Tracking Web hits to PDFs with Google Analytics

Here's some sample code on tracking PDFs, video, image files (anything other than HTML or server-processed pages). This a simple takeover of your own anchor tag that drops a quick client-side event in there for google to track, just before serving up your PDF.


< a href="http://www.example.com/files/map.pdf" onclick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/downloads/map'); ">

I'm not entirely clear on whether or not the link used in your javascript has to actually exist. If anyone figures it out before I get around to it, please post here!

In the mean time, here's a link to the Google Analytics support page addressing this exact approach.

Exporting to JPEG in Illustrator AND Preserving your Image Quality

If you struggle with exporting your Illustrator artwork as a print file using your canvas size and original document dimensions and resolution, the answer is fairly simple. As a quick aside, you may get around this problem for web graphics, because using "Save for Web and Devices" automatically uses the canvas size with the "clip to artboard" option under the "image size tab in the "Save for Web and Devices" window. Unfortunately, it also automatically uses low resolution artwork, thus typically shrinking the resolution and quality of your art by 60% (from 300 dpi to 72 dpi).

If only Adobe would include that simple option under"Export" as well, the fix would be intuitive, and I'd be finishing my work right now, instead of writing about it! (Actually it appears this feature was added in CS4, and as of the writing of this article, I am using CS 3).

Even if you have defined your document's size, Illustrator will not, by default, recognize that size upon exporting to JPG (or even COPY+PASTing into Photoshop). To explicitly set the output size of your document, you'll want to create crop marks. I guess the blessing and the curse of Illustrator is that you can set up your canvas size, and then completely ignore those settings and export any area of the canvas you want. For a lot of designers, this makes good sense as we tend to keep color pallets, shapes, drawings or other artwork outside the printable area, but close enough so it's useful while we're creating.

OK, here's how to create cropmarks:

Draw a rectangle that defines a cropping area, and choose:

Object > Cropmarks > Make.

For additional support, check out the link below. It also discusses making trim marks, too:


http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080906032554AArlDD9

"Cropmarks are visible in Illustrator but become invisible when placed into another program (such as QuarkXPress or Adobe PageMaker®) except that they will reappear if you position objects beyond the cropmarks. To remove cropmarks, either choose Object: Cropmarks: Release, or make a new rectangle and again choose Object: Cropmarks: Make."

"Creating “cropmarks,” then “trim marks”
Or create always-visible Trim Marks by selecting any object (a rectangle is not required) and choosing Filter: Create: Trim Marks. Files can contain multiple trim marks."

Recommended Visual Studio Installation Order

It seems like developers spend an inappropriate amount of time installing software on their machines, or rebuilding them altogether. Maybe your wiping an old machine clean or rebuilding a new one (yay!), but if you're not installing patches, trying new software or tweaking old stuff, it probably means you're in the process of a rebuild.

If you're a .NET developer using Visual Studio, SQL Server (maybe a little Microsoft Expression in there, too), here's a suggested order sent over by my good friend, Brian (soon to be Mayor of the great city of Ralston, NE!). This is a suggested order list for Visual Studio 2008 and SQL Server 2008:

Update: I recently installed a new version of Windows 7 on a MacBook Pro and skipped Visual Studio 2005 (then again, I skipped TFS, too):

Here's an additional article to reference that may contain updates:

http://consultingblogs.emc.com/jamiethomson/archive/2009/04/23/installation-order-for-visual-studio-2008-sp1-team-explorer-and-sql-server-2008.aspx

1. Visual Studio 2005
2. Team Explorer 2005
3. All service packs and hot-fixes for 2005
4. Visual Studio 2008
5. Team Explorer 2008
6. Visual Studio 2008 Service Pack 1 and all other hot-fixes
7. SQL Server 2008 (I installed the development version and just the client tools)

Also, if you want to be able to do “Edit and Continue,” you’ll have to change your build platform from Debug / AnyCPU to Debug / x86 (the two combo boxes in the tool bar at the top). Edit and Continue isn’t possible with 64-bit applications (which is what you’ll be compiling with on a 64 bit computer) in Visual Studio 2008.

I hope this helps. I know I'll be referring back to it myself soon, and often.

Changing "Opt-Out" status on your Contacts in Salesforce using Vertical Response

If you use Vertical Response with Salesforce.com, you have no doubt run into a variety of quirks, especially when it comes to building and maintaining lists (If you haven't, I should be reading your blog).

Let's say you have a contact that continues to get excluded from your lists, despite showing up in Salesforce, and in every Vertical Response query you run. But when it comes time to generate a list from those queries, that person continues to not show up.

Let me stop here to say that you should never opt someone back in without their consent. Vertical Response has an uncomfortably comprehensive policy about sending email. I recommend abiding by their policies to the "T." In fact, let me be so bold as to provide a real-world example of how you might want to opt a contact back in at their request. When our firm initially adopted Vertical Response, we immediately wanted to test the accuracy of their "opt-out" feature so I had a member of the Sales Team use the email link to opt himself out. Well, ever since then, he was banned from all our email campaigns and I wanted to get him back. So here's how I did it:

Step 1: Be sure the contact's "Opt-Out" field is unchecked in Salesforce.

Step 2: Go to the VR Email tab and choose "View Lists" and click on your list.

Step 3: From the list of contacts, choose "Details" on the contact you want to Edit.

Step 4: Change Record Status to "Manually Uploaded."

Barring any other problems, your contact should now show up in your email list when queried. But watch out! Vertical Response has a variety of things that will prevent your contact from making it to the final mailing list, including: 1) being opted out or 2) having ever been bounced. And the evident disconnect between Vertical Response and Salesforce exposes the fact that, while tight integration allows a user's "Opt-Out" status to flow from VR to Salesforce, Opting back in does not flow from Salesforce to Vertical Response.

Please post any other questions about integrating Vertical Response with Salesforce.com. There's a good chance I have been up against it before and might be able to help.

JQuery Image Rotator

http://designm.ag/tutorials/image-rotator-css-jquery/

10 Useful & Free Mac Apps for Any Designer

This is more or less so I will not forget. Great link, great info:

10 Useful & Free Mac Apps:
http://www.minervity.com/features/designer_apps/10-useful-and-free-mac-apps-for-any-designer/

Next step, start writing some JavaScript!

Download and install JQuery:

http://docs.jquery.com/Tutorials:Getting_Started_with_jQuery#Setup

101 Five Minute Fixes to Improve your Web Site

Good list:

http://www.insidecrm.com/features/101-web-site-fixes-031808/

Confessions of a Conservative

This was a post by UniversalGuy on Digg in Response to the article titled, Bill O'Reilly Backs Public Option, (where he actually does) I thought worth a repost.

I am a conservative.

This morning I was awoken by my alarm clock powered by electricity generated by the public power monopoly regulated by the U.S. Department of Energy.

I then took a shower in the clean water provided by a municipal water utility.

After that, I turned on the TV to one of the FCC-regulated channels to see what the National Weather Service of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration determined the weather was going to be like, using satellites designed, built, and launched by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

I watched this while eating my breakfast of U.S. Department of Agriculture-inspected food and taking the drugs which have been determined as safe by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

At the appropriate time, as regulated by the U.S. Congress and kept accurate by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the U.S. Naval Observatory, I get into my National Highway Traffic Safety Administration-approved automobile and set out to work on the roads build by the local, state, and federal Departments of Transportation, possibly stopping to purchase additional fuel of a quality level
determined by the Environmental Protection Agency, using legal tender issued by the Federal Reserve Bank.

On the way out the door I deposit any mail I have to be sent out via the U.S. Postal Service and drop the kids off at the public school.

After spending another day not being maimed or killed at work thanks to the workplace regulations imposed by the Department of Labor and the Occupational Safety and Health administration, enjoying another two meals which again do not kill me because of the USDA, I drive my NHTSA car back home on the DOT roads, to my house which has not burned down in my absence because of the state and local building codes and Fire Marshal's inspection, and which has not been plundered of all its
valuables thanks to the local police department.

And then I log on to the internet -- which was developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration -- and post on Freerepublic.com and Fox News forums about how SOCIALISM in medicine is BAD because the government can't do anything right.

###

P.S. the article continues:

Indeed, supporters of the public option do so for the very reasons O'Reilly notes. A study by the nonpartisan Commonwealth Fund found that "a public coverage program similar to Medicare would reduce projected health care costs by about $2 trillion over 11 years, and reduce premiums by about 20% on average. Within about a decade, 105 million people would be enrolled in the public plan, and about 107 million would have private insurance, according to the Commonwealth Fund."

Which Apps will work/not work in Snow Leopard?

Apple's Snow Leopard OS was released today, but before buying, I thought I'd check the list of compatible software just to make sure I don't shoot myself in the foot just to be an early adopter. (Maybe I'll just be a "bargain shopper" and wait for the tablet later this month to get Snow Leopard free?)

Anyway, I noticed Carbonite for Mac was still being tested, while Mozy was already working. Further indication about the direction I might go for data backup (see my past article reviewing personal data backup applications).

The only other one that really caught my eye was GoToMeeting. That thing is a bit of a mess for Macs (and PCs if you want to do anything with the recorded sessions) as it is, so I guess I'm not sure what I'm really hoping for here anyway.

Anyway, I'd love to hear results, comments or reviews from fellow early adopters of Snow Leopard right back here. Happy 64 bit computing!

Finding healthy food in an unhealthy economy

Author's note: probably the most interesting part of this post is the excerpt and link from TIME Magazine towards the bottom. The rest is just my own unedited rambling on the subject of finding healthy foods in an unhealthy economy.

A morning news story today showing people boycotting Whole Foods for its CEO's stance on health care reform gave me an equal dose of disappointment and encouragement. Disappointing of course, because any time I see a corporation that seems to share the values of a consumer who just wants to find healthy, reliable products for his/her family, it's only a matter of time WHEN that company will be exposed for lying, cheating, stealing and generally contributing to the slow, yet constant poisoning of our food supply.

But, encouraging because each revelation about how unhealthy a "grilled chicken salad" at the awning-striped place of your choice really is -- is a reflection of the growing transparency of the debate. And ironically, that's a good thing.

It is nice to finally hear other people join what used to be the wing-nut fringe of folks who wanted healthy food. Truly healthy food. In our country, we are told what's good for corporations is best for the economy. So, any request that they consider their impact on the environment, our health, or even condoned discrimination of their own employees is an absurd cost they can't bear.

Those of you who know me know I am not trying to paint a negative picture of factory farms or rights-violating retail giants, but simply trying to provide an entry point for many friends and family into this debate. While questioning that great deal you are getting on pickles at Wal*Mart shakes the foundation of your reality (if not simply your budget), I believe it is utterly necessary for our children, and our civilization.

Unfortunately, the answer is not taking what these corporations give us, to try and make the "best decision available." When we shop in Target's organic farmer's market section, it's out of hope, not fact. I can only hope that food is a little less bad, used a few less pesticides, was grown in soil that was a little less lead-contaminated and the trucks it came in on drove a few less miles to get here (and hopefully, crates didn't get switched by the minimum-wager responsible for stocking them on the shelves before his smoke break).

Here's an excerpt from TIME Magazine (8/21/2009):

"So what's wrong with cheap food and cheap meat — especially in a world in which more than 1 billion people go hungry? A lot. For one thing, not all food is equally inexpensive; fruits and vegetables don't receive the same price supports as grains. A study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that a dollar could buy 1,200 calories of potato chips or 875 calories of soda but just 250 calories of vegetables or 170 calories of fresh fruit. With the backing of the government, farmers are producing more calories — some 500 more per person per day since the 1970s — but too many are unhealthy calories. Given that, it's no surprise we're so fat; it simply costs too much to be thin."

Read more in TIME Magazine's Getting Real about the High Prices of Cheap Food.

We live in a time when even the alternatives are not always good ones. I was told about a neighbor a few years ago who devoted a large area of his yard to gardening. He produced at least half of his family's fruits and vegetables on his own. Truly remarkable, and something I'd like to work towards, but it seems he forgot to check one last thing before planting his first seeds. A simple soil test would have revealed that his soil had a high contamination of lead, and he wouldn't be left wondering if he was responsible for his own child's mental illness.

What that should warn us is that even the alternatives, like urban farming, we are given might be no better than the injustices we are trying to avoid. But joining the conversation and trying to put pressure on the companies we buy from is our right, and our responsibility. Corporations will not do the right thing on their own, it would not be "fair" to their shareholders in the short-term, which is all we typically ask them to consider.

What are your thoughts?

Taking Videos from Camera to DVD player

This is one of those posts that is more for myself than anyone else, because each time I go to get video off my camera, I have to relearn how I go about producing a DVD. The rest is a little rough, it's really just my notes:

1. From Sony HandyCam DCR-SR45 (30 GB) (also uses Sony memory stick) to:

2. MPEG StreamClip (MPEG Streamclip (http://www.squared5.com/svideo/mpeg-streamclip-mac.html) will do what you want, which is free. However, you'll also need the QuickTime MPEG-2 Playback component (http://www.apple.com/quicktime/mpeg2/), which isn't free, it's currently around $20.)

3. Use MPEG StreamClip to convert to either DV or QuickTime (.mov). DV deinterlaced appears to be better, haven't checked out which does better with aspect ratio.

4. import into either iMovie (if editing needs to be done) or iDVD to finish and burn DVD.

Personal (and business) Data Backup Solutions

A comparison of Carbonite and Mozy:

I used to read peoples' articles on data backup and recovery and assume those are the kind of people who NEVER lose data. On the contrary, I now have the feeling they are exactly the kind of chumps who just lost a ton of data and could just slap themselves silly for not acting on that voice in the back of their head telling them "you really need to back up sometime soon or you'll lose all this stuff." Well, I am one of those chumps, and here's my article.

Whether it's photos, songs, your resume or a year's worth of files for work, we've all got something very valuable to lose from our computers, and I've lost my share from each of those categories (and more).

I can certainly go into depth on a good external hard drive, but there's not too much to know there. Get a good deal, but don't go overly cheap. Some offer "one-touch" push button backups, which is basically a bundle of an okay hard drive with an okay backup software package. If it's simple and it works, go for it. Probably the best advice I can offer, comes from the perspective of what you are actually buying... it's not the data backup you care about, it's the recovery! So, if a solution does a great, comprehensive job of saving your data, that's great. But "where the rubber meets the road" is when it comes time for you to get something useful out of that ominous Terabyte of data.

My point - you know how to back up your data, great. Do you know how to get it back?

I'm middle-of-the-road about backing up my files. I carry around two external hard drives, a flash drive for very specific stuff, and at home, I've got a Buffalo Link Station hanging off my wireless network. At work, my code is pretty much taken care of by SQL Server backups and TFS, while I also use a few FTP sites to archive old web sork.

As you can see, this is not the model of a consolidated system I have going here. I recently decided to try an online backup system. Probably the most popular right now is Carbonite. I'm right in the middle of my 30 day trial, so I will defer a greater depth of knowledge to a more thorough review. Vinnie Carpenter's blog has a great comparison (more informative than it is objective, however).

http://www.j2eegeek.com/blog/2007/10/07/goodbye-carbonite-hello-mozy/

Here's where I need to provide my own commentary, but for now I'm just stubbing this in.

Regardless of what you choose, much like your AntiVirus plan, the best solution requires some overlap and you are ultimately responsible for your data. That's not to say I'm not constantly seeking that one-stop-shop. If it gets invented, and I'm ever comfortable enough with it, I'll let you know. It would save money, time, hassle... and actually do what it's supposed to do.

Converting Your PowerPoint Presentations to DVD

Converting your PowerPoint presentations to DVD is kind of like baking a cake over a campfire. It was never intended for that use, but who knows, maybe you'll get lucky. Since that was never PowerPoint's intended use, you are simply hoping the bolt-on DVD export option will work, and that you don't have too much fanciness (multi-media, music, audio clips, animation, etc.) that might throw off an otherwise "possible" conversion.

Typically, if I know my end format is DVD, I try to produce with that in mind. That means starting in a program that is intended to output DVDs. Flash can work, iMovie can work, or, here's a thought... iDVD (MovieMaker in windows). I'd strongly suggest FinalCut Express, but if you are not using any kind of video, obviously those tools are unneccessary (but if you're not using video, why do you need a DVD? Those are the questions I ask that tend to make people hate me, so lets push forward to some recommendations).

If it's not clear already, I am not an expert on PowerPoint to DVD conversion, so I would welcome anyone to post their own insights, but for the time being, I have come across some third party software that seems to serve the market of folks who have something in PowerPoint that they want to play on their DVD player:

Wondershare offers PPT2DVD:

http://www.ppt-to-dvd.com/ppt2dvd/whats-new05.html

Here's an unverified free trial of that software:

http://www.allformp3.com/powerpoint-dvd-maker/

My best advice is to always have your output in mind when you create something. While Microsoft has done a great job adding functionality to Office products like Word and PowerPoint, those are typically almost good enough for casual use, but rarely get the job done for your clients.

Type 1 Diabetes Group Started in Omaha

Hello, All. There's a new group in Omaha to join if you're over 18 and have Type 1 Diabetes. It's the first group in the area for adults with Type 1 Diabetes. Become a part of something that is entertaining, educational, collaborative, and can lead to lifelong friendships. Members are encouraged to blog about anything Diabetes related. Health, Diet, Exercise, Problems, A1C, and other issues. 

This link will always be found under the "Random Links" section of my blog. Please feel free to pass it on to friends and family who may have an interest. thanks!

http://t1dgroup.blogspot.com/

Cost Cutting is a Mentality Not a Strategy

"Whenever I read about some company undertaking a cost cutting program, I know it's not a company that really knows what costs are about. The really good manager does not wake up in the morning and say 'This is the day I'm going to cut costs,' any more than he wakes up and decides to practice breathing."

- Warren Buffett

In my line of work, we are constantly coming across firms whose top priority is cutting costs. Obviously to a tech company providing web application development, and trying to push the limits of what is possible on the web, this isn't exactly music to our ears - but it should be.

A member of management once asked me, "Ben, how can we cut costs?" He brought up great ideas like double checking with two or three vendors before a print project, or challenging our assumptions on expenses of signage, banners, conference materials, etc. Even the concept of shutting down computers and turning off the lights came up.

These were all valid ideas, and I was initially surpised (and a little dissapointed) in myself for not being able to rattle a list of ten cost saving ideas off the top of my head. But the more I thought about what things would really make a difference, the more I realized that, unlike good design or other great inventions, saving money doesn't come out of a flurry of short-term necessity. It comes from people who practice it way before management tells them to.

It was then that I realized I had been cutting costs, for about the last ten years. As far as marketing budget, I have made a reputation for being a practicing meiser with my company's money (which isn't always a good thing). For example, out of 100 or so people in our firm, it turns out my laptop is the oldest one currently in use. That's not even among the power users, that's all employees. My other laptop (the Macbook Pro) is three years old. I've rebuilt it myself four or five times, including Windows XP and Vista virtual machines each time. I'm not going to say I'm the companies biggest time-saver, because it consumes hours to be your own tech support, but as far as costs... And what about software? Probably half the software I use is free, open source problem-solving shareware (fine, the other half is the entire Adobe Design suite, and Microsoft's entire MSDN library of software - but we still get a great deal on those licenses!). Yeah, overall, I'd say I've been practicing what you are now preaching.

A case in point - IT asked everyone to turn off all devices at night, not just computers. This means monitors, printers, etc. I went a step further and offered, "Employees should use power strips, since we all know that even if your monitor (for example) is turned off, it still draws juice from a standard outlet. Multiply that by all employees (two monitors for many) and over a year, I'll bet that would make a measurable impact." Of course that's a non-issue in my case. I bought mine myself. Well, obviously that idea got laughed at as "a little over the top." I guess I thought that kind of thinking was what really affected the bottom line, but it would seem that me and my friend Warren are in the minority here (I think the above quote is worth repeating):

"Whenever I read about some company undertaking a cost cutting program, I know it's not a company that really knows what costs are about. The really good manager does not wake up in the morning and say 'This is the day I'm going to cut costs,' any more than he wakes up and decides to practice breathing."

- Warren Buffett

OK, my own self pandering asside, there are still plenty of things I can do. For an example that I think will really blow your mind, see my post about the Industrial Revolution of Data about how Google will bring us analytics about our own energy usage through their smart PowerMeter application.

But, for the time being, I should focus on my job, which, if you remember the beginning of this article, is helping business owners learn how to approach their design projects with a cost cutting mentality. That way, when they find that management finally catches up, they know the fad will pass, but good practices will drive the company forward.

The Industrial Revolution of Data

My next genius blog idea was going to be a discussion about when tech becomes mainstream, sifting through the "next big thing" vs. the "next big nothing." Bear with me here, but I believe the point at which a technology becomes profitable is not when it becomes popular. In fact, far after that first push (thats when it becomes popular) and people start asking - but how does this make any money? An example of this is Gary Vaynerchuk's How will Twitter Monetize?

Google is another perfect example of a company who, even well after its 2004 IPO (where Google initially set their stock price at $85, to close that day over $100) folks continue to ask - but how do they make money?

You might say "advertising" and leave it at that. And you would be as right as you are vague - but right nonetheless. While that's the second most common way to make money (right behind selling something), the longer winded answer is much more interesting to me. And it's the one that gives us a real insight into the long-term plans of some of these corporate geniuses.

So what are these guys really up to?

When you look at the standards that these organizations build upon in their "spare time," the Hadoop MapReduce project comes up. So, What is it?

MapReduce is a programming paradigm that expresses a large distributed computation as a sequence of distributed operations on data sets of key/value pairs.

Huh?

The Hadoop MapReduce framework harnesses a cluster of machines and executes user defined Map/Reduce jobs across the nodes in the cluster. A MapReduce computation has two phases, a map phase and a reduce phase. The input to the computation is a data set of key/value pairs.

Huh?

A perfect example is Google's PowerMeter program, which aims to give us all a tool to measure our own energy consumption, ideally leading to lower bills and a lower collective carbon footprint. Google estimates that with access to personal energy information, each family could save 10-15% a month on energy consumption costs. The practical application from Google is to answer questions like: How much does it cost to leave your TV on all day? What about turning your air conditioning 1 degree cooler? Which uses more power every month — your fridge or your dishwasher? Is your household more or less energy efficient than similar homes in your neighborhood?

The question of "why would Google provide this information?" is answered only by imagining just how they can use the data. Keep in mind, for every bit of data Google reports to you and me, it's data they are archiving, parsing and crunching for their own use elsewhere. Besides that, this so-called "Smart Grid" of power appears to be a joint effort between Google and GE. No one said it was going to be free to join.