show # 33
Posted by Jowlstar on Apr 8, 2005
We discussed google adsense, it looked like a good thing to use I reccomend it. We also went deeper into google adsense and will be installing it next week.
Jowls notes for 32
Posted by Jowlstar on Apr 8, 2005
We added some Miniclip games to The orting site and we also played all of them as we were playing them we noticed that flashman was using the sounds from Pacman. The sounds were copy righted material, we are discussing google adsense today.
Jowls notes for show 31
Posted by Jowlstar on Mar 25, 2005
First we discussed why i wanted to add a message board, I said it would be cooler to have a message board. Also i said a message board would be easier to manage technically…. But ChefTD said it would be alot of work and i said im ready to take on the work, listen to the podcast to hear what we did, more indepth.
When reading which is easier to read?
Posted by Jowlstar on Mar 25, 2005
When reading sites which do you find easier to read a blog or a forum?
Sorry for being behind on podcast updates
Posted by ChefTD on Mar 21, 2005
We are currently behind two weeks and I just wanted to post a quick note that before tihs Friday’s show we should have the podcasts posted and we’ll be back up to date. As you can see we upgraded this blog, but at the same time we updated other blogs and my work has been crazy busy so I’ve not been able to get this updated and add the podcasts. The files are tagged and we did broadcast live shows the last two weeks.
Thank you for your patience.
Happy 15th birthday, Jowl!
Posted by ChefTD on Mar 7, 2005
Today is Jowl’s birthday and I wanted to take a minute to thank him for co-hosting the Webmaster Cookbook radio show. We’ve been through 28 shows together now and he has learned quite a bit. I’m excited about seeing what he does with this knowledge over the next 28 weeks.
Happy Birthday 
Added inline link tracker
Posted by ChefTD on Mar 4, 2005
Jowl and I will discuss this on the podcast/show later today (yes, there is a Webmaster Cookbook later today) but I’ve added a demo of the MyBlogLog JavaScript which counts the outclicks.
Example of RSS feed redirection
Posted by ChefTD on Feb 24, 2005
Last night we added Feedburner back to orting.com. When we upgraded from version 1.2xx to 1.5 of Wordpress during show #27, we neglected to change the feeds to Feedburner. That site shows using Feedburner with a website where the feeds are pointing to Feedburner.
But what if you don’t want to point subscribers directly to Feedburner? Some webmasters are concerned that what if Feedburner goes down, then your subscribers won’t get the RSS feeds, right? This is correct, but there is a solution on Feedburner’s forums.
EXAMPLE.
If you look at the feeds here, they appear to go to Webmaster Cookbook, but they are being redirected via htaccess to Feedburner. This is an example of redirecting the feeds behind the scenes. If you click through from Internet Explorer the feed looks like crap, btw, but if you subscribe to it in an RSS aggregator or use Firefox to click through then you’ll get a nice clean page with instructions about how to subscribe.
Sending trackback test example
Posted by ChefTD on Feb 14, 2005
Talking with Nicole Simon via Skype and seeing if she receives this trackback on her blog. We’ve had some reports that our blogs powered by Pivot aren’t receiving trackback pings, so this is just a test. Also trying a test trackback ping for Tim Samoff.
Jowl takes a long walk
Posted by ChefTD on Feb 3, 2005
Jowl just got home. He was out taking a long walk (three miles, he said) with his friend. I think it’s good exercise to get out and take walks and it’s one thing that I could stand to do too. Now he is working on his list for the show tomorrow so we can get back to work improving the website.
Jowl website problem checklist
Posted by ChefTD on Jan 31, 2005
I’m making this checklist for Jowl so he knows what to do if he visits his website and notices anything unusual or a problem.
1. MySQL errors. Usually any problem with MySQL errors relates to the condition of whether the MySQL database server is running or not.
Solution: Restart the MySQL database server. Contact ChefTD immediately for details on how to do this.
2. Site will not load in browser. This could be a hosting-related issue. Contact ChefTD immediately for coordination with contacting the hosting company. A dead/unreachable website benefits nobody.
3. Some other error message or strange activity? Contact ChefTD immediately explaining the situation and discuss how to resolve.
Some things you never want to do or you could/may create security issues for the website or server:
1) repost specific error messages publically without a request to by an authorized party
2) ask strangers for assistance with the server and/or give out the FTP or MySQL database password information
3) save the FTP info to any public internet location (others could access the website and/or server if it was a server wide FTP)
4) grant admin access to anybody through email, ICQ or any other form of insecure communication without approval
Added CAPTCHA to comment form
Posted by ChefTD on Jan 24, 2005
We already moderate comments here , but we’re still getting spammed by the bots, so I added the same CAPTCHA code that I use on MakeYouGoHmm called Form Sentinel which all but eradicates the bots. Also if you make a mistake entering in the validation code it will save the comments text so you don’t lose your comments.
Live show today!
Posted by ChefTD on Jan 21, 2005
Just a note that last week’s show / podcast will be posted this weekend along with this week’s show. Last week I’ve been getting past the Vegas CES crud. All those people bringing sickness and my voice is still not completely right. After last Friday’s show I went to bed and spent most the weekend not doing much online. Excuses, excuses, I know.
So anyway keep your eyes peeled for a double feature of Webmaster Cookbook radio show including Jowl talking about meeting a web celebrity the other night.
Two more places to generate more blog traffic
Posted by ChefTD on Jan 17, 2005
Jowl - in addition to BlogExplosion, which we talked about on show #19, here’s two more along the same lines for you to signup at and start reading other blogs:
The show notes
Posted by Jowlstar on Jan 14, 2005
The show notes and what happened on the show will be up soon. Because ChefTD has gotten my sickness.
Now we are Gravatar-enabled!
Posted by ChefTD on Jan 2, 2005
For those with Gravatars, the Webmaster Cookbook blog comments are now Gravatar-enabled. The maximum rating allowed is “PG” (remember, this blog is family friendly) so sorry if you have R or higher gravatar.
A Gravatar is an image that shows up whenever you leave your gravatar-enabled email address in a gravatar-enabled blog (or other place) comments. I’ve got some reservations about how reliable this service might be, so consider this experimental for the time being.
Comment spam
Posted by ChefTD on Dec 22, 2004
Even though we’re using moderated comments, we still are getting our share of comment spam. On this special Christmas eve episode (Friday December 24, 2004, 3pm PST) of Webmaster Cookbook Jowl and I will discuss ways to stop this irritating time waster and also help him with adding a polls option to the orting blog.
No show today!!
Posted by Jowlstar on Dec 17, 2004
Sorry for the inconvenience but it was my moms birthday and my dad wanted to take her out.
Using Tablet PC on our next radio show?
Posted by ChefTD on Dec 15, 2004
We plan to be using a Tablet PC in our next radio show. Details will be discussed on this Friday’s show exactly how we’ll be using it, so please try and add to your schedule if you are curious. Below is a video I shot using userplane showing boot time.
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Thank you for the feedback — good and bad
Posted by ChefTD on Dec 13, 2004
Just wanted to take a minute and say thank you to the folks who have responded to our most recent show and in particular to the negative comment left at Podcast Alley. If you have listened to our show and haven’t yet rated the show, then please do so at your earliest convenience.
One listener to the show, Joe, commented that he felt we “kinda dwelled” on the one negative comment. Joe, if you’re reading, then you are absolutely correct, we did dwell on it. I put a link up here for Jowl to see it and I know by his response that it really bothered him. That’s life being a webmaster as a hobby and profession. Some people just aren’t going to like what we are doing. This website and the radio show is sort of a perpetual work in progress.
Actually, I think the one negative comment we’ve received to date (and I’m sure we’ll have more as time goes on) was a positive thing (and that’s why we spent more time on it, Joe). Will we do this for every negative comment we receive? Nope. The first one is special, just like the first positive comment is special and therefore, IMO, this warrants more detailed discussion. We spent time talking about podcat so we should similarly identify Sam’s comment just to balance things out.
You see, we aren’t just trying to cover the technical, behind-the-scenes stuff in building a website, we’re also trying to explore the community and mental aspect of doing the website work. This is one area I’m worried about with Jowl because while he has demonstrated the technical skill and knowledge pretty good to date, he is definitely having difficulty with the motivation to do the work to build the site on his own.
Jowl clearly had his feelings hurt and I’m sure that’s something every webmaster goes through at one time or another (I’d be lying if I said this never happened to me in the past) and it can have a negative impact on a webmaster’s motivation: that the stuff we spend our time (spare time in Jowl’s case) building and working on will be shot down in flames by a relative stranger online. It’s all part of becoming a good webmaster (cooking a good webmaster stew), developing a harder shell against the things which get in the way of continuing to work on your website.
What’s sort of ironic to me, and I’m pretty sure that I mentioned this on the show, is that Sam thought we are actually trying to be some sort of comedy team.
Webmaster Cookbook is primarily a serious show, and though we may cut things up once in awhile in order to break through some of the serious info (I’ll tease Jowl in a friendly, fatherly, loving way), the overall format of the program is meant to be just like a cooking show with a clear cut purpose for each show — and it’s real, not rehearsed or even planned beyond my writing the menu for each show. Jowl often doesn’t even see the menu before he comes into our “studio” for each show.
That’s one of my concerns actually, is that Jowl doesn’t get more involved with the show each week prior to the show (and I’ve mentioned this concern on air to him several times). So what comes out is really what happens on the day of the show live. This spontaneity could be viewed as “amateurish” by some, I suppose, but I mean it when I say that this is about the most real reality show you’ll ever hear.
For those who listened to our last show they heard about how we’re going to be including in some future shows bonus secret prizes for listeners of both the live show and the recorded show (details can be heard in show #19). And this is open to every listener: the people who love the show or hate the show or haven’t made up their minds about the show.
Thank you for listening!