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October iiNews

editor's note

With winter well out of the way, it looks like we're heading into one long hot summer. That said, I've been looking forward to the warm change. Pretty soon we'll be heading into beach weather, neighbours will be teasing us with bbqs from over the fence and Mister Whippy will 'Greensleeves' his way through the 'burbs with icy treats. It's a good change.

Change keeps things interesting and means there's always something happening. This month we're bringing you new additions to the Freezone. We're also upping the size of webspaces , taking you through another quick lap of CSS and giving our call centre in Cape Town a very warm welcome. While you're out enjoying the sunshine, give our new mobile site a go. And, if you're planning a summer escape, our Site Scan serves up a bevy of sites to help you get started.

Lastly, a big thanks to everyone who filled out our iiNews Readers' Survey. We'll be getting stuck into reading all your suggestions and sharing our findings real soon. Congratulations also to our 10 lucky survey winners - your iTunes vouchers are on the way.

Until next time.

Swee-Ying Au-Yong

Swee Au-Yong
iiNews Editor ( iinewsfeedback@iinet.net.au )

news

It's official! Cape Town is helping us follow the sun
After a couple of busy months, we've finally launched our Cape Town call centre. Thanks to staff from across the company, we've finished setting up camp and trained new staff in all things iiNet.

As part of iiNet's Virtual Call Centre (VCC), our Cape Town operation now allows us to fully adopt the Follow the Sun approach. The concept is simple - regardless of the time of day, our support lines will be answered by an iiNet staff member, operating within local, agreeable working hours.

If you're keen to learn more about each of our sites, read up on our Follow the Sun page.

WASO, Quickflix & Wildcats - into the Freezone
Our iiNet Freezone just keeps on growing. Check out what's landed in your Media Lounge this month.

WASO
Watch live streaming concerts from internationally acclaimed WASO (West Australian Symphony Orchestra). WASO's 2009 Season Launch is already up and with more installations to come, we'll be bringing you even more sweet music.

Perth Wildcats
Catch audio broadcasts from the Wildcats NBL home games, live from Challenge Stadium through the 08/09 season.
Tune in for the November home games as the Wildcats take on the Townsville Crocodiles (8 November, 7:00pm WST) and man up on the Cairns Taipans (15 November, 7:00pm WST).

Quickflix
Rent online DVDs, without the hassle or late fees! iiNet members can now take advantage of a special Quickflix offer, bringing you unlimited DVD rentals free for 30 days. Visit iiNet's Quickflix page and find out more.

So, get comfortable in the Media Lounge and take advantage of iiNet's speedy ADSL2+ broadband network. Our Media Lounge content belongs to the iiNet Freezone , meaning downloads won't count towards your monthly quota, so there's even more reason to enjoy.

Upsized - 1000MB of webspace to call your own
We're pleased to announce we've increased the size of webspace for all of our broadband and dialup accounts. The upsize will mean webspaces will make a massive jump in size from 30 MB to 1GB, and the best part? You won't need to lift a finger or pay a cent - it's already sorted.

With 1GB of space, you'll have plenty of room to upload a stack of photos or host a decent website. If you're new to working with webspaces and keen to pick up the basics to building a site, our Using your iiNet Webspace feature from May will take you through the nuts and bolts.

If you need more room, we'll be introducing options for customers to buy up even more virtual space in the coming weeks. We'll also be installing a usage meter in toolbox , to help you keep an eye on your account's webspace quota.

If you'd like to learn more, read up about webspace or get in touch with our Support Team on 13 22 58 or support@iinet.net.au.

Phone & VoIP - 1300 and 13 numbers pricing
With wholesale prices increasing, we've had to pass on some minor pricing changes for our VoIP and Phone services (residential and business). On 12 November 2008, call charges to 1300 and 13 numbers will increase - phone calls will be charged at 30c untimed (from 28c), while VoIP calls will also increase to 30c untimed (from 20c).

Have any questions? Our Support Team is full bottle on how to make the most of your VoIP and Phone services. Get in touch with them on 13 22 58 or support@iinet.net.au - they'd love to help.

iiNet website - we've gone mobile!
It's no secret - we love the internet, and we're suckers for new technology. Understandably then, we're excited to share our first steps into mobile territory with you.

Got a mobile device? Give it a go! Plug ii.net/m into your web-enabled phone browser. Try our WiFi hotspot locator (to pinpoint an iiNet wireless access point near you), contact our Support Team, or download the iiNet jingle for your ringtone.

Over the coming months, we'll be working to fill this site with even more handy and interesting info to access on the go. So stop in regularly and watch our work in progress grow. We're keen to hear what you'd like to see so email mobile site suggestions through - we're all ears.

support & services

Broadband for Beginners
Our Broadband for Beginners workshops are winding up for 2008. These workshops are specially designed to help internet newbies find their way around the web.

Workshops come in two modules:
Module 1 - If you're brand new to the internet this workshop is for you. Topics include general information about the internet, finding information, online shopping, local entertainment, online radio, and video sites such as YouTube
Module 2 - Following on from Module 1, this workshop is for people wanting to dig deeper into internet offerings. Topics include online banking, travel and booking holidays, communities and networking, online music stores such as iTunes®, and internet security

If you're keen to sign up or think your nan, uncle, sister, dad or that nice lady down the road could do with some help, you'll need to jot down our final workshop dates for the year:
- Wednesday 5 November (Module 1)
- Wednesday 12 November (Module 2)

Both sessions run from 6pm to 8pm and are delivered by iiNet staff at our Adelaide Terrace office in Perth.

To register, email courses@staff.iinet.net.au with your name, contact phone number, email address and workshop preference (Module 1 only, Module 2 only, or both Module 1 and Module 2).

If you can't make it to our November sessions, we'll be running a few extra workshops during our Open Day - coming soon! Keep an eye out for more Open Day info in next month's iiNews.

feature - CSS basics

We're going to continue our swoop of Cascading Style Sheets this month by taking a look what it means to 'separate' them from our webpages, and why that's a good thing. Before we crack on with it, HTML & CSS newcomers should probably familiarise themselves with our story thus far:

Style versus structure
If you've done any bonus reading on CSS, you might have come across the concept of separating 'style' from 'structure'. The general idea here is pretty simple, 'style' here refers to how we format information and make it more presentable - be it bolding text, changing fonts or colouring a page background. 'Structure' (or sometimes 'markup') refers to the plain vanilla content, unstyled and raw. Separating these two guys is an important practice for today's discerning web designer, as I'll tease out now.

Aside from writing a CSS file and linking to it from your HTML page as we've seen previously, it's worth noting there are other ways to style your page that are less practical than how we've been working so far. For example, you can take the code you've written from your CSS file and paste it directly into the HTML page itself, inside <style> tags, to achieve the same effect on that particular page. Here's how that might look:

...
<head>
<title>my web page</title>
<style>
  p { font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; }
  a { color: magenta; }
</style>
...

You can even go one further and style individual elements on the page (like p tags, images, tables, etc) with what we call 'in-line' styling - effectively telling each element, one by one, exactly how it should appear on the fly. Like this:

<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px;" >this is some text.</p>

The disadvantage of these approaches become apparent when editing or updating your lovely work; if you're preparing styles inside one HTML page, they are no longer available styles for your other HTML pages, which would mean going through each of them and styling them one at a time.

Updating one CSS file that all those HTML pages look up to is not only efficient, it's what we call compliant . In the context of web design, compliance means we're preparing our pages to be accessible and user-friendly, to ensure that someone looking at your webpage in Firefox or Internet Explorer gets the same level of information as someone viewing it on say, a mobile phone, a screen reader or a Braille display - devices that may not comprehend some or all of our style formatting. Separating our style from the HTML via a CSS page goes a long way to helping a webpage become compliant, as it means the HTML page only handles the raw information while the CSS covers the presentation without getting in the way when it's not required.

Interchangeable CSS files
Let's try this exercise - swapping one stylesheet for another within a basic HTML page. Firstly, do a right-click 'save as' on this HTML file , saving it somewhere accessible. Open it up in notepad or a basic text editor, and look for the bit in the head that looks like this:

<link rel="stylesheet" href="http://www.iinet.net.au/about/news/styles1.css" type="text/css" />

If you opened that HTML file in your browser, you'd see it with lovely bold red headings, grey text and pink hyperlinks (don't hold it against me, this is purely for stark, illustrative purposes. Honest). Had a good look at it? Now back in notepad, go and change the stylesheet link line to read:

<link rel="stylesheet" href="http://www.iinet.net.au/about/news/ styles2.css " type="text/css" />

...then save it, and go look at your page again in your browser (if you have it open from last time, remember to refresh the page or hit F5). You should now see the same content, but with huge uppercase green headings, italicised black text and orange links.

The beauty here is that we never once had to change the actual markup on our page, we just had to point the HTML file to a different set of styles in another CSS file. Likewise, when we make changes to one CSS file that multiple HTML pages link to, they all update their styles without us having to tell any of them directly - much the same way that half of England goes for a timely haircut whenever Beckham gets a new 'do.

Regroup
We've done all the groundwork for CSS, we should now have a better grasp of why a separate CSS file is better to work with than trying to style something page by page - it's better for us as web designers and it's better for our audience. Soon enough it'll be time to start seeing exactly what sort of things a CSS file can style - you'd be surprised how much can be done if you put your mind to it.

Thanks to Niaal Holder, long-time fan of plain vanilla.

entertainment & competitions

From the writer/director who brought you Snatch and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels , comes RocknRolla - a story of sex, thugs and rock and roll.

Guy Ritchie's latest action comedy takes a dangerous ride into high crime and low life through London's conspiring underworld. There's millions up for grabs in a world where real estate has supplanted drugs as the biggest market, and criminals are its most enthusiastic entrepreneurs. But for anyone looking to get in, from small-time crook One Two (Gerard Butler) to shady Russian billionaire Uri Ornovich (Karel Roden), there's only one man to see: Lenny Cole (Tom Wilkinson).

To celebrate the Australian release of RocknRolla on October 30, Roadshow Films have given us 50 national double passes to give away. For your chance to get your hands on a double pass, email competitions with 'October RocknRolla Movie Competition' in the subject line. Don't forget to provide your username, full name, address and answer to this question: What three additions have made it into Freezone this month? by 5pm (WST) Friday 31 October, 2008.

All Aussie Musichead promo
It's been a huge month for Aussie music. Thanks to our friends from Musichead , we've got 10 All Aussie Musichead packs to giveaway featuring albums from End of Fashion, Jackson Jackson, John Williamson, Something With Numbers and Empire of the Sun.

Empire of the Sun
Walking on a Dream

One half Sleepy Jackson (Luke Steele) and one half PNAU (Nick Littlemore), Empire of the Sun's Walking on a Dream has breezy, synth, pop gems set as its album default.

Something With Numbers
Engineering the Soul

Engineering the Soul sees the boys from Something With Numbers take a detour from their signature beat driven, punk-inspired tracks, into polished pop-rock terrain.

End of Fashion
Book of Lies

Book of Lies , the second album from End of Fashion features stand out track Fussy , mixed in with glossy grit-pop and a toughened up sound.

Jackson Jackson
Tools for Survival

Jackson Jackson's Tools for Survival serves up a pure distillation of Harry James Angus (The Cat Empire) and Jan Skubiszewski's (producer/composer) collective funk infused folk-hop.

John Williamson
Hillbilly Road

Last but not least, we're going country! True Blue , Aussie anthem legend, John Williamson brings us Hillbilly Road , his first original album in 3 years.

To add our All Aussie Musichead prize (5 great CDs) to your collection, email competitions with 'October Aussie Musichead Competition' in the subject line. Don't forget to include your username, full name and address, along with the answer to this question: To access iiNet's new mobile site, what address do you need to enter into your web-enabled phone browser? by 5pm (WST) Friday 31 October, 2008.

 

2-minute Games Review
We've teamed up again with Games Warehouse to bring you our monthly games reviews and another $100 voucher to splurge on gaming goodness.

If you fancy winning and spending this voucher, email competitions with 'October Games Warehouse Competition' in the subject line. Don't forget to include your username, full name and address, along with the answer to this question: iiNet has increased the size of webspace available to all broadband and dialup accounts to ____ GB? by 5pm (WST) Friday 31 October, 2008.

Warhammer Online - PC, Mac
I'm not big on MMORPG gaming; the concept of working hard for my leisure sets off my angry eyebrows. I'm a softie for pick-up and put-down games, where stepping outside for some fresh air and a laugh doesn't dent my in-game standing when I choose to play it once more. That said, I've had enough of a flirt with the likes of WoW, EVE, Guild Wars and LOTRO that I can pick apart this month's gaming carcass with bird-like efficiency. Let's also congratulate Warhammer Online for holding up well to the months of distaste I've developed for the genre. *applause*

The Warhammer universe is a great setting for an MMO, and as an intricate evolution of core WoW mechanics this release is likely to fare better than Conan or LOTRO were on debut. Old WoW hands will settle into the groove nicely - combat, abilities, questing and PvP (or RvR, as it's known here) are all very familiar, the only real effort required is in adjusting to the new lexicon and iconography.

In a nutshell, everything that WoW stretched to achieve Warhammer Online does with effortless grace. For example, straight out of the box it allows the player to fully customize their interface layout - something WoW devotees need third-party support to achieve.

There's also a stronger social vibe about the place: player parties can be opened to the public, making pickup groups a cinch, while solo questers can wade into Public Quests for large-scale, free-for-all objectives played out over increasingly difficult phases, requiring more and more allies to achieve victory. Once complete, loot is handed out based roughly on each players' overall contribution... skulking around and laying the occasional boss hit won't get you as much as diving into the fray and mixing it up. With PQ's dotting the landscape far and wide, it's entirely legitimate to make public quests your 'career choice' for character levelling and development.

Likewise, one can turn quite a trade via RvR quests, realm objectives that encourage opposing factions to take and hold landmarks for the win. Battles push back and forth over most maps, with realm experience and reputation bonuses then applied to all members of the dominating faction. It's a nice touch to have this level of influence over the environment, a concept that plays out on a larger scale again between vast cities of opposing factions: entire fortresses face each other down, with the ebb and flow of RvR war determining the shape of the landscape as time passes.

In short, the biggest draw I can see with Warhammer Online is the opportunity to level your character via a number of different channels and directly influence the overall gaming infrastructure as you play - quest solo, as a party or with the public, visit the RvR battlegrounds and pitch ongoing battles with opposing factions or spend your time pushing borders into enemy territory. What this means is that no matter how you're playing Warhammer Online, you're being rewarded for your efforts.

Sadly that is where I parted company with the title, as despite the commendable effort to better WoW it really is the same old show - sadly little more than a very classy grind. If you're still getting a buzz out of WoW, I'd strongly advise courting Warhammer Online for a month to see how you two get along. However if you're comfortably outside of the MMO uber-niche, this one may not have the minerals to make you a convert.

Thanks to Niaal Holder, who brought joy to Anlec with his cheery axe and bright pink cape.


Have you spread some Free Love?
It's almost over! Our Free Love competition is drawing to a close at the end of October. If you haven't had the chance yet, here it is - we've still got two more $2,500 Apple prize packs to give away. The packs include the latest iMac, an iPod (with a bundle of iTunes to put on it) and the awesome Apple TV. Check out the happy snap our August winners (Bart and Jeremy) sent in!

As a thanks you to everyone who's helped us spread Free Love, we'll be rolling all of the August and September entries we've received into our final draw - so you'll still have a chance to win.

If you've already spread the love, don't stop now. To increase your chances of winning you'll need to help us spread more Free Love about our ADSL broadband products. Simply tell your friends about iiNet broadband and Naked DSL through our online referral form.

Get a friend to sign up and you both go into the draw to win an Apple prize pack. That's $5,000 worth of Apple goodies to share between you and a friend. So go on - help us spread some love. October entries close 31 October, 2008.

Finally, congrats to our September Free Love winners, Carol Boyle and Lynn Mittendorf. We hope you'll enjoy the Apple goodness coming your way.

Competition terms and conditions - Privacy Policy


PC Reliability and Services Awards 2008

Australian PC Authority is giving away a bonanza stash of shiny tech goodies! There's Fujitsu laptops, Rivio monitors, Nikon D60 cameras and other sweet gadgets up for grabs. If you'd like in on a chance to score one of 40 prizes worth over $17,000, simply fill out the Australian PC Authority Reliability and Service Awards survey.

The 2008 Reliability and Service Awards is Australia's biggest ever tech survey. Think of it as a peoples' choice award and your chance to rate the cream of the tech crop. Don't forget to vote for iiNet under the Broadband ISP section! With your help we'll be able to take out the title of Best ISP .

site scan

That sneaky travel bug has been doing the rounds at iiNet HQ. If you've been bitten too, our site picks this month should serve as a good starting point for your burning wanderlust. In order - pick a place to go, find a way to get there and grab somewhere to stay. In case you're still stuck for inspiration, we've included a bonus bookmark for the do-gooder in you.

The Matador Network
Matador is a huge interactive online travel magazine, full of good advice - for travellers, by travellers. Start with their trip ideas to inspire your next break, or get a hand with studying overseas. Matador Nights brings you worldwide nightlife favourites, while the Brave New Travelers chapter tends to your fancy for an emotional journey on the road. Our favourite is The Traveler's Notebook, a log of quick & smart travel tips, with features like 13 Tips for Safer Travel and How to Take the Bus in NYC.

Webjet.com.au
Compare domestic and international airfares across Jetstar, Virgin Blue, Qantas and Regional Express airlines. Webjet's services also include a car rental finder, travel insurance packages, holiday specials, and basic guides to the most popular destinations. They also have a free travel planner - planitonearth - so you can keep your itinerary and budget on track.

Wotif.com
Find accommodation around the world, from budget sleepers to luxury hotels. Co-operation from each hotel, motel and apartment listed means Wotif.com's online reservation system just about guarantees your booking, even up to the last minute. For extra peace of mind, we recommend combining this with well-known review site, Tripadvisor.com.

Intrepid Volunteering
See the world while making it a better place. Intrepid Volunteering run teaching & building programs in developing areas, and invite travelers to experience up-close culture off the beaten tourist path. They take both single and group bookings, and can arrange custom itineraries for parties of 10 or more. Trips run from 2-6 weeks, with accommodation and meals looked after by Intrepid.

Thanks to Sandy Lim, happily unable to shake her travel bug.