Archive for January 2004

In Windows Fanatics, we pointed out a Microsoft Knowledgebase article that shows how to insert a Ø in MS Word.

Two people submitted easier ways to do it. Both are faster, but harder to remember if you don’t use the Ø often. I think we need a movement to require all licenses, serial numbers, and anything where we have to enter the code to have the slash through the 0 so we know it is 0 and not O. Drives me nuts. The easier ways:

ALT+0216 – this is how I made it in this entry as it works anywhere. [ Thanks, Billie Abraham ]

CTRL+/ followed by O or o – works in Word, but not in this entry. [ Thanks, Diedrik Nelson ]

In Word: use Insert; then Symbols. Insert the slashed 0; then highlight; and change the font to the one you are using. [Thanks, Jay Kueny ]

So how about it? Start the Slashoh movement?

After reviewing over 100 sites for a potential “Best Site” nomination, I’ve made a list of annoyances based on experience, research, and being a user. These are not necessarily the TOP annoyances, but they appeared often.

Print This and Use It

Print out puzzles, games, and worksheets. What’s the point when you can get it from a newspaper or at school? True, it’s free as opposed to buying a newspaper, but that is the beauty of the Web — you can do such stuff online. We have plenty of worksheets and coloring pages offline, why should add more clutter to the Internet with such files?

Drop-down out of Control

Drop-down items that whisk you away to the select item as soon as it’s touched are a problem since many people who don’t even have hand movement challenges lose control of the mouse and that’s not where they want to go. So imagine how difficult it is for those who have hand or movement challenges.

Same goes for drop-down menus where you select a topic then sub-topics pop-out for your selection. Too many times, it was a battle of mouse precision to get to where I want to go and I’m comfortable with the mouse. A way around it is to make the topic clickable — that way you cover all the bases. If a person can’t or won’t click on the subtopic fly out, he can just click on the topic and go from there.

Besides, he has made a decision he wants to go there only to be surprised with more choices and has to reconsider his decision.

Alt

It’s surprising how few sites omit ALT from <img>. It doesn’t take much to add it and it’s supposed to be short. Longdesc is for those that need more detail. Worse are sites who don’t even use alt=”" for invisible gifs, which should be going out the door anyway.

Animated banners (not just for ads)

Are the designers trying to show off their Flash or programming capabilities? Showing off is not worth the price of usability. It’s disctracting. One-time animation is fine, but repeating confuses my eyes as they struggle to read the content with that moving thingy distracting them.

Snowfall Effect Is out

A site actually had snowflakes falling all over its pages and being in a warm weather state, it felt more like winter. However, this is a cutesy feature suited for personal sites. See animated banners complaint.

Also along the lines of the snowfall effect is the follow the pointer effect where stars or some other images fly and follow your mouse pointer where you go. This is also so ’90s.

Since many in the US are probably in a Super Bowl frame of mind, we’ll talk about it. It looks like the site has missed too many practices as its receivers and running backs are slow according to Optimization Week’s review.

I’m on a broadband connection and the site’s home page loaded fast in under the required eight seconds. My issues are non-speed related. The repeated and fast animation is distracting. The text can’t be resized. When clicking on a video to view, it launches Real Player AND THEN asks me to sign in to see the video. I would like to know this BEFORE clicking on the link instead of waste time watching Real launch.

ALT tags are there and short (some sites make them too long, which is what longdesc is for), but not in all the places possible. Clicking on Fantasy opened a new window. I didn’t like that. Much of the above the fold space is wasted between the banner ad and the large Web site name logo. You want to get as much of the more important information above the fold (the part where no scrolling is necessary for viewing).

Super Bowl’s Web site is better than many of the sporting event Web sites I’ve seen in the past year or so. The navigation, for the most part, is easy to use and figure out. No getting lost and no noticing the site’s structure. If I notice a site’s structure, then it’s in trouble. Good structure goes unnoticed. Time to shop for chips and dip for Super Bowl Sunday. Go, Cats, beat the Pats! [ Posted on InformIT ]

Here’s a faster way to lock a workstation without going through the CTRL+ALT+DEL route.

On the desktop (Window+M), right-click an empty area and select New > Shortcut.

Copy and paste the following into the location box:

rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation

Name the shortcut “Lock workstation” or whatever you prefer and click Finish. Click on it and the PC stands guard until you return and enter the correct password.

Thanks, Martin, for the reminder that rundll32.exe is already in the path.

Andrew Coates wrote in, “Firstly, I’m not totally sure how creating an icon is any easier than the ALT+CTRL+DEL option. Pressing those keys then hitting space I would say is more often then not going to be quicker than finding your desktop and clicking on an icon. However, if you are looking for a quicker way to lock your computer. Perhaps you should try Windows + L.”

I responded to Andrew saying the ALT+CTRL+DEL option requires selecting Lock Workstation. Since we have to lock our workstation so often, I find clicking an icon faster. However, the Windows+L will work for keyboard fans.

Update: I checked Windows+L and it didn’t work on my work computer.

Last weekend, I suddenly got a bunch of invitations to Orkut, yet another friend slash network site. First reaction was, “Not another one. I belong to too many of them and never use them – except Ryze.”

Went on about my work. Later, when I got a free moment (a miracle in itself), I went ahead and clicked on the link to check out Orkut and register. There’s something about it – it’s easy to use and cleaner than the others. I guess that’s no surprise considering it’s from the folks to brought you the letter G as in Google.

Though I will accept invitations from friends and colleagues at all the sites, I plan to use Ryze and Orkut the most. Ryze has introduced me to a few good people with whom I’ve met. I haven’t been good about networking there in the last few months due to an overhwhelmed schedule.

Nothing has happened at Orkut yet, except I was pleasantly surprised to have a couple of fans within a day of registering. But it looks like after a busy two or so days of receiving and sending invitations, it has died down.

As usual, Microsoft has gotten into the game as it refuses to miss out on any opportunity. But I’ll have you know I’ve yet to register with their copycat networking site with a name I can’t remember without searching for it. Ah ha! It’s Wallop. If you think about it, most of the networking sites’ names don’t sound like networking sites except for LinkedIn and Friendster, except the latter but it sounds more like dating and friendship than networking.

Yeah, I know Chris posted about this, but I had planned on it before I saw his entry! Honest! Anyhoo, I agree with him that we need a Trillian-like program to connect ‘em all in one spot.

Design should support the site’s purpose – no question. But words lead the pack and Gerry McGovern’s article, Words come before looks in Web design explains. A few Web sites out there are very popular and they don’t even have a graphic on the page. They’re plain and they’re proof that words speak louder than design.

I’m not saying to go out there and just create pages with nothing but p tags and a few h tags. Even these plain Jane sites aren’t that bland. Let’s put it this way: if you’re about ot make a presentation in front of a crowd of 100 or so people, what do you do if the computer housing your presentation stops working? All right, so you have another computer… what if NOTHING gets your presentation back up on the screen?

Strong speakers don’t fret. They know the PowerPoint is not their presentation. It’s an accessory to the presentation. Design should work similarly for Web sites. Have you ever seen those lifeless Web sites where it looks like one giant sales pitch to buy into a program and get rich fast? They are successful, believe it or not, because of the words.

So check those words and see how they do without any images or layout to support them.

Originally posted on InformIT

You know you’re a geek when viruses and worms invade your dreams. Last night’s dream involved my battling the Bagle (aka Beagle because it’s pronounced as such) Worm among other computer problems. Not funny!

Update: Originally, I posted “Beagle,” but Simon wrote thinking I meant the dog. The Bagle worm is known as Beagle, too, because that’s how it’s supposedly pronounced. Either way, worms suck.

Posted in InformIT.

The Importance of Process in Web Design is a well-written article about the importance of processes even in a Web design shop. I’ve worked as a process analyst for the last seven years or so and have seen how processes are a boon… and a burden.

Process teams can’t alone make the process work for an entire software department. It’s the department that makes the process happen while we’re here to help guide the department and manage the processes. You can read process articles I’ve written for A List Apart, Digital Web, and here.

Having a process doesn’t mean having a thousand pages of documentation. Documentation is needed, but it is not THE process and people won’t use it when there is too much documentation. I’m a neat freak. My desk is neat, my car is neat, etc. I can keep them clean. However, if I go into the other family car, which is a mess… I get overwhelmed and scared away. I can’t figure out where to start.

Process documentation is something like that. Have too much and no guidance, employees won’t use them. They’re useful for training new employees and handling hand-off problems between teams.

Just like starting a new business, the business is in the red while it buys the things it needs to get it off the ground. After a little time passes, it slowly reaches a profit. Processes take a lot of time in the beginning, but will save time in the long run since it’s repeatable and avoids reinventing the wheel each time or playing a hero.

I was lucky that Tara introduced me to Wikis a couple of years ago, so it didn’t befuddle me when they started popping up everywhere. However, I remember learning about it and it wasn’t easy to do at the time. What Is a Wiki? is an excellent and easy to understand introduction to the world of Wikis.

The Industry Standard has life! It’s returned as a blog. Shocking, just shocking. [Via Evhead]