Internet: Tips and Tricks

Internet: Tuning Apache for Maximum Performance

Apache is an open-source HTTP server implementation. It is the most popular web server on the Internet; the December 2005 Web Server Survey conducted by Netcraft [1] shows that about 70% of the web sites on Internet are using Apache.

Apache server performance can be improved by adding additional hardware resources such as RAM, faster CPU, etc. But most of the time, the same result can be achieved by custom configuration of the server. This article looks into getting maximum performance out of Apache with the existing hardware resources, specifically on Linux systems. Of course, it is assumed that there is enough hardware resources – especially enough RAM that the server isn’t swapping frequently. First two sections look into various Compile-Time and Run-Time configuration options. The Run-Time section assumes that Apache is compiled with prefork [1] MPM. HTTP compression and caching is discussed next. Finally, using separate servers for serving static and dynamic contents is covered. Basic knowledge of compiling and configuring Apache and Linux are assumed.

Posted by Administrator on Mar 03, 2008

Internet: IPV6 and Thomson Speedtouch 500 series

In order to get a IPV6 tunnel working with a Thomson Speedtouch 500 series ADSL modem like the Speedtouch 510. You will have to set the following option in your modem:

(connect via telnet)

Other IPv6 tunneling tips can be found on this website.

Posted by Administrator on Sep 28, 2007

Add Flash support to firefox without linux-compatibility installed.

This weblog explains how to play flash on FreeBSD without Linux compatibility installed.

Posted by Administrator on May 30, 2007

Internet: Lighttpd logrotation

Logrotation with Lighttpd can be handled as follows:

• move old logfiles.
• send lighttpd process a SIGHUP (kill -1) signal.

or use a logrotate script/daemon like the newsyslog script in FreeBSD.

Posted by Administrator on Feb 05, 2007

Internet: Automaticly distribute proxy settings for IE and Firefox

With the following procedure which make’s use of dns settings and a apache webserver it is possible to automaticly distribute the squid (or any other proxy server) proxy configuration :

Posted by Administrator on Nov 22, 2006

Programming: Build a Web spider on Linux

Using common scripting languages and their collection of Web modules, you can easily develop Web spiders.

Web spiders are software agents that traverse the Internet gathering, filtering, and potentially aggregating information for a user. Using common scripting languages and their collection of Web modules, you can easily develop Web spiders.

A spider is a program that crawls the Internet in a specific way for a specific purpose. The purpose could be to gather information or to understand the structure and validity of a Web site. Spiders are the basis for modern search engines, such as Google and AltaVista. These spiders automatically retrieve data from the Web and pass it on to other applications that index the contents of the Web site for the best set of search terms.

Similar to a spider, but with more interesting legal questions, is the Web scraper. A scraper is a type of spider that targets specific content from the Web, such as the cost of products or services. One use of the scraper is for competitive pricing, to identify the price of a given product to tailor your price or advertise it accordingly. A scraper can also aggregate data from a number of Web sources and provide that information to a user.

Posted by Administrator on Nov 15, 2006

VoIP - Voice Over Internet Protocol

Voice over internet protocol or VoIP is beginning to come into its own. The promise of cost savings over traditional phone lines is driving this technology into the mainstream. Leveraging your existing broadband connection to save on your monthly phone expense at first glance makes sense.

Lets take a closer look.

Posted by Administrator on Nov 03, 2006

Web 2.0: For the User, By the User

I still remember the thrill of my father bringing home our first VCR. The features were dizzying would it really record television shows in the middle of the night when we were fast asleep Finally, just what we needed! Or did we Sadly, we only mastered the art of renting and playing movies. Confusion from unclear directions overrode our interest level in learning the finer points of our VCRs features. Dad rightly claimed that corporate design labs and family dens have different standards for what might pass as user-friendly. We used the VCR as it suited our needs while disregarding its more complex features. Some years and many technologies later user friendly is back defining, in digital terms, what is loosely referred to as Web 2.0. Web 2.0 is the latest generation Internet. Its the perfect market for users and advertisers alike: now it’s Adsense, not DoubleClick; live blogs, as opposed to static webpages.

Posted by Administrator on Nov 03, 2006

Firefox: Live Bookmarks Refresh Rate

The default livebook mark refresh in Firefox is set to 30 minutes. It is possible to change this default by changing the following parameter:

browser.bookmarks.livemark_refresh_seconds

Posted by Administrator on Nov 01, 2006

Ajax, ruby, html, css cheatsheets

Whether you’ve forgotten the name of a function or the property of a cascading style sheet – handy cheat sheets deliver the information you are looking for – immediately. Most cheat sheets are available as .pdf or .png-files, so you can print them and use them every day for whatever projects you’re currently working on.

On this website you find a list of several cheatsheets including perl, ruby, xml, css, ajax, html, photoshop, mysql, ..., ...

Posted by Administrator on Nov 01, 2006

Internet: Using Web Directories As A Link Building Tool

Using Web Directories As A Link Building Tool by: SeoAmitPatel

Even in this era of technological breakthroughs, many website owners have a wrong idea about web directories. They think these web directories are simply a way to gain a one-way incoming link. Inclusion in the different web directories is seldom perceived as more than a one-time entry event. The aim is to get listed and obtain the inbound link, for better of for worse. Traffic from some mainstream directories is almost always low and rarely seen as part of the equation. The dormant capability of the directory listings as a source of potential link partners is almost never reckoned as a strategy at all, which is not a wise move at all.

In reality, web directories have far more possibilities concealed within their listings than it is generally believed. Many webmasters and search engine optimization experts ignore the less obvious value residing in the numerous categories.

By looking beyond the single link and searching abilities of a web directory, a website owner can have unrestricted access to innumerable potential link partners, waiting to be added. These partners can be found without much effort in the major internet directories and in the copious niche directory listings as well.

Not all web directories are adept in searching for links. The DMOZ (also known as the Open Directory Project), The Google Directory, The Yahoo! Directory are the directories which one should use in order to carry out link research tasks.

It will not be an exaggeration to compare the web directories to a gold mine of linking partners if one can get the full out of appropriate strategies. Any enterprising and prospecting webmaster can successfully use the web directories as an effective link building tool. It is expected that the readers will now be able to avail this opportunity after reading this article.

About The Author SeoAmitPatel is a SEO Expert who owns a SEO Company and which is working a major SEO Project

Posted by Administrator on Oct 29, 2006

Internet: Create clean w3 compliant html code with tidy integration in Vi(m)

If you want to stick to vim as you favorite (html) editor just like me I found the following tip to integrate tidy into vim to be able to check your html code if it clean and w3 compliant.

Add the following file type plugin for html files.

Posted by Administrator on Oct 22, 2006

A Guide To Website Promotion Part Two

Now that you are familiar with the most important search engines and linking strategies, you should not ignore other promotion tools that will enhance your website promotion efforts.

3. Traditional Media Strategies

Website promotion should be a mix of online and offline strategies. Traditional media tools apply successfully to increase traffic and get more visitors.

Promote your website URL on business cards, stationery and company documents.

Dont ignore the importance of the traditional media. Include your URL in any display in newspapers, magazines and so on. Many people do use the yellow and white pages to search for services. Make sure your company is listed and provide the URL along your listing as well.

Send your clients business greeting cards on proper occasions. These will act as reminders and help maintain good communication channels between you and your customers.

Use your local TV and Radio to promote your website. Advertisements on national TV are really expensive, but do use them if you have the money.

Print informational brochures and periodicals. For periodicals dont just ramble about a topic: make them worth reading. Send them free to business partners, clients, journalists and research centers.

Develop a free service (related to your business field) to attract clients to your website: a free online insurance calculator, a free e-book, free software, etc.

4. Email Strategies

Emails are virtual corporate letters. Email can be used to send out answers to inquiries, news, offers, advice and much more. The first and most important rule when it comes to business email is: DONT SPAM! The rest comes naturally.

No matter what business email you send out, always use a signature: your name, position, company address and phone numbers, website URL. Always include the http: in front of your domain name, as many email software programs fail to convert simple www. into links.

Publish an eNewsletter (ezine): this is a periodical electronic publication with useful information for your clients. You may include in the eNewsletter articles, press releases, news and special offers. But dont forget to include a visible link to your website as well.

Send your clients special offers, discount coupons, product updates and so on. These should be personalized, clear and to the point. Once again: dont spam.

There are email marketing companies that have developed lists of people who have agreed to receive commercial emails. You could use such a service, but if you do, make sure its not a type of pay to read email company. To pay for something like this will do you no good, as people who get paid to read emails dont really care about your message, but just click on the links to get a commission per click.

Up to now youve learned the importance of search engine strategies, how to develop a solid linking strategy, how the traditional media tools boost site popularity and what email strategies work best to promote your website. In the third and last part of this short guide, we will show you how to use paid advertising effectively. We will also take a look at some miscellaneous website promotion tools.

About The AuthorScott Lindsay is a web developer and entrepreneur. He is the founder of HighPowerSites and many other web projects. HighPowerSites is the easiest do-it-yourself website builder on the web. No programming or design skill required. Get your own website online in just 5 minutes with HighPowerSites.com

Posted by Administrator on Oct 17, 2006

Internet: Anonymous Proxies

Anonymous Proxies 101 by: Thomas Pitts

If you search in Google for anonymous proxy, you will get well over thirteen million hits. Anonymous proxy sites allow you to enter your URL into the site, and it will then retrieve and display the page for you. This helps to protect you anonymity on the Internet, because the target site logging the visit records the information of the anonymous proxy site, not the end user. Why are there such a growing number of sites that provide this service The answer is that various types of censorship exist to prevent access to many Internet resources. Censorship is an often ill-abused buzz-word. We are subject to censorship our entire lives. It comes in many forms. There is Moral, Military, and Religious censorship. Clearly there is a need to withhold certain information under certain circumstances, such as in wartime, or any time its immediate dissemination will cause harm to others. While military secrets are often the most fleeting of all, timing is everything. Its not really a matter of what you know about your enemy, but when you know it.

Posted by Administrator on Oct 16, 2006

Internet: Discover Mozilla FireFox Extensions and How To install them.

Discover Mozilla FireFox Extensions and How To install them by: Finley Stew

If you are still not using any other web browser then FireFox (no matter what OS you are using) you are endangering the security of your computer and missing out on a much richer surfing experience. One of Mozilla FireFox browser most powerful feature is the possibility to install extensions. Since Firefox browser is a product of the open code community, this results in an active programming distribution of firefox extensions. The extensions are plugins that just like skins will add functionality to the firefox browser. The number of extensions is countless and any day more of them are being released. They go from telling the weather or controlling you favorite mp3 player from the browser to adding practical functionality to your special surfing needs, like better managing your downloads or designing web pages.

Posted by Administrator on Oct 16, 2006

A Guide To Website Promotion Part One

A Guide To Website Promotion Part One by: Scott Lindsay

A great deal has been written about website promotion, yet many businesses fail in attaining visible results: increasing traffic, getting more clients and so on. Why Because many online entrepreneurs do not exploit the proper website promotion tools at their fullest.

Here is a list of website promotion strategies you need to consider if you want a successful online business.

Posted by Administrator on Oct 16, 2006

Internet Explorer and CSS issues

Trying to get CSS-based websites to look the same across all browsers can often be difficult. Many of the problems however lie with Internet Explorer implementing CSS commands differently to other, more standards compliant browsers. All is not lost, however, as many of the differences you see across browsers are caused by the same Internet Explorer CSS issues…

Posted by Administrator on Oct 13, 2006

Internet: CSS Hacks and browser detection

The problem with CSS

Historically the main problem with using CSS has been lack of browser support. This is no longer the case as version 5 browsers, which all have good support for CSS, now account for over 99% of browsers in use.

Instead, the problem is that browsers can sometimes interpret CSS commands in different ways, causing developers to throw their arms up in the air and switch back to pixel-perfect table layouts. Fear not though, as you learn more about CSS you’ll gradually start to understand the different browser interpretations and realise that there aren’t really that many.

Posted by Administrator on Oct 13, 2006

Internet: 5 Essential SEO Techniques

Search Engine Optimization is becoming a more and more complicated area especially with the recent updates and data refresh done on the search engines’ index. However, the basic concept for good ranking does not change. The following illustrates five most important SEO techniques as summarized from the Google Webmaster Guidelines that all webmasters should follow.

Posted by Administrator on Oct 12, 2006

Web Page Speed Analysis and Free Website Performance Tool

Try this free web site speed test to improve website performance. Enter a URL below to calculate page size, composition, and download time. The script calculates the size of individual elements and sums up each type of web page component. Based on these page characteristics the script then offers advice on how to improve page load time.

Posted by Administrator on Oct 10, 2006