St. Petersburg Web Design Blog

Posts Tagged ‘web application’

With methodology that’s typical of both Microsoft and the GOP, these two spent millions making and promoting this huge web application that proports to be just what the people want, ( a “virtual town hall meeting”) which doesn’t work and isn’t what it says it is…

For the record I am NOT a Democrat nor a Republican and I am, like most Americans NOT happy with either party.  This story is not about politics, but instead about what happens when you don’t plan, test and launch a web application successfully.  further this article will speak a little about honesty in marketing.  Any comments that try to say that I’m saying these thing because I don’t agree with the politics of the web site will not be published, as will any comments that rant about one political viewpoint or party.  We welcome all comments that focus on the marketing or technical aspects of this web application.

First we’ll address the “doesn’t work” part, then after the fold we’ll address the part where it isn’t what it says it is.

On the first day I heard of it, I went to check it out. It displayed nothing but a blank screen. I checked the source code, there was the complete source code for a blank html page. Well stuff happens I guess. So I checked back a few hours later, same thing. So I tried in the wee hours of the morning, same thing.  I don’t know how they think this is okay, but if this was my web application, it would have been ready for the massive amount of traffic on launch day, it would have been thoroughly tested before release and any errors that somehow made it through this process would have been fixed promptly.  If not, my efforts would be considered and absolute failure. Given the GOP and Microsoft have access to so many more resources than me, these failures are completely unacceptable.

Now it’s three days later and I go there and, lo and behold, we get a front page. But that’s all. All the pages linked to on this page, return the famous asp.net error screen (which some say is a huge security hole in asp.net web applications). See screen shot above.
There is a video on the front page. It does work. Sadly it’s hosted by youtube and has all Google’s tracking systems intact. Really? The GOP can’t afford to and Microsoft doesn’t have the know how to host it’s own video? They really think it’s okay to give up all that info on it’s users just to avoid hosting their own video?  BTW, youtube.com is owned by Google which is Microsoft’s #1 competitor.  I’d have to say that using youtube to host this particular video on this particular web site and Epic Fail, wouldn’t you?
The video goes on and on about how they want the public’s input on policy. The info the founder (Kevin McCarthy) released to the press used the phrase “virtual town hall meeting”. The site couldn’t be anything further from that. But it is designed to make it look like one.
Here’s some of the differences between a town hall meeting and this web application:
Continue reading “Microsoft and GOP team up to Fail” »

The new Digg Bar seems innocent enough.  But there are things that could be bad for SEO, bad for search engines, bad for searchers and especially bad for website owners.

1. The Digg bar routes all Digg articles and links to the Diggbar URL, thus robbing you of Page rank in an effort to have their Digg article about your page replace your page in the search engine results. It works too!
2. The Digg bar frames your content and presents it as their own to the Search engines and some users are even confused into thinking the content s on digg.com
3. The short url (tiny url), raises duplicate content concerns. Perhaps a mini-flood of it real quick.
4. Digg claims a page view for itself every time a user views any web page with the toolbar active.
5. The Digg bar rewrites all the links on the page it’s displaying into Digg urls thus robbing the user of being able to bookmark your site properly and generally screwing up some web applications.

Expect another article on this subject after this software is tested by our staff. There’s a lot of positives to be found here too.

– TxS

Attention Florida Auto Dealers

Dream Designs by Texx Smith has just released a the beta version of their Auto Dealer Web Site design and application. It’s called FastWay (Florida Auto Sales Web Application) for short.

Once again innovating, this time in the public sector, Dream Designs continues to offer the finest specialized and general internet marketing services.

How is FastWay better than the few others in the market? Look for an article here soon to go into better detail. But I’m so excited about this latest project I just can’t be completely quiet about it. so here’s a few reasons why mine is better than the rest:

• When we say it’s easy to use, it really is.
• We’re local. We provide some services on site at your location (like your first round of inventory photos or training employees), sometimes even free!
• No hidden fees! Our up front price is low, but ours has no hidden strings attached. We do provide all kinds of other services but we’d like to establish a relationship with you built on trust, not on counting this little thing and that little thing.
• Leads based Traffic flow

Here’s the best part for Florida Auto Dealers that act now. If you register during the initial Beta Period, you’ll get several high value services for free like:

• Free on-site training. We’ll train 5 people on your location.
• Free photo shoot. Up to 30 of your cars, we’ll integrate it into the above.
• Free phone support. Usually our exceptional web ticket system will do just fine but sometimes it sure seems easier to talk it through on the phone. Bronze package is free, upgrade for 50% off.