Many web hosts will allow customers to use a shared SSL certificate for free. This sounds like a great idea, and for some it really is all that is needed. However, for a small fee, you can purchase your own dedicated or private certificate. So, what’s the difference?

1. The URL changes when using a shared certificate, but stays the same with a private certificate
   • Dedicated SSL will use your own URL in the address bar: https://www.yoursite.com
   • Shared SSL will use some version of the host machine information: https://darthvader.snhdns.com/~yoursite.
2. A shared certificate can cause a warning to pop up to users on some browsers since the certificate is owned by the host and not the web site owner. This doesn’t mean the certificate isn’t working, but it may cause concern with some customers. You are the owner of a dedicated SSL.
3. With a dedicated SSL, you can choose the level of security for your web site. With a shared SSL you inherit the security settings set by the host.
4. Some out of the box shopping carts require a dedicated SSL. For some reason, some carts just don’t know how to deal with the URL differences in a shared certificate, forcing the issue of purchasing a dedicated certificate.

Shared and dedicated SSL certificates both provide security for your web site. They both use the same encryption methods to transfer data over the web. They both make that little lock show up on the browser letting you and your customers know the information is safe. The decision is yours.  Take a look at your needs, the size of your store, your typical user and your budget for the site.  It all comes down to user experience and dollars and cents.

My little man has been helping me show kids how to paint Chinese characters. We also learned how to make yummy fried rice and can now speak a little Chinese. Well, I can say hi and sing a song. Little man just says “la.”

We’ve learned some interesting facts about China in the process. Did you know that the Chinese language has over 40, 000 characters? Did you know that ice cream was invented in China? Did you know there are over a billion people in China? Wow! I bet they eat lots of ice cream!

Last Monday we ventured out of the Franklin city limits and celebrated yours truly at Country Boy Restaurant in Leiper’s Fork. This quaint little place on the side of Old Hillsboro did not disappoint. Everything from the sweet tea to the fried pie (with ice cream) was mighty tasty! I enjoyed my first hot brown and it was delicious, right down to the tomato.

If you’re ever in the area and want some good country cookin’, be sure to check it out!

I can’t believe it’s been almost two years since I started working at JLB. Time has flown by! I also can’t believe that I’m five days (at most) away having a baby boy! I’ve finished my final task list before my leave and we had a fun “maternity” lunch at Chuy’s–very tasty, by the way. Thank you JLB for a wonderful send off! I’ll miss you guys!

Now, what to do while I wait for this baby? Sledding, of course!

See you in a couple of months!

To add an image to a page or post:

• Click on the small square icon next to “Upload/Insert.”
• A pop-up screen will appear. Either upload a file from the computer or select one from the gallery.
• Show the details for the image. Here the alignment and size of the image can be set.
• Select the size closest to what will fit the page. The larger the uploaded image, the more options that will be available. Remember that the “thumbnail” will crop the image to a square, which may not be what is needed for the page.
• After the closest size has been selected, click “Insert into Post”.

The image should display in the page or post. If the image is too big (or small), more editing can be done. This is the fun part!

• Click on the image itself. Two icons will appear. Click on the one with the mountain, labeled “Edit Image.”
• Another pop-up screen will appear.
• Here the alignment and SIZE of the image can be changed again.
• To make the image smaller, use the scale to select what percentage of the current image size should be displayed on the page.

Voila! The image is now the perfect size to fit with the rest of the content! Wasn’t that fun? And, so much easier that uploading image after image to get the perfect size!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

To make them a little healthier, I usually use more applesauce and/or banana as a substitute for some of the butter and use at least 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour. They still are amazing!

• 4 eggs
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 (16 ounce) can pumpkin
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup butter melted
• 1/4 cup smashed banana or applesauce
• 3 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon (optional)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips

In large bowl, mix eggs, sugar, pumpkin, vanilla, butter and mashed banana/applesauce until smooth.

Mix dry ingredients (flour , baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt) together and mix into pumpkin mixture.

Fold in chocolate chips.

Fill greased or lined muffin tins about 3/4 full.

Bake at 400 for 16-20 minutes for regular muffins, 12-15 minutes for mini muffins.

Makes 30 regular muffins.

Creamy Turkey Wild Rice Soup

• 1 1/2 cups wild rice
• 3 1/2 cups water or chicken broth
• 2 cups chopped turkey
• 1 can low sodium cream of mushroom soup
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp basil
• 1 tsp salt (or to taste)
• 1/2 tsp pepper (or to taste)

Bring water or broth to a boil. Add wild rice and cook according to instructions, about 30 minutes.

Add turkey, soup, oregano, basil, salt and pepper. Allow to simmer about 10 minutes, or until desired consistency.

Peppermint bark

• 1 12 oz package white chocolate chips
• 4 regular candy canes

Put chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave at 30 second intervals until melted. Be sure to stir each time.

Place candy canes in a zip lock bag and crush with a rolling pin.

When chips are melted, add candy canes and stir.

Spread mixture on a wax paper lined cookie sheet. Place in freezer until hard.

Break into pieces and enjoy!

Hope you and your family have a wonderful holiday season and enjoy cooking (and eating) together!

1. Cost - email marketing is far cheaper than sending out mass mailers. Between the cost of printing and the increasing cost of postage, a tri-folded brochure can easily cost $1 each to mail. With mass email marketing campaigns, 2,500 "brochures" can be sent for $25. Wow!
2. Tracking - With email marketing the business owner can easily track the number of people who opened the email. No telling how many of those paper brochures fall straight in the recycling bin! Also, any bad email addresses are automatically tracked so that future lists can be streamlined.
3. Click-throughs – When a person receives a paper brochure in their mailbox, they have to do something, like pick up the phone or sit down to write an email to give a response. An email makes it easy for people to click straight to a website for additional information or to reply to get in touch with a person more quickly. Less effort on the part of the consumer, usually means greater return.

Now, there definitely is a time and place to send mail the old fashioned way. People like to have a piece of paper to hold and remind them of someone or something. We’re sentimental. However, when you are looking to reach the masses, especially on a regular basis, you really can’t beat a good email marketing strategy!

First, let’s start with a couple of definitions. Tables are sets of columns and rows (think Excel) where each table cell can hold content, or another table. CSS, or cascading style sheets, consist of a list of rules to hold content in place, where "div" tags usually hold the bulk of the content.

Tables can get cumbersome and the actual HTML of a page can get ugly pretty quickly. When you have three nested tables, it’s hard to know which way is up when you add more content to the site. Tables were originally created for tabular data, and still work very well to keep tabular data in its place. For me, tables are the down and dirty way to get things done. However, because of the structure of tables, updating a site can become a bear.

Styling content using CSS does look cleaner. Code isn’t as long. This small difference doesn’t make a lot of difference to the end user, but the outcome is often cleaner. It can also make updating content a lot easier in the long run.

Enter Wine Down Main Street. We update this site each year with the new wines, tasting stations and participating restaurants. Up until now, these pages have all been built in tables. To keep everything in alphabetical order, when a new item was added to any of these pages, every table cell after the one added had to be moved. This made changes to the site tedious.

This year, I decided to make a little change since I am the one who gets to make all the updates. The three pages above are now controlled by div tags in a CSS. This makes adding new wines, restaurants and tasting stations a breeze. Instead of moving each cell down with each addition, I just insert one line of code that adds another div to the list and everything else adjusts accordingly.

There are some types of content where tables make more sense, but I’m so thankful for div tags and style sheets on Wine Down Main Street! That wine will taste smell sweeter this year to me!

1. Make lots of lists…about everything! It’s a proven fact that pregnant women (and mothers of newborns) have a harder time remembering things. Because of this, lists are essential. I write lists of tasks for work, things I need to do at home, people to call and just about anything else. It helps two ways: I remember what I’m supposed to do and, I get the sense of accomplishment of checking things off my list when I actually get something done. Now, if I just added sleeping and eating to the lists, I would have three times more accomplishments each day…need to write those on the list of things to do.
2. Focus on the task at hand. Speaking of remembering things, it’s extra important to focus on the task that needs to be completed. I get distracted more easily these days and if I’m not focused on what I’m supposed to be doing, I often can’t remember what my goal was in the first place. This is especially important if writing code or content for a site!
3. Keep Coke and crackers close by! “Morning” sickness is a complete farce, so to me, this is extrememly important! Hopefully, I’ll move away from my dependance on carbonated beverages and carbs in the next week or so, but right now, they are my friends. Coke is a necessary evil these days. I don’t even like the stuff, but when the afternoon queasiness hits, it’s the only sure-fire way to not turn completely green. It is best served with crushed ice. Crackers and Preggie pops have been helpful as well and I don’t travel anywhere, especially to work, without a supply of each.
4. Sleep whenever you can. I’m not advocating sleeping on the job. Really. But, there are times when five minutes of shut eye in the afternoon will get you through the day. At work, you can’t really get a two hour nap, so the best time to sleep is at night. (Shocking, isn’t it?!) Go to bed earlier than normal and get an extra hour or so of sleep. This helps everything: alertness, queasiness, forgetfulness and attitude! So…sleep, sleep, sleep!
5. Write everything down. I may have mentioned something about this earlier, but I can’t remember. Writing things down is of utmost importance. In every meeting, remember to have a pen and paper, or a laptop to send an email with the notes. When you have a brillant thought, write it down. It will probably be gone in about five minutes, maybe less. (I’m averaging 30 seconds these days.) Writing things down helps me feel like I am still somewhat on top of things.

There you have them. Five little things that really help this pregnant lady get by. It gets easier, but at first when my body is concentrating on sleeping and eating, these little tips have helped me get other things done and that keeps my boss happy. (Actually my girls and husband have appreciated that as well.) Hope you, or your pregnant wife, finds them helpful too!

You have two options when building a web site: update manually, or with a content management system (CMS). Drupal, Wordpress and Textpattern are a few content managment systems you may have heard of. We created Swift, a CMS here at JLB that we think is top notch!

Why would you want a CMS instead of manually updating your site? Glad you asked. Here are five good reasons to ask your web developer to add a CMS to your site:

1. Update your site anytime: With a CMS you can update your web site any time you please. You don’t have to call or email your web developer and wait around for them to change the breaking news that you want to feature on the home page. You can do it right now, at midnight, in your pajamas.

2. Save money: Yes, a CMS will cost a little more in the beginning to set up, but think of the money (and time) you will save. No more paying hourly rates for content updates.

3. It’s easier than you think: You have a gmail account. You upload pictures to your Facebook page. You can totally do this! It’s not rocket science. It’s more like sending an email to a friend and maybe adding an attachment.

4. Keep a consistent look: When a site is made up of a bunch of separate HTML pages, sometimes one gets missed when updating the design. Not with a CMS site. Your site will be built in a template so the design is consistent on every page. If you add a new page, it shows up exactly where you want it in the navigation every time! Consistency is key in getting your message across to you customer

5. DIY is so 2010! Come on…Take the plunge! You don’t want to be 2000-late!

If you’re looking for someone to bring your site into the next decade, we’re happy to help!