While at the not so long ago Gospelcom conference, someone eluded to an internal debate going on within Gospelcom on whether or not they should use an Orange XML/RSS button.
This post isn’t to answer that question but to show everyone where the Orange XML button came from and how we should present it to our users.
Continue reading "Orange XML button & why use it?" (332 Words)
The more and more I read about websites, in the area of usability and accessibility, I begin to wonder why so many people avoid their users’ needs.
As a web developer, what stops you from actually focusing on creating an effective site? Is it because you don’t know all the issues? Is it the client’s budget? Is it that you don’t think a client will care about these things and just wants you to get a website up for them, or is it something else that I’m overlooking?
My guess is that all of these things play somewhat of a role in developing an effective website.
Let’s take each question, one by one, and see if we can’t figure out what the real issue is.
Continue reading "The Art of Effective Presentation" (755 Words)
I’ve been keeping quite busy in my reading life and have finished a few good books and recently started a new one that is rather exciting to me. The one I recently finished is entitled “Jesus and Muhammad: Profound Differences and Surprising Similarities”. The book talks obviously about the comparisons between the two but does so in an incredibly profound way. The author said it best:
My intention of this book is to help you understand Islam and Christianity by taking you to their founders. Remember: you cannot understand Christianity by what Christians do, nor can you understand Islam by what Muslims do. You have to go to the original sources.
Many English-language books about Islam look for common ground between Islam and Christianity. This book lets the differences between Jesus and Muhammad speak for themselves.
I have quite a few thoughts on this topic, both from this book and a few other books I have read on the subject. So if you ever bump into me on the street and are curious - let’s grab a cup of coffee.
My newest book was written by Donald A. Norman entitled The Design of Everyday Things. My excitement for this book comes from the developer side of myself. After awhile you can only read so many books on web development and you really need to get past the obvious and start digging in.
I think it’s understandable that I have no deep thoughts on the subject but I’m looking forward to understanding how people interact with the designs around them.
I’ll leave you with an interesting paragraph that I picked up while reading through the first few pages.
Most accidents are attributed to human error, but almost all cases the human error was the direct result of poor design. The principles that guide a quality, human-centered design are not relevant to just a more pleasurable life - they can save lives.
Well, today is my birthday and I’ve turned yet another year older from 23.
Along with the variety of emails, great cookies Jodi brought to work, and the random outbreak of singing - below is an email from my mom that I thought was nice.
I knew that I’d be gone for most of the day with TW - and I figured you’d be celebrating in some way this evening…so I just wanted to wish you a most glorious fun birthday! I’ll be rejoicing with you at 8:30 in spirit this evening - your ‘true’ birthday moment!
We could not have asked for a better firstborn, a leader, someone so full of life and joy, someone who turned out to be so loving and caring and determined to make his mark in this world a positive one. I think Dad’s first nickname for you was ‘bright eyes’ for you just wanted to take everything in all at once.
When you were about 7 we realized you were ‘all ears’ because you HEARD everything, even if you weren’t on the same room! Your first ten year of life were so peaceful and joyous, til you hit fifth grade and you had your first experiences with how to handle big time stress. A couple of years later we began to see the effects of ADD, even though we didn’t fully understand it then.
And we began homeschooling, a decision, because of our situation, that I have never regretted. We had SOOO many talks… and you became even more determined to call the Popeye Factor, and just be who you were, and make a man of yourself. And now here you are at 24 with a wife and a baby just aching to get out and meet you, and become your ‘bright eyes.’
We have been sooo blessed.
Happy Birthday, Son.
I love you!
Mom
Thanks Mom :-)
I’ve been incredibly curious in the area of computer accessibility over this past year and these past few weeks I’ve begun researching how users interact with webpages, email, multimedia and overall technology.
I read a recent article that was written by an individual with visual impairment in which he said:
I find the benefits of HTML-based emails to be that they are easier for me to navigate through links, headings, and tables.
This was quite a shock to me personally because I thought that plain text would have been the obvious solution. Thinking about what this individual is saying though makes sense. There is much more definition in a formatted document than a plain text document. More options are available to the user and quicker navigation is available if the HTML email is formatted correctly.
The conclusion was a good one that clarified a plain text email is better if only basic information is being sent (meaning not a lot of links) - their still seems to be quite a problem with how people respond to emails though.
