Stranger Things Happen, Kelly Link's first (and wonderful) short story collection, is now available to download for free. And so is Jeffrey Veen's The Art and Science of Web Design, a book that was pretty influential when it was released 5 years ago. I'll have more fun stuff to … [Read more...] about Free books
Web Design
Server log analysis
I'm swamped with work, and in my free time I've been writing madly. And I'm getting back to that in just a second, but I wrote this up quickly as a reply to someone and then realized that it was too long and I really should just post it here instead. I just went through, for the … [Read more...] about Server log analysis
Attention, publishers
This is what you should be doing with your websites. None of that takes a huge budget, really, but it does take a dedicated webmaster and not the last dregs of "spare time" contributed by already-overworked editors. … [Read more...] about Attention, publishers
Things that make you look like an amateur on the web, part 3: just plain stupid
Misspellings. I know of at least one NYT bestseller whose name is misspelled in her page title. There's no copyeditor between you and your web audience. And search engines won't recognize you if there's a typo in your name. Script kiddie language. ("R U sexxy?" Probably … [Read more...] about Things that make you look like an amateur on the web, part 3: just plain stupid
Things that make you look like an amateur on the web, part 2: special effects
Mouse droppings. As annoying as pop-up ads — and the only way to get rid of them is to leave the site. Mystery meat navigation. Your visitors should never have to guess where to click. Transition effects. Java plugins or applets. These things are guaranteed to crash … [Read more...] about Things that make you look like an amateur on the web, part 2: special effects
Things that make you look like an amateur on the web, part 1: images
(I realize lists of things you shouldn't do are less helpful than tips on what you should do, but let's get the basics out of the way first. I'll get back to the proactive stuff in a bit.) Backgrounds, borders, bars, and bullets taken from a free graphics site. You don't need … [Read more...] about Things that make you look like an amateur on the web, part 1: images
May 1 Reboot
I'll be back in May with a new look (and a lot of new things to say about web design for authors). Feel free to amuse yourself with the old site or check out the May 1 Reboot project and all the other participants. … [Read more...] about May 1 Reboot
Fixes
So I think I finally have WordPress templates sussed. At least, there are fewer things broken around here than there were last week. If you spot anything funky, leave a comment, would you? I also managed to get Lisa's new blog design up and running over the weekend, and I'll be … [Read more...] about Fixes
Jonathan Strahan on author’s sites
Seems I'm not the only one with something to say… Provide information people expect. If you are an author and you are putting up a web page add a "News" section. In a fit of foolhardiness, actually call it "News". A website is a communications tool. Use it. Be clear, be … [Read more...] about Jonathan Strahan on author’s sites
Website Content: The Book List
Or, How Not to List Your Books in Such a Way as to Make Your Readers Rend Their Garments in Despair. Another common question from the RWA talk: "What content should the site have?" Or, put another way, "What do readers want?" I like this question. I'm going to talk about it at … [Read more...] about Website Content: The Book List
