Good Web Design Basics by Ellen Kurr, Marketing Coordinator

Yesterday AtNetPlus hosted an informational discussion on Website Design Basics at our monthly ‘Talk it over Tuesday' breakfast event. About 17 local business owners and managers came to learn how to “Turn Your Website Into A More Effective Sales Tool.”

We talked about four basic areas of website design:
• A Clean Layout – tips and tricks from the pros    
• A Clear Action Plan – effective Calls to Action
• The Right Tools for the job – which software is best for you
• The Total Cost – the true cost of a website

The discussion was intended for the novice do-it-yourselfer but served to remind everyone of the basics we should all keep in mind. We gathered material from websites-that-suck.com. If you’re designing or redesigning a site, it’s well worth a visit. Not only does the site point out obvious design flaws but they also provide helpful checklists to keep your site from appearing on theirs.

If you’d like to know more you can download the whitepaper that went with our presentation. Let us know what you think. Websites are always a work-in-process and it never hurts to review the basics as you go.

Hear what Ann Otto and Anup Gupta thought of the event.

Droid Lives Up to the Hype by Todd Fisher, Director of Operations

Motorola released a smartphone they call the Droid that uses Google’s Android operating system. I purchased one the day they were released, looking for a replacement to a long list of PDA/Smartphone products that I have owned. The short summation is that this is the first phone in a long time that has proved to be easy to use, very functional, and meets my particular needs very well.

There are several features of the phone that are useful to me – an easy-to-use touch screen keyboard that my blunt-end fingers can navigate; full support for Exchange email plus your private g-mail account; slide-out keyboard; predictive type-ahead word suggestions; desktop holder that shows time and weather and a slide show of my grandkids’ pictures; very quick web browsing without the page display issues that are common with other PDA/smartphones. There is one feature that I did not expect, interactive mapping, which is a direct result of the phone’s relationship to Google. This feature is so well integrated that the phone has an accessory mount to hold it for viewing the map while driving.

Here are some of the really interesting features I have discovered while using the GPS/Google Maps function:
• Voice interaction – I can speak a location which it will find; it will give me voice guidance to that location;
• Real-time traffic flow patterns – I have used this several times, including one to detour a complete shutdown of the Atlanta freeway system when I was on my way to catch a flight;
• Weather radar overlay – great for seeing if the lake effect snow is going to interfere with my commute.

I have recommended this phone to several of our clients and my friends, those who have bought one have been pleased with it, too. There are hundreds of applications available for free or for less than a few dollars. On-line forums provide lots of ideas for ways to use the phone or to troubleshoot a problem. And of course, there is the very reliable Motorola cell phone radio – my experience is they are always better than the competition.

Wrestling With Technology by Jeff Phillip, Web Services Manager

Technology has taken local sports tournaments to the next level. Live video feeds, online seeding, and up-to-the-minute bracket updates has brought all the excitement into the homes of the fans.

AtNetPlus is gearing up to bring the Bill Dies Wrestling Tournament to you live from Firestone High School online on January 15 and 16. The matches will take place at 333 Rampart Avenue in Akron, but anyone with an Internet connection can watch the live boutboard, see team scores and video streaming.

If your school plans to host a tournament or contest of any kind, using AtNetPlus for live video and scoring updates can bring your event into the Internet technology age. Not only can this promote your team and event nationally, but the relatives of your students and the alumni of your school can support the teams from across the country. For more information on how to connect to the Bill Dies Tournament, visit http://www.billdies.com/.

Check out a testimonial from the Walsh head coach Bill Barger at the Ironman Tournament 2009.

Good luck to all of the teams, individuals, and schools involved.