Patrick Shaw’s Weblog

You loved that brochure from the local copy shop - and the one page item that you printed on your local color printer looked great. But your web expert just delivered your new website - and the colors don’t match - what gives?

Well - a lot. Your monitor, for example, is likely different than the one the designer used, which is different than the one that the developer used, which is different than the one that the printer uses, which is different than the one . . . You get the idea. You just can’t depend on a monitor to be the arbiter of color - you have to look somewhere else!

There are three different tools that web and print experts use to define colors, to help smooth out this “what color is my website” process:

• PMS is Pantone Matching System, which is specific ink formulas for printing. These are going to be VERY consistent -but only on traditional printing only.
• RGB are values that are for computer monitors - it’s how the picture tube breaks down color. So you can’t use an RGB color and print it and have it match a monitor - a monitor is lit from behind so colors will always appear a bit more vibrant.
• CMYK is a forum color process breakdown for printing - Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Key (which we commonly understand as black.) If you use photographs - you need to print using CYMK - this process essentially breaks down your picture into these four colors - and they will vary a bit from a PMS color - they’ll be a bit more muted than both PMS and RGB.

You can work with either your designer or coding expert to figure out the best way to describe the color that you like. Many software programs will “convert” one type of color scheme to the other - so you can get a little closer on our own.

In the end, though - you need to rely on your eye, on trusting your web or print expert - and remember that a different monitor and a different printer WILL produce different results!

This is an age old topic at NPower - and everywhere else! In addition to learning how to be expert at choosing a server, creating a new website, or choosing a donor database - now you have to learn how to write for your website, blog and e-newsletter!

There are a LOT of tips floating around the internet - but our friends (and Plone experts) at ONE Northwest have published a concise article regarding writing online. I think it’s a terrific read - and it will only take 3 minutes!

I’ve been maintaining a blog for about two months now here at work - and have struggled on occasion with spell checking and formatting. That’s because most blog tools don’t have spell checkers - and if you cut and paste, you often times end up with emended characters that make the formatting go wonky.

Well - no more! I’m trying a new tool from Microsoft called Windows Live Writer. It’s still a beta product - but so far - it seems fine - and I can use the same tool to compose blog entries for my work and home blog - and can spell check and insert links and pictures easily!

You’ve met with a network expert, you know what hardware and software you need, it’s on order, and soon you’ll have a smooth and efficient server. But before it arrives, you can do a few things that can streamline the process and might even save time and money along the way!

If your project includes new workstations, make sure that someone on your team (or each of your employees) reviews “Getting Ready For a New Workstation“. Most of the tasks listed here CAN be done by a network expert - but if you can do them before the project begins, you’ll save time and money.

If you’ll be working with existing workstations - most of the “Getting Ready . . .” information still applies. In addition, however - you’ll want to:

• Put a sticky note on every workstation with the current user name and password, as well as the computer name. If you’ve discussed a new naming convention for workstations - be sure to include the new user name and new computer name!
• If your project includes new antivirus software - you’ll want to uninstall the existing software the night before. Most often, antivirus software can be “pushed” from the server, making it easier to install, speedier - and giving you a central place to manage your virus protection!
• If you are upgrading your workstation software (in addition to the notes in “Getting Ready . . .) make sure that you’ve installed Windows XP Professional and that you’ve also run Windows Update to make sure you have all of the current software updates. Your network expert can do this, too - but - this is a nice way to save time and money!
• Make sure you review each workstation to make sure that you’ve identified any data that needs to be moved to the server. In general, this includes items in the “my documents” folder, any email information that is stored on the workstation, and things such as QuickBooks files or other data that is now going to “live” on the server. Special bonus points for placing all of that information in one folder on the workstation!

Finally - don’t forget that new hardware and software will take some time to settle in - and so will your employees! They might have new user names and passwords, their data might be in a different spot and so on - so - make allowances for the first several days so everyone can get adjusted. You may also want to consider having a coach or a trainer on site, or to consider sending your team to training if your new software is substantially different from your old software!

Just because Vista is available doesn’t mean you should get it now - you should make sure that you have a strong business need (you can read my earlier posts about Vista, and when and if and all of those things!).

In the meantime - you should ALSO know that while www.techsoup.org doesn’t have NEW licenses for Vista or Office 2007 - you MAY be able to download those under your existing Software Assurance License. You can review the FAQ’s from TechSoup for additional information.

Many small nonprofit agencies really are just a single employee (often the executive director) and a laptop. This generally means home office space and not a lot of funding for technology - and usually just a laptop that gets passed around should the executive director change. Given the constraints of a small agency and a smaller budget - what IS the right solution for a stable and secure one laptop office?

In order to implement this, you need six main components - and a new way of thinking!

1. A laptop running Windows XP Pro that you use when you are away from your home office
2. A desktop machine running Windows XP Pro that is the “brain” of your home office
3. An external hard drive device for storage and backup
4. A router that support dynamic dns (more about that later) OR a software tool that will “match and report” your address for you.
5. Broadband access both at home and in remote locations
6. 6. Anti virus and other mal-ware software such as Live OneCare, from Microsoft.

And the new way of thinking? It goes like this: Your laptop becomes a window to your data - you don’t store anything on it! You use it to connect to your desktop back home - here’s how:

Windows offers a tool called Remote Desktop. It lets you quickly and easily establish a connection to another computer - and since it really just sends and receives video information - it is pretty speedy. So if you’re working from a coffee shop - instead of opening your email on your laptop - you connect to your desktop and open it there.

The big advantage with this scenario is that your data is centrally located on one machine and one machine only. Additionally - you’ll use that external hard drive to back it up regularly - AND if your laptop breaks or is lost or stolen - you haven’t lost or exposed your data. Here are some more details!

What Is Dynamic DNS?

To make this work, your home computer will have to have an address that doesn’t change. However, most home connections are dynamic - it is easier for your provider to have the flexibility of changing that number as needed. That can make it difficult for you to “find” your home computer from somewhere else - and that’s where Dynamic DNS comes in - it lets you report your IP address to a secure location -and it “maps” that location to a name of your choosing. There are several organizations that provide this service, including www.dyndns.org - and many of the services are free!

You might be wondering about the external hard drive. That’s because I’m assuming that the workstation at home belongs to you, and not your nonprofit agency. You can purchase a storage drive that includes backup software - and should you change your position with your nonprofit - you just have to deliver that external hard drive and the laptop and you’re done - no fussing with trying to transfer files. On top of that - you’ll be able to backup your data - a key component of stable and secure.

Putting It All Together (a very general “how-to”):

1. Make sure you have a laptop and a desktop running Windows XP
2. Make sure you’re router supports Dynamic DNS
3. Install an external hard drive and store all of your data on it (email, documents, everything. Don’t forget your QuickBooks data and any other important items that might not naturally be located in the “my documents” folder!
4. Register with www.dyndns.org
5. Download and install Remote Desktop (free!)
6. When at home - use your desktop machine and store all data on the external hard drive
7. When not at home, use your laptop - open Remote Desktop, connect to your home computer, and store all of your data on your external hard drive!

Other Considerations:

• Wireless security
• Offsite backup
• Other items

Wow - a big merger in the nonprofit world - GetActive is going to be acquired by Convio, Inc. The agreement between the two means that the advocacy and website management tools of Get Active will be joined to the crm and fundraising tools of Convio - creating what could be a very powerful combination.

You can learn a lot more via either website as well as by joining a conference call on Thursday, January 25th

I’ve been using a free tool from www.pinger.com. It’s a handy way to use your telephone to send email - and - so far - it’s free!

Here’s how it works: You hit the Pinger website to create your free account, enter the name and email address of a contact or two, and they verify your phone number and email address - and then they send you a local telephone number to use. When you call, it asks you “who do you want to message” and you just say the name of the person you’d like to contact. You just speak your message and hang up - and Pinger delivers a small sound file to their inbox! Pretty nifty.

Why would a nonprofit want to use that? Besides the usual reasons (wanting to leave a detailed message but you aren’t near your computer, thought of something while driving your car that you don’t want to forget to mention, want to leave a message for someone that might be in a meeting), you can create groups. That means you can send an email message to an entire group of people all at the same time. If your audience is connected at the hip to their email - this might be a great way to send a personal sounding note (your voice, after all) to them all at once.

Lately, here in Seattle - that message might be something like “Let’s postpone our meeting due to the snow!”

If you’ve inherited or stepped up to the job of helping your nonprofit manage your website, your mail, your ISP or any of those sorts of things - you might find yourself wallowing in alphabet soup! Don’t worry - just because it is complicated doesn’t mean that you can’t find your way around! Here’s a very short primer on some of those terms:

• ISP: Internet Service Provider. This is the person or agency that actually provides connectivity to the internet. Somewhere along the way, this is bound to include a phone or a cable company - someone that has a connection to the actual wire or cable - but it doesn’t have to. A lot of agencies re-sell that bandwidth - so your ISP might be a local agency, an agency in another state, or the phone or cable company. You can read more about ISP’s courtesy of WiseGeek. Examples include Earthlink and Comcast.
• Domain Name Service or DNS: I tend to think of DNS as the translation service of the internet. Since the internet uses numbers for addresses and we’d prefer to use names - DNS acts as the match-maker - making sure that your name points to the right number. The folks at Webopedia can tell you more.
• Domain Name: This is the name that you use to identify your website. For instance, www.npowerseattle.org is the Domain Name for my agency. There might be a lot of different websites or internet addresses that point to that name. Webopedia will help you learn more about this one, too!

• (www.npowerseattle is the domain name - but there can be many host or sub-domain names, too, such as www.mailservices.npowerseattle.org or community.npowerseattle.org/patricks.

Putting it all Together

You decide that you want to build a new website. Your provider builds a new site and then needs a place to put it if they don’t host websites. You might choose to replace your existing website - or you might get a better deal hosting it somewhere else. Your new WebHost will give you a number - and you’ll need to tell your Registrar to point your name to that new site.

But you might really like the service you are getting regarding your email - so you’ll also need to make sure that your email “stays” with your current host, not your new one.

So - this can get complicated quickly. Make sure you work with a provider that understands all of these terms, and how to make them work the best for you - and don’t be nervous about asking questions!

If you missed the debate last March about “net nuetrality” - you should consider doing a bit of homework. There are a LOT of agencies, individuals, corporations and telecom providers with different perspectives.

The nut of the question is this, though: Should the companies that provide and manage our physical connection to the internet (ATT, Comcast, Verizon and so on) be able to provide a tiered level of access and speed, depending on how much you pay?

Some think yes, and some think no. The Seattle Times thinks no - but you should decide for yourself.

In the meantime, I’ve added a pair of documents you can check out, with additional links!

Goodmail and Net Neutrality

Net Neutrality Update June 2006