Web Browsers - a review, and keeping 3 shops straight on the same computer

When I opened my second shop, GreathouseHardware, I found it quite impossible to keep track of which account I was logged into when I was posting in the forums, sending convos, and the like. I learned from another Etsy seller that the best way to keep track of 2 stores was to use 2 web browsers.

Now, I don't know about you, but I didn't even realize that I had a choice about web browsers. I just clicked on the little "e" (internet explorer) that came with my computer and there was the web. Now I learn that there are different programs that allow you to view websites, and that those programs can actually make the page look different? Whoa.

After a bit of research, I learned that Etsy is apparently best viewed (and developed for use in) a web browser called Firefox. So, I went to the website and downloaded the free program. Can I just say that I love it?!!! For one thing, it bugs me on Etsy that the links aren't "live" meaning when someone puts their website or blog in their profile, I can't just click on it and go there. I have to copy and paste it into my address bar (that little box at the top of the screen where the web address is located). Firefox automatically turns it into a link for you. They call it linkification. Firefox is smart like that (they have hundreds of other add-ons, too - still free). The other thing that I really love is that Firefox automatically spell checks everything that you type - anywhere. So, when I'm typing in the forums, or a message to someone, or even filling out a form, I get a red squiggly line under the word if Firefox thinks it is misspelled. Just think of all the typos I've avoided....

So, I have Firefox as my default browser now, which means it is automatically used when I go to the internet. When I turn on my computer, I open Firefox with tabs for my shop on Etsy and all the related accounts (Flickr, Gmail, Hotmail, blog). Then I open the other web browser, Internet Explorer, for my mom's shop and all the related accounts. This is wonderful because all I have to remember is Firefox=Those Greathouse Women, IE=Greathouse Hardware. Then I never have to log in and out or remember who I am when I'm emailing someone.

Whew! Just when I had all that figured out, I decided to open my newest shop, High Pie Supply. Now, I figure I need a third web browser. I do a quick search on Google for web browsers, and I can't believe how many there are! I finally decide on one called Safari, which I guess is developed for Mac computers (which I love but due to certain circumstances right now I have to use a Dell). You wouldn't believe how much different it makes the web look. I'm still getting used to it and I can't decide if I like it or not. I just really had no idea that web pages could look so different simply depending on which browser you were using!

Here are a couple of screen shots of the same page on Etsy:

As viewed on Firefox:



As viewed on Internet Explorer:


As viewed on Safari:


If you can't tell much of a difference, try clicking on the photos and comparing. You definitely see more of the web page itself by using Safari, but I don't care for the style of the drop down menus and the fonts.

I suppose it has a lot to do with what you are used to, but I found switching to Firefox very user friendly, and I absolutely love it (after spending umpteen years using IE and Netscape). I especially love linkification and spell check!

{ / > HTML What????

If this is your first visit, then you may not notice.... However, if you've been here before, I sure hope you notice the HOURS of work I put in today figuring out how to make my blog 3 columns! Yippee! I've always wanted a blog with 3 columns. That, and a nanny.

So, what do you think? Was it worth my time? I definitely exercised my brain today. My mom says that will make me younger. Do I want to be younger? Maybe.

I found some great help and even a tutorial (or two) on bloggerbuster. Click here for the post on how to make your blog 3 columns. It was fairly simple...

Stay tuned - maybe someday I'll get even fancier. I didn't even know what a favicon was until today. You don't know, either? Here.

Sweet Endicia

Who knew that my life could be so easy? Well, at least part of it... Endicia is the best thing that has happened to me since... well, since Real Simple contacted me and said they wanted samples. Who knew that shipping could be so easy?

At first I wondered why anyone would pay $9.95/ month for shipping services, when Paypal does it for free. One night, as I was complaining about shipping woes on the Etsy forums, I learned that if I had a shipping service (Endicia, Stamps.com, and others), that I would be able to print first class international postage from my computer (which paypal does not offer, and click-n-ship via the USPS website does not offer). I was elated! I would never have to go to the post office again!

A note on post offices: in the small town where my mom lives, there is a sweet little post office with a nice clerk that knows my mom by name and is always very polite. It is not an unpleasant experience to visit the post office for her. Me, on the other hand... it is a nightmare. There are never less than 20 people in line, the employees are rude, short (and I don't mean physically), and worst of all they are inconsistent. I literally HATE going to my post office.

On this particular night, I had had a horrible experience (yet again) with the post office, and I started thinking that $9.95 a month really wasn't so bad even if it only saved me one trip to the PO a month. Then I talked to my mom, she talked some sense into me (at the time I only shipped about once a week international first class). Well, I hit a few days of Aussies and New Zealanders shopping me up, and I was like - this is it! I'm signing up. I can't take it anymore!

So, first I did a little Pay-It-Forward, and posted in the forums that I wanted to sign up and the first person to convo me with their acct number would get a referral. I read on Endicia's website that if you referred someone, then you got a free month. So I thought I'd let a fellow Etsian reap the benefits.

So, I signed up. It was SO easy, like one step or something. It took about 30 seconds. I used my Paypal credit card to buy some postage (so it comes right out of my Paypal account), and instantly I was ready to print. There is some software to download (which was very fast, too), and you can add your company name and logo or whatever. The best part is, you can pick whatever size/shape label you want and you can customize what it says, what font you want to use, how big and everything! And the best part? I get a free month trial (well, not just me, everyone does).

I went to print my first label, and about fell out of my chair when I realized how easy and fast it was. I just have to highlight my address from my Etsy receipt, copy it, then when I click in the address box in Endicia, it automatically pastes it there (it's smart like that). It automatically checks the address against the USPS database for errors, corrects it, adds the 4 digit zip after the regular zip, adds it to your address book, and puts it on your label in the format you specified. Then you just double click on the postage area, and use drop down menus to say how much it weighs, and the postage is automatically calculated right then. One day if I get a digital scale with a USB port, I won't even have to do this step - it will automatically weigh it for me, enter the info in, and calculate it.


*sigh* it just doesn't get any easier than this - where you counting the number of clicks? Just a handful. Just a handful of clicks and my label is printed. And it has my logo on it. And it looks great. And I can do this for any type of shipping - international or otherwise. It will even print the customs form for me. Awesome. yes. Finally, a wonderful business tool!

If you want to join, just shoot me an email and I'll send you my account number for a referral *wink*

Great find!

Well, as you may have read in an earlier post, an Etsy Treasury featured my mom's jewelry, and the treasury was picked by fellow Etsian Sherry Truitt. What a delight to have stumbled upon her shop! I loved her things so much, (plus she has a fabulous blog), that I decided to do a little interview with her. I found out from her blog that she lives in a Craftsman Bungalow, which is a passion of mine, so I also wanted to learn more about that.

Sherry makes wearable art out of everyday tools and pieces of hardware. What first caught my eye was this necklace that makes use of a working carpenter's spirit level. What a clever idea! I asked Sherry what inspired her to begin doing this line of work, and she said:

"Ever since I was a little girl working objects have held a fascination for me. I rarely played with dolls. But give me an erector set, or some Lincoln logs and I could build you a working city. I used to drive my mom nuts, because I'd mix all the sets together. Then, I started collecting levels, compasses and old typewriter keys."

I guess her collection and obsession have paid off! Her shop boasts over 100 items sold, and has been featured on the front page of Etsy.

Having so many choices, I wondered if there were any pieces of jewelry that Sherry wore every day. She responded:

"I wear a blue level bracelet everyday. It's one I made about 5 years ago. I just love to watch the bubble move along. Twice I've been out in a restaurant with my husband, and I was asked to sell it right off my wrist. Now I carry an extra with me, but so far no one has asked."

I always like to learn something about an artist that is not directly related to what they make. I really believe that so many things in our lives make us who we are, and I was fascinated to learn that Sherry and I share a passion for Craftsman Bungalows. I am at a point in my life that it is not possible for me to have one, but Sherry is lucky enough to be living in one! Here she tells us a little about it:

"We've owned our Craftsman bungalow since 1992, and have lovingly restored it. It actually wasn't in bad shape because we are only the 3rd owners. Not a lot of modernization had been done. We did have to put new oak floors in a few rooms, and we installed a tin ceiling in the breakfast room. Old bungalows have little closet space, but beautiful wood work. Luckily, my husband is handy, and has crafted a number of built in cabinets. The grounds were neglected when we moved in because the last owner was quite elderly. So, we've been working on the gardens. No hybrids, please! We've tried to add original strains of flowers like, columbine, iris and old fashioned roses. The wisteria in the front yard is over 80 years old. The daughter of the former owner sent us black and white photos of how the house and grounds used to look."

Truly amazing - what a fun project that would be. Well, it wouldn't be fun for me with 3 kids running around at my feet, but maybe someday! I am actually in the middle of re-doing some landscaping at our house, and I like the idea of having original strains of flowers. Sometimes it's good to get back to basics! I wonder if Sherry reads my favorite magazine, American Bungalow?

Thank you very much to Sherry for sharing with us! Please check out her website and her blog! You can also find more pictures of her work here and here. I'll leave you with these few more things (I just can't resist sharing - they are so very clever):

How did I ever survive without Weebly?

Well, hold your horses, but I found a VERY useful site tonight called Weebly. I'll be spending most of tonight I think trying to get an actual website up and running using their FREE software. Did I mention that it was free? So far, very easy, although I'm still trying to figure out the whole linking with a feed reader and all that. I'm so technologically challenged. Any advice can be left in comments (hint, hint).

I'm not pregnant

A week or two ago, I came across these adorable mother/child t-shirts on Etsy. My sister-in-law has twins, and is still breastfeeding them (they'll be 1 in May), God bless her! I sent the seller a message and requested twin shirts for the boys and a shirt for her.

Funny, right? Well, not as funny as finding out a week later that I should have been sending her this shirt instead... That's right, folks, she is pregnant with #3! We are happy for her, but I gotta tell ya, I was like WHAT? How is that even possible? She is breastfeeding twins for goodness' sake! Doesn't God have some sort of natural birth control built into those milking machines? Holy cow, she and my brother-in-law are going to be SO busy. I know. I have 3 kids to prove it. At least she'll have two going through the same stages at once (hopefully) LOL. I am not envious, however. :) ---- I'll tell you what I am envious of - her super support system. I practically have NONE, okay I really have none, and she has like a whole town. I guess that's what I get for marrying a guy who gets told by the government where he has to live. Apparently, there is a government conspiracy to keep me from my family while in my child-bearing years...

I think this must be the week to announce pregnancies. Are you pregnant? Congratulations if you are, assuming you are thrilled about it, of course. Two other friends of mine just announced as well (and I don't have that many friends, so this is like a REALLY high percentage). I guess it's baby making season... I think I'll pass, on the 9 month afterglow, that is.

E, if you are reading this, don't go out and buy that maternity shirt because I'm going to buy it for you. What size do you want?

How many times could I have used these? Let me count the ways....

I have just stumbled on the greatest invention, ever. Well, maybe not EVER, but pretty cool nonetheless. Pants in a pinch. Proceeds from my next sale will definitely go toward the purchase of these, and a pair for every friend I have that has kids. Do they come in adult sizes? Hm.

Lovin' Democracy

I voted in the presidential primary today. There is something truly empowering about the right to vote. Even though I know a lot of people don't vote because they think - "my vote won't count.." There is something about standing in that little booth and filling in the oval that makes you think - "this is my vote, and it will be counted - my vote, mine"

Yes, I am privileged to live in a democracy, and I exercise my right to choose. Ahem.