«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»« Merle's Mission Ezine- "The Best of the Net Straight to Your Door" June 15th,2003 Issue #113 ISSN: #1527-3105 Edited & Published by: Merle- Merle@MerlesWorld.com http://www.MerlesWorld.com/ Tell A Friend: http://recommend-it.com/l.z.e?s=3463949 New Forum: http://www.merlesworld.com/webbbs/webbbs_config.pl «»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»« NOTE: This newsletter is by SUBSCRIPTION. The only way it could have ended up in your inbox was by YOUR SUBSCRIBING to it. If you no longer wish to receive it please see the link at the very bottom of this ezine and I shall never darken your doorway again. «»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»« Donations Wanted: If you enjoy this ezine and feel you have gained valuable information from it, please make a donation http://tinyurl.com/21se If you prefer to donate using PayPal use this link http://www.merlesworld.com/adtracking/lm.pl?paypal Your small gifts will help support the website and this newsletter (and bones for "the boys"). Dakota says "woof" which means "thanks". ______________________________________________ Sponsor ______________________________________________ Do you want the best help you can get for your business, from not one but two of the internet's top marketing experts? Then you want to Take a Look at the most exciting program on the internet. The Hypnotic Blueprint. I have worked with both of these guys and believe me, they are two of the best on the internet. They have been there and are still there. They know HOW to do it because they ARE doing it. Just go on over to: http://www.hypnoticblueprint.com/84 and take a look. The Money For Hire newsletter: http://www.Moneyforhire.com Helping you make your business better. See it for yourself. «»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«» One-Liners... "If you must choose between two evils, pick the one you've never tried before!" Compliments of http://www.Coolsigs.com ----<<>>----<<>>----<<>>----<<>>----<<>>----<<>>----<<>> E D I T O R' S N O T E ----<<>>----<<>>----<<>>----<<>>----<<>>----<<>>----<<>> Hi Gang! We're having a BEAUTIFUL sunny day here in Northeast Ohio. I love it! We've had so much rain over the past 8 weeks we really haven't had that many nice sunny days. We should be enjoying summer but it hasn't come to stay yet. Maybe our luck is turning around? If so Mr. Sun I'd appreciate your staying around for the next 2 months straight. Got that? Remember when you were a kid and you were out of school for the summer? We'd spend our days playing jump rope, hop scotch, spud and so many other creative games. We'd leave the house in the morning and stay outside all day until our Mom's called us in for dinner. Those were the days. Neighborhoods were neighborhoods where everyone knew everyone on the street by name and we all waved and looked out for each other. You don't find that today. Now a days it's normal for neighbors to not even know each other and the friendly waving seems to have been replaced with a cold impersonal stare. What a shame that are transient society has given up the basic fundamentals that made a neighborhood great. Something to think about. I've been reading a lot of stats lately that talk about how kids today are fat. Yes, fat. Well, think about it they don't go outside and play anymore. Due to the distrust of strangers they hardly walk the streets as someone might grab them and murder them. They ride the bus to school and sit in front of computers playing video games all night. Is it any wonder their getting heavier? To keep the body thin you need to move. How much movement are they getting when their driven everywhere? I use to walk miles to school every day from the time I was in Kindergarten. It didn't matter if there was 6ft of snow or pouring rain, I walked. I know, I know I sound like an old Grandma, which I can assure you I'm not. It just amazes me how much the world has changed and no one even seems to notice. We've created many of our own problems and don't even give them much thought. Everyone make it past Friday the 13th without any scratches? I did. Did you notice the full moon the next night? Between the two I was a bit nervous. Call me a little superstitious but I do notice people acting a bit strange anytime there's a full moon. Sometimes even the night before. Next time you see one on the calendar take note of what's going on around you. You might thank me for it. If you still haven't visited the new discussion board please stop in. There's some great topics being discussed. Go to... http://www.merlesworld.com/webbbs/webbbs_config.pl Joe Kumar's book continues to get great reviews. It's called "30 Days to Internet Marketing Success". Get your copy at....http://tinyurl.com/aoiz I have to admit I printed out all 500 pages it's so good. I've heard he's working on the second edition as we speak. Due to the amount of filtering being done by ISP's and maybe yourself please add this ezine's email address of mmezine@merlesworld.com to your "friend list" or approved" senders" list.All hard bounces are deleted from this list the very first time so if you want to keep this ezine coming and stay a subscriber, clean out your box. No, not the litter box, your inbox silly. This week's winner for a free ad is.... Dave Frey For your own chance to win fill in the survey. You'll find the link at the very bottom of this ezine. A winner is pulled twice a month. Enter now. Thanks for joining me, let's get to the good stuff. If you have any comments you can send them to mailto:merle@merlesworld.com Merle http://www.MerlesWorld.com http://www.EzineAdAuction.com http://www.MCPromotions.com -------------------------------------------------- IN THIS ISSUE -------------------------------------------------- => 1. News From the Net => 2. Feature Article-"Using SSI's to Ease Site Maintenance" => 3. Webmaster Resources => 4. Promotional Resources => 5. Other Ezines of Interest => 6. Just for Fun or Useful => 7. E Books and Things of Interest to Publishers => 8. Freeware and Shareware to Download => 9.Subscribe/Remove Information ---------------------------------------------------------- 1. NEWS FROM THE NET ---------------------------------------------------------- Schumer Introduces No Sp~m Registry Bill http://www.internetnews.com/IAR/article.php/2221571 --------- MS Cumulative Patch for IE http://tinyurl.com/dj0o ------- Search Engine Marketing VS Optimization http://www.searchengineguide.com/whalen/2003/0612_jw1.html ------ U.S senator prepares digital-copyright bill http://www.ciol.com/content/news/2003/103061008.asp ----- SAP and eBay in online market deal http://www.crmassist.com/news/dispnews.asp?i=95323&t=99 ---<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>> Please Support our Sponsors ---<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>-----sponsor adv Need a Hosting Solution for Your ezine? Have your subscribes & unsubscribes, bounces, and broadcasts managed simply and affordably. EZezine.com offers full affordable service in an sp*m free environment. Visit us at...http://www.ezezine.com --------------------------------------------- 2. FEATURE ARTICLE --------------------------------------------- "Using SSI's to Ease Site Maintenance" ==================================== By http://www.apromotionguide.com/ Before building a site, every webmaster has to make a decision on what layout method to use. Most seem to go with either a frame or a table-based layout, the latter being more popular in these days. While both of these have their advantages and disadvantages, a frame-based site is usually easier to update. If you happen to have a 200-page site with the same navigation on every page, adding one link to the navigation menu might require you to edit all of the pages if the design is built with tables. On the other hand, if the site uses frames, you can get by with changing just a few files and save yourself a lot of time. No, I'm not trying to convince you to switch to frames. I myself use tables and am not going to change my layout. The only problem is that over time, sites tend to grow. It just might be possible to edit around 20 pages when you want to change something, but when we start talking 50 or over one hundred, it just doesn't seem like a good idea. Unless you are prepared to spend hours trying to keep your navigation menu up to date, you have to come up with a better way of doing things. SSI's to the Rescue =================== If your host supports Server Side Includes and is running Apache, you can use this article to make your table design as easy to maintain as it would be if you were using frames. The best part is that visitors won't even notice that you have changed anything. After the new system is in place, they will see exactly the same design and HTML code as before, but you will be saved from hours of monotonous work. Server Side Includes, or SSI's, can be used in many ways. With them you can execute CGI programs, display the current date & time on your page and do plenty of other things as well. In this article, we use them for including external files to your HTML.The idea is to create a separate file from your navigation menu and use SSI's to point to it, requiring you to merely edit one file when you wish to change the navigation. Should you have some knowledge of Server Side Includes, you might be a little worried. Doesn't this require that you rename all your pages from ".html" to ".shtml" if you want it to work? That would take a lot of time, break the links that are pointing to your site and you might have to resubmit your pages to the search engines. Is it reasonable to go through all that trouble to make maintaining your site a little easier? Fortunately, there's no need to start renaming any files. You can simply instruct the server to treat your ".html" files as ".shtml" files and execute all SSI instructions in them. This can be done with a ".htaccess" file. If you already have one, you'll have to edit it. If you don't, open up a text editor, such as Notepad, and paste the following lines into a blank file. Be sure to replace .html with .htm, if you're using that extension. Options Includes AddType text/html .html AddHandler server-parsed .html Save the file in "All files" mode and name it ".htaccess". Include the quotes so that Notepad won't decide to name the file ".htaccess.txt". Changing Your Pages =================== After the .htaccess file has been created, you'll have to make changes to your HTML files. To be on the safe side, take backups of them before doing anything. Then, paste the HTML you use to generate the menu from one of your pages into a blank file. Save the file as "navig.html" for example. Next, remove the navigation menu from all of your pages. Replace it with the following line: What you're doing is telling the server to insert the code from "navig.html" into the page. This will be done before the page is sent to the user who has requested it, so anyone visiting your site will merely see a normal HTML file. When you have finished editing your files, connect to your host via FTP and upload the ".htaccess" file, the "navig.html" file and the new versions of your content pages. Then it is time for the true test, trying to visit your site and see what happens. If you have done everything correctly, you should see that your pages look the same as before. However, if you make a simple change to the "navig.html" file, it will apply to the navigation menu of every page. What used to take minutes or even hours can now be done in seconds, giving you the possibility to use that valuable time to do something other than changing the HTML code of each page separately. ------------------------------------------------------- Lauri Harpf runs the A Promotion Guide website, where he offers free information about search engines, directories and other promotion methods. His site can be found at http://www.apromotionguide.com/ ----------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------ 3. WEBMASTER RESOURCES ------------------------------------------------- Color Smart Not really a color chart for websites but why not get inspiration from it. This cool flash display allows you to pick a main or complimentary color and comes back with a nice match of other colors that go well with it. It's really for painting rooms in your=20 house not your website, but it can easily help you pick out your site colors. If you can't match a top and pants, this ones for you. http://www.behr.com/behrx/index.jsp --------- Need Some Code? Why of course you do. You never know when you need to know some Java, CSS or Perl among others. Yes, the fun of being a web builder is never ending. Get what you need at Code 4 U. http://www.code4u.com/ -------- Doctor HTML Run your website through a complete set of online tests.Spelling, link checker, HTML compatibility and more. Find out just how "healthy" your site really is. http://www.doctor-html.com/RxHTML/cgi-bin/single.cgi ----- Amazing Draggable Layer Script Ok, popups are getting blocked like crazy but there is another way. This script will generate the code to create a popup that isn't a true pop up and blocker software won't kill it. check it out. http://codelifter.com/main/javascript/dragablelayer.html «»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»« Tip «»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»« Stopping the Search Engines from Indexing As much as we all want our sites to be listed in the search engines there are some things that you want or need to be kept private and away from the robots prying eyes. For example if you're selling an ebook you'd want to keep your download pages out of the search engines index. It's easy to do: add this to the of your document .. Please remove the . Periods before and after the final tags. The no index keeps them from indexing that page and the no follow tells them not to follow any of the links that are on the page. ----------------------------------------------- 4. PROMOTIONAL RESOURCES ----------------------------------------------- "Only $10.00 to Advertise?" Sure you can, at EzineAdAuction.com it's EASY! You'll reach Thousands of prospective customers in the process.Why Waste hundreds of dollars on advertising when you can test your ad campaigns so inexpensively with us. The answer for a "small ad budget". Click Here to start Saving.. http://EzineAdAuction.com ---<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>> Please Support our Sponsors ---<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>-----sponsor adv/ Do you know someone or have a friend that cannot get a bank account or credit card? Could you do me and them a favor and forward them this website address? (You can make real money yourself here.) http://www.godirectpay.com/go/for/ ---------------------------------------------- 5. OTHER EZINES OF INTEREST ---------------------------------------------- If you'd like to swap ads with this ezine please send your requests to mailto:adswap@merlesworld.com Please include your ezine name and the number of subscribers. --------------------------- Tired of losing money on the Internet? Learn the REAL truth about what it takes to make money Online. No hype, no bull. Former truck driver turned six figure income earner shows you how he did it! Visit http://www.internetcashplanet.com/subscribe.htm and subscribe today! ------- GET A LIFE!...and get what you want NOW! Subscribe to the “Get a Life!” Ezine and learn how to create Abundance and more Fun in your life. Practical Tools, Spiritual Principles, and FUN to help you create the life you want. http://www.TheGetaLifeCompany.com/subscribe. ------- STWebFX Marketing eZine you'll discover unique online marketing tactics that are sure to increase your traffic and sales. Receive a Free ad submission each week and lots of FREE contests for subscribers! mailto:newsletter@stwebfx.par32.com (1x) ---<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>----- Please Support our Sponsors ---<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>-----sponsor adv/ Word Templates for Ebooks Most people write their ebooks in Word then convert them to PDF. Why use plain white pages when you can download these Word templates and look more professional. http://tinyurl.com/ds4b -------------------------------------------- 6. JUST FOR FUN OR USEFUL -------------------------------------------- Drink N~de Beer Not for the under aged or the faint of heart. How about a little nud@ty with your beer? For the man who wants the best of both worlds "Drink N@de Beer". Only available in California which is too bad as my guy would just love this. http://www.DrinkNudeBeer.com -------- BBQ Sauce of the Month Hey, they have beer of the month so why not BBQ sauce. For connoisseurs everywhere sign up for your monthly delivery of sauces from around the world. If you're into sauce and any good grilling man worth his salt is, check it out. Only 13.00 a month for 2 bottles of tastiness. http://www.bbqsauceofthemonth.com/ ----- Carry On Cuisine "Tired of getting a bag of snacks instead of a quality meal on your flight? Airline food just got an upgrade -Introducing Carry-On Cuisine. Now you can simply pick up a tasty meal from a great restaurant, carry it on and enjoy your meal...and your flight. You'll be the envy of the other passengers." http://www.carryoncuisine.com/ ------ Webcams Want to see some real live web cam footage? No matter what you're into you can take your choice of business, entertainment and many more. http://www.earthcam.com/ ---<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>---- Please Support our Sponsors ---<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>-----sponsor adv/ "Are you looking to earn serious cash?" Become an affiliate of ModernRomance.com, and each surfer you send our way who purchases a 'subscritption'earns you a very generous cash reward! Become our Number 1 affiliate now by visiting http://www.ModernRomance.com (1x) ------------------------------------------------------- 7. E BOOKS AND THINGS OF INTEREST TO EZINE PUBLISHERS _________________________________________________ The Secret Is Out! TaxMama's Secrets: How to Start 10 Online Businesses Without One Thin Dime is finally available! Get tried-and-true advice from one of the Internet's most trusted marketers. Click here for information a nd inspiration. http://www.1automationwiz.com/app/aftrack.asp?afid=79997 ------- The Best Free Ebook Includes: 44 free ebooks - 20,351KB in total (browse) 32 different ebook authors (browse) 5,000+ of affiliate links inside the ebooks you can brand free http://software4profit.com/best-free-ebook/ -------- Free Ebook Click in the 5th box in the left hand column to download this free ebook. It lists brief reviews of 30+ online payment processing services http://www.PayPal-PLUS-ClickBank.com ------- Ecover Studio "Now You Can Instantly Create an Unlimited Number of Professional Virtual Cover and Box Designs in 2 Minutes or Less, all for Less than the Price of a Single eCover Designed by the Service Professionals" http://refer.ecoverstudio.com/click.cgi?id=msmerle ---------------------------------------------- 8. SOFTWARE-FREEWARE- SHAREWARE- TRIALS TO DOWNLOAD ---------------------------------------------- Font Magic "Your one-stop source for thousands of free fonts and shareware fonts.Fontmagic is one of the largest font directories on the Internet. The site has more than 5000 fonts presently and growing everyday ... All the fonts are in True Type (.ttf) format." http://www.fontmagic.com/ -------- Music Match If you've been looking for a freeware MP3 player that will also rip and burn your own CD's check out MusicMatch. Two versions available free and paid. http://www.musicmatch.com/ -------- PHP List "PHPlist is a web application that implements a personalized mailing list manager or customer relationship management (CRM) system. It is written in PHP and uses an SQL database for storing the information." Free. http://tincan.co.uk/phplist ---<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>----- Please Support our Sponsors ---<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>-----sponsor adv/ The Nitty Gritty of Writing for the SearchEngines New book by Jill Whalen that teaches you how to get your site to the top of the search engines. http://tinyurl.com/740x ------------------------------------------ 9.IMPORTANT STUFF ------------------------------------------ Well, that wraps it up,once again thanks for joining me. If you have any comments please send them to comments@merlesworld.com or visit http://www.MerlesWorld.com For advertising rates for this ezine send... mailto:advertising@merlesworld.com Current subscriber base is over 5,800- My list is clean as all email addresses are removed the very first time they bounce. Back issues can be reviewed here... http://www.MerlesMission.com If you would like to be taken off our mailing list: PLEASE click on the link at the very bottom of this ezine for instant removal. If you're an AOL user and the link doesn't work please cut and paste it into your browser or mailto:remove@merlesworld.com If you are not a subscriber and would like to be send mailto:subscribe@merlesworld.com «»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«» For Back Issues: http://www.MerlesMission.com «»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»« For great web hosting or if you're in need of a programmer contact mailto:DavidBlack@SiteDesignandHosting.com He's wonderful and an expert at what he does. Tell him "Merle" sent ya. P.S. I am currently in need of testimonials for this ezine. If you enjoy it please let me know. Send to mailto:testimonials@MerlesWorld.com «»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«» If you haven't yet filled in the subscriber survey, get your free gifts by doing it now..and be entered into a drawing for a free ad in this ezine. Winner pulled twice a month. You'll find the survey at: http://www.advancedsurvey.com/ when there put 901 into the survey number box at the top left to take the survey. -------------- I'm now offering my articles for syndication on your website All you have to do is paste SOME code where you want the article to appear and every 10 to 14 days when I update it on my end it will display a fresh article on web design/ maintenance on your site. Easy to do and gives you fresh content without any work whatsoever. For more info and to get to the code go to.... http://tinyurl.com/aohr Thanks for being a subscriber and I'll see you next time! If you enjoy this ezine and would like to make a small donation please go to ...http://tinyurl.com/21se «»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«» IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER «»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«» Disclaimer: Merle's World does not accept any responsibility for any liabilities as resulting from any claims in this newsletter or by the advertisers in it. This newsletter is for informational purposes only. We respect your privacy and do not share our mailing list with anyone. All content provided "as is" without warranty of any kind. Comments in this ezine are strictly the opinion of the publisher. Merle does not endorse, and is not responsible for, the above ads. Please use your own discretion when responding to ads in this ezine. Copyright 2001-2003 All Rights Reserved.