tjameswhite.com

This shouldn’t come as a surprise: using Yahoo! Image Search, photos from Flickr abound; using Google Image Search, not so much.

For example, a simple search for “Tilley hats” yields two Flickr photos on page 1 in Yahoo and more on every subsequent results page. Missing from the results (at least the first 5 pages) are any images from Picasa Web Albums.

The same search on Google doesn’t yeild a Flickr photo until page 3. The surprising thing is that the first Flickr photo is only two spots behind the first Picasa photo.

(Perhaps the most surprising result of all is the photo in the second row on the first page of Yahoo!s results.)

(Search results are based on a search conducted May 7, 2008.)

I’ve got accounts on various social networks now. Honestly, I’m not sure what or how to use them, and some, like Twitter, I don’t see a lot of value in.

I’ve grabbed accounts though partly to claim my online ID, party to see what all the fuss is about. In fact, I set up a Twitter account just so I can SMS to My Mile Marker.

Here’s were I’m located:

• LinkedIn
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Flickr
• LibraryThing

I’ll probably try to set something up in the sidebar. I’d really like to integrate everything together. Facebook, for example, lists the other networks; I’ve got a LibraryThing plug in on this site already, and I’ll probably do the same with Twitter.

There is a new Spam attack underway and they have managed to get around the usual filters. I’ve had a few, not tons, in my inbox and last week a dozen or so comment spam were held in moderation.

And now Askimet has just proven its mettle — it has stopped 5,000 6,000 comment spam this week. For the record, since I installed the latest version of WordPress several months ago I have had a total of only about 5,000 spam comments. It just doubled in a couple of days.

Way to go Askimet!

With my new, expanded resolution and reviewing a number of posts* on designing for various resolutions, I decided to chech the stats for this site. According to Analytics, for 2006 only 3.6% of visitors to this site have had a resolution of less than 1024 X 768. That resolution accounts for 49.57%, meaning that 46.83% of visitor have even more screen realestate.

* Sources:

• Optimal width for 1024px resolution?
• 800 x 600, should I really care?
• Varying layout according to broswer width

Tags: resolution

Well, I’ve been a full-fledge facaulty member for some 3 weeks now. I’m starting to settle into the new diggs and am beginning to get comfortable with what I’m teaching.

I’ve been using a collegues lecture notes to get me going and this week marks the first time I’ve started to not lecture from them, but rather to use them as talking points. I’ve got a lot of progress to make, but at least it started.

As for the old job, surprisingly I don’t miss it like I thought I would. Maybe I’ve just been too busy to notice, or maybe it’s because I have dinner every week with one of my former collegues (who’s stories remind me why I didn’t mind leaving).

So, here’s to looking up and out finally, and to hopefully posting more often. I’ve got some discussion ideas in my head and I am going to try to write them out here. I need to talk about semantics and I’ve got some ideas about every day design I’ve been meaning to write up.

Today I handed in my resignation at Thomson Gale in order to join the faculty at Washtenaw Community College.

After 9 1/2 years at Gale, it was somewhat difficult to take the leap; but, on the other hand, it was also time for a change. And the opportunity at WCC was too good to pass up.

I am joining the Internet Professionals department and will be teaching XHTML, CSS and all the standards goodness that goes along with it. (Which means I really need to get this site in shape.) I’m really looking forward to getting back in the classroom and helping spread the standards movement to a new generation of coders.

WordPress 2.0, or rather Askimet, is doing it’s job. Since the upgrade, no spam comments have made it to the site and no false-positives caught.

Tags: WordPress, Askimet

Arg. I really need to get to upgrading this place. I’m getting tons of comment Spam; this is a poorly hacked site setup; and, I just discovered the previous/next functions are working (i.e.: when looking at the archives, only one page of results shows with now options for more entries). I’m not sure when that disappeared.

If only I could spare a few hours. Damn work always getting in the way.

Internet Explorer has a number of css bugs which cause no end of headaches for web developers. Working on the uber complicated style sheets for the electronic product at work I’ve encounter enough oddities to fill my quota for the year. I feel pretty good that the IE-only css file isn’t actually that big.

But the best way to beat an IE bug is to avoid it. A number of bugs have no behaviors that trigger them. For example, on a project I’m working on I encountered the Doubled Float-Margin Bug. Instead of trying to counter IE’s quirky behavior, I simply rewrote the code to avoid the bug. The trigger is when an element is floated and there is a margin going the same direction as the float. The simple solution for my problem — remove the margin. Or, more precisely, I could place the same amount of padding on the container element and remove the margin from the contained element.

Presto! One bug avoid. Zero hacks involved.

Last Thursday I drove down to Bowling Green State University to hear Shantanu Narayen, president of Adobe, give a short talk on Web 2.0 and where things are going. He didn’t have any Earth-shattering revelations, but I still enjoyed it, if nothing more than a confirmation of what I see happening (with greater clarity).

For those interested, here are the bullet points of the presentation:

Shantanu Narayen, President and Chief Operating Officer of Adobe on:

Web 2.0, Rich Internet Applications, and Adobe’s Strategy for Innovation

(March 30, 2006) Bowling Green State University, Olscamp Hall Room 221
(Sponsored by the BGSU Computer Science Department and NWOACM)

• Make information available any time, any where - not just when connected to the web.
• Web 2.0 Tends
  • Separation of data and UI. Open formats, RSS and public APIs allow for
  • Remixing and custom UIs
  • Use of local computer power. Computers are fast enough now to allow things like Live
    Search - get results as you type; no more submit and wait.
  • Information comes to you
• Observations
  • Importance of users.
    • You can’t imagine what use people will use your widget for. Ex: Google, eBay,
      Amazon.com = users made them successful [sell on eBay, invoice w/ PayPal,
      print UPS shipping label, go to UPS Store. Or, just use eBay stores]
    • Important to be open. [Let users guide you; don't quell innovation]
  • Software that is never released.
    • Tim O’Reilly - “perpetual beta”
    • Flickr Beta [I forget that it's actually a beta service]
    • Compare to something like Vista…
  • Integration of devices and software.
    • iTunes = web app, desktop software & device
    • Seamless integration important
  • Not code but data.
    • Data is becoming more important than [traditional] software
    • i.e.: Maps. Google, MapQuest & Yahoo all have mapping applications, but
      they all use the same map data, which is provided by one company.
  • Platform beats an application.
    • Platform, like Google Maps, is more successful & useful than a stand-alone
      app.
    • Apps need to be platforms
    • AJAX - simple javascript and HTTP Post. It’s a platform that applications can
      easily be built upon.
  • Breakthrough experience matters
    • The time is right for a new breakthrough for the web. DHTML, CSS, xhtml a
      hodgepodge; ripe for something revolutionary.
• Example: Buying a plane ticket online
  • Live updating of available flights tied to a calendar
  • Import calendar dates from your calendar app. Now import friends calendars to find
    best date for all. Again, available flights constantly updated in real time.
  • Now tie in VoIP/IM and everyone can work together in one spot to plan flight in real
    time.
  • Next, print finalized itinerary, complete with e-ticket, bar code, etc.
  • Also, export data to mobile device
  • While traveling, work off-line; pick side excursions, change train times, whatever.
    When back online, data synchs and itinerary updated.
• AJAX
  • Some of this is already happening.
  • Yahoo local. Maps with live updating & traffic reports. Created with public APIs rolled
    together. Simple grabs data already being published and puts them all to work.
  • AJAX + Flickr + Flash = unique/customizable image viewer (Adobe Flex Builder)
• Future at Adobe = Apollo
  • Power of Flash off line
  • Use javascript as API - HTML, Flash ???
  • Installed from browser or file system
  • launch like a desktop application
• Path to innovation
  • What’s the zen? Idea should have simple, one-line description.
  • Do you have a zen master? Someone needs to champion idea. One point of contact,
    not mired in committee.
  • Beware of the “black holes”. Focusing only on products that make most money stifles
    the next big thing.
  • Don’t over analyze the go-to-market. It’s hard to predict how people will use your idea.
• Summary:
  • Web is transforming
  • Focus on user
  • Focus on user interface
  • Innovation can come from anywhere in organization

There is an article by Tim O’Reilly that I’ve just started reading which seems to be the same idea in greater detail. Parts of it sound exactly like Narayen’s talk, so I suspect he has read it as well.