May 17, 2005
Great Access-to-MySql Tool
I am in the process of attempting to build a custom-CMS for a client. Having the db model down is one thing, but I have been looking to save time in the build-out of the MySQL db on Apache. Found a great free tool to help me.
The tool is a little free piece of softwore call Access-to-MySql. These sorts of utilities have been around for awhile, but always seem problematic and buggy. Not this one.
The price was certainly right - $0 - and it worked like a charm on an XP SP2 box. The only hurdle was having to install the ODBC drivers (available at mysql.com) Once I did that everything worked.
The software gives you two options - connecting live and uploading or writing to an SQL dump file. I like working with the dump files., but I will experiment with the software's other features.
Available for free at www.bullzip.com
Posted by pgraber at May 17, 2005 03:14 PM
May 12, 2005
The 64 Character Limit for Google
I ran across an interesting discussion today regarding the structure, and length of effective page titles. Good titles are foundational to effective SEO.
Two key points.
1)Gooogle's 64 character page title display limit
2) Finding Synonyms and 'Ignored Words'
The 64 Character limit
In organic SERPs from Google, there is a 64 character limit in what it shows in the page title. After that, elipsis are used (...) Best to keep your titles within this limit. This is a soft limit and page titles can be somewhat longer. Other engines, Yahoo, MSN, etc. use longer limits. The actual structure of the tag may want to have the targeted phrase towards the beginning of the tag. This may be somewhat fluid. Use your own style.
Google Synonyms
Don't know if I spelled that correctly - too busy to look it up - but a powerful tool in Google is the synonym locator. It shows you what Google considers as synonmyms. Use the tilde (~) before the word. SERPs list them in bold. These can help locating words Google considers the same as others.
Posted by pgraber at May 12, 2005 08:51 AM
May 07, 2005
Photo distortion tips/techniques
I was photographing my townhome recently and was perplexed at the amount of barrel distortion the Nikon D70 at 18mm was showing. Certainly not a fisheye, but the distortion is noticeable.
I set out to correct my photos, but needed to brush up some techniques for fixing. Found a great site that talks about the kinds of distortion: barrel, pincushion and tilt.
http://www.bythom.com/distortion.htm
If you browse this site, there is just a ton of excellent Nikon information to be found.
Posted by pgraber at May 7, 2005 02:22 PM
May 02, 2005
I was 35 today
Well, the inevitable happened. Another birthday. Another realization that I'm not getting any younger.
My birthday turned out to be great again. Erin treated me to a wonderful dinner at this little restaurant in Raleigh - Cappers. Their food is always good. Get the Sea Bass; I did. Always do.
It was just a great chill-out dinner with the two of us.
Thirty five is a funny age. Just yesterday it seemed I could remember turning 30. Was in Buffalo. Working for myself and Latko. In debt.
Now of course its different.
Well, five more years to forty!
Posted by pgraber at May 2, 2005 08:19 AM