2007 February

Common (but Serious) Page Design Flaws

Somehow, I have a knack for finding the ups and downs of the design and architecture of Web sites. Some sites (like Gmail, a true G-dsend for nerds like me) really work well and look nice, but others (like Boost Mobile’s site) are horrible. How is it possible to ruin a design? Keep reading.

Light Text On Dark Backgrounds

This just may be the killer. After reading a particular blog that follows this practice, I was seeing white lines in my eyes after getting up from the computer (a rare occurance, but I gotta use eventuallyventually). Sure this might be good for some who need high contrast, but for the rest of us, it’s just plain ol’ bad.

Disgusting URLs

Although this doesn’t really make or break anything, it’s nice to show a user addresses that make sense. And for some (err, many, especially those using Mambo/Joomla with one of several SEF extensions, or WordPress) people, it’s a piece of cake to set up your site with this in mind. Hint: look for mod_rewrite when buying your hosting.

Stupid HTML Errors

Now for the killer. There are so many sites that have bad HTML clogging up our precious bandwidth, yet their admins refuse to clean up after their act. I have experience with this, in the form of at least two sites of my own, and one forum (whose name is withheld for the admin’s well-being), that suffer from some simple HTML invalidation. What’s even worse is that the admin of the forum refuses to clean up after himself :

I don’t care about these things. Please stop pestering me with this nonsense.

If you take a look at his code Continue reading »

The Beta Boost

With many of today’s sites, it is common to see a little Beta indicator by the logo. I’ve jumped on the bandwagon. Now although I don’t actively use (or proclaim use of, at least) any beta-version add-ons on this site, I though it would be funny to add beta somewhere here. Take a look at the header and see what I’ve done.

Best Traffic Booster: Content Is King

After looking through my stats in Google Analytics lately, I noticed a trend in my search engine referrals. Ever since my post about my experience with the Math A Regents, I received dozens of hits from Google and other search engines. In addition, various other posts (including my mention of the Windows XP Royale theme) have brought me reliable traffic, which indicates that they are what people are looking for.

Rule numero uno: Make lots of good content. People (and search engines) look for pages that have something useful to say and that say it well. If possible, use spell checking (or copy and paste the text into another app and spell-check it there) before publishing you articles. Google Hacks says that with the advent of spell checking from search engines, spelling is as important to your content as water is to you (I like that metaphor).

Another trick I’ve discovered is to write in a timely fashion. Timing is a key factor in getting traffic. If you write about skiing and snowboarding, late fall and winter is probably the best time. Similarly, the optimal timeframe for content on roller coasters or surfing is late spring and summer. For example, if I would have written about the Math A Regents exam in August, I don’t think I would have as many hits (also, people were using “January 2007″ in their search phrases, which brought them to the archive page of that timeframe, but this is a side effect). If you want to write about a particular topic, take a few moments and think about whether it’s relevant at that time. If the answer is yes, pour out your thoughts, otherwise, write it down and save it for later (just don’t forget about it).

Finally, I suggest using SEF-friendly URLs or pretty permalinks (or whatever they are called in your respective CMS), or paying attention to your URLs if you hand code your site. Although I don’t seem to notice any effect from using this tip, I am guessing that it helps a little bit. At the very least, it makes your URLs look nice to your visitors.

Today’s Memory Cards: Too Darn Small (Literally)

Today I was doing a bunch of things with my brand-new SD card (which I use pretty much for my camera), namely transferring pictures to my computer and printing a photo.Stupidly, after I got all this done, I didn’t manage to get the card back in the camera’s slot, and now the card has gone AWOL (in other words, missing). Sure these cards may be able to fit into the smallest of electronic devices, but keeping track of them can be a chore.

Flickr: The Perfect Web 2.0 Site

I started using Flickr last week, and I must say that it is very impressive. The site is smooth, simple and functional. Flickr follows many of the Web 2.0 themes, including tags and widgets of sorts.

Upon first seeing the site, I was impressed at the Web 2.0 feel of it. The navigation bar at the top of the pages are smart – they allow quick access to common features. Searching through the large community’s photos is easy too: you can search your photos, everyone’s photos, or Flickr groups from one search box.

I found that uploading photos is extremely easy with one of several Flickr Uploadr programs, which can be found for most of the popular operating systems. The Windows version is really a snap. You can drag pictures into the window or ad them with a browse dialog box. You can add tags to all the pictures you are uploading (although all of the pictures will share the same set of tags, which is not always desirable) and place them in a set before the upload process begins.

Flickr’s site has many tools for working with your photos, not all of which I have experimented with yet. A kind of useful one is the mapping, which lets you tag a photo with coordinates from a Yahoo-powered map. Privacy advocates should be careful and remember not to tag pictures with, say, the location of your house. I also like tagging, although thinking of the best ones (not just for photos, but also for blog posts and the like) can be challenging.

Flickr beats Kodak EasyShare Gallery (formerly Ofoto) hands down. Even though I have used Kodak’s service for a while, the features that Flickr give you are way more comprehensive, and experienced users will find much to like in the Web 2.0-oriented product.

Getting Hyped For Skiing

With my school’s annual ski trip coming up, I’m getting pretty excited. I am assuming that we are going back to Camelback Mountain, which got a halfpipe and a redesigned Web site this this year. I have all of my gear ready, and I’m eagerly awaiting the trip up on February 15.

My plans for the trip include taking the next step in learning to ski, covering more trails, covering harder trails, and skiing along with my friends (instead of going solo most of the time). I want to become proficient in skiing, and maybe these are the steps I need to take to get there.

Recently I have learned a little more about skiing in general, and also about skiing in the West. With my Backcountry.com shipment came a little notice about a sweepstakes for a Utah ski vacation, which I immediately entered. Stupidly, I forgot to check the box requesting to receive a vacation planner, so I had to request that separately. After reading the nicely formatted magazine, I learned that Utah has “The Greatest Snow On Earth®,” and more than 500 inches of it in recent years. I also found out that powder skiing is a widely appreciated sport; I think that corduroy (aka groomed) skiing is my best choice, especially for the relative beginner that I am.