tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10623471643293306682024-03-19T06:21:52.906+10:00lindseybuckle.comDigital marketing. Web Analytics. Conversion Optimisation. Web development. Usability. Writing. Career.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17833254236186334574noreply@blogger.comBlogger33125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1062347164329330668.post-42841230819839705332016-01-23T23:04:00.000+10:002016-01-23T23:04:26.228+10:004 quick and easy ways to improve your branding online<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Building an online brand can seem overwhelming to new or small businesses. There are so many possibilities. But once you have your website up and running, and you've decided on which, if any, social networks to target, there some simple measures you can take to help build your brand. Here are 4 easy ways to increase your brand exposure:<br />
<div>
<ol>
<li><b>Use vanity URLs</b><br />When you create a social media account for your business you're given a unique URL that links to your page or profile. Usually this will consist of a random and rather unmemorable collection of letters and numbers. A vanity URL is one that includes your name, or company name, and is set up easily with most social media sites. Using a vanity URL makes your page easier to find, easier to remember and looks more professional.</li>
<li><b>Set up a favicon on your website</b><br />A favicon is that tiny little logo that appears in the browser tab next to the page title. These are extremely useful to those of us who somehow always seem to have so many tabs open that the favicon is literally all we can see. If a website doesn't have a favicon I can spend seconds clicking around from tab-to-tab looking for the right one. And we all know how valuable seconds are in the online world. A favicon helps your visitors become more familiar with your logo and branding, making them more likely to recognise and remember it later.<b><br /></b></li>
<li><b>Connect the online dots</b><br />Cross-reference your various URLs everywhere. Include your website and social media profile in your email signature, and give your website visitors plenty of opportunity to link back to your social media pages. Make sure your website is mentioned in social media About sections and summaries, and post any updates to your website or blog as status updates.<b><br /></b></li>
<li><b>Use your logo in your email signature</b><br />Because the brain is so quick to process images, it is to your advantage to get your logo seen whenever you possibly can. One way to do this is to add it to your email signature. This step is a little more complicated than the others and you may need to ask your web developer to help you. Ideally, you (or your developer) will create an HTML signature and host your logo on your website. The alternative to this is creating the signature yourself in your email client, which will include the image as an attachment. This has issues however, not least that many people now read emails on their mobile devices on-the-go, and so any images you attach will use up their mobile data allowance. One disadvantage of hosting images is that some people block images in emails. So make sure your developer adds an <b>alt</b> attribute to the image tag.</li>
</ol>
<div>
Of course this is in no way a definitive list but hopefully I have given you some simple ideas that you can quickly get started with. To avoid feeling overwhelmed, just choose one or two things at a time to work on until you gain the confidence to try bigger and better things. The online world is your oyster - don't be afraid to crack it open and claim the pearl.</div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17833254236186334574noreply@blogger.com427tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1062347164329330668.post-43378255227658235042015-12-08T20:00:00.003+10:002015-12-08T20:00:53.220+10:00Digital Marketing - what do I actually do?So what do I do these days? Pretty much this.<br />
<br />
The lads at Kogan have put together a hilarious video that places online retail practices into the context of a bricks and mortar store. Put like that, what I actually do for a living seems rather hilarious. <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ruslank/videos/10153189526240843/" target="_blank">Take a look</a>.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17833254236186334574noreply@blogger.com217tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1062347164329330668.post-10555274561871928382012-08-06T22:00:00.000+10:002012-08-06T22:28:46.320+10:00Google Analytics: onMouseDown tracks more events than onClickRecently I added some Google Analytics event tracking code to some very simple web forms across a number of sub-domains. The forms took just one field, an email address, and I placed the tracking code in the onClick event, as suggested by Google in their online documentation:<br />
<blockquote>
<code><input type="submit" onClick="_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','Subscribe','By Email','Subdomain 1']);" value="Subscribe" />
</code>
</blockquote>
I then set about testing the forms to make sure they were tracking. Despite submitting each form at least once only 2 events were tracked. I knew that the clicks had occurred as not only was I given on screen confirmation but I received emails to let me know I had subscribed.<br />
<br />
This is what GA was telling me for all events across all subdomains:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSNpuuQ-yojj5CYY0XcaJyKbc1hjmeFBtcPTsL_nBjaoVIkkg3XzpjIpPSwGPvGHU7AJyrxB9BGtmT_SAJpfYi4FUQIFlFIeFdTi0r5-8yMarSPrF6mIJ8KUpVnbL3ylQC2nYnEAv1WSk/s1600/GA-EventsNotTracked.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSNpuuQ-yojj5CYY0XcaJyKbc1hjmeFBtcPTsL_nBjaoVIkkg3XzpjIpPSwGPvGHU7AJyrxB9BGtmT_SAJpfYi4FUQIFlFIeFdTi0r5-8yMarSPrF6mIJ8KUpVnbL3ylQC2nYnEAv1WSk/s1600/GA-EventsNotTracked.png" /></a></div>
Despite GA knowing that 42 visits sent events only 21 were actually tracking. Strange.<br />
<br />
Then I discovered this interesting article by <a href="http://www.cardinalpath.com/author/juzcategui/" target="_blank">Joze Uzcategui</a> of <a href="http://www.cardinalpath.com/" target="_blank">Cardinal Path</a>, who did an <a href="http://www.cardinalpath.com/experiment-onclick-vs-onmousedown-event-tracking-in-google-analytics/" target="_blank">experiment to determine whether onMouseDown records a different number of events to onClick</a>. Turns out it does.<br />
<br />
OnMouseDown records the click as soon as the visitor starts pressing the mouse button, whereas onClick occurs after the button has then been released again. The theory is that today's super-fast browsers allow the page to unload before the onClick event has been registered. (This may be confirmed by the fact that Jose's stats showed a greater discrepancy for Chrome, Safari and Firefox than for IE.)<br />
<br />
Jose's results were staggering. Of 235 visits, 205 onMouseDown events were recorded whereas onClick tracked a mere 122. For IE there were 5% more onMouseDown than onClick events tracked. For Firefox, this increased to 36% and for Chrome it was an astounding 84%.<br />
<br />
This raises some interesting questions, not least where should I be recommending clients place their tracking code. Clearly it doesn't make sense to place tracking code in both events, unless you are somehow going to distinguish between them, as Jose did in his experiment. But as another reader pointed out, it may be a common and valid action for a visitor to begin to click, then change their mind and move the mouse to another part of the screen before releasing the button. I know I do this. OnMouseDown would register this as an event, when it clearly isn't. However,one could argue that having a few extra events recorded is a small price to pay to prevent so many potentially real events being ignored. Sure, GA has told me that 42 visits sent events but if I know nothing about half of these events, not even which sub-domain they came from, then what use is that to me?<br />
<br />
Possible solutions are to:<br />
<ul>
<li>Track both onMouseDown and onClick, making sure to use your labels or categories to differentiate between the two. You would still need to figure out how to use the resulting data though, perhaps taking an average to account for any mouse depress-drags.</li>
<li>Add a time delay to all events, similar to the <a href="http://support.google.com/analytics/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1136920" target="_blank">recommended solution for outbound links</a>.This would be imperceptible to the visitor but should delay the event for long enough for GA to track it before the page unloads.</li>
<li>Use onMouseDown instead of onClick and accept that there may be some false events recorded. Perhaps perform some user tests to determine the percentage of actions that can be assumed to be depress-drags.</li>
</ul>
<br />
I ran a quick test using IE and in the time it has taken me to
write this post the event was showing in GA - this is a record for all
the testing I've done across these sites so far. Just to confirm,
gobsmacked as I was, I repeated the test on a further 3 sub-domains that
had previously failed to track. Sure enough, those events also appeared in GA in record time. So, to be sure I tried the first one again in Chrome. Of course, just to make this a totally moot point that event turned up quick-smart too. I've since submitted 3 more forms from Chrome and 1 from IE; 2 of the Chrome forms haven't yet tracked. Clearly I have a lot more testing to do.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17833254236186334574noreply@blogger.com26tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1062347164329330668.post-61572940521752180172012-05-11T16:46:00.000+10:002012-10-04T21:07:07.886+10:00Google Analytics: Paid Search Advanced Segment excluding some google / cpc trafficCan anyone out there explain why the following might be happening?<br />
<br />
Earlier today I viewed a Google Analytics Ecommerce report for a client and found a revenue that was about 0.2% less than what I was expecting it to be. Not much, you might think but when the revenue is over $100,000 it's enough to make me curious.<br />
<br />
I viewed the revenue report by clicking on Standard Reporting, Conversions, Ecommerce and Overview:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-fXgBY7NrvIgR2ufPsCXdjF_sKZAJfb_b6QfJP-qcS57e3lCk0LnFGikXXEu6qgzFU70vs8Smjk2Z2ifUOq11cg4WGhThR6q94l7az-9jQ6-o9kb4ay4dMAIwsmF-P92x32D9G9I3wUQ/s1600/GA-EcommerceNav.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-fXgBY7NrvIgR2ufPsCXdjF_sKZAJfb_b6QfJP-qcS57e3lCk0LnFGikXXEu6qgzFU70vs8Smjk2Z2ifUOq11cg4WGhThR6q94l7az-9jQ6-o9kb4ay4dMAIwsmF-P92x32D9G9I3wUQ/s400/GA-EcommerceNav.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
I then selected a source/medium of google / cpc to get the Adwords revenue:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPpJLWZ6b6Z-vjc0pn0EZIgeI14SfGYYRia99pD7b_UECVigdkgQXOw87-AWRwZjMyvE2flhWErC2uP7sEC4wr2Bj6VSYDOVPEMPRqZNHwMuSTHRVsLPJpO7hFL5zFGOi7YXbB1BJkFFg/s1600/GA-Ecom-srcmed2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPpJLWZ6b6Z-vjc0pn0EZIgeI14SfGYYRia99pD7b_UECVigdkgQXOw87-AWRwZjMyvE2flhWErC2uP7sEC4wr2Bj6VSYDOVPEMPRqZNHwMuSTHRVsLPJpO7hFL5zFGOi7YXbB1BJkFFg/s400/GA-Ecom-srcmed2.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br />
<br />
And this was the figure that was slightly less than expected. Further investigation showed that I had inadvertently applied an Advanced Segment of Paid Search Traffic.<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsC9EW1jvXVYY_XbOkNaWknxtvWs1KJ7oGPB2yG4r0DgqiD5ltQ4GhTm8bp8oF225TUr6DkvOH55w1gmueKWQkvUerPpL8h74x1mb0NCrbBkXXcZtuOxruGtqeToqLqh6u3nbHZZOxAC8/s1600/GA-AdvSeg-PaidSrch.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="287" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsC9EW1jvXVYY_XbOkNaWknxtvWs1KJ7oGPB2yG4r0DgqiD5ltQ4GhTm8bp8oF225TUr6DkvOH55w1gmueKWQkvUerPpL8h74x1mb0NCrbBkXXcZtuOxruGtqeToqLqh6u3nbHZZOxAC8/s400/GA-AdvSeg-PaidSrch.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
The question is, why should this make a difference? What could be coming through as google / cpc that the Paid Search Traffic segment is filtering out? Please leave a comment if you have any ideas about what could be causing this discrepancy.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17833254236186334574noreply@blogger.com28tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1062347164329330668.post-83063717185712441522012-05-04T15:52:00.000+10:002012-05-04T15:52:53.224+10:00HP Software prevents GIMP from working<b>PROBLEM:</b><br />
Running GIMP on my HP laptop (ProBook 4520s running Windows 7) causes the following error:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"The procedure entry point libintl_setlocale could not be located in the dynamic link library intl.dll" </blockquote>
<br />
GIMP does not start up properly. <br />
<br />
<b>CAUSE:</b><br />
<a href="http://gimp-win.sourceforge.net/faq.html" target="_blank">According to GIMP</a> this is caused by the placement of a file named intl.dll in the Windows or Windows\System32 folder causing conflicts with GIMP's intl.dll. The file in the system folder takes precedence, preventing GIMP from starting up correctly.<br />
<br />
In my particular case the offending file was placed there by software loaded as standard onto HP laptops, HP Protect Tools Security Manager. <br />
<b><br /></b><br />
<b>SOLUTION: </b><br />
Rename or remove the intl.dll file in the system directory.<br />
<br />
You might want to think twice about this if you use the software responsible for placing the file there. By all means rename and see whether you get any warnings or errors in any of the programs you run. I didn't use the HP software; in fact I found it quite annoying. Two programs in particular use this file: DPAgent.exe and DPAdminWizard.exe. Renaming the file intl-old.dll caused two error messages to display when I booted up my laptop:<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_BUE7oD9X2wLshQ2nu3BC6BwYM8Kjqj9oWt150jVdPH94guoKs9HDh_h2lxv5SRRIMgWRZDR_pl9u2rq_msEvVhcdIPYR9HrjcUis6RbzFTVBT73d2c_O83N6RrE1SXjnb3lCUoXh20I/s1600/dpAdminWizard.exe+-+System+Error.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="111" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_BUE7oD9X2wLshQ2nu3BC6BwYM8Kjqj9oWt150jVdPH94guoKs9HDh_h2lxv5SRRIMgWRZDR_pl9u2rq_msEvVhcdIPYR9HrjcUis6RbzFTVBT73d2c_O83N6RrE1SXjnb3lCUoXh20I/s320/dpAdminWizard.exe+-+System+Error.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMZiTnIsswfWkQA2bZGY8-UH-nrR5AtGEdl9kQaTVy-QwTJf8Ak9rH7GdHVx-WBD8i4Kyws-2XIdnSIWP2onXmD4WTUhDSo5hQa0j2Pkmg_u5ETrCaiD0lfP22fKUy80sWDzSLS9CPVLo/s1600/DPAgent.exe+-+System+Error.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="110" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMZiTnIsswfWkQA2bZGY8-UH-nrR5AtGEdl9kQaTVy-QwTJf8Ak9rH7GdHVx-WBD8i4Kyws-2XIdnSIWP2onXmD4WTUhDSo5hQa0j2Pkmg_u5ETrCaiD0lfP22fKUy80sWDzSLS9CPVLo/s320/DPAgent.exe+-+System+Error.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
I got rid of these by going into Services and changing the Startup Type from Automatic to Manual. I'm sure that uninstalling the software would be just as satisfactory.<br />
<br />
I'm glad I didn't spend the time configuring HP's Protect Tools only to then have to stop running it. According to GIMP "intl.dll has no place in System32 directory". I will refrain from any further comment, except to say that this is not the only thing that irritates me about my HP laptop; USB ports to the front do not make sense.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17833254236186334574noreply@blogger.com46tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1062347164329330668.post-11614252343374645182012-04-20T21:04:00.000+10:002012-04-20T21:04:26.749+10:00Google Plus-ing my blogAs part of my drive to use social media to publish my blog - and thus encourage me to write more content - I am adding some share buttons to the page. So far I've only used the built-in Blogger gadgets, due to a shortage of time. They're not bad but I'm thinking of adding a custom widget that should look a bit better.<br />
<br />
But to get to the point, I can't decide whether to have a Google +1 button, or a Google Badge, which allows you to follow me from the site. Or both. (Note, I already have a +1 button below each post but here I'm talking about the left-hand panel). What do you think?Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17833254236186334574noreply@blogger.com31tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1062347164329330668.post-68079901442916531322012-04-19T20:48:00.003+10:002012-10-04T20:58:05.791+10:00Spooky Facebook requests phone number and recommends friendsAt work we have a lot of clients that we "Like" on Facebook to help them with their social media profiles. Some of these clients I'm personally interested in and others not so much. My news feed is becoming very cluttered as a consequence. A colleague suggested setting up a second Facebook profile that can be used for professional purposes. This appeals to me as I don't particularly want to share my "Child vomited on shoulder" stories with colleagues and business associates. I also want to start messing around with promoting this blog a bit more to further my knowledge within the work environment.<br />
<br />
So I set about setting up a new profile, with a more professional photograph, using my work email address.<br />
<br />
I was surprised to find that Facebook wanted my mobile phone number in order for me to continue with my registration. Not only that but I was warned that I could only register this number with one account. I was pretty sure that back in 2007 when I first signed up to Facebook this wasn't a requirement so I wasn't concerned that my mobile number was already registered. But I was concerned that I might need to associate this number with my primary account at some time. And of course, I was a bit worried about what they might do with the number once they have it. Concern Number One. I hesitated.<br />
<br />
Then the Social Media expert in the office assured me they only wanted it for the creation of the account and that I could change it later. Cool. I continued.<br />
<br />
I then received a text message with a code I was required to submit in order to continue my account creation. This I did, then made sure that Facebook wasn't going to send me any SMS messages or give out my number.<br />
<br />
The next page blew me away.<br />
<br />
I was asked to select friends from a list which included a mixture of good friends, an old uni friend, ex-colleagues, my dad, girls I knew in pregnancy yoga over three years ago, my husband's aunt, and a friend of a friend I haven't seen for years.<br />
<br />
It was an eclectic list to say the least. Some of them I am already friends with, using my primary account, others I'm not, although we do have one mutual Facebook friend. I do know all of them. How does Facebook know this? Concern Number Two.<br />
<br />
Whilst pondering this aloud the aforementioned Social Media expert (affectionately and hereafter referred to as Salmon) muttered something about Facebook being able to access my iPhone SMS database. Eh what? Say again? Concern Number Three.<br />
<br />
"Oh yes," said the all-knowing Salmon. "If you have the Facebook app on your phone, and you have given Facebook your phone number then they can access your message bank. They got into trouble for not disclosing it. Google it."<br />
<br />
And how come you didn't think to mention this earlier oh wise Salmon? Anyway I did. Google it.<br />
<br />
And I found <a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/253278/facebook_security_hole_found_on_iphone_android_devices.html">this</a>. To summarise for those who can't be bothered to click on the link, Facebook login credentials are not encrypted within the mobile apps and as such can be exploited by a rogue app, or anyone with a USB connection to your phone. The developer who discovered this found a Facebook access token inside a game app. He copied the token and using Facebook Query Language managed to pull any information he desired from his Facebook account. I urge you to follow the link and read the article. What happened next almost beggars belief. Concern Number Four.<br />
<br />
I also found a link to an <a href="http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/250745/facebook_denies_its_application_spies_on_text_messages.html">article regarding the eavesdropping on text messages</a>. The article only references Android phones and Facebook denied it. But still. By now I'm getting rather concerned. And totally spooked.<br />
<br />
How did Facebook know that I knew those people? All I had told it was my work email address, my phone number, my name (minus my married name) and my date of birth. These are not generally people I have emailed from work. I couldn't see any way it could have linked me to my primary account or to any of those people. I started to get concerned that it had read my phone Contacts list but not all of the suggestions were in there. It was like magic! A dark and scary magic.<br />
<br />
Here's my current theory. We use GMail for email at work and I have my Google accounts set up so that I can <a href="http://www.gottabemobile.com/2011/06/10/how-to-login-to-2-gmail-accounts-at-the-same-time-in-the-same-browser/">log in to both my work and personal accounts</a> within the same browser session. (This is an excellent feature which is really useful for GMail but then falls apart when you want to use some Google apps, such as Documents.) So Google knows both my work email address and my personal email address and that they both belong to the same person. As we've already established Facebook knows my work email address. Well, my primary Facebook account has my personal GMail account as a secondary email. Could this be how Facebook knows I probably know those people? Could it be looking at my personal GMail contacts and then seeing if any of them are on Facebook, and then suggesting either them, or their friends? Or could it be that because I have emailed myself from work it is suggesting my own primary Facebook account's friends and their friends? It seems convoluted but I'm otherwise stuck for an explanation. Let me know in the comments if you have any ideas.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, I think I will sack the whole idea of a second account and I'm rethinking heavily how I use my primary one.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17833254236186334574noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1062347164329330668.post-81898908275661046982011-05-11T13:36:00.000+10:002012-10-04T21:06:08.242+10:00Warning: Sitting kills!All these years as a non-smoker and I never thought I'd unwittingly spend every day of my life doing something almost as dangerous: sitting.<br />
<br />
Unless you've been wandering the deserts of Arabia, or on a scientific expedition in Antarctica, in which case this news probably doesn't apply to you anyway, you can't have failed to have heard the latest research findings that warn that those of us with desk jobs have an increased risk of dying. Simply because we sit.<br />
<br />
And it doesn't matter how seemingly healthy you are: what you eat, how much you weigh and how much exercise you do matters not a jot. If you sit for extended periods of time you are essentially killing yourself.<br />
<br />
And apparently it's worse if you're a woman. (Well it would be, wouldn't it? As if we don't have enough to deal with.) Where men who sit for more than 6 hours a day have an 18% increased risk of dying of sedentary-related diseases, for women that number jumps to 37%! Hardly seems fair.<br />
<br />
Perhaps it all relates to evolution. Men would expend a lot of energy hunting, then come home, eat a massive meal, fall asleep and then be essentially useless for a few days until another bison was required. Meanwhile, women were faffing about the cave, running around after small children, gathering leaves and berries, shooing away scavengers and generally being just a little bit busy, constantly. But that is mere speculation. An evolutionary biologist I am not. Although that would be a pretty cool profession.<br />
<br />
Admittedly this news isn't really new. Studies on this topic have been conducted over the last few years and they all seem to corroborate the findings. But a recent study by the University of Queensland has some good news: you don't really need to do much to counteract this effect. Spending a minimum of 1 minute standing or walking for every 15 minutes of sitting is enough to keep you healthy.<br />
<br />
Luckily for me, I am so full of baby at the moment that I can't comfortably sit still for any period of time anyway. But just in case I might start drinking water from an egg cup so that I'm forced to wander to the water cooler every 15 minutes.<br />
<br />
<b>References</b><br />
<ol>
<li><a href="http://www.medconnect.com.au/tabid/84/s9/Gastroenterology-Hepatology/ct1/c239765/Small-Breaks-From-Sitting-Good-For-Heart/Default.aspx">MedConnect: Small Breaks From Sitting 'Good For Heart'</a> </li>
<li><a href="http://www.inc.com/articles/0502/Action-Tips-for-Healthy-Employees.html">Inc.com: Action Tips for Healthy Employees</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1301708/Could-sitting-death-Experts-reveal-hours-perched-chairs-having-disastrous-effect-health.html">Daily Mail: Could Sitting Down Be the Death Of You?</a> </li>
<li><a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/scott/sitting-down-will-kill-you-infographic%20">BuzzFeed: Sitting Down WILL Kill You (Infographic) </a><b><br />
</b></li>
</ol>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17833254236186334574noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1062347164329330668.post-13721683662087205362011-04-01T11:04:00.001+10:002011-04-01T11:44:44.311+10:00CAPS LOCK STUCK ONThis is a really annoying error that used to happen to me a lot but hasn't happened for ages. I thought I'd already blogged about it but clearly not. Anyway, today it happened again. I suspect this is the first time it happened on my work laptop, which runs Windows 7. So the blog I thought I'd written is probably just a note on my personal WinXP laptop.<br />
<br />
I don't know what I did, obviously pressed some kind of sticky key combo, but no matter what I typed it came out as upper case. I could toggle my caps lock on and off and to all intents and purposes when it was off it looked off, that is the light went off. But I still typed in caps. I tried toggling the shift key, which should give me lower case when my caps lock is on. But that didn't work either.<br />
<br />
The solution is astoundingly simple:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>Start, All Programs, Accessories, Ease of Access (or Accessibility in WinXP), On-Screen Keyboard. Click the Caps Lock key on the on screen keyboard.<br />
Job done.</blockquote><br />
I'm sure I had a different solution for WinXP but this one worked for me today on Windows 7.<br />
<br />
UPDATE: This did not fix the problem within Word. It seems I inadvertently hit Ctrl+F3 whilst trying to adjust the brightness on my screen. This key combo shifts the case between upper, lower and sentence. To resolve just toggle Ctrl+F3 until you get the case you want.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17833254236186334574noreply@blogger.com24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1062347164329330668.post-43202489331729314582010-09-16T17:02:00.000+10:002010-09-16T17:02:05.806+10:00Why Google Analytics and Google Adwords have different conversion ratesSo here I am in the midst of a new job learning a new industry with all of its jargon and definitions. Amongst the very important things I have been learning about are goals and conversions. A goal is something you want a visitor to your site to do, be it fill in a form, or make a purchase. A conversion occurs when the visitor completes that goal. Simple, right?<br />
<br />
So how come both Google Analytics, which monitors traffic flow to and through your site, and Google Adwords, which directs traffic into your site, both have the concept of conversions and how do they relate to one another? More importantly, how come they're sometimes different?<br />
<br />
Well, as the Javascript for Google Analytics is on every page of your website it knows exactly where a visitor is and has been. That much makes sense. How does Adwords know? You help it by setting up conversion tracking. This places a cookie on the user's machine when they click on an Adword. When they finally get to a conversion page the cookie is picked up and Adwords registers the conversion as attributable to the source ad. What Adwords doesn't know, however, is which goal has been converted; that information comes from Analytics. Meanwhile, Google Analytics, also registers that the conversion has been made by virtue of the fact that traffic from a particular source has reached a conversion page.<br />
<br />
So, you'd think that the conversion rates would be the same, wouldn't you? Well, more than likely, they aren't. Once you've clicked on an Adword and obtained the cookie, it sits on your machine for 30 days. This allows you to go away and think about whether you really want to make the purchase. In an Adwords report, your click has been registered but it hasn't led to a conversion. A few days later you return to complete the transaction and a conversion is registered, with the start date of the cookie as the date of the conversion. Viewing an Adwords report for the same time period will now show a different conversion rate. However, Analytics will always give you the same information for a given time period and won't count a conversion until it is completed.<br />
<br />
For example, if I click on an Adword in August, but fail to complete the transaction until September, an Adwords report for August will count the conversion but an Analytics report won't. But the figures should ultimately end up the same right? Well, no, because come September my Analytics report has counted the conversion started in August, but Adwords won't count it for that time period because it already counted it in August.<br />
<br />
Basically there is constant flux between these two figures and they are very rarely exactly the same.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17833254236186334574noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1062347164329330668.post-89696361980236979752010-07-22T13:11:00.001+10:002012-10-04T21:17:44.115+10:00Blogging is about communicating, sharing and marketingI have just finished reading quite an interesting blog post, all about asking the right questions. It talks about using focused, situation-specific questions to get to the crux of the matter, rather than the usual big picture questions we tend to ask. I won't go into any more detail on that. You can <a href="http://blog.trailmeme.com/2010/07/the-dangerous-art-of-the-right-question/">read the post yourself</a> if you're interested.<br />
<br />
What I wanted to talk about was a comment posted in response to the article. The author relates the point he's trying to make back to a web project that he is working on, providing a link to the website in question. The project was funded by Xerox, for whom the author and developer works. There is a passing comment (but no link) to Xerox in the post. At the very end of the article, as a sidenote, he references a book he is writing, a chapter of which is based upon the same concept. He provides a link allowing readers to be notified when the book is published. This all seems fairly reasonable to me but one of the commenters took exception to this, saying:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>
You completely lost my respect when you mentioned your website.<br />
<br />
I’ve noticed a trend in the last 6 months to a year where smart people write really smart articles, which I really enjoy reading, then make a really dumb mistake by tying what they’ve been talking about into their website / business / startup. It just seems really f**king lazy to me. You basically invalidate everything you’ve said previously by throwing in an advertisement for your website toward the end of your article. You (and I mean blog writers in general, I don’t mean to attack you directly) lull the reader into a sense of trust with your excellently written article (and yours is a very excellently written article, make no mistake) then drop an advertisement casually into the story, hoping readers will go to your website based solely on the quality of your writing only it now has had the opposite effect.<br />
<br />
As I was reading, I had decided that I was going to bookmark this story and share it with my good friend (yes, I only have one. So what?) when I was finished with it, except now I won’t be bookmarking it and I won’t be sharing it with anyone. I certainly won’t be visiting your website, that’s for sure. Instead, I write this comment, in the vain hope that you will make a blog post about it and tell other bloggers so that you (again, all blog writers) will stop advertising your damn websites in your blogs.<br />
<br />
Again, thank you for the article. It was enlightening and interesting, and I wish I could’ve enjoyed it more.</blockquote>
<br />
Frankly, I'm not surprised this fella has only one good friend. What a rude sod. I'm not sure what sort of a world he lives in but I thought this was the point of blogging. Experts freely share information that they find interesting/useful etc. but in turn they are advertising either themselves or their business. If I'm going to read a blog post I want to know a little bit about the author. "What makes him such an expert? What does he do? Oh! He wrote Trailmeme. Well, what's that then? Let's click on this link. Well, would you look at that. That is cool." Or, "hey! I liked that. What else has he written? Oh he's writing a whole book. That could be worth a read."<br />
<br />
Some of the best things I've found on the internet have been stumbled across in this way. The blogging community survives by sharing, commenting, linking and it's a bit naive to think that everyone else is like me, typing away for the sake of it without much thought or care as to who is reading it or why I'm doing it. (And frankly, I only started doing this in order to advertise my professional services and expertise sometime in the future, should it become necessary.) Providing links between blogs and sites, talking about our work and advertising products we love is what blogging is all about.<br />
<br />
What I do take exception to, however, is underhand or blatent advertising. Comments suggesting I sign up for online dating, which clearly has nothing to do with the article being commented on. Commercial links within posts just for the sake of it. Or false reviews of sites, products, services. That sort of thing gives blogging and the world of Web 2.0 a bad name and makes people mistrust what they read online.<br />
<br />
Incidentally, I (not the commenter) asterisked out the f-word, which was a totally unnecessary addition. I think Mike, who provided no link back to his own website, has serious anger issues, expects way too much of the world and probably misses out on a lot of good things because of his negative attitude. Poor Mike.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17833254236186334574noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1062347164329330668.post-23256890281758145162010-05-12T13:54:00.000+10:002010-05-12T13:54:42.961+10:00Building optimum font stacksThose of us with a development background, as opposed to design, often don't give typography much thought. We're most likely to pick a common font stack, say "Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" and use it to death.<br />
<br />
But typography is really important. It's only when you go to a website with clearly thought out fonts that aren't overused all over the web that you realise just how much difference they can make. <br />
<br />
The problem for developers is that it's difficult to devise your own font stack without really understanding the attributes of the different fonts. Some are wider than others (x-width), others taller (x-height), some heavier, others look different on Windows and Mac. If you don't match them up well it can throw your design off balance.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.awayback.com/revised-font-stack/">This post on A Way Back</a> talks about optimum font stacks. It includes a useful table that looks at the percentage of Macs and PCs with certain fonts loaded. It then takes a handful of websites as examples and makes suggestions as to the optimum font stacks for them. Less common fonts are moved up the stack so they're more likely to be used. Mac fonts are matched with similar Windows fonts. Fonts that are wider than the desired font are removed or replaced. And so on.<br />
<br />
This is a useful resource for web developers, giving you much of the information you may require to design your own font stacks. Better than that, it gives some marvellous suggestions of font stacks that you can re-use on your own site.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17833254236186334574noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1062347164329330668.post-13092987666140466152010-05-04T16:24:00.000+10:002012-10-04T21:12:37.806+10:00Notepad++ Tips and TricksAs regular readers will know, I'm a great fan of free software. I use Notepad++ for most of my code editing. Here are a few useful tips and tricks I've picked up along the way. Much of this stuff is standard for a text editor but not necessarily that easy to find in Notepad++.<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li><b>View in browser: </b>You can easily view your open HTML file in a browser by clicking on Run. Choose from IE, Firefox, Chrome and Safari. Or select Run... and browse to another executable. You can also <a href="http://blog.praj.com.au/posts/notepad-run-in-various-browsers">update the shortcuts.xml file</a> to add another browser, or change the location of a browser executable.</li>
<li><b>Basic version control: </b>By turning on Verbose backup (Settings > Backup/Auto-Completion) you can set up Notepad++ to implement very basic revision control. Every time you save a file, Notepad++ will save a "clean" version in a backup sub-folder called nppBackup. That is, the version that you last saved, with none of your recent changes. The backup filename is appended with a date and timestamp so you end up with a new backup for every change. It probably goes without saying that it's a good idea to periodically delete the ones you don't want. Even if you're using some kind of version control this can be useful between check-ins.</li>
<li><b>Auto-completion: </b>Whilst you're in the Backup/Auto-Completion screen set it to auto-complete functions.</li>
<li><b>Create templates: </b>Notepad++ doesn't have the concepts of templates but I decided to set up my own. I created a templates folder and saved a few varieties of basic HTML files, including DOCTYPE, external CSS and JS calls, and an empty body tag. I did this for XHTML Strict and HTML4 Strict, with variations for JQuery and CSS 960grid. I open the relevant template and then Save As... to create my new file.</li>
<li><b>Close tags: </b>You can use TextFX to automatically close any XHTML tags. Go to TextFX > TextFX > Settings > Autoclose XHTML/XML <tag>. There are a whole host of other useful TextFX features, such as converting case and quotes, escaping and unescaping characters, submitting to W3 validators, running HTMLTidy and a whole host of other features I haven't yet found a need for.</tag></li>
<li><b>Create new tab group: </b>Similar to Visual Studio's New Vertical Tab Group, you can view documents (or tabbed groups of documents) side-by-side using View > Move/Clone Current Document > Move to Other View. F8 then toggles between these views. Choosing to Clone effectively implements split screen and any changes made to one view of the document will be replicated in the other.</li>
<li><b>Use bookmarks to navigate large documents: </b>When reading through large code files I often spend much of my time scrolling between two or more parts of the file. Clicking between the line number and the line adds a bookmark. I can then easily navigate from one bookmark to the next using F2 (down) and Shift+F2 (up).</li>
</ol>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17833254236186334574noreply@blogger.com30tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1062347164329330668.post-83635277038678197652010-04-25T21:52:00.001+10:002010-04-25T21:54:53.443+10:00SEO: Infographic of important conceptsInfographic. Now there's a cool word. Information in a graphic. It really is a picture telling a story. <a href="http://www.datadial.net/blog/index.php/2010/04/13/seo-in-pictures-our-seo-infographic/">This is a great infographic from Datadial</a> all about search engine optimisation. It seems like it would be a useful at-a-glance reference for anyone trying to promote a website and improve its search ranking.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.datadial.net/blog/index.php/2010/04/13/seo-in-pictures-our-seo-infographic/"><img src="http://www.datadial.net/blog_content/uploads/2010/04/SEO-Infographic1.jpg" / width="500px" /></a><br />
<br />
For a more detailed description of what is being depicted you can check out <a href="http://hostwisely.com/blog/infographic-important-aspects-of-seo/">HostWisely's Infographic Important Aspects of SEO</a>. But I think the infographic pretty much says it all.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17833254236186334574noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1062347164329330668.post-82660357979175938352010-04-18T14:21:00.001+10:002010-04-18T14:23:43.221+10:00lindseybuckle.com redesignRegular visitors may have noticed some recent changes to this blog. <br />
<br />
Firstly, my byline has evolved over the last few weeks and, having shed a few words is now looking a lot trimmer and to the point. <br />
<br />
Secondly, the name has changed. The Journey of the Buckle was one of those off-the-cuff, "let's just get this thing going without much real thought to the name" sort of things. It resulted in some really strange Adwords being placed upon the page. The title of the blog is placed into the "title" tag of the site and Google obviously places a lot of importance upon these words. So I was getting ads for saddleries, belts, leather, you name it, all thanks to the word "Buckle" in the title. I figured the same thing would happen with search engine rankings once I get into the whole SEO thing. Changing the title to lindseybuckle.com obviously made it clear to Google that this is a name, not the subject of the site.<br />
<br />
Finally, I have been redesigning the site using Inkscape. This is a whole new skill set for me. I don't usually give a lot of thought to design, other than to pick out what is wrong with someone else's design. Designing something from scratch is a scary process for me. Being a programmer, I tend to muck around with HTML and CSS straight up rather than lay out the page in a graphical editor first. So, as well as focusing on the aesthetics, I have been learning how to use Inkscape, an open source free alternative to Adobe Illustrator.<br />
<br />
The current design is another element that was just knocked out quickly for the purposes of getting the site up and running. I created the header graphic myself in GIMP, using one of my own photographs, but it isn't something I spent much time over. The template is a modified standard Blogger template. <br />
<br />
The process of designing the site has been a good one for teaching me how to use the software. I have learned some useful keyboard shortcuts, and general vector principles. I used the Inkscape templates delivered as part of the 960-grid package. I kept the designs fairly simple and typically blogger-esque but got a bit bolder with colours as the process developed. Hopefully I will soon have this built and implemented, but until then, here are some of the designs I came up with.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com.au/lh/photo/XShuCrzuR6vWXqBLbBOscBG6NZuPWb6YHiFDwUeZPYU?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS-ojDu0i-JaQou9xXrd6dXPaZ6z7Zhh4qLfJzzCMrwH1kkKQfhNKlOGDdrgI0tuQAsWUz6xD1FuHoQ7_YG9CbTiQwKjf_2LwslzyCPHDs1vePdWZJhqYW2cC8wlfUQaQ6C1dbAr_3ocE/s288/lindseybuckle-960-layout-design-2-400px.png" border=0 /></a><br />
<br />
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<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com.au/lh/photo/ZroMBcFsvrXKQ03pABC89xG6NZuPWb6YHiFDwUeZPYU?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_nnmt4dosdRP6fAZiDG53WXz8QxeBZYmkCw11wi8lhZ6Tclu3bq9AGBE5KjaXwRNn3uPe4woHmbwfU6ekbGHEyepN5C2z7Ty_RWxkQ6imevO2jHL7LbmdGZ-OQ9ovnA18Mlq0l5Dd97o/s800/lindseybuckle-960-layout-design-6-400pxwb.png" /></a><br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com.au/lh/photo/iKiAYfLLYg1ZqkusUwVF1RG6NZuPWb6YHiFDwUeZPYU?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXVCZQSEGWdTOKCa-pOhyphenhyphen6Nym1BWm7-ifu6fA0j2pYpIZSV8mOTankoIhzEaPGC5PzeUqQpgrvLcDgTlm8RtQtx1QMKQuUJgwZt5qtzMLg1vZP4OdwTW9P5THh2FqBtSKBTbLVz1leS_8/s800/lindseybuckle-960-layout-design-6a-400px.png" border=0 /></a><br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com.au/lh/photo/HWKwH8Tk4buRDN-9lyy6ChG6NZuPWb6YHiFDwUeZPYU?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc4fqzMr6TsI874ikGA1Z2VJNwWhHe2BT3YR4pF7ROgNVfNMSNu7qrjyiyAZrhOVePw-iWoNXZgI9SMnytOV72bAF-YuvpKD2uHtnB4f2d6fShZs5oaBFBU1MXdiyECJPf07tNhI06rHg/s800/lindseybuckle-960-layout-design-6b-400px.png" border=0 /></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com.au/lh/photo/Ycrv0x7K81m_GD2Z6pnuvRG6NZuPWb6YHiFDwUeZPYU?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-CXoFlbonhxhpRoBwp5RBDvhwVzn5oWZVD5U9eLQrn691bwy3rVXMvz_HLW2rkuyy9F-_W9WAf81WcfCRy3SlxN238zZ6VUh6Q5kCCqy3oFZ67EciWHh2dmeXKw148cVzE8EVdutevUs/s800/lindseybuckle-960-layout-design-6c-400px.png" border=0 /></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com.au/lh/photo/jEsVA3pTClH0TcJ2n01t4xG6NZuPWb6YHiFDwUeZPYU?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfY0QR9cbSV-5bikQDwtYL8d9ypA69Z7wkfY3McZpv2L9527ywQMZwSATYACu3hX8tl5bZNT9N4D9Iubf5cbZaL8x8ud2BOvVNw3ToBPzHYs7zAETnobY06rsEKCbzHC5xomXwM56iiXE/s800/lindseybuckle-960-layout-design-6d-400px.png" border=0 /></a><br />
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17833254236186334574noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1062347164329330668.post-79871245103304602962010-04-13T11:23:00.002+10:002010-04-13T11:30:44.314+10:00Convert IE6 users to the latest IE browser with IE6 Update<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha8EGHcfI6u5kVmHabx1uJQy-ynvR_5IJoU6FI78h2z6-3xEfTrqRFi0xb2cHFkf5EFycF2xyss67UTQuiAfW8Wg-nThwAJstmEd1lyRdR5WwR838ju264OmXAP5jM-Qen9OvAbwnRi2U/s1600/ie6update.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha8EGHcfI6u5kVmHabx1uJQy-ynvR_5IJoU6FI78h2z6-3xEfTrqRFi0xb2cHFkf5EFycF2xyss67UTQuiAfW8Wg-nThwAJstmEd1lyRdR5WwR838ju264OmXAP5jM-Qen9OvAbwnRi2U/s320/ie6update.jpg" /></a></div><p>This is brilliant.</p><p><a href="http://ie6update.com/">IE6 Update</a> provides any IE6 visitors to your site with an information bar, similar to that which they're used to seeing for sites with ActiveX controls. Instead of downloading an ActiveX plugin it sends the user to a website where they can download the latest version of IE.</p><p>Simply <a href="http://ie6update.com/">follow this link</a>, copy and paste the code into your website and away you go. So simple, yet ingenious.</p><p style="font-size: 80%;">[Credit where credit is due: thanks to Jez Watts for sending me the link.]</p>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17833254236186334574noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1062347164329330668.post-80411241711131944132010-04-11T12:56:00.003+10:002012-10-04T21:04:18.157+10:0011 steps to writing a resume<div style="font-size: small;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1062347164329330668#thegoodstuff">[Skip to the good stuff]</a></div>
It stands to reason that someone who loves writing and dreams of making a career of it would be able to sit down and knock out a resume in a few short hours, right?<br />
Wrong! No matter who you are, or how kick-ass you believe yourself to be, writing about your achievements is incredibly hard. Self-doubt creeps in: "I think I was completely awesome in that situation but what if that is normal for other people?" And even when it doesn't it's often difficult to put into words exactly what it was that you did that was so damn good.<br />
And then there's the issue of brevity. How much does an employer actually want to read? How can I make the good stuff stand out? What if I leave out some important detail? What information should I put in my CV and what can I leave for my cover letter?<br />
And what about visual layout and design. Is plain and simple good enough or do I need to jazz it up somehow? My husband works in mapping and he just produced what I consider to be a radical CV. It was more like an essay illustrated with brightly coloured pictures of various maps he'd produced. I'm more of a conformist and just want to get the job done.<br />
<a href="http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/03/why-bother-havi.html">Some</a> even question whether a resume is necessary in the first place. A compelling and insightful blog is enough, they say. (Well, that's me sorted then.) <a href="http://www.marketingheadhunter.com/executive_search/2006/06/robert_scoble.html">Others disagree.</a> A blog can only enhance a resume but can't replace it. <a href="http://www.careerhubblog.com/main/2008/03/seths-half-righ.html">So long as the resume is well written, that is.</a><br />
So here I am rewriting my CV for the first time in over six years. Yes, that's how long I've been with my employer doing what I do. Even I'm surprised. It's the longest I've worked anywhere. Apart from school. Another 4 ½ years and I'm eligible for long service leave.<br />
I've kept my resume up to date during that time by going to the top section once a year and adding my latest projects. There is now a lot of useless information on there. Projects that I worked on twelve years ago on outdated technologies doing things that bear no relevance to what I want to do next. Sure, six years ago they seemed important. They were valuable experiences that contributed to my skill level. But I've done enough in the last six years to be able to reduce these older achievements to one line summaries.<br />
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1062347164329330668&postID=8041124171113194413" name="thegoodstuff"></a>So, here is my guide to writing a great resume, based upon the research I am currently doing and the feedback that I'm getting from reviewers and industry contacts.<br />
<ol>
<li><b>Tailor your CV for the work you want to do.</b><br />
This is an obvious one but it's so easy to leave irrelevant stuff in there. Or to fail to see the relevance. For example, I don't feel it particularly necessary to say much about my experience programming a bank security system in C on a Vax VMS platform back in 1997. But it probably is important that I mention the change management, release procedure and screen design practices that were used there and that I learnt how they contribute to a good development process.</li>
<li><b>Don't delete anything.</b><br />
Yes, I am totally contradicting the last point but you don't have to delete the information altogether in order to remove it from your resume. It's a good idea to always have a full, detailed copy of your resume. A master resume, if you wish. Then, you can tailor the CV that you submit for a particular industry, employer or project. If they want to see more detailed information on past projects that you have skimmed over then you can quickly and easily whip out your full copy.</li>
<li><b>Have multiple versions.</b><br />
Tying in with the previous two points, keep multiple versions of your resume. For example, I might use my master copy to write a CV tailored to web development, focusing on all of the technical aspects of my career. I might also have a version of my resume which highlights my writing and communication skills and how I have applied these throughout my career. Or, I might have one which looks at aspects of both skill sets. I can then submit whichever one is most relevant to the position I am applying for. This is not deception or dishonesty. It's just filtering out the irrelevant stuff on behalf of that poor person who has to sift through hundreds of resumes.</li>
<li><b>Don't procrastinate. Just do it.</b><br />
Again, an obvious one but advice I find very difficult to follow. I seem to be spending more time researching resume advice online, writing this post, or wondering how I can improve my LinkedIn profile than I am actually editing my CV.</li>
<li><b>Say what you mean.</b><br />
<a href="http://www.plainenglishfoundation.com/">Use plain language.</a> Don't dumb down technical jargon if you are applying for a position with an employer who will understand that jargon. Likewise, don't use long sparsely-used words where short common ones will do. Don't use two words where one will suffice. My husband has very generously been providing useful comment on my resume but there was one point he made that I'm not sure I would agree with. I said that I "wrote the User Guide for the Blackboard Community System, and distributed it to IT Services and Administration areas throughout the organisation." He suggested that I "Authored, Published and Distributed the ‘User Guide’...etc." I don't think Authored, Published and Distributed warrant capitals (they're not names) and I'm not entirely sure why I would benefit by saying all of that over "I wrote". It feels like I'm just using big words out of context to make me sound clever.</li>
<li><b>Don't be bland. Be bold.</b> or <b>Ditch the buzzwords and be unique</b><br />
You won't stand out if you write the same mindless babble that everyone else writes. So, you're "highly motivated"? Would you tell a potential employer if you weren't? Pick an example that demonstrates your motivation and use that instead. Tell stories and make it personal.</li>
<li><b>Focus on achievements.</b><br />
Don't talk about responsibilities. Talk about achievements. Everyone has responsibilities. That's the point of a job. They're outlined in your position description for all to see. What matters is what you do to fulfil your responsibilities. If you're going to mention skills, give examples of when you used them and what you achieved with them. Enhance your achievements with results: what were the measurable benefits for your organisation? Consider emphasising results by stating them before explaining what actions you took to achieve them. </li>
<li><b>Be brief and add summaries</b><br />
According to <a href="http://careerhub.typepad.com/careerhub_guide_to_resume_writing.pdf">The Careerhub Guide to Resume Writing</a>, the average manager spends less than 30 seconds reviewing a resume. They will spend most of this time looking at the top third of the first page of your document. As such, it's a good idea to add a couple of summaries to draw attention to your core areas of expertise. Add a career profile, and a skills/experience summary. Create a brand using keywords in a byline (e.g. web developer, client-focused, standards-driven, usability, accessibility); or a list of high-profile employers, or even different kinds of working environments (e.g. small start-up, technology enterprise, large multinational, public sector, higher education, software house, financial institution). Add testimonials if you have them (trawl through old emails and performance reviews).</li>
<li><b>Send it early and send it often</b><br />
Your resume is useless if you don't send it to a potential employer. This is courtesy of my husband. I suspect it's his way of saying "stop writing your blog, Lindsey and send off your resume."</li>
<li><b>Seek feedback.</b><br />
Another of my husband's. Once you have sent your resume off, seek feedback. If the person you have sent it to isn't interested then find out why. Could you have written or styled your resume differently in order to get the position?</li>
<li><b>Add a photograph</b><br />
It may be true that not everyone would benefit from the addition of a photograph. But if you're reasonably young, or look it (or use an old photograph) and fairly pleasant looking then this can only be a benefit. It adds a human element to a boring old pile of words. And it's harder to say "no" to a face than a disembodied name.</li>
</ol>
<b>Resources</b><br />
<a href="http://careerhub.typepad.com/careerhub_guide_to_resume_writing.pdf">Careerhub Guide to Resume Writing (PDF)</a><br />
<a href="http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/category/resumes/">Penelope Trunk's Brazen Careerist: Resumes</a><br />
<a href="http://entirelyerratic.blogspot.com/">My husband</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17833254236186334574noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1062347164329330668.post-57681328393464407062010-03-17T08:47:00.001+10:002012-10-04T21:08:22.394+10:00The importance of client interactionEvery analyst knows that communication within a project team is paramount to successful delivery of a product or service. Understanding the client's needs, their business processes and their paradigm are all essential aspects of a project, that can generally only be garnered through thorough communication.<br />
<br />
In this age of internet telecommunications, much of our business communication is done over geographically disperse locations via email and telephone. For the more technically savvy there are collaboration and web conferencing tools. But nothing beats a face to face meeting, with all participants present in the same room. And when it comes to reassuring a client that you can and will meet their requirements and deliver a high quality piece of work it is essential.<br />
<br />
Face to face meetings bring a real dimension to a team of people who may otherwise be working in a virtual or online environment. As soon as a face can be put to a name and a voice, a relationship is developed. Whereas conference calls specifically focus on the task in hand, a physical meeting allows time for a little small talk, which is, of course, where you get to know the real person, as opposed to the role of that person within a team. Clients are more likely to trust a vendor; consultants are more likely to feel a sense of responsibility towards meeting the client's needs.<br />
<br />
In a project I am currently working on a lack of decent communication has resulted in the client's increasing concern and failing confidence in the vendor's ability to deliver a high quality product on time. I can imagine that the vendor has similar concerns as time and again they realise that their understanding of what they are to deliver is quite different to the client's expectations.<br />
<br />
Most of the communication has been done via conference call and there have been associated difficulties. Each party uses different terminology, works from different paradigms. Participants even have different accents and ways of speaking that can lead to long pauses and repetition as those on the end of the line try to figure out what was said. A discovery session was conducted at the start of the project but none of the vendor's current team members were participants, no notes were made and no documentation was delivered as a result. A quick email from the vendor confirming what he thought were the issues discussed, the outcomes of the meeting and what the next steps were, would have done wonders for the client's confidence and comfort.<br />
<br />
Last year a Forbes study found that 87% of executives prefer face to face meetings citing the following benefits:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>building stronger, more meaningful relationships;</li>
<li>the ability to "read" another person;</li>
<li>greater social interaction.</li>
</ul>
<div>
In today's busy world, with tight time scales and even tighter budgets, there is definitely a place for conferencing and collaboration technologies. But these must go hand in hand with the more traditional methods of communication. Where a face to face meeting isn't possible, video conferencing is a great alternative. In the case of my current project, it was less the lack of face to face meetings that was an issue than the lack of good, frequent and thorough communication.<br />
<br />
Thankfully, after a few frustrating conference calls a face-to-face meeting was arranged and since then communication has improved considerably. Meetings are now being followed up with notes, although there seem to be two sets of notes: one from the client and one from the vendor, rather than one set of signed off minutes. A sense of trust and working together as a team is in place and most importantly, each party understands where the other is coming from. If only we'd had a week together, rather than a day...</div>
<br />
<b>Resources</b><br />
<br />
<a href="http://freelanceswitch.com/freelancing-essentials/10-reasons-why-your-last-collaboration-did-not-work/#more-4599">Freelance Switch: 10 reasons why your last collaboration did not work</a><br />
<a href="http://green.tmcnet.com/news/2009/08/27/4343332.htm">Forbes: Executives Prefer Face-to-Face Meetings Over Virtual Contact</a><br />
<a href="http://www.buenavistapalace.com/pdfs/FacetoFace_Forbes.pdf">Forbes: The Case for Face-to-Face</a><br />
<a href="http://www.buenavistapalace.com/pdfs/FacetoFace_Forbes.pdf">Why Face-to-Face Business Meetings Matter</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17833254236186334574noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1062347164329330668.post-17913451027526042292010-03-16T09:34:00.000+10:002012-10-04T21:10:20.438+10:00Why you should use a change log in your documentationThere has been a functional specification document going to and fro between us, the clients, and them, the vendor/consultants, for a few weeks now. Version 6 was released this morning. Including the files that have been submitted with annotations by our marketing team that makes 10 versions to review altogether.<br />
<br />
The annotated responses are fairly easy to review as the annotations (marked comments) stand out from the document text. So, I just flick forward to a comment, read it and move on to the next one.<br />
<br />
However, the official versions which are then submitted in response by the consultants, are not annotated and do not include a change log.<br />
<br />
We're talking about a 53 page document. I don't have time to read the same 53 pages six times.<br />
<br />
When I produce such documentation I always include a Document or Revision History table at the start. It looks a bit like this:<br />
<br />
<br />
<table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; margin-left: 5.4pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-insideh: .5pt solid windowtext; mso-border-insidev: .5pt solid windowtext; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-table-layout-alt: fixed;"><tbody>
<tr style="mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0;"> <td style="background: #E5E5E5; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-pattern: gray-10 auto; mso-shading: white; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 63.8pt;" valign="top" width="85"><div class="TPTableLabel">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Version<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td> <td style="background: #E5E5E5; border-left: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-pattern: gray-10 auto; mso-shading: white; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 92.15pt;" valign="top" width="123"><div class="TPTableLabel">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Date<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td> <td style="background: #E5E5E5; border-left: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-pattern: gray-10 auto; mso-shading: white; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 163.0pt;" valign="top" width="217"><div class="TPTableLabel">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Author(s)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td> <td style="background: #E5E5E5; border-left: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-pattern: gray-10 auto; mso-shading: white; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 155.95pt;" valign="top" width="208"><div class="TPTableLabel">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Notes<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 1;"> <td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 63.8pt;" valign="top" width="85"><div class="TPTableData">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">0<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td> <td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 92.15pt;" valign="top" width="123"><div class="TPTableData">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">12/03/2010<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td> <td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 163.0pt;" valign="top" width="217"><div class="TPTableData">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Lindsey Buckle<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td> <td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 155.95pt;" valign="top" width="208"><div class="TPTableData">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Initial Version<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 2; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;"> <td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 63.8pt;" valign="top" width="85"><div class="TPTableData">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p>1</o:p></span></div>
</td> <td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 92.15pt;" valign="top" width="123"><div class="TPTableData">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p>15/03/2010</o:p></span></div>
</td> <td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 163.0pt;" valign="top" width="217"><div class="TPTableData">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p>Lindsey Buckle </o:p></span></div>
</td> <td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 155.95pt;" valign="top" width="208"><div class="TPTableData">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p>Draft following technical discussion. </o:p></span></div>
<div class="TPTableData">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p>Updated table p8: added 'File' column</o:p></span></div>
</td> </tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="TPTitle">
<br /></div>
<div class="TPTitle">
<o:p>This way, whoever is reviewing the document knows that the only thing that has changed is on page 8 and they're directed to it. They can flick forward to page 8, check the table with its new column and decide whether to approve the document. Much quicker than scanning every page of a 53 page document trying to figure out what has and hasn't changed.</o:p></div>
<div class="TPTitle">
<o:p><br />
</o:p></div>
<div class="TPTitle">
<o:p>What do you do? Do you include a change log? If so, what details do you add? Let me know in the comments.</o:p></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17833254236186334574noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1062347164329330668.post-54231998390595169782010-03-12T14:03:00.000+10:002012-10-04T21:13:23.227+10:00CSS: How to fix IE6 bugs<a href="http://blog.praj.com.au/">Praj</a> sent me <a href="http://net.tutsplus.com/tutorials/html-css-techniques/9-most-common-ie-bugs-and-how-to-fix-them/">this link to an excellent tutorial</a>, which I'm hoping will relieve some of my IE6 headaches.<br />
<br />
I am so busy at work that I'm yet to find out. But if not now, maybe in future, when another client insists that I don't discriminate against curazy IE6 users.<br />
<br />
[I notice he hasn't blogged this. Perhaps because he isn't insane enough to try to mess with IE6.]Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17833254236186334574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1062347164329330668.post-343152501403911122010-03-09T20:57:00.000+10:002012-10-04T21:01:04.631+10:00Design: Colour scheme definitionsI found the following definitions of different colour schemes, adapted from <a href="http://blog.themeforest.net/tutorials/the-importance-color-in-web-design/">this tutorial</a>, really useful and wanted to note it here for future use.<br />
<br />
<b>Monochromatic</b> - uses multiple shades of one colour. Shades of gray are considered achromatic as they don't actually contain colour. It's pretty much the same thing though.<br />
<br />
<b>Analogous</b> - uses colours adjacent to one another on the colour wheel. Apparently this can be tricky: choosing colours further apart than 1/3 of the wheel can result in less appealing combinations.<br />
<br />
<b>Complementary</b> - uses colours on opposite sides of the colour wheel. Something to watch for here is simultaneous contrast, where the colours enhance one another to the extent that they become difficult to look at and possibly even illegible.<br />
<br />
<b>Split Complementary</b> - uses two colours adjacent to the complimentary colour of your base colour. Or something.<br />
<br />
<b>Triadic</b> - uses three colours 1/3 of the colour wheel apart from one another.<br />
<br />
<b>Tetradic</b> - uses four colours made up of two complimentary pairs.<br />
<br />
To see some of these schemes in action, check out the <a href="http://colorschemedesigner.com/">Color Scheme Designer</a>.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17833254236186334574noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1062347164329330668.post-57780620090825945622010-03-09T20:20:00.000+10:002012-10-04T21:01:52.133+10:00Design: Colour profiles in GIMPI am not a designer. Although I did do pretty well in GCSE Design and Communications; an A if I remember correctly, because I was a right girly swot, and this was before the days of A++ or A* or whatever nonsense you can get now.<br />
<br />
I have decided to teach myself a few key techniques to extend my web development skill set. This means going right back to basics. I'm not made of money so I'm working with <a href="http://www.gimp.org/">GIMP</a>.<br />
<br />
This week I learnt about colour profiles. A <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICC_profile">colour profile</a> is a set of data that characterizes a colour input or output device. Different devices and browsers have different colour profiles, which basically means they display colours in different ways. A profile is a look-up table which maps the properties of a colour space to a device-independent working space.<br />
<br />
Therefore, you need to use colour management policies in your editing software to ensure that what you see whilst editing an image is how it will look when rendered. Colour management policies add a description of the colour characteristic to the image, i.e. they add a colour profile.<br />
<br />
Most devices (cameras and scanners) will embed a colour profile on creation of the image. When opening such images, <a href="http://docs.gimp.org/en/gimp-imaging-color-management.html">GIMP will offer to convert the file to the RGB working space</a> (sRGB), which is recommended and is fine for web-based images. However, it is possible to <a href="http://digital-photography-school.com/adding-icc-profiles-in-gimp">add other ICC profiles to your image in GIMP</a>, if required.<br />
<br />
For the best results you can add a colour profile for your monitor. However, this is way beyond my beginner capabilities, and probably beyond my needs for now. You can also add a colour profile for your printer in order to view on screen how your image may look when printed.<br />
<br />
See <a href="http://blog.themeforest.net/tutorials/the-importance-color-in-web-design/">this tutorial</a> for how to set up colour management in Photoshop.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17833254236186334574noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1062347164329330668.post-10923402757857910232010-03-02T21:36:00.002+10:002010-03-02T21:38:50.266+10:00Why we should stop developing for IE6This is not the first time I have said this but I really truly hope it's the last: developing for IE6 sucks.<br />
<br />
Since <a href="http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2010/01/modern-browsers-for-modern-applications.html">Google announced its decision in January to stop supporting IE6</a> (as of yesterday), there has been much online discussion as to whether or not sites should continue to be developed for IE6. In developer communities this has been a hot topic for some time now.<br />
<br />
Web developers hate IE6. Aside from the much-publicised <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Explorer_6#Security_issues">security issues</a>, IE6 is notoriously non-compliant when it comes to W3 web standards and has shocking CSS support. Developers spend a significant proportion of their time getting a site to work in IE6. Just to test the current website redesign entailed installing VMWare Player and running an old, tediously slow virtual machine. And woe betide the developer who starts off with IE6 and then tests in other browsers. In short it's a complete pain in the short and curlies.<br />
<br />
So what's the big deal? Why not just stop developing for IE6? The problem lies in the fact that a significant proportion of website visitors still use it. Statistics range from <a href="http://www.w3counter.com/globalstats.php">10%</a> to <a href="http://mashable.com/2010/02/01/browser-stats-chrome/">20%</a> of the global browser market share, although, as the graph below (from <a href="http://gs.statcounter.com/#browser_version-ww-monthly-200901-201002">StatCounter</a>) shows, this is falling. These figures are not evenly dispersed. Only <a href="http://gs.statcounter.com/#browser_version-AU-monthly-200912-201002">6% of Australian web users browse with IE6</a>, whereas 25% of Asian and African users do. In these regions it is the number one browser, presumably due to the higher concentration of developing nations and subsequent lack of infrastructure.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioG200KdFMMjyNoLM47CP4D2iONU776B2zvdDSwRKP43xq-z4D3_8jQkqBBrrVu78l6JTunGbVl1Dg_MxH6q2Eqne0-znKOJkcnMyRE8du8CxNmcYuHHGCGAEuR_rL10J7tqxNS5B54w8/s1600/StatCounterGlobal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioG200KdFMMjyNoLM47CP4D2iONU776B2zvdDSwRKP43xq-z4D3_8jQkqBBrrVu78l6JTunGbVl1Dg_MxH6q2Eqne0-znKOJkcnMyRE8du8CxNmcYuHHGCGAEuR_rL10J7tqxNS5B54w8/s400/StatCounterGlobal.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<br />
Of course, what is really important is that you understand the statistics for your target audience. My organisation's stats are similar to those above from StatCounter and we have very little traffic from Asia and Africa. In discussions with the Web Coordinator (who is also Project Manager for our web redesign) I have tried to persuade him to forget about IE6. My argument is that our target audience is largely young (generation Y school-leavers) and tech-savvy. As such, they are more likely to adopt modern browsers. Only 5% of our traffic comes from IE6 browsers: not a large proportion and one that will only decline.<br />
<br />
<br />
However, he has made the call to at least attempt to support IE6, arguing that other universities still support it. This seems like a lame argument until you consider that a potential student using IE6 might end up at another university because they couldn't find the information they needed on our site.<br />
<br />
I had a ponder about who on earth these people still using this outdated browser could possibly be. Due to Australia's vast size there are a few remote properties and townships that don't have good broadband connectivity. Downloading the later versions of IE would not be an option for this demographic (although they could ask <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/worldwide-sites.aspx#ordercd">Microsoft to send them a free CD</a> if they thought of it and had the patience to find and load the web page).<br />
<br />
Additionally, there are still workplaces which continue to use IE6 due to the reliance of internal applications. Not updating is often cheaper and easier than rewriting those old systems. And then there are those people, perhaps the older generation and those infrequent surfers, who simply don't know or care that they should update. However, I do wonder how many people in this category intentionally visit our site.<br />
<br />
We try to develop a site that is accessible to all, including those with disabilities. We currently have no statistics on what percentage of our visitors are in this category. As such it seems fair that we shouldn't discriminate against IE6 users. (Although, it could be argued that they have a choice as to which browser to use.)<br />
<br />
My personal feeling is that the difficulties surrounding the development of a website for IE6 far outweigh any perceived benefits. It is time-consuming, does not comply with web standards, is old and outdated, and its user-base is low and falling. I think developers should ensure that users of IE6 (who, it is worth noting, probably don't know how to turn off CSS in their browser) can get to all the information that any other user can access without a major visual assault on their eyes. That is, that information should be readable, accessible and navigable. Develop for IE7, IE8, and the latest versions of Firefox, Safari and <a href="http://mashable.com/2010/02/01/browser-stats-chrome/">Chrome</a> and then create a separate stylesheet for IE6, stripping all but the most necessary styles. If you can get your valid, standards-compliant website to look cool and groovy in IE6 then fantastic. But if it doesn't, don't redesign your website. It's simply not worth it.<br />
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My current challenge is to get our site looking worthwhile (and as close to the original design as possible as per my colleague's request) without changing the HTML, which has already been sent off to the CMS consultants. I think ripping out my own hair strand-by-strand would be easier, quicker and less painful. I am considering the addition of a disclaimer stating that the site is optimised for IE7 and above. Although I have to do some work persuading the project manager to let me yet.<br />
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<b>Resources</b><br />
Google drops IE6:<br />
<a href="http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2010/01/modern-browsers-for-modern-applications.html">http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2010/01/modern-browsers-for-modern-applications.html</a><br />
<a href="http://mashable.com/2010/01/29/google-ie6/">http://mashable.com/2010/01/29/google-ie6/</a><br />
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Discussions and articles on supporting IE6:<br />
<a href="http://www.webmasterworld.com/html/3935529.htm">http://www.webmasterworld.com/html/3935529.htm</a><br />
<a href="http://robertnyman.com/2009/02/09/stop-developing-for-internet-explorer-6/">http://robertnyman.com/2009/02/09/stop-developing-for-internet-explorer-6/</a><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://robertnyman.com/2009/02/09/stop-developing-for-internet-explorer-6/"></a><a href="http://www.popsci.com.au/gadgets/article/2010-03/inside-excruciatingly-slow-death-internet-explorer-6">http://www.popsci.com.au/gadgets/article/2010-03/inside-excruciatingly-slow-death-internet-explorer-6</a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.popsci.com.au/gadgets/article/2010-03/inside-excruciatingly-slow-death-internet-explorer-6"></a><a href="http://mashable.com/2009/07/16/ie6-must-die/">http://mashable.com/2009/07/16/ie6-must-die/</a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://mashable.com/2010/01/29/google-ie6/"></a><a href="http://mashable.com/2009/08/07/ie6-must-die-2/">http://mashable.com/2009/08/07/ie6-must-die-2/</a> </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://mashable.com/2010/01/18/5-more-reasons-why-ie6-must-die/">http://mashable.com/2010/01/18/5-more-reasons-why-ie6-must-die/</a></div><br />
IE6 security issues:<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Explorer_6#Security_issues">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Explorer_6#Security_issues</a><br />
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Web statistics:<br />
<a href="http://www.w3counter.com/globalstats.php">http://www.w3counter.com/globalstats.php</a><br />
<a href="http://mashable.com/2010/02/01/browser-stats-chrome/">http://mashable.com/2010/02/01/browser-stats-chrome/</a><br />
<a href="http://gs.statcounter.com/">http://gs.statcounter.com/</a><br />
<a href="http://www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/worldwide-sites.aspx#ordercd">http://www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/worldwide-sites.aspx#ordercd</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.webmasterworld.com/html/3935529.htm"></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17833254236186334574noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1062347164329330668.post-14321417325878411242010-03-02T14:28:00.001+10:002012-10-04T21:14:47.359+10:00CSS: > notation doesn't work in IE6I can't believe I'm actually writing CSS tips for IE6. (More on this in a subsequent post). I wonder if anyone will ever actually want to read this? And I hope that I won't ever have to refer to this again. But here I am.<br />
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So, against my better judgement I am prettifying some HTML for IE6 and I have just discovered that it doesn't like the following notation:</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">#name > ul</span></div>
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To be fair to IE6, I didn't know what this did until I few days ago. For anyone reading this who doesn't know, it means that you apply the following attributes to a unordered list sitting directly within an element with an id of "name". That means that the ul in question can't be inside any other element. To apply attributes to any and all uls within name use the following notation:</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">#name ul</span></div>
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I spent days trying to fix up some tabbed menus in IE6 and all I had to do was delete the > selector.</div>
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For more on CSS selectors and what they do see <a href="http://gallery.theopalgroup.com/selectoracle/">selectoracle</a>, an awesome website that takes CSS notation as input and outputs the meaning (along with any potential problems). I'll be adding this to my list of Very Useful Tools.<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><b>UPDATE</b>: I have found a w<a href="http://kimblim.dk/css-tests/selectors/">ebsite which lists CSS selectors and the browsers that support them</a>. I feel quite sick at the thought of the task ahead after seeing the long list of red "NO"s under IE6.</span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17833254236186334574noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1062347164329330668.post-7374177210469191302010-02-14T17:38:00.001+10:002010-02-14T17:38:56.362+10:00How to fix a sticky caps lockSomething has been bothering me lately. Every now and then my caps lock sticks on. No matter how many times I hit it, it stays on. I then generally press buttons quite randomly until somehow, eventually, it switches off again. Last time it happened I tried desperately to remember the combination of buttons that fixed it but either missed it entirely or subsequently forgot.<br />
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Today, however, I am proud to announce that should you ever find yourself in a similarly sticky situation you should try the following combination to fix it:<br />
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Alt + Shift<br />
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Of course, having no idea how on earth the caps lock sticks in the first place, I have no way of testing this. Any ideas, anyone?Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17833254236186334574noreply@blogger.com1