Month: April 2008

Pass the Test, Get the Job

It’s a good idea to know how tables work even if you never use them in a practical sense.
My tables resource is 456Bereastreet.
I never use them…Ok I did a few times last year but not for a layout or anything.

I was called into a recruiter’s office to test for a job that I totally could have done but was not given because I failed the HTML 4.0 test. That and perhaps also because after the interview I saw I was wearing my top backward. Which is supposed to be good luck. So it was probably because of the lousy 48% I got on the test. The test asked me loads of questions about tables and frames and I got all the frame questions wrong and only half of the tables questions right, making me look rather like a bag of hot air. In the questions and answers part of the interview I’d been asked about my web design experience and they seemed impressed that I’d built single handedly over 14 websites in the past 2 years. But in the end it came down to the test and my score–the only real evidence they had to go on (in their minds) that I was at all capable of doing the job.

Which is why I have tried to refresh my tables-making know-how.Though my heart is not in it and I may never have to use it on the job I don’t want to look so foolish again,the next time.if there ever is a next time.

After you build it do you bother checking it?

It may seem like all I do is sit around and bitch about how bad a lot of other websites are but if they weren’t so badly set up and maintained I wouldn’t be bitching. Just now I followed a link from within LeNell’s newsletter (a Wine and Spirit Boutique in Redhook Brooklyn) to Artisanal Cheeses (No Doctype) to Picholine. I wasn’t surfing for the purposes of finding flaws, I was just a regular site visitor for once in my life, looking to find something interesting on subjects I find interesting:cheese and booze.I had no problem with either site’s design.I found both to be engaging and attractive. But I sure do hate it when I click on what is obviously supposed to be a link but doesn’t work. Like Picholine’s restaurant menu. It was Flash but the links to parts of the menu didn’t work in Firefox –which amazes me–even if it isn’t as used as Internet Explorer it is used by almost half of your site visitors–and if you checked traffic stats you’d see this is true. Too big a number not to care if visitors using that browser can use your website!

So I switched to IE7 and clicked the link which again did nothing but opening the page in another window led me to a blank.pdf file. Why a pdf and why blank? And why not warn someone that it is a link to a pdf,first?
The short answer is laziness. It’s easier for some designers to load a .pdf than to make another page. It’s easier to design a .pdf than to design menu in a web page–a challenging task…
But what else is a restaurant web site supposed to show site visitors? This is something I see a lot: a designer choosing flash over substance and ending up delivering nothing. The site may as well have been a parked domain notice for all it’s prettiness.

When I see a site that doesn’t work it makes me think the site owners are careless and lazy. And I don’t want to eat food cooked by careless and lazy people.

Doh!

If you switch your WordPress theme don’t forget to add your Google Analytics tracking code. I changed my theme 7 days ago and just now checked to make sure I was receiving data.Sure enough all reports stopped the day I switched the theme, earning me a big

Make your Twitter badge validate

If there is anything I hate more than unreturned emails it’s doodads that make my pages fail validation.3rd on my list are people who breathe audibly and 4th are people who eat audibly. Once I fell asleep while 2 of my pals were eating pizza and their chomping and slurping noises made me sick to my stomach…while I was sleeping!

Less is more

I am trying to rely less on plugins. After the recent upgrade and ensuing bruhaha over beloved plugins that didn’t work with 2.5, I am loathe to add new ones to my “have to have” list if I can help it. Many times a plugin is a labor of love and the author will work hard on getting it to work with the latest version of WordPress.

But the plugins that kinda sorta worked but that you loved probably won’t be.Then there are the plugins that haven’t worked since version 2.2.1. There are folks stuck on an old version of WordPress because they can’t bear to give up one little plugin (which was probably remade better by someone else,anyway).

It’s just a plugin

These folks are missing the point,I think. Plugins are meant to enhance your blog or site–not be the focus of it. If you are not upgrading because of a plugin or two of course that is your choice.But if you look around you’ll find a replacement. I researched a list of plugins I need for a client’s site and and found their WP 2.5 compatible doppelgangers,no sweat. If only that client would return my emails and give me the go ahead I can upgrade his site from 2.1., I’d be happier.

Old school

So I chose to use the html & javascript badge instead from Twitter. Only thing is, it has an “unfinished” <ul></ul> in the block of code and no ampersand in the javascript url. That amounts to 4 errors but it’s easy enough to fix.
I just mixed the block of code up until it validated and worked (kind of important,no?).
And anyway if you are using this in a text widget you don’t need the <h2 class=”twitter-title”>
so snip that right out and use the title space in the text widget instead.
*edited because the ampersand got parsed,duh*

The Twitter Badge

<div id=”twitter_div”>
<h2 class=”twitter-title”> Twitter Updates </h2>
<ul id=”twitter_update_list” </ul> </div>
<script type=”text/javascript” src=”http://twitter.com/javascripts/blogger.js”></script>
<script type=”text/javascript” src=”http://twitter.com/statuses/user_timeline/ »»
MY_TWITTER.json?callback=twitterCallback2&count=5″></script></div>

Url was too long, »» shows the line break.

This is one culprit:
<ul id=”twitter_update_list” </ul> </div>
I added an empty set of li tags: <li></li> and put them inside the ul tags.
This is the other culprit. I added an ampersand:
MY_TWITTER.json?callback=twitterCallback2&count=5

A Twitter Badge that validates

<div id=”twitter_div”>
<ul id=”twitter_update_list”> <li></li> </ul> </div>
<script type=”text/javascript” src=”http://twitter.com/javascripts/blogger.js”></script>
<script type=”text/javascript” src=”http://twitter.com/statuses/user_timeline/ »»
MY_TWITTER.json?callback=twitterCallback2&count=5″></script></div>

MY_TWITTER should be replaced with your Twitter username.

I don’t use Twitter enough to put a badge in my sidebar, I edited the block to be valid for my friend’s site.