Can't get my blog to publish to a sub folder using FTP

I had a weird thing happen while trying to publish a blog to a sub folder using FTP. I created a blog through the blogger interface, inserted all of the settings for the sub folder that I wanted to place my new blog into and published the blog...nothing happened...

The system told me that the blog had been published. I looked via FTP at the folder where I'd asked the blog to be published but there were no files. I scratched my head a bit, then did some tweaking to try and figure out what was going wrong. I looked elsewhere for the files, but they could not be found.

I came back to this today, and repeated the publish via FTP sequence, and still, nothing happened! By now I was frantically searching Google for an answer, but kept finding myself reading technical data about servers - but I got the impression that this was not a technical issue - it was something far more simple.

I just could not see it...and then it clicked. Although everything was set-up correctly, I had not created any posts! So, I created a post called 'Test' and sure enough when I published the blog, the files appeared! So, the lesson is;

When you create a new blog and publish it via FTP to your server, make sure you have created at least one blog, or the files will not appear...

KISS me please!

I read somewhere about KISS being an acronym for "Keep It Simple Stupid". That's a great concept, when you think about communicating an idea or a message using a webpage or site.

Think about it, when you go to a site there always (most always anyway) has to be an objective for being there; a message, a directive, a call to action..something like that. Most people don't realise this, either because the webiste has been so good at acheiving the effect that they haven't noticed OR the website is not performing the task in the first place.

It's about message and noise. Use as little as possible to convey the message, and remove everything else - everything else is just noise (unless it has a specific function such as a search box).

Remember that next time you go to a site..for example..compare the home page of Google, to the home page of MSN...nuff said!






|

Getting ranked #1 in Google

I decided to go full steam ahead in getting a page written by me to rank top in Google. There are a lot of pages that I feature in like those about Joomla or Chris Dunn's excellent Giza Power Plant site (soon to get a facelift). The things is, most of the pages that feature my name are not written by me, so are not really a truly qualified source of information. Funny thing is, I can write any old bullshit about me and people will probably believe it!

So, my first angle of attack was to create a MySpace page, which I have been putting off for years - I think the idea is excellent but the site is rubbish, though it does have quite a cool naive charm about it - but it really is still Web 2.0 technology burried in Web 0.0 clothing.

The next step was to create a blog and get some interest in it using various techniques (which can be found in another post).

So we see how it goes - one of the pages from the blog is already ranked number one on Google now, so I have accomplished my task in just under four days - "that's not bad" (as Richard Hammond might say)

Apple iPod

I was wondering how that well know ad programe worked, and since I am using it on this site I thought I'd create a page about a well know technology candy item to see if I can influence the links grabbed from the database - The iPod.

The Apple iPod is so cool
How much can your pocket hold? That’s up to you and your iPod. It holds up to 20,000 songs, up to 25,000 photos, and up to 100 hours of video — or any combination of each.1 So you can browse movies on the iTunes Store, download the ones you want (Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, perhaps?), then sync it to your iPod. Same goes for TV episodes, new iPod games, 99¢ songs, best-selling audiobooks, and an entire universe of free podcasts, including captivating tours to zoos, museums, and French chateaus. Go ahead. Fill ’er up


With enough room for your favorite music and video, this iPod has both sound and vision. Of course, it also boasts stamina (up to 20 hours1 of battery life), generous capacity (30GB or 80GB2 of storage), a great personality (intuitive, customizable menus), and a touch of genius (the Click Wheel). In other words, iPod makes an ideal companion. Why not get to know it better? Click on a feature to see it on the new iPod display, then read about it here.

You can find out more about the Apple iPod here

So, let's see what they make of this little experiment..

Socialising..

I've become embeded in the social bookmarking scene recently, and have been searching around for some cool plugins to add to web pages that will automate the process of adding any page on a website to your preferred bookmarking service.

I found a nice piece of code that does the most popular ookmarking sites all in one hit, and it's configurable too so that you can bend it to fit your website. It's called AddToBoookmarks and you can a copy to download at the website here. It's been created by some guys called Marken Media and it is easy to install and easy to configure. I guess the only downside is that you need access to the document

to insert a call to a css file, which means if you don't have access to the entire file, it won't work (I haven't been able to add it to the MySpace template - if you have, let me know how!)

You can see it in action at the bottom of this blog - if you use any of the bookmarking services shown, click the icon and see how easy it is to use...

Head Nodderz explained

Head Nodderz - explained...

Head Nodderz is a yearly gathering of a few individuals simplt for the pleasure of enjoying good music. This is a very niche and secret event as the invite list is so small, and has been for the past few years. It's so secret in fact, that for the 2006 event, two of the members did not turn up - and that's quite a hit when you consider that there were only four people at the event!

The music is quite varied, but centres around house, soul, the odd hip hop tune and any other tracks that are good.