CruBlogging » Misc

Why Internet Explorer is a Bad Choice

Jayson Whelpley — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 18:58:16 +0000

Last week I got an email from Brian asking me to write a post here about IE and why it’s no good. He’s right it’s no good. It’s so “no good” that I’m having a hard time not writing vulgar words about it. I have my self-control turned up to 11, so I think we’ll be okay.

For full disclosure, I should inform you that all I did to get info for this post is search for “why internet explorer sucks” on Google. I am going to pull extensively from a post at lockergnome.com because his post follows the same flow that mine was going to and that way I don’t have to write as much. I’d suggest you go and read that post, too.

Let’s start then.

Security

This is going to be the reason that convinces more of you than anything else. I will not be offended if you leave this post immediately after this section and download another browser right away.

Put simply: IE is not secure, and this is even more true as you look at older versions.

Pop-ups, viruses & the like will always have an easier time getting to your system in IE because IE is integrated into your system. The fact that Firefox, Chrome and the like aren’t seamless is a good thing. You always want to have something in between you and anything that might have a virus – the argument is exactly like a safe-sex talk, except less dire.

Lockergnome:

…most other browsers don’t make it so easy to install malicious software on your system without you knowing about it. IE makes it relatively trivial through two features called ActiveX and Active Scripting. These technologies were designed specifically for the purpose of giving Web sites more control over a user’s computer.

Web Design Standards

Most people don’t know this, but there are standards for web design and coding on the internet developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is an international community that develops standards to ensure the long-term growth of the Web.

These standards deal with how the different coding languages (HTML, CSS, XHTML, etc.) & image formats should displayed on a browser. This is why everything looks virtually the same in every browser. The reason that I say “virtually” is because Microsoft has, in the development of IE, essentially decided that they are too big and important to be bound by the rules that everyone else on the internet seeks to follow.

Lockergnome:

Ask yourself why a company would choose not to support standards that benefit everyone? The way I see it, it’s for precisely one of two reasons – either they are unable to, or they don’t want to. Given the fact that they are a multi-billion dollar company (one of the richest on the planet), I can’t help but lean toward the second option. Without going into too much detail… they have their own plans, and those plans involve implementing their own standard and forcing it upon the world. Call me a geek/hippie, but the idea of a multi-billion dollar corporation snubbing its nose at agreed-upon standards is nothing short of infuriating.

Others

There are other reasons, but they all boil down to customization. I like to browse the internet in a seamless fashion, and other browsers let me do that. I’d suggest reading a series of posts I wrote on CruTech.org a few years ago. They specifically talk about Firefox, but the argument and the options apply to Chrome and other browsers as well.

RE-Think: Campus Crusade Blogerence April 13th-15th

Jayson Whelpley — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 18:54:36 +0000

Join us for a 3 day conference via blogs! The hope is to engage in online dialog that will lead to changed lives–our own and lost students! This blogference will be like a conference, yet in the virtual world. There will be ‘Hosts,’ who will post on their blog something to stimulate discussion at the beginning of each day.

Throughout the day, hosts and participants will dialog over the initial post via comments left on the blog. At the end of each day, the host will look over the discussion, and decide which direction to carry the conversation for the next day. By the end of blogference, I’m hoping you have been challenged and been able to challenge the thoughts of each host.

If you have never blogged before, GREAT! This blogference is meant for you. You do NOT have to have a blog to be a part of the blogference.

How do you participate?

The links to the host blog will be posted here. Just click on one of the topics that interest you, read the post, and comment!

Each morning, the host will start the day with a post to move the conversation along. There will hopefully be plenty of information for you to share and comment on.

Cost?

FREE; when will you ever participate in a completely free Campus Crusade conference? If anything you should be a part of it just to say that.

Visit Brian’s announcement of it on his blog.

Join the Blogference Facebook Group!

Webinar Postponed!

Brian Barela — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:46:39 +0000

hey everyone the blogging webinar is postponed! sorry for that!

hopefully in the future we can get it going!

happy blogging!

How To Get Found Using Your Blog

Brian Barela — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 16:47:30 +0000

Is Your Business Getting Found?

View more documents from HubSpot Marketing.

Hubspot leads the field in Inbound Marketing. Here’s a recent presentation that will give you some insights as to how your blog can be found online.

RSS: What Do Those Letters Even Mean?

Brian Barela — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 02:53:13 +0000

RSS (most commonly translated as “Really Simple Syndication” but sometimes “Rich Site Summary”) is a family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works—such as blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video—in a standardized format.–Wikipedia

When someone mentions ‘your feed’ or ‘my feed’ this is what they are talking about. By making your feed easily accessible you enlarge the range of options by which people can consume your content.

I read some blogs only on my computer, I read MOST blogs on my iPhone using Byline, an RSS reader that syncs with Google Reader. That way I can highlight posts I like and easily revisit them when I’m using Gmail, or writing blog posts.

If you’re new to blogging here are some first steps to take:

Sign up for a Feedburner account; it provides for easily distribution and tracking of your subscribers (those who are receiving your feed)
Promote your Feed on your blog: most commonly this is in the form of a widget, but you can promote your feed by adding a link at the end of every post (Jayson can provide the technical details on this)
Write a post asking people to subscribe to your feed. It may capture some readers who visit infrequently.

Generating Traffic: Write a Guest Post for a Well Known Blog

joel — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 20:44:31 +0000

Now that you’ve narrowed down your target audience and are consistently posting on your blog (you are, aren’t you?), how do you draw people to your site?

Sure you can mention you site in prayer letters; link to other staff members sites and place you url in the signature of your emails, yet these are passive means of exposure. Like in support raising, you must not only have the right message, you also must proactively get your message out there – reaching out to others to gain exposure.

This is your basic guide to generating traffic by guest posting on well known blogs – getting exposure and more and more readers. For example, Ramit Sethi (author) used this strategy when his book was published to help make his book a New York Times #1 Best Seller.

Where to start?

A great place to start is to think about the blogs you regularly read. Chances are these blogs have a larger audience. Don’t limit yourself to ministry blogs. For example, if you are overseas, consider guest posting for a travel blog.

Next get a feel for their content and style. Let them get to know you by leaving comments. Put yourself in their shoes – are you going to let someone you’ve never talked to post on your blog?

Make the pitch

Send them an email introducing yourself and what you genuinely appreciate about their blog. Send them a pitch with some general points. Actually send them several ideas with sub points and let them choose what might be best for their audience. It also helps to give them a feel for what you are about, so send them a few writing samples. But don’t spend your time writing the post before you make the pitch (you might be wasting your time if they don’t accept your post).

Write the post

If they accept your pitch, take the time to write a quality post with original content. Show rather than tell. Your goal should be to get them to see (make an impression) rather than to impart information. Match your post to their format and make sure it is complete (don’t make them do the work).

The results will be more readers interested in what you have to say and relationships built with bloggers.

This guest post is written by Joel Hardman. Visit him at JoelHardman.com.

Tweet-Up!

Brian Barela — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 15:50:59 +0000

Here are some pics from the CSU Tweet-Up. I hope the time encouraged you to pursue social media in ministry!

Our President Steve Douglass connecting with staff on the field.

Group discussion and hangout. 15 ESV Bibles were given away, as well as 25 Typepad Pro subscriptions

Most of all it was fun to hang out!

What encouraged you most about the tweet-up? What was your biggest takeaway?