Heathbits - Latest Blog Entries

Doodlekit Now On Sortfolio

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 09:28:00 -0600

I've always been a big fan of 37Signals. They just recently came out with a new website: HayStack - A place where web designers and customers can meet up and work with each other. Check out Doodlekit's Listing.

Never seen anything like this before....

Thu, 07 Jan 2010 09:26:00 -0600

I don't think I have ever seen the USA map so cold as today. Wow...

Edamame: The Perfect Healthy Snack

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 14:51:00 -0600

I was just going to shoot my buddies an email about this, but then I thought, “Hey… why not just share it with everyone? I’m sure we aren’t the only health conscious people out there!” So I did.

Edamame is nothing more than dry roasted soy beans. Soy beans have always been a great source of protein and are used as meat replacements for many things. When I stumbled upon Edamame as a healthy snack I was shocked!

First it tastes great! How did I not know about this food? Everyone knows that fruits and vegetables are great snacks, but I hate vegetables, and fruits are high in sugar (yes, even natural sugars are not that great for you). Finding healthy snack foods that taste good is hard for me.

Second, it has good longevity. They are dry roasted and can last for months. Fresh fruits and vegetables are a pain to keep around because they go bad so quick. I can stock up on these in my office or car and they are always around for when I am working or traveling.

Third, they are high in protein (with low carbs and fat). For building muscles and staying lean, high protein foods have always been the preferred choice for athletes (or those just trying to stay in shape).

I used to snack on dry roasted almonds a lot (raw almonds are better for you, but I can’t stomach too many of them). But now, I only eat Edamame. Here are the Nutrition Facts for both so you can compare them. You will see that the Edamame is much better for you:

Edamame (1/4 cup):
Calories: 130
Protein: 13g
Total Fat: 4g
Carbs: 9g
(Sugars 1g)

Almonds (1/4 cup):
Calories: 180
Protein: 6g
Total Fat: 15g
Carbs: 5g
(Sugars 1g)

Anyway, there are two companies that I know of that make them: Seapoint Farms & Roland Feng Shui. You can usually find them in the ‘Asian’ section of any grocery store.

Enjoy!

Why I Don't Miss Corporate America

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 09:27:00 -0600

*complements of 37signals

Doodlekit Gets A New Design!

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:20:00 -0600

I bent over backwards for Doodlekit's new re-design :). It's valid XHTML and CSS as well as I focused on semantics. The code is super clean for the landing page. We use our own website builder & CMS for our website. Coding to a 'dynamic' CMS system is a lot more difficult than just making a static website. Hope everyone likes the new design.

Posterous announcement is posted here.

My Office Setup

Sun, 27 Sep 2009 09:16:00 -0500

Thought I would post a pic of where I work. I fixed up the office with:

New Shutter Windows
New Herman Miller Office Chair
New Ceiling Fans & Lights
New Floor Mat
New Foot Rest
New Wireless Mouse
New Speakear/Audio System
Custom Designed Doodlekit Poster
Custom Designed Desk I Made

Basically, the desk is nothing more than a small folding table with two heavy duty computer arms attached to each corner. The arm on the right holds my main laptop that has duel screens: The main monitor in the middle and the laptops screen itself. The other arm holds an older laptop that’s sole purpose is to display IE6. This laptop will soon be replaced with a mac notebook. Bolted to the back, out of sight, is a wood cubby I made to hold all cables and wires so they don’t layout on the floor.

Might not be the ‘Dream Office’ I want, but it works great and I am more than happy with it!

Fulfilling A Need Can Lead To A Great Idea

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 17:46:00 -0500

Have you ever thought to yourself, “Man, there’s got to be a better way to do this!” when you’re stuck working on something ‘you need’ to get done? Sometimes a little research reveals there is something available that will help you. Other times not. Those times when your needs are not being met are possible opportunities. The Best Ideas Come From Necessity explains why you might want to take a second look at some of your innovative thoughts.

Increase Sales By Giving Away Your Products For Free???

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 06:11:00 -0500

Yep, “free” is the new gateway to paying customers. Want to Sell Your Product? Give it Away for Free explains how allowing potential customers to “dip their toe in the pool” for free can lead to future sales and word-of-mouth marketing.

Building Personal Customer Relations

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 11:07:00 -0500

In a world ran by large corporations with excessively large advertising budgets, how is a small business supposed to survive. Growing Your Business by Getting Personal explains the power of effective personal relations with your clients.

Greyhound Adoptions of Florida

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 15:30:00 -0500

Featured Doodlekit Website:

Greyhound Adoptions of Florida

Website Editor's Name:

Dave McGurgan

Date Website Went Live:

June 2008

Start Now To Turn Your Idea Into Reality

Sat, 29 Aug 2009 15:25:00 -0500

Have an Idea? Get it out there now! is a good blog post by Ben that explains how most people with good ideas for a startup or small business hold out to long on building their network. As soon as the idea pops in your head and you’re sold on the concept, you need to start building your network ASAP. The very first thing you should do is start working on gathering emails and other info so that you have a community to announce your new product whenever it is you finally do launch it.

New Doodlekit Billings System Allows Mutliptle Websites For One Account

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 09:24:00 -0500

Doodlekit pushed out a new billing system yesterday that now allows users to create multiple websites under one account. This means that accounts can be a mix of personal websites and business websites if desired, each having their own credit card if need be. Of course all websites can be charged to a single card if desired, but the option is now available to split those costs between multiple cards.

Posterous link to New Doodlekit Billing System Released.

Don't Let a Little Competition Stop You

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 14:46:00 -0500

Ben posted a new blog post today: Don't Let a Little Competition Stop You. It's a little bit of advice one might consider before freaking out over your competitors. Ignore them. Sometimes it's better to let your customers define your product and service instead of duplicating what your competitor does.

Why Refactoring Is A Good Thing

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 10:22:00 -0500

Ben Kitrell explains why Refactoring Your Code is a good thing.

Doodlekit Posterous Link

New Affiliate Doodlekit Promo

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 10:09:00 -0500

We released a new affiliate website builder promotional website today for Doodlekit. It's focus is on people who are looking for for an easy to use website builder to create affilate websites. Here is the Doodlekit Posterous link for it.

Doodlekit Promo Makes Design Spotlight on iStockPhoto.com

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 11:44:00 -0500

I submitted the design I did for one of our Doodlekit promos websites (a kids website builder) to iStockphoto.com a few days ago and they accepted it into their Design Spotlight. Check it out if you get the chance: Doodlekit On iStockPhoto.com.

Doodlekit Is Now On Posterous.com...

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 10:30:00 -0500

Check it out: http://doodlekit.posterous.com.

Table layouts over Div layouts??? Tell me I'm not crazy....

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 16:17:00 -0500

I just joined Facebook last week and joined their ‘Web Design’ group a few days ago. One of the Topics posted there was:

Div or Table - If you was going to teach a newbie web design, would you start with teaching TABLE or DIV layouts?

The overwhelming response was: “Use Tables!”. Excuse me, but WTF?????? I’ve been doing web design for the last 12 years and I thought this dispute had been put to rest about 4+ years ago! You use tables for data and divs for layout! Why would someone encourage a newbie to learn to do this the wrong way??? My only conclusion is that the ‘Web Design’ group is full of amateur web designer wanna-be’s or I have no idea what I am talking about….

Here is the link to the discussion on Facebook in case any of you are a member of that group.

Here is what I responded with:

Tables are made for data!!! You DO NOT EVER use tables for a layout. I cannot believe so many people on this post have suggested such a thing! If you use tables for a layout, you are writing invalid HTML/XHTML. Ever heard of W3C Valid XHTML/HTML and CSS???? Table layout design is a hallmark of an armature web designer and has been out dated for years! Bottom line, you are not a real web designer if you’re using tables to create your website layouts (no professional web design firm will hire you if you design like this). This is undisputed. Everyone from Jeffrey Zeldman to Eric Myers to the W3C will tell you this. Hey, if you want to learn how to become a web designer, how about learning to do it the right way? Use Divs… that’s what they are meant for.

New Doodlekit Blog Post - SEO for Beginners

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 15:00:00 -0500

New Doodlekit Blog Post:

Free Website SEO and Traffic For Beginners

Other References: Digg, Ezine Articles

Doodlekit Makes PCWorld!

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 09:07:00 -0600

Doodlekit was reviewed by PCWorld this morning, but with one caveat - it's the Danish PCWorld! Hey... we are not complaining! The very first few sentences (translated) read:

"The time's most beautiful, quickest and mostly advanced web page gets one with Doodlekit . Next month a new web service has maybe taken over the leading position, but just now Doodlekit is the enough strongest online web page programme."

Read the translated article yourself (scroll down a bit).