I have to do another ‘moving post’ today since I had a hassle-free live chat experience with Bright House, our cable and Internet company. I was going to call them to transfer service but I thought I’d give their live chat a try. After changing our electric service this morning over the phone, I didn’t want to go through multiple menus and electronic voices asking me to spell my name again. “Did you say G-O-B-A-N-S?”

I was pleasantly surprised at the swiftness of the conversation with a Bright House Representative named Alex L. After sorting out account details and turn off dates, which was completely painless, we were set to get service in our new place on Monday and replacement boxes.

Alex L: Is there anything else that I can assist you with?
Kayla: Can you please make a note to bring 2 new cable boxes? Our regular box sometimes freezes and I think we need a replacement.
Kayla: So we need to trade out both of ours, I would appreciate it.
Alex L: Sure.
Kayla: Thanks, Alex. This was an awesome convo, thanks for your help!
Alex L: I enjoyed helping you!
Alex L: Thank you for using the Bright House Networks Live Chat service. Have a good day. If you have no other concerns, this chat session will be closed shortly.

Bright House Live Chat is available from 8 AM to 8 PM, Monday through Friday. You can also call them at 1-866-309-EASY (3279).

We’re moving in the next two weeks so I went to the Orlando Utilities Commission website to request a turn off date for our electricity. Their new design was in place, as it has been for a few months I believe, so I was not exactly sure where to navigate. When I got to the Turn Off Service page, I was asked to type in my social security number. As usual, I glanced up to look for https and not only was a secure connection not in place, the domain name itself surprised me. I was suddenly at hooahouc.com which was registered to hooah.cc, a web design company.

Somehow through my clicks, I ended up on the web designer’s mock-up site for OUC. It can’t be denied that there could be harm if someone sends info through that form. I went back to OUC.com to see what happened exactly. On the Manage Your Account page which is a considerably important page, a link to Customer Service Center points to the mock-up site.

I went back to OUC.com and got to the Manage Your Account page in an alternate way. There on the correct page after manually typing https, I was actually redirected back to http. In closing, OUC needs to enforce https redirects and clean up a few things that are more important than social media. As everyone envelops themselves in the community whirlwind, it can be easy to lose focus on security details. Sniffers and hackers are aware and are on the prowl now, more than ever.

Note: This is not an attack on OUC. I know their Orlando utility service is solid from my experience, but their online presence needs more care. We’ve sent a note over to them about these points.

Update: November 5
Well, that’s odd timing. I saw a graphic in my latest OUC bill about two months ago which mentioned their Twitter account. So I associated that with their new website and thought the design was up already. OUC replied to me today and let me know that their new website actually went up yesterday. Great response from them!

Dear Ms. Selans:

Thank you for your recent email to the Orlando Utilities Commission regarding our website.

OUC considers the security of our customers, and their personal information, of the highest priority. Thank you for providing us with feedback in reference to our website. Please be advised that the new OUC website went live November 4, 2009, and is still in a state of continual update to guarantee the stability and security of OUC customers and business clients.

I have forwarded your email and suggestions to the direct attention of our IT department to be logged and addressed immediately.

Please let us know if we can be of additional assistance!

Sincerely,

Mr. Young

If you’re a newbie to using SSH, here’s a quick command guide. These should help you become less dependent on websites to do domain look ups or change passwords in control panels. Becoming friends with Terminal means an increase in productivity.

Commands for Web Site Management

1. host
If you need to find out the IP of a domain, type
[root@droplet ~]# host cloudsy.com
cloudsy.com has address 66.240.232.17

2. whois
You can use whois to quickly find if a domain name exists and its registrar information.
[root@droplet ~]# whois cloudsy.com
[Querying whois.verisign-grs.com]
[whois.verisign-grs.com]
Whois Server Version 2.0
Domain Name: CLOUDSY.COM
Registrar: ENOM, INC.
Whois Server: whois.enom.com
Referral URL: http://www.enom.com
Name Server: NS1.CLOUDSY.COM
Name Server: NS2.CLOUDSY.COM
Status: ok
Updated Date: 28-mar-2009
Creation Date: 25-mar-2009
Expiration Date: 25-mar-2010

3. passwd
If your web host gave you SSH access, you can use it to do simple things in your account like quickly changing your password.
[root@droplet ~]# passwd yourusername
Changing password for user yourusername.
New UNIX password:
Retype new UNIX password:
passwd: all authentication tokens updated successfully.

4. cd – Navigate to your Desktop
cd /users/yourusername/Desktop
Navigate in a web server
cd /home/yourusername/public_html/site

5. mkdir – Make a new directory
mkdir Photos

6. mv – Move a file into a folder
mv IMG_8151.JPG Photos

Need more commands?
Read this post for how to SSH to a host, specify a certain SSH port, and choose a
private SSH key. If you’d like to see more, just leave a comment!

Some people are very used to Putty and they miss it when they are on a Mac. Is there a Putty version for OS X? No, but this post is for those people. This really isn’t an install per se, it’s actually called a port. Putty doesn’t work “naturally” on OS X, so you need to use MacPorts to ‘port’ it to your Mac. When utilizing MacPorts, you can find that there are thousands of programs you can run on your Mac that normally wouldn’t be available. The interfaces may feel or act a bit differently, but it’s better than not having them at all.

Here are the steps to get Putty geared up:

1) Install MacPorts – Download/instructions for MacPorts (Be sure to pick the correct file for your OS X version.)

2) Open the saved .dmg file to install MacPorts.

3) After installation of MacPorts is complete, there’s one more item to check. Make sure you have XCode installed on your computer. If you are running OS X 10.6, you should download and run XCode 3.2. You will have to be a member (which is free) of Apple Developer Connection to download the file. The reason you need developer tools is because you are actually compiling source code in order to get Putty working, as a developer does.

4. After installing XCode, open up Terminal and paste this command:
sudo port -v selfupdate
This updates your install of MacPorts. You should see the update take place. If you don’t, leave a comment here so we can help you out with the error. But everything should work fine if the steps above have been followed exactly.

5. All you have to do next is paste this command:
sudo port install putty
This should take a few minutes and work without a hitch.

6. Now to open Putty and start using it, type this into Terminal and Putty will then pop right up into an X11 window:
putty

7. To put the Putty shortcut on the Desktop, run an additional command in the terminal:
cp /opt/local/bin/putty ~/Desktop/PuTTY

Additonal Install/Migration Instructions

If you have installed MacPorts and Putty prior to Snow Leopard, you have to run a few fixes to get Putty to work again properly.

1. Open Terminal
2. Paste:
sudo port uninstall glib1; sudo port uninstall gtk1; sudo port install putty
3. Once done, all the necessary libraries should be updated and you should have a new Putty up and running.

Note:
When I first started to write this article, I was going to use Fink, however, it appears they dropped the Putty package. So I opted for MacPorts which is the most recently updated and compatible with Putty. It all works – for now.

What this means:
Eventually, everyone who is accustomed to Putty will need to change directions indefinitely, so please take a look at Daniel’s post on Terminal in OS X. Until then, keep hacking and compiling if you really need to.

Don’t forget your Dot Results!
Follow us at twitter.com/dotresults for new announcements and contests. Sometimes we update our followers on special tips first.
It can really pay to tweet!

There are times during DNS changes or other testing that you may want to specify a particular IP for a domain name. To do this, you’ll need to edit your hosts file. This way you can “trick” your computer before DNS actually changes or point a domain to another IP, even a local one. Some of the instructions out there on how to do this are a little too bloated, so I tried to simplify them as much as possible here on DotResults. If you have any questions about this, please leave a comment and we’ll get back to you as soon as we read it.

1. Open Terminal

2. Paste this command:
sudo nano /private/etc/hosts
You’ll be asked to enter your administrator password.

3. Arrow down to the last line, highlighted here, and type your entry like this: 137.61.27.216 www.tech.com

4. Press control+x. Type the letter Y. This saves the file.

5. To flush your DNS cache so the changes take effect, paste this command next:
dscacheutil -flushcache

6. You can test if it has worked by using the PING command. Try PING tech.com and PING www.tech.com – the IP addresses should be different.

Don’t forget your Dot Results!
Follow us at twitter.com/dotresults for new announcements and contests. Sometimes we update our followers on special tips first.
It can really pay to tweet!

Most of you who read this probably already have a website. However, if you don’t have one yet, these tips can help create a new site the right way. If you’re already buzzing around the web, these points can help you condition an existing site. Lastly, these tips are not just about design, they also revolve around the focus of your site and better marketing. These are worth trying out on your next project.

1. Be simple.

Gone are the days when a lot of information on your site meant that you really, really knew what you were talking about. Now as we approach 2010, we all are more like scanners than readers, so write copy that is short. Avoid professional jargon and mumbo-jumbo, just get to the point. Tell your visitors exactly what you have to offer and clearly show them. Don’t add any fluff just to fill space, it’s no longer allowed. If there’s too much to read on your site, your visitors might miss the point. Then you lose.

2. If there has to be more depth, link it.

If you do have deserving content you want to expand upon: condense it, spice it up with graphics and place it into an external document, such as a PDF. This way if your site visitor does want to read more, they can choose when they would like to. In turn, this keeps your site clean, easy to read and no one gets lost. Note: Worried that more content means better SEO? Focus on your product/service/readers and your pages will rise up in the search engines in no time – no long stories necessary. Your visitors will do it for you by linking and talking.

3. Think like a frog.

We’re talking hops, not ribbits. Imagine each page of your site as one, green lily pad. How long does it take for your frog, er visitor, to hop through the homepage, content, and to the end result you want: an order page or a subscription button? Depending on the goal of your website, you want to have the least amount of lily pads as possible.

Visitors don’t keep their attention on you for very long, so you have to get them to the other side of the pond as soon as possible. We recommend breaking your site down into, at most, five sections. Make sure there is a clear, easy navigation to access each one.

4. Navigation, to the T.

What is the best way to link to all of the sections on your website? The answer lies in three words that begin with T: text, top and tailor. For SEO purposes, your menu/navigation should always be in text and never in a graphic. Sometimes you might think a graphic looks better, but there is always a way to get the best of both worlds. (We’ll talk about that in another post.)

The next factor in a great navigation is simply putting it at the top of your site – not on the right or left. Even though monitors and screen real estate are growing in size, the top of the screen is always a sure thing and a familiar place to get clicking. Submenus are usually better right underneath the top menu and not on other parts of the page below. If you keep your visitor clicking at the top, their eyes don’t have to move around so much while reading your site itself. It’s all about attention (and there are a lot of t’s in that).

Finally, your navigation has to be tailored. If you have too many links and not sure where to put them, something is wrong with your goal and focus. You should be able to tailor your site down into five to seven categories and have submenus underneath them.

5. Be personal.

In the beginning, there were shadows. Now, let there be light! Since everyone has a digital camera these days, the “About” section has really bloomed. The people behind websites are no longer mysterious and unapproachable. Include a photo and tell your visitors about yourself. It’s your time to shine and let them know why they should work with you.

Make your tweets come alive for only $25 at TweetSplash! Kayla offers custom Twitter designs to any company, organization or personal profile for $25. Other sites charge $99 or more for designs of lesser quality. At TweetSplash, get a custom Twitter background and the royal treatment. Plus, if you need changes to your design within the following 6 months, any new additions to the same background are free. Now there’s something you can’t get anywhere else!

Custom Twitter Backgrounds at TweetSplash.com

Today is a big day: our DotResults site is doing so well we want to shift its focus to all things tech, as originally planned. We have a new food website in the works for the Orlando area, and all food posts will be made there instead. We’ll be announcing that site very soon. Exciting times! Thank you for reading our site – there’s much, much more to come.

Today is the day, all I want is to get married to you. I love you, Daniel. I can’t wait for 5 PM.

5:45 AM!