10/22/07

The 7-Step RSS Marketing Plan

ref: http://www.dnncreative.com/Articles/RSS/The7StepRSSMarketingPlan/tabid/176/Default.aspx

If you're wondering how to get started with RSS marketing, here's a basic 7-step plan that should provide some needed guidance. Use these steps as your personal RSS marketing checklist to get you started and help you see whether you're on the right track.

1. Start using RSS as an end-user

The first step to getting started with RSS marketing/publishing is getting your own RSS aggregator, subscribing to other RSS feeds and just seeing and understanding how it all works.

There's a variety of RSS aggregators to choose from. Just a small sample:

2. Plan your RSS feeds

Planning your RSS feeds might be the most important thing you do with RSS. You most certainly need an RSS feed for your e-zine, your news section, your articles etc.

But, how you decide on the RSS feeds you wish to offer and how to package the feeds, amongst other important issues, are much more complex than we can cover in this space. A precise overview of all of the opportunities is available in the "Unleash the Marketing and Publishing Power of RSS" e-book at http://rss.marketingstudies.net/book/t/

You might also want to do follow-up (autoresponder) RSS feeds, feeds for your affiliates, feeds for your employees or business partners, feeds for the media, and so on.

3. Create a list of RSS marketing/publishing requirements

Then create a list of requirements for the RSS marketing/publishing solution you will be getting to publish your feeds. The list should answer the basic questions, such as:
  • Do you want to integrate RSS publishing with your existing content management system?
  • What RSS metrics you'll want to watch? For example, are you satisfied with just a rough idea of how many people are reading your RSS feed, or are you interested in more precise subscriber counts, clicks and even individual content item popularity?
  • Do you need feed personalization, such as personalizing your RSS content with the recipient's name and other details?
  • Do you want to provide your subscribers with the ability to precisely select the content they want to receive in your RSS feed (customization), such as by content topic, keywords, authors and so on?
  • Do you want the RSS feeds to be hosted on your own server?
  • Do you need the ability to target promotional messages or other content to your individual RSS feed subscribers, for example based on their previous clicks and reading habits, or even their subscription data?
  • What's your budget?
  • Etc.
More information on all the different possibilities provided by RSS is available in the free Business Case for RSS report at http://rssdiary.marketingstudies.net/case/index.html?src=sa13

4. Choose an RSS publishing tool and create your first feed

After you've prepared a list of requirements you can start searching for the appropriate tool.

These come in a few general categories:
a) Desktop feed generation tools
Desktop software you can use to inexpensively, quickly and easily generate RSS feeds, but doesn't allow for more advanced features such as content targeting. The market leader in this category is http://www.feedforall.com.
b) Hosted online RSS publishing solutions
If you don't want to be bothered with a desktop tool and having to constantly upload your RSS feeds to your server, you could try a basic hosted online RSS publishing solution, such as http://www.myrsscreator.com. Using their simple service you don't even need your own website to publish via RSS. Another good choice, especially if you're in PR, is http://www.press-feed.com/
c) Advanced RSS marketing solutions
These will cover more advanced RSS marketing capabilities, such as metrics, scheduled autoresponder messages, database building capabilities and similar. The strongest contenders in this market are http://www.simplefeed.com, http://www.nooked.com, http://myst-technology.com and some other strong players as well. Solutions aimed especially at smaller companies include http://www.rssautopublisher.com and http://www.market-soft.com/bypass/
d) Other options
There are many other options as well, one for example being using your existing content management system to publish RSS feeds, or using a blog publishing solution such as http://www.movabletype.com

5. Promote your RSS feeds through your own channels

a) Create an RSS presentation page
On which you explain: what RSS is; how the visitor will benefit from using RSS; where they can get a free RSS aggregator (recommend one yourself!); how they can subscribe to your RSS feeds; and why they should subscribe to your own RSS feeds.

Then, on this same page, include the links to all of your RSS feeds. In addition to the standard orange RSS button, also include direct links for subscriptions via MyYahoo! (get it here http://my.yahoo.com/s/button.html) and other relevant services, such as Bloglines (http://www.bloglines.com).
b) Now promote this RSS presentation page
As much as you can using all of your available channels.
c) Promote your RSS feeds
Directly below your e-zine subscription box, and always "above the fold". Promote your RSS presentation page (telling your visitors that's where they can subscribe to your feeds) on the most prominent locations of your site.
d) If you're publishing more than one RSS feed
Using a couple of focused topic feeds, promote each of them next to their topics on the site.
e) Promote your RSS feeds
In all of your e-mail messages and e-zine issues.
f) As for the content
Don't just say "Subscribe to receive news from my site", but rather prepare compelling copy to specifically show your visitors why they need to subscribe to your content in the first place and why they should subscribe specifically to your RSS feeds.
e) Enable Auto-discovery
Just include the following piece of HTML code in the <head> section of your webpages and you'll be all set:
<link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="ENTER_RSS_URL">

6. Promote your RSS feeds through external channels

a) Submit your feeds
To the appropriate search engines and directories. A good list can be found here: http://www.masternewmedia.org/rss/top55/
b) Ping the RSS aggregation sites
Each time you update your online content, letting them know that new content is available to be indexed. You can use this free service: http://pingomatic.com

7. Other key RSS activities

a) Measure and optimize your feeds
b) Syndicate your feed content to other web media
c) Display third-party RSS feeds on your site

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Happy day, happy life!

The RSS Promise for Internet Users

ref:http://www.dnncreative.com/Articles/RSS/RSSBenefitsforInternetUsers/tabid/175/Default.aspx

The RSS promise for end-users is simple:

  • A unified one-stop-shop to consume online content, without having to visit dozens of sites every day to see what's new and without having their online subscriptions interfere with their personal and business e-mail communications
  • Complete control over their content consumption, including a quick, easy and reliable mechanism to unsubscribe from content they do not wish to receive
  • The ability to receive breaking news as it becomes available, without having to wait for a monthly, weekly or daily recap sent to their e-mail addresses
  • The certainty of actually receiving the content they want, without the fear of it being stopped by spam filters on the way
  • The ability to receive rich-media content directly to their desktops, including audio and video content
  • The promise of providing the tools to make their lives easier, including receiving critical content updates as soon as they become available.

These points are not simple enhancements, but important advancements that can fundamentally change how internet content is consumed. Furthermore, these points themselves prove why marketers need to start implementing RSS now!

To bring the point home, let us inspect some of the content services already powered by RSS.
Library Elf: Making the library experience easier
(http://libraryelf.com/)

Library Elf helps you keep track of your library accounts in one place and received reminders, such as what library material is due, overdue and ready for pickup. Library Elf uses the power of RSS to help you forget about your library accounts and instead be directly notified of the changes you're waiting for, directly to your desktop.
Indeed: Helping your find the right job
(http://www.indeed.com/)

Indeed.com provides its visitors with job seeking results from hundreds of sites and then makes the search results accessible via RSS feeds. Users can subscribe to individual search results, pertaining directly to their search keywords to be notified immediately when new jobs are available.
Flickr: Sharing your life in picture
(http://www.flickr.com/)

Flickr is the most popular photography management and sharing service on the web, enabling end-users to upload their photos and then make them available to their friends, associates and family through a wide assortment of content delivery channels, including RSS. By subscribing to individual Flickr feeds from their users, everyone can have direct access to the latest life experiences from their friends.
RSSCalendar: Sharing your events
(http://www.rsscalendar.com/)

RSSCalendar.com allows individuals and companies to share their personal or group calendars with the rest of the world, letting everyone that matters know of where and what they are doing next, delivering this information via individual RSS feeds.
Coupons.com: Savings to your desktop
(http://www.coupons.com/)

Coupons.com brings the best deals and coupons to internet end-users, helping them save money by discounted shopping. As of late, they also started delivering coupons through RSS feeds, giving their subscribers direct access to their latest offerings.
PubSub.com: Tracking the world
(http://www.pubsub.com)

PubSub.com is an amazing service that allows you to track practically everything going on around the world by matching your keywords with tens of thousands of online content sources, and enabling you to subscribe to your customized search results through customized RSS feeds.
RSSAuction.com: Tracking your purchase interests
(http://rssauction.com/)

If you're a regular eBay user, you certainly want to keep track of new products available, which precisely match your interests. RSSAuction.com helps users keep better track of eBay by giving them a tool to first create a comprehensive list of product requirements and then delivering the search result through an RSS feed. As soon as new products matching individual interests appear, the user is notified of that through his RSS aggregator, giving him the ability to start bidding immediately and without having to visit eBay every day to find the right products.
Upcoming.org: Keeping track of local and social events
(http://upcoming.org/)

From the Upcoming.org website: "Upcoming.org is a collaborative event calendar, completely driven by people like you. Enter in the events you're attending, comment on events entered by others, and syndicate event listings to your own weblog. As Upcoming.org learns more about the events you enjoy, it will suggest new events you never would have heard about."
Feedbeep: The ultimate 'time-to-information' tool
(http://www.feedbeep.com/)

Depending on who you are and your current life situation, many content alerts are critical for you. If you're looking for a job, you want to know immediately when a new one matching your precise interests is available, and so on. While RSS brings this information to your desktop, that might not be fast enough. Feedbeep.com takes internet content delivery one step further, by empowering users to have their critical content updates delivered from an RSS feed directly to their mobile phones via SMS.

RSS Empowers Consumers

The one thing all of these RSS-based or RSS-empowered services have in common is that they empower consumers.

They empower them by getting the content that matters to them delivered directly to their desktops or online content aggregators, but still giving them the power to unsubscribe within moments of not being satisfied with the content they are receiving.

Even more so, these services empower consumers to create social networks and easily share their information with their friends, family and associates on a large scale.

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Happy day, happy life!

Podcasting Interview with Scott Schecter

ref:http://www.dnncreative.com/Articles/Podcasting/PodcastingandDotNetNukeInterview/tabid/181/Default.aspx

I have the pleasure in presenting an email interview with Scott Schecter from Schecter Technology Solutions discussing Podcasting, how it works, the benefits it can bring to your business and Scott's DotNetNuke® Podcasting module, NukeSyndicate.

Podcasting Overview:

  • Q. Thank you for taking the time to join us Scott, please could you tell the readers about yourself: What is your background with DotNetNuke® and Podcasting?
    • A. My name is Scott Schecter I am president of a consulting and development firm located in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. After college my first job was in VB6/VBA development, and from there I moved into .NET development. I have been a .NET developer for about 3 years now. Somewhere around the DotNetNuke 2.X era I began developing applications for the DotNetNuke framework. This has grown at a tremendous pace and currently my consulting firm does the vast majority of its work for businesses targeting the DotNetNuke platform. I also do a lot of xml work for various entities and this is what sparked my interest in Podcasting originally. I just thought it was a very cool implementation of standard RSS 2.0 specification that had far reaching potential to engage users and facilitate communication.
  • Q. Can you tell us about Podcasting, what it is and how it works?
    • A. Sure, lets turn to the Wikipedia for a brief definition as a starting place:

      Podcasting is a means of distributing audio and video programs via the Internet that lets users subscribe to a number of files, also known as a "feed" and then to hear or view the material at the time that they choose. A feed is usually in the MP3 audio format.

      Podcasting became initially popular in late 2004, largely due to software that enabled automatic downloading of audio both onto computers with suitable MP3 playback software and mobile devices that could play MP3 files.

      "Podcasting" is distinct from other types of online media delivery because of its subscription model. The idea is to provide the material not as a one-time delivery, but rather as a series of files that are delivered because end-users want to get the information regularly over time.

      This uses something called a "feed" (such as RSS or Atom) to deliver an enclosed file. Podcasting enables independent producers to create self-published, syndicated "radio shows," and gives broadcast radio programs a new distribution method. Listeners may subscribe to feeds using "podcatching" software (a type of aggregator), which periodically checks for and downloads new content automatically.

      The word "Podcast" is often incorrectly used to describe the posting of any link to a media-player-compatible audio file (typically MP3) on a website. Some radio personalities post MP3 versions of their shows daily, and even though they are not part of any subscription model, they are often called podcasts.

      Most podcatching software enables the user to copy podcasts to portable music players. Any digital audio player or computer with audio-playing software can play podcasts. From the earliest RSS-enclosure tests, feeds have been used to deliver video files as well as audio. By 2005 some aggregators and mobile devices could receive and play video, but the "podcast" name remained most associated with audio.

      "Podcasting" is a portmanteau that combines the words "broadcasting" and "iPod." The term can be misleading since neither podcasting nor listening to podcasts requires an iPod or any portable player, and no broadcasting is involved.

      Aware of that misleading association from the beginning, some writers have suggested alternative names or reinterpretations of the letters "p-o-d", without winning much of a following. One little-used alternative is "blogcasting", which implies content based on, or similar in format to, blogs. Another is "audioblogging."

      Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcast
  • Q. What content tends to be in a Podcast?
    • A. Podcasts tend to be audio or video files, although there are no specific limits on what type of file can be podcasted. Meaning one could podcast documentation, pictures, or even bittorrent files. The only real limitation on the type of medium you are podcasting is whether the users podcast client, commonly referred to as a podcatcher, recognizes those file types and will download them. Different client software supports different file types and some will let you specify which file types it will download.
  • Q. How do you find Podcasts that are of interest?
  • Q. Do you have any example podcasts that are worth checking out?
  • Q. How do you subscribe to a podcast – do you need any specialist software?
    • A. You will need a podcatcher that supports the enclosure element of the RSS or Atom specification to download the media file associated with the podcast. The mechanism for subscription depends on the software the publisher is using to publish the podcast. As a general rule though you will see a button on the site that says 'XML', or 'Atom', or 'Podcast' simply click on that button, and when the page opens copy and paste the URL for the feed into your podcast client, and you are done. The podcatcher will then begin to download the podcast for you automatically.
  • Q. Is there a demand for podcasts? How many people are using / subscribing to podcasts?
    • A. There is a huge demand for podcasts currently, and I only see that growing as more and more businesses tap into the power of the medium and find ways to use podcasting effectively for their business model. Many popular syndication services are now supporting podcasting such as FeedBurner, which allows you to aggregate your existing feed with some additional features such as integration with many popular social services such as del.icio.us and Flickr.

      Here are a few stats I found regarding the various indexing sites I mentioned above, this should give you a rough idea of the popularity of the medium:

      Podcast Pickle: Number of Podcasts: 3119 Number of Episodes: 35061

      PodNova: 12,633 Podcasts

      Podcast Alley: Total Podcasts: 8023 Total Episodes:  175093

Marketing:

  • Q. What benefits can podcasting bring to a website or business?
    • A.  The main benefit of creating a podcast is it allows the user to decide if he or she is interested; it then delivers the content you produce on demand to that user. Each time you publish something new it is syndicated to the user with very little action on their part. They need to simply open their podcasting client and the new material is automatically downloaded to their computer.
  • Q. How can podcasting help with marketing?
    • A. Once a user has subscribed to your podcast they are opting in. This is of tremendous benefit from a marketing perspective because it helps to isolate your target audience. You as the producer need not worry about who is subscribed but only publish the content you wish for them to receive and the podcasting mechanism takes care of the rest.
  • Q. How can businesses use podcasts to integrate within their marketing mix?
    • A. Podcasts reach a different subset of the market than traditional marketing. So in essence you're exposing a different group of users that perhaps would be missed by conventional mediums such as email newsletters, or whatever other medium a publisher might employ. So I think it adds a level of diversity to any marketing campaign
  • Q. Can you give us some examples of how podcasting can be used?
    • A. Podcasting can be used in a variety of ways. Some of the more typical examples would be distributing audio or video to user. So if a company is attempting to sell a product, then one example would be a video demonstration of the product in use. This gives the user a concrete example of the service/product the company is offering.

      Another use might be to distribute audio files. For new and upcoming bands this facilitates a low overhead medium to reach new users. The costs to the band is minimum, basically the cost of producing the podcast and the bandwidth used to distribute it. Once a user subscribes it becomes very easy to distribute new material to the user with very little interaction on their part. They need not visit your site again, or check for new material.
  • Q. What do you think is the optimum time length for a podcast?
    • A. That is really a hard one to give a definitive answer to. It would greatly depend on the target audience. In general the optimum length for a podcast is the maximum amount of time you can keep your listeners interested.
  • Q. How can we measure how many people are listening or subscribing to the podcasts?
    • A. If you have a stats package on your website, then it will log each request for the feed URL. Additionally, many podcast creating packages offer logging as a part of the software.

Creating a podcast:

  • Q. How do you create a podcast?
    • A. The first consideration is what type of podcast you are creating. If it is audio or video then you are going to need some equipment to record the podcast and mix it. This can vary from a microphone attached to a pc to a recording studio. Then one would want to consider the software they are going to use to create the actual feed for the podcast. So first, one needs to decide on what type of file you want to podcast. Then, consider the actual process involved in creating this file. Lastly, one would want to decide on how they will publish the podcast. 
  • Q. Do you have any key tips for creating podcasts?
    • A. I think most important thing is to have fun. If your audience can tell that you believe in what you are talking about and are generally excited about it then that will come across in your podcast.
  • Q. Are there any considerations we need to make before releasing the podcast?
    • A. The main consideration would be the cost of bandwidth. For example, if you have a 10MB show and you expect 6000 listeners will download weekly that would equal a bandwidth total of  240GB per month. So as you can see this can become a factor very quickly.

      However, this would be for an established podcast with lots of subscribers, so in general you will have some time to monitor and adjust your bandwidth needs as your podcast grows. Apart from production costs this is really the only cost associated with podcasting. Many sites use advertising to help offset this cost. However, this is definitely something one should consider before publishing a podcast.
  • Q. Once you've created a podcast how do you promote it?
    • A. The best thing you can do is to get listed on one of the podcast indexing sites such as the ones I mentioned above. These sites provide a central location for interested parties to identify your podcast via subject of content, and offer exposure to large numbers of users that are familiar with the podcasting medium.

The module:

  • Q. How does your module work & how can it help with creating podcasts in DotNetNuke?
    • A. NukeSyndicate basically allows a user to enter a few details such as a title, description, image, and file to be podcasted. It then automatically creates a feed from this information. The real beauty here is that a user really only needs to know basic computer skills to fill in the required information, and then NukeSyndicate takes care of the rest.
  • Q. How much does your module cost? Is the source code available?
    • A. NukeSyndicate is truly free software licensed under the New BSD License. Let me further clarify what that means. It is free as in liberty, meaning that the source is always available and you can redistribute it provided a few minimum criteria are met. Additionally, NukeSyndicate is free as in free beer the cost to the user is zero dollars as well. My hope is that if people find NukeSyndicate useful they will consider donating to help support its continued development.
  • Q. How do you think podcasting will develop in the future?
    • A. I think podcasting will continue to grow in popularity as the tools to facilitate it improve, and it becomes more recognized. Additionally, I think that podcasting will branch out to mean more than audio or video. Think about all the publishers in the world, and all the different formats they use to transmit to their users. As more and more people understand the capabilities of podcasting I think these formats will become more prevalent.
  • Q. Any tips or comments for the readers?
    • A. I think the most important thing to consider when creating a podcast is what you hope to achieve. Think about what your desired outcome is when creating your podcast. There is nothing magical about the medium, the same rules that apply to any type of marketing hold true here as well. Podcasting is no marketing silver bullet but it can help diversify your offerings and facilitate better communication between your organization and its customers.


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Happy day, happy life!

Become a better Standardista

ref: http://www.dnncreative.com/Articles/WebDesign/BecomeaBetterWebStandardsDeveloper/tabid/210/Default.aspx

Learning to develop web-sites using web standards is a bit like learning the guitar, it's fairly easy to get started but to master it takes years of hard work and learning. With the right approach you can become more efficient.

Content first

Historically I would have started a project by creating a design in photoshop, convert that to XHTML/CSS and then add content. This is not the best way. Creating a site should hinge around the content. Understanding the content helps you to do a far better job of creating the site because you are laying out the content to support the goals of the site. After the content is mapped out, the design is created to support the content framework, be it a wireframe diagram or notes on the back of a napkin.

Another benefit that comes from structuring content first (as noted by Andy Clarke of stuffandnonsense.co.uk at @media 2005), you can't do anything until you have some idea from the client the objectives of the site and some level of content in front of you. This is a good way of finding out if the client is committed to the project.

Use the right mark-up for the job

Semantic mark-up is important. In other words the mark-up (XHTML) that you use to structure your page needs to be meaningful to the content within. Learn what each element can be used for; if you're not sure of the best way to mark up some content then research and find the best way. Be aware that html has it's limitations but with thought you can work around those limitations without compromising semantics.

Hand-code everything

Using a text editor to create XHTML and CSS will help you to learn about html elements. As you hand-code you will need to know how to construct a page correctly using the right mark-up as everything is up to you. Code-completion whilst it can be helpful, is actually harmful to your learning ability. Hand-coding has the other advantage that you are in control of everything you write, if the code you create isn't correct you can't blame it on the tool!

Build your site with accessibility in mind

Creating a site using web standards already assists you in making your site accessible, not only to those with disabilities, but also to every user of your website. To make your site fully accessible you need to have that in mind right from the beginning. Accessibility is not an afterthought you can apply retrospectively to a site. Learn how screen readers and assistive technologies work and try not to do anything that will exclude these users from being able to fully use your site. Most techniques are common sense and are easy to implement. If you feel you don't know enough about accessibility then look into it and put it into practice in your next project.

Avoid using hacks

When I first started making websites with CSS I found that I had issues with getting a design to work across all browsers. Next I learnt that I could use CSS hacks as a way to selectively overwrite the CSS rules to fix the differences, so I started using hacks every time I came across an inconsistency. This is a bad habit it's all to easy to fall into. The main thing you need to do to avoid this is to understand firstly that there are default styles in force in every browser, and these default styles vary between each browser. To combat these differences we need to reset the default styles before we apply our own stylesheets.

To that end we can use a special stylesheet such as Tantek Çelik's undohtml.CSS that resets the majority of the elements that have differences between each browser. Before you apply a CSS hack ask yourself "Am I fixing a known bug with this hack?" If you're not then maybe you're doing something wrong.

When applying hacks for IE bear in mind that IE7.0 could be released and fix some issues with standards support but still be susceptible to hacks designed for IE 6.0. Therefore the best bet is to use conditional comments. This proprietary feature in IE allows you to apply overriding styles only to that version of IE. In this way you can apply hacks to IE, safe in the knowledge that IE7.0 won't fail due to incorrectly falling for a hack targeting at IE6.0 though whether it will need hacks of it's own remains to be seen!

Don't use inline styles

Another bad habit is to use in-line styles to add styling as you code. This nasty habit is pure laziness, inline styles have the highest specificity of all (1,0,0,1) so using inline styles will dominate any styling you write for the same element in an external stylesheet. In addition the whole reason we use CSS is separation of presentation from mark-up so inline styles make no sense.

Make your site flexible for different text sizes (aka Bulletproof)

If you are using XHTML and CSS properly then you should be able to build a site that doesn't break if you resize the text. For example using Doug Bowmans's sliding doors technique can help where you need to use background images in elements that will resize as the text-size changes. A great resource for making your site unbreakable is Dan Cederholm's new book BulletProof web design

Use Javascript unobtrusively

Javascript as a client-side scripting language cannot be relied upon to be available on every user-agent, for example all browsers have an option to turn off Javascript. Because of this Javascript should only be used to enhance existing functionality and not break the whole site if Javascript is off. Avoid in-line events such as onclick, onfocus etc. Instead learn how to register event handlers in external scripts and make use of the DOM so that the behaviour layer is separated from the mark-up.

Ask for help

When you come across something you don't understand, try and spend the time to fully grasp it. If you use Google and find a resource that has the answer to your problem don't simply cut and paste the solution, read the article and find-out why it fixes your issue and you will have a useful bit of knowledge for the future.

Don't be afraid to ask for help from your peers (work colleagues, friends or community resources such as the sitepoint forums) (or dotnetnuke forums - ed.) when you need to. This can be a two way process, you will learn from others and others will learn from you.

Challenge yourself

If all you ever do is fixed-width designs then try a different approach with your next project. The more ways you experiment with layouts, the more you will learn. Try not to design a site with how you are going to execute it in mind, try experimenting with a difficult design to put your CSS skills to the test.

Get to events/courses

Where possible get out to any web-standards conferences/events or workshops you can. Not only is this a great way to learn, you also get to meet other web developers and designers where you can make friends/contacts and swap ideas. Find out if your company has a training budget and see what courses you can get yourself on. It's a great way to take your skills to the next level.

Resources

By no means should this be considered to be an exhaustive list but these are certainly good starting points for becoming a better standardista.
Mark-up/XHTML
CSS and general Web Standards
Accessibility
Javascript
Browser Bugs / CSS Hacks
Events and training (UK)


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Happy day, happy life!