Audio-Technica ATH-M30x Professional Studio Monitor Headphones

The Audio-Technica ATH-M30x Professional Studio Monitor Headphones combine modern engineering and high-quality materials to deliver a comfortable listening experience, with enhanced audio clarity and sound isolation.

Tuned for highly detailed audio, with strong mid-range definition, these versatile monitoring headphones are ideal in a variety of situations. Designed primarily for studio tracking and mixing, they offer added features for increased portability, making them a great choice for field recording (from Amazon product description).

These headphones are great for editing the sound recorded with lapel mics like Movo LV10 Battery-Powered Lavalier Clip-on Omnidirectional Condenser TRRS Microphone. Movo LV10 Lavalier Microphone is a clip-on, omni-directional microphone for use with smartphones, DSLR cameras, camcorders, audio recorders and more. Combining great performance with great value, the LV10 delivers clear and accurate voice reproduction suitable for professional use (from Amazon description).

To make your mics work with a standard XLR inputs on a professional camera, you’ll need the transforming adapter like Rode VXLR Plus XLR to 3.5mm Female TRS Transforming Adapter.

The VXLR+ is a 3.5mm female TRS socket to male XLR adaptor, which will convert 12-48V Phantom Power down to 3-5V ‘Plug in Power’, allowing RØDE on-camera microphones such as the VideoMicro and VideoMic GO, as well as self-worn microphones like the HS2 Headset Mic to receive power from the XLR input. The 3.5mm socket also features the same threaded connector as used on the output cable of the HS2 Headset Microphone, and the RØDELink Filmmaker Kit Receiver, ensuring the connection to your XLR input is secure and won’t disconnect during your recording (from Amazon product description).

Note: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

HOWTO: Official way to ask jQuery to wait for all images to load before executing something

Official way to ask jQuery wait for all images to load before executing something – Stack Overflow

With jQuery, you use $(document).ready() to execute something when the DOM is loaded and $(window).load() to execute something when all other things are loaded as well, such as the images. Click through for more details.

HOWTO: Managing JavaScript on Responsive Websites

From the blog:

Managing JavaScript on Responsive Websites | Viget

Since the project I was working on required browser support down to IE8 and I wanted my media queries and JavaScript to function (think older netbooks), I decided to create my own solution.

jRespond is a script that holds a list of user-defined functions that are fired based on the browser’s width compared to a list of customizable breakpoints. Entry and exit functions can be defined so transitions between breakpoints can be managed by removing and unbinding some page elements while creating and binding others. jRespond was built to be independent and browser agnostic. It does NOT sniff for media queries in the stylesheets.

HOWTO: Using Visual Social Platforms For The Non-Visual Business

From the blog:

Using Visual Social Platforms For The Non-Visual Business | Content Marketing & Digital PR Blog

With the recent boom in visual social platforms like Instagram and Pinterest, you may be wondering how you can find success through the use of a visual medium, even if you don’t have a very visual business.

Well here’s some good news for you: Your business doesn’t have to be related to photography, beauty, or fashion to hit it big on visual platforms. You just have to be more thoughtful and creative when strategizing their use.

On Instagram, users generally take photos with their smart phones (or upload photos to their phones), apply filters, and share with their online community. While on Pinterest, users organize and share their own images, as well as anything they find of relevance on the Web. The great thing about Instagram and Pinterest is that you can share your images across nearly all of your social platforms.

Here are a few ways your non-visual business can maximize your results on a visual social platform.

HOWTO: Special Characters in HTML

Special Characters in HTML

HTML Entities and/or ISO Latin-1 codes can be placed in source code like any other alphanumeric characters to produce special characters and symbols that cannot be generated in HTML with normal keyboard commands.

For example, to render Düsseldorf the HTML source should read

Düsseldorf or Düsseldorf

While many similar lists are available on the Web (run your favorite search engine using “ISO Latin” or “HTML Entities”), none I’ve seen account for the standard character sets of different operating systems (e.g. Windows vs. DOS vs. Macintosh, etc.); this list should produce the same results on all platforms.

A Detailed Explanation of the Anatomy and Components of a DotNetNuke Website URL

From the blog:

A Detailed Explanation of the Anatomy and Components of a DotNetNuke Website URL

People don’t like to think about or talk about URLs. Unless someone know how their website works in detail, there is a chance for URL confusion. Even technically-minded people gloss over when talking about the details around what is happening with the fundamental pieces of a URL.

Because this seems so common, I thought I would devote some time to discussing each piece of the URL and what the significance is. The example used is a DotNetNuke (DNN) URL. I will start with the very basic and expand from there.

2012 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 7,800 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 13 years to get that many views.

Click here to see the complete report.

HOWTO: Tips for a Clean and Minimal Online Store Design

From the blog:

Tips for a Clean and Minimal Online Store Design | Codrops

What better way to showcase your products than by giving them the stage?

This is the concept behind a growing trend in e-commerce web design – going minimal.

In the past many online stores took the opposite approach to design. Sites were often cluttered with information, fonts and colors were overwhelming, and sites were quite simply “over-designed”.

Now, many sites are ditching models, crazy colors and fonts, and fancy photography for the simplistic style of just showcasing their products. It’s a trend that is taking over much of the web (not just e-commerce) with the emergence of responsive design models. More designers are embracing the trend that simpler can be better, while focusing on readability and usability.

The result is a better experience for online shoppers, with cleaner interfaces, text that is easier to read and interfaces that are simpler, faster and more user-friendly. This trend is about more than just design, it creates a better overall experience.

Think about the success of Apple and its online store. Simple and direct can equal sales. Here, we take a look at the trend, companies that are doing it well and tips for making it work for you.

HOWTO: 75 Tips to Manage Your Social Media Efforts

From the blog:

75 Tips to Manage Your Social Media Efforts in 2012

With all of Google’s post-Penguin focus on natural link building and the increasingly high weight given to social performance by the company’s algorithms, it’s clear that social media marketing should be a priority for every business operating online these days.

However, when it comes to social networking, there’s a right way and a wrong way to go about promoting your business. Take a look at the following tips to see what’s working in 2012, and which outdated social media marketing tactics should be avoided at all costs!

HOWTO: Engage Your Blog Readers by Following the “5:3:2 Rule”

From the blog:

Engage Your Readers by Following the “5:3:2 Rule” | Gist

Business blogging and social media publishing can be a great way to engage your readers and share insight into both your personality and business. However, they are – by no means – straightforward processes.

Chances are if you’ve been online for any amount of time, you’ve read both good web content and bad content. Good content can be extremely useful in generating customer leads and forming positive brand associations amongst future prospects. Bad content, on the other hand, can be very, very bad!

So what makes bad web content, bad? In fact, there are a number of cardinal sins that can sink a well-intentioned business blog or social networking profile. Posting too much promotional content is one, as nobody wants to read sales message after sales message! At the same time, posting too much dry, technical content will turn off readers who come to this interactive space looking to get a feel for you and your brand.

To prevent these unintentional missteps from occurring, I’ve developed the “5:3:2 Rule,” which I’ve found to represent an optimal balance of different content types on any web property. Here’s how to use this strategy to increase responsiveness to your digital content: