Avatar News November 23, 2006

Spam Free Web Forms

Spammers use spam bots (software programs) to help them collect email addresses found on the Internet and send out unsolicited (or spam) mail. It's almost impossible to 100% spam-proof yourself, but here are a few things you can do to reduce the amount of spam in your inbox:

• Try to stay off spam mailing lists in the first place by submitting your email address to select Web sites only
• Check what a site's privacy policy is before giving away your email address
• Check whether you have marked any boxes relevant to the use of your email address
• Use a secondary, disposable email address for online forms, subscriptions, forums, chat rooms and blogs (tip: use a name made up of an initial and a surname for your throwaway email address, not popular prefixes like "info", "sales" or "enquiries")
• Do not respond to spam emails, just delete them
• Use a spam filter such as Rocket Spam, which can block 95-99% of your illegitimate mail.

Despite all your best efforts, you may still be receiving spam through the forms on your Web site, which can be a real pain when you want to focus on dealing with genuine business enquiries or bookings. One way to combat form spam is to ask the user of your form to type 5 or 6 unique characters (generated by some nifty programming) into their form submission. In this way, submissions from automated spam programs can be avoided.

It takes one of our Web programmers about 2 hours to create and put this code in place, (at a cost of $240+gst). You can see an example of the code fix in action on the Rocket Florist contact us form.

If you are interested in having spam-free forms on your site, please contact us.

Online Christmas Cards

Christmas carols playing back to back in the shopping malls give it away — yes, folks, Christmas is now officially just around the corner. However, in between de-tangling your tinsel and finding the blown bulb in your Christmas lights, you still have time to commission an electronic Christmas card. You can choose from stylish static HTML cards or fun animated Christmas themed games.

You might also want to check out Rocket Mailing, which can help you manage and send out your Christmas mailings and more. (We can help you with Rocket Mailing account set ups until the 8th December).

Contact us today for more information.

Making Web Page Tabs Eye-Catching

We reported on the newly released IE 7.0 last month, which includes tabbed browsing as one of its features. Tabbed browsing enables people to open multiple Web sites in a single browser window. Tabs are the online equivalents of post-it notes or dividers, which can help users to quickly identify and sort out the Web sites they view. Tabbed browsing offers the advantage of creating a less cluttered task bar or working space and also makes it easy for people to switch between Web sites.

Favicons
If someone has a lot of tabs open in their browser window, it's a good idea to help them to find and return to the tab for your Web page by using a favicon. A favicon (favourites icon) is one of the simplest and most effective ways to support your brand on your Web page or help your Web site tab stand out from the others.

A favicon, such as those shown, is a small graphic, which users see:

• In a browser's location bar
• At the top left of each tab
• Next to the text (the title) describing your Web site in a user's stored bookmarks or favourites library

Your favicon can be a small reproduction of your company logo or another small image, which defines your company's business (e.g. for a winery, your icon could be a wine glass). The trick is in making every pixel in your favicon count, as it's only a tiny graphic, which needs to be both eye-catching and identifiable.

If you don't have your own favicon, browsers typically default to theirs. If 20 tabs in one Internet Explorer browser window all default to the IE favicon, imagine how much your Web page tab can stand out if it had a different icon attached to it.

A new favicon for your Web site will take us between 1-2 hours ($120-$240+gst) to create and upload. If you're interested in having a favicon for your Web site, simply contact us.

Meet Our New King Of Code

This month, we welcome another King of Code to the Avatar team. David Mann joins us as a Web Programmer. David's a mad keen mountain biker, a big fan of U2 and a Yes, Minister devotee. Along with Sam, David is no doubt hatching schemes to take over the world and reinvent the Internet... you know, like programmers do!

Meanwhile, we've all been grinning and bearing it for the camera recently — you'll find David hamming it up with the rest of us on our new look Meet the Team page.

Interesting Tidbits

• Rainbow moko. Check out one of the most colourful facial tattoos we've ever seen.
• Beautiful pictures from around the world. Woophy (standing for "World of Photograghy") aims to create a collective work of art using pictures taken and posted from all over the world. Check out some of the beautiful shots posted so far.
• Car art. More artistic endeavours, this one from UK multi-media artist, James Ford, who transformed the shell of a Ford capri into a General Lee lookalike using over 4,000 toy cars (General Lee being the real star of 1980s TV series, The Dukes of Hazzard).
• Bloggers called on to defend right to free speech. Amnesty International has asked bloggers worldwide to show their solidarity with Web users in countries where they can face jail for criticising the government. irrepressible.info offers more information on Amnesty's pledge to call on companies and governments to support political freedom on the Internet and to undermine censorship.
• Another view of the Middle East. Arabic television news channel al-Jazeera launched its new English-language service last week, but viewers in New Zealand will not get to see it on Sky (viewers in the US can't tune in either). However, you can view Al-Jazeera news online.
• The little Kiwi who tried to fly. The Poms in the office who watched this Kiwi tube missed the point completely, but this animation made famous on TV's Campbell Live is quite sweet — please don't click on it, if you're easily moved to tears.

Sites of Interest

Here's a selection of sites we've designed, updated and/or promoted recently...

• Paeony Society (design)
  New Zealand Paeony Society offers information and news for commercial paeony growers, home gardeners and Society members.
• ZecErex (design and promotion)
  New Zealand based company, ZecErex, offers dietary supplements formulated from natural plant extracts, which have been created to improve libido for men and women.
• Murrell's Grand View House (promotion)
  An historic Manapouri b&b accommodation located by Lake Manapouri, New Zealand and ideally situated for visiting the fiords and Te Anau.
• KiwiArtz (promotion)
  Quality art and craft from an online arts and craft gallery featuring Maori art, jewellery, sculpture, art glass, ceramics, paintings and garden art from New Zealand artists.
• Woodland Glen Luxury Lodge (promotion)
  This luxury lodge in Hokitika, set in secluded woodlands, offers bed and breakfast accommodation and a picturesque wedding and functions venue.
• No. 5 Fine Accommodation (update)
  Luxury bed and breakfast situated on the Queenstown hills overlooking the 'Adventure Capital of New Zealand'.
• PDL (update)
  Part of the Schneider Electric group, PDL New Zealand manufactures and sells electrical and electronic products.
• Merino Lace (update)
  Fine hand-crafted merino clothing and shawls from a team of experienced and talented New Zealand merino lace knitters.
• Blue Chip Coaching (update)
  Leading New Zealand coaches deliver the executive, business and leadership coaching services provided by Blue Chip Coaching.
• Totalspan (update)
  Garages, commercial buildings, carports, sheds and temporary accommodation from New Zealand's leading manufacturer of steel buildings.
• SmartSteel (update)
  Strong, stylish steel garages especially designed to be super-affordable from New Zealand's Totalspan network.
• Gunyah Country Estate (update)
  Beneath the Southern Alps west of Christchurch lies the historic estate of Gunyah Country Lodge, now a rural retreat offering vacation resort accommodation and a range of specialty preserves.