Quirky Bird Blog

Ok, please Flash developers, don’t throw rotten fruit at me.

Flash is, well…flashy. It’s motion, animation, bling, fancy, exciting! FLASH. kabam. Problem is, it’s not functional in a web word that’s becoming increasingly more content driven.

Flash intros

So you think to yourself, “How can I knock their socks off from the start…I know, a Flash INTRO!!”. Here’s the problem – the person trying to learn about your website and who you are has to A) load the intro and B) sit through the whole thing when they may not want to. In a world where we want our interwebs fast and furious, this has the potential to wreck a users experience instead of enhancing it the way you were hoping it would.

Flash landing pages

So you think to yourself, “How can I really give my site an introduction? I know, a flash landing page!” The problem with this one is that this kind of page is textless. Google really, really hates that. Google wants oodles of meaty, descriptive content to log into the database so that it knows who you are and what you do. So you think to yourself, “I know, I’ll just add a big load of gobbledeegook at the bottom of my page so google has something to read!” To that google says Pthhh. It knows if you’re stuffing keywords in and uses the placement of the page and size of the text to determine how relevant that text is. So you think to yourself, “I’ll know! I’ll make it super big, but make it the same color as the background!” Google checks this too, and you can get hash marks for it.

Entire websites made from Flash

Flash websites are an SEO pitfall. Your Flash developer will say, “No, no, no – we can create an xml sheet with legible search engine text, etc, ad infinitum.” The thing is that it only creates ONE page for your entire website. Unless there’s something new with flash that I’m not aware of. See, The more pages you have, the more valid you look to google. More pages = more content = more keywords = more meta content = More for Google to Log. Your pages decrease in importance the further in you have to click, but every page has a separate existence on the interwebs. The more you have, the bigger you look.

Past the SEO misses, you most likely can’t manage your website on your own. The number one cardinal rule of running a web presence – you should be able to manage it within your own company. If you can’t, you’re giving your money a big old smooch and sending it to the cleaners.

Flash is many times cumbersome for users to navigate. We can’t use tools we’re used to, like the back button or refresh. It’s very rare that a site can pull off Flash effectively, and it’s even MORE rare that Flash is actually enhancing your experience. So, step away from the flash and into the light where Google’s waiting for you with a cupcake (because everybody loves cupcakes).

If the title of this post applies to you, keep reading.
I was one of you.

A few years ago, everyone started blogging. It was primitive, usually personal to a level that I didn’t really care to spend time reading. Design was primitive as well. None of it was really very appealing. It seemed like a lot of technological hoodoo. I was almost completely disinterested.

Then information started trickling through to me that I was interested in. Blogs were becoming beautiful, full of information that I was eager to absorb. I would bookmark them, high on them, and then would never remember to go back.

This orange button started showing up on blogs that I would stumble across. “RSS…WTF is that?” Great, I had just started to get the hang of this and then I found that there was something else I knew nothing about. I googled articles on RSS and was still pretty much lost on what I was supposed to do with them.
WTF is RSS?

RSS is a simple string of information that your blog generates as a way to easily transmit your blog posts out into the internet. You can access this string through a URL. This is what mine looks like:

http://imaquirkybird.com/?feed=rss2

To follow a blog using an RSS feed, you have to sign up for a feed reader – then ’subscribe’ to the blog by saving the RSS link that the blog generated in your reader. The RSS reader will then be automatically alerted and updated with any new posts from that blog.
Reading Feeds

I started off with Google Feed Reader. If you use igoogle, this would be a good option for you – it will post your feeds on your igoogle home page. My problem with Google Feed Reader was that I couldn’t remember to check it. So, it was a bust for me.

A few months ago, I found Feedly – a Firefox plugin. If you don’t use Firefox as your browser, you should. It’s the A-number-1-must-have if you use the internet. Seriously, go right now and get it here: the best browser ever.
Feedly is cool because:
It’s easy to remember to read

I’m a bit of a mad scientist, remembering is not something that comes easily for me. So a top quality in a feed reader is something that’s a little in my face. With the feedly reader plug in, there is an adorable little green rss button next to my url bar. I see it a bazillion times a day. When I have free time, I click it and it takes me to my feedly dashboard.
It’s easy to save sites I want to follow

a) open feedly
b) click add source
c) paste url of feed into the field
d) save

There is also a mini toolbar on your pages that will save an article in your reader, post it to your twitter, or email it to someone with one click. Easy Sneazy.
It’s easy to read

Feedly uses a magazine style layout, so you can see all of your favorites one one page like one big blog. You can create categories for things like friends, living, cooking, etc. Many already exist with some blog suggestions to get you started, you can add/delete feeds as you like.
It’s user friendly

Anyone who knows me well knows that I’m a usability freak. If it doesn’t have an easy to use interface, I’m never going to use it. You’ll be happy to know I use feedly almost every day.
Did I mention it’s easy?

Because it is. Real easy. So easy I can do it – and I was an RSS resister.
I’m a believer

So having found a reader that works for me, I’m officially a believer. One of my favorite pastimes on my computer is reading through the variety of blogs I’ve found to help inspire me, educate me, and entertain me. It’s not as scary as you might think, you just have to have the understanding of what it is and how it works and a tool that helps you manage the feeds you want to read.