Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Hosting iWeb sites on GoDaddy

A website made with Apple's iWeb can be hosted anywhere you want. To host it on GoDaddy, I suggest:

  1. Get a copy of Fetch (or another FTP program).
  2. Under the file menu in iWeb, choose to "Publish to Folder" and publish to a new folder (one with nothing in it yet, probably on your desktop so it's easier to find later).
  3. Using your domain as the hostname, (e.g., example.com) and your hosting username as the username (note that it's not your GoDaddy customer number/name, it's your hosting account username) log into your web hosting directory with Fetch by choosing "Open New Connection" under Fetch's file menu (it should open at the root level of your hosting space, which is where you want to upload your iWeb site).
  4. Either delete or change the name of the "welcome.html" file GoDaddy has in your web hosting directory.
  5. On your computer, select all of the files and folders inside the folder you published your iWeb site into and drag and drop them into the fetch file window.
  6. After the files/folders finish uploading, use your web browser to check and make sure your site is online and working.

To update/add to your site, the easiest, and most consistent, way is to make your changes in iWeb, and then repeat the above steps (i.e., republish the whole thing); this should avoid updating only some of the files that make up your site.

Note: Read the comments, they may already answer your question. If your question is not about iWeb made sites hosted with GoDaddy, please either comment a different appropriate post, or contact me directly to discuss custom consultation.

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Prep Video for YouTube (and other online video sites)

Almost all video that is ever on your computer is compressed in someway, the way in which it's compressed is the thing that most affects how it looks. YouTube doesn't share the inner workings of how they take what you give them, and make it what they serve.

Using iMovie or MovieMaker's built-in output options can easily create a video that is awkwardly large for uploading, or of too low a quality to look good after YouTube has converted it.

What's the solution?

A google search can make you drown in partial answers, but here's what I suggest if you have a Mac:
  1. Tell iMovie to output your reel in Full DV quality. That probably means "sharing" it as quicktime, and choosing the full DV type of file (at least that is how is was on older versions of iMovie).
  2. Then, use iSquint (which is free) and choose the default "optimize for ipod" setting. This should output a relatively good quality file of manageable size for uploading.
  3. Upload the ipod optimized file to YouTube (or other online video site).

Mobile Desktop (flash)

Several people bring desktop computers into Starbucks to use the wifi (rated PG).

Monday, February 25, 2008

Best Picture

"No Country for Old Men" on the awards walk in front of the Kodak
Theatre in Hollywood.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Tea Partay (flash)

White bread, blue blooded rap (rated PG-13).

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Hitler Rap (flash)

Adolph spits (rated PG-13).

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Verdugo Mountains

Verdugo Mountains near Los Angeles.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

The Joke (flash)

A joke of breaking bad news to a friend (rated PG-13).

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Flash on iPhone

The iPhone will soon be able to support Adobe's Flash format, according to Gearlive.com.

Monday, February 11, 2008

Cupid's Bloody Valentine (flash)

February 14th, he makes people fall in love. Every other day, he's breaking them up. Cupid is a killer (rated R).

Friday, February 8, 2008

Tobacco Could Kill 1 Billion by 2100

The World Health Organization warned in a new report Thursday that the "tobacco epidemic" is growing and could claim 1 billion lives by the end of the century unless governments dramatically step up efforts to curb smoking
(from The Associated Press, via Wired News).

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Hollywood Sign

The Hollywood Sign from the Hollywood Hills.

Yoda Sings (flash)

Yoda sings (rated PG).

Sunday, February 3, 2008

Google Maps (flash)

Just how powerful is google maps street view (rated PG-13)?

Saturday, February 2, 2008