Storytelling Rules to Consider

Found on Get Scribbling.

Did Disqus Kill Commenting?

When you think about it, did Disqus kill blog commenting? I stopped commenting on other sites because of Disqus. Having to register for their service and even then most of the time I would have to login with it only to have it not find my account. Far too much trouble when something like Twitter was so much simpler. Now I just leave a note on Twitter, with a link referring to whatever I wanted to comment on. Much easier, less stress, and it works.

By the way, Disqus is now spamming you but you can pay for it to stop. Or just stop using Disqus. People might start commenting on your site again, or not. I think the days of leaving comments on blogs are gone. Too much hassle to deal with software, like Disqus

Reward the Author

Have you seen something like this before? The reader has a vote in how much the author is paid for the article. I say a vote because I don’t know if the author is paid the amount I picked. Is this a good way to pay web writers? It is based on readers and reader opinions about the content.

I found it at China Highlights.com.

How Software Changes Your Mind

I’ve had so many ideas and from those ideas I spin off into making them reality and find even more options. More than I can keep track of. Software, it’s advances, limitations and quickness to become obsolete/ unpopular, changes how you end up doing things.

I wanted a web directory. But, keeping links became unpopular due to the SEO/ Google fanatics. WordPress and Joomla both stopped including their link management plugins/ extensions in the core software for the CMS. In the case of WordPress you can still download a plugin, Restore Lost Functionality, to bring back links and other features. Joomla still offers Web Links as an extension, but further development seems very limited, if any.

So, I could use Web Links with Joomla, I did upload and install it. But, I can’t use it to import my links from WordPress. (I’ve noticed WordPress does not work well with other CMS). Also, there is no bookmarklet which I would have used to make keeping the web directory supplied with new links as I find them while using my web browser. Anyway, I spent a few days banging into road blocks with this and then I got the idea to change software.

I did have PHPLD (PHP Link Directory), paid for it a few years ago. But, the support forums are gone. Possibly the software is no longer supported as I could not import my links even when I finally did manage to create a CSV file (which was frustrating in itself). There is an option to pull links in from ODP (but dmoz/ ODP is gone) and Google. This feature had an error and did not work. So, I have now ruled out PHPLD.

I’ve tried other web directory software, even considered other premium (not free) software. But, so many are old and seldom updated or lacking any support at all. I did upload, install and try several but they all had errors. Some would not even install at all.

Now I’m looking at the idea of just creating pages of links. Not my preference, but, you have to work with the software (unless you know how to create your own, or can afford to pay someone to do it for you).

There are page builders. I looked at lots of them when I was still using WordPress. Joomla also has a large amount of them. But, I’m not sure which are page builders, template makers, page editors, or something else similar with a different name. They seem to meld together and use the same description even when they say they can work as add-ons to each other. It’s confusing. I don’t like being confused. I think of myself as being an experienced web publisher. But, I am confused.

Of course, none of them really have anything special for links. So, I can’t say I’m eager to install any of them. It’s a bit make-do at this stage.

Bookmark Files From Scratch

Several things may be driving you crazy but, if links, text files and bookmarks are one of them, I have some help for you! (Little things help a lot, right?)

After spending a lot of time trying to import my old WordPress bookmarks into Joomla I found the best way was to create a text file with just the links, all code scraped out. Then create a new file with Notepad using the code I have cut and pasted in a screenshot below:

Screenshot from It Still Works.

Cut and pasted the text also, because I’ve seen how easy images disappear, wander off and generally get lost. I want to remember how I finally got this far, no doubt I will need to do the same again with other links from my other sites moving from WordPress to Joomla.

If you feel confident with HTML, you can create a bookmark file from scratch in Notepad. Begin the document with . Then, enter the title as Bookmarks and the header as

Bookmarks

. Then, begin a list with the

tag. Each item of that list should be denoted by a

tag. Then, describe the link via an tag. For example, if you wished to create a bookmark link to http://www.google.com, your tags after

would look like this:

Google. Finish the file with a closing

tag.

So, maybe this will help you, or you may just wonder why someone would do things this way and spend so much time on links few people will actually look at anyway.

Keep wondering, it’s good for you.

Selling Greeting Cards Online With a Subscription

I still want to sell my art as ecards, online. Today I found someone with a good plan, selling the cards with a paid membership to the site. Ojolie offers a free account, to send the ecards she offers without charge. But, I think, I would rather make the ecards a subscriber only thing. Art online is just too easy to rip off. At least I could get a year’s subscription before giving access to the art. Of course, I still don’t know what software to use. Something like a catalogue, but then it needs to send a png file, or pdf. I think I would include envelopes too, a bonus should people print the cards. So much to consider when you start to think about all the details.

This (see below) is a screenshot from Ojolie, how her pricing works. I’m mainly posting this for myself. So I can look back and remember what I thought I would do.