Archive for the ‘resources’ Category
Friday, February 19th, 2010
This is basically the same as my comment on my Idealware post about Sprout Builder shutting down.
Something of an update via Facebook fan pages, which I suppose is a sign of the times.
First, in the group Jeff Wassermen started and mentions in the comments on my first post and Johanna mentions on Idealware “Spurned Sproutbuilders Unite!” Carnet did indeed say that all existing Sprout subscribers that are members of the group can get the half price discount ($1500 a year) by emailing info@sproutinc.com with subject line “early adopter discount” . You’ll need to give the email address you used for your Sprout account , if different your paypal email so they can send you a manual invoice. This is because you will need to pay the for the full year up front and they are discontinuing Pay Pal billing.
Also on Beth Kanter’s Facebook fan page there is a reply to Jon Dunn’s post about Sprout’s discontinuation from Michelle Wohl at Sprout saying that they “..are working with existing Sprout non-profit clients on pricing. Please email support@sproutinc.com for info. ” And Beth’s indication that it will be on an individual basis.
The company has expressed their concern for nonprofits and intentions to do all they can to support them in the past, so its likely they will offer some sort of discount for 5013c organizations.
In any case, all nonprofits using Sprout would be wise to contact them soon and see what can be done for your organization.
Monday, February 15th, 2010
The do-it-yourself widget maker so many nonprofits grew to know and love, Sprout Builder, announced today that they are shutting down all subscription service to concentrate on their enterprise ($3000 a year +) offerings. This is sad news for nonprofits using the service and if you are one of them you’ll want to read the Sprout FAQ right away. You’ll have a little lead time to find a solution though - until the end of March to be precise.
Just about a year ago the service went from free to fee and although there are probably more alternatives now, my post about what else is out there may come in handy again.
[Update: I posted more on this topic at Idealware's blog and am hoping that post becomes a place for sharing alternatives and what's to do for those losing their Sprouts - please check it out and contribute your solutions and ideas]
Monday, April 20th, 2009
How to Share PowerPoint Presentations Online
(originally posted at idealware.org/blog)
Recently a client came to me with a question about how best to offer PowerPoint presentations from previous conferences online. I thought I would share the notes I gave them here for others that might want to see the pros and cons of the various options.
In my client’s case it was important that viewers not be able to edit the original file, so we took additional steps needed to protect the file. I’ll include a basic how-to or just linking to the original file as well as a couple of links for the other options.
Upload the PPT (or PPS) to your web server and provide a download link
This is probably the easiest option if your content management system allows .ppt or .pps files to be uploaded through its media management system. Even if you need to manually upload the file via FTP and link it on a web page the process is not too complicated.
Since the Web doesn’t handle big files (over 10 mgs) as well as our hard drives do, reducing the file size by optimizing the presentation is a good idea.
In PowerPoint you can also save your file as a “PowerPoint Show” which always opens in slide show view so viewers don’t have access to edit your material. Another way to prevent changes is to assign a password for modifications.
PowerPoint 2003 - Tools>Options>Security
PowerPoint 2007 - Save As>Tools>General Options
Pros:
- No conversion necessary beyond save as in PowerPoint itself/ No need to learn new software
- Ability to share original file with collaborators if desired
- You host and maintain control of your files.
Cons:
- Can result in large files to upload and download - so describe file size for visitors when offering presentations for download
- Only viewable with software that reads .ppt and .pps files
Resources:
- How to trim down the size of your PowerPoint presentation
- Lock PowerPoint File From Being Edited
- List of free Powerpoint viewer programs
Convert to PDF
PDF or Portable Document Files have become something of a de facto standard for online file links. The software to view these files is available on most operating systems or as a free download from Adobe, so its a safe bet that anyone and everyone will be able to see your material once its converted to this file type.
You can do this by choosing the Save As PDF option from within PowerPoint and through the options in the Print menu on most systems. You’ll want to optimize the file size if you have access to a PDF editing program since the resulting file might even larger than the original.
Pros:
- Standard file format that will appear the same to users on all platforms
- Embeds fonts and images and can be optimized to reduce file size.
- Not editable by the end viewer
Cons:
- Can mangle presentation formatting
- Individual slides are difficult to reference or find
- Doesn’t retain transitions and animations.
- Browsers deal with PDF files differently and user experience can be poor and unpredictable
Resources:
- How to Save PowerPoint as PDF
- Free PowerPoint to PDF converter (haven’t used)
- Optimize PDF files
Use an online service for slide sharing
There are several good online services for sharing (and even creating) slide-based presentations. Slideshare.net is one of the first and most mature and like Zoho and the others allows you to import/upload your PowerPoint (or Keynote) presentations to be converted to their own sharing format. The usual Software as a Service caveats apply here as with any other “free” service on the web.
Pros:
- Enables remote presentations easily since it is browser based
- Hosts the files so you don’t have to use your own server or bandwidth serving large files.
- Most include version and organization options that can help you keep track of presentations if you have a lot of them.
Cons:
- Not all features of the original PowerPoint may be available in the online service so read through their conversion information carefully if you have media or animations that are crucial to your presentation.
- Currently free but could require advertising or fees in the future and your materials are hosted on their servers so losing access to them is always a possiblity.
- May not allow downloads for presentation files.
Resources:
- SlideShare.net
- Zoho Show
- Online Slideshows: Not So Scary
There are additional options if you are interested in modifying the final presentation and distributing it as a movie, flash presentation or web pages. Microsoft provides some basic tools for doing this right in the program itself and there are third party tools that yield even more robust final products.
Whichever method you choose you might also want to check out the resources at Social Source Commons for some added alternatives and file compression tools.
I hope the information here will make it fairly painless to share and reuse your presentation content for your web audience and get more mileage out of the ideas and effort that went into its original purpose. If you have recommendations on software or other sharing methods, please leave them in the comments below.
Tuesday, March 31st, 2009
More Fun with Open Source Content Management
(originally posted at idealware.org/blog)
I’m really thrilled that the Idealware report comparing 4 top-notch open source content management systems is now available. I think it will prove invaluable to nonprofits of all shapes and sizes for a long time to come and know I will be recommended reading for many friends and potential and future clients.
Even if you have already seen the CMS Showdown and the competition sites implemented on WordPress, Drupal and Joomla now that the report is out they are worth another look.
If you didn’t make it to SXSW conference or haven’t heard about this brilliant project - here is an excerpt from the site:
Originally presented at South By Southwest Interactive in March, 2009, the Ultimate Showdown of Content Management System Destiny is an “Iron Chef”-style competition pitting three teams of all-star Web developers from the Drupal, Joomla! and WordPress communities against each other to develop the same Web site in each of their chosen open source content management platforms.
In addition to a fascinating look behind the scenes at each teams decision-making process, there are lots of productive insights to be gained by looking at the finished products of their labors. Many of the key points in the Idealware report are evident on the demo sites and by reading the team notes.
Despite (or maybe because of) the 100 hour total development time limit, each site demonstrates its system’s strengths and weakness fairly accurately or I should say in keeping with my own experiences of them. Not all of them managed to accomplish all the requirements, which points out what takes more time or work to implement for that particular system.
One thing that can be confusing is that the specifications for the site required that most of the content be available only to authenticated users. The sites for Drupal and Joomla, who were able to achieve this, seem a bit bare, especially Drupal where they didn’t create any publicly viewable items in some areas. So you can’t access the galleries, blogs or member listings and its a pity that there doesn’t seem to be a demo user/password available anywhere to see the full sites. If anyone knows of one, I would love to take a look.
Also, sadly there was no invitation for a Plone team this time around, but if you want to see it included next time I’d suggest you contact the organizers.
Check out the CMS Showdown as a handy companion piece to the Idealware CMS report for a real world apples to apples demonstration (sort of) of how each system looks at some familiar features. And read the team notes on cmsshowdown.com for some helpful hints and tricks the they used on the sites.
Sunday, March 22nd, 2009
I tried out a new survey creation tool called Survs.com recently and so far I think its pretty slick. The user interface has all the AJAX anyone could want and although a couple of tasks seemed slightly circuitous mostly it was just fun to use. Would love to get some more feedback about what others think and how it worked out to see if it holds up under real world usage.
Since its new, beta and they are trying to get the word our they gave me a set of invites and I wanted to pass them along in hopes of hearing back from anyone that finds them useful.
These invites are available to the first ten people that use the code FRFUYMXV in the following link:
http://www.survs.com/signup
If you take it for a test run, let me know how it goes in the comments . Thanks!
Tuesday, March 10th, 2009
Great Resources on Vendor Websites
(originally posted at idealware.org/blog)
One of the great things about working in the nonprofit sector is the spirit of sharing and helping one another succeed that I continue to find among organizations and consultants for online technologies. Many resources on how to choose technology and how to use it wisely are available from great nonprofit and consulting companies. But the hungry mind wants more so, although it might be obvious, I wanted to share another great way to find metrics, best practices and how to guides - technology vendors resource sections.
Over the years I have found that many vendors of both nonprofit and for profit technology and services offer a wealth of high quality information on their sites that cover far more than just their own products. I see it as enlightened self-interest, since successful customers are happy customers and the basics apply no matter what platform you are using for your web site, fundraising or bulk email.
Here are just few that I have found worth checking in on regularly, but be sure to check for a resources section on your own vendor’s websites.
Email Vendors
http://mailchimp.com/resources/
http://www.campaignmonitor.com/resources/
http://www.emaillabs.com/best_practices/ (Lyris)
Websites and Fundraising
http://www.wildapricot.com/resources.aspx
http://www.convio.com/resources/
and some older but still useful items at Kintera/Blackbaud
Network for Good has a whole site about fundraising:
http://www.fundraising123.org/
But wait there’s more!
Don’t forget that most of the time resources for profit companies are equally useful in the nonprofit sector or can be with a little adaptation. Check out sites offering general best practices like Marketing Sherpa and Copyblogger. You can find good advice and information that applies equally to any type of communications strategy.
Please share your own favorite vendor or for profit resources in the comments and we can all learn a little more.
Sunday, February 8th, 2009
Sproutbuilder Update and Alternatives
(originally posted at idealware.org/blog)
Last month nifty WYSIWYG online flash widget maker Sproutbuilder announced its plan to move to all pay accounts by March and like a lot of organizations I was pretty concerned about what this meant for my nonprofit clients. Assurances that Sprout Inc. is committed to the sector turned into the news that there would be limited free accounts and some discount for official organizations. Last week a modified pricing structure was announced and some solid information about what is available for nonprofits became available.
The short story is that verified nonprofits can create up to 5 widgets (sprouts) with 100MB Storage and 10GB bandwidth available with a free account. Other pricing tiers will be half price or $30/mo for 5-15 sprouts and $150/mo for 15-30.
While this is decidedly good news, I did feel the need in the interim to see what alternatives exist and if any are worth exploring in more depth. The caveats about any free application or software service still apply of course and the original Idealware post on these developments by Michelle Murrain is well worth reading.
At first it looks like there are more options and decisions to make than on a new cell phone plan. But when I narrowed down the field with the following criteria some likely candidates emerged.
1. Offers a free version and looks to remain so
2. Interface to build widgets doesn’t require HTML, javascript or programming knowledge
3. Interface is relatively easy to use
4. Ability to have many types of content on several pages or tabs - photos, video, feeds, text areas
5. Ability to customize formatting and style elements, background, text etc.
Alternatives I plan to check out in more depth include Wix, PopFly (from Microsoft) and iWidgets. I have just done a little preliminary investigation and playing around at this point, but here are my notes on each and a longer list of the other options I found.
Wix: http://www.wix.com/
Probably the closest match to Sproutbuilder’s ease of use and functionality but definitely geared more towards the MySpace style and audience. This shows in the widget building interface making it a bit jumbled and not that efficient for building tasks. They do have some nice add in elements like Google maps and a contact form. Free version includes a self-promotional footer when the widget is embedded.
Popfly : http://www.popfly.com/
I haven’t made it far into actually producing a widget yet because it requires Microsoft Silverlight browser plug in to be installed on my computer and I am not sure I want to make that kind of commitment yet to something I may never use. The orientation here is on flash games and mash-ups, but it does seem possible to create content+feed type widgets as well. I would love to hear from anyone that has tried or is using this since the idea of easy-to-make, shareable game widgets seems appealing for some nonprofits.
iWidget: http://www.iwidgets.com/
Advertising is added to widgets that don’t contain any of their own, so the fit for the nonprofit community isn’t great. The interface required an initial set up that included URL links to images hosted elsewhere, which might be a slight technology barrier but the actual content addition and customization interface seems solid.
The others
Widgetbox: http://www.widgetbox.com/
Seems powerful but requires pretty solid coding knowledge it looks like.
Yahoo Widgets: http://widgets.yahoo.com/widgets/widget-maker
Also a probably a pretty powerful tool for those with tech chops.
Blist Widgets: http://www.blist.com/what-is-blist/blist-widgets
Pretty sweet looking excel spreadsheet type data display widgets with interactive possiblities but limited to data input/output as far as I can tell.
Dapper widgets: http://www.dapper.net
Offers the ability to generate a wide variety of output types (google gadgets for example) from data collected from a web site - static or RSS feed and might be worth another look.
KickApps: http://www.kickapps.com/widgets
Seems like widget creation is part of a larger package that requires a $100 minimum fee.
Clearspring: http://www.clearspring.com/services/widgetmedia
A forerunner in the widget field but it doesn’t look like they have any free or nonprofit plans available.
These notes were the result of a very quick look around and I would be happy for any additions or corrections to my brief survey and initial thoughts. There are a lot of neat services out there and I know I didn’t find all of them or look at all of the functionalities they offer. None of the ones I summarized seems to have the same combination of ease of use and power found in Sproutbuilder though, so for now their 5 widgets for free plan still looks like a good starting place for nonprofits wanting to create their first widgets.
Wednesday, January 21st, 2009
Sproutbuilder - a great drag and drop flash widget creation tool that has been a great boon for nonprofits trying to get their message out on blogs and Facebook etc. announced yesterday that they are moving to a paid model and will no longer be offering a free version.
Unfortunately this was handled a bit poorly with the information that there will be discounts for nonprofits buried in their FAQ and no real indication of what that will be. Also the timeline of the announcement - that you could be shut out of your account as soon as 2 weeks from now and no clear answer as to what happens to your published sprouts once this takes effect led to some panic and hot tempers.
Because I have been a vocal proponent of Sproutbuilder for nonprofits and have recommended it to clients and used it with clients already, I have been keeping an eye on the discussion on Twitter, news and blog feeds. There is good news. In response to Michelle Murrain’s very wise take on this at the Idealware blog, Carnet Williams posted the following:
“We are doing our best to provide Sprout free or at a highly discounted rate to NPOs. Meaning if you are a small nonprofit and not using a ton of our bandwidth, most likely free. If you are a large NGO with tons of traffic, we will discount the rate so we cover our COGs.
Michelle… you know I am going to do my best to make this type of powerful tool available to social change organizations… as long as I can keep my lights on.”
Combined with the interview he gave Adam Ostrow at Mashable, where it states that the intention is to keep Sproutbuilder available for free to nonprofits, I am optimistic at this point. However I would still like to see a public announcement from the company as to exactly what their plan and pricing structure is for these groups since most of the discussion I have seen from NPO’s is around what alternative service they can switch to.
So while I listen to Michelle’s sage advice and get my clients going on Plan B, I’ll continue to keep an eye and ear on the developments and will update here with what I find out.
—————–
UPDATE
Received email from Sproutbuilder saying that there will be a grace period for existing users to sort themselves out and make a decision. Whew, good. Also that email will be sent to all nonprofits contacting them at pricing@sproutbuilder.com with details about the the special discount. So if you are in a nonprofit or educational institution, get your email in to them to receive the announcement when it comes out.
—————–
UPDATE 2 : January 21, 2009
In their email newsletter Sprout has announced the following policy for nonprofits and educators -
Non-Profits and Educators:
Qualified non-profits and educators can contact us for discount pricing. Basic accounts will be free and 50% discounts will be offered for the other levels. Interested in pricing for your classroom? contact pricing@sproutbuilder.com with specific questions about pricing for education.
This means that up to 3 sprouts are free with some bandwidth limitations, 3-7 for $30/per month and over 7 sprouts will be $150 a month.
Tuesday, December 9th, 2008
Although every project is unique, I have found that sometimes its helpful to get a sense of the common steps involved in a visual way. I decided to post the generic project plan I share with my clients here in the hopes that it will help someone just diving into their Web site or redesign project get a handle on what to consider.
Download the Sample Project Plan PDF (385k) here.
Wednesday, November 12th, 2008
Testing how your Email to supporters will look when sent from your bulk Email vendor is all important. As we try to keep up with the “improvements” that Microsoft keeps making and all the various ways Web Email services can render your HTML, I have found this Excel file is pretty useful of keeping track of it all. It contains a sheet for the main programs and items to test for and another to help keep track of all your email accounts and log ins. Hope this helps someone out.
Download the Excel spreadsheet (16k)
