Top 10 User Experience Myths
While redesigning the user interface for a web application I’m developing, I ran into a great article that talked about the Top 10 UX Myths. It points out a lot of common mistakes developers should avoid making.
Notepad++ FTP: Integration with WinSCP
The previous version of Notepad++ (5.4.5) had a history of lockups and crashes, I experienced sporadic problems as did many others. A new version has been released (5.5) which claims to have fixed those issues. The development team determined that the plugin FTP Synchronize was one of the culprits of the crashing, and the new installer now automatically disables that plugin.
For FTP editing, I now use Notepad++ along with WinSCP.
To combine the two follow these steps:
Click Preferences
- When first opening WinSCP, click on Preferences on the left, then again on the right.
Add Notepad++
- Once the new dialog opens, click ‘Editors’ on the right, then click the ‘Add’ button.
Find Notepad++
- Click “External Editor” and browse for the Notepad++ executable.
- Make sure the bottom two checkboxes are left unchecked.
- Hit “ok”
Move Notepad++ to the top
- Back at the editors screen, highlight the recently added “Notepad++”.
- Click the “Up” button until “Notepad++” is at the top of the editor list.
Notepad++ and WinSCP are now integrated! When browsing your website files in WinSCP, simply right click the file and hit “Edit”. This will open a new tab in Notepad++, and once you save changes, will automatically upload the file back through WinSCP.
WYSIWYG Text Widget Editor for Wordpress
I just ran into an excellent plugin for Wordpress that should be included with every install.
The default Wordpress installation offers a basic Text Widget editor that requires HTML knowledge and experience (basically the Wordpress editor in ‘Code’ view). When handing off the Wordpress installation to clients with little to no HTML experience, it is important to include WYSIWYG edtiors wherever possible.
The Rich Text Widget plugin does just that. It’s simple to install and can easily be added to any sidebar as a widget.
Notepad++ Explorer vs Light Explorer
The Notepad++ Plugins directory offers two different “File Explorer” plugins, with very little detail on what makes them different. The difference between the two is very significant, and one should be used over the other in almost all scenarios.
The “Light Explorer” plugin claims that it’s “[light] not only in weight but also in speed.” This plugin is very bare bones, the extent to what you can do with it is browse, delete, rename, and assign ‘Favorite’ folders. You cannot create new files and folders using this plugin, requiring you to open an instance of Windows Explorer. I do not recommend using this plugin, while you are sacrificing many key features you are actually saving no computer memory in doing so. The difference between the memory usage of Light Explorer and the alternative “Explorer” is very minimal.
- Light Explorer 2.0
Download Light Explorer (2.0)
The second option is simply called “Explorer”. This plugin allows you to perform common tasks within Notepad++, such as file and folder creation. These two features are enough reason to recommend this option over Light Explorer. The view is also split into two sections, the folder tree and file view. This separation is great when dealing with large amounts of folders and sub-folders.
The ‘Filter’ box at the bottom makes it easy to find only certain types of files, or quickly find one file in a large listing. The name and extension of the file is separated, which also makes it so you can not only arrange alphabetically, but by file type as well.
- Explorer 1.8.2
Download Explorer (1.8.2)
Dropbox without “My Dropbox”
Dropbox is a great tool for automatically backing up and syncing files between computers. A default install of Dropbox automatically creates the folder “My Dropbox”, which you then have to dump your files into. There is a way to avoid this, and use any existing folder you wish. Before starting on this guide, be sure that any existing Dropbox installation is removed.
- Download and install Dropbox 6.384
- At the final step, check “Change the default location of my Dropbox”
- Press “Finish and go to my Dropbox”. That will bring up a browse screen for you to select any existing folder on your computer.
You can then upgrade to the newest version of Dropbox without ever having to use the “My Dropbox” folder!
Anti-Internet Explorer 6 Campaign
If you are still using Internet Explorer 6 as your main internet browser, I cannot stress enough how important it is for you to update. You can easily update to the newest version of Internet Explorer or try another browser such as Firefox.
IE6 is plagued with issues and security holes, so much so that even back in 2004, industry professionals were urging people to move away from it. When it comes to slow computers infected with viruses and spyware, it is common in the IT industry to run virus scans and install a newer version of Internet Explorer (or a different browser all together). Back when I used to work for Tech Support at Michigan State University, many internet problems were solved by simply installing and using Firefox. Upgrading from IE6 is solid step in the right direction for anyone who wants a stable and fast operating computer.
The web development industry has been suffering from the large amount of users still on IE6. In my experience, upwards to 10-15% of development time is spent making a perfectly standards compliant website work on IE6. Large companies such as 37signals, Digg, and Facebook have publicly announced their websites will no longer support IE6, with many more following by example. Quote from Mashable.com: “the outdated browser is stifling innovation, breaking websites, and hurting the advancement of new web technology.”
If you are browsing Element Design with IE6 you will notice an information bar on the top. Clicking this will forward you to Microsoft’s official Internet Explorer site where you can easily update!
jQuery UI Datepicker Inline Select
It is well documented on the jQuery UI site on how to take a value from Datepicker when calling it from an input field. However when embedding Datepicker on a page (associating it with a div instead of an input field), you have to add a small amount of code to easily capture values from it.
The key component to making it work is using the onSelect event. Here is the jQuery code, with “#datepicker” as a div:
$("#datepicker").datepicker({
onSelect: function(dateText, inst) {
$("#datepicker_value").val(dateText);
}
});
“#datepicker_value” is an input field that is updated every time the user selects a different date. This input field can be easily added to any form for submit. Visit the Datepicker demo page for a working example.
Owning your domain name
The importance of owning your own domain name as opposed to your web development company is simple to explain in one question:
Would you want them to have full ownership of your company name and logo?
It’s very common for web development companies to purchase and handle your domain name in their portfolio. While this is the most convenient method, it can lead to problems in the future.
Some scenarios to consider if you allow them to own your domain name:
- What if the web development company went out of business?
- What if they forgot to make a payment for the domain name?
- What if you wanted to switch to another web development company?
Each scenario can lead to you completely losing the domain name, disastrous to any marketing plan. Even the slightest change to your domain name will lower your search engine results and break any links to your site.
Element Design feels its very important that you own the domain name, and will guide you through all of the steps to make it happen. Other than having you purchase and register the domain name, we take care of everything else.
Jolicloud Alpha 2 Review
In the near future many personal devices are going to be solely operating over the internet. Operating systems will soon only become internet browsers, as everything you require will be available online (an example would be using Google Docs instead of Microsoft Word, Gmail instead of Outlook). Even Microsoft is planning on releasing free online-only versions of Office. Jolicloud is the first “Cloud” concept I’ve tried, but I will admit that we still have a long ways to go.
I was pretty excited when I first heard about Jolicloud. I signed up for the beta and just recently received an invitation to their Alpha testing. They obviously have some pretty good UI designers, however that is not enough to bring it all together.
Jolicloud runs off of Ubuntu Remix, which is a version of Ubuntu optimized for netbooks. The interface is sleek and the installation of new Apps* is extremely simple.
What’s important to note is that their Apps* are basically bookmarks. Jolicloud does nothing but install bookmarks to your interface, and upon clicking any of the bookmarks, just simply launches an internet browser. You can see where it was trying to be a Cloud OS, but the part it fails at is being minimalistic. From what I can tell, most of Ubuntu Remix is still in place making the experience must slower than it could be.
What’s even more useless is their “Social Notifications” tab. It would make sense to have Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, etc updates in there, but instead, just says what Apps your other Jolicloud friends have installed. It’s the same as getting alerted every time one of your friends adds a bookmark to Firefox. What is the point?
As a matter in fact, why wouldn’t you just use Ubuntu Remix instead? It’s not hard to add bookmarks to your favorite pages. Why install an Operating System that has a much smaller user base than Ubuntu, when it basically is Ubuntu?
I’m going to stick with the development of Jolicloud, but for the time being I wouldn’t recommend even trying it out. When it comes to a true Cloud OS, it looks like Good OS Cloud is going to be one of the first out.
Update: I posted a question on Jolicloud’s facebook group about if the apps are simply bookmarks. A day later, my question was deleted. Maybe I’m onto something?
The Truth About SEO
Search Engines have evolved to the point where they can now determine whether or not the information on the website is sound. Many SEO companies are still operating by rules and tricks used in the past, so I have constructed this 2009 guide to help you better understand search engines.
1. “Beware of SEOs that claim to guarantee rankings”
That quote is straight from Google’s support site. This is by far the most used and misleading promise of all. Without lifting a finger, they have already given you front page placements!
If they never promised what keywords will bring you this placement (which they never will), this is most likely a scam. Lets pretend we have the company Fred’s Advanced Plumbing and Heating in Grand Rapids, MI for the following example. Ideally, you would want the following search phrase “plumbing in grand rapids” to pull up your company first. However, the SEO company could complete their contract by saying that the search phrase “fred’s advanced plumbing and heating in grand rapids mi” is giving your site a front page placement!
It is also important to be aware of the websites currently above you in your rankings. Ask yourself the questions:
- “Do I have the resources to get above theirs?”
- “Is their website larger than mine and most likely getting more hits? If not, why is their content considered better?”
2. “We will submit your site to Google and other search engines!”
Again, another scam. There was once a need for this, but not anymore. Your site is automatically indexed in all search engines, and will continue to be scanned for changes. While the process is never instantaneous, after a week or two of a new site launch, search engines like Google will begin to index the site and place it into search results.
3. “META keywords will greatly improve your sites ranking” is no longer true
Keywords do not effect search engine rankings, and will soon become obsolete.
Part of the evolution of search engines is to ignore keywords. These are far to easy to fake, and can have nothing to do with the rest of the site. For this reason, keywords are no longer used to rank search results (Yahoo still reads them, but it provides very little help in increasing rankings). Instead, search engines now pull “key words” out of paragraphs of text to rank your site.
4. There are better ways than stuffing your pages with more text to get higher rankings
This is the double-edged sword of increasing your search engine rankings. It is true that in some cases adding more text will give search engines more to index (and more “key words”), but what about your customers? You do not send out flyers, brochures, or purchase advertisements that are long winded and boring. It’s important to keep your website concise and never lose its main purpose as a selling tool. If you absolutely need to throw a lot of information at your customers, consider breaking it into several different pages.
In the end its important to always be skeptical of any sales pitch. Take in the facts and remember to do research to determine whether or not a SEO company has any merit to their claims. Element Design can determine if your website is standards compliant, and if it meets search engine guidelines. For further reading, please visit any of the following articles: