Favicon or Decepticon

Whoa, why didn't I put a Favicon in my final project? Just so you all know, every website I make from here on out will have a Favicon. Why you ask? Because it's Rockicon!

So what is a Favicon? It's that little icon you see up next to a websites address or in the favorites portion of you chrome. I like that, it gives the site a bit more sophistication, and it helps with branding too.

So what type of file format is it in? Well that's a trick questions, it can be in .png, .gif, but more then likely .ico. Why .ico you ask? It's because IE hates everybody and everything and it only reads .ico, but the other browsers will read .png or .gif.

So Photoshop has the inherent ability to to write a .png or .gif, but if you want to do an .ico you'll have to download this plugin. I'd recommend that so everyone can see your cool new FAVICON!
To create your favicon you should create one in photoshop, the size of the Favicon is going to be 16x16 pixels. Yep, that's small, but hey good things come in small packages. Then you need to put it into your root folder for your website. Most browsers will recognize that immediately, but sometimes they'll search your code for a reference. So here's the code you'll need:
<link rel="icon" href="/favicon.ico" type="image/x-icon">
and then upload all of you updated pages to your server. That's it!

Have fun with it, I know I will!

Network Neutrality

Let's start off with the easy stuff. What is Network Neutrality?

Network Neutrality ) is a principle proposed for user access networks participating in the Internet that advocates no restrictions on content, sites, or platforms, on the kinds of equipment that may be attached, and on the modes of communication allowed, as well as communication that is not unreasonably degraded by other traffic.

Well that's the wikipedia definition, but here's an example of network neutrality.
I have ATT as my internet provider, they cannot legally slow down or deny access to a specific website. (ie ATT cannot deny me the ability to search Sprints website).


Before this post I hadn't thought much of the concept of Net Neutrality, but if we didn't have it I think it would be a significant blow to the economy. The lack of Neutrality would allow a small group of companies the ability to control information flow over the internet. If I started a web business I may have to pay multiple service providers to give me full access to their customers, or maybe they have a deal with a large competitor that locks me out of their "internet" all together. These companies could in theory shut down sites like facebook and google, by charging them a few for every visit from a customer, ore charge the customers an extra amount to access these "premium" websites. I can only imagine that this would turn into something more like cable. Where a customer could buy a basic package, with 70% of the channels, but if they wanted HBO they had to pay an additional premium. With so many sites out there I couldn't imagine these service providers not charging the websites for access also. This would eventually kill several small businesses across the country. One of the primary reasons small business come to the internet is the cost, the other is exposure.
I know one of the main questions is what happens to data sharing technology without network neutrality. Once again I think it would look more like ordering cable TV. If I had ATT I could only use specific sites ATT outlines, and have to deal with their advertising. We wouldn't see an end to these sites, but they would become very limited, and we'd have to pay for access.
I think service providers have everything to gain from repealing network neutrality, and we the users of the internet have everything to lose.

Usability

Ok, please don't boo me on this, but I'm going with MSN.com. I go to this site multiple times a day to find out what's going on in the world. The frontpage is easy to maneuver around, since it is split up in familiar categories, that are in the same place everyday. I know that if I want to find out about news in the business world I just scroll down to the bottom right, or if I want my celebrity gossip fix it's in my bottom left. The site give's me a quick blurb about each article, and I read what I want. I'm not necessarily a fan of the subordinate sites on MSN, but the front page works perfect for me. I just don't have to "Think" when I'm visiting the site. If I want to find out more about a topic I have a bunch of categories on the top I can choose from, and finally they have a great little "Bing" search bar at the top for me to use. MSN wins the gold when it comes to usability.

Cool Website

So let me just say I'm not one for flashy sites, I like functional sites. Sites that are easy to navigate and provide me with more then what I expected coming in. My cool site for this blog is going to be Facebook. I know this isn't some fun website that is new to everybody, but the functionality of the site is magnificent. It is a really intelligent site. Not only does it connect the user with friends, but it also provided recommendations for friends using a simple algorithm. I don't know how many times it's recommended a friend to me, and it's someone I already knew, but just hadn't added to my Facebook friends.
I'm not a big fan of posting my every movement on the site, but I can see how people would enjoy it. The information goes out quickly to all of my friends, and "BLAMMO" everyone is in my business. That's social networking.
The other part of the site that makes it useful is the application function. Third parties can come in to facebook and design applications for users. In my mind this is what has made facebook stand out in the social networking realm.
I can only imagine that the software engineers at facebook are coming up with inventive ways to capture all the information we put into the site. Just think if you were "facebooking" with friends about a rafting trip, and on the right hand side you got a list for rafting guides?
Facebook is a great way to capture volumes of information about people, and information is the key to success on the web.
"Knowing is half the battle" GI Joe