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Crossbrowser and device compatibility made easy

This great tool checks what device or browser is viewing your site and will access styles based on that. Ties right in with Media Queries for Responsive Design.

http://www.modernizr.com/

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eCommerce Solutions

The two best solutions I know of currently:

BigCommerce – proprietary, php-based, starts at $14.95 a month for 100 products – http://www.bigcommerce.com/plans.php

Magento – open-source, starts at $15 a month for 100 items – http://go.magento.com/plans/

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The New Timelines on Facebook

Some people have been asking me how to turn these on for Fan pages – here’s the link – http://www.facebook.com/about/pages

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Test Your Site’s Responsive Design On Mobile Devices

http://mattkersley.com/responsive/

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Where is my site in Google Results?

Here’s a great tool that searches the first 10 pages live – http://whatpageofsearchamion.com

Also, of course, SEM Rush is a favorite tool of internet marketers – http://www.semrush.com/

And Google Analytics has just upgraded their reports to show the first position of a link to your site http://support.google.com/analytics/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1308626

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2012 Valentine

Happy Valentine’s Day!! What can I say about this year’s Valentine? Goats love paper. Or as my Uncle put it, “Eat your heart out.”

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Build-a-Book, Print on Demand, Custom Book Binding

Recently did a little research into custom book printing options:

http://www.lulu.com – about $24 for a 5×8 hardcover (40 pages)

http://createspace.com – about $3 for a 40 page 5 x 8 softcover with perfect binding – pretty designer friendly interface, not quite as easy to use as Blurb.

http://www.blurb.com – 40 page, 5 x 8 softcover $6.95, hardcover with dust jacket $21.95, hardcover with wrap print $22.95 – a VERY designer friendly interface.

http://www.gorhamprinting.com/2prices/hardcover.htm – minimum quantity 25

http://print.bookbaby.com/quoter/packagecomparison.aspx – minimum quantity 50

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eCard Systems – Adding eCards to Your Website

I’ve worked with three systems:

For a traditional, HTML site – I’ve had great luck with the Coppermine eCard System. Coppermine is free, open-source software that you can probably find in your hosting company’s automatic App installer (where you might find WordPress, Drupal, etc.).

Once installed, it’s easy to get set-up (just follow the Coppermine instructions) – it has a built in eCard system. And you can add CAPTCHA to the eCard form for unregistered guests by following the instructions in this post Coppermine eCard CAPTCHA.

For my purposes, I embedded a picture of the eCard in my main site, then linked directly to the Coppermine eCard form. The eCard appears embedded in the email that gets sent – which is an improvement over services where you have to copy and enter a code to “collect” your card.

For WordPress, I’ve had good luck with http://codecanyon.net/item/wordpress-ecards/1051966 – it’s a pay plugin and it’s not the most polished thing, but I think it works great for how fast and easy it is to set up.

And lastly, I’d like to warn against using Bravenet / Braveapps. My review is that their customer service / communication is TERRIBLE, plus their eCard software is lame, so it’s not worth the hassle. I tried to work with them recently and they wasted hours and hours of my time, and at one point completely deleted my client’s account with no warning or explanation at all.

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eCard Plugin for WordPress

Here’s a great and easy to use little plugin for adding eCard functionality to your WordPress site.

http://codecanyon.net/item/wordpress-ecards/1051966

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A great article about CSS Floats

http://css-tricks.com/all-about-floats/

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