Domain News

I have been hinting at my involvement with a revolutionary product in domain parking and development for a few weeks now.  I am happy to announce the wait is over! Parking Revolution is now live and accepting memberships for the most innovative, automated and fully featured domain development product ever to be released.

Continue reading for full coverage and some live example sites!

An Inside Look at Parking Revolution

ParkingRevolution.com is truly living up to their name.  CubeVisions Software, the makers of SteadyNiche, are now blurring the line between domain parking and advanced web development with Parking Revolution.

There are several great features I can’t wait to share.. so I am going to walk you through the best ones right now.

• Fully Web Based - This advanced development software can be accessed from any computer online.  Each and every domain that you develop is hosted on Parking Revolution servers at no additional cost!
• Intuitive Control Panels -User friendly administration means anyone can easily find their way around both the customer control panel and their own personal parking and development control panel.

• Unparalleled Development Features - Parking Revolution is bringing amazing site development features to the table the likes of which our industry has never seen before. Here is just a small sample of some of those great features…
  • Word Replacement
  • RSS Feed Control
  • Unique Page Creation
  • Portfolio-Wide Widgets
  • Header & Footer Customization
  • CSS Design Control
  • Google Analytics
• First Class Support - The team at Parking Revolution has been enthusiastically interested in my feedback.  Using their simple support ticket system my one issue was corrected in just a few minutes.
• Multiple Money Makers - Paste your own Google AdSense code directly into your developed pages or update it easily throughout your entire portfolio.  eBay affiliates can plug in their campaign ID’s and start serving up relevant products and earning extra cash.  It’s also just as easy to add direct advertising or affiliate programs!
• Amazing Site Content - Your domains will no longer feel “parked” at all.  With news and articles being updated constantly, built in Job Boards, YouTube Videos, Flickr photo streams, eBay Products, contact forms, and much more.

And The Best Feature of All…

It’s just $15 per month to develop up to 100 domain names fast!

See Parking Revolution in Action!

Here are some sites I setup in just a few minutes all together!  Using default Parking Revolution options all I had to do was input keywords and a description for a fully developed, feature rich website!  Take a minute to browse one or more to see Parking Revolution in action!

Example Sites…

• Daily Poker Tip - Your source for insider poker tips and tricks.
• Junior Surfing - Latest news and videos on the world of Junior Surfing.
• GPS Explore - Top reviews, news and more on GPS Devices.

Sign Up!  Parking Revolution is amazingly only $15 per month to develop up to 100 of your domain names!  I can almost guarantee it will be the best toy you get this Christmas!  Visit ParkingRevolution.com now.

What do you think?  I’d love to hear your feedback on Parking Revolution.  Please leave a comment below.

This article is from DotSauce Magazine - The Domain Industry’s HOTTEST Publication!

A True Domain Parking Revolution Has Come!

Original post by Mark Fulton

This will be the first in a serious of posts devoted to highlighting new and interesting ways people are using WordPress.  I already have at least 3 amazing uses of WordPress lined up that you probably have never seen before and are sure to spark your interest.  So stay tuned, subscribe to our feed and be on the look out for more innovative uses of WordPress.

Innovative Use of WordPress: JustTweetIt.com

WordPress as a link directory! Who would have thought?

The JustTweetIt.com Twitter Directory went above and beyond simply turning WordPress into a link directory. The site features a beautiful design and alot of great content in traditional blog posts. So, you can’t do this over-night, but I’ll give you a quick explanation of just how they did it.

By the way, DotSauce is on Twitter!

How Did They Do That?

The concept is quite simple… turn your comments system into link submission! With a few tweaks and word-swaps (change any mention of “comment” to “submit link”) within the template files, specifically the comment system, comment display, single post and single page, you can have a fully functional link directory.

Once those modifications are done, any page can be created to represent a “Category.” Enable comments on your “Category” page and the link submissions can start coming in!

What’s Your Script Got that WordPress Doesn’t?

If you think about it… WordPress already has most of the features you want for any link directory; moderation, Akismet spam filter, and even membership logins, but I’ll save more on that for the next installment.

Yet Another WordPress Link Directory

The concept is starting to spread, another example of WordPress as a link directory just launched this past month and living up to it’s name.  DirectoryForDesigners.com is a social media directory for, you guessed it, designers of all types.

What do you think about using WordPress as a link directory? Know of any other innovative uses of WordPress? We’d love to hear your thoughts… please leave a comment below.

This article is from DotSauce Magazine - The Domain Industry’s HOTTEST Publication!

Sponsored By midFlux.com! Providing affordable and accurate domain appraisals. We also provide domain articles and valuable information to help you with your domain needs.!

Innovative Use of WordPress: The WordPress Link Directory

Original post by Mark Fulton

I discovered IncSpring a few days ago on Twitter and quickly checked out their website to see what the buzz was all about.  IncSpring is a community of graphic designers who create “brands” for sale, beautiful logo designs with fictional company names.  Occasionally a brand for sale on IncSpring will come packaged with a domain name.

Matching up a quality domain name with a well designed logo really has potential.  Unfortunately, many of the domain names graphic designers choose to use are not the best quality.

An example would be, “Alidocious.com” which is currently listed with a pretty logo featuring an umbrella and stars.   While this is creative (Mary Poppins reference) it is not a functional or user friendly domain name.

I would love to connect with a great logo designer (have a few in mind already) to match up with some high quality .COM names to be listed on IncSpring.

IncSpring is a new site still in beta, so if you do sign up and start posting your brands for sale, don’t expect them to sell the next day. Over the coming weeks and months I expect IncSpring to draw more traffic and more potential brand buyers.

Visit IncSpring.com now if you’re in the market for a great brand or interested selling your own.

 Easy Can Openers

What do you think about IncSpring and it’s potential as a domain sales venue?  Please leave a comment below.

This article is from DotSauce Magazine - The Domain Industry’s HOTTEST Publication!

Sponsored By midFlux.com! Providing affordable and accurate domain appraisals. We also provide domain articles and valuable information to help you with your domain needs.!

IncSpring: The Future of Domain Sales?

IZEAFest is a three-day event to educate and connect bloggers and advertisers.  This exciting conference is hosted by IZEA, parent company of Pay Per Post and Social Spark.  The conference kicks off in Orlando, FL on Sept. 11th-13th.

Exciting Speakers and Valuable Sessions!

Over 20 fabulous and famous speakers will be presenting and teaching you the ways of pro-blogging.  Covering topics such as Growing Traffic, Blog Design, What Advertisers Want, Social Networking, Tools & Plug-ins and more.

These top bloggers will be sharing their secrets to success!

• Jeremy Schoemaker of Shoemoney.com
• John Chow of John Chow.com
• Merlin Mann of 43folders.com
• Neil Patel of Quicksprout
• Brian Clark of Copyblogger
• Michael Brito of Britopian
• Loren Feldman of 1938 Media
• Tamar Weinberg of Techipedia, among many others.

Click here for a full list of speakers.

Get a Free IZEAFest Conference Pass!

DotSauce is proud to be one of the official partners of IZEAFest.  We have been provided 2 free conference passes and some great discounts to pass on to you, our readers.

The first two people to comment below on this announcement who are sure they can attend IZEAFest will get to roll with me for free!  Just make your travel arrangements and I’ll get your pass taken care of.

Or Pay Just $50 Total With Discount Code “DotSauce”

Register for IZEAFest here and get $15 off the conference price!

Look forward to seeing you there!

Sponsored By BigBangNames.com! Introducing a $100 No Reserve Auction format on .COM Domain Names. It also features “Killer Dot Bomb” auctions for Websites also in a no-reserve format.

This article is from DotSauce Magazine - The Domain Industry’s HOTTEST Publication!

IZEAFest 2008: Helping You Grow Traffic, Build Your Brand and Network With Top Bloggers

Original post by Mark Fulton

Website Magazine is one of the premier print publications for webmasters, developers, You can now request a completely free subscription that will be delivered to your business or door step. All you have to do is sign up for your free subscription.

The August print edition of Website Magazine has already been shipped and is arriving to subscribers around the world. Don’t worry though, you haven’t missed out on this great content…

Access Interactive Digital Edition Now

When your subscription is approved you can visit your control panel (Requires free subscription login, see link above) to view the interactive digital version of the latest August issue.

With Website Magazine’s digital edition you can easily search for content, email articles to friends and colleagues and even print for later review.

Inside the August Edition

The feature article in the August edition “Innovative Ecommerce: An insider’s guide to profitability,” provides top secret guidance for online retail success. Covering topics such as reputation management, alternative payment options and more, it’s an important read for merchants and non-merchants alike. Many other important topics are also addressed including comparison shopping engines, social computing, getting listed in Google News, tax havens for online businesses, negotiating better affiliate deals and much more.

An Easy Way to Help the Environment

Subscribe now and a tree will be planted for you! New trees will be planted on behalf of all Website Magazine subscribers. To achieve this noble mission, the necessary funds will be graciously provided by the Replace-A-Tree Foundation, partners and environmentally-conscious individuals.

Other Cool Interactive Magazines

While I’m on the topic, I feel compelled to share this find.   I stumbled on to MagWerk’s quite awhile back (so the content might be a little outdated) but their digital interactive magazines are still very innovative.

MagWerk’s has published (virtually) a line of high quality web zines posing as real flip page magazines. Currently featuring a magazine on each of the following: Music, Gaming, Art & Design, Art & Fashion.

These magazines are, in certain sections, very interactive and media rich with things such as sound clips and music while you read, animation, in-page link structures, pagination within pages , interactive graphics on mouse-over and click, live voting polls, embedded videos and who knows what else. Personally, I haven’t even read but a few pages from each magazine, so I assume there are much more surprises in the form of articles, reviews and more.

Enjoy these 4 high quality virtual magazines, we can only hope that all magazine publishers would someday try their hand and something as interactive and media rich as this!

This article is from DotSauce Magazine - The Domain Industry’s HOTTEST Publication!

Free Subscription to the Interactive Digital Edition of Website Magazine

Original post by Mark Fulton

July 11th 2008 6:00pm EST RTP Startup Weekend commences and the energy is lively in Raleigh, NC.  A diverse group of fifty-some developers, programmers, and designers are all entrepreneurs at heart.

CNBC is here filming the event and doing interviews, we have a live video feed, Flickr photo stream, and everyone is reporting live via Twitter.

After introductions and networking for an hour at the beautiful Edge Office building we got right down to business!  The floor was opened for business ideas and in a short time the group came up with 25 unique concepts.

iPhone applications seemed to draw some buzz from the crowd and several ideas were focused on developing practical applications to be used on your iPhone.

There were some other more innovative ideas as well.  One man had information on a  device for essentially translating foreign languages, a genuine babbefish.

I spoke with some video game developers who had previously created a science-fiction themed video game which was intended and accredited to teach Economics! They pitched an idea for a web based treasure hunt game with local sponsors and big prizes.

I hope to report back with more on our business developments as the weekend progresses.

This article is from DotSauce Magazine - The Domain Industry’s HOTTEST Publication!

Startup Weekend: Local Entreprenuers Meet Up and Start Up Businesses

Original post by Mark Fulton

Smeego is a newly released content management system that you may mistake for PHP Nuke. The developer sold PHP- Nuke and has since moved on releasing Smeego CMS on June 5th as an open source web portal software. Many PHP-Nuke enthusiasts are already converting.

Business Development Opportunity

Released under the terms of the GNU/GPL license, Smeego can be used to develop commercial web properties at no cost. You can in-turn sell these web properties without any restrictions or licensing troubles. This is a major bonus for web developers of all kinds especially those who are currently developing blogs and businesses on platforms like WordPress. Smeego provides an alternate and promising avenue for developing websites.

User Generated Content & Social Actions

The out-dated concept of the “web portal” is now beginning to merge with social networking features, focusing on users sharing content and contributing to a community of like minded individuals. Smeego champions user powered content with friendly features that allow submissions of blogs, downloads, links, articles and news from your website visitors.

Features and Functionality

• Fully integrated File Downloads manager
• Open submission Links Directory
• Email to Friend and Printer Friendly Pages
• Automatically generated Mobile friendly version
• Theme/template system
• FAQ Manager
• Website Statistics
• Polls and Surveys manager
• Reviews manager (Books, games, etc.)
• Banner Advertising manager

As you can see from the list above, Smeego has some seriously cool features. This comprehensive CMS also has module management. New modules and features will be released by developers in the coming weeks.

Smeego Case Study: XboxMVP.com

Immediately after hearing about the release of Smeego a few days ago I downloaded a copy and choose to give it a go as a development option for my domain, XboxMVP.com which has great community potential.

This project starts off as one of the default templates called “Orange” which comes bundled with Smeego. I did some simple modifications to the CSS style options, then created a graphical logo and header design to replace the default white box and orange slice.

“Blocks” were customized to make their titles more relevant to the Xbox niche. Several blocks (Statistics, Advertising. etc.) were not needed during initial development and were deactivated from public view.

Now all that is left to do is promote and create content which is easily managed through the Reviews, News, Polls, and Stories modules!

This article is from DotSauce Magazine - The Domain Industry’s HOTTEST Publication!

Smeego CMS Goes Live: Is this a Dream Web Development Opportunity?

Original post by Mark Fulton

The following is an interview with Nate Whitehill, a professional web designer, entrepreneur and “renaissance blogger”. He has been an inspiration to DotSauce and hundreds of other bloggers over the past few years.

Nate is involved in the domain industry, web development and most notably web design as one of today’s premier WordPress rock stars. Read the questions and answers below to get to know the man behind Unique Blog Designs.

DotSauce asks, “How has the web design profession changed for you over the years since you started in 1998?”

Nate Whitehill: “As you mentioned, I first started playing around with designing websites in 1998-1999 with Adobe PageMill 1.0. It wasn’t until 2004 or so that I put any real effort into trying to learn Photoshop and HTML. As far as what has changed, when I started using PageMill, there wasn’t even native tables-support. Another big transition was making the switch from tables to CSS which I did not do until about a year and a half ago. Tables is a bloated way to write code, CSS/XHTML is so much cleaner. I started designing websites professionally in 2003 when a friend and I launched a local web design company, infinFX media. Even though I’ve been designing websites for almost 10 years, it was only this past year that I realized the potential of blog design as a niche to web design.”

The Unique Blog Designs team with John Chow and Shoemoney

DotSauce asks, “What prompted the foundation of Unique Blog Designs? What have you learned since starting your business?”

Nate Whitehill: “I have been blogging semi-consistently since January of 2007 and in that time, I saw an enormous opportunity in the number of new blogs being started each day. It was only through my previous interest in web design that I put two and two together to decide on starting a web development company specifically catered towards blog design. That being said, we have began to use the WordPress platform to develop more traditional looking websites, with attached blogs. WordPress is not just a great blogging platform, it is a great CMS!

My biz partners, Matt and Josh, and I have been running UBD full-time since August of 2007 (almost 9 months now). We have learned a lot in that time about running and sustaining a business. One of the most important thing we have learned is about the power of networking with other people, specifically bloggers. We exhibited at the Blog World Expo in Las Vegas last year and had the opportunity to meet a lot of our clients including John Chow and Jeremy Schoemaker. We also met a lot of future clients at that event. Attending trade shows is a great way to network and expand an online business. We will be exhibiting and speaking at Blog World Expo and IZEA Fest in September of this year.”

Unique Blog Designs team chillin’ in Las Vegas!

DotSauce asks, “How and when did you acquire your great generic domain BlogDesign.com? How has this domain affected your business?”

Nate Whitehill: “We acquired BlogDesign.com about a month before we exhibited at Blog World Expo in November of last year. We were presented with the opportunity and immediately jumped on the chance to own a fantastic generic domain name which captures our business so well. For the Blog World Expo, we professionally printed a 4×8 foot vinyl banner and we placed the BlogDesign.com domain name on the banner. I think a lot of the big wigs some much bigger companies were impressed we owned that domain.”

DotSauce asks, “Do you have any other high profile domain names or domain stories?”

Nate Whitehill: “Between my business partners and I, we own around 400 domains. About 150 of those are related to blogging and blog design. We also used to develop websites for a man who owns 2000 Chinese-character generic one and two-word domains. Domaining is one of the first businesses I became interested in when I started blogging. I used to chronicle my domaining stories quite a bit on my personal blog (NateWhitehill.com).”

The new Unique Blog Designs office

DotSauce asks, “What advice would you give to an aspiring web developer or professional blogger?”

Nate Whitehill: “While I fully believe in specializing in one particular skill, I think it is very important to aspire to be a “Renaissance person” of online business. There are many different online business skills/models which coincide and intersect with each other. By knowing ‘a little bit about everything,’ it can improve problem solving ability and general online efficiency. I am primary known for being a blogger/blog designer, but I am also well-studied in conversion, SEO, copywriting, domaining, and social media. An aspiring blogger or web developer should work to understand the fundamentals of all of these different types of online businesses. I touched on this topic before on my blog here.”

DotSauce asks, “Aside from your own amazing work, what is your favorite blog design of all time?”

Nate Whitehill: “My business partner, Matt Blancarte, is about to release a new blog design for himself which is incredible, probably one of my favorite designs of all time. We are in the process of coding his site, but once it is done, you will be able to preview it at MattBlancarte.com. Matt is also a co-founder and he is now the lead designer for us. He will also be speaking on the ‘blog design’ panel at IZEA Fest in Las Vegas.”

This article is from DotSauce Magazine - The Domain Industry’s HOTTEST Publication!

Interview with Nate Whitehill, BlogDesign.com

Original post by Mark Fulton

Promising news for web developers, designers, domainers, SEO gurus… let’s just say the internet industry in general! If you are a specialist in any of these fields you will be happy to hear what small businesses will be buying this year.

Register.com, one of the oldest and most respected domain name registrars, conducted a survey of 800 small businesses. The results speak volumes for the ability of the internet industry to thrive in economic down times.

“Despite the slumping economy, most small businesses do not anticipate a decline in revenue over the next year, and many expect to make additional investments in Web site design, SEO and e-mail marketing, according to Register.com’s newly released “Small Business Survey.” Register.com conducted the online survey over a three-week period from April 28 to May 16, polling 800 small businesses.

When asked which areas of technology they are mostly likely to invest in, the top three answers were: Web site design (53%), SEO (43%) and e-mail marketing (41%).

Seventy percent of those polled said they do not expect Web revenue to decline this year despite the struggling economy.”

—Carol Krol of BtoB Magazine

If you haven’t considered offering your professional services as a means of income, now may be a good time to consider getting to know some of your local businesses and working with them to create a web presence.

This article is from DotSauce Magazine - The Domain Industry’s HOTTEST Publication!

Small Businesses Expect to Invest in Internet Services this Year

Original post by Mark Fulton

WordPress Market is an innovative WordPress theme that is going to revolutionize your WordPress blogs and projects! Developed by Revive, a leader in WordPress theme development. This amazingly affordable product goes beyond styling to deliver a fully functional storefront that you can plug right into your WordPress powered blog!

WordPress Market is easy to install, easy to use, and easy to manage! Packed with features and guaranteed updates, your small investment of $40 could be earned back within your first sale or two.

My regular readers know I am a big WordPress fanatic. I am looking forward to promoting the Market Theme and using it to easily build out my portfolio of online businesses with ease.

WordPress Market Theme Features

• Form & Function - The market theme was designed to focus on its functionality as opposed to its design. The theme is intended to be customized to meet the needs of its specific store. A minimalist design which is easy to customize.
• Hassle Free Integration - Using your admin email as specified in the Wordpress settings the buy now button will forward all payments to you. Just click and activate like any other theme.
• Easy to Use Custom Fields - The theme uses multiple custom fields for inputting product images, pricing and custom options within a normal WordPress post.
• Thumbnail Generator - Code included and setup for you so thumbnails are all generated at the right sizes.
• Fancyzoom for Image Viewing - In use for product thumbnails on the single post and product view page for full size image viewing.
• Download Packs and Upgrades - Download the standard Market theme install or a few other custom packages, such as one with the “buy now” option replaced with a “add to cart” option powered by FatFreeCart.

You can purchase WPMarket directly through DotSauce now for only $40!

&nbsp	STANDARD LICENSE	DEVELOPER LICENSE
Price:	$40 USD	$120 USD
Upgrades:	Unlimited, Free	Unlimited, Free
Resell?:	No	Yes
Affiliates?:	Yes	Yes
Ideal for:	Sole owner who wants to run a marketplace on one site or maybe a few of their sites.	Designer and developer who wishes to build off of the Market theme as part of client work.
Buy Now:

The theme requires Wordpress 2.0+.

You will receive an email with the download location and password instantly after your payment has been received. My sincere thanks in advance for your purchase, I know you will love it!

I would be willing to answer any questions you might have, please leave a comment below.

Original post by Mark Fulton

I would like to announce a new resource that can be found in the Premium area of the DotSauce Forums.

I have organized and pruned my personal bookmarks which I have been saving for several years as a web developer/domainer and am now releasing this collection of hundreds of resources to you!

Below you will find an outline describing each category of my “Bookmark Vault” and the number of links contained within each.

Peak Into Mark’s Bookmark Vault

• Webmaster & Domainer Forums: (41 Links!) An excellent list of professional web developer and domainer forum communities. These are all established and reputable communities which often have forums to sell your domains for free.
• Domainer Tools & Websites: (34 Links!) Free windows software and web based applications to make the life of a domainer easier, more productive and more profitable!
• Domaining Blogs: (38 Links!) A nearly comprehensive listing of domainer specific web blogs posting professional articles and news updates regarding the domain name industry.
• Web Design Resources: (99 Links!) Loads of amazing applications, resources, free downloads, blogs and more related to CSS, design themes, graphic design and web design.
• Brilliant Blogs: (68 Links!) Blogs that are not directly related to domain names but provide professional articles, resources and news updates for web developers and tech enthusiasts.
• Miscellaneous Domainer Resources: (57 Links!) A hodge podge listing of cool links related to domaining and web development which have not yet been categorized but still contain some great resources. These will be merged into correct categories soon.
• Random Cool & Web 2.0 Links: (51 Links!) A collection of fun, functional and innovative “Web 2.0″ type tools, websites and projects that I have discovered in my uncharted journey through the web.
• Search Engine Optimization: Coming Soon!
• Script Downloads and Resources: Coming Soon!
• Free Entertainment & Music: Coming Soon!
• Quality Free WordPress Themes: Coming Soon!

I encourage my premium subscribers to contribute their favorite links and help me to manage the Bookmark Vault so that it can stay fresh and continue to evolve as great resource for everyone.

How to Access Mark’s Bookmark Vault

Premium subscribers enjoy unrestricted access to expired domains lists, free domain tools, discounts and exclusive coupons, and valuable articles.

On top of all that they now get a glimpse into the hundreds of resources found in the Bookmark Vault. It is only $10 /month to become a DotSauce Premium Subscriber.

Register for free on the DotSauce Forums and then click here to purchase your Premium Subscription for only $10.

Original post by Mark Fulton

I would like to announce a new resource that can be found in the Premium area of the DotSauce Forums.

I have organized and pruned my personal bookmarks which I have been saving for several years as a web developer/domainer and am now releasing this collection of hundreds of resources to you!

Below you will find an outline describing each category of my “Bookmark Vault” and the number of links contained within each.

Peak Into Mark’s Bookmark Vault

• Webmaster & Domainer Forums: (41 Links!) An excellent list of professional web developer and domainer forum communities. These are all established and reputable communities which often have forums to sell your domains for free.
• Domainer Tools & Websites: (34 Links!) Free windows software and web based applications to make the life of a domainer easier, more productive and more profitable!
• Domaining Blogs: (38 Links!) A nearly comprehensive listing of domainer specific web blogs posting professional articles and news updates regarding the domain name industry.
• Web Design Resources: (99 Links!) Loads of amazing applications, resources, free downloads, blogs and more related to CSS, design themes, graphic design and web design.
• Brilliant Blogs: (68 Links!) Blogs that are not directly related to domain names but provide professional articles, resources and news updates for web developers and tech enthusiasts.
• Miscellaneous Domainer Resources: (57 Links!) A hodge podge listing of cool links related to domaining and web development which have not yet been categorized but still contain some great resources. These will be merged into correct categories soon.
• Random Cool & Web 2.0 Links: (51 Links!) A collection of fun, functional and innovative “Web 2.0″ type tools, websites and projects that I have discovered in my uncharted journey through the web.
• Search Engine Optimization: Coming Soon!
• Script Downloads and Resources: Coming Soon!
• Free Entertainment & Music: Coming Soon!
• Quality Free WordPress Themes: Coming Soon!

I encourage my premium subscribers to contribute their favorite links and help me to manage the Bookmark Vault so that it can stay fresh and continue to evolve as great resource for everyone.

How to Access Mark’s Bookmark Vault

Premium subscribers enjoy unrestricted access to expired domains lists, free domain tools, discounts and exclusive coupons, and valuable articles.

On top of all that they now get a glimpse into the hundreds of resources found in the Bookmark Vault. It is only $10 /month to become a DotSauce Premium Subscriber.

Register for free on the DotSauce Forums and then click here to purchase your Premium Subscription for only $10.

Original post by Mark Fulton

StomperNet is an online business-building membership website. They currently have some great quality videos published online featuring “cutting-edge content.” I’d like to share with you their “Click Fu” video which I found to be an excellent learning experience.

I have embedded the “Click Fu” course video in this post. In total it is 30 minutes long, separated into four parts, but is worth every minute of your time. You will learn through the eyes of your website visitors how to optimize your content.

Part 1: Welcome to Click Fu!

Part 2: Click Fu - Understanding Visitors

Part 3: Click Fu - Optimizing Text Content

Part 4: Click Fu - Wrapping Things Up

I downloaded and toyed with their “Scrutinizer” utility mentioned in the video. It allows you to simulate how a visitor envisions your page layout. Their vision is narrowly focused, contrasting colors are emphasized and peripheral vision is blurred so, as you learned in the Click Fu videos, you need to group important data and links together and organize headers and navigation properly.

Here is a screenshot of the Scrutinizer application in action viewing the DotSauce Forums. Wherever you place you mouse the surrounding area goes out of focus.

The StomperNet Scrutinizer download is free.
Give it a try and scrutinize you website content.

10 Uses for the Scrutinizer Utility

1. Simulate eye tracking in a usability task
2. Assess the ease of use of multi-step processes
3. Give your designer a fresh pair of eyes
4. Find out what “pops” in your design
5. Conduct findability challenges
6. Ask: does your visual grid work?
7. Evaluate your site’s contrast levels
8. Insure learnability in your template
9. Avoid button gravity errors
10. Tell the story of how your eyes work

Original post by Mark Fulton

I am using each and every one of these awesome Firefox tools DAILY and I want to make sure all of you are aware of them as well! The following 5 addons were picked based on their superior usefulness and functionality.

I have written on some cool Firefox addons in the past, be sure to check out these 5 Firefox Addons for SEO and AutoFill Forms Addon where I show you how to submit your website to directories with one click.

Click on the addon titles to go directly to the developer’s install page.

#1. Web Developer Toolbar

No brainer! The Firefox “Web Developer” toolbar has been in development by Chris Pederick since June of 2003. The Web Developer tool is packed with amazing features which allow you immediate access to information about any website you are browsing. Instantly view CSS files, disable JavaScript or cookies, control form fields, manipulate images, validate code and lots more.

#2. FireShot

This fairly new Firefox addon allows you to create and manipulate screenshots of any webpage. You can capture a whole page or just a visible area. Before saving your file you can add shapes, highlight items, create styled text notes and pointers, as well as crop your screenshot. This is an especially nice tool for bloggers and graphic designers.

#3. CoLT

CoLT is not as well known as they other Firefox addons featured in this article, but it is just as useful. Bloggers, developers, designers and anyone who has ever engaged in a forum copies hyperlinks to their clipboard! CoLT gives you added control while copying URL’s to your clipboard. Automatically saving both the URL and it’s anchor text and allows you to output it in custom formats such as HTML, BB Code, or customize your own. This addon is only visible when right clicking on hyperlinks.

#4 MeasureIt

Simplicity at it’s finest. This little addon allows you to draw a ruler on top of any webpage to determine the pixel height and width of any element! Takes the guess work out of CSS margin and padding adjustments, image and element placement. You can also drag the box around once you measure something.

#5 ColorZilla

Another little addon that packs some big tools. Literally. ColorZilla is an advanced eyedropper Firefox addon which allows you to zoom in up to 1000%, allowing you to grab the Hex or RGB code of the tiniest pixel anywhere on the web. I recommend enabling the “Autocopy” feature right after you install (not enabled by default), this way everytime you grab a Hex color code it is instantly stored on your clipboard.

Original post by Mark Fulton

I just couldn’t quite wait to release the new version of DotSauce Magazine. So, here it is in almost all of it’s glory! (I am still waiting on a spiffy new logo and header makeover, which should be live any hour now.) If you are reading via RSS reader, please visit DotSauce.com to see our awesome magazine style layout.

You may also notice some new content around the site, such as an expired domains resource page and some info hinting at new premium subscriptions and a private vBulletin Forum… both of which are coming very soon! Hold on to your pants and keep visiting for updates.

Leave your praise, suggestions and bug reports in the comments!

Thank you readers for your support!

Original post by Mark Fulton