Answering Questions

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Tens of thousands of questions are posted daily on thousands of message boards, ranging from any and every topic that you could ever imagine.  A lot of them are even about how to build a website (about HTML / CSS).  So, here is my gripe about this one.  Usually, people just post a link - requiring the respondent to now go to another website to see what is wrong.  Sometimes, nothing seems to be wrong or you might not know exactly what you are looking for.  And usually these links contain pop-ups since there are on free web hosting providers.  That is OK actually - I have a couple of pop-up blockers installed and hardly ever get bombarded with those.

But you know what is really irritating?  Besides telling me to go to another site, now I am unable to right-click to view the source code.  So in Microsoft Internet Explorer, I go to View - Source.  In Firefox, I can disable JavaScript and right-click,  hit CNTL-U, or got to View - Source.  In Opera, it is about the same: go to View - Source or CNTL-U.

I understand that you want to "protect" what you have written or maybe prevent other people from stealing your images.  But once it is on the Internet, there will always be some way around what you just did for someone else to get it.  Plus all that JavaScript might cause other issues - no reason for that. 

Please make it easier for me (and others) to see your source code if you need help with that, or better yet, post the code - don't worry, it's HTML code, a standard actually that probably thousands of websites are already using.

Posted by Corey at 3:16:27 PM in My Rants (12) | Comments (0)

The End of 2008

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Chances are, if you are reading this, it is already too late for you.  As I look back on 2008, and the previous years, one thing that sticks out the most in the "what I have learned" is not to put anything on the Internet that you don't want others to see.  Or asking questions on behalf of your client, using the client's name on the message boards.  Once you have put something on the Internet, even if you ask the forum administrators to remove it, it is probably too late.  You can bet your bottom dollar the search engines have spidered the site, grabbed the fresh content and now everyone can see it.

Sure, we probably all have learned this the hard way - months down the road when you are helping the client with search engine optimization (SEO) and maybe you enter the company's name into the search box.  Lo and behold, your post is on the first page of the search.  Now, if maybe this helps someone from making this mistake, I am very happy for you. 

What to use?  Use example.com as an alternate.  You will see a lot of people use this instead of their own domain name when giving examples.  It helps to prove to forum administrators you are not trying to spam their message boards with your domain name as well.  I will say though, I have had a few people respond that their domain name was not example.com. smiley  That usually helps to break the tension and makes you realize that some people are just learning their ways around the Internet like you, years ago. 

Posted by Corey at 5:00:13 PM in Miscellaneous (140) | Comments (0)

Digital TV Coming in 2009

Friday, December 05, 2008

If you are in the United States, you probably have heard that on 17 Feb 2009, all full-power broadcast stations will stop broadcasting on analog waves and begin broadcasting in digital only.  Even with TiVo, I still accidentally catch one of those commercials every so often.  I will admit, I am getting really tired of hearing about it.  For awhile, we had the election that took up a lot of the commercial space, but now those digital TV ads are back and in full swing.

Why Are We Switching to Digital TV?

An important benefit of the switch to all-digital broadcasting is that it will free up parts of the valuable broadcast spectrum for public safety communications (such as police, fire departments, and rescue squads). Also, some of the spectrum will be auctioned to companies that will be able to provide consumers with more advanced wireless services (such as wireless broadband).

Consumers also benefit because digital broadcasting allows stations to offer improved picture and sound quality, and digital is much more efficient than analog. For example, rather than being limited to providing one analog program, a broadcaster is able to offer a super sharp "high definition" (HD) digital program or multiple "standard definition" (SD) digital programs simultaneously through a process called "multicasting." Multicasting allows broadcast stations to offer several channels of digital programming at the same time, using the same amount of spectrum required for one analog program. So, for example, while a station broadcasting in analog on channel 7 is only able to offer viewers one program, a station broadcasting in digital on channel 7 can offer viewers one digital program on channel 7-1, a second digital program on channel 7-2, a third digital program on channel 7-3, and so on. This means more programming choices for viewers.
So maybe it is the money? We all know the US government is in debt and needs (just a) bit of money.  And we know the FCC likes to manage everything now (thanks to the "wardrobe malfunction").

The FCC Should Set More Standards

Yeah, you heard that right. Everything else seems to be governed by something but one thing the FCC does not have a standard on is the volume Program Background Noise and Loud Commercials.  Sure the volume can vary per listener, but it seems on some stations these days I have the volume three quarters the way up on some ABC stations.  And then when I go to CBS, the volume needs to be turned way down.  I think the commercials on CBS are the worst.  Did I mention I was glad I had TiVo?  But every so often the beginning of the commercials catch me off guard and almost make me jump out of my seat.  Or if I am dosing off, I can thank the commercials to wake me up.

Posted by Corey at 9:39:12 AM in My Rants (12) | Comments (0)

Certified Ranks at Experts Exchange

Wednesday, December 03, 2008

Every so often, we get to toot our own horn.  Now it is my turn again.  I took a few minutes to see what accomplishments I had over at Experts Exchange.  I noticed that I had six certificates over there, ranging from Guru to Master in certain fields: It is good to be recognized from time to time.  Most of us like some type of flattery and / or just letting us know we are doing a good job. 

Some experts think the point system is a bit outrageous.  It might be, but it is not my site.  Sometimes the site will listen to the experts and their customers.  Some people pay for those answers actually.  And if the question is urgent, an e-mail is dispatched to experts in that zone.  That expert is then rewarded with bonus points if his / her answer is chosen.  It seems to make most everyone happy, which is something that is hard to do in this day and age.

Posted by Corey at 12:29:06 PM in Miscellaneous (140) | Comments (0)