How to Choose a Web Designer

Your website is important. It will introduce the world to your church or business. Before falling into the trap of choosing a designer based solely on cost or relationships, you should consider many other factors.

The Real Cost

Every site ever made costs money. At the very least you have to pay for the domain and host every year. In reality, beyond the obvious costs that you see leaving your wallet there is a much larger cost that you might never see.  Your website is the first thing most people will know about your church or business. Imagine if someone walked into your business wearing a sweat-stained t-shirt with the words "Pull my finger" on the front and a pair of very dirty and torn grey sweat-pants and told you that they wanted to give you ten ways to grow your business overnight. If you are like most people, you wouldn't listen to him.  Why? Because whether it's right or not, first impressions speak louder than words.  Your site is your first impression. A poorly made site will send your potential customers to someone else. The real cost of your site will be in the loss of customers or potential church members.

The Payback

One of the most frustrating things that a business or a church can experience is when a web guy goes bad. I have seen church members who volunteered to make their church's website, get mad at their church, leave with all of the account information, and then lock everyone out from the site. I've even seen people go back and trash the website and the church's name. Having a church member or employee build and control your website can be dangerous.  If you do let someone inside your company build and control your site always make sure you have built in protection:

1. Purchase all domain names and hosting plans through the church or company.
2. Have all account information for the domain registrar and hosting plan made through the company. 3. Set up accounts using email addresses that the designer does not have access to and always know the account information.
4. Have legally binding contracts written up describing what both the company and web designer are responsible for including who owns the website and it's content.

This might sound a little excessive but who ever controls your website controls how you are portrayed online. When you have your site built, treat everything like a strict business transaction.

The Final Product

When building a website, there are many details that cannot be over-looked.  Back in the early days of Windows XP, the only things you had to worry about when you designed a site was how it looked in Internet Explorer 6 and make sure it had some good keywords.  Today a web designer has to be concerned about many other factors such as:

• Does it format correctly on all major browsers and on all major operating systems?
• Does it use web-safe fonts?
• Will the cool features work on even slow or old computers?
• Will search engines be able to properly index your site?
• How long will it take to load on slower connections?
• Is it secure?
• Much, much more. 

A professional web designer should check all of this and work your site so that no matter how someone accesses your site, they will still be able to use it just as easily. If someone visits your website and it takes longer than 15 seconds to load, is hard to navigate, is cluttered, has music playing in the background, has a virtual person walking around in front of the text trying to introduce you to the site, or just doesn't look professional you are hurting your company.

How Should You Pick A Web Designer?

KNOW WHAT YOU WANT. Before you start looking for a web designer ask your self a few questions:

1. What do I want my website to do for me?

• Do you want to sell product online?
• Do you want to promote your church or business?
• Do you want to offer information to your clients?

2. What kind of design am I looking for?

• Minimalistic
• Grungy
• Old Fashioned
• Clean
• Modern
• Other

3. What kind of features do I need?

• Selling Products
• List Events
• Ability to update site myself
• Other

4. What's my budget

After answering these questions start looking for your designer. Here are some tips to help you make a good decision:

1. Look for a designer online.  If he doesn't have a website don't use him.
2. Ask for some recent examples of his work and see if you like it.
3. Make sure he can provide the features you want for your site
4. Contact some of his previous clients and ask them about their experience with the designer.
5. Make sure you get everything in writing and get a contract before you pay anything.

Shameless Self-Promotion

If you are looking for a good web designer, check me out. I would love to sit down and talk about building you a site. I will work with you and help you to get a site that works perfectly with your needs. If you are interested message me on Facebook at Facebook.com/cheapgeeklagrange.

Having a good website can grow your company or church but having a poor or hijacked site can ruin your name. When you are ready to get a website, hire a professional who can meet your needs at a fair price. Think of your site as an investment that if done right will pay for itself over and over. Remember you aren't just buying a website, you are telling the world who you are and what you do. Make your first impression impressive.

Who is the Cheap Geek?

My name is David Reed, and I am the Cheap Geek.

David Reed and the Cheap Geek Truck

Gadgets and technology have always intrigued me. From the first time I started up our family's first computer in 1995, I was hooked.  Tinkering has been a part of my family's history for as long as I can remember.  My grandpa was a carpenter who could build out of wood, my dad was a car mechanic who could fix anything that had wheels, and I broke all of my battery powered toys in the quest to satisfy my curiosity about how they worked.

As I grew up, my ratio of broken to fixed toys started to shift toward the latter.  Christmas of '95, my parents bought our first computer for nearly $3000.  The 75mhz Pentium processor, 4mb of ram and 1gb hard drive left most of my friends quite jealous.  This beast of a machine was the start of my obsession with computers.

From that point on, my dad and I started tinkering with computers. We would buy them from garage sales, collect them from friends, and even picked them out of people's trash the day after Christmas just so we could Frankenstein them together. We would then network a bunch of them together, invite some people from church over (including the pastor sometimes), and play Half Life.  Of course I was the best, but my dad wasn't too bad either. When I went to college I helped fix my friends computers and helped them get rid of their viruses.  From college I was hired to work in a radio station as their Program Manager, however, this position quickly expanded to IT Director, Web Master, Graphic Designer, Network Engineer, and Coffee Getter (Rick's Coffee: Double strength coffee, 2 Splendas, 1 rounded teaspoon of Coffee Mate Creamer in a hot coffee mug). 

Working in the radio station pushed me into new areas of technology.  As my skills matured, more and more friends, friends of friends, and near strangers began bringing me their computers to fix.  What started as a favor quickly expanded into a hobby then into a nearly full time job.  Just for fun I chose a name for my business just so I could have something to call my side job.  In the beginning I never charged very much to fix computers so I jokingly called myself the "Cheap Geek".  That name stuck and when I filled out the paper work for my business license I wrote Cheap Geek PC on the business name line officially making me "The Cheap Geek".

Eventually, I left the station and went full time into Cheap Geek PC.  I found that my skill set fits perfectly with the needs of nearly all churches and small businesses.  Most of my business is still fixing a nearly never ending supply of broken, infected, and obsolete computers, however, my favorite jobs are building websites.  As the economy hits more and more businesses, there is a great need for IT professionals but most businesses cannot afford to have a full time IT staff.  That's where I come in.  Working full time as the Cheap Geek has allowed me to give churches and small businesses a part time IT staff.

The future of Cheap Geek is bright.  My wonderful wife has become my PR and Social Media director and is learning my accounting software. My soon to be 4 year old son is learning the trade and is eager to help Daddy as much as he can.  My 2 year old son likes to write on my invoices and hide my CDs when Daddy isn't looking. The whole family has pulled together to make Cheap Geek PC the best personal care IT company around. We aren't concerned with just your business we are concerned about  helping you get the most out of the tech you have.

Use VirtualBox to Protect Your Privacy and Save Money

Ease: Moderate-Difficult
Time: 1 1/2 - 2 hours

Ok, so like nearly every other blogger on the internet I haven't updated in a very long time, but now I am going to give it another go.

Last night my wife told me that she wanted to be able to print coupons off the internet. It has been my experience that coupon printers are notorious for tracking you and sharing that information with whomever they please.  However, with things getting tight due to the economy I thought I would find a way to make it work for her.

1. A Few Things Explained
First of all, this is not a comprehensive click by click guide.  I do assume you have a bit of technical know-how.  Secondly, this whole process should be free assuming you have a retail or unused OEM copy of Windows (of course I know you can also used pirated versions of it too but I do not condone or suggest you do that).

2. What is VirtualBox?
VirtualBox is what's called a virtual machine.  It allows you to install another operating system (think Windows XP,  Vista, or 7) on your computer without deleting your current operating system or needing to reboot it and boot into a different operating system. Still don't understand?  Check out this link HERE, and HERE.

3. The Setup
You don't need a super powerful computer to run your virtual machine on.  The one I installed it on is a Compaq laptop with a 2.4GHz AMD single core processor and only 3GB of RAM running 64bit Ubuntu 12.04. Not exactly what you would call a impressive setup.

First download and install VirtualBox. Then pull out your copy of Windows. (It does need to be Windows because most of your coupon sites require you to install software that is windows only.) Start up VirtualBox, then click on new. Follow the wizard through the process of setting up a virtual Windows machine.  The only thing I change front he default is I upgrade the ram to 1GB. Once the machine is set up, click on storage, then select the Optical Drive.  If you have a CD/DVD that you are using to install windows, make sure the drive is using the Host Drive.  If you have an ISO that you will be using, select "Choose a Virtual CD/DVD Image File" and then select your ISO.  Then start your virtual machine.  It should boot to the install screen for Windows.  Install Windows.

After the installation, get the virtual machine setup like you want.  Keep in mind though, you are not using this as your daily surfing computer (although you could) you want to keep it as minimal as possible.

Go to Gmail and set up a spam account.  Use this email address for setting up your coupon printing accounts.

After you get everything setup how you like it, go to your preferred coupon printing site and install their snooping err... I mean printing software.  (by the way, you will need to attach a real printer to your virtual machine.  It will not easily print to pdf. You will need to have a real physical printer set up as your default printer on your virtual machine.) Then shutdown your virtual machine completely.  After it's shutdown, take a snapshot of the virtual machine. This will let you go back to exactly the way the system is set up now at a later date.

You should be all set up now.

4. Final Thoughts
How does this protect your privacy?  Coupon companies track your browsing habits and even shopping habits at physical stores to share with advertisers.  Even when they say they don't track you, they still issue your coupons with a unique id that can be used to track you.  If you have no browsing history and your email account is only used for spam, these companies have very little to track on you just don't forget and start browsing the net on your virtual machine after your finish your coupons or you'll have wasted your time setting up a sterile environment.

So, is it worth this much trouble just to keep a bunch of companies out of your business?  You'll have to answer that for your self, but for me, I have never liked people I don't know trying to look over my shoulder to report what I am doing to people who don't need to know.  So I guess for me I'm just trying to "stick it to the man".

Plus it's rather geek and free.

My "New" Laptop

It's probably been nearly ten years since anyone has raved about laptop specs like 366mhz Pentium IIs, but I recently received an old Compaq Armada 7400. What the heck would anyone want with a laptop that old? I had originally thought that I would see if there was anything that I could salvage off of it and then I would scrap it. I was surprised to find out that someone had installed Windows XP on it and upgraded the RAM to 128mb. I figured that I would give it a chance seeing that it was in excellent condition. So let me tell you about my new laptop.

The Good

It has been a while since I have spent any time with a computer running less than 1GHz so I was expecting an excruciatingly slow experience (especially after using my Intel Core 2 Quad rig that I built for myself last Christmas.) I was very surprised that it was quite peppy. I will never be able to watch video or play any graphical games on it but for normal office work it is perfect. The keyboard is my favorite part. It has a very nice tactile response and natural feel something lacking in many of the new laptops I have used. Even with it being 12 years old its battery is in better shape than my Intel Core Duo MacBook Pro. After having used wide screen laptops for the last four years has made me forget the advantages of the old 4x3 display. The extra vertical screen real estate lends itself to working with text and web surfing. Because it is so old I didn't have to install any 3rd party drivers. Once XP was installed everything (except my wireless card) worked perfectly. That's something I miss, normally I spend 3 or more hours installing and upgrading drivers on new computers.

The Bad

Touted as a "desktop replacement" back in 1997 the 366 mhz Pentium II struggles with most of today's programs. The original 6gb hard drive could barely hold XP without any other programs being installed with it. I upgraded it to a 30gb hard drive that I had on hand. Since I don't plan on using this for video, pictures, or music I will probably never fill it. Having only a 4mb video card built in, YouTube videos look like slide shows. Nearly everything that I have installed so far has taken an unearthly amount of time. I think most of this is due to the speed of the hard drive (it's only a 4200rpm drive). The laptop originally came with only 64mb of memory and would only hold up to 128mb sticks in each slot, allowing a max of 256mb. This is quickly used up, but the larger hard drive allows for a larger paging file (unfortunately the slow speed of the drive causes massive slow downs). I cannot install any real time scanning antivirus program because of the performance hit on the system.

Why????

I do computer repair for a lot of people who can't afford new computers, so I am always looking for ways to get the most out of older systems. Having a laptop that is this old forces me to look for ways to get the most out of the system as well as gives me a challenge and I like old computers for some strange reason. Also I am trying to teach myself a new programming language and I want a system that is small enough that I can take it with me easily and not worry about losing it or having it broken. (plus who would want to steal it???)

Over all, this will be a good project and a fun gadget until it dies.

**Update: The back light for the LCD is dying quickly... CRAP!**

Portable Computing with PortableApps

A few years back jump drive manufactures started making jump drives that were "U3 Enabled". These drives would auto start a Start Menu like program that listed portable applications that would run off your drive without needing to install your programs onto the computer. This was a great idea but there was some major problems. First, most of the software was proprietary and the free software was mostly worthless. Secondly, the drive took a long time to startup because of the way the software was implemented. Thirdly, it only came on select jump drives and couldn't be installed on any other jump drive. The free alternitive called PortableApps, has fixed all of these problems with an installable application that would work with any jump drive as small as 64mb and they offer their own launcher tool that takes much less time to load. Unlike U3, PortableApps has a ton of free, useful, software. You can install many of your favorite free programs such as OpenOffice, the Gimp, Notepadd++, Firefox 3.0, games, even software that can make your jump drive into a full web server and many more.
Having all these apps on a jump drive may sound nice but what is the real practical use for it? Think about it this way, you are on vacation and you are forced to use your cousin Lou's piece of junk computer. He doesn't have any of the software you need and his hard drive is so full that you can't install anything on it. If you have your trusty jump drive on you then all you have to do is plug it in and start up Thunderbird and check your email then if you use the Foxmarks add on for Firefox you can surf the internet with all of your bookmarks right there on your jump drive. While you are surfing you can start up VLC and listen to your music that you have on your jump drive. Then when you are done you can payback your cousin Lou by letting Clamwin clean out his virus infested computer because his OEM copy of Norton's has expired and he has been "Reminded Later" for the past 5 years. Then after his computer has been saved from every virus known to man you can start up VirtualDub and start making your vacation video and burn it to a DVD with InfraRecorder. Then, leave his computer completely unchanged (except for having removed his viruses). That is why everyone should be using PortableApps!

Internet The Way It Should Be

I am always looking for the next new thing that will change how we interact with information. We have more at our finger tips now than any other generation has had in the past. The more information we have the more difficult it is to access it. Ubiquity is attempting to fix this problem. Check out this video to explain more.
Ubiquity for Firefox from Aza Raskin on Vimeo.

Has Firefox Finally Been Beat?

A few days ago, some one leaked information about a project that Google has been hiding for several years. Google Chrome is Google's answer to Microsoft's Internet Explorer. Chrome is a totally redesigned web browser; built from the ground up it aims for speed and security. I have been a fan of Firefox back in the days of 1.0 but after trying Chrome I have to say I'm reluctant to going back to Firefox for several reasons.

1. Speed - Incredible, unadulterated speed! One of my biffs about Firefox has always been the slow start up times. General web surfing has always been faster than IE but the start up times have at times taken longer than 30-40 seconds on an older PC. Chrome is faster than even IE with start up times and surfing is even faster than Firefox 3.

2. Memory Usage - One of the negative things thrown around by IE Fan boys is that Firefox is a resource hog, and to a degree they are right. Most of these problems have been fixed with 3.0, IE has been shown to use more memory than Firefox has ever. Chrome continues to run smoothly even after marathon surfing.

3. Secure - Chrome was built from day one with the thought of security. IE is not secure due to some short sightedness from the beginning of the project. Active X controls allow someone to take control over your browser with relative ease.

Even with these advantages over Firefox I think that power users will really struggle to cross over the the shiny side. One of the biggest disadvantages to Chrome is that unlike Firefox there is no add-ons for Chrome. Also right now Chrome is only available for Windows XP and Vista. Lastly, Chrome has few options available for power users to tweak.

Over-all, Chrome is a very good browser. I will be watching it's development in the future. I think that for the everyday user Chrome will be a perfect replacement for IE. For the power user, I think that it will be a while before we will cross over to Chrome.

If you have not yet tried it, give it a chance before you write it off as a fad or just not for you. Click here to go to the download page.

What do you think? Comment and let me know.


UPDATE:

After having used Chrome for a while I have just a few things to add.

1. Flash is not as fast as in Firefox. I have an older PC that I use at work (2.0 Ghz, 2.0gb RAM, on board video). I found that Chrome makes all Flash (youtube.com, dilbert.com/animation, any flash based games) drop frames.

2. Java based apps are much faster than in Firefox.

3. I miss my Ad block Plus add-on.

4. Spell checking does not work everywhere it should. (such as while I type this blog)

5. It works best in google based apps (gmail, google docs, etc...)