Category: Computer technology

RANT! Bloggers: Use Less with More

RANT! Bloggers: Use Less with More

By | | Comments 1 comment

I read a lot of blogs. I enjoy getting thoughts on a variety of subjects that only the blogging community can give me. I encourage more people to create and run a blog, it is quite enjoyable and most people have something worthwhile to write.

A fairly common technique in the blogging community is to reduce the length of the post with the MORE command (check out this link for information and background). However, in my opinion, the MORE command doesn’t work correctly for most blogging platforms, especially WordPress out of the box. The blogger must also use the equivalent of the Less plug-in for a better experience.

The MORE command out of the box will open a page that has the rest of the blog post and will place the top of the page to be exactly the next line after the MORE command. The problem is that there will be a several second delay in generating this page and then the user will not be sure that the top of the line is exactly where they want to be. They will then have to scroll up a few lines to read the last few sentences and then continue reading.

Also, the MORE command assumes that you actually read to the last line, the user may have actually clicked on the continue button without finishing the last few words. This is way to presumptuous – software and authors should not presume that they know what I want to do. You aren’t that smart!!

When reading a typical website, when you hit the Page Down button, you will scroll down a full page but the next page down will show the last few lines of the previous page. This allows you to quickly find out where you are and continue reading. It eliminates the issue of wondering “Did I miss anything” causing the reader to scroll up a few lines and waste time.

The solution is to add the Less plug-in or modify your code to not go to top of page.

I have implemented Less on this site and so it is easy for you to see how this experience should work. Just go to my main index page.

Bloggers: IMPLEMENT A “LESS” TYPE PLUGIN IF YOU USE “MORE”

I am done with this topic for now but I reserve the right to rant more on it someday.

Did you know that you can have these articles emailed to you? Click on the Email link in the upper right corner Subscribe section, fill out the details, and you are set. No one will see your email address and you won’t get more spam by doing this.

Technorati Tags: , , ,

RANT! Incomplete emails

RANT! Incomplete emails

By | | Comments 2 comments

Why do people write emails without finishing the process?

I despise it when someone writes me an email saying that we should talk, have lunch, etc. but then don’t suggest a time and place. Asking someone if they want to go to lunch is not any easier than asking someone to go to lunch next Thursday at McSnoops at 11:30AM.

The former method simply creates more work if no one takes charge. You ask me to go to lunch. I say yes. You ask me where. I say McSnoops. You ask me when. I say next Thursday. You ask me what time. I say 11:30. 8 emails that should only take 2.

FINISH THE THOUGHT!

TAKE CHARGE!

I am done with this topic for now but I reserve the right to rant more on it someday.

Here is some related reading for you to enjoy:
http://www.iwillfollow.com/email.htm
http://www.emailreplies.com/
http://www.lifehack.org/articles/technology/to-bcc-or-not-bcc-email-etiquette.html

Technorati Tags:

RANT! Software doesn’t know best- it should be stupid

RANT! Software doesn’t know best- it should be stupid

By | | Comments 1 comment

I despise software that thinks it knows best! I want it to be smart enough to know what to do no matter where I put it or where its data resides.

Why do software companies think they know where to put stuff? I hate it when the install of the software doesn’t allow me to put the application on the hard drive that I choose (it is rarely the C drive that it likes). Software programmers that don’t ask where to install should be FIRED and their software should be THROWN INTO THE BIT HEAP!

I also don’t like it when it tells me where to store my data. Sometimes, I want it in My Documents and sometimes I don’t. If I know I am going to back up that data then I want it in My Documents. If I am not going to back it up, I don’t want it in My Documents. Apple is really guilty of this with their iTunes software (don’t ever let them manage your music – it will be lost forever).

While I am at it, here is a good reference to show how to change the location of your My Documents. I didn’t know how to do this until a friend showed me.

Software developers – YOU NEED TO BE SMART ENOUGH TO KNOW YOU DON’T KNOW EVERYTHING!

I am done with this topic for now but I reserve the right to rant more on it someday.

Here is some related reading for you to enjoy:
RANT! Music formats should get along – 1 of 2
RANT! Music formats should get along – 2 of 2

Technorati Tags:

RANT! Music formats should get along – 2 of 2

RANT! Music formats should get along – 2 of 2

By | | Comments 0 Comment

So why don’t iPods support WMA and similarly, why don’t other devices support AAC (Apple’s format)?

The why is simple. WMA is the format that many companies (e.g. Yahoo) use in their stores to sell music. WMA is developed by Microsoft and it is a competitor. Is it a better sounding format? For the most part, no it is not – the formats are essentially tied in audio capability for the average listener and the average audio speakers.

So it is a competitive issue. Apple makes the best device on the market with something like 90% market share. They don’t like Microsoft, so they don’t play nice to Microsoft. It definitely is not a revenue issue for selling songs on iTunes since at 99 cents per song, Apple isn’t making a lot of money on the songs. They do make a bunch of money for every iPod that is sold though.

They can still have iTunes be the pre-eminent way of managing your audio and video collection by supporting WMA. I even bet there is code within Cupertino somewhere that has iTunes playing WMA.

Hey Apple: Allow WMA on your iPods!! This doesn’t make any business sense! And while you are at it, allow other companies to license AAC to play on their devices – once again this will promote your iTunes product and store.

I am done with this topic for now but I reserve the right to rant more on it someday.

RANT! Music formats should get along – 1 of 2

RANT! Music formats should get along – 1 of 2

By | | Comments 3 comments

I will dedicate my first rant to one of my least favorite things to deal with and try to circumvent: music formats.

I spend a lot of time listening to audio. I drive a great deal in my car so I regularly hook up my iPod to my car stereo to listen to music, audible books, and podcasts. I have owned a lot of different portable music devices over the years and the iPod is by far the best designed. At its basic level, it supports AAC, MP3 and WAV format. It doesn’t, however, support WMA. Why?

Why can’t all portable audio devices play all formats? Why can’t my iPod play WMA? Why can’t my daughter’s Creative Zen play AAC?

This makes no sense.

More on this topic later…

Site info