Doodlekit | Website Builder | Website Maker | Website Creator - Latest Blog Entries

Add A Custom Header Image To Your Doodlekit Website

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 16:34:00 -0600

If you know a little Photoshop (or some other type of image editor) you can significantly alter your Doodlekit website builder website designs. The following blog post will provide you with the minimal amount of code to incorporate your own custom header image into each of Doodlekit's layouts.

Select the layout and color theme you want to use.
On the main settings page, check the 'Hide Titles' checkbox so that your header text is hidden.
Make sure the 'I Don't Want A Header Image' button is selected for the header image.
Make sure the 'Default' Header/Title Font is selected for the font.
Find the right header image size for your layout (see images below). Using an image editor, design a header image to the appropriate size. Depending upon the layout and color theme you chose, you may want to make sure the background color of your header image matches the background color of your layout.
Login to your website and then go to the admin tool's Advanced CSS Editor (Settings --> Advanced --> Edit Custom Stylesheet).
Upload your header image.
Copy and paste the code below that corresponds with the layout you are using. Be sure to rename the header.jpg to the image name you uploaded.
Save your work. Make sure the CSS Editor is enabled (check the checkbox at the top of the page).

If you have done everything appropriately, your new header image should show up on your website. You can, of course, modify the code if you wish to try and increase/decrease your header image sizes, but do so at your own peril! Good Luck!

Layout Code & Header Image Sizes

Default Layout

div.title_img{
 background: url(header.jpg) center center no-repeat;
 margin-left: 30px;
 width: 350px;
 height: 115px;
}

Layout 1

div#container{

background:url(header.jpg) top left no-repeat;

padding-top: 140px;

margin-top: 20px;

}


div#container_inner_1{margin-top:0;}

Layout 2

div#header{
 width: 490px;
 height: 250px;
 margin-top: 0px !important;
 z-index: 0;
 background: url(header.jpg) center center no-repeat;
 margin-bottom: 25px;
 float:right;
}

Layout 3

div#container_inner{
 padding-top: 200px;
 background: url(header.jpg) center center no-repeat;
 float:left;
}

div#container_inner_1, div#right_side{
 border-top: 5px solid #fff;
}

Layout 4

div#header_image_outer{ 
 background: url(header.jpg) center center no-repeat;
}

Layout 5

div#header_image_outer{
 background: url(header.jpg) bottom center no-repeat;
 width: 770px;
 height: 145px;
 display: block;
}

Layout 6

div#header{
 width: 770px;
 height: 150px;
 background: url(header.jpg) center center no-repeat;
}

New Doodlekit Website Builder Layout

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 21:10:00 -0600

About time,eh? I know, I know... it's long past due. We've been kinda busy (growing pains) and I do apologize for the delay. That being said, here are two Doodelkit demo websites showing off the new layout:

You will notice that there are only a few color themes currently - I will be adding more over the next few weeks. This is where you can make some suggestions! Post some links to other website color themes you like or go out to http://kuler.adobe.com/ and find a color theme there that suites your fancy. All Adobe Kuler color themes have a name - just post the name and I will take a look at it. Or you can make your own (it allows you to create your own color theme and name it). However you want to make your suggestion, just make sure its viewable :).

The header for this layout is pretty cool as well. You can upload any image you want and it puts a fade on it from the left to the right. The fade allows the title and sub-title text to be viewable.

Take a look and let me know what you think!

Using Flash With The Doodlekit Website Builder

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 11:50:00 -0600

So you want to insert some flash into your Doodlekit website? No problem! The following tutorial will show you the basics of how to do this. There are more advanced coding options you could use, but you will need to research and implement these yourself if you wish to use them.

1. Create a Flash File - You will need to create the flash file. Whether you do this yourself or pay someone else to do it, is up to you. You might try www.istockphoto.com to find some already made flash files or if you have a more specific design you want created, you could create a contest on www.99designs.com and pay the best entry a prize of $200+ (the more money you're willing to pay, the more entries you will get to pick from, as well as higher quality entries). Make sure that the flash file is no wider than 420px - 450px. Anything wider than this will be 'chopped off' at the end because it will exceed the page width.

2. Upload Your Flash File - Once you have your flash file, you will need to upload it to the web server. If you are using a FREE plan with Doodlekit, you will NOT be able to upload it to Doodlekit. You will need to use a file storage service that will allow you to upload your flash file to a web server so that you can access it on the web. You might try www.filedropper.com or www.fileqube.com. If you have an upgraded Doodlekit plan, you have the ability to upload files. Login to your website, go to the Admin Tool and click on the 'add-ons' menu. There you will see the 'File Uploader'. Click on this and upload your file.

3. Get the URL to Your Flash File - Once the file is uploaded to your Doodlekit website, it will be listed as a link. Click on this link, and it will open a new browser session for your flash file. Depending upon your browser, it may or may not show the file, but this is not important. What you want to do is COPY the URL at the top of the page. This is the path to your file. If you have a FREE Doodlekit account, you will need to find out how to do this with whichever file storage service you have used. Once you have the URL, open a text editor (like Notepad) and paste it into here so that you can copy it out later.

4. Modify the Following Code - Copy and paste the following code onto a new page in whatever text editor you're using so that you can modify it:

 <object width="450" height="200"> <param name="movie" value="http://doodlekit.com/media/mymovie.swf"> <embed src="http://doodlekit.com/media/mymovie.swf" width="450" height="200"> </embed> </object>

Because web browsers all handle flash code differently, there is some redundancy in the code. You will need to change everything twice (in two different locations) - once for the 'object' tag and once for the 'embed' tag. Change the height in both places to the appropriate height of your flash file, and change the width in both places to the appropriate width. Then copy the URL you pasted in earlier from Step 3 and put it in as the value for both 'src' file locations. Now highlight all the code and copy it.

5. Insert the Code into Your Doodlekit Web Page - Login to your Doodlekit website and go to the page where you want to insert the flash file. Edit the page. Place your cursor in the page where you want the file inserted. Now click on the 'Insert Object' button (it looks like a little red gear). Make sure your pop-up blocker is turned off. A small pop-up window will appear where you can paste in your code. Paste your code into here and click 'Save'. This will bring you back to the editor. Now click on the 'Save' button at the bottom of the page to save your changes.

6. Done - If you did everything correctly, you should see your flash file inserted where you want it. Enjoy!

Why You Should Avoid Background Music On Your Website

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 19:54:00 -0500

Don't put background music on your website. If you want a professional website that has high traffic and retains visitors, it's a good rule of thumb to stick with. There are always rare exceptions (which I will list later), but for the most part, you should take this small tid-bit of wisdom to heart.

Here are the reasons why:

1. Credibility - There are certain hallmarks that newbie website builders cannot help but fall for. Background music on a website is one of them. Unless you're selling music or music services, having background music play on your website makes it seem unprofessional. This lowers your websites credibility, and thus you lose retentions of your visitors. People aren't visiting your website to listen to music... they are probably there to find information. Think about it... does Google, Yahoo, Newsweek, Sprint, or Amazon play music on their websites? Do any 'professional' or 'credible' websites you know of play music? Now think back to all the website that you know of that DO play background music... how credible did they look? Did most of them look like a first grader designed them? Did it look like a MySpace website? How credible are MySpace websites? Would you trust content on websites like these? Hmmmm.....

2. Bandwidth - Streaming a full version of a song (4-5 minutes) as a background music for your website takes up too many resources. That being said, if your website is super slow to load and 'choppy' to visitors with slower connections, I can pretty much guarantee you won't have a lot of returning visitors. Not to mention the fact that every time you refresh or load a new page, the song starts over - super annoying.

3. Repeating Music - Many people will play smaller segment of background music that loop so as to minimize load times to their websites. If anyone comes to your website and spends any amount of respectable time there, it won't take long before they go crazy listening to a 15-20 second long song segment loop a thousand times. If you 'play that funky music'... you're going to have visitors leaving your website in droves.

4. Taste In Music - Everyone has different tastes in music. What songs you like, others may detest. I know, I know, it's hard to believe not everyone loves Barry Manilow as much as you do, but the last thing you want to do is drive people away before they even look at your content.

5. Music Already Playing - Now days, people spend a lot of time on their computers. Because of this, they often have music playing from Cd's, MP3s, Internet radio, etc. on their computer to help pass the time. How annoying is it when you visit a website and it starts playing music that mixes in with your music? Nothing fun about trying to listen to two tracks at the same time. The quick fix will be to leave your website.

6. Public Computers - Nothing like being at work and hitting a website that all of a sudden starts blaring 'The Piña Colada Song' at 300 decibels. It's highly unlikely you will get many return visitors if half of them are out on the streets looking for a new jobs.

7. Legal Issues - Do you have the legal right to broadcast the song you want play as background music? If you don't, you might get away with it for a while, but if you plan on your website ever having any amount of significant traffic, be warned. The more popular your website, the more likely you will get noticed playing songs illegally. Litigation, fines, and law suites are no fun.

8. Browser Compatibility - Not every browser is capable of playing every type of music file. Having background music on your website comes with the risk that some of your users may have older browsers that lock up when the music is attempting to upload or play.

Exceptions

There always exceptions to every rule. Here are a few cases when playing background music would be considered acceptable.

1. Musicians And Bands - If you're a musician or in a band and are creating a website about your work, then it would only be reasonable to have some of your songs playing in the background.
2. Establishments And Events That Revolve Around Music - Dance clubs, bars, concerts, etc. Playing music might help set the mood of what to expect at your establishment or event.
3. Personal Websites - Personal websites are off the table. Express yourself freely with whatever song you like if this is what you wish to do.

If you feel its appropriate to play background music on your website, be sure to display PLAY, PAUSE, and VOLUME controls one your website in plain view so that people can have the option to turn it off or lower the volume. You might also consider not having any music play upon page load, but instead, offering the option for them to play it if they want to hear it.

New Statistics Engine & Reports are Live

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 22:26:00 -0500

Not only does the new Statistics engine have cool new features, but it's also faster and will make the overall system more stable. Here's whats new.

Nightly Report Generation - The statistics for the previous day are run through our engine every night and reports are generated. This means the reports will come up instantly, since the data is ready to go.
Real-time Log - We know that the nightly process might take away that nice feeling of being able to see what's going on right now. The new Real-time Log will show you the most recent activity on one screen.
Pretty Charts - The new Overview page has some nice charts to give you a quick view of the previous day's activity.
Date Picker - We've added a date picker to make going back in time easier.
Improved Visit Tracking - We used to track visits by IP Address, which isn't entirely accurate. We're now tracking by Session, which means that if someone comes back to your site later, you'll know about it. Existing customers will notice an increase in the number of Visits due to this.
Referral Domain Tracking - The new Referral chart groups by the domain name, so you can see what sites traffic is coming from, not just specific pages.

The best part is that this nightly process will allow us do some more advanced computations, so expect more reporting improvements in the future.

Hope you like it. As always, feedback is most welcome.

Scheduled Maintenance this Sunday

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 13:32:00 -0500

We will be upgrading the servers this Sunday, the 31st in the morning around 9am.

There should be limited downtime. We'll post an update when it's complete.

New Statistics Engine on the Way - Reports Temporarily Disabled

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 19:50:00 -0500

We are currently working on a new statistics reporting engine to provide website usage information in a more convenient format. This will also improve website performance by moving to a nightly report process.

While that's going on we need to disable the current reports to ensure everything runs smoothly. We are currently targeting the first week of September for the new reports.

Website usage will still be tracked during this time, so once the new reports are ready, you will be able to see the data for this period.

Thanks to everyone for their patience.

Recent Downtime

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 20:45:00 -0500

UPDATE: 8/16 - We are still working on our long term solution for this. We know exactly what to do, it's just taking some time.

We had a problem with the systems today and the servers weren't responding for a few minutes. We have a number of plans to keep things speedy and up as much as possible. Namely we/ve almost doubled the number of processes, we're looking into improving caching, and working an alternate statistics engine to take load off during the day.

Just wanted to let you know we're keeping an eye on things, and to apologize for any inconveniences the downtime may have caused.

Doodlekit Form Builder Updated

Sun, 03 Aug 2008 14:47:00 -0500

We just released three new controls on the form builder:

HR (Horizontal Rule) - Now you can add a horizontal line to help 'break up' your form into sections.
Text Paragraphs - Now you can insert paragraphs of text between form controls to help explain sections of your form.
Password Field - Now you can have a textbox that allows people to enter in a password without showing what is being typed.

These new updates really help improve the look and usability of your forms.

If you have any other suggestions for form builder improvements, post a comment here and let us know.

New Doodlekit Website Builder Forums

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 00:30:00 -0500

Today Doodlekit released a new version of our forums tool. This version has more of a standardized look and feel to it. It should be more familiar to those who have worked with forums before. You can see an example of the new design by going to our forums:

http://doodlekit.com/forum

I will update this post later with more details.

Doodlekit Partners With Grassroots.org to Provide Free Website Builder Plans to Non-Profits

Sun, 27 Jul 2008 16:11:00 -0500

Doodlekit Online Free Website Builder has teamed up with Grassroots.org to provide free websites for valid 501c3 non-profit organizations. Doodlekit will provide qualifying organizations with a $14 a month voucher which can be applied to one of three website building plans we offer:

Simple Plan (normally $14 monthly) - FREE for non-profits
Business Plan (normally $29 monthly) - $15 monthly for non-profits
Advanced Plan (normally $49 monthly) - $35 monthly for non-profits

See Doodlekit's pricing page to compare features for each plan.

We have had a lot of requests by members for discounted or free websites for non-profit organizations. We are proud to be able to provide that now with the help of Grassroots.org.

Grassroots.org will validate that all applicants are valid 501c3 non-profit organization as well as procure their domains for them. They will also provide customer support regarding questions on how to use Doodlekit. All applicants must meet the Grassroots.org membership terms to qualify.

Organizations wishing to get Doodlekit vouchers will need to fill out an online application through Grassroots.org. They will then have access to Doodlekit through the Grassroots Toolbox.

Grassroots.org is an organization that serves as a catalyst for positive social change by leveraging modern technologies and best business practices. Grassroots.org provides nonprofit organizations with free valuable technologies and resources to increase their efficiency and productivity.

Backend Upgrades and Maintenance

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 14:00:00 -0500

The past year has been very good for us, our signups are through the roof! Of course with this type of growth we have to ensure that everything is operating at top efficiency, and to look down the road to make sure we'll be good for a while.

Over the past two months we've been spending a lot of time fixing smaller issues and tuning the system. You probably haven't noticed much of a change, but that's the whole point.

If you're wondering what's coming, we've finished our re-design of the forums. All we have to do is finish up some testing and we'll be deploying that very soon. Heath's done a great job with them, and I know everyone will like it.

We have some more great things to come, including more ways you can use Doodlekit to make money yourself.

Stay tuned.

New Cool Doodlekit Coffee Mugs!

Sun, 01 Jun 2008 14:52:00 -0500

I designed some new Doodlekit coffee mugs for Ben and I, and then I thought, "Hmmmm... why not let other people order them as well?". Of course, they are little more pricey than I would like because I designed them through Zazzle and not through a 'bulk' retailer. In the future, we plan to offer them fairly cheap and give away a lot of them for free. But for now, this will have to do. If you can afford it, we would love it if you would order one of our Doodlekit mugs. The design is awesome (that's because I designed them of course!). Seriously, I would love to hear some feed back on the design. I hope you like them!

Doodlekit's new Partnership with Orange Soda

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 22:31:00 -0500

We are very excited to announce our new partnership with Orange Soda, the local internet marketing provider. Among other things, Orange Soda provides Search Engine Optimization (SEO) services to small businesses at prices our customers are used to.

After creating a website, our customers first question is usually, "Why am I not showing up on Google?". Unfortunately the answer to this is not an easy formula we can apply to everyone. Orange Soda does the dirty work by putting their expertise to work on your website.

Orange Soda will among other things...

Submit you to search engines
Submit you to business directories
Perform keyword optimization

This is a perfect match for our existing SEO tools.

In addition, very soon we will be releasing extended SEO tools for more finely grained control of keywords and other information. This will allow you to add keywords, descriptions and titles to individual pages.

And this is just the beginning folks, stay tuned for more exciting developments.

Doodlekit takes on Business 2.0

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 11:39:00 -0500

Two years ago Doodlekit Online Free Website Builder was nothing more than a vague idea in the back of our minds. Ben and I had just started our own web development company (Doodlebit Web Solutions) a few months earlier, and we were selling small custom websites on the side when we had the time.

As more and more of our clients started requesting the same tools, we started to develop a custom, reusable framework. We immediately saw an opportunity – why not just sell this framework to the masses? The currently accepted philosophy at the time (a.k.a. Business 2.0) stated that in order to be a successful internet startup you had to have several millions of dollars in venture capitalist funds, resources, and business connections. The assumption back then was that software and web companies should break even after $20 million in investment. Not to mention you would need to move out to Silicon Valley (*see How To Build A Bulletproof Startup).

Then one day we came across a blog post from a small internet startup company called 37Signals that changed everything. The blog post, How To Shoot A Bullet Through Your Startup, railed against Business 2.0. It defied Corporate America’s view on how to run a web company. It denounced the waste, bureaucracy, and mindset of these entities that limited others from pursuing their dreams.

We loved it.

37Signals explained that you could start your own Web 2.0 company with hardly anything down and just one or two people. They had done all this themselves and had great success. Ben and I raced out to their website and purchased their online book, Getting Real, that explained in more detail how to achieve this type of success. We sat down and read the whole thing in one night.

Heath: "It's gonna take a few years to get Doodlekit up and running. We got 2 clients, $600, a refurbished PC, it's dark, and we're wearing sunglasses."
Ben: "Hit it."

The next day we started Doodlekit. We scrounged up $300 each, grabbed an old refurbished PC from Ben’s basement, slapped in some extra memory from my old computer, and we were off ‘getting real’!

A year and a half later (just 4 months ago) we had our first major release of Doodlekit. Since that time our membership base has increased to over 15,000 and our revenues have gone up 10 fold. We have zero debt.

Most of our competitors are multi-million dollar startups from the Business 2.0 way of doing things. Many of them still have yet to break even. We compete head-to-head with these companies and hold our own. How? Because Doodlekit is a much better product than what they offer. I find it rather humorous that a small company of two employees can successfully compete against so many multi-million dollar startups. If you put what we offer next to what they offer and let a consumer pick which one they want, they will pick Doodlekit. The only thing Doodlekit lacks right now is the budget that these larger corporations have for marketing. That’s all going to be changing very soon.

We aren’t out to be the next MySpace or YouTube. We aren’t measuring our success based on millions of dollars. We just want to make a decent living doing what we love doing – building websites! Doodlekit and 37Signals has given us both this opportunity, and for that, we are very grateful.

If your interested in helping us get the word out, please feel free to promote Doodlekit via a banner on your website. Ben and I would really appreciate it!

On a side note, I just wanted to let everyone know that 37Signals will soon be coming out with Getting Real (Second Edition). Ben and I will be the first in line to buy a copy!

Doodlekit Layout Forums Re-Design?

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 11:44:00 -0500

I have had several request to make the forums that come with Doodlekit look more like regular forums – basically make them a little more ‘compact’ and easier to read. I am looking into redoing the forums for ALL the layouts – so this will affect all our users that use our forums.

I would like to simplify them even more and make them easier to follow. Any suggestions from the community are appreciated and will be considered.

Doodlekit now supports external domain hosting

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 15:04:00 -0500

For those of you who already have registered your domain name, setting that up with Doodlekit just got a whole lot easier. All you have to do now is setup your Nameservers to point to our new DNS servers, and you're done. This will automatically setup your website and email DNS.

I recommend that anyone who has already setup your existing domain name using a CNAME take the time to change to this new method.

The detailed instructions are in the forums.

Network Upgrade Complete

Sun, 16 Mar 2008 12:48:00 -0500

Our network provider has just completed their network upgrade. This upgrade will mean better performance and uptime for all Doodlekit Websites.

Thank you for your patience.

Doodlekit Gets A New Layout!

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 13:42:00 -0500

Ok – I finally got a new layout out! We have had lots of requests for more layouts, so that’s been my focus for the last few days. The new layout currently only has 5 color themes, but I will be adding more throughout the following week.

I will also be adding more layouts here shortly. These will be more ‘generic’ and ‘simple’ for those that want less complex looking sites. They will also make good starting layouts for those that know CSS and want to customize their own look and feel.

As far as color themes go, if you have any suggestions I would love to here them! Post a link to a website that has color themes you like and I will see If I can incorporate a few requests into the color theme selection.

Doodlekit | Website Builder | Website Maker | Website Creator - Latest Blog Entries

Add A Custom Header Image To Your Doodlekit Website

Layout Code & Header Image Sizes

New Doodlekit Website Builder Layout

Using Flash With The Doodlekit Website Builder

Why You Should Avoid Background Music On Your Website

Exceptions

New Statistics Engine & Reports are Live

Scheduled Maintenance this Sunday

New Statistics Engine on the Way - Reports Temporarily Disabled

Recent Downtime

Doodlekit Form Builder Updated

New Doodlekit Website Builder Forums

Doodlekit Partners With Grassroots.org to Provide Free Website Builder Plans to Non-Profits

Top 10 Content Mistakes Made On Amateur Websites

1) Centering All Your Text

2) Too Many Fonts

3) Over Bolding

4) Over Capitalizing

5) Over Enlarging All Your Fonts

6) Too Many Exclamation Marks!!!!

7) Too Many Font Colors

8) Spinning Logo / Animation Images

9) Too Much Data to Load

10) Too Much Content