However Rowetta did not get the message and I wasnt mentioned on the show… till….

I sent her a message privately on Facebook and Youtube
She actually read my messages out on air! I was really chuffed and she even said my name!

Please click the link below to listen to what I sent in as she read it out and her reply to it!
Ro mentions me on the Tez and Ro Show!
Hope I’m not gonna get into trouble for thieving this but I feel it marks another step in my bid to blog cool stuff!

So, There you have it… I AM now famous so that means I will be getting gifts through the post from all my fans who wish to send me stuff… yeah, right? Like hell!

Finally please follow my newly-found friend Rowetta on Twitter, and chat to her as she’s a cool lady!

BUT I AM BACK now with a few posts which I think that you will love!

Please see what I am getting up to by following GoldChoiceUK Twitterfeed

Main twitter is still GoldChoiceUK.

Ah, only kidding. I am not giving away food nor even talking about the classic Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato sandwich, but I am talking about cyber blog-food… SPAM.

As I go through my blog comments this is what I have been reading:

a) I am definitely bookmarking this site and sharing it with my friends
b) Very outstanding site
c) The message here is genuinely important
d) I will invite my friends
e) I usually don’t post in blogs but your blog forced me to, amazing work… beautiful
f) I am reading this article second time today
g) Keep up the good work
h) Look forward to read more from you in the future

Question is: Do I or do I not post them? I’d like to think that they were really thinking that my blog was amazing and had some genuinely important messages but I dont feel it is because the real people arent stepping forward…
I know spam means that it is usually bad, but at times like this when you see an excellent comment you want to post it because you like it when people like what you have said and understand your reasoning behind the article…

I’m not asking for sympathy or even a reason why this is happening. I think it is great my site is being found, but not if only by bots, droids, martians, dodos, daleks and anything else that is programmed by hackers etc. My blog is far from being a spam ground for the insects to feast on… It is however a haven for all the real people who wish to gain advice and knowledge on most easy to moderate web publishing/editing tools, and the tricks of the trade!

I have had this blog/site since July 2009 and I have had a mass of spam. Most of it being about things totally unrelated to this site. It has really annoyed me and I have enabled the necessary spam catcher, in my case Akismet, but not sure if I want to go the whole hog with a capture too. I would like something like I have seen on other blogs where there is a sum like 2+2 and you have to put 4 in the box… but would that turn posters away or would it make them feel safer because they knew the site was safe and capturing spammers?

I hope to have some ideas on this please, so feel free to comment. Bots comments of course will be EXTERMINATED!!

Hope you now have some fun in downloading and adding the videos you want for your convenience!

1. Open youtube.com in your browser and search for the video you want on your iPod (iPod Touch in my case)

2. Copy the URL of the video for example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWzrVVZ02ok
(YOU MUST WAIT FOR THE VIDEO TO COMPLETELY DOWNLOAD INTO YOUR CACHE BEFORE DOWNLOADING IT !! Waiting for the video to fully play is a great idea to make sure you have completely downloaded the video!)

3. Open in another tab or window the website www.keepvid.com and paste the copied link into the box on the website and click download (When prompted enter the code)

4. Chose the .mp4 filetype and right click the download link and select Save Target As (or simillar)

5. Save in your computer to a movie folder

6. Plug in your iPod and ipen iTunes and locate the video you have downloaded and import it into your library

7. Sync your iPod with the video and you should now have a video on there!

(8) GO HAVE FUN

You may be wondering why I have decided to put this post up, and how I can relate it to web design… I thought about writing a post about Aspergers and Social Networking after 2 of my friends wanted posts about how an Aspergers sufferer deals with Twitter and what not to do. This is a follow up post I wanted to add.

Anyone can use a social network and I have developed myself online by making new friends and finding old ones. Being able to keep those friends is a massive step for me. I never before thought that social networking was going to be that easy for me. Infact I took to it like a duck to water.

I use Twitter and Facebook lots, but Twitter has the upper hand as I have been able to express what I like and talk to almost anyone I wanted to (including celebs!).

Twitter is a lovely way to share web design knowledge (see I told you I could link it to web design in some way!) and the freedom to reply to things I think are worthy of a comment. I enjoy reading blog links and the like but if it wasnt for Twitter I would never had known about it all.

Facebook is for closer friends and only select people can read your status when you approve them (just like Twitter I add) but it is a totally different ball game. I dont use Facebook as much but I like the fact that it provides an extra help source when requiring knowledge about something. You can reach out to an entirely different range.

When on Twitter I post about all sorts of things that interest me. I get replies based on them and now I have a seperate Twitter for a few of the interests in my life. Like one for web design related stuff, one for gaming and one for Aspergers. I like to use Twitter on those accounts in completely different ways. My main account that I established myself on the internet was through GoldChoiceUK Twitter. I liked how Twitter worked from the start and through that I was able to talk to people with the same feelings as me with the different subjects I like.

However all this social interaction on the internet made me mute in the real world and not able to talk to my parents in the right way. Not that I swore or anything – no – but I was rude to ignore things went downhill rather fast and rapidly. and I started to stay up till all hours of the night Tweeting and just messing about on my PC. I started to get really fed up of not being able to find a job too. I still cant find one and it is become really hard. There is simply nothing out there! That is when I set up a Twitter for my Aspergers friends/followers. I wanted to give back to them my experiences and how I felt and they could relate to it all.

As I have been on Twitter for over a year I have seen myself grow in a number of ways, which is great. I have been able to make funny comments and have a bit of a joke and make friends who actually care. I care for a great deal of them all too. I have special friendships with some of them and some of those I could not have ever done without. They have all made me feel really welcome and I have enjoyed having such a lovely relationship with them all. I wouldnt have done half of the things I have done this year without the aid of Twitter as it has helped me to communicate at a level that is acceptable by all. I have learnt how to Tweet and talk to others. I wouldn’t have spoken to Beverley Knight on the radio if I wasnt on Twitter. That made my confidence really high and I feel able to make conversation to a wider audience.

It is easy to forget I have Aspergers sometimes and my Tweets just make sense the way they are. I may Tweet some random things but that is what it is for. I enjoy exploiting myself with my disability and to prove what I can do and say and to show the whole world that Aspergers is really not the worst thing known to humankind if worked on well and having Twitter’s experience has made me realise how important it is to be real and alive.

Aspergers is not the end of the world and I know I can push myself to learn whatever I want and I will learn more as I continue to use the social online networks. It has increased my self confidence and I never thought I’d ever come in contact with such a lovely bunch of friends as I have now. Twitter has made me belong to society instead of feeling too odd. Aspergers is my way of living and I have made it work for me which is great.

If you have Aspergers or know someone who has please get them to read this and then get them onto Twitter (If they are old enough).

My post on Andy’s site… Contacting The Millions
My post on Clair’s site… Twitter with Aspergers

Beverley Knight has captured my heart in music and I really enjoy tweeting with her of an evening. But at the moment as her tour is on she is very busy. She has made me so much more confident about myself. I cant wait till the show. I will put a blog post up after the concert telling you all about it.

I hope this will be a birthday I will never ever forget!

I have been a loyal Geocities (fan?) for 3 years, updating my website and changing the look etc, but now it is time to put it to bed to rest.

I had my first ever site on Geocities and I’m in some way sad to see it go. Why?

- It was the first website I ever had up. Without Geocities I would not have got this site that you are looking at right now.
- Following on… Geocities was a great starter package for me to get to know what a web server does and how to make sites… I could experiment with it and change the layout as much as I wanted.
- I had a way I could show my friends and family what I was doing with my time and show them my skills and what sort of things I was into.
- I had not got the money for a real address.

But why not also say some bad things about it? Why not?

- I couldnt connect Geocities free to a FTP client which made it useless if I wanted to upload multiple files in one go. I would have to select the files each individually.
- There were adverts.
- There wasnt enough customisation room / space for me to go put up something really snazzy.
- Having my e-mail address in the url stopped me from sharing the website with The Whole World. Thus only close friends and family I could allow to view it.

There may be more things but anyway I enjoyed using Geocities and hope that it has changed some peoples lives in the way it did mine!

I really didnt know what I was going to ask so I thought for a while and I knew I wanted to ask about music. Then I got rung back by THE Ronnie Herel (presenter on 1Xtra) and he asked me what I wanted to ask Beverley. I hadnt decided on the exact words then but I just made something up and that was ok.

I got called back 15 minutes later and I was able to ask the question “How did you get into music?” – Which was virtually the question I wanted to ask in the first place when I spoke to the presenter.

Listen to what I said and Bev’s answer here!

They all looked after me really well and I have got to thank @BeverleyKnight and @ronnieherel for the experience they both gave me!

Follow me too! @GoldChoiceUK

So far we have looked at ways to get feedback and the feedback you may experience.

In this final part I would like to go through how you can approach changes and how to maintain a healthy site.

With all the feedback you have (if a large amount) it may be a good idea to put it into one document to pick over.

I submit my sites for review on Twitter as I have followers that specailise in design reading my feed there. The more places, and people, you submit the url to the more views you will get from different people thus helping your design skills.

My tip: The feedback I get I could do what I described above but in Windows Vista I like to use the Snipping Tool. With that I don’t have to worry about the ‘have I copied/pasted that’ problem because I’ll have the data in .jpg format. Then I can disregard all of the pointless comments. If they are major changes they will need to be done first. Small tweeks wont be as noticable so they can be done later on.

You may like to thank your friends for helping you as they are a good second-eye for spotting mistakes, and I know I miss them occasionally.

Finally when all the hard work is done you can relax and let visitors come to your page. However… one slight catch… to maintain a healthy site you should update it often. Maybe you could have a set day in the month where you check for broken links or you may want to add new features… all to keep people interested!

You could add:
A blog – assuming current site is only a showcase
A forum – depending on type of site
You come up with something more fantastic than I can? Tell Me!

I hope you have enjoyed my 3 part blog post topic- I hope to do one again sometime.