Nickbits.co.uk

So what is referencing and why should I use it?

Well simply put, referencing is referring to another piece of work. This could be your own or someone else’s. There are many reasons to use it, perhaps the two most important are that you acknowledge you have extended the work of others and secondly you also add credibility to your own work.

Now many of you will ask then, what is the difference, or is there a difference, between referencing, bibliography, further reading, etc. often found at the end of reports and books? Further reading generally lists items you have used but not directly referenced in your document. You bibliography / references section would list items you have used but and directly referenced in your document. This will become clearer when we look at some examples in parts 2 and 3.

So I have been a little lax this year on updates to the site. That is now changing. I am aiming to get the useful blogs going again every other week. This week I am introducing the "Visoria County Histories" website over at - www.british-history.ac.uk. A fantastic resource for any British historian.

Most websites use captchas somewhere. A captcha, for those who do not know, is a system used to confirm the form is being submitted by a human and not an automated computer program. There are various types of captch such as math and graphical. For the math you have to solve a simple math such as "3 + 7".  For the text you are asked to type in the text you see on the screen.  The text is usually distorted to make it difficult for computer programs to decipher them.

Not sure why I have not noted before, the open source Drupal Content Management System (CMS). This is a full CMS that allows you to add and customise all elements. Themes can easily be created as well as add-ins, known as modules. It can be difficult to get used to, however it is getting better with each new version and there is help and tutorials available on the Drupal.org website. There is a mature API in place and is well documented. This is, as far as I am concerned, the best CMS out there.

Most of us would welcome generating a little extra cash from our websites, especially if it involved little work. That is where the online advertising comes in. Most of us have heard of Google Adsense, which generates money on a pay-per-click system. One that I am trying out is BuySellAds.com, which has various options.