Frequently Asked Questions

FAQ

This FAQ page is intended to address questions about this site, my products and services, web design and the internet in general, but not about specific code problems. If I answered specific code questions I wouldn't get anything else done all day. Code questions that I receive frequently are made into tutorials, where the questions can be properly addressed with the detail needed to sufficiently explain the issue.

I wrote to you but didn't receive a reply. Is anyone there?
I'm here, and I read every email I receive, but I often can't answer each email personally. I answer email for two or more hours most days, but I own several web sites and receive hundreds of emails each day. I answer email from customers first, and get to as many of the rest as I can, but it's not uncommon for me to have over 100 emails a day that I just don't have time to answer.
What many don't realize is that email is just a small part of what I have to do. I also have many other business related things that I have to make time for. As a one-man business, I have to do everything myself, from product development right down to taking out the trash!
Also, just because you send an email doesn't mean I receive it. Spam filters, lost data packets, other problems can prevent email from reaching its destination.
Having said all that, I do answer questions from visitors and newsletter subscribers in my newsletter, so if you're not a subscriber, you could miss the answer. You can subscribe to Almost a Newsletter, my award-winning ezine about web design and life, on my BoogieJack.com site.
Can you take a look at my site and [make suggestions; or fix my code; or make a graphic; or write a script] so it will do or be like [this, that, or the other thing]?
Sorry, but as much as I'd like to, unless you're willing to pay my hourly rate, I just can't do those things. I'd never get anything else done if I did, I just get too many requests like that. If you're willing to pay me for my work, feel free to contact me about what you want. Be sure to let me know you're willing to pay for my time so I know you're not just looking for free service. If I have time to work on your problem, I'll give you an estimate. Be aware that I often don't have time to take on additional work.
What software do you use for your graphics?
I use a variety of graphics software, but use Corel Photopaint the most.
Where did you get the cool wood background on this site?
I made it. While I can't go into specifics about how I made it without making the answer into a huge tutorial, I can give you a hint. I used a digital camera to photograph an old wooden structure I found on a country drive to use as a starting point, then used Corel Photopaint to apply effects and make it seamless.
While that background is not for public use, I do offer many great wood backgrounds images at the members site. I'm sure you can find one you'll like just as well. Because those images at the members site are not in any public archives, and only members are allowed to use them, you won't find many others using the same images on their web sites. It's cool to be unique! You can learn more about the members site here.
You seem like such a normal guy (that's a compliment), yet you're a published author. How did you get your book deal?
And before now you thought authors were abnormal people? OK, seriously, the short answer is that one of my newsletter subscribers knew the publisher and suggested he have me write a book on web design for them. The publisher called me and the rest is history. The long answer has to do with my belief system, positive energy, high expectations, and emotional investment in an idea -- but you probably weren't looking for the philosophical answer so I'll end this here.
Do you really earn your living from the net? Don't you have a side job to supplement your income?
I really do earn my living online, and have since 1999. I do not have a side job and have not worked for anyone else since then. Is that so hard to believe?
I suppose you could say my book royalties are supplemental income, but really, the book is about the internet and came about because of the internet, so I call it internet income. Besides, I make a lot more money directly online than I do from book royalties. Unless you're a best-selling author with hundreds of thousands of book sales each year, the royalties aren't enough to make you rich.
Do you have a tutorial adding a hit counter to a page?
Hit counters are small software programs. They can be and usually are different from host to host, so any tutorial would only be good for a specific host. You need to contact your hosting company to see if they offer a hit counter. Alternately, you could look for a hit counter from a 3rd party source via a search engine.
Please feel free to browse all my tutorials. You can find what you want, if I have it, faster for yourself than you can be emailing me and waiting for a reply. There are many additional tutorials in the members site.
Why don't you have all your content online for free, instead of having much of it in a members site?
There are several reasons:
1. It's always a pain in the oops enforcing copyrights when I find my content has been stolen. The less content there is in the public area, the fewer violations I have to deal with.
2. Most of my members like having content, like my custom graphics, for example, not available elsewhere. It helps keep the usage to a smaller group of individuals, which ensures their web site won't look like a million others that use free images from known archives.
3. I have a right to earn a living, and in fact, if I didn't earn my living at this none of the resources I offer would be here. So, while you may lament that not all my content is free, it's those willing to pay a small membership fee that help to subsidize what is free.
4. Offering members-only content helps hold costs down on all my other products because it holds down my bandwidth expenses and provides additional revenue that I don't have to make up for by raising other product prices. Life isn't a free lunch, someone has to pay for the freebies that are available no matter who offers them. That's just reality.
Do you know where I can get [insert software title here] for free?
If the software developer doesn't offer it for free, then I can't help you get it for free. I support copyrights and the rights of others to earn a living through sales of their products.
I do feature software at a discount from a variety of vendors in my members newsletter. These are discounts direct from the developer, on current version software, that the software companies provide to my members in exchange for the publicity I can offer them. You can learn more about becoming a member here. If you own software that you'd like to receive some great publicity for, and are willing to offer a temporary, one-time discount to my Inner Circle members, contact me for details.
Can I include your tutorials on my site if I link to you?
Sorry, that's not allowed. I've spent hundreds of hours developing my own unique content. My living depends on keeping it unique, however, I do sometimes permit newsletter publishers to reprint content in their newsletter under specific conditions. If you're interested in that contact me for details.
Unsubscribe me.
From what? I write more than one newsletter. Unsubscribing is automated, all you have to do is follow the link at the top or bottom of each publication I write. With around 100,000 total subscribers, you'll be doing us BOTH a favor by following the instructions.
If you try unsubscribing on your own and have trouble, of course I'll help you then - but you subscribed on your own and I expect you to be responsible enough to at least try unsubscribing on your own before asking me to do it for you. Thanks in advance for that.
Did you go to school to learn web design?
No I didn't, though I'd recommend it for most people interested in a career at it. I taught myself by reading and doing. That was stage one. In stage two I learned by writing tutorials and experimenting. Stage three was writing my book. You really do learn by teaching. An I'm now in stage four, learning by osmosis. Be the code. Be the code. Ommm.

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