A Day of the Dog
G 'Day Sizzlers,
"And visions of sugar plums danced in
their heads", instead it was more
like CD cases and mailing labels.
Merry
Christmas to all and a Happy New Year
Thanks to all of you out there that
ordered our Holiday Special. You have made
it quite a success. For those of you that
haven't purchased the CD as of yet, it
will be available until January 9th. At
that time the specials will be changed, so
you still have some time to take advantage
of this sale. It can still be found here
at
Special
Offers, so note, that if you are an
existing registered user, there is
quite a substantial savings.
We have had some excellent feedback on
HotDog HTML Publisher. This is only
available on the CD at this time and was
an added bonus for the purchasers. They
will receive free version upgrades as it
progresses. We will release it to the
general public in the middle of January on
a 14 use basis. We have some very
interesting features you won't find with
any other HTML editor WYSIWYG or not. We
are toying with the concept of
modularizing the editor. Instead of
bombarding everybody will all these
features that they may or may not use, why
not just let the end-user decide what they
want? This I believe would be a very
unique concept. Lets say for instance, you
already have an ftp client you are happy
and familiar with, you will not have to
purchase that part of the modules. We
think you will like this and it can be as
much or as little as you want.
About the Sizzler; yes we did send opt-in
information out last week. It was really
us. We received a ton of helpdesk inquires
as to it really being Sausage that sent
this out. Rest assured, it was. It's
getting pretty bad out there when you
can't send a simple opt-in message without
so much suspicion. In the near future, we
will be implementing a new way to keep in
touch with what's going on at Sausage.
Happy New Year,
The year has gone by quickly! Where has it gone and What have
we done?
Started promoting
Hosting
and
Domains
in the beginning of the year. In May ,we released HotDog
Professional 7.0, this was followed by 4 updates
bringing us to
HotDog
Professional 7.03. We have been asked on several
occasions if you are at 7.0 and have 4 updates, how come you're
not on version 7.04 or 7.05. This is simple; 2 of the
upgrades were build subsets that really didn't deserve a
number. Then we released FlashPoint
and
HotFtp
in the same month. In June, SausageHosting was on a lease
server back in Florida at the time. Service was rather poor,
so we elected to put in our own servers, taking control of
the destiny of hosting. Proving again the old adage that
responsibility and authority should generally go hand and
hand. Hosting has had no downtime since it's change in June.
For the Sizzler, we
constructed a new delivery method after Lockergnome changed
there method of delivery and we thanked them for the use
they gave over the previous year. In December, we released
the
Lockergnome
News Feeder,
which is a project between Lockergnome and Sausage Software.
I really have to really thank
Chris
Pirillo for banging us over the head till we couldn't
stand it anymore on this RSS medium. What RSS can provide is
much, much more than what you are seeing in it's infancy.
The staff has expanded from 3 to 13 as of today in the last
year. The helpdesk is overflowing, 1200-1500 inquiries per
week. This was really a great addition to Sausage. Viola, no
I don't think it's fair that you paid for HotDog 2.53 and it
won't run on Windows XP. Darn those guys at Microsoft
anyway. Yes the "Lost
Key's" link is on every page of the
site either in the side-bar or in the top-bar. If you have
changed your email address and not told anyone in fear of
being spammed, our server can keep a secret. Go to "Update
your Email Address" in the
SausageSupport
Helpdesk and let us know what it is. Last but not
least, the website has a new look and feel that was long
over-due. Let's keep it simple.
Name it, Build it,
Host it
Some of what is coming,
we can't really detail because our competitors also
subscribe to the Sizzler Newsletter, go figure : ).
New Software Offerings
HotDog HTML Publisher
As of this point, it is just a very simple WYSIWYG HTML
Editor. Very straight forward. It only has six wizards that
you would expect to be in any HTML Editor.
Here is a ScreenShot
of what it looks like.
SPOT
Our own RSS aggregator with some interesting twists, will
have feeds of interest
besides the Sizzler News Letter, software updates and
specials.
HotDog 7.04
More fixes and features.
Boomer Pro
If you liked the features of Boomer 4.0 you are really going
to like Boomer Professional. We have added new features like
text, and text transitioning.
The ability to use any font on your machine with no
restrictions to what font we
think you should use. The big feature, heard through the
grape vine, that even Amazon.com sold a ton of digital
cameras this year. If their figures are any indication of
total market sales, you'll really like this feature. Most
medium end cameras have the ability to create small movies
with audio. We have the ability to compress them and convert
them to flash with the audio perfectly synched. Great for
family updates or just an archive of interesting shorts.
Yes, you armed with this new feature, could become the next
Francis Ford Coppola or Federico Fellini. Keeping in mind
that Boomer already has slideshow and audio capabilities
that can't be matched anywhere.
HotDog 8
A total rebuild and new beginning. Yes; we will keep the
barking dogs : ).
HotDog Feed Builder
For creating RSS Content
Supertools Revamp
Add more and take some out.
Services
Sausage Design
Starting the end of January, we will have our own design
team that will give you the option of building your website
for you. Also Sausage Design will become a part of Premium
Support, meaning that if you have questions that need
addressing as to ASP, PHP, .NET, or you just can't get there
from here, you will have a place to get the information you
need.
Dedicated Hosting
We will be offering co-location services for those of you
that have grown fairly large or consume a fair amount of
bandwidth. When choosing a hosting company, what most people
are drawn to, is the price. Of course, this is a large
consideration. We suggest you take the time to read
everyone's "Acceptable Content and Usage
Policies", as this is where you get the true
separation in services. The largest trick used in the
industry, is to offer amazing amounts of bandwidth for an
unbelievable low price. What's the catch? Nine out of ten
times, the "Acceptable Use Policy" will restrict
what you put on your site. Audio, Movies, Downloads for
software or even PDF files can be excluded. So, if it sounds
to good to be true, it probably is.
Included in some of our hosting packages there will be the
ability to use a server side WYSIWYG editor to make those
quick changes or create a whole site which ever your need
may be. The server side will also be compatible with our
editors.
Business Services
Can't speak much on this because it is very proprietary. Let
it suffice to say that if you want to go into business using
the web, this package will make it totally seamless.
Something
for the Kids
In the past few months , Sausage acquired the
sausage.kids.us and sizzler.kids.us domains. This should be
a fun project. This is a place where the young aspiring
webmasters can go for fun and learning projects. The kids.us
domains are very strict and have to be approved for all it's
content by a over-seeing board. Read more about kids.US
domains here.
The Sausage Blog
If you want to keep up with the daily events, get to know
who is who in the Sausage Staff. This is where everyone gets
a chance to write on what they are doing, one at a time.
(yes all of us, surprise) Look at it this way, if we make it
to 15 employees it will mean only writing something twice a
month.
Sausage Radio (you have to be kidding)
Travis Martin has been elected (drafted) to spear head this
project. It will contain interviews, caller feedback,
Q&A, and will be available directly from you desktop.
There are many surprises with this along the way.
Premium Support
We have been told we are nuts for this one but here we go.
People that have premium support will have a toll free
number to call to in the US and Canada. We are working on
other logistics to make this available worldwide.
( sung to the tune of
"What the World need now" )
A front page infested with tons of flash content is the
quickest guaranteed method to drive away traffic from your
web site. Nothing is more annoying than being bombarded by
those stupid "loading" screens when you are
browsing the web. The belief that fancy flash movies are
going to some how "entrance" your audience is
simply not going to happen.
The over use of flash also tends to introduce the concept of
a foreign UI for the web site visitors. This is especially
true when there is no text accompanying the spinning
triangle and the circle that looks like it is have a
convulsion fit. Most visitors are simply going to leave
annoyed and confused. It is imperative to realize that flash
is not at fault in and of itself. The actual responsible
party is the uninformed web designer, for not learning
proper netiquette when designing a web site with flash.
See, the inherent flaw in adding a ridiculous number of
"bells and whistles" to a web site is that you end
up distracting your visitors. Remember, you want your
visitors to read/watch/listen to your content, not get
sucked into a vacuum of dancing shapes and colors. Now don't
get me wrong folks, there is nothing wrong with using flash
content. Just make sure to use it sparingly and when it is
appropriate to the web site content. Adding flash to a web
site can be a very useful feature when the site visitors
have a choice in whether to view it or not. One of the
biggest reasons this is such a huge deal is the enormous
load times that are often involved when using flash on a web
site in general.
Designers want the ability to use the power of flash, for
browser based presentations and cool, inventive methods of
offering streaming content. However, this desire has to be
counter balanced with the understanding that most internet
users in the world are on slow dial up connections.
The software programmers here at Sausage Software have two
amazing solutions that I know will meet the needs of any web
site designer, needing to implement the power of flash. The
power of simplicity and value, built within two amazing
programs.
The Value of Boomer:
- Create dynamic logos, buttons, banners, slide shows
quickly and easily while using amazing special effects,
panning, fade-in, fade-out, transitions, carousel effects
just name a few, the possibilities are truly endless.
- There are almost half a billion people using this format
already, no more trying to get your content to work with
specific media players. Boomer creates files in a browser
friendly format that anyone can enjoy.
- Boomer creates files that are fast loading and reliable.
You can offer streaming audio in your web pages that are
compatible for all connection speeds, even dial up users.
- Compressed audio no longer has to sound like it is being
broadcasted from a tin can. The audio that you can offer for
your web page visitors can be rich and clear to listen to.
- Simple to use. This is drag and drop software folks. If
you do get stuck, you can depend on the world renowned
Sausage Support for help.
- No more Java! Free your web site visitors from those
stupid "Applet Loading" boxes forever!
The Value of FlashPoint:
- Drag and drop simplicity. You do not have to take a
community college course to create presentations with this
bad boy. Thanks to the easy to understand instructions and
tutorial, you will have your presentations up and running in
no time.
- Try it before you buy it! Don't dump a ton of cash into a
software package you know nothing about. By using
FlashPoint, you get the option of testing the waters first
before ever dropping a dime.
- Eliminate the need for special plug-ins and
"viewers"
when distributing your presentations. The competition forces
you to have special viewers just so you can see a
presentation that will most likely crash or freeze anyway.
Using Flash Point allows everyone to see and enjoy your
presentations regardless of what software they use.
Would you like to see what this software is capable of? Go
to http://www.gfx2swf.com/sausage
and behold the wonders of flash, when it is used with common
sense and creativity. Just remember, flash is a lot like
currency. Neither is good or bad, both are simply tools that
are enable its user to make things happen.
Matt Hartley
www.ctsdownloads.com
The US-congress
instructed NeuStar to establish the offer of kids.us at the
end of the last year. President Bush signed the
"Children Internet Safety Legislation" at December
4 2002. The President declared at this event to the press:
"Dot Kids will be part of the U.S. country domain on
the Internet. It will function much like the children's
section of the library, where parents feel comfortable
allowing their children to browse. Be a safe place for
children to go. This bill is a wise and necessary step to
safeguard our children while they use computers and discover
the great possibilities of the Internet. Every site
designated kids, will be a safe zone for children. The sites
will be monitored for content, for safety and all
objectionable material will be removed."
As the President told, Websites
within the "kids.us"-namespace are monitored by
NeuStar, in order to secure that they do not show violence,
pornography in text or pictures or contain other material
unsuitable for children under 13. NeuStar wants to exclude
also certain interactive tools as chatrooms and Instant
Messaging or active links to pages outside of the us.kids-domain.
NeuStar will use automatic software and human monitoring, in
order to secure that "kids.us" websites remain
"child-friendly" and age fair.
As Us-congress has decided to create
a kids.us-namespace, kids.us is an official sub domain for
kids and content appropriate for kids. If you are offering
such a content or plan to offer it , you can pre-register
for your domain name at
Sausagedomains.
Registrations
within the kids.us name space diverge from the
existing .US registration process relative to
having content established on the kids.us names.
The management of content introduces a new procedure for
registrants. All registrants are not required to purchase
content; that is, registrants simply looking to protect
their brand will not be required to purchase content
review. Only those registrants seeking to place content on
a kids.us name are required to purchase Content
Review.
