A little quiz for yourself, or your clients to determine if they/you are up to speed on what’s up with today’s web:

1. What is the fastest growing web programming technology?
2. What does AJAX stand for? Bonus – what company is credited for coining the phrase?
3. What is a mashup?
4. Do you blog, or have you ever commented on a blog?
5. Provide three examples of online communities?
6. What site has the most traffic in the US?
7. What is a Podcast?
8. What is viral marketing.
9. What is the most popular site for watching videos?
10. What is the most popular site for sharing photos?

If you, your agency, or internal people don’t know more than half of these without Googling, you need help with your web presence. Email me, mail [at] jamesbielefeldt [dot] com.

The Ruby on Rails framework will ship on the new OS X, Leopard. Read more.

An interesting one hour podcast by Seth Godin and Joseph Jaffe discussing new trends in marketing on and off line.

ATS #47 - The New Marketing Podcast Celebrity SethMatch

Control what directories web crawlers, or robots can access by having a robots.txt file in the root directory of your site. More info can be found at robotstxt.org

Other than content, inbound links are the most important factor in search engine optimization (SEO) or search engine marketing (SEM) and should be part of any SEO program. Google’s PageRank system relies on these as well as Technorati’s Popular Blog ranking system. There are a variety of ways to get inbound links: link swapping with other sites, paid link ads, index sites and having other sites just link because of good content. Here’s a couple resources for analysis, tips and tools:

MarketLeap - SEO company site with info and tools
Good tips from TextLinkAds
More SEO Tools  
Alexa – Ranking information
Internet Search Engine Database

NetLingo.com has thousands of definitions about the online world of business, technology & communication from technical terms to text messaging acronyms

I’m always looking for simple and cheap ways to help manage projects. Whether they’re spreadsheets, Post-it Notes or MS Outlook, tools make a difference.

Three core functions of managing web projects are task distribution and notification, tracking the amount of work performed and reporting progress or status. Ideal project management applications do all that and more, but they can be complicated and expensive. Blogs are simple, free and suitable for at least two of the three functions mentioned above.

By setting up categories useful to your situation, blogs can work very well to help manage tasks and issues and log project activity. They can also be a central repository for project information and related documentation. Here’s an example of possible category structure:

Project A
- Active Tasks
- Completed Tasks
- Active Issues
- Solved Issues
- Red Flag
- Status Reports
- Files

The Project Manager creates posts and team members use comments to communicate. Everything is ordered by date. When a post’s status changes, the PM simply edits it and moves it to another category. If your blog has RSS feeds they can be used for notification as tasks, issues and comments get posted. Some blog software products allow for membership so categories and posts can be hidden to certain users. Clients can even be folded into the mix.

Recursion and Illusion. This is weird, but I like it.

WhenWeRollWeRollBig

An outstanding article on the history of Wikipedia via Kottke.

After spending some time searching the web for definitive answers on web page length and scrolling versus paging content and clicking, I concluded there weren’t any; content and users dictate best practices. Here are a few generalizations from “rules” I read:

1. Don’t split up related content un-logically. Related content should be kept together on the same page for uninterrupted flow. Arbitrary division of related content disorients people more than the act of clicking or scrolling.

2. File size and page load times should dictate how much stuff gets put on one page. Page content should facilitate quick load times. Recommended maximum page file size seems to be 50k.

3. If a web is well designed with visual clues, prudent use of space, subheads and good typography, and is structured into logical parts with not too much content, a page can be quit long and usable. Design plays an important role.

4. The hard and fast, old-school rules of lengths and click amounts have been proven inaccurate as usability data has been compiled over the past five years.

5. The key to getting users to scroll is how content is presented “above the fold”, in the visible part of the page, when it loads. Once they understand content lies below, they will follow.

6. If one is looking for a recommended web page length, 3-4 screen lengths was commonly cited as a maximum length.

7. Anchor tags (links jumping to a position on the same page), however useful, are often confusing to users since they can’t see the jump and loose all visual clues. If used, these should be denoted as such.

8. Horizontal scrolling is bad.

9. Proportional scrollbars, like a browser’s, help users determine how long the page is and should be used whenever possible.

I just read the essay by Edward R. Tufte, “The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint: Pitching Out Corrupts Within.”

As an example of why not to use PowerPoint for technical reporting and presentations, he details its use by NASA in the analysis of the causes of the space shuttle Columbia disaster. His conclusion, and that of others, is NASA’s use of PowerPoint with its presentation limitations to communicate the data on the takeoff damage, while the spacecraft was still safe in space, grossly affected how it was interpreted by NASA management and thus resulted in the deaths of the Columbia astronauts. Powerful stuff.

Other examples of PPT’s inadequacies include showing statistical data in table format displayed as PPT slides (they are completely incomprehensible), the Gettysburg Address as a PPT presentation (pretty funny) and several references to business presentations of various purposes.

Several factors contribute to the skewing of information when using PowerPoint: limited space for meaningful test, segmentation of the message with slides, bulleted lists, hierarchical display of text, and useless phluff. Mr. Tufte continues to make the case that PowerPoint has a high signal to noise ratio, an extremely low transfer of information rate, dilution of information, and absurd style sheets, templates and effects. I can’t agree more. I hate PPT presentations and don’t use them myself. He favors text documents with paragraphs, sentences, diagrams and space to completely tell the story. I agree and by distributing handouts for meetings, people have something tangible to take away.

Put some creativity and effectiveness in your next presentation. Don’t use PowerPoint. I recommend this booklet for anyone needing some good reasons not to use the ubiquitous and dubious software – ever.

A super simple technique on a site to tell humans from spamming apps:

Ask a question on your comment form like:  "six plus seven equals what?" and validate for the correct answer.

As technology presents us with more options for creating web sites, there seems to be two very different and contradictory directions site design is going. One is rich media driven, with Flash at its core, and the other is web standards stressing usability, accessibility and compatibility.

Well done, highly interactive, rich media sites are incredibly engaging, and the direction big money is pushing the web, but they are rarely standards compliant and often are bashed for poor usability and accessibility. These sites communicate their messages effectively to their intended audiences. Mission accomplished.

Web standards are based on are undeniably sound basic principles: separation of content, structure and presentation; and accessibility, usability and compatibility. For sites whose audience requires these benefits, web standards makes total sense. My problem with most compliant sites I see today is they are visually similar and boring. I read somewhere, someone describing them as decorated not designed. It’s true.

Enter stage left, common sense.

The reason all the standards compliant sites look similar is because it is very difficult to mark-up a web page that has an intricate design with many images and requires pixel level accuracy. This can be done in a fraction of the time using tables and spacer gifs, and render properly in all browsers. And besides, there are just as many hacks and workarounds in standards development as old school HTML.

Why use Flash in a self-gratuitous intro sequence, or fancy navigation menu that creates a technological obstacle to a site that doesn’t need the benefits of Flash anywhere else? Many a site has been built using Flash that can be just as good without it. This misuse is what has given Flash such a bad rap with the user centered design people.

Let’s not let the tail wag the dog. Making a site using web standards just for the sake of doing so, or using Flash where it is not needed are both equally inappropriate, especially at the expense of your client.

Surely there’s common ground and a practical approach. Sites should be developed based on their purpose and intended audience. If that demographic can use and enjoy the site, fine. Others outside of that group are not important. Writers write books to a certain audience. Movie directors make movies that are not for everyone. Web producers should have that right too and not be criticized.

Choose the technology or methodology carefully based on the benefits of its use and the cost of using it. Each project has specific requirements and they should dictate the most suitable way to go, not personal preference, or trends.

...I'd say so. MGM Grand

The first site I saw like this - where the viewer is immersed in a photo-heavy environment - was a Vodaphone site a couple years ago. Since then there have been several notable ones, but this site has great scene transitions and video with a lot of cool after effects. 

They've used a conventional navigation menu in addition to the clock-like one to improve usability, but it seems if the clock-like one was better designed they could have gotten by with just that interface alone.

TypeCulture Academic Resource - a directory, archive and educational aid for design students, educators and professionals who are seeking information about type; its history, manufacture, use and artistic significance.

Information architecture, communication, graphic design and presentation, Mr. Tufte is the man. Whether your a Graphic Designer, or a Project Manager his knowledge will help you. Check out the Ask E.T. section to learn more.

on Squidoo

When and Where
Monsanto on Friday, November 10, 2006 from 8:00a.m. - 5:00p.m. The conference is filling up fast. Only 100 participants allowed to register.

How Much
$30 before July 31st and $45 after August 1st. All proceeds from registration fees are used to fund conference logistics. The conference continues to be maintained by a "grassroots" organization -- all planning, coordination, presentations, etc. are done by user experience practitioners for user experience practitioners.

Keynote Speaker
Dirk Knemeyer. Dirk will be presenting "The Future of Digital Product Design."

Interactive Poster Session
New this year -- a poster that will be created by participants during the conference. We'll provide a space for you to share your favorite research, technique, and tool sites and we'll publish it after the conference for all attendees.

Click for Agenda

Registration
When you register for this year's conference, you'll be asked to complete a section with your personal information. You'll then be asked to pre-select the sessions you would like to attend. This allows UX06 to ensure that they have the proper facility arrangements for each presentation. Spaces will fill up fast, so register as early as possible to ensure you get to attend the sessions of your choice.

After you complete registration, you'll see a link to PayPal. A special thanks to Gateway CHI for kindly offering their PayPal account as a way for us to collect registration fees. Your registration payment is a separate step and can only be completed by using a PayPal account that is either linked to your bank account or by using your credit card to pay your registration fee.

All proceeds from registration fees are used to fund conference logistics, meals, etc. If you cancel your registration, your fee WILL NOT be refunded. Registration for STLUX06 is open now through November 1st. Register by July 31st to receive the Early Registration discount. For security reasons, no on-site registration will be allowed; if you want to attend, you must register by the November 1 deadline. Register using the link below: (a big thank you to Maritz for the very generous donation of their registration tool)

https://www.meetinghq.com/group/101005647?wslid=attendee

Questions?
Jennifer Ruffino
jennifer.ruffino@monsanto.com
314-694-4649

I’ve been a member of LinkedIn for over a year. Although the idea of an exclusive way to make business connections seems great, I have some reservations about the idea of exclusivity and accuracy. The concept of endorsing someone, a mini testimonial, is totally self-serving. How can that lend credibility to one’s self-described professional abilities?

The social fabric created in LinkedIn - the ability to see who is linked to whom and the degrees of separation - is interesting, but what real purpose does it have? I guess it allows one to use someone to gain access to someone else - a connection pimp. I haven’t really connected with anyone via an existing connection and I view this site and my participation as an experiment and don’t have any expectations. Only time will tell if this virtual network has validity.

If you are a member, contact (mail at jamesbielefeldt dot com) me, let’s get connected.

When working with vendors there’s always the risk they will jeopardize the outcome of a project, hurt your relationship with the client and cost you a lot of money. It’s best to try to minimize this risk and the best way is with a service level agreement. This contract should require a signature, be a binding, legal document and contain clauses that specifically address potential problems.

Some general recommendations:

• Clearly state your expectations on quality.
• Establish the fact you are their client and they work for you, not your client.
• Define communication channels and the proper protocol. This is essential in maintaining control.
• If possible, keep ownership of all deliverables.
• Outline responsibilities for all phases of the project.
• Require they follow best practices and deliver good work. Have a clause that states you can audit their work at defined intervals, or when the project is suspected to be affected.
• State any loss due to missed deadlines or unacceptable deliverables is their liability.
• Require detailed plans and necessary documentation demonstrating they know what they are doing.
• Determine lead and tag times, turn around times and expected response times.
• Have a change control process that details how changes are approved and incorporated into the project’s scope.
• List the consequences for failure to meet requirements and the escalation/arbitration process.

These are just some basics requirements any good service level agreement should have. Remember this is an agreement so it is important to review this with your vendor, discuss each requirement and customize it so both parties can really agree to follow it.

Truer words were never spoken. Great post by Seth Godin.