Mike Furtado

Back to networking

Mike — Tue, 08 May 2012 17:01:32 +0000

I am currently attending school at New Horizons in Orlando pursuing CompTIA Network+ certification and Cisco Certified Network Associate. I’m having a ball!

Kings Manor Bed & Breakfast

Mike — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 18:32:55 +0000

After a recent stay at a local Bed & Breakfast, I approached the proprietor about the lack of online reservations on their website. I built a new site using WordPress and EasyReservations plugin (customized), as well as custom installations of the following plugins:

Contact Form 7
Google Maps embed
Lightbox Plus
Widget Logic
WP Wunderground Weather Widget

I intend to approach other B&B’s to offer similar WordPress sites.

Natural Beauty – September 2011

Mike — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 12:54:57 +0000

New site for 2012!

Mike — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 17:42:45 +0000

Once again, I found a little time and inclination to update my own website! I changed to a WordPress site last year and lost most of my content. I installed a new theme on 9/8/11 and have been modifying it and adding content to it since. I have always thought that my site should be a reflection of my web skills, but have never really acheived that goal. I hope to come closer with this iteration of my site.

Domain and hosting management

Mike — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 16:10:22 +0000

Your website and domain name(s) will either be hosted on your own servers or you will have a hosting services provider such as GoDaddy.com or Register.com, etc. If you are not hosted on your own servers and you do not have a technical staff, I can provide complete hosting provider management services. I can establish and maintain your account and services and operate the online tools provided on your behalf. If there is a problem with your service, I can be your technical interface to your website and to your providers technical support services.

Whether you have existing domain names or are aquiring new, I can manage the entire process using the online tools provided by your selected domain registrar. When establishing a new domain name as well as new hosting services, it is often best to purchase both from the same provider. No matter the technical details, I can manage all aspects of domain and hosting acquisition and/or transfers.

There are some search engine optimization considerations when selecting an appropriate hosting service provider and the services to purchase. Typical low-cost web hosting uses a shared

Coldfusion programming

Mike — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 13:47:02 +0000

The name ColdFusion refers to a commercial rapid application development platform and the programming language used with that platform. In 1995 it was designed to connect simple HTML pages to a database. By 1996 it had become a full platform complete with a robust scripting language. As of 2011, ColdFusion (owned by Adobe Systems since 2005) includes advanced features for enterprise integration and rich internet application development.

I first encountered CF in 1996 when it was a brand-new product and was referred to as “middle-ware”, or software in the middle of a web server and a database. I began writing custom CF applications for client websites in 1997 for

WordPress technical services

Mike — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 02:50:32 +0000

WordPress started in 2003 with a single bit of code to enhance the typography of everyday writing and with fewer users than you can count on your fingers and toes. Since then it has grown to be the largest self-hosted blogging tool in the world, used on millions of sites and seen by tens of millions of people every day.

I have become rather proficient with WordPress. This site is a great example!

Hand-coding is not a thing of the past

Mike — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 01:15:46 +0000

Frontpage, Dreamweaver, GoLive, even Microsoft Word, have become the defacto standard tools of the trade for web designers today. These applications all claim “WYSIWYG” what you see is what you get. The fact is they are all “WYSICTWYG” what you see is close to what you get. When the pages created with these tools don’t perform exactly as intended the blame is placed squarely on the application. After all, it was the application that generated the code behind the page. And since that code is two miles long, don’t think for a minute that little quirk in the page display can be easily fixed. If that’s the application does it, then that’s the way the application does it.

My web page code is generated by keyboard, in Notepad. Notepad is the simple text editor that comes installed with all versions of Microsoft Windows. It doesn’t do anything on its own but accept keyboard input. That leaves me in complete control of what my page does. And I have no scapegoat when my page doesn’t display as intended. The only limitations are those imposed by the web technology being coded. HTML 3.2, HTML 4.01, XHTML 1.0, CSS 1.0, CSS 2.0, XML, XSLT whatever the standard allows can be hand-coded in Notepad. And should be.

Service summary

Mike — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 01:12:25 +0000

I am primarily a website programmer/developer. I work with HTML, CSS and various other technologies to present content on a web page. In a best-case scenario, I will work with a writer/information architect and a graphic designer to create the content I will display. While I can provide the full range of services, including copy and graphic design, these tasks are not the best use of my skills.

One of the first services I typically perform are hosting-related. I will open an account on your behalf with a hosting service and set up your domain name(s) and website hosting plan.

NOT stuck in the 70′s

Mike — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 19:35:57 +0000

My old car

This Scamp rolled off the line in Newark, Delaware during the 1974 model year to fill a customer order and was highly optioned. With a 318 V-8, Air Conditioning, Ralley wheels, Lucerne Blue paint and all the chrome options, this Scamp had just about every goodie you could get, including the three-speaker AM/FM radio, electric rear window defroster, and a map light! I bought the car in July of 2000 from a father and son in Eastern Massachusetts.

Some pictures of my car