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Tools for the Internet-Savvy |
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At Allwhois you can find out who owns that domain name or site, and who is providing their hosting. Netcrafts' "What's that site running" is a web based lookup tool to determine the version and type of server software being used. DNS Wizard does pretty much the same thing as Netcraft, but not as extensive in what it reports about the domain. However, it will tell you if Frontpage Extensions are installed and availalble. Windows OS users should check out Sitespeed
from The Digital Detective. This is a free application that allows
you to do a comparative traceroute of several potential hosts and
benchmark them in terms of speed. Checking your site logs and don't know where an AD or a ZW is from? Check out this Text listing of Country Code Domain names. Having trouble trying to remember the IP address of all your visitors, don't worry, just get Amnesi, where their excellent "reverse IP lookup can save your memory. The Arin Whois database is also an excellent resource for locating US IP numbers. You can input IP numbers directly into the input window and get results. The RIPE Whois is great for locating European addresses. If you are looking for IP addresses in the Asian Pacific area try APNIC whois database.
Uptime is a no-cost advertising-free "server-checking" tool provided by ArsDigita (Philip Greenspun and Jin Choi) that checks your site every 15 minutes or so, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and alerts you via email or beeper if your server is having problems. InternetSeer is an alternative to the free "uptime" service above. They check your site several times a day, 24/7 and send you alerts via email if your website is unavailable. Net Mechanic offers tools to eliminate embarrassing HTML code errors, shrink the sizes of gif and jpeg images, check your server for uptime (paid service), and assist in getting your site found by the search engines.
Danny Sullivan's Search Engine Watch is a must read if you want to have your site place near the top of a targeted search. If you simply want some help in generating meta-tags for your pages, check out the Metatag Generator, right here on the Zillionbucks site (javascript must be enabled). MetaMedic is another site where you can submit your URL and have your site's meta tags evaluated. You will receive immediate feedback and helpful information on creating Meta tags to aid in your site's placement in the search engine directories. At Siteowner.com learn how to write Metatags and get a better listing for your site in the search engines. A plethora of tools and tips & hints related to getting your site found better in the search engines are free for the taking at Jim Tools. Submission services, Meta-tag suggestions, Keyword Wizards, and much more. Fantomas is an information gold mine: search engine positioning, cloaking tech, spider IPs, FAQs, resources and links to boost your web presence. If you're getting ready to name your new company, product or service, you might find some of the "linguistic resource" links on the Wordspot really hit the spot. According to Brent Winters, "target the wrong keywords and all your efforts will be in vain." So take his suggestion and try out the free demo of Wordtracker online so you can improve your search engine ranking and placement. While you are there, sign up for their free weekly newsletter as well. VBPro Content Analysis is a free program for analyzing text content. It's written for DOS, but it still works on most windows computers. Control where you want the "web-bots" to go, or not go with the Robot Exclusion Protocol. Find out everything you need to know about controlling the Googlebot, especially since they are now cataloging images.
Website Usability and Architecture: User Interface Engineering - Website Usability issues. David Austen mentioned Jared Spool Useit - Jacob Nielsen, Usability guru discusses topics of interest to those that want to make their websites more "user-friendly." Indexme is a small Perl program that you can use with your CGI , that makes it easy to get an overview of documents or files by linking them into a HTML index, and it can directly include images for viewing. Dia is a 'Visio-like' flowcharting application that can be used to draw many different kinds of diagrams. You can add support for new shapes by writing XML files. Dia can load and save diagrams to a custom XML format, or can export diagrams to EPS or SVG formats. It does require some additional components and the installation is not for the squeamish, but it is free!
Zillionbucks provides free instructions on how to install a javascript solution called "hideemail" that breaks up your email address into parts that are not recognized by the email harvesting spambots. HindSight Ltd. provides a free online Spam blocking utility can convert your email address to a URL encoded format that most robots will overlook. This disguises your email address while keeping it fully functional. Another option which uses much the same technique as above, but doesn't require web access (for those on Mac OSX) is Spamstopper.
HTML, CGI, PHP, Javascript Sources: You might want to take a look at the Katun Group for links to more than you'll ever want to know about HTML. Optiperl, formerly Visual Perl Editor, helps you create CGI scripts in Perl, offline in Windows. There are two panels in the application, one to edit the script and another to preview the CGI in an internal web browser. Test scripts for errors or run them normally. If you want to test CGI Perl scripts in windows, offline, for testing or learning this is the ticket. The CGI Resource Library has an extensive directory of CGI related resources and links Matt's Script Archive includes over 20 free Perl and C++ CGI scripts to help make your web site more interactive! PHPnet is the home of the PHP language. You can find online documentation of the entire PHP code. PHPtown has lots of links to help you get started in using PHP. Two articles to get you understanding how permissions work in PHP. Working with Permissions in PHP, Part 1, and Part 2. Earthweb has a whole site devoted to Javascript, and claims to have the largest Javascripts repository online. There are thousands of samples you can view or download for free. There's even an e-newsletter to keep you up to date on what's new. There are a couple of "no-right-click" javascripts on the Brownielocks site that might be of interest to those wishing to stop others from copying their images or text. See how you can create self-explanatory JavaScript code with ease using the Javascript Code Enhancer. The Direct Marketing Association has an Online Privacy Policy Generator that helps generate a privacy policy for your site. Privacy Made Simple is a series of PDF files with information on becoming a privacy-smart business or individual, from U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The Privacy Alliance has lots of privacy resources for businesses The Electronic Privacy Information Center is the site for news, information and action on the privacy issue Research-It - Bills itself as your one-stop reference desk, and it seems to have most everything you need. This handy online research portal includes dictionary items, thesauraus, people search, maps, CIA factbook, currency converter, Stock quotes, zip codes, and even package tracking... all in one place! *DISCLAIMER: The decision to download a binary or visit any of the Web pages above is up to you; we are not responsible for the use, functionality, appearance, privacy policy, upkeep, or management of featured stuff. Since your mileage may vary, please backup your system often. Contact the appropriate sites directly with any questions.
 Updated May 2003. Copyright 2000-2003 Zillionbucks Inc. |
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