Recommended Web Resources for Small Businesses
and Organizations

Articles and Books for Web Site Owners and Developers

Alertbox: Current Issues in Web Usability - Articles by expert Jakob Nielsen give specific recommendations for improving the user experience provided by your web site. You can buy Nielsen's book "Homepage Usability: 50 Websites Deconstructed" from Amazon, or if you ask us nicely we'll loan you our copy.

Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability - People won't use your Web site if they can't find their way around it. This book by Steve Krug is my favorite usability reference. He offers practical advice for site owners and developers on web site structure, aesthetics, technology, and testing. Amazon $24.50

The Site Wizard - Good common-sense articles on topics from domain name selection to search engine optimization.

Protecting Your Computer from Hackers and Viruses

Parasite Protection - This site, and.doxdesk.com, defines a "parasite" as a "program that gets installed on your computer which you never asked for, and which does something you probably don't want it to, for someone else's profit." These little beasts can pop up windows even when you are not connected to the Internet, collect private information, and even dial premium-rate phone numbers that will get charged to your telephone bill. This site tells you how to avoid becoming infected and gives detailed directions for removing existing parasites.

Protecting Yourself from Spam Email

Building Your Personal Anti-Spam Strategy - A detailed explanation and checklist for protecting your email addresses from spam.

Slaying Spam - Already getting spammed? This article offers an excellent overview of spam filtering techniques and products.

Web Site Development Tools

Adobe Photoshop Elements - If you want to prepare your own digital images for the web, we highly recommend this program. It contains all the Photoshop functionality that you need at a fraction of the price, and it's easier to use too! Resize, lighten, darken, improve color balance or contrast, and save in a nice compact file format optimized for the web. Available for either Windows or Macintosh computers.