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How to master a screenshot tool on macOS - Knowledge sharing blog

Note: Please read the article carefully before proceeding! If in the process of using you encounter any errors, such as broken download links, slow loading blog, or not being able to access a certain page on the blog … then please inform me through the Contact page. Thanks!

Taking a screenshot of a computer is one of the things that I always have to do when writing a tutorial to blog, these photos will help readers easier to follow and perform. As well as easily understand what you are trying to convey.

In addition, these screenshots also tell you that the tips that I have shared with you have all been successfully implemented on my computer. From there you will be assured that follow more.

I have written tips on many operating systems already: Windows, Android, iOS, macOS, Ubuntu, … and on each of these operating systems, there are different screen capture tools for computers. On the Windows operating system, the Admin and the CTV friends have shared a lot of tools and software that support this.

Read more:

So in this article, you temporarily put aside Windows 10 and Linux operating systems, because in this tutorial, I will share with you basic and advanced tips. to be able to master the tool take screenshots on macOS Please !

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I. How to use screen capture tool on macOS

Like the Windows operating system, on MacOS, Apple is also equipped with a screenshot tool that I find very useful. However, this default tool is full of features compared to other operating systems I've used.

It fulfills almost all of your screen capturing requirements, captures each region, captures each window, captures full screen, and can even record screen videos.

Of course, I will not talk about video recording in this article. Anyway, no more words, I'll go straight to the main point.

#first. Capture the entire computer screen on a Macbook

This is the most basic function that every computer screen capture tool needs, if on Windows we use it Windows (+FN) + Print Screen (Prnt Scrn)

… then for macOS, use the combination Command ⌘ + Shift ⇧ + 3 Please !

Fortunately, I do not stick Print Screen key because the mechanical keyboard I use does not have that button 😛

Screenshots will be automatically saved to your main screen, if you have not or want to change this save location, you can see instructions in section # 7 below.

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#2. Capture an area of your choice on your computer screen

This is probably the type I use most when writing tutorials, to activate this mode, press the key at the same time. Command ⌘ + Shift ⇧ + 4 on the keyboard of the Macbook.

If you have switched to using a mechanical keyboard, the keyboard does not have the Mac's Layout due to the muscular keyboard of the 2016-2019 MacBook, then press Windows + Shift + 4 dentist.

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Your mouse pointer will immediately turn into a seal + with 2 numbers next to it, hold down mouse => and drag the mouse cursor to select the area you want to take the image on the screen.

Now the other two numbers will be the size of the area you have chosen to take, use it to get the image of the desired size.

Photo taken will not save always, to learn how to save, read in the section # 5 to know.

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# 3. Single capture the window you selected on the screen

This feature is quite useful when it allows you to quickly capture the entire window rather than taking a full screen and then cut out or use # 2 to select the shooting area.

Perform: You also use the key combination Command (⌘) + Shift (⇧) + 4 But this time, press Space again.

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At this point, the mouse pointer will turn into a camera image, and the window below the cursor will light up (the default color is blue) as shown below.

Use the mouse cursor and move it to the window you want to capture and then left click (or right) one shot to capture the entire selected window. If you've used SnagIT before, I said you would understand it here.

Very simple is not it, here are 3 ways to take screenshots that we will use most on macOS, just master these 3 ways, I think you do not need to use external software anymore 😀

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# 4. Take photos and put them on the Clipboard

Surely many of you have the same habit here: Take photos with SnippingTool or Windows + Print Screen => and then press the key combination Ctrl + V to paste it into Word, Messenger .. right?

On macOS, we can do the same thing, except it's a little more complicated.

How to do the following: We will also use one of the 3 photography methods above.

However, don't just click Command (⌘) + Shift (⇧) + 4 good Command (⌘) + Shift (⇧) + 3 no more …

… but you press the extra key Control Another is: Control + Command ⌘ + Shift ⇧ + 3 (4 hoặc 5) and then shoot as usual.

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And now that the picture you have taken is already saved in the Clipboard, you can quickly send it to others using the key combination. Command ⌘ + V To Paste (paste) offline!

# 5. Save and edit photos before saving

All screenshots after capture will be saved to your main screen, but before saving there will be a Thumbnail of the photo just appeared in the bottom of the screen.

If you click on this small figure before it disappears, you will open the photo editing tool of this screenshot feature.

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Here you can adjust some simple things like writing text on the image, drawing arrows on the image, drawing pictures, rotating, cutting things, generally enough to use. There are 3 options for you:

  1. Click Revert to cancel the edits just made.
  2. Click Done to save the image if you like it.
  3. Or press trash icon to delete if there is a wrong capture.

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# 6. Take photos with many functions

This is nothing too special, it is a few types of shooting only but you can choose.

It's really easy to use: Use key combinations Command ⌘ + Shift ⇧ + 5 To open this menu => select shooting mode on the right => select the shooting area on the screen and finally press Capture to capture the selected area.

But what I want you to be interested in is the part Options its just 😀

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# 7. Few small settings to use the macOS photography tool better

7.1. Change where photos are stored

By default, all your screenshots will be saved on the main screen, but if you're a neat person rather than a messy desktop, you should change the folder to save this image.

Perform: To change it, open the photo capture tool at # 6 up => then click Options.

At the top of the menu – Save to will be where we choose the default image storage folder.

You can save to existing mac directories like Preview, Documents, … or save to the prepared folder by clicking Other Location….

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7.2. Schedule Mac screen capture time

By default, when you press the button to activate the capture feature, the image will be taken at that time.

However in some cases, we need a few seconds to prepare the capture content => this is the time of the feature Timer (timer capture time) take effect. To activate is also very simple:

Perform: You click on Options (see section # 6) => look down to the section Save To will see the line Timer with 2 options of 5 seconds and 10 seconds Delay.

Unfortunately, it does not allow us to set the time at will but I think that is also very OK.

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7.3. Change the image format when saving

By default, all pictures taken will be saved in the format .PNG (Portable Network Graphics), but I'm used to the format JPG than.

If you want to convert the default image format from PNG to JPG just like me, do the following:

Perform: Open Terminal by entering a keyword Terminal Go to Search Spotlight => and press the key Enter.

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Then, copy and paste the below command line into the Terminal window => then Enter is to be.

defaults write com.apple.screencapture type jpg

If you enter it correctly it will not show anything, remember to change JPG into one of the supported formats if you want: bmp, pdf, jpg, jp2, tif, pict, tga, png.

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7.4. Change the default File name when taking photos

The default image file name when taken and saved will be in the form: Screenshot year-month-day at hour.min.sec.PNG.

If you don't like it, you can change the word Screenshot into another name. You can use the following command in Terminal, instead of text chupmh in the command below to the new File name you want.

defaults write com.apple.screencapture name chupmh

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II. Epilogue

So I have just finished sharing for you how Use the screenshot tool on macOS A very detailed and easy to understand okay, after reading this article but you do not master this tool, it is a bit wasteful phí

Hopefully after this article you can easily get a desired screenshot without having to install any 3rd party software anymore. Good luck !

CTV: Nguyen Thanh Tung – Blogchiasekienthuc.com

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My name is Nguyen Manh Cuong. I was born in a poor village in Ba Vi district, HA NOI province - windy and sunny land. Currently

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Hello, 1-meter-long fish!

Tomorrow, I will start seeing THIS!

The giant potato cods of Cod Hole in the northern Great Barrier Reef can reach 8 feet long and a whopping 240 pounds, and you can stand there as they brush right by you!

It's one of the most well-known diving sites in the world and I will be there. So excited.

I'm in Cairns and lucked out as there's a 4-night dive trip to the northern outer reefs, where there is far fewer people and crazy stuff like this, and sea snakes.

Sea snakes!

Being a procrastinator paid off. I waited to book til I was here, and there was a space left on a flash sale with Deep Sea Divers Den, for this trip, which normally I could not afford.

This means I won't get to Cape Tribulation or other things here, but I came here to dive the Great Barrier Reef, so I will DIVE the coolest spot I imagined and feel fine about missing out. I lived in the Amazon; I'm sure I will make up a day-long rainforest trip. Ah, so little time!

We get on a boat at 3 PM and take the night to get out there, and then three days of diving, including night dives.

I did go to the dive shop to ask all my questions and assuage my fears: I now think I won't die from not diving so much. :-)

Here's a map: Cod Hole and Ribbon Reef, way up there!

— in Cairns, Queensland, Australia

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50% OFF on GFR Test Cost – Starting @₹314 Only

Lowest GFR test cost in India!
Lowest GFR test cost in India!

GFR is a blood-based test done to calculate the functioning of the kidneys in a patient’s body. Kidneys basically filter blood to produce wastes of the body including urine and extra fluid. GFR test is often known as the Estimated Glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) Test.

Book this really important test at your local top quality labs through us at up to 50% discount. The lowest GFR kidney test cost in India is ₹314 only.

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Book your GFR test online to avail the exclusive offers and cashback!

Here are the simple steps to book your appointment at a discounted price.

  • Click on the link given in the below table according to your preferred city.
  • Choose the most suitable lab for your GFR test for the kidney.
  • Select your preferred date and time for your appointment.
  • Enter the patient details and click submit.
  • Congratulations! You have booked an appointment at a discounted price.

Book online yourself at any time of the day or night by clicking on the appropriate link in the table below.

GFR / EGFR Test Cost in India & Lab Details

We offer the GFR Test in over 20 Indian cities. Click on the link of your city below to choose a lab and make an online booking for home collection at a suitable time.

Find GFR Test Cost, Labs & Book AppointmentPrice Starting From
GFR Test Cost in Delhi ₹314
GFR Test Cost in Noida₹314
GFR Test Cost in Gurgaon₹314
GFR Test Cost in Bangalore₹360
GFR Test Cost in Chennai₹630
GFR Test Cost in Other Indian Cities₹314

Frequently Asked Questions About GFR Test

What is GFR?

GFR is a blood-based test done to calculate the functioning of the kidneys in a patient’s body. Kidneys basically filter blood to produce wastes of the body including urine and extra fluid.

GFR stands for the Glomerular filtration rate. Glomeruli are the tiny filtration unit in the kidneys that help to remove waste products from the blood. This process prevents the loss of useful components from the blood such as proteins and blood cells. The ratio is somewhat like a healthy pair of kidneys filter about 189 liters of blood and produce approximately 1.9 liters of urine out of it. The GFR value shows the amount of blood that is filtered by the glomeruli per minute. The values are derived on the basis of a particular formula and the present levels of creatinine in the patient’s body (Creatinine is a component of waste products that is eliminated through urination).

If a patient’s kidneys decline to function well, the filtration rate decreases. The waste starts to accumulate in the body and eventually it damages the kidneys.

The glomerular filtration rate (GFR) is basically used to screen for and detect early kidney damage, to help diagnose chronic kidney disease (CKD), and to monitor kidney status. It is a calculation based on the results of a blood creatinine test along with age, sex, and race of the individual.

GFR test is often known as the Estimated Glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) Test.

GFR test price & Lab Details
GFR test price & Lab Details

Who is recommended for a GFR test?

Generally, an eGFR test is suggested for patients who have problems with their kidneys or suffering from chronic kidney disease (CKD). They often show the following signs or symptoms:

  • Swollen limbs like legs, ankles, wrist
  • Swelling of the abdominal area, thighs, facial features like eyes
  • Loss of appetite
  • Fatigue or Lethargy (tiredness or laziness)
  • Continuous Nausea
  • Frequent urination or less urination
  • Presence of blood in the urine or foamy urine
  • Burning sensation while urinating
  • Bad taste in the mouth
  • Physical pain where the kidneys are located, i.e mid-back pain
  • Body itching
  • Hypertension (High-blood pressure)

The patients are at higher risk of chronic kidney disease if they have:

  • high blood pressure
  • diabetes
  • heart problems
  • a family history of kidney failure
  • obesity
  • an addiction to smoking, drinking or drugs
  • age above 60 years
  • a history of acute kidney injury

GFR Test Procedure?

GFR is a simple and non-invasive blood test. The sample collection process doesn’t take more than 5-10 minutes.

The technician will insert an injection into your vein anywhere in the inner elbow and draw a sample of blood. The blood will be carefully transferred into a sterilized test tube and forwarded for further analysis in the lab.

If you experience excess bruise, swelling, or bleeding from the puncture site, then consult your doctor immediately.

You may be asked to fast overnight or avoid eating meat. As the test is done to evaluate your creatinine levels and meat can temporarily increase the level of creatinine in the blood.

What is the normal reference value of a GFR test?

GFR test is often known as the Estimated Glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) Test.

A normal eGFR is 60 mL/min (one milliliter per minute) OR 1.73 m2 (body surface area). If an eGFR value remains less than 60 after a repeated test then it may indicate bad health of your kidneys. In a worse condition, your doctor may suggest you for dialysis or a kidney transplant if your eGFR value is below 15.

Basically, doctors have categorized Kidney Diseases into 5 stages. And they are:

 Stages Kidney Damage  ESTIMATED GFR(ML/MIN/
 1st StageNormal or minimal kidney damage   with normal GFR 90+
 2nd StageMild decrease in GFR 60-89
 3rd StageModerate decrease in GFR 30-59
 4th StageSevere decrease in GFR 15-29
 5th StageKidney failure <15

This is a standard reference value chart for your GFR test. However, it may vary slightly depending on the procedure used by your labs. A patient’s eGFR must be interpreted on the basis of its clinical history and present conditions.

GFR Procedure
GFR Procedure

What are the possible interpretations of a GFR test?

The GFR test results are generally available in a day or two. Consult your concerned doctor to explain your results thoroughly.

The eGFR (Estimated Glomerular filtration rate) test is done to check the status of your kidneys or to monitor chronic kidney disease. It is the most accurate way of measuring the amount of filtered blood in your body.

The results are derived from various formulae on the basis of an individual’s age, sex, race, height, and weight. However, different laboratories may apply a different formula to evaluate the levels. This may lead to different results but your doctor will interpret similar findings through every used formula.

Your result is taken as normal if it is over 60 mL/min/1.73m2. If your doctor detects something abnormal in your results then they may also suggest some other tests to be done on your urine to check for signs of kidney damage. These tests are typically ordered to look for the presence of blood or protein in the urine. They may ask you to get yourself tested repeatedly for 3 months consecutively, till they get satisfied with their findings during your first examination.

A value below 60 mL/min/1.73m2 suggests some sort of kidney dysfunction. They monitored changes to your eGFR also show whether the condition is progressing or not.

Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease can be classified depending on the level of their kidney condition or the amount of protein present in the urine. This information helps to state the stage of Kidney disease and administer the treatment for it.

You can also calculate your GFR Levels by eGFR (Estimated Glomerular filtration rate) Calculator for Kidneys.

What are the limitations of the GFR test?

  • The formulas used for the derivation of the results may vary in different labs. However, your doctor may produce similar information for every calculated equation.
  • eGFR calculations can be affected by very high or very low muscle mass, muscle injury, a diet very high in meat, hepatic cirrhosis, certain drugs, etc.
  • This test is not implemented for everyone. As it is not found in children aged less than 18 years and women who are pregnant.
  • Often people suffering from unstable creatinine concentrations, comorbid conditions (additional diseases), diabetes, neuromuscular disorder, malnutrition, or obese are not suitable for these tests.
  • People who are amputees, bodybuilders, vegetarian, or have extreme muscle mass may get influenced results.
  • The evaluating of GFR directly is complicated and it requires experienced professionals to get accuracy in the result. It is generally performed in formal hospitals or multi-functional labs.
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Home for the Holidays Housewarming Party

Tacky holiday sweaters were on display in all of their glory as designers, architects, socialites, friends of the SPCA of Texas and members of the American Institute of Architects of Dallas and TEXCO, The Construction Association jingled and mingled to kick off Home for the Holidays 2017 at the Bark + Build Housewarming Party at NorthPark Center on Nov.19.

These one-of-a-kind dog houses on display and up for auction at the Housewarming party, were designed and built by AIA Dallas and TEXO, The Construction Association members, and will be there until Dec. 3.

Additionally, it was announced that voting is now open for the final award, People’s Choice, in the Bark + Build Luxury Dog House Competition at NorthPark Center. Voting is open at www.spca.org/vote through Dec. 3. The winner will be announced at that time.

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How to Spot Signs of Subsidence

How to Spot Signs of Subsidence

The start of summer  often brings with it spells of hot, dry weather – BBQs were out in force as Britain braced itself for a summer of sun.

With the prolonged  warm, dry weather,  homeowners are also warned to be extra vigilant in keeping an eye out for signs of subsidence. Home insurers also brace themselves for a potential surge in home insurance claims.

The Association of British Insurers reported a significant increase in subsidence claims following a dry spell in 2003. This is because, as the temperature heats up, the ground becomes dry and contributes to increased movement in the earth beneath some properties. Soils with a high clay content can be particularly affected.

Even when the weather takes a distinctly wetter turn, it’s still worth noting how to spot the signs of subsidence.

Subsidence is defined as a downward movement of the earth under the property. Over time, this movement can cause structural damage which can be expensive to put right. Here are some warning signs to look out for:

  • New cracks in your walls that are more than 3mm wide, normally wider at the top (but don’t panic, not all cracks mean subsidence – minor cracks are fairly common).
  • Cracks forming around weak spots in your home (for example, around doors and windows).
  • You might find that doors and windows start to stick. This could be due to the movement of the building.
  • If you have an extension, look out for cracks where the extension meets the main part of your house. Due to the movement of the ground underneath, it could be ‘pulling away’ from the main building.

Some key causes of subsidence:

  • A high concentration of clay in the soil combined with a prolonged period of dry weather can equal an increased risk of subsidence. Clay soils are particularly vulnerable as they shrink and swell in accordance with their water content.
  • Large trees near a property can be problematic as they suck water out of the soil. Their roots can stretch out and down towards the foundations of your property, removing moisture from soil and causing it to shrink.
  • If you have a leaking drain it can cause the ground to soften or wash away beneath your property’s foundations.

If you’re worried you may have a subsidence problem, you should seek expert advice and check your home insurance.  Policies may vary, but your home insurance provider will probably need a chartered surveyor to assess the situation to determine the extent of the problem.

It’s true; subsidence can certainly give you a sinking feeling – with corrective work often being a costly and lengthy process. However, with sufficient cover, it is possible to rectify a subsidence problem without sinking in expenses and being left out of pocket.  Trying to insure a property with an existing subsidence problem could be tricky and you may face high home insurance premiums. Look out for specialist home insurance companies who specialise in insuring this particular problem.

Policy Expert

If your home is your haven, you’ll want it to have the best protection. For more information, you can call our experts on 0330 0600 600 or visit for more ways to reach us.

Published 19 August 2010

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Rita Dove Archive

“Musings on Motherhood are Not Enough”: On the Perils and Joys of Parenting Poetry

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Recently I was looking at calls for poetry and I came across one that listed the editor’s preferences for the type of work that appealed to her. She listed the things which, in her mind, made a poem worthy of calling itself a poem.

Remembering Forward: History Reclaimed through Poetry

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As sure as our perceptions of history are inherited, they are also incomplete. “History throws its shadow over the beginning,” wrote the poet Richard Siken. “History is a little man in a brown suit / trying to define a room he is outside of. / I know history. There


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UPDATED: Keep behavioural driven naming out of unit testing

Something is happening in the Test First world. There appears to be growing use of "Behavioural Driven Design" (BDD). That is, the test names in test classes are becoming sentences describing what the class should do, eg testFailsForDuplicateCustomers(). In my opinion this trend is damaging the effectiveness of Test First Design in the field.

Don't get me wrong - I think the fundamental idea behind BDD is sound. But I am finding that this kind of naming approach for unit tests is seriously detracting from the "code is the documentation" ideal. If you have a class with method "X", you should expect a test method "testX" that defines the method's contract. If the method's contract is more complex, you might expect to see a set of methods like "testX_NullInput" etc. This approach documents the class pretty damned well in my experience.

Now image the same class being tested by something like "testFailsIfCustomerIsNull". What fails? What input? Have I tested method "Y"? But method "Z" shouldn't fail if Customer is null! You end up doing some serious analysis to work out what is going on which fundamentally defeats the object of the tests replacing design documentation. Using BDD test naming here is actively obfuscating how the system works at a class level, not clarifying.

(Note - nothing that I am suggesting excuses obscure method naming. A method should do what it says and say what it does, with the detailed clarification of the contract being defined in the tests. All I am saying is that there should be a simple, obvious mapping between methods and the tests that verify their behaviours)

Where BDD comes into its own is when defining interactions. Integration tests that check the interaction of closely cooperating classes benefit hugely from descriptive naming. Also User acceptance tests reap huge rewards from the approach since the tests are described in business language that allows a Customer to understand what is being tested. Yes, use BDD naming in these cases because it does help.

Just keep it away from Unit Tests!

UPDATE: I wrote this article back in 2007. It's now February 2011, and a lot has happened. Since then those fine chaps Nat Pryce and Steve Freeman have written their excellent Growing Object Oriented Software with Tests book showing how it should be done. Jason Gorman's observations on two distinct TDD styles also filled in some gaps I had missed. Also, the whole "Software Craftsmanship" movement has moved understanding forward a huge amount by daring to ask questions and clarify.

And then there was the clincher, the tool that stuck everything together for me, giving the penny a clear path to drop with a loud Clang! The IntelliJ TestDox plugin. Suddenly the BDD approach to unit tests makes much more sense, to me at least, so I am happy to admit that my views expressed here have now changed. Or at very least, softened a huge amount. I now tend to use behaviours rather than specifics to define class level behaviour.

Which just goes to show what can happen if you keep an open mind and try different approaches.


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Home » Skype for Business » Skype for Business–Survivable Branch Appliance or Cloud PBX?

Skype for Business–Survivable Branch Appliance or Cloud PBX?

Skype for Business Server has been out in the general market for 14 months so far. However, one particular role seems to be dragging it’s heals towards release, and that is the Skype for Business Survivable Branch Appliance. If you are considering an SBA, then the likes of Sonus and Audiocodes have an SBA product. However, if you look under the bonnet, this will be a Windows Server 2012 (in the latest release or Windows Server 2008 R2 in older image versions) with Lync Server 2013 core components installed to act as the SBA.

There appears to be something in the pipeline to bring the SBA to full Skype for Business edition, but there seems to be no urgency to release this to the market. Why?..

Well Microsoft released Cloud PBX late last year, and have made great strides in rolling this out globally across all their Office 365 datacenters and media networks. It is clear, that this is the where their main energy, focus and direction are taking, which is a good thing! But it also begs the question over the viability of not only Skype for Business Server in the future, but the role of the SBA in todays’ ecosystem.

The purpose of the SBA was always to give some level of PSTN calling capability to a site when the connection breaks to the central site where the Skype for Business Front End Pool is located. These were ideal for long distance branch sites with poor inter-site connectivity that was prone to connection issues. Admins could guarantee a level of service to users at that site in order to provide the basic tools for “normal” business operation (Normal = basic toolset).

However, SBAs have the same problem regardless of the vendor you have chosen. If the connection to the front end server pool fails, users will lose the majority of their Skype for Business communication modalities, such as:

  • Presence
  • Instant Messaging
  • Peer-to-Peer Calling (outside of branch)
  • Federation
  • Agent functionality in response group
  • Delegate ringing (if delegate and delegator are in different sites)
  • Team calling (if team members are located in different sites)
  • Conferencing – except dial-in conferencing
  • Call Park
  • Call Forwarding updating
  • E-911 calling

As you can see from this list, the impacts to users when a WAN connection fails is significant, and therefore, ultimately has a major part in the decision making process around whether an SBA is worth the investment at a site or not.

Usually the decision is based on the predominant user role placed at the site for the business. For instance most businesses tier their staff into three main categories:

1. Front line

2. Operations

3. Back Office

Each category have their own critical dependencies in order to maintain business operation. For instance, front line staff are more than likely the revenue drivers within the business cog wheel, comprising of Sales staff, receptionists, and first line support staff. These users primary focus is the public face of the company, and the point of contact for the majority of transactions. Staff categorised as Operations could include, second-third line support teams, logistics, project office etc. Back Office teams are usually the people employed to oversee the internal operations of the business such as HR, Marketing, Estates, Admin etc.

Each of these tiers have different tolerances on system failure. In terms of Voice and UC, the company would be seriously handicapped if their sales team could not make phone calls to customers, and therefore, PSTN survivability is paramount. Whereas, the back office and to some extent the operations tier would be less impacted by a PSTN outage.

Note: The figures used in this post are subjective and not based upon any official research or survey. The figures used are to demonstrate the formula and considerations for weighing up the total cost of a Survivable Branch Appliance vs Cloud PBX in an ideal world.

As SBAs are quite expensive (around £6,000 to £20,000 depending on functionality & licencing) it is more than likely that they will be used for front line branch sites than anywhere else. For sites that depend on inbound routing (e.g. inbound sales, tech support etc.), they have a dependency of response groups being available in order to complete their role. In these sites, more than likely you will be deploying at least a Standard Edition Skype for Business Server along with a PSTN gateway.

In my experience, customers will only entertain SBAs as a viable solution if it is determined that the business would be penalised in a failure scenario. I have spoken with customers in the past who invested in multiple SBAs across sites where really they weren’t of any benefit other than nice to have. In my opinion it is a simple calculation, Cost to Business in Voice Outage / Cost of an SBA if the SBA comes out cheaper, deploy and SBA, if not, talk about other mitigations that are less expensive (deploy Skype for Business mobility for instance).

However, we now have Cloud PBX and all of a sudden we have some functionality we can utilise that could possibly negate the need for an SBA appliance all together. Perhaps (more than likely) this is the reason why Microsoft are dragging their heals with the SBA version..

Could we use Cloud PBX as an Alternative?

Cloud PBX has two main consumption tracks. Cloud PBX with On-Premises PSTN Calling (aka Hybrid Voice) and Cloud PBX with PSTN Calling (aka Cloud Voice). The main difference between each consumption track is the level of integration a business requires between cloud services and on-premises infrastructure, in particular the PSTN.

So which one is the solution to your SBA worries? The answer is both!

Now before I go any further here, there are three pre-requisites to all of this:

  • The branch site must have it’s own independent on site Internet connection
  • DNS must be pointing to the Public side of the central site Edge server pools. This protects the branch site from internal WAN outages, plus in distant remote sites (especially Eastern countries) where private WANs are hard to come by, or significantly slower than local internet, this could be an advantage!
  • The country in which the branch site is located MUST NOT restrict toll bypass

In probably 80% of cases, customers will be using a shared internet connection that peers out to the internet at a central datacenter. So this is an important topic to discuss right at the beginning when suggesting a Cloud PBX alternative. Customers may chose to invest in local Internet breakout specifically for Skype for Business Online as this will be invariably cheaper than WAN upgrades, or the cost of an SBA. Others may be more conservative because this does not fit their governance requirements (more than like .gov establishments). While this post is not going to enter into politics of such discussions, let’s assume the customer is open to the idea of deploying local internet facilities, or the site has one already!

So, what features do you get with Cloud PBX when the WAN link fails?

  • Instant Messaging & Presence
  • Team Call
  • Delegate Ring
  • Call Forwarding, Transfer, Simultaneous Ring
  • Peer to Peer Voice
  • Enterprise Voice
  • Conferencing (full suite)
  • Federation

As you can see the branch site can continue to operate at full modality support in the event of a corporate WAN link failure, compared with limited features if an SBA was deployed instead.

By leveraging hybrid between On-Premises Skype for Business server and Skype for Business Online with Cloud PBX, businesses can rapidly deploy site survivability with significantly less investment and complexity. Yes homing users in Skype for Business Online has some limitations, mainly around Response Groups at present. However, if your site was dependent on RGS, you would be deploying a On-Prem solution to that site in a traditional design anyway.

For a branch site with 50 people the cost of deploying an SBA would be around £6,000 for SIP only + annual software support @ 12% + Professional Services @ around £2,000 + 20 SIP channels to a ITSP @ £10 per channel per month + approx. £12 per user per month in call costs= £18,600 in year 1 and £10,800 per year thereafter. So over a 3 year TCO plan = £40,200 or £376 per user not including internal support services.

So what about Cloud Only Voice?

As you are probably aware, we have a choice of using on-prem PSTN gateways or Microsoft PSTN gateways to make / receive enterprise voice calls. Decisions need to be made about which model is right for the customer’s branch. We can start do this by answering the following question

Does Microsoft currently have PSTN calling available in the site’s country?

If the answer to this question is yes, then you have a valid reason to choose this deployment over the hybrid model. The next question on this decision is, does the customer need to port numbers to Microsoft, or use Microsoft’s own DDI pool? And then, the most important question, what is the cost of this model? This will be worked out as Qualifying Enterprise Licence + Cloud PBX + Calling Plan = £TOTAL per user

While cost will be a high priority discussion point, it should not be the sole decision maker in whether to use cloud voice. In order to achieve an accurate cost comparison here we need to consider a few scenarios.

Firstly, and perhaps most importantly, lets compare the survivability options for hybrid voice.

Hybrid voice allows customers to leverage their existing PSTN connections with Skype for Business Online users. This on the face value seems the most attractive solution to customers. They don’t need to port numbers and they don’t need to buy additional licences beyond Cloud PBX. All true of course, but we are still dependent on some on-premises hardware solution, what happens if the front end pool fails?

Sure, the customer may have configured a DR scenario and while there would be some level of downtime perhaps for voice calling to Skype for Business Online users, it probably wouldn’t be too much of an issue. But a more serious issue will arise if the PSTN gateway failed that prevented any calling for hours.

Forgetting failure for now and moving towards existing architecture, or sizing new architecture at the main datacenter. By employing the hybrid voice and moving branch users to Online, we instantly create more dependency and capacity requirements to the centralised architecture. All of a sudden, the SBC needs to support additional SIP sessions, the Skype for Business mediation server needs to handle more transcoding and encryption/decryption, and the Edge servers need to handle more media traffic (when WAN is out). Additional investments in hardware and licencing may be required here in order to beef up the centralised pool to handle this workload. So this needs to be taken into consideration when comparing costs.

Hybrid voice in this scenario would also increase the bandwidth dependency on the inter-site WAN link between central site and branch site. Depending on the route and limitations, several connections may need to be improved, even hardware replaced to support the media traffic between branch client and mediation server. Again, add this to your cost of hybrid voice.

Of course, you can prevent media over the WAN using internal firewalling and force the media over the branch internet and via the central site Edge. However, bear in mind that Edge servers are sized to handle only 30% external media calls and also by enforcing this, the best codec branch users will leverage will be RTAudio which is typically 50% less quality than G.711.

Now consider the administrative overhead to support and maintain hybrid voice. During a P1 trouble ticket, you are likely to engage several support technicians at some point from various skillsets, and no doubt they will involve the following teams:

  • Telephony
  • Server
  • Applications
  • Networks
  • Security

The incident may pass through sub teams within each team (level 2, 3 and maybe 4). All these support technicians have a cost to the business that can be divided up into billable hours and is relative to their experience. In addition, while troubleshooting the problem there are other costs associated that you may not have thought about, like:

  • Travel costs to site during troubleshooting perhaps
  • Expenses for field engineers if required
  • Cost of phone calls to suppliers, support desks, mobile etc. during troubleshooting
  • Administrative costs, ticket tracking, auditing etc.

Let’s take a look at a rough trouble ticket example:

Bruce experiences poor voice quality when making a call to a customer using Skype for Business Online Hybrid Voice. Symptom includes crackling, packet loss and sometimes complete failure to establish a dial tone.

So the first team Bruce is going to contact will be the IT Service Desk. Typically these people are not technical experts but can handle simple end user requests. The average salary of an IT Service Desk technician is approx. £17,000 per year or £8.72 per hour. Now the technician will be responsible for logging the call on the system, triaging with Bruce and if required to be escalated, be responsible for tracking of the ticket and chasing all parties for updates. On a support call like this, the technician will probably spend a total of 2 hours of their time from start to finish on this call. Cost of Technician £17.44

The technician can’t resolve the call, so they escalate to the Skype for Business Server (Applications) support team. Within this team there may be engineers who are varied in skill, so salaries will vary as well. Let’s assume the call is handed to the most skilled Skype for Business Administrator and their salary is £45,000 per year or £23.07 per hour. The Skype admin spends 4 hours troubleshooting with Bruce, collecting logs and analysing them, perhaps searching online for solutions, attempting fixes etc. But the problem is still present. The Skype admin has now billed £92.28 against the trouble ticket.

The Skype admin determines that the problem must be network related so passes the ticket to the networking team. Again, assuming the most skilled network admin is assigned, their salary is probably going to be somewhat similar to the Skype admin. The network admin spends 6 hours packet capturing at different network points between the branch site and the central site, checking configurations, QoS etc. and finds some issues which are fixed, but Bruce still suffers from the occasional failure to establish a dial tone. The network admin bills £138.42 against the trouble ticket and suspects there is a problem with a slave firewall between the sites, which may explain the intermittent call failure and engages the security team.

Typically, the security admin will command a salary of around £60,000 per year or £30.77 per hour. They spend 4 hours troublshooting the firewall and determined the firmware is out of date. After spending another 2 hours filling out change forms and applying the update, the problem still exists. The next step, the security admin calls the vendor for support and spends the next 3 hours (3p per minute = £5.40) on the phone troubleshooting with the vendor’s TAC support. TAC advise a component replacement (costing £800) at the branch site, so the security admin drives 2 hours to the branch site, replaces the component (1 hour) and drives 2 hours back (assuming in working hours time). On the way back they stop for some dinner and spend £20 on a meal. When calculating the mileage they travelled a total distance of 280 miles which is charged at 45p per mile = £126.00 in fuel and wear. Now totalling the cost of the security admins time and expenses the total billed to the trouble ticket is £582.18.

Bruce’s problem is now resolved and the company paid a total of £1,630.32! not including any financial costs suffered by Bruce not able to perform his job properly.

The majority of this cost was down to a problem with inter-site WAN connectivity, but in order to get there, the trouble ticket had to pass several hands and several points of diligent troubleshooting. If Bruce was enabled for Cloud Voice would the cost be any different? Let’s investigate…

So Bruce is going to contact will be the IT Service Desk. Service Desk triage the call and cannot determine root cause. They then raise a support case directly on the Office 365 Support portal. They also, assign the internal networks team to the ticket to rule out site connectivity.

The network admin spends 1 hour on the ticket and comes to the conclusion that there is no reason for the network to be root cause and informs the service desk.

The service desk spends time with Microsoft Support to troubleshoot the problem, spending around 6 hours of time collecting and passing information between Bruce and Microsoft. Microsoft discover an issue their end and resolve it. Service Desk now updates the ticket to resolved. The total time billed against the ticket from Service Desk is 8 hours @ £8.72 per hour = £69.76 plus the hour from networks @ £23.07 brings the total cost of the support ticket to £92.83

Ok, the problem with the firewall would still be present and a yet to be found issue, but it is less of a serious problem to business continuity because no service depends on the problem being fixed. Some people may argue that this is irrelevant, it’s a problem so it needs fixing, and I agree with you, but the reality is that if you go to your FD and say I need £1000 to replace this part, they are going to ask you what line of business feature is impacted? You will reply none, its a proactive fix. To which the FD will say “let me get back to you”, this means “lets leave it until it becomes a problem…” The point is it is not a critical spend, so from a business perspective it is an accepted risk.

The point I am trying to make here is that, by moving away from tradional on-prem solutions, in this particular case, an SBA deployment towards Cloud Voice solutions offer businesses substantial areas where money can be saved.

Going cloud voice is now becoming a more and more attractive solution… right, or is it?

Lets look at Cloud PBX with PSTN Calling from a price perspective. Let’s assume here that users within the branch are already consuming Enterprise E3 Office 365 licences. Here we have two options, purchase the Cloud PBX addon subscription and a calling plan, or upgrade E3 to E5 and purchase a calling plan. The base E3 licence is £14.70 per user per month, while E5 which includes Cloud PBX and PSTN Conferencing is £25.70 per user per month. In order to bolster E3 to include Cloud PBX and PSTN Conferencing £7.50 in addons is required (£5 for Cloud PBX, £2.50 for Conferencing) = £22.20 per user per month. Therefore, based on value E5 is the licence to purchase overall.

PSTN Calling plan in the UK is going to be around £13 per user per month for domestic calling and around £26 per user per month for domestic and international (guess).

Taking the licence cost difference between E3 and E5 + a domestic calling plan totals £24.30 per user per month or £43,740 TCO over three years in our 50 user branch site scenario. But wait… isn’t that more than the TCO of an SBA? Yes, by £3,540 in fact, but don’t forget the IT support service cost of each user per year. As a result of consuming a cloud only service, 50 users are going to place less of a burden on your IT support teams, the business is offloading the majority of support to Microsoft which is inclusive of the costs above which means the business can streamline and reduce costs in overall operations, and the need for ongoing investments in infrastructure in the same manner are no longer needed for these users. Based on around £900 per head per year IT infrastructure and services budget you can aim for a rebate of around 5% (£45) per user per year by leveraging Skype for Business Online instead of an SBA which is about £6,750 saving over three years. Which makes Cloud Voice in direct comparison a slightly cheaper option.

But then we don’t stop at just voice, or Skype for Business  either. By adopting Skype for Business Online as a complete UC solution and all the other benefits of Office 365 will see massive streamlining right across the business which improves collaboration, speeds up decision making, brings new capabilities to businesses that help them to expand more rapidly and explore new markets while reducing their capital overheads and providing a clear and achievable operation cost that can be scaled up or down depending on business demand and performance. Which all adds up to significant savings across the whole IT ecosystem.

The above scenario is of course a hypothetical best / worst case and by no means an example based on real world data. It is designed to make a point, that moving towards cloud solutions offers potential savings right across the IT landscape which should be considered when comparing costs with on premises. Let’s be honest, there are still concerns not to move to the cloud for some or all business IT elements and therefore, on-premises solutions may be the best for the customer. Ultimately, it is our responsibility to provide the solution that meets the customer’s requirements that is the SINGLE most important job of a consultant / architect, regardless of what technology leaders say or want you to do! Remember that!

I chose the more complicated argument to make this case, in comparing an SBA with Cloud PBX with PSTN Calling because it opens interesting avenues of discussion. However, for some customer’s, Cloud PBX with PSTN calling is not an option right now. Perhaps they are not ready, or perhaps they need time to gain confidence in the solution? So using Hybrid Voice gives these customers a taste of the possible, while still retaining a level of control they are comfortable with.

For this example, I am not going to go into great detail, but let’s assume a there is no need for a WAN investment. I need to buy 20 more SIP channels in my central deployment @ £10 per channel. I also need to buy 20 more SIP licences approx. £500 for the Session Border Controller in order to have enough capacity to take on the load of the branch site. Total investment over three years in this £2,460.

Now each user in the branch site will need the Cloud PBX addon subscription to their E3 plan. This is £5.00 per user per month + £2.50 for PSTN Conferencing, over three years for 50 users = £13,500

We will also need to budget £12 per month for PSTN calls for each user, so over three years this equates to £21,600

We are not going to be able to save much (if any) on IT Service support for these users, because I have the same networking if not more networking complexities to protect the business from, so I need the skills available, as Microsoft support involvement will be less than cloud voice. So let’s add the £45 per year per user support cost back on to these 50 users = £6,750

Total cost of ownership over three years for hybrid voice is approx. £44,310 (which is more expensive than cloud only voice).

From my own perspective, leveraging the use of the latest technology helps businesses embrace revolution. The days of the SBA are limited, as is on-prem Skype for Business server with SBC vendors now turning towards CCE appliances. For me Skype for Business Online with Cloud PBX is a viable alternative to an SBA and when calculated properly and customer requirements have been properly assessed can turn out to be the most cost effective solution overall.

It also provides an insight into Cloud possibilities allowing businesses to dip their toe in the water with Cloud PBX in real world scenarios to get real end user experience that will be critical to the decisions that lie ahead.

Clearly, the numbers game is close between the 3 possibilities and the real savings are going to be made in reducing IT Services and Infrastructure over time. So if you are looking for a quick win, instant return, this is not going to happen. Again, reiterating that the figures I have used have not been through any official ratification or analysis. These are just numbers used from different sources as well as some assumptions. Therefore, strongly recommend you conduct your own cost analysis into this before making a decision. Cloud solutions give businesses more scope to expand or shrink on demand in line with their revenue flow and also explore avenues of cost savings. Those savings, only you can estimate based on how you embrace the cloud..

  1. Hi Mark, thank you for this article.
    I’m sorry but not every Countries are like USA or UK. In Italy (where I live and work) SfB in Cloud could be a viable solution maybe in 2018, we’ve many remote site with local PSTN and a Sonus SBC 1000 with SBA is a good solution in that case, but the lack of SfB SBA is hard to explain to customers. I hope that MS take care of that Country and Customers around the world, not only who wants to move to Cloud.

    • Hi Luca

      Yes I agree, and this is why I said it is an option but not in all cases. Each case must be evaluated and the best solution for the customer recommended, that is the golden rule. For me it is an interesting argument and angle of a discussion point at least with the customer and community at large. Hopefully this article raises the question higher above the parapet. Perhaps the answer in some cases is Cloud PBX over SBA, in others SBA over Cloud PBX. Either way as long as the customers hard requirements are met and they are happy, then that is the main thing. That’s all that matters 🙂

  2. Thank you, Mark, for this great article. It’s helping me with some answers of my questions. I’m creating a concept for a solution without SBA/SBS and we have a Hybrid-Scenario here. The customer doesn’t trust the cloud only solution and in fact we don’t have the chance in the moment for this, because in Germany PSTN Calling is only in Preview. But we will deploy EV with the Hybrid without SBA/SBS first time and the other solution is coming soon, I’m sure;)
    Two questions: Can you please explain the reason of “DNS must be pointing to the Public side of the central site Edge server pools.”? And how can I do this for our centralized DNS without to affect the other brunch sites?

    • Hi Dennis. For this to work, the branch site must have it’s own local internet line, if it doesn’t then you’re not going to get survivability in this way. The reason you want to declare the public records is that you want to force the Skype client to connect to the SfB servers at the centralised Skype pool via the Internet and Edge servers, thus using the local internet breakout. To get the DNS pointing in the right way then you’d need to use an on-prem DNS Server in the local site to the internet public dns for the SIP domain. I am assuming that you’d have this at the site because if the WAN link went down, then you’d have no DNS services without one. Alternatively, if you don’t then you’d include public DNS servers in your DNS Server list, prioritising them below the the internal ones.

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Add a Coffered Ceiling to Your Home

A coffered ceiling brings a classic, elegant look to any room.
Coffered ceilings date back to the 7th century B.C.Dining Room In An Old House and graced European cathedrals and homes in Europe during the Renaissance and Baroque period of architectural style.
A coffered (box) ceiling is made up of box-like panels suspended from a grid to add depth and architectural interest. A coffered ceiling can also be made up of beams that connect with intersection pieces to create unique designs.
Once only found in the finest homes because of the cost and the tedious installation, this classic style is now available in polyurethane offering the same detail as wood, but is lighter weight and can be installed by anyone with basic DIY skills.
Van Dyke’s Restorers is now offering a polyurethane coffered ceiling system for a competitive price that can be installed by the homeowner without the need of hiring a costly contractor.
The ceiling components include urethane beams, cross-sections, and several styles of intersections, including:

Circular Intersection

  • circle
  • diamond
  • square
  • T-shaped
Coffered ceilings are not only beautiful, they give the appearance of spaciousness, and absorb sound.
Van Dyke’s also offers a selection of tin ceiling tiles.

About Larry Padgett

Larry is an award-winning journalist and photo journalist with over 35 years of experience. He has written for a number of industries including healthcare, die casting, construction, home restoration, sports, education, and religion. He is a copywriter and blogger for Van Dyke's Restorers.

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Garlic Oysters With Pasta: Pair It With Sauvignon Blanc

fresh pasta on vintage cutting boardRaw isn’t the only way to eat oysters, as the following recipe for Garlic Oysters With Pasta demonstrates.

Serve this dish with any of the classic pairing partners for oysters, including Muscadet, blanc de blanc Champagne, or Sauvignon Blanc. You’ll find some ideal Sauvignon Blanc selections in the Fresh & Silky Sauvignon Blanc Collection by Vinesse.  You can get special offers on this and more unique wines from around the world in the Cyber Circle email savings program. If you aren’t already a member, call Vinesse at 1-800-823-5527 to place an order while supplies last.

This recipe yields 2-4 servings, depending on your appetites.

  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 8 ounces fresh mushrooms, quartered
  • 1 teaspoon minced garlic
  • 24 oysters, shucked and quartered
  • 1/2 cup whole corn kernels, blanched
  • 2 tablespoons chopped pimento peppers
  • 1/2 cup seafood stock
  • Salt and pepper, to taste
  • 10 ounces linguine pasta
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
  • 3 tablespoons green onion, thinly sliced

  1. In a small saucepan, melt 2 tablespoons butter. Stir in flour to make a paste. Set aside.
  1. Saute mushrooms and garlic in 1/4 cup butter over medium-high heat for 2 minutes. Add oysters, corn and pimento peppers. Saute for 90 seconds.
  1. Add stock, linguine, salt and pepper and bring to a simmer.
  1. Fold in the butter-and-flour mixture until sauce thickens, then reduce heat.
  1. Fold in parsley and scallions, and allow to simmer for another minute prior to serving.
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Posted in Food and Wine Pairings/Recipes
One comment on “Garlic Oysters With Pasta: Pair It With Sauvignon Blanc
  1. […] citrus. For those uninterested in raw oysters, enjoy a lovely suggestion from Vinesse Blog for Garlic Oysters with Pasta. Credit: Proud […]

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Terrific Children's Birthday Photos

Having celebrated the birthdays of three of our grandchildren in the past three months,  I can't help thinking back to similar parties I hosted over the years.  As a mother of four there were many.

That I made a big deal about them, was I believe, as a statement against my own childhood. Being a bit of an anomaly for the time, my mother was a working woman.  What that translated to for me, was a fairly limited number of birthday parties over the years, and essentially just the basics when it came to family parties.  No fuss, no muss was the axiom for the big day.

As a parent then I made rather a big deal out of my kids' birthdays. There was always a party with friends, followed on the weekend by a gathering with grandparents and godparents.  I did everything I could to ensure my kids knew how special their birthday was to me.  I always hoped they got the message.

And if the birthday parties they've thrown for their little ones are any indication,  they did.  I could never have topped these soirées with their themes, decorations, roasted pigs and around-the-world cuisine.  They will be, I suspect, long discussed and never forgotten.

Which is how it should be.  A birthday is a celebration of a life,  whether at its beginning or near its end. It is a person's special day, meant to honour them and acknowledge how happy we are to know them and have them in our lives.

However, since no one loves birthdays more than kids, and since we all love kids, here are some birthday photo collections specifically focussing on the earlier years:

Acclaim Images

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Friday, August 29, 2014

XBRL Cloud releases CleanScore V2.9.0

The V2.9.0 release of CleanScore simplifies sifting through the automated validations:

  • CleanScore validation summary now broken down by validation code for faster interpretation.  Here's an example of what this looks like:

  • Upgrade validation message for presentation/calculation mismatches to reduce confusion related to "reverse" calculations (where the totals are displayed towards the top of the page; differences towards the bottom) that are evident on some filings.  This was a change requested by our customers.  Normally, totals are at the bottom of the page, but occasionally this is not the case.

  • Website now displays larger videos for easier viewing and improved clarity.

1 comment:

  1. Thank you for the great post.
    Shift Security to the left by Prancer's end-to-end cloud security platform. Prancer's static code analyzer for Infrastructure as Code (IaC) enforces cloud security posture right from the development lifecycle. And our continuous compliance engine scans your cloud in real-time based on Policy as Code.


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Zimbra SkillZ: How to Hide Zimbra from Search Engines

Hide Zimbra’s Login Page from Search Engines

Hi Zimbra Admins, Partners & Friends,

By default, Zimbra’s login page is indexed in search engines. Would you rather hide it from search engines?

Here’s how …

zmprov mcf +zimbraResponseHeader "X-XSS-Protection: 1; mode=block"
zmprov mcf +zimbraResponseHeader "X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff"
zmprov mcf +zimbraResponseHeader "X-Robots-Tag: noindex"
zmprov mcf zimbraMailKeepOutWebCrawlers TRUE
zmmailboxdctl restart

Curious about other Zimbra Admin tasks? Let us know in the comments!

Thanks & hope you are healthy,

Your Zimbra Team

, , , , , , , , ,

5 Responses to Zimbra SkillZ: How to Hide Zimbra from Search Engines

  1. Melissa December 15, 2020 at 4:44 AM #

    Thanks, Zimbra team, I don’t want to index my website in google, This resolves my problem

  2. Toby Simmons December 19, 2020 at 9:34 PM #

    Which versions of the Zimbra suite does this work in? 8.6.x? 8.8.x?

  3. Jessica April 21, 2021 at 1:17 PM #

    Hey there!
    What to do if your login page is already indexed in search engines? Would this method work still?

    • Gayle Billat May 5, 2021 at 9:20 PM #

      Hi Jessica – please pop this question into forums.zimbra.com. Our tech community will have an answer for you. Thanks!

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Domain Names And SEO: What Should Bloggers Know

Domain Names And SEO

Are you planning to start a new blog?

Or are you considering a re-brand for your current site?

Whether you are looking to invest in a new domain or thinking how domain metrics should impact your marketing decisions, here’s a quick overview of what bloggers should know about domain names and SEO.

Does your domain name impact your organic search visibility?

The short answer is: Yes.

The long answer is: It is no longer the powerful search algorithm signal it used to be about ten years ago but there are still direct and indirect factors your domain name can contribute to your organic search visibility.

Let’s review all those direct and indirect factors:

Keywords in the domain name

Keywords used to be a major ranking factor: It used to take a few weeks for a domain to rank for its exact-match keywords. It is no longer that direct or easy, even though SEO-aware webmasters have a hard time leaving that tactic behind.

Based on my own observations, keywords in a domain name matter no more than keywords in a URL. To put it in a different way, you can invest in a keyword-focused domain name but have the same result by simply creating a new page that would have those keywords in its URL.

Keywords in a domain name may still be useful:

  • For creating instant topical associations with your brand
  • For getting some extra clicks from people who will see that keyword within Google SERPs (more on this below)

How does it apply to your SEO strategy?

Now that keywords in a domain name don’t matter that much anymore, you don’t need your exact-match keyword in your domain to create niche associations. You can go with synonyms or related concepts. For example, if “fashion” is your main keyword, you can do well with “style” or even “fancy”.

To help you brainstorm all those words that you can use to find a cool and relevant domain, try Text Optimizer, a semantic research tool allowing you to find underlying and related concepts:

Text Optimizer example

Domain name clickability

Clickability is a temporal factor, i.e. if your search listing gets actively clicked, it will climb up to a higher position, but only for a few days. This has been tested and proven lots of time. We know that it works and we know that inflating click-through is pretty useless as you will lose those higher rankings as soon as those clicks slow down.

What is much more important is:

  • Consistent click-through rate which is a bit higher than that of your organic neighbors
  • Meaningful on-page engagement after a click from organic search

While your domain cannot help you with the second signal, it can very well impact your organic click-through as your domain name (as we as your logo) is part of organic search engine result page:

Domain name clickability

That being said, your domain name should create positive topical associations and be catchy enough to get some clicks. If you invest time and effort in your branding, with time your domain will also be more recognized and bring in even more clicks. For example, I always scroll through results until I see a blog name I know. I am sure many people do the same.

So choosing a domain name that is easy to remember and quick to recognize is always a good idea.

From there, all that matters is on-page engagement that has nothing to do with your domain name. We know Google is paying attention to on-page engagement because if you go back to search results too fast, Google knows you didn’t find what you were looking for and it will try to help you out:

Google helping you find the right result

How does it apply to your SEO strategy?

Improving your on-page engagement is much more important than getting more clicks.

Make sure to make the most of each click: Come up with additional on-page engagement methods to get those people to interact with your site. These may include anything from installing exit popups and web push notifications to using live chats. Both of these methods use personalization to hold your page visitors and encourage them to continue their journey through your site.

If you sell services, you can invite people to schedule a call with you right away with Appointfix or let them record a voice message using SpeakPipe. Diversifying your CTAs is a good way to improve your conversions:

Appointfix - diversify your CTA

Here’s also a good guide on optimizing your page for and conversions.

Using tools like Finteza you can identify how each page is doing a better job engaging your site users:

Finteza referral traffic

Top-level domains

Top-level domain is the last segment of a domain name, it is basically what you see after the dot. Top-level domains have been a source of constant SEO theories and assumptions (and frankly, myths). These include:

  • Google favors .com domains
  • Google assigns more power to backlinks pointing to your site based on which top-level domains they are coming from

It is time that we leave both of these theories behind.

How does it apply to your SEO strategy?

The only times a top-level domain matters are:

  • When you have a local domain name (Google would serve local domains mostly in the location it refers to. For example, if you search in the UK, Google will likely give preference to domains)
  • When a .gov site is linking it. This might be a correlation matter rather than causation: .gov sites just have more backlinks and trust, but I know for a fact that if you get a link from a .gov page, your rankings grow.

In all other cases, a top-level domain doesn’t matter. On the contrary, it may be time that we look at alternative top-level domains because you will be able to snatch a cool brand name that is still available. Namify is a cool tool to use for that:

Namify to search for alternatives

Namify uses artificial intelligence to generate brand names that contain your keyword and creates cool niche associations.

Domain age

Finally, domain age is another factor that is often discussed by website owners. If you are considering to invest in a domain name that was previously used, here’s what you should know:

  • Domain age doesn’t matter as much as its history: Stay away from domains that may have some negative history (questionable links pointing to that domain and consequent penalties that may carry over to your site)
  • Domain age is not as important as the site age, i.e. when Google first discovered that site. This is what Google is showing in search results now:
Domain age verses site age

If you read Google’s Quality Guidelines, you will notice that a “domain name” is almost never mentioned. Google talks about the site age and authority but never a domain name.

With that said, if you are buying a domain name based on its age, it is not a very smart investment.

How does it apply to your SEO strategy?

If you consider buying an existing domain, check Ahrefs for any traffic or rankings dips or declines which could signal a potential penalty which may be difficult to shake off.

Buying existing domains checks

Domain authority

Put simply, domain authority doesn’t exist.

SEO tools may use it to grade websites but Google isn’t using it for anything which Googlers confirmed time and again.

Google is using backlinks to assign authority to a web page (which is one of many ranking factors).

The home page of the site usually has the highest authority because ALL pages of the site are linking to it.

How does it apply to your SEO strategy?

When you are building links or analyzing your current backlinks, top-level domains shouldn’t actually be part of your strategy. They hardly matter at all.  What you really need to focus on is whether those backlinks send traffic as well as whether they are indexed and/or cached by Google. Link Checker is a cool tool that can help you with both:

Link Checker - Build and analyze links

TLDR: Domain names and SEO

  • Keywords in a domain name don’t matter as much as they used to but they are helpful in creating topical associations.
  • Keywords in a domain name may improve your organic click-through but on-page factors are much more important, so better focus on those.
  • Don’t stress over finding a .com domain. Any other top-level domain (except for local ones) will do as well, SEO-wise.
  • Don’t invest in a domain for its “age”. Domain age is no metric but an old domain could potentially do harm as it may carry over past penalties.
  • Domain authority doesn’t exist! Just leave this metric behind. If you need to a metric to evaluate site’s quality, use its traffic, as per Ahrefs, Alexa or SimilarWeb.

And that wraps up our guide to domain names and SEO. Need help choosing the right domain name? Or starting your blog? Check out these guides:

Note: Want our latest content delivered to your inbox? Click here to subscribe to the free Blogging Wizard newsletter.

Domain Names And SEO


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5th Annual Images of Aging Photo Contest

0 Commentsby   |  10.01.14  |  Announcements

blog annoucement video

Pruett Gerontology Center is pleased to announce the 5 year for ‘Images of Aging’ Photo Contest.

ACU students across campus are encouraged to take and submit photographs that include at least one person who is 60 years of age or older.  Join this elite group of photographers from all disciplines who appreciate the older adults in their lives and enjoy the digital photography!

Contest starts November 12, 2014 and ends February 27, 2015

Students currently enrolled at ACU for the 2014-2015 scholastic year are eligible.

There are three categories:

  • Black and white  –  photos can be submitted as taken or artistically enhanced
  • Color  –  photos can be submitted as taken or artistically enhanced
  • Mobile  –  photos taken with a mobile device such as iPhone

First Place and Second Place prizes awarded for each category.
Honorable Mentions awarded at judges sole discretion.

A special awards luncheon will be held to celebrate all participants, prizes will be given.

This is a skills-based contest.  Chance plays no part in the determination of winners.

Technical help is available at The Learning Studio located on the third floor of the Brown Library.  If you do not own a camera, please contact The Learning Studio and ask about their ‘check-out camera’ program.  Everyone is invited to participate!

Entrants may submit photos to any category, but not more than three for each category. Photographs should be taken with the highest possible resolution.

How to Enter:

1. Read and agree to the Photo Contest Rules.

2. Download the model release form. Each person in your photographs must sign the model release form.  You may make as many copies as you need.

3. Take your photos!

  • Must include at least one person 60+ years old
  • All model(s) must sign release form
  • Use highest resolution possible
  • Give your photograph a title

4. Submit your photo by email  imagesofaging@acu.edu

  • Use your own ACU email address  –  this tells us who you are
  • Submit one photo per email
  • Put Category of photo and Title in subject line of your email. (Ex: Mobile, His Eyes)
  • Name all the models in your photograph in the body of the email
  • If you wish, please include two or three sentences that tell the story of the picture
  • Attach your photo and send to imagesofaging@acu.edu

5. Submit your signed Model Release forms within 2 days to of photo submission to:

Pruett Gerontology Center  –  Hardin Administration Bldg  Room 118  or   ACU Box 27793. Only one release form per model is needed.

Last day to enter: February 27, 2015

If you have any questions or comments, email us at imagesofaging@acu.edu

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10 March 2011

Why having a different line of thinking?

When I was studying at La Verdad Christian College (LVCC), my teacher told in our class one afternoon that I have a different line of thinking. He didn't cite any reason why it was so. He noticed that I am different among the class.

The difference of thinking is my inspiration to put this blog. Although I am not a writer, I didn't even passed from college paper to become one of its staff. I am still pursuing to write and write and write. To the extend that I gain a lot of experience doing so.

And if by chance you read this blog of mine, kindly post some comments. That way, you may contribute and collaborate about any topic posted on this blog.

Good luck to all of us and God bless.


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Chinese Americans and the Gold Rush

This guest post was authored by 2020 Junior Fellow Sophia Southard, University of Kansas Graduate, B.A. in History.

Chinese hose teams in Deadwood, South Dakota

Champion Chinese Hose Team of America 1888 who Hub-and-Hub race

Champion Chinese Hose Team of America, who won the great Hub-and-Hub race at Deadwood, Dak., July 4th, 1888.

Hub-and-Hub race at Deadwood

The great Hub-and-Hub race at Deadwood, Dak., July 4, 1888, between the only two Chinese hose teams in the United States.

While browsing the Library of Congress’ Prints & Photographs Online Catalog, I came across two wonderful photos of Chinese “hose teams.” To commemorate July 4, the teams were competing in a fire hose tournament, also known as a “hub-and-hub” race. The teams raced 300 yards and competed for a $500 prize, a small fortune that would be worth around $13,680 today. As wonderful as these photos are, they also raised one important question: Why were Chinese immigrants in Deadwood, South Dakota, of all places, a town populated with colorful figures including, Wild Bill Hickok, Calamity Jane, Potato Creek Johnny, Seth Bullock, and Al Swearengen?

The answer?

Founded in 1876 after settlers discovered gold deposits, Deadwood became an important, albeit small, town during the gold rush era.

harpers weekly cover drawing of chinese immigrants 1877

Chinese immigrants at the San Francisco custom-house / P. Frenzeny. Harper’s Weekly, February 3, 1877, p. 81.

The gold frenzy had people from all backgrounds, including whites, African Americans—both freed and enslaved—as well as Latin American and Chinese men seeking to make their fortunes. In 1849, Chinese began immigrating to the United States in order to become gold miners in various western states, including California and North and South Dakota.

Chinese immigrants and the Gold Rush

In the beginning, Chinese miners worked for themselves or labored for other miners. Due to an increase in Chinese immigrants, anti-immigrant feeling permeated mining camps and in 1850, the California legislature passed a Foreign Miners License Law, which charged all non-U.S. citizens $20 per month. The law was repealed the following year, but due to these exorbitant fees, Chinese miners left and created America’s first “Chinatown” in San Francisco. At the peak of gold rush immigration in 1852, 20,000 Chinese immigrated to California, out of a total of 67,000 people, thus, Chinese immigrants accounted for nearly 30% of all immigrants. In response to the influx of Chinese immigrants, the California legislature passed a new foreign miners’ tax of $4 per month.

Although many Chinese settled in California, a small number also settled in other western towns, including Deadwood, South Dakota, where they engaged in a variety of businesses.

Chinese in Deadwood, South Dakota

“Wing Tsue came to the Black Hills with the earliest of gold hunters… In 1876, locating where the city of Deadwood now stands, opening up a business… He had many associates among the whites of the Hills, and with them engaged in numerous mining enterprises, and at the time of his death was interested heavily in mining ground here, and real estate.” – The Madison Daily Lender

Mining life in California Chinese miners from harpers weekly

Mining life in California–Chinese miners. Harper’s Weekly Oct. 3, 1857, p. 632.

On October 26, 1921, a newspaper reported the death of Lee Wong, also known as “Wing Tsue.”

As described by R. Fosha and C Leatherman in their article, “The Chinese Experience in Deadwood, South Dakota,” in Historical Archaeology, (v. 42 no. 3 2008, 97-110),  during the height of the Gold Rush, Lee Wong and Hi Kee were two of the most prominent Chinese business owners in Deadwood with their mercantile businesses. As a matter of fact, Lee Wong and Hi Kee sponsored the annual fire hose race that took place during the Fourth of July celebrations.

For Chinese immigrating to the West, the Gold Rush presented a variety of jobs beyond mining for gold. One of the most popular jobs was being a laundry man, as demonstrated in the Dakota Territory 1885 Census Index, in which all of the 23 men recorded with a nativity of China stated that their occupation was either “laundryman,” “laundry,” or “laundry man.” Furthermore, rumor has it that “the laundrymen recovered snippets of gold dust left in the miners’ dirty garments and wash water.”  Other occupations included opening restaurants, gaming halls, opium houses, pharmacies, shoe repair, retail, and dry goods.

In their various occupations, Chinese men had the opportunity to interact with both African Americans and Caucasians in the town of Deadwood. However, despite these exchanges, anti-Chinese sentiment reached an all-time new high in 1854, setting a precedent of anti-foreigner sentiment that eventually culminated in the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act.

Wells Fargo Express Co. Deadwood Treasure Wagon from the Great Homestake Mine in Deadwood

Wells Fargo Express Co. Deadwood Treasure Wagon and Guards with $250,000 gold bullion from the Great Homestake Mine, Deadwood, S.D., 1890. John C. H. Grabill, photographer

People v. Hall

In the 1854 case People v. Hall, the California Supreme Court made a decision regarding the ability of Chinese “and all other people not white” to testify in court. They stated:

“Section 14 of the Criminal Act provides, ‘No Black, or Mulatto person, or Indian shall be allowed to give evidence in favor of, or against a White man.’

Held, that the words, Indian, Negro, Black and White, are generic terms, designating race. That, therefore, Chinese and all other people not white, are included in the prohibition from being witnesses against Whites…”

This case regarded an incident in which three white men had murdered a Chinese man. Since the testimony of Chinese witnesses had originally convicted the three white men, they were allowed to walk free due to the ruling in People v. Hall. In cases moving forward, “The reversal made it impossible to prosecute violence against Chinese immigrants.”

editorial cartoon of the anti-Chinese wall

The anti-Chinese wall / Friedrich Graetz, 1882

The Chinese Massacre of 1871 and the Chinese Exclusion Act

As the excitement of “gold fever” faded, Chinese men “worked as agricultural laborers, on railroad construction crews throughout the West, and in low-paying industrial jobs.” Most European Americans and other immigrants shied away from these jobs, but in the 1870s, these groups began experiencing financial difficulties. As a result, they began competing with Chinese laborers for these jobs. Yet again, anti-Chinese sentiment simmered and reached its boiling point with The Chinese Massacre of 1871, in which eighteen Chinese men were lynched and killed by a mob of over five hundred in Los Angeles.

In 1882, twenty-eight years after the People v. Hall case, President Chester A. Arthur signed the Chinese Exclusion Act, a federal law that prohibited all immigration of Chinese laborers. Only in 1943, nearly six decades later, did the federal government repeal the act with the Magnuson Act or Chinese Exclusion Repeal Act of 1943.

“The fate of each minority depends upon the extent of justice given to all other groups.”

– Ina Sugihara, a leading Nisei activist in the 1940s

I can think of no better quote with which to conclude this blog, as the next post in this series will regard African Americans during the Gold Rush.

To learn more:

Do you want more stories like this? Then subscribe to Inside Adams — it’s free!

One Comment

  1. Rudolph Laws
    July 11, 2021 at 4:25 pm

    Can you identify speaking and listening communication issues that may arise due to bias or stereotyping related to the history of Chinese Immigrants to the United States?

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Turkeys, turkeys everywhere! This past week Elders and Stakeholders from all over Signature HealthCARE joined together for our largest Turkey Trot event ever. With over 100 Signature HealthCARE communities participating as well as stakeholders from our corporate offices and regional teams, it was a huge success

Last week’s trot included so many fun moments that I could never put them all here. For example, Signature HealthCARE of Gainesville invited the Gators Marching Band to join them and nearly fifty band members marched through the halls creating spontaneous laughter for the Elders who live there. In other instances, stakeholders dressed as turkeys encouraged Elders to get up and get moving by walking, dancing, bowling and lots of other things! There were turkey calls, turkey art and explosions of creativity across our communities in ten states. corporate stakeholders also participated by joining in on a range of events in their offices throughout the day. To top off the fun, regional stakeholders led our CEO’s and DON’s in their own version of the chicken dance.

The best part of the day was the spirit of community I witnessed across Signature nation. What does it mean to build community? Community building is all about bridging the gaps that naturally occur among individuals with something that is purposeful and meaningful to everyone involved. When communities start to form on the local level it breeds engagement and excellence. When community is built on an organizational level it deepens our commitment to the values we hold true and believe in. Most importantly, building community facilitates meaning and purpose in the lives of the Elders who live with us. It offers up opportunities for creativity to flourish and joy to be abundant! A reminder to each of us that the simple things in life are often the most enjoyable. Happy Thanksgiving!


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This post was originally posted at Urban Science Adventures! © on March 2, 2010 titled: Honey Bees Buzz with Individuality.

I still enjoy the subject of this paper. I lead a journal discussion with my lab group. I thought it would be a great paper for our group since research topics include individual variation, genetic, and neuroscience approaches to study animal behavior. Plus, it's a good foundation paper on genomic transcription. My post-doctoral research will eventually include such analysis of the African Pouched Rats and their behavior.

Individual Variation in Pheromone Response Correlates with Reproductive Traits and Brain Gene Expression in Worker Honey Bees

by: Sarah D. Kocher, Julien F. Ayroles, Eric A. Stone, Christina M. Grozinger

Study Summary

The researchers examined a behavior in honey bees known to regulate the social behavior of the hive – the retinue response. Retinue response is the amount of time and attention worker bees pay to the queen because of a special pheromone or chemical she sends out. This chemical keeps the hive socially connected. In any group of animals, individuals will behave differently. Some worker responses have a very high retinue response – spending a lot time very close to the queen and picking up the pheromone; and some others have a very low retinue response. The authors set out to measure the amount of individual differences in behavioral and physiological (internal body function) responses to queen pheromones.

Normally, the Queen pheromone is spread over the hive by daughter worker bees. However, there are some worker bees who either don’t prefer the pheromone or avoid the queen altogether. When that happens, physiological changes occur and these daughters have somewhat developed ovaries. These stand-offish daughters have been known to lay their own eggs (usually a no-no in polite Hymenopteran society) which can develop into reproductively capable sons. That doesn’t often happen because other sisters who find nephews (and not brothers) in the bee nursery have been known to discard or destroy the eggs or pupae.

Worker honey bees from two different sub-species (or races): Carniolan and Italian bees were observed. These are very old and well-known races of bees that are morphologically distinct (different physical appearance and shape). The researchers studied 5 colonies of the Carniolan bees and 4 colonies of the Italian bees.

Carniolan queen bee with attendants on a honeycomb. from Wikipedia

Each colony in this study was comprised of full sister worker bees. In bees (and in other Hymenoptera like wasps, hornets, and ants) full sisters are related to each other by 75%. Unlike people (and other mammals), full bee sisters are more related to each other than they are to their mom. I got half (50%) of my chromosomes from my mom, and half (50%) from my dad. Any of my full siblings get the same percentage, but not necessary the exact same chromosomes, so we’re related to each other by 50%, too. In bees, mothers give their daughters half of their chromosomes (50%), but dads give daughters everything – the whole set of chromosomes (100%). So it’s a family affair in the bee hive. With that being said, the authors set out to know how can full sisters that are so highly related still behave so very differently from each other?

Drops of diluted queen pheromone were placed on a slide and introduced to smaller groups of bees (from each colony). The researchers counted the number of worker bees that came into contact with the pheromone and the number of times each bee visited the slide over a period of time (25 minutes). They did this for 5 consecutive days, doing it in the spring and again in the fall. They compare the behavior of bees (number of visits to the slide) across colonies and between individuals within each colony.

What did they find?

Well, first not all worker bees behaved the same. There was considerable variation between individuals and across colonies. Some individuals visited the pheromone more than others, but there were no big differences between Carniolan and Italian bees. However, they did find worker bees that visited the pheromone less were the ones who had better developed ovaries than sisters who visited the pheromone more. Not only were there behavioral differences among sisters, there were also internal changes that corresponded to this behavior. The researchers confirmed that retinue response to Queen hormone is important for suppressing worker be ovary development which keeps them from having their own baby bee-sons.

Just as there were high and low visiting bees, there were also high low responding colonies - individual and colony differences in behavior. So what could be driving these differences? Like I mentioned before, all of study bees were full sisters to each other so it can’t be the genes, right? Well, not quite. The researchers did identify the genes they believe responsible for retinue response. What they found was that although the sisters may have been similar to each other in the types of genes they had, gene expression differed from bee to bee. It’s one thing to have the same gene as another individual. It’s something else to have that gene actually work and perform in the body. For example, let's say you and I have the same gene that codes for digesting carbohydrates. The same gene in your body may do more work (or less work) than that same gene does in my body. This is called individual variation in genetic expression and that is what seems to be at play with the bees. Retinue response is correlated to ovarian development which is correlated to gene expression.

They were the same, but they were different, too; and these differences could be measure inside (genetically and physiology) and out (behavior).

Why does any of this matter?

In a natural colony of honey bees, the hive must survive. Though most of the time the Queen is laying eggs to make more worker bees, change does come. Queens don’t live forever. When the old queen dies, worker bees go into fast action to raise a sister queen bee. That 'new' queen will be the one laying eggs that will become the next generation of bee babies -- workers. Who does this important work of preparing the next Queen? Worker bees with higher retinue response. They raise the next and future queen. They make sure any eggs already laid get the necessary nutrition (royal jelly) to put them on the fast track to the throne. (Worker bees and queen bees are genetically similar, the time to develop and type of food fed as a pupae is what makes them physically, physiologically, and behaviorally different from each other).

On the hand, worker bees with lower retinue response, those with better developed ovaries, are able to lay eggs and produce sons. Normally other worker bees patrol cells and discard drones laid by other workers (Queens lay drone eggs, too, but even these drones/brothers get the side-eye from worker bees/sisters who would rather invest time and energy raising more sisters). However, in such a state of transition, these worker-laid eggs stand a shot of maturing. If they do make it, then they will soon leave the hive and go and mate with other queens when he becomes mature. In this way, some worker bees (i.e. those with lower retinue response) are able to reproduce and their genes around.

Full Citation: Kocher SD, Ayroles JF, Stone EA, & Grozinger CM (2010). Individual variation in pheromone response correlates with reproductive traits and brain gene expression in worker honey bees. PloS one, 5 (2) PMID: 20161742

Related articles: Urban Wildlife Watch - The Buzz about Bees

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Categories » Cross Curricular Integration

Teachers, Students, and the Curriculum
“Somewhere, I suspect, down in the elementary school, probably in the fifth and sixth grades, a subtle shift occurs.  The curriculum–subjects, topics, textbooks, workbooks, and the rest–comes between the teacher and student” (Goodland, 1984, p. 80). (More)
The Art of Badging
Growing up in rural Pennsylvania I was extremely active in Girl Scouting. One of the joys of scouting was earning badges. Badging (More)
Deep Learning...what does it REALLY mean? I\'ve been doing a lot of thinking lately about what Deep Learning really means? Is it \"less\", but \"more\"? Is it more co (More)