Product Reviews (Archive)

Page 2 of 3 (22 total articles)
  • September 17, 2007 in Product Reviews

    Getting Large Files From Clients is Still a Problem!

    Clients very rarely understand the concept of file size. When they try to send a 20MB file by email and it doesn't make it through, it baffles them. For about a year now I have pointed my clients to a service called yousendit.com. Without getting into too much detail, yousendit.com allows you to send large files by email. However, you run into a problem when there are a lot of large files that all need to be sent together. In these cases yousendit just doesn't cut it. Rather than set up and FTP account and try to explain how to use it, I would usually just tell my clients to snail-mail it or drop it off. That is, until recently. I discoverd a cool little FTP Java applet that has solved my problems. You embed it into a web page and it automatically connects to the FTP account you specify and it allows the user to drag and drop files onto the applet for easy upload. So all I did was create a web page in a directory with standard Cpanel directory protection on it. Then I added the applet to the page and sent my client to it. Problem solved and it really makes you look like the wizard of the web. Here's a link to the applet.

  • September 11, 2007 in Product Reviews

    Online Video Revisited

    A few months ago I wrote a post comparing and contrasting the most popular YouTube clones on the web. One of the sites I reviewed was Blip.tv. At the time I was extremely impressed with the podcasting options Blip.tv provided. But I found they were lacking in the ability to embed a Flash player into a web site. This is a feature that nearly all of the other sites had and was a big deciding factor in my review of Blip.tv. In doing some research recently for a client on video publishing options, I found that Blip.tv has added the embed feature to their service which, in my opinion, puts them at the top of the game. Check it out when you have a chance.

  • August 14, 2007 in Product Reviews

    Start with a CSS Framework : Blueprint CSS

    For all the wonderful things tableless layouts have brought us, I give thanks. But you have to admit that some of the CSS browser quirks are a serious pain...

  • July 27, 2007 in Product Reviews

    Giving Your Clients Control Over Content and Forcing Them to Keep it Clean

    Of course, by “clean”, I am referring to keeping the HTML clean. One of the biggest problems I run into when giving content control to a client is that they inevitably ruin my beautiful standards compliant XHTML templates by cramming ugly code right into the middle of it. It’s not their fault. They don’t know anything about HTML and every line of ugly code they are generating is being produced behind the scenes by a WYSIWYG editor. Never fear; there may be a solution. WYMeditor claims to force standards compliant code in an embeddable WYSIWYG editor. Up to this point, I have been using the open source FCKeditor for all of my projects but I am considering giving WYMeditor a try just to see if I can cut down on the ogre code.

  • July 12, 2007 in Product Reviews

    The "MyStickies" Firefox Extension Is an Excellent Collaboration Tool

    The world of online collaboration tools can be pretty hard to navigate especially if you are in the new media business. Everyone has a favorite and there is a new one hitting the streets just about every day. When it comes right down to it, though, the actual task they are all trying to accomplish is pretty simple: Show what everyone is thinking and doing. Right? Okay, sometimes it might be a little more complicated than that, but not often. So try using the MyStickies Firefox extension to share information about your web projects. I’ve been using it with my wife over the last week or so while she does some copy editing for me on a couple of sites. I have to say that I can’t imaging a smoother way to communicate about specific details on a web site. She adds virtual post-its to the site and I can log onto the site and see all of her comments and even leave responses. It’s always the simple ideas that work the best. This is a simple as it gets.

  • June 30, 2007 in Product Reviews

    If You Want Professional Online Video Content Try PodTech.net

    The chaos cloud that is YouTube and most other online video content providers can be very interesting… for a little while. But ultimately, on the viewing end of things, we enjoy well produced, well informed content. PodTech.net has a little more of that sparkle we expect from trusted content providers. It also speaks to a niche audience that wouldn’t have a chance for a spot even on a cable network with hundreds of channels. It’s worth checking out and if you make the web developer blog rounds on a regular basis, you will probably recognize a few names as you browse through the latest videos.

  • May 20, 2007 in Product Reviews

    flickrSLiDR

    flickrSLiDR Just when I think I have found the best flickr mashup tool (see a few posts down), a newer better one shows up on digg. Nice!

  • May 5, 2007 in Product Reviews

    Why Didn't I Find Grouper.com?

    A few posts ago, I did a little analysis of the popular video services out there. In all my research for that post, I didn’t find grouper.com. Now, there’s nothing special about grouper as far as I’m concerned. It’s basically a YouTube clone. I’m just blown away by the fact that the search term “upload videos” typed in on Yahoo! failed to bring up grouper (at least not within the first 15 pages or so). It’s a large video site that’s been around since 2004. So what gives?

  • May 4, 2007 in Product Reviews

    ClickTale :: Because every user has a story

    After a long wait, clicktale.com is finally running a closed beta on their new web stat analyzer. As one of the beta testers, I have to say that I am pretty impressed. I think that their visual approach to tracking web site usage is much more useful than anything else we’ve seen in a while. Liquid Design Media will definately be using clicktale.com for clients in the future. Also, check out crazyegg.com if you like what you see and you just can’t wait.

  • April 29, 2007 in Product Reviews

    Choosing a Video Publishing Platform

    I’ve found that getting video published on the web for clients of Liquid Design Media becomes more and more a part of my daily routine. It also seems like there is a new YouTube popping up every time I turn around. So I took some time this weekend and just did a quick evaluation of the pros and cons of the services out there. YouTube.com, of course is the most used of the services out there right now so it works great if your primary concern is to make your video available to as many searchers as possible. However, I think it lacks a little in the ability to integrate multiple videos into an existing web site. BrightCove.com is my favorite of the services that I looked at. It’s got good uploading and editing tools and it has a great system for publishing your video content back on your own web site. A good example of a BrightCove mashup site is bodyarchitect.com . I think BrightCove has taken it to a new level. ZippyVideos.com, Dropshots.com, Voeh.com, and Vimeo.com all have similar features with just slight variations. They are all worth checking out but none really stand out. Yahoo! and Google both have video services that I think fall into this category. Revver.com has a unique advertising model that allows creators and sharers to share in advertising revenue. They also have an API that will allow you to integrate the system with your own site but it’s a little bit cumbersome for a weekend project. VideoEgg.com seems like another YouTube Clone at first glance but they offer special development to add their system to your web site. I know dogster uses them and there are few others. I was a little disappointed when I found out they don’t support mpeg2 uploads, though. Last but not least, Blip.TV offers the ability to publish your video in multiple streams with one upload. So you can upload one high quality video and it then subscribers can get it in iTunes, on the site, embedded, etc.

[BEGIN] [< 1 2 3 [Next>>] [END]