August 2009 Archives
Earlier this summer I began a look at the alternatives available to those of us who have domains on our hands but neither the desire nor the resources to build them out to full-blown sites. Beyond simply using the domain parking provided by your registrar, what are the possibilities?
The economic crunch, combined with a growing aversion to the excesses of our disposable culture, is generating a very real aversion to upgrading just about anything. Take a look around. Odds are that you can spot something within sight that you (or the powers that be) have decided to hang on to, which in another era (not that long ago) would have been replaced by now with the latest and greatest. If you're a designer, that something probably includes tools of the trade, both digital and analog.
Your day began by learning that one or more hackers had compromised your site's servers, gaining access to customer account information and possibly credit card details. The trust customers place in you, essential for your survival, is at stake. Luckily, you have prepared for such an eventuality by putting in place a disaster plan that can quickly lock out the hackers, assess the full extent of the intrusion, restore any missing data, and ensure your customers know exactly what happened, what your response is and what impact this has on them. You don't have such a plan in place? Then take notes from a firm that recently found itself in this position.
Admit it, you've always wanted to have a giant skeleton emerging from your living-room wall, haven't you? No? Hmmm. Wait, I see the problem. Sorry, I was confusing this with my other blogging gig for Fangoria. Skeletons! Silly me, of course you don't crave oversize images of the living dead or alien surfers or giant bitmapped doughnuts (well, maybe that last one). So let's approach this from your perspective, that of a creative type in constant quest for new revenue streams and fresh services to offer your clients.
