One year of Tech Tips

Since we began our Tech Tips newsletter just over a year ago, we've published 11 editions covering all sorts of topics from how to practice good Netiquette to details about the Domain Name System.

To help you get the most out of these articles we are going to start sending summaries of the tips every five issues. Here are the tips in brief from our first five editions of Tech Tips. You can click the title to read the details and background information in full.

Edition 1: Lost in Cyberspace - Being Found

Tips for putting your site on the map.

• Build a good website.
• Get mentioned by the online media.
• Participate in an online community.
• Add your site to as many free directories as possible.
• Give them something for free.
• Read your webstats carefully.

Edition 2: Skim, Scan and Scroll

Tips for keeping your website looking clean and consistent.

• Limit the use of specific fonts, colours, and sizes as much as possible.
• Don't cut and paste from Microsoft Word.
• Remove specific font formats in Site Manager.
• Break long paragraphs into shorter ones.

Edition 3: First Things First

Tips for making your website easy to navigate.

• Don't use more than eight links in the main menu bar.
• Adopt 'single-click' policy for your most important pages.
• Limit your drop-down menus.
• Don't duplicate menu items.
• Use breadcrumbs and/or a site map if you have a lot of content.
• Interlink your content.

Edition 4: Email Netiquette

Tips for being polite in cyberspace.

• Think before you send!
• Don't send mass emails of a personal nature.
• Use BCC for mailouts.
• Use a descriptive subject heading.
• Don't SHOUT.
• Don't top-post.
• Don't send large attachments.
• Use smileys sparingly.

Edition 5: Keeping up with the Joneses.com

Tips for implementing RSS on your site.

• Syndicate your content!
• Advertise your feed with a LINK tag.
• Choose a single feed format.
• Burn your feed.
• Rewrite FeedBurner URLs.
• Ping when you post.

That's all for now - we'll send summaries of the next five articles soon. Don't forget if you want to read more about the rationale and theory behind our tips, just follow the linked headings above, or visit our Tech Tips page on the web.

About Roger Keays