Here’s a YouTube video of the astro in action. I love the retro-space graphics!

The mistakes show a lack of polish and design savvy. There is a difference between Arial and Helvetica. Using cruddy stock photos can ruin a good design. Have you thought about the color scheme…or are you going to use the same blue and white pallete again?

Even if you are a rockstar-level web designer, this list is worth a look.

It is easy to get depressed and worn out when it looks like you have a giant mountain of work in front of you. Chris Garrett over at The Blog Herald offers some advice on setting goals and staying positive when running a blog.

The way he puts it, that big mountain you have to climb is just a series of small hills.

RSS is a great tool for keep up with blogs and news, but it can overwhelm you if you let it.

Google Reader is a lifesaver.

Don’t overplan or overthink what you write on a blog. Use common sense, but it is better to write something and have to edit it later.

CSS and Internet Explorer 6 will give you plenty of headaches unless you understand browser bugs.

A clean, organized desk is a stress reliever.

Write down all your passwords for your different email and web services in one spreadsheet and keep it updated.

Water is better for you than coffee.

Sleep is better for you than caffeine.

Don’t fret too much over a first draft.

Since August this blog has sat idle while I worked on other projects. I feel I neglected it like a classic sports car, leaving it to sit under a tarp in the driveway when I should have driving it. Now its time to take off the tarp, rev up the engine, and hit the road.

2008 promises to be a dramatic year for the web and the IT industry. There will be plenty to post about.

Jennifer Laycock describes the process of engaging customers to sell your product and the power of “word of mouth” marketing.

Here’s a quote…

My phrase at the class this week was that social media is mostly just word of mouth on crack. Instead of a person telling ten friends at a dinner party, they blog it and reach thousands (or millions) of people around the world.

She uses a diagram from the Brains on Fire blog to illustrate the lifecycle of a fan.

From large corporations to blog writers, the word “community” is used to describe different ways to market websites and products. But how do you start and what are the risks? This article serves as a starting point to illustrate an elusive idea.

According to Schmidt, Web 2.0 was based on AJAX technology. Web 3.0 will be about building smaller applications and linking them together. Smaller apps can run on different devices, ranging from computers to cell phones, and can be “distributed virally” through email and social networks.

Computer applications would no longer be something you take out of a cardboard box or plastic jewel case and install using a CD. You would receive them from friends and co-workers through your Gmail or Facebook account.

From my viewpoint, parts of Web 3.0 are already here. Do you know anyone who installed Itunes or Instant Messenger on their computer from a CD?

Smashing Magazine offers help in the form of a list of the top 80 professional fonts. The familiar favorites are there: Helvetica, Frutiger, and Univers. There are others you might not have considered.

Not happy with this list? Smashing also features a link to the German site 100 Best Fonts.

The Charles Gnilka Blog Laboratory is my other project. I like WordPress, but Google is improving their Blogger blog platform. The Google team is adding new features to Blogger and their recent purchase of Feedburner will be a valuable asset.

I have been researching what the future of blogging will be. With Twitter and Facebook gaining users and building new communities, the blog landscape is changing.

While new bloggers are appearing every day, I have seen some of my favorite bloggers shut down their blogs and move on to other pursuits. They are still online and using the Internet to communicate, but for one reason or another they felt their current blogs had run their course.

Other bloggers felt burned out by the stress of writing and felt they were not measuring up to their blogging goals. When blogging feels like a chore, then it probably is best to give it a rest.

While looking through YouTube videos I found a clip of Ray Bradbury talking about the art of writing. While he is speaking about writing novels and short stories, I’m sure his advice could appeal to blogs as well.