[Hidden-tech] Looking for Free or Low Cost Blog Platform and Thoughts about Jotform for Registering New Subscribers

Thu May 28 16:52:42 UTC 2020

Thanks for the explanations, Robert and Greg.

As a user, I have to say that I hate it when I have to follow a back-button
trail through five or six pages and then often as not, never get back to
the page I was on because it calls the website differently (and presents me
with e.g. a thank-you page when I never completed the action). So as a
website owner, especially if the link is in the middle of a page that I'd
like people to read all the way through, I often open new tabs/windows with
internal links, and pretty much always with external links.

Shel Horowitz - "The Transformpreneur"
________________________________________________
Contact me to bake in profitability while addressing hunger,
poverty, war, and catastrophic climate change
* First business ever to be Green America Gold Certified
* Inducted into the National Environmental Hall of Fame
* Certified speaker: International Platform Association
http://goingbeyondsustainability.com
mailto:shel at greenandprofitable.com 413-586-2388
Award-winning, best-selling author of 10 books.
Latest:Guerrilla Marketing to Heal the World
(co-authored with Jay Conrad Levinson)

Watch my TEDx Talk,
"Impossible is a Dare: Business for a Better World"
http://www.ted.com/tedx/events/11809
(move your mouse to "event videos")
_________________________________________________

On Thu, May 28, 2020 at 11:30 AM Alex at Just Peachy <alex at justpeachy.io>
wrote:

> While individuals definitely have their own preferences and needs that
> drive their browsing behavior, Greg's recommendation to open internal links
> in the same tab is the industry standard.
>
> "Opening new tabs of the same website is redundant and confusing. If it’s
> the same website but a different page, users will use the navigation menu
> to navigate back or elsewhere if they need. Keeping users in the same tab
> helps them better understand the navigation flow of your site."
>
>
> https://uxmovement.com/navigation/why-external-links-should-open-in-new-tabs/
>
>
> "Whether or not you personally prefer links to open in a new tab or the
> same tab, it all boils down to user experience. User interface is the way
> your site looks and user experience is the way a reader interacts with your
> site. Now, if it’s about how your users, how in the world do you make them
> all happy when there is clearly one option and also the exact opposite of
> that option? How do you choose which to provide?
>
> Do: respect the expected, default behavior of the browser. Don’t: take
> control away from the user in order to give them what you think they want."
>
> https://www.oncecoupled.com/internal-link-tab/
>
> Best,
> Alex
> *Just Peachy*
>
> On Thu, May 28, 2020 at 11:25 AM Robert Heller via Hidden-discuss <
> hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net> wrote:
>
>> At Wed, 27 May 2020 21:38:16 -0400 Shel Horowitz <
>> shel at principledprofit.com> wrote:
>>
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > "3. Avoid opening links in new windows as much as possible. It's pretty
>> > common to do so for external links and PDFs, but should be avoided 100%
>> of
>> > the time for internal links. Trust people to use the back button."
>> >
>> > Hi, Greg. Curious about why.
>>
>> Yes, why? With dialup, I almost always open links in new windows. Yes, I
>> know
>> about the back button, but "going back" can be painfully slow with a
>> dialup
>> connection (between images, css, and js files loading any page is
>> painfully
>> slow, so I avoid reloading pages whenever I can avoid it). Also, I almost
>> always right-click/"Save Link As" for PDFs (I *never* view PDFs in my
>> browser,
>> in fact I have disabled that -- I *always* download PDFs and view them
>> with a
>> local pdf viewer (xpdf).)
>>
>> Yes I follow links [internal or external] in the same window where there
>> is a
>> clear [single] thread, but when I come to a "multiple" path (eg a "fork
>> in the
>> road"), I will open in a new window. Oh, I never use tabs (I *hate* tabs
>> and
>> prefer to actually use my window manager -- I have it there for that
>> reason).
>>
>> >
>> > Shel Horowitz - "The Transformpreneur"
>> > ________________________________________________
>> > Contact me to bake in profitability while addressing hunger,
>> > poverty, war, and catastrophic climate change
>> > * First business ever to be Green America Gold Certified
>> > * Inducted into the National Environmental Hall of Fame
>> > * Certified speaker: International Platform Association
>> > http://goingbeyondsustainability.com
>> > mailto:shel at greenandprofitable.com 413-586-2388
>> > Award-winning, best-selling author of 10 books.
>> > Latest:Guerrilla Marketing to Heal the World
>> > (co-authored with Jay Conrad Levinson)
>> >
>> > Watch my TEDx Talk,
>> > "Impossible is a Dare: Business for a Better World"
>> > http://www.ted.com/tedx/events/11809
>> > (move your mouse to "event videos")
>> > _________________________________________________
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > On Wed, May 27, 2020 at 11:31 AM Greg Perham via Hidden-discuss <
>> > hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net> wrote:
>> >
>> > > Hi Roger,
>> > >
>> > > +1 for WordPress.
>> > >
>> > > You might want to consider MailChimp's free plan for managing your
>> > > subscriber list. No need to bring JotForm or another third party into
>> the
>> > > mix.
>> > >
>> > > Looks like you're hosting on Network Solutions. My experience with
>> clients
>> > > who were on Netsol has been that they were paying 2 to 4 times above
>> the
>> > > norm and the performance and control panel were so poor they moved
>> house
>> > > when they upgraded. If the pricing is good and you can easily install
>> WP, I
>> > > say stay; otherwise, definitely move on.
>> > >
>> > > A few things to keep in mind when moving your site to WP (or any other
>> > > platform):
>> > > 1. Make sure redirects <https://wordpress.org/plugins/redirection/>
>> are
>> > > set up for your .html pages to help search engines index the new
>> pages and
>> > > keep your rankings.
>> > > 2. Do not just copy and paste your current code into WordPress. It
>> needs
>> > > to be cleaned up and modernized. You will want to make use of heading
>> tags
>> > > etc instead of spans with inline styles. This is for accessibility,
>> SEO,
>> > > maintainability, and portability. It's just how HTML is meant to be
>> used.
>> > > 3. Avoid opening links in new windows as much as possible. It's pretty
>> > > common to do so for external links and PDFs, but should be avoided
>> 100% of
>> > > the time for internal links. Trust people to use the back button.
>> > > 4. Use a simple SEO plugin <
>> https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-seopress/> to
>> > > improve your page descriptions in search engine results.
>> > > 5. As others mentioned: backups and updates. They're simple enough to
>> do
>> > > yourself, or cheap enough to get someone to manage them for you.
>> > >
>> > > Setting it up and moving your content over can be done in a few
>> hours. A
>> > > number of people on HT have lots of experience with this and could
>> help
>> > > out, myself included! Feel free to contact me directly if you want
>> > > assistance.
>> > >
>> > > Greg
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> > > Greg Perham
>> > > *Swing Graphics | Swing Hosting*
>> > > PO Box 1436
>> > > Northampton, MA 01061
>> > > greg at swinggraphics.com
>> > > 413 570-0881
>> > >
>> > > LinkedIn <http://www.linkedin.com/in/gregperham> || Twitter
>> > > <https://twitter.com/swinggraphics>
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> > > On May 26, 2020, at 4:50 PM, Roger Magnus via Hidden-discuss <
>> > > hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net> wrote:
>> > >
>> > > Hi all,
>> > >
>> > > I am long-time reader but first-time poster on this discussion list.
>> > >
>> > > I am hoping to start a blog soon as I transition my business into a
>> new
>> > > area. I am trying to find a free or low-cost blogging platform that I
>> can
>> > > synch with my website domain,  rogermagnusresearch.com.  Does anyone
>> have
>> > > any suggestions? I realize my website is very simple and I hope to
>> upgrade
>> > > it eventually as I have more clients.
>> > >
>> > > Also, I want to sign up clients to the blog and wonder about Jotform
>> to
>> > > capture a name and email address.  One thing I like about it is it
>> replies
>> > > with a thank you message when someone signs up.  Is that something you
>> > > would recommend, something else,  or is a link to my email sufficient?
>> > >
>> > > Many thanks!
>> > >
>> > >
>> > > Best,
>> > >
>> > >
>> > > Roger
>> > >
>> > >
>> > > Roger Magnus
>> > > Roger Magnus Research
>> > > Amherst, MA 01002
>> > > Phone/Text: 413-687-8466
>> > > Web:  http://www.rogermagnusresearch.com
>> > > _______________________________________________
>> > > Hidden-discuss mailing list - home page: http://www.hidden-tech.net
>> > > Hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net
>> > >
>> > > You are receiving this because you are on the Hidden-Tech Discussion
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>> > >
>> > >
>> > > _______________________________________________
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>> > >
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>> > _______________________________________________
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>> >
>>
>> --
>> Robert Heller             -- 978-544-6933 Cell: 413-658-7953 GV:
>> 978-633-5364
>> Deepwoods Software        -- Custom Software Services
>> http://www.deepsoft.com/  -- Linux Administration Services
>> heller at deepsoft.com       -- Webhosting Services
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>>
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