegetables.  You may well think along the same lines as the young gentleman at the end of this animated short!

Writing posts, no matter how creative, may not be the magic bullet that will win the audience. Plug-in and widgets are crucial in attracting more traffic to your blog. Some of the most important plugins via wordpress that will help increase hits to your website include:

1. Related Post Plug-in

People have unique needs when it comes to web content material. A visitor searching for real estate would certainly want related information such as mortgage or homes for sale. This is where a related or similar post plug-in comes in handy.

It will assist in displaying related articles on the website. The plugin has special spiders that assist in bringing together web content based on characteristics such as similar titles or close meaning. This goes a long way in getting more hits for your website.

2. Casual Post Plug-in

This plugin is the direct opposite of the related post. Casual or Random plugin outlines articles that are different from the one that the user is searching. This assists users to explore other topics in the blog that may be of interest in future.

Blogs that are updated quite often usually contain huge volumes of data that may go unnoticed by a casual blogger. The random plugin assists in bringing to the fore other information that may be bypassed by the user.

3. Ajax Comment Posting

This plugin helps to make a blog more interactive and easy to use. The basic purpose of a blog is for users to post their views. If they cannot do this easily and conveniently then they will most probably run. The commenting plugin assists users to post their views without having to reload the current page. It also assists in ensuring that the postings are done in a correct manner.

An opportunity to post comments makes a website livelier and easier to connect with the reader. Easy posting of views in a website is a sure way of retaining users who use a website.

4. The Smart Archives Plug-in

This plugin assists in putting content in the archives in a fashionable and easy to read manner. Material in the archives is crucial; the smart archive plugin assists in creating links to this material.

This makes it easier for users to refer to any material they may need for their immediate use. This plugin is also easy to upgrade to the current wordpress without risk of loss of any information.

5. Post Match Search Query Plug-in

Once in a while users are directed to a blog courtesy of search engines like Yahoo, MSN or Google. The search query plugin assists users to locate the precise information they are looking for.

In a blog, related content is always as good as the searched word. That is why this plugin assists in presenting related content which could ultimately be very useful to the user.

The plug-ins above are few but they go along way in increasing traffic to your blog. Using them is sure bet of increasing hits to your blog.

We have been on the web for 10 years or so and just got on the mobile web. I am not fortunate enough to have internet access on my phone, I am in the dark ages of texting and sending photos, but so many people have these cute little internet phones, like the G3 ® network and the Iphone®. There are other phones out there, but frankly I am not that familiar with them. Ask yourself the following questions:

How do I get a /mobi? This is really not that hard. I went to godaddy.com but you could use any old place to purchase your /mobi url. I picked up anaturalhome.mobi because is matched our web site url.

How do I host my Mobi? For those of you who are web savvy enough (I am barely there, so I had to do this step by step), when you sign up for your .mobi you can use your current hosting options (if this is an option) and add on the domain under a sub folder. You can also host it at the place you are purchasing your .mobi name; I know godaddy.com has a cheap rate. You will of course have to wait for the URL to propagate so that it will actually show up in your web hosting area.

How do I build a .mobi?

I did a little bit of surfing and found a few suggestions. I fell in love with this web site: mobisitegalore.com . Loved it! You could build your own site in about 20 minutes and then download it, or self publish right from the site. I choose to download it and then FTP it up into the sub folder off the main web site.

The other options is straight html/rthml/or php, or using a wysiwyg program like dreamweaver®, or front page® and tweak a site the way you want to. If you are looking for some super cute templates that are not expensive, check out boxedart.com.

What is the purpose of the mobi? Aside from being cute, a mobi a great way to get out there is a fairly new frontier. The mobi web is growing by leaps and bounds and having a tiny mobi allows for people to see what you have to offer cheaply and effectively. They say if you can keep your whole site under $.25 to view then you are going great and you have a better option of getting out there.

How do I let people know about my Mobi?

You can let others know by posting it on your main page. You can get your mobi tweaked with SEO, and you can even submit it to the tiny web.

Honestly, it is not rocket science. Frankly if I can build and create my own .mobi in a few hours, anyone who has any computer knowledge can do it.

Get out there and brave the new frontier, go .mobi baby!