Today I am proud to announce the launch of the newest Knetwork site KnightWebsites.com. Now that I have a few sites of my own under my belt I’ve decided to branch out a little bit and build websites for others. I’m still pretty new to this but using freely available templates form sites like OSWD.org you can build a simple and very attractive website quickly and inexpensively. This idea came about when I took a look at the business card of the company that replaced my old heat pump and noticed that they didn’t have their own website or e-mail address. I offered to put something together and so Knight Websites was born. Wish me luck in my latest whim and I’d love to hear any or resources or advice people would care to offer!

Recap:
Resolution #1: Read a self-improvement book

As I mentioned yesterday, the Pragmatic Programming book inspired me for:
Resolution #2: Learn a new Skill

For me, this usually means I learn a new programming language. I’ve picked PHP for this year since Wordpress is written in PHP, I’m pretty sure it’ll come in handy and I’ll be more likely to use it and not let the skill rust away. I always find learning a new language is easier if you have a project in mind and so I’ve decided to play around with Google’s chart API and see what I can so with it. I also have been thinking about putting together a PHP/mySQL site to help with another resolution, the one I’ve gotten some much needed motivational help with which I’ll go over tomorrow.

We’re a week into the new year, how are your resolutions holding up? I’m actually pretty excited about them this year so I started a couple of them a little early and the one that I’m no so excited about I’ve put off starting so I can get a little help in the motivation department. As I get back into the blogging spirit this week I’m going to cover my resolutions, and if you’re a programmer I’ll highly suggest the first two. Here’s #1:

1. Read a self-improvement book: I’m not talking about anything from the self help section, I’m talking about learning something general that you can use to make your life better. Job related books are definitely a good place to start. I like to get something that’s about programming and computers in general or that can help me improve my interpersonal skills. This year I’m reading Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software. Last year I listened to How to Win Friends & Influence People, and the year before that I read The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master Pragmatic Programmer actually inspired Resolution #2, which you’ll hear about tomorrow.

Ok, so really Wesabe is in the Money and I’m just tagging along.  I guess that’s fitting because tagging along with Wesabe is how you save Money!  hhmmmm I think I’m going to get another e-mail from Wesabe PR making fun of me for that, but all that aside I DO highly suggest Wesabe if you are interesting in tracking your expenses and putting the squeeze on your budget without totally squishing your lifestyle.  I know, I know you’re saying that you’d NEVER be so stupid as to put all your financial information on the internet!  Well I won’t waste my time trying to talk you into it if you don’t want to, but if you’re teetering here’s what you need to read:

• Wesabe Security and Privacy Page - Includes information on encryption,  removal of all personally identifying traits from your Wesabe account, and their Data Bill of Rights.
• Wesabe Expanded Privacy Page -  Expands on the above and adds disclosure of how your data will be used.
• Jedi Build Their Own Lightsabers - Marc Hedlund of Wesabe explains why they developed their own account access tools.
• Super Ninja Privacy Techniques for Web App Developers - Marc Hedlund explains how a Super Ninja protects your Wesabe data… how much more could you want!

I was doing some reading about running a site and building readership and one of the things that was suggested time after time was to narrow down your topic and find your niche, but I really can’t do that.  All the interest in the cell phone postings lately has made me rethink that some, but I’m just not interested enough in cell phones to write about them exclusively.  It turns out that I’m not interested enough in ANYTHING to write about it exclusively, well not anything that would draw any readership.  What does this mean for the readers?  Well, more general tech stuff, anything I find interesting, I just have to hope you will too!

A second piece of advice I heard several places was to put a face and some biographical data up, people like to know who’s providing the information.  I agree with this, it’s always good to be able to put a face with a “voice” and so to that end - that’s me in a suit (gotta look professional right?  How else I’m I going to get people to believe I’m an authority for articles like 5 SUPER AMAZING Uses For Soap!) I’ve updated the About Page and I’m going to try and badger the other contributors into giving me good bio information as well, so check that page every once in a while and thanks for visiting!