Web site visitors who use Google Toolbar now have access to a global comment and annotation system called Google Sidewiki.  This toolbar addition allows users to comment on any webpage on any server and have it visible to any visitor.

I am not sure how I feel about this technology.  I think it could be helpful but mostly I think it is another avenue for spammers and posting of non-useful information.  I would like to see it succeed and be a place to write reviews for businesses or helpful visitor information for towns.

As it is right now, I am not sure that it is getting into the hands of the right users.  I don’t know very many “web savvy” people that are fans of the “google toolbar” or any toolbar for that matter and needing to have that installed is something that can work against google sidewiki.

I installed and test drove google sidewiki this afternoon and I have to say I am pretty indifferent.  I may have to delete it just because I really hate the extra toolbar on my browser but other than that I don’t really mind it.  If you are interested in giving it a try download it here and leave me a wiki.  If you find it enjoyable and useful be sure to let google know so that they can continue to support and develop it.

Animated gif’s have a pretty bad wrap in the web design world.  Mostly because when computers started being used by the masses everyone thought that it was very cool to be able to have images move.  Thus everyone who made a webpage wanted at least 15 of these images on their website.  I know most of you remember the days of geocities and angelfire and other poor websites.  Here is a great example, please notice how distracting it is that everything moves.

Although animated gifs have a bad wrap, and now you know why, they can be useful in many circumstances.  For example, they can be used to show more information in a small space; this technique is often seen in advertising.  Ads are a certain size and only so much can fit on it.  However if done tactfully you can use the real estate to show quite a bit of information in an animated gif.  The problem here of course is that if all the ads on the page with yours are also animated then you have yourself a gaudy page.
Another situation where they are useful is if you use them to display several images that fall under the same category.  For example I used one recently on a site to display the craftsmanship of a home building company.  It rotates through images at a slow rate and is hopefully not too distracting as it is the only movement on the page.

The moral here is that not all animated gifs are bad.  But I caution you greatly on wanting them on your website, use them sparingly and in good judgment or don’t use them at all.

Annoyingly Cute

Acceptable if it is the only movement on the page

Can you own multiple domain names for one site? YES! In fact, a lot of people should own multiple domain names. Not only are we talking the .org, .net and .biz versions but multiple spellings as well. For example, one of my clients is One Putnam Centre. Notice that centre is spelled the British/Canadian way. This is fine, however, when you do an radio ad and say visit us at OnePutnamCentre.com most americans will spell center with an “er” instead of an “re” at the end. So a second domain should be purchased with the spelling OnePutnamCenter.com and redirected to the main page of the website.

Owning extra domains is a fairly small yearly charge compared to the amount of traffic it might get you. A cost a think is well worth the price.

Purchase your domains now through godaddy.