Anyone who has designed a website or blog knows how tedious it can be to make sure it is cross browser compatible. You have to test in Internet Explorer 6, 7 and now 8. You have to test in Firefox, Safari, and the list goes on. It can be a daunting task and I know I dread it every time I'm done with the CSS for a site.

Well, instead of pulling up Parallels every time I needed to test in Internet Explorer on Windows XP, then Vista, then Safari, Chrome, etc, I decided to find an alternative solution.

That's when I came across Browsershots.

Browsershots is a free website where you can test out your website or blog on 50+ different browsers. They have everything from Internet Explorer to Chrome to browsers you've never heard of before.

Simply enter your URL, select which browsers you'd like to test it on, and hit Submit.

After you hit submit the process takes place automatically. Simply sit back and hit refresh every so often to see your new screenshots start to appear.



Once your processing is done you can roll over each to see a larger view. If something looks off you can click that view and see more details.



These details include the browser name, the engine it's based off of, as well as many other important details including whether or not Java is enabled, what version of Flash it's running, the operating system it was on, and what the screen dimensions were.

These are all very important details when trying to troubleshoot problems you may see on your screenshot.

When you're done, go back to the results screen to take a look at another screenshot.

You can also download all of these screenshots in a ZIP file which contains PNG files of each screenshot.

Once you've looked at your screenshots, determined, and fixed any problems that you saw, you can then hit "Request new screenshots?" to refresh them and try again.

This certainly saves a great deal of time and ensures that your site looks great in all browsers.

Keep in mind before you spend hours fixing your site for a certain browser you check your site analytics to make sure a decent percentage of your users are using that browser, if any.

Here's 5 Really Important Tips for Outside Blogs

Now that many members have had the chance to setup their own Individual and Outside Group Blogs, and we've had the chance to work out the kinks, I've noticed some common issues that keep popping up as we're setting these up.  I wanted to share them in hopes it would save you some time and frustration.

ONE: 

You do NOT need to go elsewhere to purchase a domain name for your Outside Blogs on ActiveRain.  If you setup your Outside Blog and URL or Domain name through AR, it is a 3-step process and your domain will be up in most cases within minutes.  If you go outside AR to purchase a domain name, you can still use it, but you'll have to point the DNS nameservers and for some, it's a PITA!  (Pain In The @$$) See Jodi's Post

This is the best way right here!

see below: (and yes, you do own the domain name, AR is just hosting it)

Once you click check availability, You'll know if the domain is available or not by what's returned in the box.  If it has a red dash mark, then it's not available, if it has a green check mark, then you can claim it! 
Just click on the "Claim Domain" button and you're done.  Some new domains come up instantly.

  RED = NO  &  GREEN = GO 

TWO: 

Adding your Posts to your Individual and Group Blogs is easy.  You can either create new posts or move existing posts over to your new domain and outside Blog, but you'll need to be in the edit mode, then select the appropriate boxes by placing a check mark in the ones you want to push your post to.  It's Fast!!

SELECTING WHERE TO SEND YOUR BLOG POSTS:

THREE: 

Be sure that you are using the "Topic" feature in Channels when creating ALL Blog posts from now on, this will help index your posts for easy searching on your outside blogs.  Many other Blog formats have "Categories" or "Keywords" on the sidebar that can be searched and viewed by visitors, but your AR Outside Blogs will be searchable by "topics" and "local area posts".  (Raindexing) Make sure you are using "topics" to avoid having to go back and edit posts later. 

You may even want to go back and edit the ones you have.

FOUR: 

Keep ALL your Videos, Photos, and Images under 600W on EVERY POST.  (200-400 is optimal)  This will keep ALL your (AR Blogs, Outside Blogs, & Localism) formatted properly and looking consistent across all three platforms. This is one of the main issues we see repeatedly when setting up outside Blogs. Some members are using photos that are 1024x768 or 800x640 and they will not look right on Localism or Outside Blogs. 

You can see this post at ActiveRainGuide.com to confirm this format works.

       

FIVE: 

If you want readers to be able to see your FULL SIZE photos, upload them to Flickr.com first, then place the photo in your ActiveRain post at 200w (as shown above), with a link to the full sized photo in Flickr.  This will not only look better on your posts, if readers want to see the full image, they can, but let it be their choice.  An 800w photo or image is just too big, it'll overlap and look weird on Localism and Outside Blogs.

There's your High-Five for this week ~

I am very proud and excited of what our team behind the scenes at AR have produced.  I'm looking forward to showing off some of these Blogs by our members and groups this week, they really do look awesome. :-)

 

Do you have an IRS Tax Lien on the property you are trying to sell?  Is your property's market value less than your mortgage payoff?  If so, you are in a short sale situation, and a federal tax lien may cause your lender to deny your sale.  Why?  If, for example, your home is worth $200,000, your mortgage payoff is $250,000 and your tax lien is $20,000, there would not be enough funds to pay the IRS.  Your mortgage holder will not pay these taxes for you.  The good news is that the IRS is trying to make it easier for homeowners to discharge the liens to sell their property. 

In December, the IRS announced it would be streamling the process to discharge liens. Commissioner Doug Shulman says, "We realize these are difficult times for many Americans. We don't want the IRS to be a barrier to people saving or selling their homes".  The lien discharge process takes approximately 30 days for approval.  To apply for a discharge, you must follow the instructions in IRS Publication 783.  Briefly, be prepared to submit:

1. Deed or title and property description
2. Purchase and sale agreement
3. Preliminary title work showing all liens on the property
4. Your name, address and telephone number
5. IRS-specified declaration that you are being truthful

There are variations of tax lien discharge scenarios, some more complex than others.  You may want to consult with a tax attorney or accountant to complete the paperwork.

It's Wendy!

Wendy Rulnick, Broker, CRP, CRS, GRI, ABR     Rulnick Realty, Inc.

Search Destin FL real estate

Short Sale Pre Foreclosure Help.

Call toll-free 1-877-ITS-WNDY (1-877-487-9639) or local 850-650-7883 ext 204

Email itswendy@rulnickrealty.com

Wendy Rulnick specializes in real estate sales, short sales, traditional sales on Emerald Coast of Florida: Destin Florida real estate, Santa Rosa Beach, Fort Walton Beach, Niceville, Bluewater Bay, Navarre, Seagrove Beach, Watercolor, Sandestin, Seaside, Dune Allen, Blue Mountain Beach, Freeport, Rosemary Beach, Mary Esther, Shalimar, Eglin AFB, Hurlburt Field.   Wendy Rulnick, Broker and Realtor, has been selling real estate for 20 years.  She has won numerous awards, including the coveted ADDY for advertising design. Wendy lists and sells homes, condos and townhomes in Destin FL and the surrounding areas.  She is ranked in the top ½ percent of all Realtors on the Emerald Coast of Florida for resale listings sold and was featured in Kiplinger Personal Finance Magazine as a short sale specialist.

All Rights Reserved. "Don't Let IRS Tax Liens Stop Your Short Sale" Contact Wendy Rulnick regarding Destin Florida real estate and vicinity.C opyright © 2009 by Wendy Rulnick.

This site, Wendy Rulnick or Rulnick Realty, Inc. is not providing legal or tax advice.  The information provided is for educational and informational purposes only.  It is recommended that sellers considering a short sale should consult an independent legal and tax advisor for more information.

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What Channel Are You ON? Do You Need One? You bet! Active Rain is changing like a New York minute, faster than a speeding bullet and faster than a fox with a hound on his heels.

I'm one that seems to always )*%%^&*( about any kind of change. It just doesn't settle well with me at first. I have to examine it, analyze it, toss it around, stew on it, simply consider it, disect it, put it back together, whine a bit, argue, attempt to control the issue of change and then I might feel comfortable with it.

Maybe.

It seems to me that right now Active Rain is a bit like a game of chess. They are making me think several moves ahead. The strategy is there if you want to learn and win the game.

I do. I want to win.

We all do.

We all want our efforts in the Rain to benefit us to our highest and best use.

We spend a great deal of time writing "OUR WORDS" AND "OUR WORDS" ARE A PART OF US.

Even if we NEVER RECEIVE A SINGLE COMMENT ON OUR POSTS WITH A STRATEGY WE WILL CLIMB IN THE SEARCH ENGINES.

Sorry for yelling. It's true though.

After spending your precious time writing the words you want to share with the world, you want to make sure that those you want to READ it will get to SEE IT!

My suggestion is that we take the same "careful" time after we've written the post to place it properly. I have been known many times to get in a hurry about this. If I wanted to make sure this post would be found by the Google Bots and placed in my area, I would be sure to mention within this post that I sell Lake Livingston Real Estate.

The Bots would pick that up, compare it to my tags, and then place it in the direction we point them to.

1. We Tag it for you know who.....

I would tag this post:  Lake Livingston Real Estate,Channels,Deb Brooks,tips and strategies

Why do we do this? You are directing Google straight to your intended audience.

2. Visibility would then be set to Public (so the Bots would read it)~Nothing to hide here!

3. And then we come to the biggie. There is a huge strength in numbers. I want this post to be placed with its like kind so the Bots will recognize the content and place it with "like content" and the post is given more strength.

First click on Active Rain Channels. It's new you see! This is going to help you Optimize your post for the Search Engines and within the Active Rain Community. Once you click Channels this is what you will see.

 

Then, choose your channel. If you just click on Active Rain, your post will go into the hundreds of thousands of posts amongst AR itself and dilute your key words. So, click the arrow and let's go shopping.

The Channel that suited this post best is the Training catagory.

But wait~there's more! (LOL)

It is up to you to choose your own catagory wisely. For this TOPIC I chose CHANNELS since that's what I'm talking about.

CHOOSE YOUR TOPIC WISELY. Remember, you want your post to be positioned with the "like kind".

If one of you members OR a consumer types CHANNELS into our search bar...guess who will pop up? Yep, right along with Brad and Bob and Rich and anyone else talking about CHANNELS. All of their KEY WORDS will enhance the KEY WORDS within this post and cause them all to climb on the Search Engines.

HUGE IMPORTANT HINT TO REMEMBER...After deciding on your TOPIC type your letters in VERY SLOWLY. As you are typing in the letters new words will appear that other members have placed into the TOPIC AREA.

THE VERY FIRST WORD THAT APPEARS THAT MATCHES YOUR CHOSEN TOPIC, WHETHER IT BE SINGULAR OR PLURAL HAS THE MOST POSTS.

Choose that one. The top word is always the fullest post slot. Go for it.

Please remember that placing your posts is like a game of chess. Think ahead before you make your move. Make sure you have placed your post properly. This will give you and all others the strength we want to make a difference and blow away the Bots!

Have fun with it. It's a bit like a game!