BinaryWolf

He Recommends Users Avoid Blogger

March 29, 2005 | In blogging | No Comments

Aaron Brazell writes in The Blogger’s Primer:

Blogger is a Google-owned platform that is fantastically easy for beginners to quickly jump right into. It’s free, and it takes new users only a few minutes to register and get the system up and running. There is also the added benefit that users can host their own Blogger-powered blog or allow Blogger to host it for them.

I have found a couple major issues with Blogger. Corporate networks using methods of network analysis and monitoring, such as SurfControl, like to flag most Blogger blogs as adult sites. Added to that frustration is the fact that, for readers to comment (and remember: commenting is the currency of the blogosphere), they must register an account with blogger or be satisfied commenting as ‘Anonymous’. I typically recommend users avoid Blogger.

I need to finish what I have already started, i.e., migrating this site to WordPress.

What is Dropload?

March 27, 2005 | In web apps | No Comments

Dropload is a place for you to drop your files off and have them picked up by someone else at a later time. Recipients you specify are sent an email with instructions on how to download the file. Files are removed from the system after 7 days, regardless if they have been picked up or not. You can upload any type of file, mp3, movies, docs, pdfs, up to 100MB each! Recipients can be anyone with an email address.

The Semantic Web

March 25, 2005 | In general, web apps | No Comments

The semantic web will bring structure to the meaningful content of web pages, creating an environment where software agents roaming from page to page can readily carry out sophisticated tasks for users. …The semantic web is not a separate web but an extension of the current one, in which information is given well-defined meaning, better enabling computers and people to work in cooperation.

From an article by by Tim Berners-Lee, James Hendler and Ora Lassila in Scientific American.

Web Design Mistakes

March 25, 2005 | In web design | No Comments The Biggest Web Design Mistakes of 2004 (Part 1 of 2 from Web Pages That Suck)

14. AFFrontPage.
13. Misunderstanding graphics.
12. Misusing Flash.
11. Confusing web design with a magic trick.
10. Too much material on one page.
9. Forgetting the purpose of text.
8. Site lacks Heroin Content.
7. Thinking your web site is your marketing strategy.
6. Using Mystery Meat Navigation.
5. Navigational failure.
4. Using design elements that get in the way of your visitors.
3. Mystical belief in the power of Web Standards, Usability, and tableless CSS.
2. A man from Mars can’t figure out what your web site is about in less than 4 seconds.
1. Believing people care about you and your web site.

Top Ten Mistakes in Web Design (updated 2004 from Jakob Nielsen)

10. Not Answering Users’ Questions
9. Opening New Browser Windows
8. Violating Design Conventions
7. Anything That Looks Like an Advertisement
6. Page Titles With Low Search Engine Visibility
5. Fixed Font Size
4. Non-Scannable Text
3. Not Changing the Color of Visited Links
2. PDF Files for Online Reading
1. Bad Search

Yahoo! Search for Creative Commons

March 24, 2005 | In search engines | No Comments What is this?

This is Yahoo! Search for Creative Commons content. It will help you find content on the Web - text, books, educational material, etc. - that is free to share or build upon.

Why is this important?

Copyright applies fully and automatically to any work - a photograph, a song, a web page, an article, pretty much any form of expression - the moment it is created. This means that if you want to copy and re-use a creative work you find online, you usually have to ask the author’s permission.

This “all rights reserved” protection is good thing for many authors and artists. But what about those who want you to use their work freely without permission — but on certain conditions?

This search engine helps you quickly find those authors and the work they have marked as free to use with only “some rights reserved.” If you respect the rights they have reserved (which will be clearly marked, as you’ll see) then you can use the work without having to contact them and ask. In some cases, you may even find work in the public domain — that is, free for any use with “no rights reserved.”

BrowserCam’s Remote Access Service

March 20, 2005 | In web design | No Comments I’ve known about thse guys for years. Now they offer remote access service. BrowserCam’s remote access service can be accessed using any VNC client. View a variety of browsers (Explorer, Mozilla, Netscape, Opera and Safari) on Mac, Linux and Windows platforms. Now you can use BrowserCam’s Remote Access service to access whatever operating systems and configurations you don’t have without getting up from your desk.

Trends in browser usage, operating systems and screen resolution

March 16, 2005 | In marketing | No Comments

2005	IE 6	IE 5	O 7/8	Ffox	Moz	NN 4	NN 7
March	64.0%	3.9%	1.8%	21.5%	3.7%	0.2%	1.0%

What you can read from the Web statistics is that Internet Explorer 6 is the dominating browser, XP is the most popular operating system, and most users are using a display with 800×600 pixels or more, with a color depth of at least 65K colors.

Quotes
“The pure and simple truth is rarely pure and never simple.”
Oscar Wilde

“First get your facts; then you can distort them at your leisure.”
Mark Twain

“There are three kinds of lies: lies, damn lies, and statistics.”
Benjamin Disraeli

“Then there was the man who drowned crossing a stream with an average depth of six inches.”
W. I. E. Gates