New Search Engine

Hey guys...I don't know if y'all have seen this in the news, but Bill Clinton has helped launch a new search engine, www.accoona.com. This search engine is largely backed by the Chinese government and sets itself apart from Google, Yahoo, and other search engines by not only searching for "keywords", but by also using artificial intelligence to search for "same idea" matches.

Flash Cars

I have actually gotten some great ideas for Flash ads from looking at car websites. Espically Ones for Mercedes Benz, and other high-end cars. I think this site has some really cool flash work. http://www.mbusa.com/brand/index.jsp

Advertising dollars

I don't know if any of you have heard about the new Adsense program from google, but they now have a feature that allows you to post advertisments on your own web page and actually earn some revenue off of them depending how many hits your site gets a day and so forth. I thought that was a pretty cool new idea. Learn more at: http://www.google.com/services/adsense_tour/

Downloads available

I know that it has been popular in the past to download music files using file sharing programs, however, that practifce actually violates copyright laws and is being cracked down upon now. You can, however, still download music, software, and games legally online. I sometimes use download.com to buy idividual songs to download for really cheap. It is a good alternative to filesharing. www.download.com

Stress Relief?

I received an e-mail about a fun safe zone on campus for stress relief.... I thought to myself is this something that would really even work? Well apparently OBU isn't the only school working on this situation..... Notre Dame is as well.....

http://www.ndsmcobserver.com/main.cfm?include=detail&storyid=575695

is this something that is actually benefital to the students? or is it a distraction?

I wish I would have found this sooner

I wish that I would have found this website sooner than on the day of my final.... www.webmastertoolscentral.com/tutorials is probably the best website I have come across for help... so if you're scrambling to completely your final and need some help.... check this site out!

American Advertising Federation: College Connection

For the past 4 days I have been working on my advertising project for Dr. Downs. The American Advertising Federation is great not only for our preparation for competition but just for information about advertising. So if you are planning on going into advertising this is definitely a good website to check out!

VW Flash Website

I was browsing around a couple different car websites when I came across the website for Volkswagen. In my opinion their website is easy to maneuver and has an attractive use of flash. The flash points draws attention to the products without being distracting. I enjoyed looking around at the different models of the car. All in all I think it is a well-designed site. http://www.vw.com

Looking for some extra help on Dreamweaver?

If you are interested in some site building tips as well as some additional information about dreamweaver and its programs (tutorials, info, recommendaions) then check out sitebuilder.com. It explains how to make different types of links in your webpage as well as other useful informationl. http://www.sitebuilder.ws/dreamweaver/tutorials/

guitar christmas

My visit to guitarcenter.com assisited my christmas shopping this year for my fiancee. He's a DJ and would camp out in the store if he was allowed, but clearly that's not an option...so I have to shop for him there. The website is designed in Fireworks I believe. It has lots of blocks of information and primarily text. The pictures on the website are rectangular, so the whole look of it is sort of sectional. But all the links are successful and has an easy navigation.

Online Advertising

I noticed today that wal-mart has begun to advertise on large webistes such as Yahoo.com, etc. I thought this was interesting because I am used to seeing online ads for other online companies, and wal-mart is obviously a very large retail company. But, now their online business is growing and they are actually earning a lot of money through online sales. Clicking on their online ads actually takes you to Wal-mart.com which is made, not to advertise for the store, but to serve as the store itself.

Helpful Hints

Since we have been learning to use Flash, I thought I would look for some hints online. I found a cool website that has a complete tutorial on using flash and its components. It has sections on Flash Basics, Flash Drawings, etc. The site is http://www.echoecho.com/flash.htm

After theknot, there's thenest.com

While planning my wedding I found a magazinge, theknot Dallas. It was my favorite. I went to theknot.com to find a job and in the process found a little link on the website that said "already married? check out thenest.com" so i did. All girls who love theknot will really enjoy thenest. it has really cool features from recipes, to budget finders, to keeping your "love life" alive. also, the colors for theknot has a lot of blues and light colors. thenest has a lot of browns and neutrals, really has a home feel. :o)

Blog in Rememberance

I'm sure everyone has heard by now about the death of "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott. I found an online weblog in honor of Abbott that has posts from many celebrities as well as others that knew him. I was suprised to see posts by musicias such as Ozzy Osbourne and from band members of KISS including Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons, as well as a post from Darrell's brother and bandmate Vinnie Paul Abbott. "Dimebag" Darrell was an original band member of the Rock band Pantera and there have been posts from former bandmates of that band as well. The weblog is at http://www.damageplan.com

Google fanatics

I know that is has become a popular practice at Ouachita to use the search engine Google.com or to "Google" something. I, too am a frequent user of the Google, However, I have always used altavista.com as well. I recently discovered that altavista searc engine is far superior to google and yahoo when you are searching for images or clipart. You can go to www.altavista.com and click on images then select color, type, and so forth that you want it to search for. I have used it many times in Graphics Design classes to find images.

Musician's

I play guitar and the best website that I have found to shop for musical instruments is Musician's Friend. I have subscribed for the magazine version before, but I really prefer the online version. I like the way the site is user friendly, and I have been impressed with their online inventory. I have also noticed that they do a good job of taking care of the financial business without much hassle. The web address is http://www.musiciansfriend.com.

Free Trial Versions

To anyone who enjoyed using dreamweaver or flash, you can download a free 30 day trial version from the Macromedia website. SO - if you aren't quite finished with your final project and don't feel like walking all the way to lab then e-mail your files and download the trial version - it's a huge timesaver (plus you don't have to sit in the hot Mac Lab). http://www.macromedia.com

A Cat with an MBA??

On CNN.com, I found another interesting web-related story. Apparently there is an online university called Trinity Southern that is in big trouble right now for allegedly selling bogus degrees, including an MBA awarded to a cat! Here is the link to this story if you would like to find out more: more:http://www.cnn.com/2004/EDUCATION/12/07/bogus.degrees.lawsuit.ap/index.html

Bluefly.com

My roommate just told me about Bluefly.com. Here you can find over 350 designers up to 75% off, so there are lots of good deals here! Especially at Christmas, good bargains are what we are all looking for! I also found this site to be very easily accessible; it seems great if you are looking for one thing in particular or if you are just browsing.

Students and Online Research

On CNN.com I just found a story about the increasing concerns of educators as students more and more choose online sources for research, going to the library only when absolutely necessary. The main problem with this is the dubious reliability of many Internet sources out there. Educators are concerned that students care more about the leisure of looking things up on their computers than they care about finding out the truth of whatever they are reseraching. Here is the link to this article:
http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/internet/12/09/awaysonline.reliable.ap/index.html

Pier 1

Somehow I always wind up getting Pier 1's emails with coupons and discounts, and I am always impressed by the layout and design. So I decided to go to the Pier 1 web site, and I was not disappointed! It is very easy to navigate, and it is designed very well. Right now the main page has a section featuring great gifts under $20, and this is great if you are shopping on a budget (like I am)! www.pier1.com is the address.

PETsMART!

Petsmart.com is a great site! They have everything in the world for pets and all kinds of tips and advice about having them. You can shop online it's always very festive for whatever season it is at the time. It's very easy to shop because it's organized by animal and by size so you can shop fast for everything you could possibly want. A very fun and friendly site-the webmaster has clearly created a site that matches the mood and personality of most animal lovers. :)

Arkadelphia news

I know most students don't like to read the newspaper but we're more likely to read a newspaper online-I like to go to Arkadelphia's siftingsherald.com to get a quick update on what's going on in the community. Being such a small town, there's usually someone you know that's in a story so that makes it more interesting, and you can check the weather and forecast very quickly, and even search the classified's-it's very easy. One thing I like is that you don't have to become a member to just check the site out.

Apartment Search

For all the seniors out there, I've spent a lot of time on different websites looking for apartments online-they can really be helpful because most apartments or houses that are any good will be online and you can see pictures, prices, layouts and ammenities...the best site I've found is apartmentguide.com where you can not only look for a house or apartment, but check your credit for free, arrange for all moving (moving vans, boxes, finding a new job, buying furniture...) and lots more. You can even search for a roommate. Apartments.com is pretty good too, but you have to go through a couple more steps, but that can be helpful if you know exactly what area you want to live in. Make plans for after graduation at www.apartmentguide.com!

Flash sites

Since I'm not a very creative person, I found this site, http://www.menupalace.com/menupalace/internetservices/portfolio_websitesflash.asp which features the best award winning flash sites. You can look at their home pages, and if you're curious you can visit their wholes sites. I was very impressed. Check it out!

Bookstores Online

While surfing the net a little, I compared Books A Million, Barnes and Noble and Amazon.com's websites. They all sell about the same products and I noticed they all three's websites are very similar. The layout is really almost identical and Ii think they could use some improving to distinguish themselves from the competition. Barnes and Noble probably looked the best to me because there wasn't quite as much text...see for yourself: bamm.com; amazon.com; barnesandnoble.com

Web Design future?

For those of you who created GREAT websites in our class this semester, you should look into all the different opportunities for web careers. This site http://www.w3schools.com/careers/default.asp provides tips, advice and many other resources for those interested.

No clutter on PRSA

I'm looking for a job in public relations, so I checked out the PRSA website (www.prsa.org). I really liked the way the site is set up. It has a lot of information, but somehow avoids clutter. I think they do this by spacing and using columns in their organization. I thought it was really easy to navigate, which means that I can find what I need as soon as possible!

Resume Help

If you need some help getting together your resume, cover letter, or searching for jobs then I've got the website for you! www.resume-help.org had so many helpful things for me. I go there a lot becauese I need help in all three areas lately, so I encourage all of you guys to check it out!

resume

For my practicum class I was required to update my resume.... now I know that Carreer Planning and Placement is an excellent resource for OBU students, www.monster.com is a great help as well. Not only is it a job search, but they have great resume services as well.... they have a free service, which is basically like the resume wizard on Word...only better. They then give you the option if you are interested of paying a staffed professional to create the "perfect" resume. It's a great tool!

Holiday Travel

I don't know if it's the case for all airlines or not, but I found that the American Airlines website was particularly helpful. You are able to pull up all flights going to and from a destination, and once you pull up that flight you can then check to see what seats are open and pick exactly where you would like to sit. Or, if you are picking someone up, they have a flight checker that keeps you updated on the arrival and departure times, it is even capable of sending a text message to your cell phone to keep you updated while you are away from the computer.

a follow up to crate and barrel

I am completely in agreeance with Tara about Crate and Barrel, I recently ordered a Christmas present from the website. They have great follow up, a tracking device for your purchases, they know exactly where it is at all times and have times and dates for the locations. It was really helpful when the post office tried to lose my package.

ikea

This post has a double potential. If you're looking for Christmas gifts, or furniture for your apartment when you graduate check out www.ikea.com They have great picture frames, lamps, decorations plus some really nice furniture and kitchen utinsels..... all for VERY economical prices.

Dueling Papers

I checked out the websites for The New York Times and compared it to the website for The Wall Street Journal. I noticed right away how much more the NYTimes site looks like a front page paper than the WSJ site. I think a lot of this had to with the NYTimes nameplate being present and font and organization of its stories... isn't it odd how something as small as a font type can change the entire appearance and feel of a site. that's something to keep in mind!

Texas Tech does great promos!

I am a frequent visitor of Texas Tech's athletic website www.raiderpower.com I started visiting it about a year ago and have been impressed with the amount of information on the site. It does such a good job of promoting Tech events and keeping everyone up to date on which Tech athlete is being drafted, any professional alumni, as well as all Tech athletic events. And it looks like they modeled their website after ESPN's

Crate and Barrel

While looking through Crate and Barrel's website ( www.crateandbarrel.com ) to get some good gift ideas for the holidays, and I noticed how organized their website is. I thought they did a great job of designing their website to not only look great but navigate easily. First time viewers are able to go directly to what they want b/c of the clear headings and great organization.

Orange County Choppers...You know; the bike guys!

This is a show that has become very popular in last couple of years. My dad had suggested that I check out their web site. I thought since I watch the show sometimes, why not? I was very surprised in what I found. There is an intro video that basically tells what the show is about. Their photo galleries include flash videos where you click a bike of your choice and interactive with the page. They also have an events and information link. If you get a chance you should look and explore this site. Great use of Flash!!

Orange County Choppers

HGTV

well, this is my third post on something relating to home improvement/decorating. i guess b/c i'm getting ready to fully decorate a place of my own soon i'm just really interested in it. anyway, one of my favorite tv channels is hgtv. i looked on their website--it's great! not only do they give you schedules of tv shows, it has this "shortcut" option so you can find neat things really quickly. they also have a lot of links for gifts and home ideas. so if your'e like me and just can't get enough of home decorating ideas, you can go to hgtv.com and find even more!

More decorating...but not as helpful

so i put up a post a little while back about how great the pottery barn website was. well, one of it's top competitors is Restoration Hardware. i think their website isn't that great, especially when compared to its competition. one of the great things about the pottery barn website is the way it uses so many of its products to decorate so many different rooms. it makes everything they sale so appealling because it shows the customers new and cool ways to use colors and such. restoration hardware just shows the furniture with plain, blank walls, floors, and bed linens. for people who are really creative with decorating, i'm sure they don't mind looking at a blank canvas. but i think they're missing out on a lot of sale opportunities because they don't utilize all of their products when they showcase furniture. i'm not an interior decorator, nor an advertiser. it's just my observation and opinion. :o)

Lake Pointe Church

I was looking at the website for Lake Pointe Church in Rockwall, TX. One part of the website caught my attention. I really liked their news section. It uses Flash to show ads for upcoming events in the church, and it looks like a slide show in the middle of the webpage. It does distract from reading the rest of the site, but I thought it looks really good on the page and does a good job of promoting the church's events.

Old Navy does great with Flash

I was looking around for some possible blog posts when I remembered my website review of www.oldnavy.com I thought I would revisit the site and see if there was anything I could use for the blog, and when I got there the use of flash really impressed me. Besides great color and a good layout, the website also uses a moderate amount of Flash elements. It's not too much, and most of it is really subtle. It definitely draws attention to a few key areas without becoming annoying. Take a look!

perfigo stinks

I don't know if this blog will quite explain the torture that everyone is getting from this new Perfigo system. Well, every time i want to log on it keeps coming back to the "log in page and download the new system." I can only fo to tigermail and if I want to search through the internet...you guessed it...back to downloading and restarting.

hunting sites

The Arkansas Game and Fish website is a helpful resource to finding any information needed for hunting and animals. My parents work at the Game and Fish Commision so they study the site frequently. However, I noticed the main page's text and main features didn't really stand out. I had to search longer than usual for the primary feature, so navigation was more tedious. But the graphics and information was very abundant. Happy hunting1

Flashy Site

One of my friends had to do an assignment where he researched the way alcohol companies targeted teenagers. he foud a few different sites that used a lot of flash and had good designs. One of the ones that i thought was the best was the Mike's Hard lemonade site. http://www.mikeshardlemonade.com/splash.html It had a lot of cool design elements, including flash videos, interactive elements, online games, etc. I suggest that you check it out, but don't be influenced to make the wrong choices by its awsomeness.

Decorating

One of my favorite sites is the Pottery Barn website. I just love everything Pottery Barn makes and sells. Also on the site, there's a link called "rooms" that you can go to and click on like "bedroom, living rooms, dining rooms, etc" For those who are visually decorating-challenge, this little link would be very very helpful for people wanted to buy furniture or re-decorate. They have like 8-10 rooms you can just browse through for each category. So, it's a good site :o) potterybarn.com

Decorating

One of my favorite sites is the Pottery Barn website. I just love everything Pottery Barn makes and sells. Also on the site, there's a link called "rooms" that you can go to and click on like "bedroom, living rooms, dining rooms, etc" For those who are visually decorating-challenge, this little link would be very very helpful for people wanted to buy furniture or re-decorate. They have like 8-10 rooms you can just browse through for each category. So, it's a good site :o) potterybarn.com

http://www.noradsanta.org/english/ Go to this website on Christmas Eve if you have kids or younger siblings who just can't wait another minute for Santa. This website keeps you updated throughout the night about "Santa's" whereabouts! It is really cute for kids to look at, and most importantly, they aren't asking YOU five hundred time when Santa is coming?! This always keeps my future nieces occupied for hours after opening gifts so I highly suggest it!

Do you like coloring?

If you like to sit back and relax by coloring then this site I found would be perfect for you. I find sometimes that I need to relax and putting a colored pencil in my hand and a picture to color out in front of me is a good way to do this. So if you are like me and like to revert to childhood years then you will love this site. Some of the pictures you can color are Garfield, Rugrats(x3),Spiderman, and my favorite, Star Wars. I found a picture of the ewolks and printed it out right away. Infact i am going to go color it now to releave the stress i have right now with all these projects going on.

http://www.childfun.com/
It is in the middle of the webpage. There are also some ideas to make christmas gifts for kids to give to their parents.

Money saving Christmas gifts!

I was searching for some really inexpensive gifts to give my friends and family and i came upon this website.
If you happen to have little money like me I would encourage you to look at some of the ideas they have on this website:
http://www.night.net/christmas/ds-gifts-971030as.html-ssi , I hope this gives you some ideas as to how to save money. gifts come from the heart it doesn't matter how much they cost just the thought that counts.

cheaper presents

If you are looking to buy something like a digital camera or ipod or anything that is costing way too much right now, then you should visit www.mysimon.com. It is a website that offers everything you are looking for at a cheaper price.

Sometimes you need a laugh

I love to laugh, and my guy friends kept telling me to visit that website www.stupidvideos.com. I finally got bored enough to break down and watch it, and there are hundreds of hilarious clips. So the next time you need something to laugh about visit that site. It was so much better than I expected.

I am not very good in Spanish, and I learned about this website in high school that allows you to type anything and then with one click of a button, the website translates it to any language you want. It has helped me on many assignments for my Spanish class, so if you need help too, then give it a try! http://babelfish.altavista.com/

sam moon

My roommate is a jewelry FREAK! So I wanted to share the news about Sam Moon now being online with all the other girls out there who share her passion. Just go to the following website: http://sammoon.com/index.asp

Churches

Along the same lines as Shelby's church post I thought I'd add two of my own. I know we looked at fairly big churches in class the other day, but these are two medium size churches that have extremely different websites.

The first is my home church in Benton. It's a fairly new website that could still use some work, but it's a work in progress.

www.firstbaptistbenton.org

The second is the church my family goes to in California. I like this website design better. But at least with two it gives you more to look at. :)

www.calvarylosgatos.org

the AWC

So this post is really just for the girls in the class.... since I graduate in May I've started searching for jobs. In my searches I came across the site for The Association for Women in Communications. It has a link for it's own job search engine as well as all sorts of links and information about the AWC as well as pertinent information about the communication industry.

Flash Help!

Hey again! I found this article about optimizing flash ads. It has 7 steps to follow in optimizing and things you should consider when creating ads in flash. Take a look if you're needing a little help.

Apartment hunting

If you are graduating in May, like me, I'm sure you are starting to plan for next year - like me! It's never too early to start the hunt for a place to live. This apartment search website was really good, I thought. It was easy to navigate, had clear instructions, and gave very thorough results. It also didn't give me apartment listings that were out of my budget range or fill my screen with pop-up ads for realty companies, like other websites have done. So, if you're starting to think about life after the bubble, give this website a try!

Church site idea

This summer I went to the Loop a lot, which is a Bible study in Memphis at Highpoint (the church whose web site we looked at in class). The Loop has a really cool web site at http://www.theloopmemphis.com and I thought it might have some cool ideas on it for our project!

Are you into Photography?

One of my passions is Photography and I like to experiment alot. One of the places I go on the internet is
http://www.nyip.com/ to look for tips on how to use your camera and changing a picture into art. They have free tips every month.

Time Management Skill

With finals quickly approaching and projects looming overhead I have found a website that helps individuals better manage their time and learn how to best arrange their schedule to reduce stress and increase productivity. They really do have some pretty neat ideas and resources. The web page design itself is not just overwhelmingly impressive, but the site is pretty easy to navigate. I am not a big fan of their bright green text box though. If you have the time to check out some time management skills visit http://www.mindtools.com/page5.html

christmas :o)

i LOVE christmastime. i know everyone else does too. christmas.com is amazing. it has everything anyone would EVER need for christmas. well, it has the websites to go to for everything you would need. from greeting cards to gifts to screen savers. it's really cool. i wish it would be advertised more. :o) i like it!

Blaire's other website...

I read Shelby's review of marryblaire.com and so i went to the site. it's hilarious and pathetic. this lady, in addition to her PLEASE MARRY ME website, has two other websites for all to enjoy. apparently, blaire is a love coach??? i don't understand. this woman and her websites just make her look insane!!! if she's looking for a normal man, these websites are surely going to keep her waiting and make her miss her December goal. maybe a summer wedding??? i really wanted to copy and paste a line from this website...but i couldn't. but to sum it up, blaire was raised mostly by men so she has a real grasp on the male mind. oh...one more thing. theloveguru.com also gives the readers tips on how to find a husband. hmmm....irony.

The Nanny Service :o)

So, when searching for a job, my friend Nicole suggested I look into the nanny business. She told me about this great website just for that! So if you think being a nanny sounds interesting, go to www.greataupair.com and post yourself for families to look at. It really is cool. It's an international site and you can view families YOU'RE interested in by state, of $$$, or whatever and they can find you!! So far I've gotten like 7 or 8 emails from different families who have added me to their list. I'm not quite sure what to do when you really want to meet up with the family...but if you want to get started....this website is perfect.

MarryBlaire.com

This could be the craziest site I've ever seen! I read about www.marryblaire.com in the paper, so I had to check it out to see how crazy this woman was. And since we have so many brides-to-be in our class, I thought they would get a laugh out of this site! Blaire is a 27-year old woman who is determined to be married by December, so she has actually set up a web site to find a husband. She even keeps a diary on her progress - as if the guys she dates can't sign on and read it! Anyway, thought y'all might find it amusing....

America's Most Dangerous Cities

I randomly found this list of America's most dangerous cities online the other day, and I was surprised to see that both Memphis and Little Rock are on the list! Check it out here: http://www.governmentguide.com/community_and_home/morganmostdangerouscities.adp

Bath & Body

so, i kind of work at bath & body works and i wanted to see what there website was like. you can learn about them through thelimited.com because they're owned by the same people. when you do that, though, you don't get the same website as you do when you just go to bathandbodyworks.com. especially now that the holidays are here, it's great to browse through before you go to the store and buy. it's so organized and easy to navigate. they also have a lot of new stuff so you should go and check it out :o)

If any of you babysit for extra cash like I do, I have found that a good way to keep kids occuppied is to let them cook with you. I found a website called Easy Recipes for Kids. It is a good site to visit for some quick ideas on keeping kids busy and out of trouble. Plus you get to eat when its done. http://www.cp.duluth.mn.us/~sarah/rdr020.html

NEW YORK, NEW YORK!!!

Sooo, I'm already making a list of vacations I want to take once I'm married :o) New York is one of my desitinations so I just looked at newyork.com just to see what all I could anticipate. This site was really cute! I liked the colors and it was really busy, but I guess to cover a city like New York, the site would have to be busy. Even though it was busy, it was really easy to navigate through and had a TON of info on like hotels, restaurants, night life, etc. If you're interested in visiting New York, may I suggest newyork.com :o)

Coca-cola

Went to the coca-cola site, but was not very impressed. It was an interactive flash site, but ran slow and was not very interesting. They did however have an international part to their site, which is neat to check out, because you can see the way Coke is advertised in different countries. Check it out at Coca-cola.com

Website Feng Shui

I was browsing around the internet the other day and I stumbled across a website design page explaing how the elements of Feng Shui can enhance the usability of the website as well as it's aesthetic qualities. This online article has 8 basic principles for making your web design user friendly. Some of them involve the placement of logos, font and illustrations. It was pretty interesting. If you are looking for a different view on webdesign visit http://www.webworksite.com/articles/article15.php

Digital Online Photos

It seems like a lot of companies have started offering online digital imaging services. One of the best online companies that I have found has been Mpix. They offer great prices for the quality of their services and their webdesign and layout is attractive and functional. I would recommend it to anyone willing to try an online photo developing service. Stop by at http://www.mpix.com

Design Guidelines

As I was searching the web for a little help with flash, I found this site. It has a lot of good things to keep in mind as you design a web site. Check it out. It's one thing to know how to operate the software, but you gotta have a good design for it to be useful!

The Clinton Library

Hey guys! I just visited the official website for The Clinton Presidential Center. I thought it was pretty good! It has pictures and tours of the library and really good coverage of the events of Opening Day. So, if you were like me and couldn't go to the historic event, then check out the site.

Bulid your own BMW

If you are a BMW fan you should really check out their site at BMW.com. If you are using a mac you must use Safari, because BMWUSA.com does not support explorer yet. You can pick a car and view it by just dragging over small numbers on the screen. This site is very smooth looking. You can find local dealers for new cars or find pre-owned cars. Check it out!!!

tutorials

I was looking the other day for tips on making flash sites when I came upon this website. www.ezwebdesign.com On this website they have tutorials for several programs, including DreamWeaver, Flash, and Photoshop. There is also a webdesign directory that has tips on writing HTML amongst other things. I found the site to be very helpful, so maybe it can help you too!

scrap booking ideas

If you are like me and you like working on scrap books then I think you should check this out.
http://www.scrapjazz.com/

Why eat meat?

As some may or may not know I am a vegetarian. I have my reasons the main being animal rights. But, what you might not know is what is in the meat that you are eating. I think that for everyone it is very important to know what you are putting into your body. I have found a site that introduces some of the chemicals and toxins that people are putting into their bodies. I'm not asking that you become a vegetarian, but I do believe you should see what you are putting into your body. So take a look and be the judge for yourself. Click Here

Unimpressed

We have been studying about big media companies in Issues in Mass Comm, so I decided to go to General Electric's web site since they own so many media outlets. Overall, I thought the site (www.ge.com/en) was rather unimpressive. It also shamelessly plugs TV shows that are broadcast on stations owned by General Electric. Considering the amount of money you would expect such a massive company to be able to spend on its website, I was disappointed.

More chit chat

Dr. Phil's website has a great message board that you can visit and it's organized into different categories according to subject matter. All the interesting subjects he talks about on the show and in his book are discussed by American's ALL OVER and you can read about it or join in with the posts. I love Dr. Phil! Go to www.drphil.com and find the message board

I'm Lovin' it

We have been recently been talking about flash and how it can be used. A really good site that I found was http://www.mcdonalds.com/. It gives you a choice of what country you want and once you are there you can find interactive play lands with Ronald McDonald or even find a McDonalds that you can work out. This is a very good flash site. Take a Look!!

Need help with paint shop pro!

There are many tutorials on paint shop pro that are really cool. Go to http://www.putertutor.net/paint/psplinks.htm and there will be many different tutorials. My favorite one is swan lake II.

Fun site

My dad is a member of the Memphis branch of Ad Fed, and he usually forwards me their newsletters. I found the link to their site: www.memphisadfed.org and it is really cool! They change the design of it all the time. If you click on the newsletters link, you can see some old newsletters, all of which have innovative designs and layouts. Hope you enjoy! :-)

Cell Phones

I am a current user of the Alltel phone company. There have only been a couple of times that I have to use their site for reference or to pay bills. I have found that it is not the easiest site to navigate, but is not the most difficult either. You can find what you are looking for it just takes a few clicks to navigate your way around. What is neat is that they have an Alltel specials link that allows you to look at special that they might be running for your phone or for that month. On a more personal level, I have found that they are easy to work with and offer a few perks that other companies don’t. CHECK IT OUT!

birthdays

I have the worst memory ever, so when I saw this link on bored.com I decided to share. I don't know how great it is, but its a database where you can type in someone's name and approximate age and it sends you their birthday! No more looking stupid when you forget the birthdays of some of your closest friends! www.birthdatabase.com

a new start

I've been a member of Regions Bank and I frequently utilize their website for various transactions such as transfers and balance inquiries. Lately, they have changed their look and features. Now if you want to make a transfer, the links have decreased to only one, with before it had like three. And when you enter which account you are choosing for money to go out or in, they have your account number for you to click on, instead of typing it, and a balance of that account...YEAH. Simplicity at its best.

Blockbuster - nevermind

I remember being so excited about the Blockbuster Online service, well - those days are gone. My free trial ended a few weeks ago, and I sent my videos back in what I thought would be plenty of time. Ok, well apparantly not in pleny of time because Blockbuster charged me $65 for not have the videos back (URG!!!!). I utilized their online customer service program, but it was not very useful. The response I got was generic and didn't address my questions. Blockbuster received my videos the very next day but didn't refund the total amount that was deducted from my checking account. My advice - Just go to the blockbuster store, don't bother with the online - it's too much of a headache!!!

Wait a minute....

Did you know that the FCC is planning on banning religious broadcasts from the radio waves? Using anti-persperants will cause you to have cancer and unless you help little Jade who needs a heart transplant and can't afford it, she will die. If you've ever gotten e-mails like these and wonder about the accuracy of them, go to Urbanlegends.com. This site lists many of the legends around and you can do a search to find a specific legend.

The cost of big business

I found an interesting article on Wired.com that discusses Google and the challenges it faces as it continues to grow as a company. Google was started by Sergey Brin and Larry Page in 1998. They had one rule: don't be evil. But what is evil? That is what Brin, 29-years-old and head policymaker, is trying to define. As Google becomes big business, it faces questions such as whether to link to hate sites and how to deal with foreign governments who don't want citizens to have access to anti-government websites. We will see if Google's size causes them to compromise on the purity with which they started their site.

happy with target and bed bath & beyond

I visited the target and Bed Bath&Beyond websites for some research...and i was very impressed. My research was for a gift registry. Once i clicked on only one link, the whole website designs changed based on your search preferences. Since mine was bridal, everything transformed into this beautiful and selective format. And my choice had eliminated unnecessary product...for example sponge bob square pants sheets! AAHH. Now it had stuff like fine china and appliances, things that the company knew I would be interested in based on my search patterns throughout the sites. Very useful!!

very disappointed

as you know, i'm engaged and so now is the time to register!! fun times, until Dillard's website came along and ruined the fun!!! I intended on registering through Dillards.com for my china, but the website is so jacked up and difficult to manuever through that i have decided to eliminate this gift-venue!! UGH. As i looked through for what i needed to register for, I clicked on a set of china then wanted to view other accessories, but only pictures of plates would come up instead of pictures of a teapot, for example. The website only had one picture related to the product, so no matter what you wanted to see, you would get some stupid plate! And searching was also very unorganized. If I wanted to look through bath linens, the link would go to the main dillards home page and then to the basic linen section. So as i sorted through spongeBob square pants sheets and washclothes, i decided this just wouldn't do.

fun and easy times

i recently visited the royal caribbean website and found navigation very accessible!!! the website included a main tab-menu bar with drop down menus for help on where to go throughout the website. but once you were real deep into the links and search engines, and what-not, then I thought it would be hard to get back to where I was earlier, but with the many links each page had, it just directed throughout the choices on the main tab-menu bar. I hope that makes sense. So instead of searching through the tab options, you can just search through any desired area/link on a specific page and it will take you there without having to go through alot of pages. YEAH!

Online Advertising

There are several really good websites to learn more about online advertising and advertising
specifications. One of the easiest ads to place is a text search engine ad. Google offers this service through their Adwords Service and Overture offers text ads on MSN, Yahoo, and CNN among other sites.

One of the best sites to graphical ad specifications is Yahoo! Ad Center. The International Advertising Bureau also has a Standards and Guidelines page which is very similar to the requirements of Yahoo! ads. Sitepoint also has an excellent article on Trends in Online Ad Design.

Want to keep up with the movies and tv shows on Ark. cox cable?

You can do this by going to http://www.tvguide.com and sign up to see what cable you use. After this every time you want to check the tv schedule all you have to do is sign in with your email address. The best thing about this is that it is FREE. I love to see what old and new movies are going to be on tv so that I can tape them to watch later.

Weather Alert!!

I was looking for a good web source for weather and found http://www.wunderground.com/. It is a very user friendly web page and what I like about is you can find information just on your county. it gives you the morning and night weather and a weekly focast. Check it out!

Electoral Vote Predictor

If you are interested in following who is really going to win the 2004 Presidential election, you want to check outelectoral-vote.com. The site tracks state polls to determine who is going to win the electoral college instead of the popular vote with national polls.

Yay! I made a post

First... congratulations to me for successfully making a post. Supposedly a picture of me with my mom was posted on the www.texarkana.com website this weekend. I worked Race for the Cure. I do not know if it is really there, but even so, this is a good website to check out restaurants and things to do in texarkana. It is almost the same distance from arkadelphia as little rock, so OBU students sometimes go there to hang out on the weekends. So check it out the next time you and your friends are bored.

"The Search Engine That Isn't a Verb, Yet",

The New York Times published an article about yahoo and it's competition with Google. The author implied that Yahoo is somewhat jealous of Google's status as a verb. Terry S. Semel took over as chief executive of Yahoo in 2001 and since has been making great strides, outpacing MSN and AOL in many areas. Many have come to see Google as Yahoo's big rival. Yahoo was founded in 1994 and most people considered it a search engine. But Yahoo has relied on Google search results. In 2004, Yahoo finally replaced these results with its own search engine, using a robot called Slurp to read web pages. Yahoo has done much to portray itself as an all-in-one package with email, music, search, and news information. But Google is planning to unlease it's own free email, gmail. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the future.

Good clip art source

I recently found a great clip art site: http://office.microsoft.com/clipart/default.aspx?lc=en-us
This site is helpful if you are trying to find some good clip art really fast for a site or something else you are designing. I just used it to make some invitations last week, and I can see how it could have good potential for designing sites as well. Hope this helps someone! :-)

Scholarship search

I am an independent student here at Ouachita Baptist University and being my fifth year I don't have the same scholarships. I went here to find some scholarships available. There are some quite interesting ones. If you are interested you can go to http://fastweb.monster.com/index.ptml

EXTREME!

Teton Gravity Research! One of the best extreme sports filming company out there. They cover everything from surfing to kayaking. Their web site is easy to get around on and holds a "clip of the week." There are a lot of photos, videos, and stories to adventure through. If you get a chance take a look. http://www.tetongravity.com

Taking the Internet on the Road

I found an article in the Dallas Morning News that said more states are beginning to put web addresses on licence plates instead of the state slogan. Pennsylvania has the state's official web page on its plates, West Virginia plates have its official tourism website, and Washington DC has jumped on the bandwagon as well. We'll see how long it is before other states decide to follow this trend as well.

Rip, sample, share without restrictions

Several pop music stars are releasing a new compilation album without the traditional copyright restrictions. “The Wired CD: Rip. Sample. Mash. Share” will hit homes and newstands this week with copies of this month's Wired magazine. What is different about this album is that it is being released under the Creative Commons copyright license that is offered as an alternative to full copyright privileges. The creative commons license was developed by Internet Law guru Lawrence Lessig as a way to allow the creator to develop their own unique copyright restrictions rather than following the strictly intepreted never-ending U.S. Copyright Law.

Because newer isn't always better

One of my friends recently told me about one of his favorite sites, Oldversion.com. This site is pretty cool because you can download any previous edition of files such as AIM, itunes, or Internet Explorer. This helps out people that can't run the latest version of a program, or those that liked features in an older version. Go check it out.

My church's website redesign

My home church in Fort Worth, Texas recently paid someone to come in and redesign the church's website. The new site is definately a dramatic improvement on the previous website that we had. The site is definately user friendly with a pleasant color scheme and design layout. It is a good example of how a really poorly done website can be transformed into a much better one. Please visit it at http://www.northfortworth.org

Need a job?

I found a website that's very similar to monster.com and has lots of different job-related searches. (I looked up web desiging since we're all on our way to becoming pro webmasters) Employer's can submit a request for a job or search through the many resumes online. If you're looking for a job you can find freelance or full time work, submit your resume online, or just search through tons of jobs. They use a bidding system that's very unique. I'm not sure I like it as much as monster .com -see what you think. Click here

Internet use

According to a new study entitled Born to Be Wired: The Role of New Media for a Digital Generation, young people 13-24 spend an average of 16.7 hours online each week. This means time spent on the Internet has outpaced even television use. The study also found that 82% of young people 13-18 own or use a computer. This generation will continue to make use of new technology as the web becomes even more important part of society. You can read the press release about the study here.

less really is more

I recently had to visit the website about Arkansas (www.arkansas.com) for the webistie review. At first glance, it was very basic and the design just seemed somewhat elementary with few colors and images. But as i browsed throughout the site, i found continuity and then realized the huge demographic for this particular site: children-seniors. it had to be appealing to virtually anyone! And then the simplistic features seemed to have rhythym to keep any education level interested and definately not lost...successful really.

New way to rent movies

I recently signed up for the free trial of Blockbuster's online movie rental program. Their website makes selecting movies very easy, and they have been quick to send the movies. You select whatever movies you want to watch and add them to your list of movies. They send up to three dvds to you at a time with a pre-paid return envelope. You watch the movie and send it back and they send you the next one on your Queue. Their web design is really nice and easy to navigate. It's a neat place and a neat online service. My first three movies are on their way and I'm excited!!

Blog Uses

If you're interested in finding out the impact of blogging and the different uses it has, check out this site. It is all about the blogging world from a teacher's perspective and you can read about the pro's, con's and struggles teachers are facing as they try and incorporate blogging as a teaching tool. Also you can find out what tips they have to offer to help make blogs more "blog worthy". I found some helpful hints people of all ages can benefit from.

Internet Fraud

E-Bay users beware! If you are a regular user of E-bay or any other internet acution site, you may already know the dangers of Internet Fraud. I was a recent victim of internet fraud through a purchase I made on E-bay. I was impressed, however, on the services that Pay-pal offered to try to resolve my dispute and that's what my blog post is about. I filed a complaint and found their website very helpful. They responded back fairly quickly and had the complaint resolved in just a few days. To my loss, however, they could not recover the funds that were charged to my credit card and I still never got my purchase. Though Internet Fraud is possible, there are a few steps that can be taken to avoid it. They can be found here.

Helpful with developing your own website!

I have found it to be true that netscape composer is the easiest way to make a quick website for those who have no extra time. This program can be found for free on http://netscape.com and can assist you with html as well.

crummy website

I visited www.onlinephotography.com and viewed the website for some needed material. This website was very basic and acutally noted a link that proclaimed "why this website hasn't been updated in years." I couldn't believe this website had advertised it's novice and old-school technique of internet information. It was clearly obvious that there had been no update and care taken of the site, therfore, making navigation very long and strenous because of the lack of links and features. This made the website have a long vertical scroll, which is my pet-peeve, and had links only on certain points of the feature (like a bullet, instead of an underlined link). This made browsing longer and confusing.

Nielsen weighs in on Bush vs. Kerry

Jakob Nielsen is even getting into the swing of politics as the election season progresses. His latest alertbox looks at the email newsletters sent out by both major political party's campaigns entitled Bush vs. Kerry: Email Newsletters Rated. As could be expected he gives both political parties email newsletters very low scores.

As a side to Nielsen's statements, I'd like to say that I have rarely seen a site that Nielsen gave high marks to, that I did not consider plain and dull. Just take a look at his usability guru site Useit.com.

Outgoogling Google

In her Web Watch column on WashingtonPost.com Leslie Walker discusses howAmazon's A9 search engine reaches beyond google's basics. A9 serves up Google's search engine results (which they buy from Google) and adds a couple of extra features which sound a whole lot like popular Amazon features. For example, they let people store and search their personal web history, bookmakrs and files and then produce recommendations of websites they think you might like based on your surfing habits.

Bloggers' Journalism

I found an interesting article on USATODAY's website about how blogging is changing the face of journalism. Blogging does not follow the rules of traditional journalism, yet it is becoming a force even the major news media must listen to. Should these blogs be policed or should bloggers be allowed to say what they want since we live in a democratic society?

Blogging for the campaign

I started thinking about blogs and how popular they have become. This was the first time for bloggers to be admitted as press to the National Presidential Conventions. George W.'s campaign site even includes a blog. It will be interesting to see if these blogs influence the way people vote or encourage a new segment of the population to start voting.

Arkadelphia Weekend

The Internet is my favorite way to keep up with what's going on outside the bubble-I found www.missamerica.org where you can follow OBU's Lacy Fleming and the other Miss America contestants throughout this past week and tomorrow night's competition. You can even vote for who you think will win! There's information about the past Miss America's, the organization itself, scholarships, etc. I thought about the color scheme we talked about in class yesterday-the blue hues and black background really stand out on the homepage and set the tone for the "gracefullness". Anyway-check it out and find pictures of all prelim winners and other exciting info.

Is it time to forget about download times?

In Poynter's E-Media Tidbits, Steve Yelvington points us to the latest survey of broadband penetration. In many markets high-speed internet connections at home now out number dial-up connections.

This revelations pushes us to question if we still always need to be conscious of the download time of our content on a slow line to the internet? It also makes me wonder if we are losing some broadband customers because our content is not as interactive, multimedia as they expect.

3 tips to banish fear of blogging

Debbie Weil, the web writing wizard, believes a good blog can be an integral part of business and help a business make money. In her email newsletter, WordBiz Report, she is promoting an article entitled Advice to the bloglorn: top 3 tips to banish fear of blogging by Lois C. Ambash. The article is a little technical and very long, but if you want to understand the side of those advocating blogging for business, it is a good read.

International news

I am an Mk from South Korea and I have found it really hard to hear about overseas news in the states. The best place I have found is to go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/?ok and you will be able to find out more about the international news and not just on the terrorist and danger country's. This has been very informative for me and I hope this will help you.

No flights to Dallas

I decided to follow the Flying Hamster of Doom's advice and check out studentuniverse.com. I tried finding a flight from Little Rock to Dallas. I sat there for about ten minutes and the page said it was still searching. I then tried finding a flight from Little Rock to Austin and immediately a list of flights popped up. I don't know how long I would have to sit there before the site would tell me if they found any flights to Dallas or not.

The Cheapest Tickets in the World

I have recently had to find a plane ticket to travel from Little Rock, Arkansas to Charleston, West Virginia. I fly often and have searched a lot of web sites for tickets. The best web site I found for students was www.studentuniverse.com. I found that the flight was almost $80 cheaper than its leading competitors www.cheaptickets.com and www.travelocity.com. If you are thinking about flying you should really check it out.

Ants on LSD

In the latest installment of his "Alertbox Newsletter, Jakob Nielsen declares "much of the Web is like an anthill built by ants on LSD: many sites don't fit into the big picture, and are too difficult to use because they deviate from expected norms." He goes on to complain about how many web sites don't follow any of the design conventions established on the web.

Time saving websites!

I love to work on websites and so I work with netscape composer in which you could find on : http://www.netscape.com. If you have a hard time with HTML this program helps you and you can add things on with HTML on this program. If you really don't have much time to work on your website I would suggest you download this program. Another great program to work with to help you in making funky pictures or frames ect. use Paint Shop Pro. You can find this at http://www.jasc.com to order this program.

Informative Website

Here is a website I found that has a lot of general information about building websites. Buildwebsite4u.com The site talks about web graphics, html, style sheets and many other aspects of websites. It also offers other good links for more indepth information on each subject.

blogs are funny

My first blog experience has been at the curtesy of Lannie's cousin. I was never familiar with these so-called "blogs," but they are an interesting thing where you cn post anything content you want...just like i'm doing now. I thought it was interesting how you can set up graphics with you content and have different feaures on your post. it's also interesting to me how your blog can make your own website address. I look at it like a daily journal or a diary.
"My mood is happy"

National Geographic

I have been surfing the web lately tyring to find a web sites based on good design. I went to the ones I knew would be well designed. I went to web sites such as, National Public Radio a respected radio station and also National Geographic. I was a little disapointed in these web sites in that it was a little tuff to find you way around them. I hower, found that CBS' web site was almost idiot proof. If you get a chance you should check out each one of these sites.

What makes a blog a blog

I've been trying to define what exactly makes a weblog. I've started off on a web search to try to help me find some authoritative resources on this.

One of the best articles that I've ran across on this subect is entitled "What makes a weblog a weblog?" by Dave Winer. Winer is currently associated with Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School, but he is a blog pioneer founding early blog software company Radio UserLand and part of the team that came up with the RSS specification for syndicating blogs (and all sorts of other things) on the Internet.

Welcome to the Online Design Class Blog

Welcome to the online design class blog. Students in Ouachita Baptist University's Online Design class (COMM 3043) are encouraged to post to this blog items of note that are relevant to what we are discussing in class.

For example today we talked about how to write CSS (cascading style sheets) and we referred I referred the students to several css tutorials and references.