Web Hosting Blog - Cirtex Hosting

Do you constantly keep over 10+ tabs open in firefox and would love to enhance your multitasking in firefox to speed up and become more efficient while working/browsing the net?

There are many add-ons for FireFox and sometimes it is very hard to find the right one for your needs, below are 5 addons that’ll help you reach the next level in multitasking with FireFox 3 while keeping things simple and elegant for your user interface.

1) Surf Canyon

Find stuff faster on Google, Yahoo, MSN and Craigslist. Also adds image previews on Craigslist. Again this tool helps speed up the process of searching and finding what you’re actually looking for. Very useful tool for those that use google, yahoo, msn, craigslist etc.. on a daily basis.

2) FaviconizeTab

This addon allows you to manage tabs by only seeing their FavIcon or assigning a Favicon to it. It is very useful if you have multiple tabs open and just want to save room for more tabs. With this addon you can easily have over ~50 tabs listed without having to scroll the tabs menu.

3) ColorfuLtabs

Very simple but elegant and helps you keep your tabs very distinct and unique from each other by having a different back ground color whether randomly generated or custom set colors. It is great if you want to have many tabs open and want a new look/way to easily distinguish each of them.

4) iMicros

To explain what this addon does simply put, it helps you multitask much faster by automating Firefox. It can record and replay repetitious work and for example you no longer have to do repetitive tasks like visiting the same sites every days, filling out forms, and remembering passwords.

5) Shareaholic

This is the ultimate addon for social networking/bookmarking and pretty much covers everything along with firefox 3 support. Shareaholic currently supports: digg, del.icio.us, facebook, foxiewire, friendfeed, google bookmarks, google reader, healthranker, kaboodle, magnolia, mixx, myspace, pownce, reddit, simpy, stumbleupon, streakr, truemors, tumblr, twitter, ycombinator, bzzster, etc.

Popularity: 22% [?]

One of the most important factors, aside from getting listed at page one of any Google search is the actual content of your website. Having a website with highly optimized keywords and other SEO-related enhancements is one thing, but building a valuable website that would have ease of use is another thing.

The first thing to realize about website design is precisely that- the website design. Your website design should maintain a level of ease and functionality that would rival other websites containing similar content. Some early internet researches concluded that the average user rates a website the first few seconds that he or she has glimpsed it, and thus, it is the web designer’s job to make sure that the first few seconds of any user to the website would impress immediately. One deciding feature in these few seconds would be the separation of the functional elements of the site, such as search, tables and graphics. The typical eyesore would present a site where the search function is at the bottom, and crazy subgroups of text are at the top and middle, with different colors, font styles and sizes. This will not do.

Simplicity is key, and many websites, including Microsoft, employ a very linear and yet very functional design. The next important feature of a highly appraised website is information architecture. Information architecture means being able to aid completely the user in his specific goals as he navigates the website. The common mistake of some websites is forcing the user immediately, for instance, to buy a product or technically cough up some dough before the user has even begun to realize what exactly the website is about, especially if he or she is a first time visitor. Make sure that the hierarchy of topics and information in your website is intelligently designed and aimed helping any user find what he or she needs. Another deciding feature of a good website would be navigability. It’s one thing to provide a very handsome main page, and following that up in the deeper pages. Make sure that there are enough linkages in the other pages linked to your site so that the user would be able to find his or her way back easily to the main page or some other pertinent page.

Including a search function in every page is a must, and should be the focal point especially of information-intensive websites like ones containing news. Another feature that cannot be understated here is accessibility. Like public buildings, your website should have the equivalent of ramps. Make sure not to marginalize users that are sensory-impaired. If you can, install applications that read text on command, et cetera. For the vision impaired, specifically, make sure that all your links are working and that there are no special actions involved during any point in the navigation of your site, such as installation of plug-ins that would require the extra two or three steps for the impaired user.

Popularity: 23% [?]

As a follow up to a previous post made in this blog about video sharing scripts & ffmpeg hosting, we thought we would follow up with a comparison of the most common Youtube Clones & Video Sharing Scripts out there. There are several choices with prices ranging from free to almost $1000.00 however it all boils down to the specific features you want. Of course all the scripts require ffmpeg hosting support before you even start looking for a script. Most features are common with all the scripts out there, but one or two stand out in terms of that extra feature to make your website stand out from the crowd. Below is an in-depth analysis & comparison table on some features that may be of interest to you, plus the cost of each script. Features that are listed in the table as not being available could be updated at anytime by the developer so be sure to double check.

So how do you start a Youtube style Video Sharing Site? It’s simple as 1-2-3!
1) Choose one of the video sharing scripts below
2) Choose a hosting company (PHPMotion auto-installer included @ CirtexHosting)
(Read more at our previous article on FFMpeg Hosting)
3) Customize and Setup your Youtube Clone and you’re LIVE!

Features	ClipShare	AttachMax	Rayzz	Videoshare	VShare	OsTube	SocialMedia	PHPMotion
Customizable
Upload/Insert Videos from Youtube/Google				X	X	X	X	Paid
Rating & Commenting System
Membership Signup System (Free or Paid)					Free Only	Free Only	Free Only	Free Only
Multi-Language Support					X	X		X
Messaging System		X	?		X
Search Engine (SEO) Friendly			X	?				Paid
Multi-Server Support			X	X	X	Enterprise		X
Cost	$199	$195	$418.95	$300	$10	$Free/299	$197	$Free

Below are brief descriptions of each video sharing scripts.

Clipshare Hosting - Demo

With ClipShare, now you’re limited only by your imagination, not by the software! Unleash the power of video sharing to boost your websites’ traffic & revenues!
With a huge variety of features and options, at an extremely affordable price, ClipShare is the ultimate solution for starting your video sharing and uploading community website just like the big boys: Youtube, Metacafe, DailyMotion, LiveVideo, Vimeo, MySpace Videos or Google Video.

Attachmax Hosting - Demo

Attachmax allows you to run your very own youtube Video Community site, just like popular Videos sites such as youtube, dailymotion and revver. Additionally Attachmax includes the ability for Images and Files, following the trend of other popular File Sharing communities such as Imageshack and Rapidshare. So not only do you get a fully functional Video Script, but a complete File Sharing Website.

Rayzz Hosting - Demo

Life is a movie…You are the Producer, We write the Script! Ready for Rayzz? Agriya’s original approach to video sharing, Rayzz 2.0, is now stuffed full with even more exciting features for webmasters to enjoy! High quality video broadcasting combined with social networking and community features make this script a must to build your own video sharing website.

AlstraSoft VideoShare Hosting - Demo

AlstraSoft Video Share Enterprise is the ultimate solution for starting your video sharing and uploading community just like the big boys such as Youtube, DailyMotion and MySpace Videos and what’s more we now allow your members to share Audio and Photos as well. Video Share is our enterprise level audio, photo and video sharing software that offers a powerful and feature rich solution and most important of all, at an extremely affordable price.

Vshare Hosting - Demo

YouTube Clone Script allow you to run your own video sharing portal. Visitors will be able to upload video to your web site, view existing video, comment on video, share video with others.

OsTube Hosting - Demo

osTube is the first content management system for media contents (MCMS) - a basic framework for creating websites similar to YouTube, Veoh, and Revver. After the successful release of osTube 1.0, 1.1 and 2.0 we have just published the brand new 2.1 version of osTube - a quantum leap in player-functionality and CMS-scalability.

PHPMotion Hosting - Demo

So just what is PHPmotion anyway? - PHPmotion is a free video sharing software that now also have support for audio/mp3 sharing. Our application that will allow you to create and run your very own video sharing website. With very little knowledge required you can now have website just like youtube.com and dailymotion.com and best of all, its 100% free to download and use.

AdQuick - Adbrite Clone Hosting - Demo

AdQuick 2.0 allows you to run your own ad network similar to websites such adbrite.com, adengage.com and adster.com. AdQuick 2.0 will allow you to bring together advertisers and publishers, and you the script owner will take a cut from every ad sold through your adbrite clone website.

http://www.cirtexhosting.com
http://www.hostv.com
http://www.cirtex.com

Popularity: 100% [?]

Your brand is a the very essence of who you or your company are. A brand will give you the opportunity to stand a side from your competitors and be remembered. Take a minute to think about a few things in life that you like. What’s you favourite drink? What kind of computer do you use? What kind of car do you drive? And so on. The answers will most likely be brands, like, Coke, Apple and BMW. Why do you like these brands? What about the brands that you stay loyal to makes you stay loyal? Is it their products or their name?

Brands, actually strong brands, stand the test of time and have the ability to ride through issues that may occur. For instance an issue that concerned Panadol in the early noorties could have ruined their brand. But through brand re-establishment their brand stood the test of time.

Tips for creating and establishing your brand

1. Take a minute to think about some strong brands that you look up to. Write them down, think about them and find out more about them.

2. Start thinking about your own brand and the core message that you want to present. Ask yourself some questions: Who are you? How to do you want people to think about you? What values are important to you? What images do you want people to see when they think about you?

3. Write down answers to these questions and think about what connects these statements.

4. Your branding needs to authentic and feel real. This means that your brand and it’s statements need to come from the heart. People won’t believe in a brand that doesn’t seem real.

5. Now think about your brand message and it’s audience. Who is your audience? What kind of people do you want to impress? What kind of people do you want to deter, if any? When your audience leaves your sight, what do you want them to remember? Think about your general audience, but also take the time to think about your target audience, because you don’t want to spread yourself too thin.

6. You need to make sure that once you have designed your brand image you make sure that everything you do, say and send out has you brand image on it or the core values of your image is attached to it.

7. Take time to study the brand messages of people that you look up to. You can start by googling the person and finding out more about them and their brand. Sir Richard Branson is a great place to start.

Popularity: 42% [?]

Anyone who has ever used Gmail, Microsoft Outlook Web Access or Google Maps is already indirectly familiar with the power behind AJAX, which gives the responsiveness associated with desktop applications to website applications. AJAX, which stands for Asynchronous JavaScript + XML enables back-channel communication in these web applications so that only small portions actually ever need to update in order to respond to the activity by users. AJAX is capable of offering an improved user experience, benefiting both the website designers with reduced server and bandwidth requirements, and the web application’s users with increased usability.

The Yahoo User Interface, or YUI, is a library, or a set of utilities and controls that is written in JavaScript. The Yahoo! User Interface can be used to build web applications that are richly interactive through the use of DOM scripting, AJAX, DHTML and other effective tools. You will also find several core CSS resources in the YUI library. The YUI library’s components are all open source, which means that they are free for any and all uses.

DOJO is an open source toolkit for DHTML that is written in JavaScript. DOJO builds on several different contributed code bases, including Burstlib, F(m) and nWidgets. For this reason, Dojo is often referred to as a unified toolkit. The main purpose of Dojo is to solve some of the long-standing problems that have existed relating to DHTML, which have prevented the mass development of dynamic web applications. Dojo makes it easy to build dynamic capabilities directly into web pages or other JavaScript supported environments. The components that are provided by Dojo can be used to create websites that are more responsive, user friendly and functional. Through the use of Dojo, users can build user interfaces more quickly and easily before, simplifying complex scripts through the use of lower-level Dojo APIs and compatibility layers.

Ext JS is a client-side JavaScript-based framework that can be utilized to build web applications. Ext originated as a set of extension utilities created for the Yahoo! User Interface library (YUI). These extensions were well received and quickly organized into their own independent library. Ext was originally distributed as Yui-EXT. Jack Slocum released version .33 of Yui-EXT, which turned out to be the final version of the code under that specific name, because by the end of the year the library had gained enough popularity that its name simply became Ext. In 2007, a company was formed to deal with the growing popularity of Ext, and the tool kit is now dual licensed under commercial license and the LGPL. On April 1, 2007, the Ext library officially hit version 1.0.

AJAX requires a significant level of mastery when it comes to JavaScript. Unfortunately, JavaScript happens to be one of the most misunderstood, misaligned programming languages out there. However, JavaScript is actually an extremely powerful object-oriented scripting language. As more developers become acquainted with the true power behind JavaScript, they can better take advantage of everything that AJAX has to offer the Internet.

Popularity: 49% [?]

Web 2.0 is the term being used to describe the next generation of websites, as website developers strive to create search engine and user-friendly websites using improved marketing strategies, design strategies and the concept that creating social media communities is one of the most efficient ways to attract visitors. Trends in social media are quickly growing in popularity, to the point where it seems like nothing exists beyond these clever social networking and media communities.

Photo Sharing - One of the best websites online for sharing photos within a community is Flickr, found at http://www.Flickr.com. This website offers a clean, easy on the eyes layout with tools that are simple to use for uploading and labeling photos to share with other users on the Internet. Because Flickr makes use of AJAX-technology, reloading pages is never necessary. Flickr is a great example of what Web 2.0 has to offer the Internet: Visually appealing, user-friendly web applications that make communicating and sharing easier than ever.

Social Networking - The social networking component of Web 2.0 trends is growing quickly. MySpace was the first main social networking website to hit the scene, followed by FaceBook, and now a number of small social networking communities for a variety of target audiences, including social networking communities for certain hobbies, interests, fans of specific movies and television shows, people with certain professions or career choices, and so on. Social networking involves community web applications that allow users to share photos, comments, blog entries and more with one another, interacting with friends, bands, and meeting new people.

Social News and Social Bookmarking Sites - Social news and social bookmarking websites are gaining popularity now that Internet users see what they are really about. The first social bookmarking website was Del.icio.us, which was purchased by Yahoo in 2005, though little has changed because Del.icio.us was already a success before Yahoo got their hands on it. Del.icio.us allows users to keep track of everything they enjoy on the web, from music, to movies, favorite websites, blogs, and much more. Social news websites like Digg and StumbleUpon are also gaining serious notoriety as of late. These websites are run completely by their users, who are allowed to submit news, videos, stories, articles, images and podcasts for consideration, so that other users can vote on them. Websites that receive attention in these social media communities often benefit from severely increased traffic, which is an incentive for them to create content that users will want to pay attention to on these sites.

All of the websites and web applications being developed to meet Web 2.0 standards have some things in common: All are visually appealing, user-friendly, and offer a community aspect to their users. Internet users tend to prefer community-style websites where they can participate to a certain extend rather than just serving as a spectator. As web applications and websites continue to change in order to fit these characteristics, Web 2.0 will take hold on the Internet, becoming more than simply a website trend.

For reliable web 2.0 hosting please visit CirtexHosting & HostV - proven leaders in the hosting industry.

Popularity: 46% [?]

Some of us were definitely born to rule the computer world. Discovering little programs that help along the way helps too, though. I discovered a little program a while back that I’d like to share with all you Cirtex groupies. It’s called PowerMenu, it came out nearly 4 years ago, and hasn’t been updated in nearly 3 years, but it still does the trick.

Check out: http://www.veridicus.com/tummy/programming/powermenu/

This program gives you the multi-tasking king options as follows:

[-] Minimize to Tray - Allowing you to right click on any program window in the task bar and minimize it to the system tray. Need to do something else but keep a program open? Perfect for this use.
[-] Always on Top - When I’m learning stuff about linux command line (never can get enough of that), I often like to put the notepad file I’m saving notes to, always on top mode. It keeps it handy and in view while playing around.
[-] Transparency - I’m not a big buff for this, but I can see how people could find it useful.
[-] Priority - Ever notice how iTunes will skip songs if you don’t have a lot of Ram and are running numerous other programs? This is perfect for that, set the priority to above normal, and no more skipping! I can think of 100’s of other uses for this too.

Check it out!

Popularity: 12% [?]

Here’s an article written by CirtexHosting on how to improve search engine optimization and get more free organic traffic from Google, Yahoo and other major search engines!

A well designed & organized website should clarify the chief purpose of your business and your need, it should grab attention to your targeted visitors so you need to put the best impression to your visitors on first look itself. To screen your visitors more effectively you need to choose keywords relevant to your site and to best describe your product or service. Your site should have itself the ability to explain your business purpose and lead the visitors.

These are few pointers that can help you to create an organize site:

To accomplish Success through SEO follow these guideline:

The backlinks from .gov and .edu are considered links from trusted sites that add more value than the normal links so search in your local authority sites for getting few backlinks from these sites as well.

All these factors contribute to organize easier site administration and chief purpose of your site, here at CirtexHosting, we hope this point would be helpful you to create good impression of your website and bring potential consistency to your growth through good organizing of your site and working consitently with search engine optimization methods.

Popularity: 12% [?]

As an avid guitar player myself, this page sure caught my attention ! Take a look for yourself.

http://www.brianeastwoodguitars.co.uk/gallery.html

Popularity: 12% [?]

One of the most interesting ASCII Art Animation I’ve ever came across, take a look and enjoy.

Watch the Movie

Popularity: 10% [?]