Enhance your site with Text2Speech and Web2PDF

When visitors arrive at your website, you want to let them know that it is worth staying and checking out. A simple feature that can enhance the perceived value of your site is translation. And, in my previous post I discussed translation widgets from Google and Yahoo. This week we'll add two additional features that can be applied to a broad range of websites, Text2Speech and Web2PDF.

vozMe provides text to speech widgets that you can easily paste into your website code. The options for configuring this widget include various interfaces and either a male or female voice. You can also specify exactly what text you want read or have visitors select the text that they want to hear. vozMe supports plugins for Blogger, WordPress, and Joomla. Here is an example of the vozMe text to speech widget:



Another useful utility is BCL Technologies' Web2PDF Online, which allows visitors to print your pages as PDF files. When you create a copy of this widget, you have the option of setting the margins of the PDFs that your visitors generate. Here's an example if you want to give it a try:



I've used vozMe and Web2PDF together with Google Translate to enhance my WhyPark site:

www.GreenEnergyProject.com

I've also added them to the right column of the Widget Wonk blog.

You can get a copy of the code for vozME text to speech at:
http://vozme.com/webmasters.php?lang=en

After (free) registration, Web2PDF Online is available at:
http://web2.pdfonline.com/

Widget Wonk is now a widget

Here is one for your "What will they think of next?" file. Widget Wonk is now available as a widget. Widgetbox provides an online tool that quickly converts blogs into widgets. It is available at:

http://www.widgetbox.com/create/create_widget.jsp

I used this tool to create a Widget Wonk widget, which is available from Widgetbox at:

http://www.widgetbox.com/widget/widget-wonk

Below is an example of the Widget Wonk widget. You can customize it if you want to install on your site:

Vizu: Polls for interactivity and income

I recently learned of Vizu, a company that allows you to add custom polls to your websites. I used their "Power Polls" system to create and add surveys about women's sports to my WhyPark site:

www.SportsQueens.com

Click the links at the top of the page (either "For Women" or "For Men") to go to the pages with the Vizu-generated surveys.

You can also make money with Vizu if you allow marketing researchers to put their surveys in the Power Polls on your websites. Here is a WhyPark site for which I added a poll, but did not specify my own questions:

www.GameQueens.com

The questions that you see on GameQueens.com are either from Vizu or from marketers who are using Vizu to collect consumer data (and paying for the privilege).

[Update 8.10.08: I removed the marketing research survey from GameQueens because I'm now using that pol for visitors to review the games that are available on that site. If your want to see a Vizu-generated Power Pol, there is one at the upper right of www.MemoryTheater.com .]

Vizu Power Polls is currently a free Beta. They might start charging to use this service. However, based on their FAQ, fees will probably only apply to high volume sites. Below is an example of a Vizu Power Poll.

Your Market Research Here

First Impressions of Google Lively

I spent some time checking out Google Lively. This is a new program that allows you to create shared 3D spaces and embed them in your web sites. Google provides a catalog of avatars and objects to inhabit and accessorize your spaces. Among the the objects you can place in your 3D spaces are picture and (YouTube) video viewers.

I have a WhyPark site with photography content. And, my initial thought was that it would be neat to provide visitors with a 3D space containing interesting photos. So I created a space and dropped in some photo frame gadgets from the Lively Catalog. The gadgets were able to display photos hosted by ImageShack. However, when I placed the photo frames where I wanted them in my space, the picture images were rather small and unimpressive. Not the photo gallery experience I was hoping for. However, maybe the space template I was using (an island) wasn't optimal for my purposes.

While my 3D photo gallery is still a work in progress, there is another approach for using Google Lively with WP sites. Simply select an appropriate popular public room and embed it in your WP layout. As Lively users move around, chat, and change the objects in the room, they will be making your WP site more interesting.

Here's my photo site with an embedded Lively room:

www.MemoryIsland.com

Note:
To enter the 3D space you'll need to download Lively, which currently only runs on Windows XP and Vista.

You can tell by the domain name why I wanted to try out an island template for my photography 3D space. Below is an example of a Lively room.

Planet MiniBox Discussion Widget

I've used Planet MiniBox to add a discussion areas to some of my WhyPark sites. Here's one with a Planet Minibox:

www.UnconferenceNews.com

The Minibox width is set to 590 pixels. I've also enhanced this site with a Google map, news feed, and custom content (unconference bibliography).

I've repurposed these features and content by placing them on separate pages at:

www.UnconferenceForum.com

It will be interesting to see which of these sites yield better traffic performance.

A downside to Planet MiniBox is that you can only create one per account. Below is a reduced version of my unconference shoutbox. Click "Pop" to open it in an expandable window.