Gary Hepting - Senior Web Developer

Crimson Trace Email Marketing

Gary Hepting — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 01:57:53 +0000

Crimson Trace Email Marketing Development

Crimson Trace has shipped nearly a quarter-million sets of Lasergrips to gun owners. The U.S. Military, major law enforcement agencies, security-minded citizens, target shooters and handgun-hunters around the world know this: When it comes to quality products and a commitment to servicing the needs of our customers, Crimson Trace is a name you can trust.

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The Survey for People Who Make Websites

Gary Hepting — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 07:10:51 +0000

Take the Survey

I took it and so should you—The Survey For People Who Make Websites, 2009: http://aneventapart.com/survey2009/

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Moving on from IE 6 in 2010. Google no longer supporting IE 6

Gary Hepting — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 06:47:46 +0000

I got another awesome letter from Google today I thought I should share with the world, because it means thing will be changing for the good in 2010.

Google has officially announced it will not be support IE 6 browsers on a few of their major services, such as Google Apps (letter below), YouTube and Gmail.

Dear Google Apps admin,

In order to continue to improve our products and deliver more sophisticated features and performance, we are harnessing some of the latest improvements in web browser technology. This includes faster JavaScript processing and new standards like HTML5. As a result, over the course of 2010, we will be phasing out support for Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 as well as other older browsers that are not supported by their own manufacturers.

We plan to begin phasing out support of these older browsers on the Google Docs suite and the Google Sites editor on March 1, 2010. After that point, certain functionality within these applications may have higher latency and may not work correctly in these older browsers. Later in 2010, we will start to phase out support for these browsers for Google Mail and Google Calendar.

Google Apps will continue to support Internet Explorer 7.0 and above, Firefox 3.0 and above, Google Chrome 4.0 and above, and Safari 3.0 and above.

Starting this week, users on these older browsers will see a message in Google Docs and the Google Sites editor explaining this change and asking them to upgrade their browser. We will also alert you again closer to March 1 to remind you of this change.

In 2009, the Google Apps team delivered more than 100 improvements to enhance your product experience. We are aiming to beat that in 2010 and continue to deliver the best and most innovative collaboration products for businesses.

Thank you for your continued support!

Sincerely,

The Google Apps team

Email preferences: You have received this mandatory email service announcement to update you about important changes to your Google Apps product or account.

Google Inc.
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA 94043

I feel like this movement has been long awaiting the support of a giant such as Google to back it. Microsoft has not supported or even accepted any responsibility for the IE 6 browser quite some time and it is non-sense to continue to apply hacks and work-arounds to perfectly legitimate website code to support it.

However, as website developers and owners, I also believe we should make the initiative to instruct our visitors using IE 6 that they need to change their software before we just cut them off completely. Implementing User Agent detection and displaying messages to these users on every page they view might be a good start. Offering them their choice of downloading IE 8, Firefox 3.6, Safari 4 or Google Chrome 2 would also be a great way to encourage them to upgrade.

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Securing Website Forms with and without CAPTCHA

Gary Hepting — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 03:03:48 +0000

There are means to block automated or remote submission of the website forms. Having an unsecured form these days is just asking for a few hundred junk emails a week if not more. There are about 4-5 decent ways of blocking SPAM and potential “hacker” or intrusive programs from abusing our forms:

1. The most elegant in my opinion and definitely the least annoying to users, but not a completely secure or “perfect” solution is currently referred to simply as “Safer Contact Forms without Captcha”. There isn’t really anything tangible to show you a demo of, but an overview of the technology method can be reviewed here: http://15daysofjquery.com/safer-contact-forms-without-captchas/11/ or here: http://docs.jquery.com/Tutorials:Safer_Contact_Forms_Without_CAPTCHAs (i think this is the original author of this method, but they’re both the same thing)

Two downsides to this approach are:
1. Users must have cookies enabled as well as Javascript. A teeny tiny amount of visitors will not, but we can prompt them with a message.2. This security concept is based on the current methods that “bad bots” and hacker-programs use, but is in no means actually “securing” anything.
2. Number 2 because it is my second favorite option currently available: Ajax Fancy Captcha jQuery plugin. This one is cutting edge and truly is the best and most realistic way of proving someone is actually a human in todays software abilities and limitations. A live interactive demonstration of this is here: http://www.webdesignbeach.com/beachbar/ajax-fancy-captcha-jquery-plugin

Two downsides to this approach are:
1. “You don’t want to use CAPTCHA’s in general because you just know that requiring your visitors to read squiggly letters
and numbers just to send you a message is going to suppress communication – not encourage it.” – Quoted from the article
in option #1
2. This method is the least friendly to handicap visitors using screen readers, etc. This isn’t a major concern on this project, since we are not subject to be Section 508 Compliant or anything, but it’s always something we should be conscious of. You never want to dishonor the ADA…

3. Option #3 is very widely used and is actually the industry leader in CAPTCHA solutions in the open-source world. You’ve probably seen and used this at least a dozen times on various websites: http://recaptcha.net/plugins/php/

4. Option #4 is another flavor of CAPCHTA that is a little less “bloated” and has more readable characters, but is less effective than Option #3: http://www.archreality.com/jcap/. I’ve implemented this one one of our clients websites recently that you can look at: http://www.plansource.com/plansource/contact

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funnelbox motion picture studios

Gary Hepting — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 04:20:58 +0000

www.funnelbox.com

funnelbox motion picture studios
http://www.funnelbox.com/

funnelbox is a premier motion pictures studio located in historic downtown Oregon City. funnelbox offers a complete turnkey solution through our pre-production, production, and post-production services.

Celebrating over a decade of award-winning video production, funnelbox continues to grow as a collection of artists, talent, and partners. We’ve had the pleasure of working with some of the world’s greatest brands.

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Fins, Feathers & Furs

Gary Hepting — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 04:15:05 +0000

www.finsfeathersfurs.net

FinsFeathersFurs.net

http://www.finsfeathersfurs.net

Whether you are interested in a day trip for salmon and steelhead on one of Oregon’s famed rivers or the Alaskan Adventure of a lifetime on the world famous Nushagak river, they’ve got the most productive trips for your enjoyment. Wherever you go, whatever you do, their mission never changes: the trip is all about you and huge chinook and king salmon, silver and coho salmon, and summer and winter steelhead. Their goal is to have you reeling in fish until your arms fall off… and laughing every minute along the way.

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American Angler Boats

Gary Hepting — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 04:07:34 +0000

www.americananglerboats.com

AmericanAnglerBoats.com
ttp://www.americananglerboats.com

The American Angler series runs where adventure lives. Crafted from ultra-durable, all-welded marine aluminum, American Angler boats are tough enough to carry a lifetime warranty.

No newcomer to serious boating, the American Angler started as a regional boat series built by Smokercraft, one of the most trusted names in boating. So great was the demand and distinctive the performance and styling that the American Angler earned its own identity as an entirely separate national brand.

For the past decade the American Angler series has been charting a new and exciting course in maintenance free design, versatility and strength. Now, hundreds of dealers nationwide count themselves as proud distributors and thousands of enthusiastically satisfied customers are your assurance that American Angler is completely committed to your boating experience and safety.

American Angler boats are built in one of the nation’s boating strongholds, New Paris, Indiana, and reflect nearly a half century of careful engineering and attention to detail that’s been honed over hundreds of thousands of boats and millions of customer impressions. It shows in the detail, running quality and layouts that are the product of listening to the market and responding with products that match their customer’s needs and wants perfectly.

The American Angler by Smokercraft stands as one legend creating a new legendary series of all-seasons family and fishing boats.

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Blue Star Transportation – Portland Airport Shuttles, Charter Buses & More

Gary Hepting — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 19:46:50 +0000

www.bluestarbus.com

BlueStarBus.com
ttp://www.bluestarbus.com

Blue Star Transportation has been locally owned and operated in Portland, Oregon for over 30 years. Their modern fleet of motor coaches, charter buses, shuttle buses, and shuttle vans are ready to serve Portland area business travelers, families, groups, tours, corporations, schools and more. If you need reliable, dependable and safe transportation anywhere around the Portland area, count on Blue Star Transportation.

Blue Star Transportation owns, operates, and meticulously maintains our fleet of over 40 Charter Buses, Shuttle Buses, and Vans. They are not a broker, reseller or agent so there’s never any additional markup or hidden fees. They’re able to offer the lowest rates and personally oversee their staff to deliver the best experience, 7 days a week, 365 days a year!

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Top Ten Apps for Android – Updated!

Gary Hepting — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 02:43:36 +0000

Ringdroid

Rings Extended

Locale ¹ has been removed.

¹ – Locale is no longer free… plus I’ve had some major issues with it since their last update(s). I was happy with it before, but they’ve lost my vote for top 10 after I saw it listed at $9.99 on the market…

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We’re a Favorite Place on Google!

Gary Hepting — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 04:19:12 +0000

I received this (awesome) letter from Google today and thought it was cool enough to share:

Dear Business Owner,Congratulations! You’re a Favorite Place on Google. Between July 1and September 30, Google users found
your PDX Freelancers – Website Designers in Portland business listing ****** times, and requested driving
directions or other information about your business **** times.

Because you’re so popular, we’re enclosing a window decal that shows customers you’re a “Favorite Place
on Google.” The sticker includes a special bar code that potential customers may scan with cameras on their
phones. Then they can see your business listing on Google, read and write reviews, and add you as a favorite
right there. We encourage you to put up this decal so potential customers know that you’re a Favorite Place
on Google.

With the holiday shopping season here, we encourage you to update your free Google listing right away. It’s
easy to check if your hours, address, and business description are correct. We also recommend you add
photos, videos, and even coupons to help your business stand out. All of this is free. You’ll notice the results
every time someone says, “We found you on Google.”

Congratulations on your popularity on Google. We look forward to providing you with more and better ways
to grow your business.

Sincerely,
Michaela Prescott
The Google Local Business Team

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