The Untold Firefox Story

While there have been many stories trumpeting the continual gains made by the Mozilla Foundation's Firefox browser, one key issue that was discussed in depth during the heat of the browser wars is noticeably absent.

There are still many Web sites out there, including many used by people in the course of ordinary, daily business, that use proprietary features available only in Internet Explorer. If you use these sites on Firefox, at best the site's design will appear mangled; at worst, it will be almost impossible to navigate the site, enter text in search boxes, etc.

So even security-conscious computer users who would prefer to use Firefox can sometimes have no choice. The issue of Web sites using proprietary design elements got a lot of press when Netscape's Navigator was still a leading contender years ago, but has since seemed to drop off the planet.

Has anyone written any of the Web sites they use and asked them to get W3C compliant?

Freelance Network

While sole practitioners often are able to offer an edge over larger firms in terms of fees, one of the disadvantages can be the lack of cohesive networks to help bring the individuals together as a large group that's able to offer all of their collective clients a wide range of expertise.

I'm interested in discussing the idea with independent PR practitioners and would welcome any visiting here to contact me via e-mail or to contribute their opinions to this blog.

It's Your Brand!

I'm amazed at the number of people who are willing to send out business-related e-mail correspondence under a free domain (e.g. Yahoo!).

While absolutely nothing is wrong with using such services, doing so to send business correspondence serves to severely undermine the value of your brand. Anyone who's going to the trouble of doing any kind of business-related correspondence over the Internet should do themselves a BIG favor. Get a domain name and learn how to use it or hire someone to administer it for you.

An Internet presence can be working for you 24/7, but the Internet only has value if used properly.

Welcome

This blog's primary purpose will be to facilitate discussions on the discipline of public relations, particularly as it pertains to solo practitioners. There are lots of us out there across the country doing good work for clients, but generally staying under the radar of industry publications.

While most of those publications assume solo practitioners will continue dwindling in number, just as independent PR shops have, I am among those that are convinced the future will continue to be bright for those who truly differentiate their services from the myriad of competitors and deliver value to clients.

So welcome, and feel free to post comments on this initial post or anything else that's on your mind!