Users of Wordpress version 1.5.1.3 should upgrade to version 1.5.2 as soon as possible. A security exploit exists on servers with register_globals=on set in their php configuration, the exploit may allow an attacker to execute code on the victims account.
If you are using a version below 1.5.1.3, then upgrade to this version before patching it with Wordpress version 1.5.2 which also fixes other bugs and adds a few enhancements.
Have a little fun with the Wayback Machine from the owners of the Internet Archive web site. Look back at over 40 billion web pages archived from 1996 to a few months ago. Type in any web site address and you should get a list of dates when the site was archived, to view how the site looked on a particular date just click on the month link.
Of course the Wayback machine has its practical uses as well. Let’s say for example that you want to start a blog on a specific subject and let’s presume that you’ve already thought of a domain name for your blog. Rather than jumping straight in and registering your domain, why not use the Wayback machine to check whether the domain hasn’t already been used before and if so, for what purpose. You don’t want to register a domain name that was used for illegal or unethical purposes, if the domain was used before for spamming for example then you may find it has been blacklisted by ISPs all over the globe.
An extremely handy tool for any webmaster or fellow blogger.
The purpose of majority of the web sites is to keep the visitor happy. Once online, your visitors cannot see you face to face immediately, nor can they talk to you. The only way they can interact with you at the moment is to browse your site, and read what you have to say. Imagine being at a local store, where you see no workers, but machines everywhere. You scan your items, you pay, and you leave. No one offers you any discount, no one offers you any smile, and no one greets you or says goodbye to you. That would feel weird, wouldn’t it?
In the same way, the days are gone when internet users came to a site that offered no way to contact the author, and even more strange, no way to let the user offer any suggestion or advice related to the content posted on the site. Today, a successful site should work just like a retail store, or even a local coffee shop. You should do the following three things to make sure your visitor has a good experience at your site:
Children are the webmasters of the future and as responsible adults it’s our duty to equip them with the right knowledge by ensuring that they learn the basics of designing and building a web-site. It’s also extremely important that they learn good manners, wash their hands before every meal and clean their teath before bedtime… Sorry about that, got carried away in parent mode then.
Webmonkey for kids is an excellent online learning tool for the home and at school. There is a planning guide for teachers and parents. Or you can simply let you kids work through the lessons and fun projects on their own initiative. There is also a playground section where kids can take time out from their learning.
Children and adults alike will enjoy the easy to follow lessons and projects available on the Webmonkey for Kids web site. But for the more experienced webmasters out there, why not try webmonkey.wired.com
Stock photography put simply, is a large collection of searchable photographs and other imagery for us in publications such as magazines, press releases and of course web-design. Stock photography eliminates the need to hire a professional photographer in most cases and can save you a small fortune in return. But getting your hands on cheap or even free stock photography is nearly always impossible.
Until now that is. The other day I came across a gem of a site called stock.xchng that offer no strings attached FREE stock photography. To good to be true you may think, yes, but no, it is true.
About stock.xchng:
Stock.XCHNG was launched in February 2001, as an alternative for expensive stock photography. The idea was to create a site where creative people could exchange their photos for inspiration or work. In about two years the site evolved into this massive community you see now - there are about 200.000 registered users and more than 100.000 photos online!
All the photographs I looked at were of high quality and very professionally done. Some of the photographs do have usage agreements so check carefully before you download and use them although nearly all the photographs I looked at had no usage restrictions.
The site can get terribly slow at times and you will need to be registered before you can download any photographs. Registration is also FREE.
If scripts and codes intimidate you I have some good news. You don’t have to be a good programmer to build a fully functional website. I was never really good with codes but I have a high level of curiosity. In short, I download code snipplets from other websites and modify them for my own. Hacking these scripts to suite your needs can be challenging, but it’s not half as hard as writing them up line-by-line yourself. For those of you who don’t like to search for things there are tons of online repositories where these scripts are held. Most of these repositories have thousands if not tens or hundreds of thousands scripts in store, ranging from code snipplets to full-featured web applications to help you build better functionality for your website.
One favorite place that supplies most of my scripting needs is Hotscripts.com and the reason they’re my favorite is because they offer a good range of variations, from ASP to XML, covering fields as broad as news publishing to rare things like zip code locators.
So next time you’re in need of a good programmer sans the budget, hire Hotscripts.com for FREE! 
Knowing who your visitors are and where they are coming from is an important factor in web marketing strategy these days. Simply displaying a visitor counter on your front page isn’t enough, you need something considerably more advanced, something that will tell you where your visitors are coming from, what sites referred them to yours and which search engines are indexing you.
Bring on Statcounter.com, a highly configurable and FREE hit counter with customisable real-time detailed reports, invisible tracking, search engine analyse, referral tracking and more. Simply insert a piece of code into the pages on your site that you want statistics for and you will be analysing and monitoring visitors to your site within minutes. The free version has a log size of 100 entries and supports sites with no more than 250,000 page loads per month, which is just perfect for a personal or small business site.
If you’re looking for free, quick and easy logos or buttons for your web site then give CoolText a try. Simply choose whether you want to create a logo or button, then input your text, change the colour options and click render. Instant logos or buttons ready to download and use in your web design.
Trying to install the Apache server on your home computer can bring you close to tears at the best of times (yes, I’ve been there!). So imagine how much more frustrating it can get when trying to install and integrate PHP, MySQL or Perl as well. The good people at Apache Friends heard our cries for help and came to the rescue with XAMPP.
XAMPP is an easy to install Apache distribution containing MySQL, PHP and Perl. XAMPP is FREE and really very easy to install and to use - just download, extract and start. There are currently four XAMPP distributions available, Windows, Linux, Mac OS X and Solaris. Each distribution comes with additional extras, like phpMyAdmin, FTP server, OpenSSL and Mail Transport etc.
You are advised against using XAMPP in a production environment and only an insane person would use the Windows distribution in a production environment anyway. Use it for building and testing your site offline and always consult a professional if in doubt.
Not everyone is a designer, and not everyone can afford to pay a designer to work on their website. These people usually end up with crappy sites that doesn’t attract return traffic. Some go on great lengths to find affordable solutions, but most designers charge quite a bit. Custom design is expensive. But if you’re the kind of person who aren’t worried to wear the same clothes as your neighbor, you might like to take a look at 4Templates. They offer prebuilt web interfaces (templates) starting $4.99. Some of their designs are really impressive. They have thousands to choose from, suitable for almost any kind of website you can think of.
For those of you who can’t afford a cent for a web template, you might want to check out Layouts4Free. Their templates are not as professional looking as those at 4Templates but some are very exceptional.
I hope you find this article helpful and feel free to contact us with any questions you might have.
Good luck with your websites and remember to have fun with it! 
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