usability

Theme Change!

Posted March 2, 2009 - 1:20pm by Jeff

I decided to switch my website theme from Painted Wall to Acquia Marina, a newer theme that's only available for Drupal 6. Although I liked Painted Wall, I was trying out some different themes and this one really stood out.

Some of my favorite features of the new theme:

  • It's green and blue (my favorite colors)!
  • It has a very open, clean, and modern feel
  • There are a whole bunch of block regions (for menus, custom content, etc.)
  • There are icon sets for various blocks

I also revamped my logo using Photoshop. It's a phoenix, but it's also shaped a little like my initials (JP).

Best Free Web App Ever!

Posted January 21, 2009 - 4:14pm by Jeff

Google Analytics is an amazingly in-depth, full-featured, and best of all free web application.

In case you're unfamiliar, Google Analytics tracks the number of hits that your website gets. But beyond that, it organizes the data into many meaningful categories that provide a detailed snapshot of who is visiting your site and how they're getting there.

My personal favorite is the map overlay. You can start by seeing how many hits per country your site is getting in a user-friendly interactive map. Clicking on a country brings you in closer - in the case of the United States, you get a state-by-state breakdown of website visits. Clicking on any state then gives you a breakdown by city! Geo-targeting, here we come.

There are a multitude of other features and even some customizable options. It's pretty easy to set up, too; especially with Drupal, which has a downloadable Google Analytics module.

All you need to get started is a (free) Gmail account - try it out at google.com/analytics.

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