Underground Web Designs Blog

Everybody wants better to make their website stand out on Google right? Well what if you could get a link to a map of where your business is located — in Google’s own search results? Think it can’t be done? Check out this live search results page.

Microformats are a way of adding extra data to the HTML on a web page so that both computers and humans can understand what the information means. This could be information about an upcoming event (date, time, location), or a person or business (name, address, email address, etc). In this case, Google is using contact information marked up using the hCard microformat to display an extra link in it’s search results that displays a map of the business’s headquarters.

Now, adding an extra link to the search results is cool, but it’s nothing compared to what can and will be done as microformats become more popular. Because they allow computers to understand the data on your website better, microformats can lead to smarter search engines, better organization of data, and less manual input of information.

The future of the internet revolves around programs doing their own research and sharing information with each-other, and one of the key technologies will be the use of microformats on the web. Best of all, using microformats has never been easier. If you use Wordpress, check out my recently released Micro Anywhere plugin for Wordpress. Install the plugin and you can be adding event and contact information to your pages and posts within minutes.

The internet has done great things by providing access to nearly unlimited information. The next stage of internet evolution will enable software to understand and process this information for us, so that we only see what we want to see, when we want to see it. Will your site be one of the first to make use of this exciting technology on a massive scale?

At the Webvisions conference I attended a couple weeks ago, there was a lot of talk about microformats and open protocols that would enable the next generation of internet applications to not only share data, but to understand more and more data that resides on ordinary webpages.

Indeed, standards such as microformats are not new, they just haven’t been used too much. Now is, I believe, the time to start changing that. Instead of re-inventing the wheel, I’ve been working on creating some plugins for systems already in use so that they can benefit from the use of microformats. Today the first of these plugins was finished, and has been released.

The plugin is an hCalendar plugin for TinyMCE. TinyMCE is the WYSIWYG editor used in many popular content management systems and blogging softwares, including MODx, my CMS of choice, so I hope that by making this plugin available to such a wide audiance, many more people will be able to use microformats on their webpages and in their blogs… even if they don’t fully understand how they work.

The plugin works by opening a dialog box where a user can input event details including the event title, location, url, dates and times, a description, and some tags, and then encoding that data into an hCalendar event on the page. Once the data has been encoded into the hCalendar microformat, any software that supports hCalendar can extract the event details and add it to a calendar, run a search for similar events, or anything else.

To download the plugin for your own website or blog, please visit the hCalendar plugin page on my main site.

I would love to hear your feedback about this plugin in the comments. I hope to create some more plugins, including plugins to handle hCard data and Geo data once I have some more time.

The future is here. It’s just not widely distributed yet. –William Gibson

As someone who makes the online world his business, I can tell you that that quote is just as true now as it was when science fiction writer William Gibson uttered it many years ago. The internet is evolving every day, and the future is indeed friendly.

What is that future? The web of the future is all about openness and a single, unified user experience. In many ways the science fiction writers have had it right all along. As an increasing number of our everyday devices gain internal computers, the lines between the internet and the desktop, and indeed even the online world and the offline world, are beginning to blur.

The web is rapidly moving from something we use, to something we’re part of. Blackberys, iPhones, and PDA’s allow us to bring our internet connection with us as never before. Cell phones keep us connected to co-workers while at home, at work, and on the road. And the internet allows us to buy our cloths, plan our vacations, and communicate with others from wherever we are, whenever we feel like it. Lately, such products as Adobe AIR and Yahoo Searchmonkey promise to bring the web even closer to us, by putting it on the desktops of our computers and making it easier than ever to find the information we seek. Likewise, projects like OpenID, OAuth and others are working tirelessly to help us manage our increasingly digital identities.

As the web moves closer and closer to the dreams of science fiction writers the world over, how will your business adapt? Is your website ready? The evolving internet is all about continual interaction. There are no longer any lines between locations or between devices. The internet IS. Is your business ready to take advantage of this tremendous opportunity? Success on the new internet will go to those who are avaialble whenever and wherever their customers may look for them. It will go to those who can offer a complete and total experience that transcends the online world and encompases digital information, interaction, and physical products.

Apple is already doing this. Their computers, iPods, and now the iPhone all continue the unique, easy to use experience that the Apple website, software, and Apple Stores provide.

The next generation is growing up constantly connected to the internet. What are you doing to unify your products, services, and brand into one simple to use yet powerful experience that will make an impression on them?

As a small business owner funds are tight, so the last thing you want to do is invest in lots of new software. Fortunately, you may not have to.

A growing movement in the online world is the Open Source Movement. Open Source developers write programs, plugins, and internet scripts and distribute them, and the source code used to create them, for free. Chances are you’ve already heard of some of them. For example, Wordpress is open source, as is Open Office (an open source clone of Microsoft Office).

As a small business owner open source software can be a tremendous asset. Because it is free it gives you a chance to spend your limited resources elsewhere, instead of investing in expensive software. However, open source software isn’t without it’s drawbacks. Here are 5 things you should always check when investigating a promising piece of open source software:

1. Does it have the features you need? Because open source software is developed by individuals or small organizations, it often does not have all the same features as similar commercial applications. If you don’t need those features, then this isn’t an issue. But don’t take the time to download, install, and learn a new software if it isn’t going to meet your business needs.
2. Does it have good documentation? Another result of the part-time nature of open source development is that even some of the best open source softwares do not have complete documentation. When looking at a new open source project, take a good look at the documentation offered and try to get a feel for whether it will answer your questions about using the software. Other things to look for are project forums, wikis, and FAQ’s. All these places can provide answers to questions you may have, or allow you to ask your own. If you can’t find enough documentation for an open source project, it may be worth looking elsewhere. No matter how good a program is, it’s worth your time if you can’t figure out how to use it.
3. How easy is the program to edit? What do programmers have to say about the code? One of the greatest strengths of open source programs is that the source code comes with them. This means that if you find a piece of software that you really like, but need just one more feature, chances are good you can hire a programmer to add that feature for you. Be aware, however, that some programs are written better than others. If the source code you get is messy, inefficient, or just hard to understand it may not be worth your money to hire a programmer to make even small modifications.
4. How does it communicate with other programs or formats your business uses? Even if a program does exactly what you need it to do, it may not communicate with other programs your business has to use every day. For example, a word processor would not be much use if it could not read and save Microsoft Word Documents. If there are programs or certain formats that everybody in your business or industry uses, be sure the open source program you are looking at supports them.
5. Finally, What do other users think of the program? Take some time to browse the web and look for reviews, critiques, or discussions about the software you’re looking at using. Sometimes open source programs may look good, but be filled with bugs. Others may work, but have poor user interfaces that make it hard to work with them. The best way to get an idea of whether an open source program is worth using in your business is to find out what others are saying about it. If you find lots of positive reviews, especially from people in a similar industry to yours, than you’re likely on the right track. If all you find are complaints, steer clear.

Open source software is a great thing for small businesses. It’s free, easy to acquire, and usually works well. Don’t just dive right in though. Make sure you understand what it is you need, what the software is capable of, and whether or not it works as advertised before you invest your time and effort into installing and using it. Even if it doesn’t cost you any money, poorly made open source software can still cost you time and effort. So do your research before you download!