This post is a day late and a dollar short being that the internet spreads gossip faster than a fat lady with a cell phone, but I thought it was a good topic of discussion anyway.  If you haven’t gotten it you can find it here.  The download became available yesterday and I have been tooling around in it for the last couple of hours. 

It seems pretty nice with a couple of new added features.  However it hates my site which means more work for me.  Creadiv.com crashes it consistently so if you have installed it make sure you are using the emulate IE7 to view creadiv. 

The coolest new feature that I have found is called Activities.  Microsoft has inserted a cool new tool the gives you a bevy of activities that you can perform by simply highlighting text on a page.  For example if you wanted to translate this entire post into German simply highlight it and select the translate with windows live activity and there you go.  A completely translated copy of my text.

But it doesn’t quite deliver on its promise of being standards compliant.  The acid2 test is a standards test that will display a smiley face correctly if your browser is 100% standards compliant, and it doesn’t quite work.  There is a definite improvement from IE7 which is Microsoft’s best and most standards compliant browser to date, so that is something.

If you have downloaded the beta and have had the opportunity to use it, let me know what you think.  I am looking too hear what people have to say about it.  I am a IE guy which is probably a saying that makes many of your buttholes pucker do to the new immense popularity of firefox and the intense hatrid of IE that has been forming.  So give it to me. I look forward to seeing what you can tell me about it.

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A scripted contact us form can be worth it’s weight in gold if implemented correctly.  I would like to present to your 3 reasons why you should switch from that standard html mailto: function and get over to the current best method of contact a php or asp form.

1.  Everybody can contact you.

That’s right, everyone.  Not just those people who have Microsoft Outlook, or Thunderbird installed on their computers.  The html mailto: function is as about as useful as a eye full of sand to users that don’t use such email applications.  With a php or asp built contact us page you can easily let your server do the work, and every user that comes to your site has an easy and safe way of contacting you.

2.  Information Gathering.

With php and asp being such wonderfully powerful tools that allow you to easily store information in a database, the contact us form becomes more that just a way for you to have potential customers and clients contact you.  The form becomes the easiest way to build yourself a mailing list.  Every time somebody decides to send you an email from your page you now have the opportunity to store their name, email, web-site, and possibly a want of theirs.  This will allow you to easily track their interestests, questions, and provide you with enough information to create an informational and targeted listing of possible clients.

3.  They are  Good Looking.

Professionalism.  You will attract more flys with honey and making a styled form can be pretty simple with css and you will present to your viewer that you care about what they have to say.  With the use of a scripted contact us form you can present a simple solution in a professional way.  Plus they can allow you to send a confirmation to your client which always looks good.

Those are my top 3 reasons to created a scripted contact us form.  Let me know what you think.  And if you like it please give it a digg.