Author: Nancy McCord

Nancy McCord is the President and resident blogger for McCord Web Services LLC. She has been providing global web services since 2001. She is a web designer, search engine marketing professional, and search engine and blog expert. She lives in Maryland just south of the Washington DC metro area.
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Don’t Upgrade From GoLive CS2 to GoLive 9

Don’t do it! You’ll really regret it. In fact just today I bought GoLive 9 as an upgrade to GoLive CS2 as I have just moved to Windows Vista. I have already deactivated my software unloaded it and called Adobe to get a full credit.

I really like Adobe GoLive CS2. In GoLive 9, the first warning that you will be disappointed is the software icon. Toocky at best. Not sure who made that one, but I could have even done better. Usually an upgrade is an improvement over the previous version, but not in this case. Adobe did away with the preview view so to see your finished page you have layout view, source code view and PDF view? What’s that all about. What web designer cares what their page looks like as a PDF??? You have to open a new button to click live rendering to see your page as a browser would.

But wait it gets worse. I love in GoLive CS2 the point and shoot to add an image or link, and the ability to add hspace and vspace as well. Where is this in GoLive 9?? They have totally done away with drag and drop icons in layout view. This is totally crippling. To add an image now you click file, place, and then browse on your computer and add an image from In Design. Good grief, I don’t have In Design so I do not want tools except web designer tools. Also the code that GoLive 9 adds now is crap. When you transport your file to the Web, the images are broken as they are all smart images with references to folders that do not exist on your server. Jeesh, I could not uninstall it fast enough.

Looks like Adobe is forcing us diehard GoLive users into Dreamweaver in the long run. In the meantime, mark off GoLive 9 from your wish list and be glad that you have GoLive CS2. Hopefully that will be my work horse for a while.

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I’ve Moved to Vista

I’ve made the jump to Vista and Office 2007 this past weekend. Actually I was pretty scared going to Vista based on what I have read, but all has gone pretty smoothly. I have a bit of a crashing problem, but hopefully that will work itself out over time.

I think the best description for Vista is silky smooth. I like the new interface, and the visuals as well as the new gadgets. I am having trouble remembering that there is no My Computer button and that all files are now in the Nancy user file. I do have to say that I am not irritated b the so called nag boxes. I see them as an extra measure of security and do not mind them.

All of my applications have worked in Vista without a hitch. I did need a few new drivers and my Maxtor backup needed new software. I did even get my four year old PDA to sync with Vista as it had Windows 2003 for pocket PCs. I am upgrading a few pieces of software, but not the huge hit that I thought that I would have.

If you are thinking of moving to Vista, I say “come on in the water’s fine”!

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Blog Content Writing

I have found that the most engaging style for blogging is in the first person. As we perform ghost blogging services for many clients nationwide, I’ve seen all type of client preferences.

Some clients want purely dry informational blogs, some want how to’s, some want personal information and personal interest stories, and some want no links to their website and talk about their services.

From all the blogs I review and conferences with clients, I think that the best approach is good content with a gentle plus back to the owner’s website once a week. The most engaging posts are the ones that offer something real – a point a view, a real tip and are not a redux of information that is posted somewhere else on the Web.

As a blog reader as well as a blog writer yes, you can over do selling yourself on your blog and turn people off, but you can occasionally point out the services that you provide and link back to your own website. That makes perfect sense.

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Police and Sherriffs Are Watching the Web

I know this for a fact as I was told by a Sheriff that Charles County Maryland officers are watching the Web. In fact this officer told me that they were actively monitoring MySpace sites and YouTube for videos of teens breaking the law.

The officer went farther to tell me that if they find a video where your teen is breaking the law, they can actually ticket your teen for up to one year after the video had been posted and even prosecute them for the offense. If someone is injured, there is no time limitation. Even if the video is removed by your teen, YouTube and MySpace still have a record of it and they can request it through the County Attorney’s Office!

If your teen is loading videos to MySpace and YouTube as mine is, it is very important that you as the parent review what they are loading. My teen had loaded videos of himself driving fast, and I mean really fast. Foolish, yes, life threatening yes. This is how I know what the Police and Sheriffs departments are doing, as I asked for help to intervene with my teen and instruct him in safe driving. Little did I know that I was potentially getting him into trouble to the tune of a $540 ticket and 5 points on his license.

The officer said he didn’t care if my son told his friends if it would stop reckless behavior and possible the death of a teen, it would be worth it. So my advice to you is to become aware of what your kids are posting starting in stealth mode. Then help them to understand their foolishness if you catch them and work actively to keep them safe.

It was bad enough for my teen to have consequences for his actions from his Dad and myself, but to have a possible traffic court record from a video is just really bad.