For those who haven’t heard about it yet:
The rules :
This is pretty hard cos I’m very open about myself, and everyone knows the most important things about me, for example, what I eat, what I drink…
OK, so eight random facts about me:
I won’t be tagging anyone specifically, because I think the meme is well and truly over — it seems everyone I know has already done it. If you haven’t, please consider yourself tagged! It’s been very interesting — thanks folks!
]]>So I have started up a new, personal blog I’ve called Vicki’s Vapours, that is more about my thoughts and what is happening in my life (and what yummy food I happen to be eating, too!) than tech stuff. From time to time I’ll post here when I feel I have something to say, but mostly you’ll find me over at Vicki’s Vapours.
]]>So, what is WebJam?
To put it in Myles’s words, WebJam is an event where:
…we have a number of presenters who get 3 minutes to show us what they are working on, why it is cool and why we should vote for them.
Here are the details:
Sadly, the event coincides with the August Perth Weblogger Meetup but I’m sure the members will all come and support WebJam instead, just this once…. WebJam is for everyone who uses the web!
It will be just two days before the WA Web Awards (WAWA) so it really will be (to snitch more of Myles’s words) “WA Web Week”.
Technorati Tags: AWIA, WAWA, WebJam, Perth, WA Web Week, Perth Webloggers Meetup Group
]]>MailTags is a plug-in for Apple’s Mail application. It allows the user to assign keywords, project names, notes (and you can even replace the subject line of an email with whatever note you assign… particularly useful for emails without subjects or with subjects that lack meaning) and add iCal “to-do” and “event” items.
MailTags makes great use of OSX’s ability to integrate with other OSX applications such as iCal, and also integrates with other applications such as iGTD, MailSteward, TagBot, EagleFiler, and DockStar.
I organise my email into folders, via Mail’s Rules (or filters). The folders are primarily organised according to the sender or mailing list. For example, I have a Clients mailbox incorporating folders for each of my clients. This is fine, except Rules can be limiting. For example, one of my clients is an independent public relations contractor, and as such might be associated with more than one of my projects at any given time. But under my system, any mail sent by him goes into a single mailbox when relying solely on Mail’s Rules.
And for another client, I work with a colleague who is also a friend. A lot of our correspondence has nothing to do with this client, but there is no easy way to separate the different categories of emails from him (either friendship or business), because even in mail associated with the client, the client’s name or the project name or any other common work-defining characteristic around which I can build a Rule around, may not be mentioned anywhere in the email.
Using Mailtags, which inserts a pane in the message window (which can be opened or hidden either manually or automatically), all I have to do is to allocate keywords and/or a project for each incoming (or outgoing) email I think may need such a filter. Then I can either search or Γ’β¬β my preference Γ’β¬β set up a Smart Mailbox for keywords and/or projects as required, independent of sender or receiver if necessary, and see at a glance any correspondence relating to my criteria. It is absolutely brilliant, simple to set up, and very time-saving.
MailTags keywords and projects can be saved for re-use, and are also be included in the Rules dialog box so Mail Rules can utilise them as well.
But it doesn’t stop with keywords and projects and changed subject lines. Right inside the message window, MailTags (with a very nice HUD, I might add) makes it possible to add To Dos and Events directly into iCal. Simply click on whichever of the To Do or the Event buttons you require in the MailTags pane of the message window, fill in the details in the HUD that pops up, and a corresponding To Do or Event will be added to iCal Γ’β¬β along with a link back to the email from which you created the To Do or Event, so you can always find it again easily when in iCal.
You can also go back to the email message at any time and edit the To Do or Event.
Editing an event within the Mail message using MailTags. (Click on the image to open a larger version.)
For MailTags 1.3 users, Tim Gaden of HawkWings does a great job of explaining the benefits of version 2.0 Γ’β¬β and I must add that, having been part of the beta testing team for this new version (now out of beta), developer Scott Morrison is extremely dedicated and right on top of every issue, and he genuinely welcomes feedback (and fixes issues promptly).
I am using MailTags in conjunction with several .Mac accounts and a couple of other IMAP accounts in addition to I-don’t-want-to-know-how-many POP accounts, and it is just brilliant for my needs. A free 21-day trial is available (it will cost US$29.95 to purchase) and I encourage you to try it and see if you can live without it once you incorporate it into your own workflow!
Technorati Tags: Apple Mail, Tim Gaden, plug-ins, plugins, add-ons, Apple Mail plug-ins, Mail.app, Mail plug-ins, Mac OSX, OSX, iCal, MailTags, Scott Morrison, workflow
]]>Yet “should” is very much a part of our lives. Our lives are lived according to what someone, or one entity or another, tells us. Our relationships, and our work, and just day to day Γ’β¬β well Γ’β¬β life, are about rules and guidelines.
From an early age we are taught what we should and should not do. This could be for safety reasons or for sociological reasons, but either way it’s meant to be for our own good. Yet, either way it’s someone else’s (collectively or individually) idea of what’s right that has been imposed on us (collectively or individually) and we react to this in a few different ways:
Attitude | We think or feel |
---|---|
Take it on board | “I understand this is what I’m meant to do. I will try to make sure I do it.” |
Acceptance and/or resignation | “I’ll never be able to do that. I guess I’m just a failure. There’s not much point even trying. I’ll never measure up.” |
Rebellion and/or resentment | “Who are they to tell me what I should and should not do? I am capable of making my own decisions. How dare they?” |
Rejection | “They don’t like me, don’t accept me, think I fall short of what they want from me.” |
Indifference | “What’s your point? I’m fine with what I am and/or what my business is doing. Get over it. I’m cool!” |
Sometimes we know in ourselves we “should” do something that is right, but don’t. Other times, we’re told (either by an individual, a business, or by the rules of our society) what we should or should not do, but don’t really know deep within ourselves whether or not someone else’s idea of what we should do is actually right for us. And yet other times, we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the other person’s (or business’s or society’s) idea is wrong Γ’β¬β at least for ourselves as individuals or as businesses.
Whichever feelings are invoked, or whichever reaction to “should” is chosen, there is a reaction, be it to the issue about which the word “should” is being used, or to the dynamics of the situation itself. We have no control over emotions (though we do over actions) and it’s important to be careful when dealing with other people to keep things positive. Where there is a reaction, there are consequences.
We react to “should” according to our beliefs and the sum of our pasts, all of which are closely tied to our self esteem. Our reactions in themselves can determine how we subsequently perceive ourselves. If we suffer from low self esteem and react with anger or aggression or with hysterics (thus in some way demeaning ourselves) our self esteem will suffer an additional battering when we review our behaviour later (as ya do). Whereas, if we react carefully and with dignity, we’ll like ourselves a whole lot better for it later.
In our dealings with clients, I think it’s a Good ThingΓ’βΒ’ to avoid using the word “should”. Like it or not, people react to being told what they “should” do, and occasionally in such a negative way (even if they don’t actually say so) that your relationship with them is dented. When we know a client should do a thing, or a web site should adhere to certain guidelines, or if we prefer that procedures follow a different format, let’s find another way to put it. There are a gazillion ways we can do this. Some of my favourites:
There are any number of non-threatening variations. And these also work as nice response when a client tells us what we should do, and we may be feeling prickly as a result.
And yes, I’m guilty of using the word “should” from time to time but it’s something I consciously avoid and I’m getting better.
I’ve focused on the word “should” here but in all of our dealings, if we take an assertive but non-confrontational appraoch, we can exert a great deal of control over the kind of feelings and reactions resulting from either personal or client dealings, and enhance our own self-esteem and that of the people we deal with at the same time.
]]>When viewing posts in NetNewsWire's preview pane [...] there's no option to open the web page right there in the preview pane.
]]>When viewing posts in NetNewsWire’s preview pane, sometimes only the extract is provided and the bulk of the post is on the blog’s web site. Or else the post’s author refers to something on the web page (an ad, for example) that doesn’t appear in the preview. To view the post on the blog’s web site, you can click on the post title in the preview pane, which will take you to the web page in your default brower. Or, upon right-click, NetNewsWire provides the option to open in a new NetNewsWire tab, download the linked file, or copy the link.
But there’s no option to open the web page right there in the preview pane.
Enter Vicki Fumble-Fingers! I accidentally dragged a post title from the News Items list into the preview pane… and whaddaya know… the post’s web page loaded right before my eyes in the preview pane.
Coolios… I’m going to be using this a lot.
Technorati Tags: NetNewsWire, OSX,
preview pane
TextExpander is a nifty Mac OSX Preference Pane utility that, upon a trigger or pre-defined keystroke combination, inserts "snippets" of text anywhere in the OS.
]]>TextExpander is a nifty Mac OSX Preference Pane utility that, upon a trigger or pre-defined keystroke combination, inserts “snippets” of text anywhere in the OS. I have saved as “snippets” text strings such as my mail server (how tedious it can be to constantly add in mail.server.com a dozen times when setting up email addresses), my various signatures, my most-used email addresses, my web site addresses and my name in different formats. TextExpander can even use variables to insert, for example, the current date and time. It is hugely time-saving and I always get a buzz from seeing the desired text appear with just a couple of keystrokes.
Therefore, TextExpander fits in beautifully with web development, and no doubt any kind of programming work. Whether your development application of choice supports snippets or not, TextExpander is a great way to quickly re-use code without interrupting your workflow.
TextExpander is available as a 30-day demo, after which you will be reminded to purchase and register it. The purchase cost is US$29.95, so it would be worth trying out the demo to see if the productivity benefits are worth it to you, as they have been to me.
Technorati Tags: Dreamweaver, web development, Mac OSX, OSX, TextExpander, Preference Pane, Snippets
]]>I’m working on a new business website, getting new business cards made up (having reverted to my maiden name. Professionally it makes sense to stay consistent, whatever my marital status!) and am generally feeling great about life and work. It’s been a while!
One less-than-ideal piece of news is that recent hearing tests show a sharp decline. I’ve apparently lost most of the speech frequencies in the last few years. My audiologist said, “You don’t hear speech.” I said to her, “Well I’m talking to you, aren’t I?” and she told me, “You just don’t know how good you are at guessing. You do not hear what I am saying. You can’t.” She tells me a cochlear implant will give me my speech frequencies back so I’ve set wheels in motion to look into that. There is apparently a years-long waiting list as it’s an extremely expensive operation, and then 12 months of intensive (like 3x a week) speech therapy to get through, but maybe then I will hear?
Aside from all that, I have quite a few things planned for 2007, including some of the things that were meant to happen in 2006 except that circumstances got in the way! Onwards and upwards, etc etc! I’ll be able to update on at least some of these things within the next couple of weeks.
That’s about all in the way of updates for now. I will keep this blog going, and will provide some meat to consume… it’s just been a really tough year or so. Roll on, 2007!
]]>Plenty of people have talked about the sessions and how much they gained from them. I've found it fascinating to see the different areas in which different people found value.
For myself, because of my hearing (or lack thereof) it's not so much about the sessions: it's about the people.
]]>Plenty of people have talked about the sessions and how much they gained from them. I’ve found it fascinating to see the different areas in which different people found value.
For myself, because of my hearing (or lack thereof) it’s not so much about the sessions: it’s about the people.
Having attended Web Essentials in both ’04 and ’05, I had already met quite a lot of really lovely people associated with the conference in varying capacities. Of course, when attending conferences like this one, with a large bunch of fellow geeks, I know I am going to meet people with whom I will have quite a lot in common. Nevertheless with some people Γ’β¬β well, you just “click”, more so than with others. It is great to look back on how these friendships have developed and matured over time, and on the new ones in the making. I have made some very special friends and met some very special people.
Take Lisa Miller and Lisa Herrod, for example. I met these two beautiful young women at Web Essentials ’04 and over the last two years have developed the utmost respect and admiration for them both. They are beautiful inside and out, but not only that, they’re super smart and super knowledgeable Γ’β¬β but neither is one who tends to blow their own trumpet. They are both awesome Australian women who belong in the forefront of our industry.
Maxine Sherrin: a heart of gold and an acutely sharp businesswoman, and a web standards and CSS expert. She is totally on the ball Γ’β¬β one of those exceptional, switched on people on whom you just know you can count. And she has really been “there” for me in a special way.
Molly Holzschlag: oh, what can I say? I consider every minute spent in her company to be something precious. She is simply lovely: strong and honest and with the most amazing mind, and as I said before, I want to be like Molly when I grow up…
Sarah Isaacson: we met for the first time this year in the capacity of roomies. Thank goodness, we clicked from the word Go. It could so easily have been a disaster but we got on soooooooooo well and I believe I’ve made a friend for life. She is beautiful, smart, strong, thoughtful and loyal Γ’β¬β and I am grateful to have had the opportunity to become close to her.
Sara Lander: totally gorgeous, so easy to talk to, so darned smart, simply awesome. (I told her hubby, John Allsopp, he has competition. He didn’t seem worried. He’s pretty awesome too. )
Laurel Papworth: I really enjoyed her presentation (what I heard of it!) on building online communities. She is a great speaker with some interesting and clever ideas. And a fun person. She utterly delighted me when I got a chance to talk with her personally. We have such gems in our web women and so many of us are totally unaware they even exist… until people like Maxine and John make it possible for them to share their knowledge and themselves with us.
Gian Sampson-Wild: her freshness and enthusiasm almost took me by surprise. She is great company, great to talk with. Her expertise in the area of web accessibility (my own area of specialisation) meant we would have a fair bit in common… I can tell you, I really regret not being able to hear well because I would love to have spoken in greater depth with all these wonderful women of the web.
So far I’ve really only mentioned women Γ’β¬β and there are more that come to mind but if I mentioned them all I’d be writing forever. But truthfully, it’s for the women I went. Due to other stuff happening in my life right now, I really craved the company of women, especially like-minded women. Actually I was thrilled to see such a large proportion of female conference attendees. And I consider myself to be extremely fortunate to have had the privilege of getting to know some of them.
Of course I met some fantastic men too, such as Andy “Malarkey” Clarke, Jeremy Keith and Thomas Vander Wal, and I got to see my dear (if evil) friend Derek Featherstone again. They are all exceptional speakers and we were very lucky to have them with us. The guys from SitePoint were all awesome too (and boy do they know how to give a great party!) and it was a treat to meet The Man in Blue and Toolman Tim. How amazing to meet all these “names” in real life! And lovely people I’ve met before like Gavin Jacobi, Amit Karmakar and many many more. But I can’t say too much about what I really think about these wonderful and gorgeous men for fear of upsetting their partners or whoever… Suffice to say, I’d like to say more!
There are lots more special people that I met and spent time with (and one in particular, Peter Firminger, who I missed a lot) but this would go on forever if I mentioned them all.
It all brought home to me in a major way that the web industry is about people. It’s about us, the people who work in it, and it’s about the people who use our products and creations. We know that already, of course, but there is nothing like experiencing a conference like Web Directions ’06 to make it sink in.
I’ll upload my photos (the publishable ones, anyway!) onto Flickr after I get around to uploading the second half of my TODCon pics…
Technorati Tags: Web Directions ’06, Web Directions South, Web Directions South ’06, WD06
]]>Details of the event are on the WSG website. If possible, RSVP to Kay and myself so we have an idea of how many to cater for.
Hope to see you there!
Technorati Tags: Web Standards Group, Perth Web Standards Group, WSG, Nick Cowie, accessible forms
]]>Marketing guru Seth Godin writes, in his article Better than they deserve:
Letting your customers set your standards is a dangerous game, because the race to the bottom is pretty easy to win. Setting your own standards — and living up to them — is a better way to profit. Not to mention a better way to make your day worth all the effort you put into it.
Did that ever strike a chord with me!
]]>Marketing guru Seth Godin writes, in his article Better than they deserve:
Letting your customers set your standards is a dangerous game, because the race to the bottom is pretty easy to win. Setting your own standards Γ’β¬β and living up to them Γ’β¬β is a better way to profit. Not to mention a better way to make your day worth all the effort you put into it.
Did that ever strike a chord with me!
There have been times over the last couple of years, since I stopped working full time for the Western Australian State Government, things have been tough, financially. A regular income has its advantages! At one point, someone close to me was putting me under a lot of pressure to lower my standards and churn out cheap, nasty web sites at a high rate to bring in some much-needed cash. Then, a client asked me to create a web site that would also have been cheap and nasty Γ’β¬β but which would have given my business a lot of publicity.
I refused. It’s hard enough to know that there are old sites of mine floating around that are not up to my current standards, and I knew if I lowered my standards now, the reputation I planned to build as a web standards and web accessibility specialist would be unattainable. Yes, I could have earned some (and maybe a lot) extra cash, but at what cost?
I chose this path I’m on Γ’β¬β these areas of specialisation Γ’β¬β because they are important to me and because working in these areas gives me great satisfaction. In a way, to do anything less would be compromising my principles in a big way. What shall it profit a man…?
If that sounds sanctimonious, it’s not meant to be. Let’s face it: We spend much of our lives working. It is no bad thing to prefer to gain full satisfaction from a job well done according to personal principles (whatever they may be for each of us), instead of going against those principles and never feeling quite right about our work.
How can we have passion about something second-rate? It’s the passion that carries us forward to success.
Setting standards, and sticking to them, does pay off. For myself, I’m now extremely busy with clients who chose my business precisely because it offers that extra something. And just a couple of months ago, I spoke at a conference in the U.S.A. on topics relating to my areas of specialisation. There are also other exciting (to me!) things about to happen that are simmering just below the surface. I’m achieving my goals.
Where would I be if I’d taken the quick-and-easy path to cash? Not where I am now, that is for sure! And I like it where I am.
It doesn’t matter whether you are in design, I.T. or any other business. Set your own standards (and aim high when you do it!) and the pay-off, though it may not be immediate, will be worth it.
]]>I have good eyesight, but there are many sites I view on the MBP where I find I have to bump up the font size because the text is painfully small.
]]>I have good eyesight, but there are many sites I view on the MBP where I find I have to bump up the font size because the text is uncomfortably small. Fortunately, on the Mac this is easy and is something I am comfortable to do. Those on newer Windows laptops might not find it so simple, even if they know they can do it (and how to do it).
Designers who favour small font sizes should consider just how tiny the fonts will appear on many modern machines. But of course, it’s not just text. Everything is smaller, including images. With this kind of scenario becoming more and more common, it’s definitely an important design consideration.
Without getting too technical, there are a few things we can do to make life easier for those using high-resolution displays.
Self-explanatory. Ensure font sizes are set in ems or percentages, and make them a notch or two bigger than you normally might. You might prefer a smaller font and think it looks better Γ’β¬β but it’s not about you. It’s about the user.
But please make sure these are intuitive to use. I particularly like this implementation.
Perhaps the easiest method involves creating your graphics at the maximum physical dimensions you are comfortable with (be careful of file size!) and setting the dimensions of the image displayed via CSS. The box containing the image should have a liquid width (for example, if the image is inside a column on the page, that column may be set to a width of, say, 30% as opposed to a fixed amount in pixels) and the width of the image itself should be set to 100% with a max-width specified. (See Russ Weakley’s example.)
Roger Johansson of 456 Berea St has also discussed this issue and the thoughts and links in his article are worth looking into for further information. It’s also worth reading the comments for the various posts.
Any other thoughts?
Technorati Tags: MacBook Pro, screen resolution, wide-screen, plug-ins, plugins, laptops,
laptop, zoom
I love this plug-in because it keeps me on my toes… I don’t have to go through tedious validation processes while I build sites Γ’β¬β I can see if it validates whenever I preview a page in a browser.
And I can assess the code on other sites, too. For example, when evaluating a Content Management System (CMS) or other web product, I can get an initial idea of the quality of the code without even viewing source. (Valid code does not necessarily equal good code, but if a site trying to sell me anything to do with code throws up a lot of errors I won’t hang around too long.)
All I need now to make Firefox totally redundant to my workflow (except as a testing tool) is a real-time CSS editor such as in the aforementioned Web Developer Toolbar.
Related link: Extending Safari
Technorati Tags: web development, Safari, Firefox, HTML Tidy, Safari Tidy, Web Developer Toolbar
]]>How exactly does being my own boss mean I can create more challenges and have a more satisfying work life? Well, I don’t mean that I make things harder than they need to be.
What I mean is that I get to make judgement calls without the constraints of office politics and time-keeping. How many of us have felt under-appreciated at work, or frustrated because we know we can do better but our boss told us, “Just get it done quickly” or — when we know technology or techniques to be used are outdated or just plain wrong for the job, we are told “There’s no time, there’s no money. Just do it”.
But I am free to seek my own solutions in my own time if that’s what I want to do. I don’t feel obliged to do a task in an old way simply because it’s familiar, and that’s the way it’s always been done and it works, so why waste time (which is money), etc. etc.?
From a business viewpoint, that don’t-waste-time mindset certainly has merit, depending on the circumstances, but often only in the short-term. (And sure, sometimes we have to make those hard business decisions ourselves when there literally is no time or money to pursue something better.) But I believe my business will ultimately benefit (indeed, it has benefited a great deal) from my desire to learn, to improve upon old ways, to find better and more efficient solutions. Yes, I’ve worked for many non-billable hours along the way, but it’s never wasted. In any case, any web developer worth his or her salt, whether self-employed or an employee, must continue to develop professionally in such a fast-changing industry.
The thing is, that when you’re answerable directly to the client and to no one else, there is more freedom to focus that professional development on providing exactly what is needed at a given moment: the best solution, not just the fastest to implement that will do the job. And of course that knowledge is reused again and again in future projects, so — once attained — it actually saves a great deal of time rather than wasting it.
It’s an investment that pays big dividends. The end result is that the client is happy (though usually none the wiser about the extra effort I’ve put in to give them a superior product) and I have immense satisfaction in a job well done. In addition, I’ve gained knowledge and skills, and the big bonus is increased income.
Heady stuff.
Technorati Tags: web development, self-employed, professional development
]]>On ANZAC Day, April 25, 2006, it seems evident to me that we have all but forgotten.
The words of Rudyard Kipling, in a song I learned as a youngster at primary school, are poignant in today's pro-war world.
]]>On ANZAC Day, April 25, 2006, it seems evident to me that we have all but forgotten.
The words of Rudyard Kipling, in a song I learned as a youngster at primary school, are poignant in today’s pro-war world. Notwithstanding the religious aspect of these words, with which many may or may not agree, the fundamental meaning is clear and has stuck with me since those childhood days:
God of our fathers, known of old,
Lord of our far flung battle line,
Beneath whose awful hand we hold
Dominion over palm and pine—
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!
The tumult and the shouting dies;
The captains and the kings depart:
Still stands Thine ancient sacrifice,
An humble and a contrite heart.
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!
Far called, our navies melt away;
On dune and headland sinks the fire:
Lo, all our pomp of yesterday
Is one with Nineveh and Tyre!
Judge of the Nations, spare us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!
If, drunk with sight of power, we loose
Wild tongues that have not Thee in awe,
Such boastings as the Gentiles use,
Or lesser breeds without the Law—
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!
For heathen heart that puts her trust
In reeking tube and iron shard,
All valiant dust that builds on dust,
And guarding, calls not Thee to guard,
For frantic boast and foolish word—
Thy mercy on Thy people, Lord!
Technorati Tags: ANZAC Day, Rudyard Kipling, Lest We Forget
]]>