Meredith's Non-Blog

Stuff from my brain, exposed for your perusal.

3 goals for 2010

I have more than three goals, but specifically, I'm going to crush it in the following areas in 2010:

1. I'm going to learn Expression Engine, and use it. I installed it today locally, and played around a little bit. It seems to be way (like, WAY) more robust than wordpress on just a basic install. I'm looking to save time in the development of clients sites so that I can focus more on design and UX, and less on the technical side. 

2. I'm going to run my ass off. Literally. 30 minutes a day on the treadmill until my ass is gone. Maybe not everyday. We'll see.

3. I'm going to acquire a taste for wine. It is pretty pathetic that I live in the heart of wine country and don't like wine. 

 

Some Highlights from #SM2day

"Before you jump into social media, fix your website first"

- Eric Majchrzak @freedMaxickCPAs of Freed Maxick CPA

 

"If you're thinking about social media, you're already way behind"

"Its the wild west all over again. The rules are there are no rules"

"Its about hearts and minds versus eyeballs and ears"

"Nobody died. That's the rule I try to use" (regarding responding to email)

- Jeffery Hayzlett @jeffreyhayzlett Chief Marketing Officer at Kodak

 

Add more quotes if you will!

 

[edit] Jeffrey Hayzlett is a tricky name to spell ;) Ok maybe it's just me.

My Thoughts

Media_httpwwwthemelabcomwpcontentthemesthemelabnewerimageslogopng_foiqeceuuulaarj
via themelab.com

So I read through all gazillion comments on ThemeLab's interview with the owner of Premium Mod.

As someone who has contemplated developing and releasing wp themes (for a cost or free), I have to say that this is a huge deterrent. Why would I put all my time and effort and love into something that can essentially be stolen. I know it's all cool under the GPL, but to me, I would feel robbed.

On the flip side -

We can talk about how GPL is ideal for the good of the wordpress community. So if a potential WP "themer" is thinking, "no way, not worth it" - it's not helping the community! I bet $100 that Woo folks and other "Premium" themers are right now contemplating the next step or move for their business since their model is now at risk. I don't think it will crumble in the near future, but it is pure logic. Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free.

Speaking of the future, perhaps rather than worrying about improving the WP community, we should look at the overall design/development/web community. How do Premium Themes (GPL, free or paid) contribute to the community as a whole? Wordpress is not the end all, be all of the web. It's an awesome tool. I use it every day and develop all my clients sites with it. But it would be stupid to think that the web world stops at wordpress.

Also -

If your income and livelihood will be greatly affected (diminished) by the anonymous jerk who is behind Premium Mod, then you're not doing business right to begin with. See this as a path to grow, to develop, to learn, and to contribute to the web as a whole. You cannot base your entire business on developing premium wordpress themes. I am sorry, but it makes no sense. You go with the flow, you go where the web takes you.

My two cents, from my perspective, off the top of my head.

Biz Card Exchange

<p>Biz Card Exchange from meredith marsh on Vimeo.</p>

I did it. I video blogged. I'm a dork. The color is all weird (why?) and the sound is too low (I need to speak up) (settle down, this is only my first time)

But, seriously, the business card exchange coordinated by @nikibrown was really great. It was fun. The video is a review and commentary on the cards. 

It took 17 takes before I started to talk and act like my actual self, and not some video-blog-version of myself.

by the way, @leminxxx - perfectly legit. 

I made a list on twitter of all (but one, whom I could not find on twitter) the folks whose cards I mentioned. http://twitter.com/meredithmarsh/biz-card-exchange-1

Gary Veynerchuk on Finger Lakes Wine

So today I wasted some time when Gary Veynerchuk went live on Ustream.

It was basically a bunch of people in an online chat typing to Gary and he was responding. It really seemed like a big waste of time, but for fun, I typed:

"Hey Gary how do you feel about Finger Lakes wine? Have you been to the Finger Lakes?"

His response, outloud:

"I love them, Meredith, and I think they're massively underrated and I'm gonna do big things"

What big things can we expect out of Gary V regarding Finger Lakes wine, I wonder? My guess is anything that Gary has is hands on will be great.

Also, I don't even drink wine. I just don't have the taste for it. Only reason I care is because Gary V is a big deal, and Finger Lakes wine is a big deal, and I live here. So its interesting!

// Meredith

Domains, Hosting, DNS, Email... What do YOU do?

For those of us who are freelance web designers either full time or on
the side, we must deal with the technical part of websites at some
point or another. I am curious how you deal with the technical issues
for your clients. Maybe you could answer some of these questions, or
just reply with your 'method' and how it works for you. I'm just
trying to gain some insight here.

 Do you host (re-sell?) your client's websites? Do you register your
clients domain names with your GoDaddy (or other) account? Do you set
up a GoDaddy (or other) account for them? Do you enter their payment
details, or yours then bill them?

 Do you change the name servers (or have them do it) so that you have
access to the whole DNS stuff? Or do you keep the DNS with the
registrar (like GoDaddy) and just change the "a" and the "mx" records
(if need be, for google apps for example)?

 If none of these questions make sense, it's because I 1) don't know
enough about this stuff or 2) don't care enough about this stuff or 3)
both 1 and 2.

 Please comment. I would much appreciate your input.