Posts Tagged ‘fort wayne’

Twitter?

Posted by Eric on July 8, 2008  |   No Comments »

I’ve been using twitter a lot more lately.  I have to admit it, I’m not totally sure why.  There are probably a couple of reasons.  Some of the reason are good (probably).  But, one reason is that I just feel like I SHOULD.  As a web developer, designer, etc.  I just sort of feel like I should be using it.  I’m not sure I need to or am really gaining anything out of it.  But, I feel the pressure to do the latest, etc.  And, twitter is one of those…   So, I’m using it.

In just a couple of months of using Twitter, I’ve run across 15 or so people I’m following and about the same number who are following me.  I guess that’s good.

I’ve put out some requests (tell me about good books, etc.) and received back some decent input.

And, as much as I hate to admit it, one of my favorites on Twitter is Barack Obama.  I love how often he (I assume his staff) updates, how they direct me back to web site, etc.  He’s now like the #3 most followed person on Twitter – behind Leo Laporte and Kevin Rose (#1)).  Possibly as a political statement – I can’t even find the “OFFICIAL” John McCain twitter.  That has got to say something about the two campaigns.

But, perhaps the most interesting thought about Twitter was found in this link:

http://johnvoelzblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/twitter-church.html

Apparently, this church had a live Twitter feed going on during church.  People contributed throughout the service.  Very interesting.  Not sure if it is the right technology or not, but it LOVE the thought.  I love the idea that technology is about a whole lot more than just a cool web site, a new thing, etc.  I love that technology can be about people.  About community.  About connecting people.  I think that’s really the power.

Maybe Twitter is more valuable than I thought?

 

One Less Reason To Hate Flash?

Posted by Eric on July 2, 2008  |   3 Comments »

As some of you may know, Adobe just recently announced that Google and Yahoo will now finally be able to index flash files (read press release).  So, I was thinking about this and reading about this just recently.

Ran across this quote:

“As anyone who has had the pleasure of doing web design and development through marketing agencies knows, Flash tends to be wildly popular among clients and wildly unpopular among, well, pretty much everyone else.”  (from ars technica)

I loved the quote and I think it is basically true.  Flash is really loved by designers in hip marketing agencies (I know of a couple in my area – Fort Wayne).  But, just about everyone else hates it.  Why?  

  1. It’s slow – I HATE that – please wait – loading – bar that shows up on Flash sites – I usually leave
  2. It’s violates “normal” navigation and usability standards.  It’s flexibility is one of it’s weaknesses.  It allows designers to put navigation anywhere – breaking all normal conventions.  Making us wonder – just what does this do?  I wonder where the navigation is on this page – I usually just leave
  3. It has to be updated by a designer.  Need to change text in a flash site?  Great – hire the designer.  There really aren’t any good Content Management Systems for flash – no way to have authors, editors, etc.
  4. It’s not searchable – If you want a cool looking site, great – go with Flash.  But if you want visitors, go with something else.
But, no number 4 is no longer an issue.  My worry is that it will just encourage people to make bad use of what is a nice technology – just not for developing sites.

Making The Admin Better…

Posted by Eric on April 6, 2008  |   No Comments »

I really love working with WordPress. I’ve been using it for quite a while now for clients. I think it gives one of the easiest, cleanest interfaces for Content Management.

But, I’ve always thought that the admin interface was kind of boring.

Now, I’ve found a list of admin interfaces that jazz up the boring old interface quite a bit.

Here’s the link (with 9 different admin plug-ins):

http://weblogtoolscollection.com/archives/2007/12/28/9-wordpress-admin-themes/

My personal favorite is the NiceAdmin (http://www.douglaskarr.com/projects/niceadmin/).

This new admin coupled with the Admin Drop Down (http://planetozh.com/blog/2008/04/admin-drop-down-menu-202/), make a great interface.

I think the admin drop down is almost a must have – it creates exactly what it says – admin drop down menus. So you have to do half as much clicking.

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