Want to update your current site design with a fresh new style? Check out our newest offerings:

Black Mamba:  Perfect for your personal site, art site, or whatever funky site you have created!

Brown Stripe: This simple template is ideal for businesses that want to keep their sites clean and simple.

Escape: Use the Escape template to give your site a refined layout with a little tropical flair. 

Emerald City: It's not easy being green - use this hip style as a cool "about me" site or even a trendy site for your business. 

Rainy Nights: Feeling a bit blue? Use this site to showcase your writing, photography, or anything you please!

Posted by team-blog at 12:46 PM PDT

Updated: Friday, August 12, 2011 12:51 PM PDT

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August 12, 1981 the IBM PC was born. Throughout the PC's life, it has had a Benjamin Button-type facelift from year to year, seemingly getting "younger" and more modern looking as the years progressed. What started out as a giant hunk of plastic, metal, and green pixels has transformed into the PCs that we know and love (and can easily carry around) today.

Image from IBM.com.

Check out IBM.com's virtual timeline at their site: IBM's History of Progress. While IBM's construction of personal computers dates back to the '70s, the first model of the PC we know and love today was released with the intention for use in businesses and homes in '81. Of course, the PC had a hefty price tag - up to $6000 which in today's terms could top out at around $15,000! 

The progress of the PC has enabled us to do wonders with technology - both on the Internet and off - so thanks IBM and again, Happy Birthday, PC!

Posted by team-blog at 10:39 AM PDT

Updated: Friday, August 12, 2011 10:40 AM PDT

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This week we're going to take a trip to Costa Rica to see the art of Gerardo González. Gerardo's website uses Tripod's site builder and photo album add-on to highlight the different types of amazing art that he creates. Abstract, Figurative, Plant, and Animal paintings are all presented showing the intricate details that the artist uses and showcase the magical worlds that he creates.

You will notice that the main page of his site is entirely in Spanish, but the great thing about Gerardo's site is that they offer an English homepage which gives all of the same information and translates all of the tabs. (Tip: If you're viewing the site in Chrome, a bar should pop up at the top of your browser to translate the site for you!) 

Whether you're a native Spanish speaker, an English speaker, or just someone who appreciates great artwork, definitely don't miss Gerardo's website and work!

If you'd like to see your site featured here next Friday, submit your site at spotlight-site.tripod.com!

Posted by team-blog at 8:11 AM PDT

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This week's site features a juggling master: Michael Karas. Based out of New York, Michael has accumulated an impressive list of clients, including the Discovery Channel, H&R Block, MIT, and the NY Kids Club among others.

MichaelKaras.net is a great site to navigate around, looking at interesting juggling pictures in his Tripod Photo Album add-on as well as viewing samplings of his routines like this comical sketch: 

Using the Form on his site (created with the Form Creator add-on), you can contact Michael if you want him to perform at an event or function. A visually appealing and useful site made MichaelKaras.net a top contender for this week's Featured Friday. His sense of humor and cool juggling tricks didn't hurt his chances either! Congrats, Michael, and keep up the great work both on your site and on stage! 

Wondering how Michael got a Vimeo video on his site? Vimeo videos give you the option to embed their videos and if you click the option to use the older code, plugging in the HTML on your site will work just fine. If you don't want to deal with code and figuring out why it isn't working the way you want it to, be patient because a Vimeo add-on is coming your way shortly!

If you want your site to be featured next Friday, submit your site to spotlight-site.tripod.com!  

Posted by team-blog at 8:31 AM PDT

Updated: Friday, August 5, 2011 11:13 AM PDT

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This week's Featured Site will make you want to get out and help someone which just happens to be the name of the site: HelpSomeone.us. Help Someone is dedicated to volunteering in the Owensboro, KY area - but you don't have to be from Kentucky to get some helpful information out of their site!

Help Someone not only shares names and locations of local charities in Kentucky, but they also give great ideas for those looking to volunteer, not knowing exactly what they want to do yet. Kids and teens can also come to the site to find a whole list of activities specific to what they can do to help with limited resources. 

Help Someone has their own radio station called Heart Strings which showcases local musicians and they will soon be launching Unsung TV as well! We would like to congratulate Help Someone for not only making a great site that is easy to navigate and really showcases how you can use all of the different add-ons well, but we would like to say great job with all of the volunteering and charity work that they are doing. Keep up the great work, Help Someone!   

Posted by team-blog at 10:27 AM PDT

Updated: Friday, August 5, 2011 11:16 AM PDT

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We have recently been receiving some information from members that their videos are not working after they post them through the Media Manager. They will stream fine when they are in edit or preview mode but when the site is published, the video will display looking something like this:

If you have videos on your site, please check your published site to make sure that they are working correctly. Also, if your videos are displaying this error message, double check that they have been uploaded in one of the appropriate formats (.avi, .flv, .mov, .mp4, .mpg, or .wmv). 

Our engineers are looking into the problem and are trying to solve it as quickly as possible. If you have important videos on your site that need to be viewed, one possible step you can take is to display them with our YouTube add-on while the Media Manager problem is being resolved. 

All you need to use the YouTube add-on is a YouTube account which is free and easy to get. Upload your video to your YouTube site, grab the URL, and then paste it into the Video Page URL field in the add-on's edit screen. The video will display with the title across the top while it is paused and the YouTube logo in the bottom right: 

Posted by team-blog at 8:14 AM PDT

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This week's featured site not only has great web design, but if you're a dog lover, you'll appreciate the expertly shot pictures of the pooches as well! Smart Dogs Canine Training is a site dedicated to the dogs brought to you by Head Trainer Julie Deans. At Smart Dogs, you can learn about the different courses that are offered, learn more about Julie and her dogs plus their achievements, as well as purchase some amazing custom made dog collars! 

Why was this site selected this week? If the adorable pictures of dogs weren't enough, Smart Dogs uses almost every aspect of Webon to make the site great. With a variety of add-ons and a great use of meta tags to help with site SEO all wrapped up in an excellently designed style, Smart Dogs is the total package.

If you have a dog that needs some basic training and live in Ontario near Smart Dogs, (or if you just want to order one of their great dog collars) check out their site at http://www.smartdogsk9.com/.

Would you like to have your site highlighted next week? Submit your site to our form at spotlight-site.tripod.com!

Posted by team-blog at 6:53 AM PDT

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Today's featured site not only showcases a beautifully designed site but could also help you out if you ever need any design work done for your own business and site down the road! Just by viewing Jan Stephenson's website, it is obvious that she knows what she's doing in the field of graphic design. Her site design and layout is simple and sophisticated which makes for easy navigation and helps the visitor find all the important information they need, fast.

Click on her portfolio and see a great use of the Photo Album add-on which shows off all of Jan's amazing projects which range from brochures to Facebook banners.

If you want to learn more about what Jan offers for design services, check out her website at http://www.jansgraphicdesign.com/. Also, be sure to visit her Facbook page to see more of her work and become a fan at http://www.facebook.com/janstephensongraphicdesign. 

Would you like to see your site featured here next Friday? Submit your site to our nomination form at spotlight-site.tripod.com! 

Posted by team-blog at 6:39 AM PDT

Updated: Friday, July 15, 2011 6:43 AM PDT

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Our ever-expanding library of add-ons added two new members today: the Weather add-on and the Weather Zombie add-on. Now you can share the weather from your hometown, where you are on vacation, or wherever you choose with your visitors and you can even give it an undead twist. In the editor, you can choose your city, region (for the US & Canada), and country plus you can select your unit of measuremet as either Fahrenheit or Celsius. Add additional weather add-ons to show different locations or allow your visitors to search for their own locations by displaying the search bar. 

Your add-on will look different depending on where you place it on your page (in the content, sidebar, header, or footer). Here's an example of the weather add-on placed in the content section: 

You'll see the last time that the weather was updated, the high and low for the day, current conditions, and the times for sunrise and sunset.

 The Weather Zombie add-on has the same editor and displays the same information but is a little more animated. Depending on your weather, your zombie forecaster will change! For example, today's a scorcher in Cairo so... 

The Zombie is dressed for the weather! Whereas in Fairbanks, AK, the weather is much nicer...

So the Zombie changes for the occassion.

Whichever add-on you choose, either makes a great addition to your site and keeps you updated at the same time!

Posted by team-blog at 5:39 AM PDT

Updated: Tuesday, July 12, 2011 10:36 AM PDT

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Today's featured site is a must see as well as a must read: The Dire Wolf Project. An incredible source of information about the initiative to breed a domesticated dog breed (the American Alsatian) to have the look of the prehistoric Dire Wolf. The site gives an abundance of information about the history of the Dire Wolf and how it compares to wolf breeds today. For those of you who are HBO fans, they even give an explanation of the representation of the Dire Wolf in the show Game of Thrones which has sparked an incredible amount of interest in the wolf.

So aside from the site being a great source of information, why was it selected to be highlighted this week? The Dire Wolf Project shows that not only do they understand their wolves, but they understand what makes for good web design. They have taken a Webon template and done some basic CSS tweaking to make it look like the template was designed specifically for them. They have made a great use of multiple add-ons, including PayPal, Polls, and Facebook and their site is easy to navigate (not to mention the pictures of the American Alsatians are incredibly adorable!).

Next time you're watching Game of Thrones or just thinking about how awesome it would be to own a pet wolf, check up on The Dire Wolf Project and see how they're doing! With your help, maybe you could be bringing home your own American Alsatian some day soon!

If you would like to submit your own site to be featured in our Featured Friday highlight, fill out our submission form!

Posted by team-blog at 4:44 AM PDT

Updated: Friday, July 8, 2011 5:05 AM PDT

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