PooleDesign - Web Development

Gartner Report suggests Innovating through Game Creation

2011-05-16T13:24:00.002-05:00

Do honestly think that in just a few years, more than half of organizations that manage innovation processes will do so by creating games for their employees and clients to "play"? Gartner Research does (http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1629214), and further, they believe that 70% of Global 2000 organizations will have at least one gamified application.

A quote from Gartner's article (4/12):

"Gamification describes the broad trend of employing game mechanics to non-game environments such as innovation, marketing, training, employee performance, health and social change," said Brian Burke, an analyst at Gartner. "Enterprise architects, CIOs and IT planners must be aware of, and lead, the business trend of gamification, educate their business counterparts and collaborate in the evaluation of opportunities within the organization."

The article explains the U.K.'s Department for Work and Pensions innovation game called "Idea Street" intended to make innovation a social event, eliciting productivity from its 120,000 people across the organization.

Any company needing to engage its knowledge workers (that's everybody, in my opinion, because every employee is knowledgeable about at least one unique thing critical to the organization), effect change from within or otherwise innovate should consider the goals of gamification from those organizations already making progress:

1. Accelerated feedback cycles
2. Clear goals and rules of play
3. A compelling narrative for engagement
4. Tasks that are challenging, yet achievable

Getting past the idea that games have no place in a serious workplace will likely take slightly less time than its predecessor argument, "Why would I ever use email for work?" [ Hint: Anyone who doesn't even remember not having an email address can replace the word "email" with "LinkedIn," "FaceBook," or "Twitter" in that example. In the mean time, I'll go back to realizing how old I am].

While the last thing I want is my work email to look like "Farmville," I am excited to see what types of application a focused gamification strategy can have on an organizations ability to share knowledge and give innovation a greater voice from within.

Drupal image file upload - can not select any images

2010-12-11T13:32:00.011-06:00

Attempting to upload an image file to my Drupal site this morning, I encountered one of those bugs that brings an early Saturday morning of productive coding to a grinding halt. Despite already having successfully uploaded a handful of images, the files were suddenly greyed-out and inactive. I ran through 20-30 minutes of troubleshooting my user permissions and file directory settings to no avail. It felt like one of those strange issues that only I had run into, so I didn't have much hope for finding the answer on Drupal.org (spoiler alert - I did find the answer, and you will too!).

Lucky for me, there had already been a great deal of discussion, and the issue was apparently caused by an update to Google Chrome 8 (8.0.552.11 dev, to be specific). It's important to note that it wasn't technically a bug on Chrome's part, rather the fact that it updated the way it implements HTML5 file uploads. Instead of accepting file extensions (which is what the Drupal ImageField and FileField modules provide), the browser (correctly, according to the HTML5 specification, BTW) now expects mime types.

I suspect this issue will be affecting a lot of Drupal developers over the next few days, and while the issue is directly related to an update with Google Chrome, it would be very easy for a developer to go search Drupal.org for problems with the image file upload before thinking to check it in another browser. I'm simply creating this page as a gateway to the solution that might more closely match the search terms of a bewildered developer.

If you are having the problem of not being able to select files to upload to your Drupal site using Google Chrome, you will want to take a look at this article on Drupal.org. If you're in a real hurry, I'll give you the solution (that worked for me) right now, but I strongly suggest reading up on the issue before implementing this fix, especially on a production environment.

After all the patches and workarounds suggested over the past few weeks, the true solution surfaced, and it involved an update to the two affected Drupal modules: Filefield and Imagefield. Go grab the latest versions of those (6.x-3.8 for both), or run this command through Drush:

pm-update filefield imagefield

Let me know if you found this solution helpful; and by all means head on over to Drupal.org and give those guys some love for the quick, solid solution. Once again, I am amazed by the effective collaboration in the community of Drupal Web builders.

Should we outlaw Lorem Ipsum?

2010-11-30T10:45:00.026-06:00

After replying to an intriguing discussion started by Karen McGrane regarding the use of Lorem Ipsum text in layouts (or more accurately, the growing mob of angry Latinistas), I wanted to help spread the sentiment in defense of "Greeking," a simple, age-old technique that has helped bridge that gap of designer/client communications in many fields, not just designing the Web (And yes, "Greeking" involves the use of a Latin-language passage. We're past that).

First, a brief example of the offending text known as "Lorem Ipsum" you will likely recognize:

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

After first hearing about the argument, I really wanted to get aboard the "Outlawing Lorem Ipsum" train (Choo! Choo!). Like many designers, I have to work hard not perpetuate a bias toward bashing a technique you no longer hold elitist knowledge over - in other words, as soon as something's no longer just for the cool kids, it's deemed no good for anyone - and naturally, we must make an example of mid- to late-adopters.

But once I read the main arguments against using Lorem Ipsum, it completely lost value. Doing away with the technique offers no solutions over the real concerns being pointed out, most of which involved designer/client communication.

Why they hate Lorem Ipsum

To give fair attention to some of Lorem Ipsum's most outspoken opponents, I found a very compelling statement in this adaptive path essay/interview by Kate Rutter. The concept is that clients should think more strategically about their content up front. I don't know any designer who wouldn't benefit from that, but if life was easy, everyone would be doing it, right? So, for those times where your client has thought strategically up front, I would probably use their "strategic" copy, rather than Lorem Ipsum. I think we can agree on that, but for the other 99% of the time where your client needs to see something before they can finalize enough approved copy for you to design around, the standardized method that has worked for years, might just work for you.

That's a very high road to take, and as designers, we do have a responsibility to encourage our clients to become more effective, improve their process and write better content. At the same time, heavy-handed, elitist attitudes are what brand designers as hard-to-work-with snobs who care more about typography than human interaction, not a likely road to successfully winning hearts and minds of business owners. So, the outcry doesn't end there.

One recurring example is a strawman-type argument whereby painting a picture of a designer being cornered with that deer-in-headlights gaze as a room full of clients get confused and angered by this never-before-seen block of sample text beginning "Lorem Ipsum." The scene suggests lighting of torches and zombie-like board-roomers approaching the designer chanting something like, "Don't understand... must eat brains."

Back to reality (for a second) -
Honestly, to anyone who has experienced this unbelievably confusing moment with clients who think the lorem ipsum is actually intended for production… was it really that hard to clarify the misunderstanding? Did you seriously walk away from the meeting not having educated them with a ten second explanation? I’ve actually found it more confusing and distracting to try and input semi-dummy text that the client didn’t provide… “Where did you get that copy? Why would we say that? We haven’t used that word in two years, etc.”

I’ve found it a very powerful way to show clients that my role is to design, while theirs is to provide content. It very clearly communicates the much more confusing division of labor, and how their new CMS will give them the control over their site they so desire.

To the angry mob – your goal of creating a purely strategic content-driven society is a noble one, but you are ironically distracted by the lorem ipsum text itself! Focus on the real issues that plague designer/client communication, and more useful (and usable) solutions.

Finally, here's something we can all agree on: Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet... [ Note to self: replace placeholder text with actual thing we can all agree on as soon as possible. ]

Don't settle for the iPad, competition is coming soon

2010-09-24T15:40:00.005-05:00

For anyone thinking the "single camera, no USB, can't print, can't run flash" iPad is the only game in town, the tablet market is about to get pretty interesting, hopefully before the end of the year. Don't get me wrong, with four million units sold, the iPad has certainly blazed the trail for tablets, and somehow achieved the self-proclaimed status of first-to-market. But like many consumer-facing technologies, first doesn't guarantee best. And from what we're hearing about upcoming tablets from companies like RIM, Samsung and HP, the best is truly yet to come.

While RIM will be releasing a Blackberry tablet targeting business folks, the one to watch is probably anything running Google's Android OS. This should include a Samsung Galaxy which I personally expect to rock the tablet market, or at least my cubicle's market.

Palm and Windows are rumored to also have a tablet OS, but honestly, who cares? (Sorry Microsoft, we do appreciate you inventing the technology, and Steve Jobs stealing it to get us to this point, though).

Finally, if you are still set on the iPad, be sure to follow their chatter about its next generation, also due out by the end of the year - probably to compete with the aforementioned heavy hitters running Android.

This article filed under: tech news, google tablet, Apple and What to get Ben for Christmas.

Top 10 Improvements for Basecamp (according to me)

2010-03-31T10:58:00.019-05:00

Disclosure: I didn't quite get to ten, but it makes for a good title. Plus, I'm hoping for some additional suggestions from you.

Now, let me first say that Basecamp is an excellent tool helping developers and freelancers across the world create and do business more efficiently and productively (I think even happier, too). In fact, Basecamp has encouraged extensions, plug-ins and additional tools to accomplish the types of improvements we all think about. As I work in Basecamp throughout my typical work day (very efficiently and productively, I might add), I try and limit my wish lists to functionalities that truly might belong in the core app.

And as you know, I never point out a problem without offering up a solution; so you'll see those listed here, too. You are more than welcome to offer your own suggestions (in fact it is my hope that you will), so that as a community, we'll encourage 37 Signals to make some improvements to one of the best, fastest-growing collaboration & project management apps available.

1) Create Templates from Existing To-Dos.
Is there anyone first using Basecamp who ventures into creating templates before they have mastered the art of ToDo lists? Granted, you are up and going within minutes, but the likelihood is that you could have spent a great deal of time thinking though and creating a very detailed ToDo list, only to find out you have to repeat all that work (read: typing, copy+pasting) to develop a ToDo list. Suggested Solution: offer a "Create Template from this ToDo list" link on the ToDo page.

2) Allow "Who's Responsible" to be set on ToDos.
Speaking of ToDo lists, there's additional information you very well could know at the time you are setting it up - specifically, who's responsible for a given task (after all, it's a template, right?). Of course, I'm not asking to be able to set a due date at the template level (although, some not-so fancy math could allow you to set the due date of the first item on a ToDo list, then cascade due dates down to all the other items based on how much time they might take). Anyway, often times it will be the same person performing the task, and it could be changes later on the fly. It would be a time-save, especially for larger ToDo lists. I kind of get the feeling the developers at 37 Signals didn't anticipate particularly large, detailed ToDo lists, so maybe on my team, we're overachievers!? Probably. Let's move on, though.

3) Ability to create a calendar of ToDos.
Seriously, you get a calendar for Milestones, why not one for ToDos? It would be just as helpful, if not more so to the developers.

4) Switch which Milestone or Project a ToDo is associated to.
This just happens sometimes, and you need to switch. It's strange with such a flexible system, you're locked in. This would also be helpful if you had a hot idea and just wanted to get a project started without having to create a brand new category to make sure it will stay there forever. If you knew you could switch where your new list would live in the future, you might be more likely to get your ideas out quickly, and while they're on your mind - knowing you wouldn't have to re-enter them later when your team reorganizes projects. Suggested Solution: allow ToDos to be moved to a different milestone.

5) Time Tracking and Creating Reports
The Create Report functionality is not as quick as it could be. First off, it would be supremely helpful to save the state of your report criteria as you swap between dates or people. Secondly, move the "Create a Report" link from the right side, to the left. Since it's not stateful, your mose makes a two-way trip all across the screen each time you want to change days. In fairness, I think I'm being nit-picky here, but it's an area that is so useful, it makes the frequency of these annoyances ever-present. Suggested Solution: tighten up "Create a Report" interface.

6) Use a calendar control for creating Time Tracking Reports.
This one could have gone with #5, but I believe it's such a no-brainer, it deserves its own number. Instead of using TWO drop-downs that slowly do a very repetitive job, drop a nice calendar control (how about the one from the ToDo screen?) on that screen. I'd be able to spend less time looking at where I spend my time, and focus that time on the actual work! Suggested Solution: replace drop-downs with calendars when picking a date.

7) Time tracking for individual projects, ToDos or Milestones.
It's crazy how close you can get, but just can't quite make it happen. On each item of a ToDo list, you can see how much time you've tracked by clicking the clock next to it. That's obviously very useful information. So why isn't it obvious that it would be nice to see a total without breaking out a calculator and opening/closing each Todo down the list? Perhaps our group is unique in how we categorize our projects, but since the system offers the flexibility to do it that way, the report functionality should be as flexible. Suggested Solution: drill down one more step to total up time tracked on a specific ToDo list or milestone.

8) Set up multiple-person groups.
Since it's hard to report ToDos on projects where more than one person has ToDos, this would be useful. It would allow you to print one calendar of ToDos (assuming you've implemented request #3), for a project that two or more people can use. It would also alleviate the possibility of forgotten or missed ToDos since they were on someone else's list. For a quick example of this, simply go to your dashboard, then milestones. What if you wanted to coordinate two or more peoples' work for the week, but could only see one person's milestones? Suggested Solution: create multiple-person groups for tracking and reporting purposes.

9) Open attached files in a new window.
When collaborating on a project, attaching files is a great feature Basecamp already has. Launching in the same window, however, takes you away from the conversation and keeps you from easily toggling back and forth between the discussion and the file. On top of that, you may be tempted to close the window instead of use the back button - not to mention, what if there are two or three attachments to compare? It may seem like a minor annoyance, but if there is not a compelling reason to open in the same window, I'd like to see it launch a new window. Suggested Solution: open attachments in a new window/browser tab.

Now look at that, I only made it to nine!
I told you titles are just a gimmick. Again, my hat is off to the developers at 37 Signals for the fantastic suite of light-weight, yet productive tools they've created. It's a testament to their work that a conversation like this one is generated around their developer-focused tool set.

Now it's your turn. If you feel I missed anything, or Basecamp already has a solution for my complaining, please post it here.

Additional Web sites in my Portfolio

2010-01-19T01:25:00.000-06:00

A few more samples of my work:

http://www.coachkevinmultisport.com/new%20site/default.html

http://www.clsinvest.com
http://www.advisoronefunds.com
http://www.orionadvisor.com (worked as a team on this site)

Tracking Web hits to PDFs with Google Analytics

2009-12-06T16:51:00.000-06:00

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

2009-12-05T08:28:00.001-06:00

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

2009-11-27T08:45:00.005-06:00

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

2009-10-08T13:27:00.017-05:00

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

2009-10-07T15:25:00.000-05:00

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

10 Useful & Free Mac Apps for Any Designer

2009-10-07T15:18:00.002-05:00

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

2009-09-25T09:05:00.002-05:00

Good list:

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

Confessions of a Conservative

2009-09-18T15:12:00.011-05:00

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?

2009-08-28T15:43:00.004-05:00

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

2009-08-25T08:33:00.012-05:00

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

2009-07-22T14:47:00.008-05:00

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

2009-05-20T11:19:00.004-05:00

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

2009-03-25T01:08:00.002-05:00

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

2009-03-22T19:45:00.001-05:00

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

2009-03-17T09:06:00.015-05:00

"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

2009-03-16T14:35:00.011-05:00

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.

Microsoft Process Explorer

2007-12-13T13:15:00.001-06:00

Windows Process Explorer (download here) is an excellent utility to see information about what processes have a hold of files on your machine. It's most useful when you get strange errors with files, or are unable to save, edit, open or otherwise act on a file or folder.

When my computer is freezing up or even running slower than I think it should, my first instinct is usually to open task manager (hit CTL+ALT+DEL) and sort processes by memory usage, then start using the "End Process" button like the trigger on my XBox controller. The problem with this approach is not knowing exactly which processes I am stopping, more importantly, how to fix it through the next reboot.

I like the Process Explorer Utility because it allows you to take the opposite approach by finding the file or application that's giving you trouble, then locating which service has the lock on it. You can then go in much more surgically to the single source of the problem and stop it directly.

Additionally, when you can identify a service that is both problematic and unneccessary, you can go in to your Services Window (Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services) and disable them by choosing either "Manual" or "Disabled" status.

Here's the link to Microsoft's site where you can read more or download the program:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/utilities/processexplorer.mspx

Enjoy!

Flash Video Streaming and IIS

2007-12-10T14:51:00.001-06:00

One problem that plagues Flash video development is when it simply won't work in production the way it does in development. In later articles, I'll go further into depth on getting it to work at all in Flash, but this article is for you if your .swf is properly streaming video locally, but hits a brick wall when you try and run it out on production.

The obvious thing to check is that you have your .swf and .flv files published to your Web server along with correct path(s) in your Flash file. So, if you truly think everything is in order and still can't get it working, open up IIS and read on.

From your IIS panel, Right+Click your Web site and select "Properties." Choose the "HTTP Headers" tab and look in the "MIME mapping" section for the "File Types" button.

From the "File Types" window you'll need to add a New Type, where you'll have two fields to enter. Carefully enter the following:

Associated extension = ".FLV"
Content type (MIME) = "flv-application/octet-stream"

Hit "OK" and your results will appear in the Registered file types window, like this:

Of course there are many reasons for Flash Video projects to fail, but I found this one particularly elusive, thus worth mentioning. Please feel free to post additional problems/solutions and I'll expand this tutorial further.

Internet Speed Test - Know your Broadband Connection Speed

2007-12-08T15:48:00.002-06:00

I'll bet you and I have one thing in common when it comes to our internet service... the bill. But despite the $40/month we all pay across the board for "high-speed" internet (what's that you say? You only pay $30? Well aren't you the clever little bundler. Now pat yourself on the back and keep reading), the similarities typically end there.

Finding out the connection speed of your computer to the internet is, in my opinion, very important to know. Your internet speed is not directly tied to your provider (despite what cartoon spokesmen tell you on TV), so it is important to regularly find out for yourself just what kind of upload/download speed you are paying for.

I find it even more important if you are trying to accomplish actual work from home via FTP, Citrix, VPN or simply getting your CEO's latest six-tab spreadsheet of sales figures through Web mail.

I'll briefly discuss a few free online tools I find useful, www.speakeasy.com, www.speedtest.net and www.toast.net.

** NOTE ** I'm making this addition to the article after its original publication. I recently found www.speakeasy.com, which is extremely useful, accurate, and just kinda cool. It takes a minute longer than the others, but that's because it separately runs your upload and download speeds to provide an excellent picture of your broadband speed. I'd also recommend running it periodically to first create a benchmark for your broadband speed so you can compare that with what your ISP is charging you for. The other helpful bit of info I'd keep an eye on is how much your up and download speeds fluctuate. Not a big deal to most people (as long as you happen to be on a spike more often than a dip), but I recently found out that an inconsistent download speed can cause havoc with your VOP router, if you happen to use a service like Lingo, Vonage or whatever.

I would strongly suggest sparing yourself my further analysis (and the next five minutes) and checking out www.speakeasy.com. Because if there's one thing I know about you, it's that you are into efficiency (oh, that and the cable bill thing we talked about earlier). If you are still unsatisfied, return to this article and read on.

* Note: back to original article.

The last one I picked up from a particularly helpful Qwest rep just before dropping their service. It's extremely simple, but doesn't seem to be all that reliable. You have the choice of downloading some very high-res photos, or simply a ton of text (in the form of the Telecommunications Act of 1996). To use it, simply go to toast.net and choose "internet speed test." Choose the size/format of what you want to download, and you will see a chart similar to this one:

Your connection speed will be represented by the blue bar across the top compared to a few other metrix. So, in this case you'd read that my download speed is almost 13 mb ["mega bits per second"] (sorry, I cut the screenshot off at 7).

It's helpful, but pretty limited as far as useful info. Also, as I mentioned earlier, I found drastically different results when you select anything other than text as your benchmark.

The second tool (which is my #1 recommendation), shows upload speed, download speed, along with a ton of other information and choices on how to run the test. It also archives and compares your past results (this is excellent, because testing on Monday evening will yield far different results from say, Monday Morning since your Cable connection is likely shared among your neighbors).

Anyway, the site is www.speedtest.net, and the results look something like the screenshot below:

You may notice that in this speed test, I'm getting around 17 mb and 550 kb upload. Those are results I really like to see, so I should disclose that my testing is fairly unscientific, unvalidated by any other tools, and not 100% objective (Which driving range do you prefer? The one where your 210 yard drive goes 210 yards, or the one where it's marked 240?)

Anyway, give these couple of speed tests a try, especially if you feel like you may not be getting what your provider promises. A lot of variables can affect your broadband speed, including your neighborhood hub being at capacity, how many people are currently on, how much resistance your home wiring has, your modem, firmware etc. What it does not take into consideration is how fast your computer is, any hardware devices added to your home network (wireless router, print server, switch, LinkStations, whatever).

Additionally, this can be very good information to have handy before calling up your overpriced provider. It just might be enough to quickly confuse phone monkey #1 and get you on the fast track to "Tier-Two" service where something might actually get done. Please feel free to post back here on your experiences with either of these online tools, or any others.

Rounded Corners with Nifty Javascript

2007-10-23T15:41:00.000-05:00

I can't give this script a thumbs up or down just yet, but I'll be implementing it on an upcoming project, then I'll provide a review. I have tried a few other scripts that work well with prototype and rico, but when combined with asp.NET pages, they run into problems. Hopefully this one's different... if so, I'll update this post with the good news and some samples. In the mean time, visit their site:

http://www.html.it/articoli/nifty/index.html

Enjoy! And feel free to post your success story (giving the original authors full props, of course).

Latest Virus Threats

2007-09-21T09:40:00.000-05:00

In addition to my article on virus and spyware removal from your PC, I neglected to mention my own site, http://www.pooledesign.net/ or www.pooledesign.net/safe, which shows the most recent alerts from the Symantec Security Threats database.

Security and malware removal

2007-09-21T09:08:00.000-05:00

Protecting your computer(s) from viruses, malware, spyware and even self-inflicted system failures is more than a full-time job. Just like protecting your identity, finances or anything else, there is absolutely no one-stop shop. I don't care if you just bought Norton's grand new golden-boy do-it-all suite, nothing, and I mean nothing offers 100% protection from all the looming threats on the internet. Since threats come from so many sources, an equally unrelated set of tools overlapped across all the things you use is necessary. That's why I try to maintain a running list of effective tools that are certainly not limited to any virus in particular. Here is a list of tools I consider very powerful in assisting you whether you are in the prevention stage, or the "Oh Sh!t" stage of computer/internet safety.

* Please note, no single program will do it all for you. These are not meant to replace a current install of AVG Antivirus, Symantec, McAfee etc, with up-to-date virus definitions.

If you're wondering what spurred this article - I ran into the trojan.w32.looksky virus on a client's network recently and thought this would be a good opportunity to put a few links together in one spot that help deal with a man-down computer situation.

1. Trend Micro HouseCall
Trend Micro's HouseCall is an application for checking whether your computer has been infected viruses, spyware or other grayware/malware. This app does require a small Java plug-in install, which is a nice alternative to Symantec's ActiveX control, that is impossible to install if you have been infected.

2. Microsoft's OneCare Live
Microsoft's OneCare Live will run online system checks, detection and removal.

3. Microsoft's Malicious Software Removal Tool
Microsoft's Malicious Malware Removal Tool checks computers running Windows XP, Windows 2000, and Windows Server 2003 for infections by specific, prevalent malicious software—including Blaster, Sasser, and Mydoom—and helps remove any infection found. When the detection and removal process is complete, the tool displays a report describing the outcome, including which, if any, malicious software was detected and removed.

4. Spybot Search & Destroy
Where would we be without this one? If you don't have it, get it and run it often.

5. Advanced Windows Care
For a free program, I have been very impressed with Advanced Windows Care. It does a great job scanning and removing. Though you should have a Symantec or McAffee Security suite protecting your computer, I run this one along with AVG Antivirus on a couple of computers. That combined with unbelievable paranoia has kept those computers pretty safe so far.

I think getting into pros and cons of the various anti-virus programs is beyond the scope of this article, but having used the three major ones: AVG Antivirus, McAfee and Symantec, I think that's about the order I would rate them (with Symantec and McAfee at a very distant second and third). AVG is really an excellent product, which I'll try and expand on in another article.

Setting image swap on your asp.NET Image Controls - Part 2

2007-09-09T21:46:00.000-05:00

In part 1 of this article series, I showed you how to set an image rollover in your ASP.NET (2.0) app with asp.NET HyperLink and Image controls. It's a code behind solution that writes all the javascript for you, making you much more likely to use image rollovers, rather than make them "phase two" of any given project.

As promised, this article shows you how to make it more functional by wrapping the method in a class which is reusable and accessible across your asp.NET application(s).

I'll set up a very simple class in my namespace: Web.Classes.

namespace Web.Classes

{

public class Common

{

public Common() {

}

public static void setMouseOver(HyperLink lnkControl, System.Web.UI.WebControls.Image imgControl, string imgPath, string imgPathOver)

{

lnkControl.Attributes.Add("onmouseover", "document.getElementById('" + imgControl.ClientID + "').src='" + imgPathOver + "';");

lnkControl.Attributes.Add("onmouseout", "document.getElementById('" + imgControl.ClientID + "').src='" + imgPath + "';");

}

}

}

One thing you might notice (if for no other reason than it's highlighted in orange), is that I fully qualified the System.Web.UI.WebControls.Image which shows up as an argument in my method. I've noticed that even when I declare the WebControls Namespace at the top, the compiler can potentially still throw an error due to a conflict with System.Drawing.Image. For simplicity, I didn't use a shorthand in my using statement to solve this, but that's certainly a good option.

Finally, instead of reinventing the wheel on each codebehind, it is not as simple as calling Common.setMouseOver() and providing the appropriate arguments like this:

if(!Page.IsPostBack)
{

Common.setMouseOver(lnkLink1, imgLink1, "/Images/my_image.png", "/Images/my_image_over.png");
}

My intent with this brief series of articles was to show a simple way of implementing rollover images on your asp.NET pages.

Setting image swap on your asp.NET Image Controls

2007-09-06T20:34:00.000-05:00

In this article, I wanted to archive a clean and quick way of adding mouse rollover image swapping to your asp.net (2.0) forms. Before you wonder why you wasted the last 20 seconds of your life, I'll show you in part 2 how to wrap it up into a class to make it more object oriented by developing a reusable mouse rollover control.

It would be really great if the .net HyperLink control simply had an ImageRolloverUrl property, to go along with its ImageUrl property (maybe in 3.0?). At that point, we'd be done, and you'd be back to reading about my cat (I don't own a cat, but somehow writing about your black lab seems even lamer).

Moving on, since we'll have to wrap our HyperLink control around an Image control, you'll notice I don't even set the ImageUrl property of HyperLink. Therefore, it will look like this:

<asp:HyperLink id="lnkPage1" runat="server" >
<asp:Image id="imgMyImage" runat="server" ImageUrl="~/App_Themes/Default/Images/my_image.png" />
</asp:HyperLink>

in the code behind:

string imgPath = "~/images/yourimage.png";
string imgPathOver = "~/images/yourimage_over.png";

lnkControl.Attributes.Add("onmouseover", "document.getElementById('" + imgControl.ClientID + "').src='" + imgPathOver + "';");

lnkControl.Attributes.Add("onmouseout", "document.getElementById('" + imgControl.ClientID + "').src='" + imgPath + "';");

So, pretty simle in all, though it's still just a little more code than a developer might be willing to write for each image link. That's why I'll show you in part 2 how I chose to wrap this in a Class for reusibility across your application(s).

What to expect from reading me

2007-04-24T19:10:00.000-05:00

If I get moderately motivated, I'll use this space to refresh my own memory about links to useful Web design tools, asp.NET development, code samples including: C#, javascript, HTML, CSS, PHP, ActionScript and more, ways to solve problems, mostly relating to a current client's web site, etc.

If I get completely motivated, I'll provide real updates, solutions to problems I've solved, along with up to date analysis of what Microsoft is releasing, what Apple is up to, Oh, and I'll definately keep you updated as to how Perl 6 is coming along. We're all hanging on for that one...

Anyway, thanks for stopping by, and since you're here, no doubt one of the following events took place:

1) I actually provided Web building content someone can use, and somehow even found from a Web search
2) You are a potential employer or the FBI doing a background check. Seriously, I'm cool so ignore any political rants that might offend you, or categorize me as an enemy combatant.
3) You are stalking me. Please knock it off.

Regardless, I look forward to some meaningful discussion with you... even in the case of option #3.

First Post

2007-04-24T19:05:00.000-05:00

Nothing like keeping it short:

What you should know before buying a car - beware of the four square approach, great articles along the lines of "confessions from a former car salesman."

http://www.mymoneyblog.com/archives/2007/03/confessions-of-a-car-salesman-beware-of-the-four-square.html