Tim Bray writes about trying to get some CSS to work with IE. The issue revolves around using CSS to specify a font size that can be resized in IE. Turns out it ain't so easy. Bray (correctly) blames IE:
The problem isn’t that CSS is too hard. The problem isn’t browser incompatibilities in general. The problem is specifically that Microsoft Internet Explorer is a mouldering, out-of-date, amateurish, out-of-date pile of dung. Did I say it’s out-of-date? As in past its sell-by, seen better days, mutton dressed as lamb, superannuated, time-worn. It’s so, like, you know, so twentieth-century.
Don't hold back, Tim. Seriously, this is a problem. As others have noted, IE development seems to have stagnated. Meanwhile, browsers like Mozilla, Safari, and Opera leapfrog IE in areas like standards compliance and user interface (tabbed browsing, anyone?).
Bray seems to think the number of people using non-IE browsers will continue to increase. I think the number probably will increase, but not to a point where it makes a serious difference. Bray's numbers (36% of users on Mozilla) are skewed because of his highly nerdy audience (he's an XML guru, for goodness sake). Most sites probably still see 80-90% IE. Most users don't change defaults, much less browsers. (Granted, these are sweeping generalizations, but I think they're pretty close to the truth).
So, what's the problem? If 80-90% of the world is using IE/win, then developers are forced to work around its bugs. We're still (in some minor ways) paying for the sins of Netscape 4, six plus years after it came out. A stagnant IE makes it more difficult to reach a point where developers can write standards-compliant code and feel comfortable that it will render properly across browsers and platforms. We're in a better position than we were a few years ago, but there is a world of useful features that are held back by IE's lack of development.
Wondering what I'm talking about when I throw around terms like "taxonomy" and "ontology" (actually, I don't talk much about ontologies, but still)? Check out the Metadata Glossary.
(via IASlash)
Apache (home of the famous web server) has released a release candidate of its Leyna content management system. The system, which makes use of several of Apache's technologies (like Cocoon), is heavily XML-based. This is definitely one to check out.
(via Gilbane)
Update: Here is a CMS Watch article on Cocoon.
CMSWatch's Tony Byrne has an interesting interview with Information Architecture guru Lou Rosenfeld (of Polar Bear fame).
I think the time has come for a closer discussion and at least mutual awareness between the two fields of IA and CM. We have a lot to offer each other and I’m concerned and a little surprised that more hasn’t happened at this point. I’m curious as to why that is. It may be that because of how the fields have developed -- one with a software industry and one not -- that we somehow just missed each other. We end up being in different business units inside the same companies and we end up at different conferences. But it seems like a natural pairing and I hope that people in the content management community will look at us and reach out to us and help us see them.
I think that IA and CM are awfully similar in many respects. This might be because I learned about CM at the iSchool, where the historical focus has been in libraries and information. Still, the methodologies used in both fields can be quite similar. If done right, they both follow a user-centered design methodology. Both start with attempting to define the audience, their goals, and their content needs. Both fields live and die by metadata. While there are differences, it sometimes seems like CM is IA with a bigger software budget.
The Register has an article on the rise of open source content management systems.
Why is this? CIOs say the greatest benefits from using open source are lower total cost of ownership, lower capital investment and greater reliability and uptime. They also say that open source provides greater flexibility and control and enables faster, cheaper application development.
Its a bit of a rah-rah article.
Zeldman pointed to a couple of neat CSS tricks:
The Search for the Missing Link (a method of highlighting links in a paragraph when the user mouses over the paragraph).
Via Digital Web, two interesting articles:
For many years we have heard about the impending death of URLs that are difficult to type, remember and preserve. The use of URLs has actually improved little thus far, but changes are afoot in both development practices and Web server technology that should help advance URLs to the next generation.
Mask Your Web Server for Enhanced Security
Masking or anonymizing a Web server involves removing identifying details that intruders could use to detect your OS and Web server vendor and version. This information, while providing little or no utility to legitimate users, is often the starting place for crackers, blackhat hackers and "script kiddies". This article explores some ways you can minimize the risk of such detection. Most of the following examples focus on Microsoft’s Internet Information Server (IIS), since it has been most widely lambasted for its vulnerabilities, but some Apache detection countermeasures are also covered. While IIS users probably have the most vested interest here, server anonymization is relevant to anyone responsible for administering a Web server.
Zeldman has a nice entry on PNGs and why they're cool. Its better than my brief stab at the same subject a few days ago. So go read it already.
In an attempt to make typing less painful, I now have a new keyboard, the Kinesis Advantage. Most of the keys sit in two large indentations, with the keys angled for easy pressing. The keyboard is designed to minimize movements, and many common keys are positioned to take advantage of the thumb (its big and strong). The keyboard is just different enough to require some re-mapping of my mind. As a touch typist, typing is was pretty much an unconscious act for me. Relearning typing is a pretty odd process: I have to stop and think about where to type. It also slows me down, which is actually a good thing, as far as my hands are concerned.
So, some initial notes about the keyboard (note: its only been a few hours into my retraining):
Most of the keys feel very natural. The keys are positioned in the indentations to be at the natural height for the fingers that are meant to type them. For example, the middle finger keys ("d" and "k") are set deep in the indentation, as the middle finger is the longest.
This keyboard fits in very well with the keyboard trays I have at home and at work. The MS Natural Keyboard, with its curvy shape, didn't do a good job fitting onto the tray.
It has a two-port USB hub in it, making it easy for me to plug in my Griffin Powermate. The Powermate, a machined aluminum knob that glows, has to be the coolest computer input device ever.
The space bar is positioned as to be pressed with the right thumb. Unlike my previous keyboard (a Microsoft Natural keyboard), there is only the single space bar (I'm used to being able to press it with either hand). The backspace is located under the other thumb.
The shift keys are a tad on the small side. Hasn't been a huge problem, but I am used to a larger target. Overall, this keyboard demands a certain amount of precision when typing. You can't just jab in the general direction of the keys. This is also playing out on the left hand, where I frequently go to hit a "c" or a "v" and get the other one (or one of the side arrow keys, which are right under the c and v).
I also wouldn't have minded a bit larger target for the oft-used command key.
There are also a few keys that have radically changed locations for me. Most notably, the "=" key. As a developer, I spend a lot of time hitting the "=." I had a little moment of panic this morning when I went to hit "=" and it wasn't there. By "there," I mean in the upper right hand corner. It is in the imbedded numeric keypad, but you have to hit a function key to activate that. This simply wouldn't work for such an important key. So I went about trying to figure out how to remap keys, moving the "=" to another, lesser-used key (like "\"). Fortunately, I noticed that the "=" (and its shift key, "+") had migrated to the upper left hand side of the keyboard. Problem solved, except for the fact that I'll now have to get used to using my left hand for that.
Lest you think I'm whining, I'm not. So far its been a good experience. I haven't used it enough to see any reduction in my hand fatigue. But I'm already making significantly less mistakes (compared to when I first started out), so the re-training process won't take that long. And typing out this little mini-review was good practice. Now I can get back to coding.
In the latest installment of Digital Web Magazine, Dirk Knemeyer writes about "The Information Design approach to Web development." Knemeyer's definition of "Information Design" seems, well, expansive. The four aspects he covers are:
1. Information Design clarifies goals and objectives 2. Information Design provides a broader context 3. Information Design balances the various specialties that participate in Web development 4. Information Design focuses on the dynamic nature of strong Web development
Okay. My confusion comes in with his discussion of items 1, 2, and 4, where he basically lays out a standard development methodology (and not a bad one at that). But it doesn't strike me as particularly focused on information per se. Maybe I'm missing something.
Pundit Jared Spool has a nice article about "The Quiet Death of the Major Re-Launch". He argues that for some sites making gradual changes over time is preferable to making one big radical change. This is true for many sites. But for others, especially if they aren't already well-trafficed sites, the tear-it-down and build it back up approach might be better. Either way, you need to make sure that users can still get to the info they need. For example, breaking URLs in the re-design is a no-no. If you must change the URL, provide a re-direct to the new page.
Since time immemorial (okay, since the early 1990s), the two most used image formats for the web were GIF and JPEG. A newer kid on the block (1996) is PNG (Portable Network Graphics). It has a number of compelling features, such as full alpha transparency, small file size, and the ability to compress both line art and photographs well. But it hasn't found widespread acceptance. Philip Hoyt has an evolt.org article focused on the decision To PNG or not to PNG. Hoyt tests PNG in a number of graphics apps and browsers. The result? It turns out the software isn't doing a good job handling PNGs. Some browsers (I'm looking at you, IE6) don't handle the transparency features well, and Photoshop isn't that efficient at PNG compression. Bummer.
Jakob Nielsen's latest Alertbox column is about "Convincing Clients to Pay for Usability". In the article, Nielsen advises clients to look for development firms with methodologies that incorporate usability into the design process. Meanwhile, Christina Wodke writes "i feel perhaps the revolt of usability is almost over, it's becoming part of everyday quality work, and perhaps it's time to consider design." The two posts have very different tones. Nielsen's is done in his usual over-the-top style, while Wodke's line is slipped into the end of a long post on Emerson. But I think they're both on to something. Usability is becoming part of the standard operating procedure in development. I'm not sure its totally there yet, but its well on its way.
James Robertson has a brief piece on the roles needed in an intranet team. The roles are (drumbeat, please):
Project manager
Web designer
Graphic artist
Developer
Usability specialist
Information architect
Technical writer
Subject matter expert
Professional indexer
Journalist
Communications specialist
Business analyst
Obviously, these are *roles*, not individuals. A single person can wear many hats. And in most places, they have to.
This also strikes me as a pretty good list of roles for pretty much any web project.
I've recently run across FarCry, another open-source CMS, this one based on ColdFusion MX and MS SQL Server (or Oracle or MySQL).
Today's Seattle Times has an article about two UW students who sent a letter to uber-investor Warren Buffett advertising their web design services. Apparently, their angle was to critique the target customer's website, then offer to fix it. (Dangerous strategy, by the way...it can backfire if not handled just right.) Buffett wrote back saying that he was happy with the current look and feel of his Berkshire Hathaway site. He wrote:
"Our Website, like our name, annual report, and headquarters is meant to convey just what we are — a different sort of company. We are intentionally plane (sic), like a woman who wears no makeup because it fits our personality and attitude."
The site is very bare bones. But, as Buffett points out, that's a part of his image. Just as design can make an organization look sophisticated, playful, and professional, it can also make an organization look thrifty and unpretentious.
We had a great Information Architecture workshop yesterday. It was the forth workshop in our five workshop "Simple Steps" series (the last one, on Accessible Websites, is June 4). I've posted the resources for the workshop, including my presentation slides and a ton of links to articles and software. Thanks to all that attended.
Another note: we're offering two classes this summer that are more in-depth versions of the Simple Steps series. We're calling it the "Advanced Web Creation Concepts" series. The first four-day class will cover Strategy and Information Architecture. The second will cover Web Design, Usability, and Accessibility. They should be good.
I just hacked together a little RSS tool using python. All my script does is grab an RSS file from a remote location (in this case, our weblogs site), parse it, and output a defined number of entries as HTML into a file. This file can then be included by another site. The reason I mention it was because of the sheer ease of setting this little system up. A big part of the ease was due to me using Mark Pilgrim's ultra-liberal RSS parser (there are other RSS tools written in python). I was able to write a little tool to accomplish my goal in under 30 lines of code(probably could have been shorter if I was a better python programmer!). Only took about a half hour (again...if I was better...). I did quick download and install of ActivePython on our Win2k server, and a quick setup of the windows-equivilant of a cron job (to run the script every hour). All in all, it was pretty slick. I'm impressed with how easy python is to develop in, the quality of open-source modules for it, and the utility of RSS...
currybetdotnet has a wonderful article entitled How Search Can Help You Understand Your Audience. A quote from the introduction:
It seems to me that many of the metrics with which we measure user interaction with the web are deeply flawed, and provide ample evidence that the internet was invented by physicists and technologists, not marketing and advertising executives. Page impression figures do not convey any information about whether the page view was satisfying or frustrating. Not all users accept cookies, and not all cookies can be associated with a single user when they are issued to computers across corporate networks or public internet access points. Tracking individual session data still doesn't tell us whether the user went to make a cup of tea or answer the door whilst they spent the measured 3 minutes on the page. Beyond that the effect of caching by ISPs can lead to users not even seeing the latest version of a page, let alone the problem it creates for capturing behavioural data.
James Robertson has an interesting post on the questions he's planning on asking the senior managers at an organization. He's reviewing the organization's intranet. Its a good read, if only to remind you that intranets should support the strategic direction of the organization.
Netscape's Tristan Nitot has a short little article on the The Business Benefits of Web Standards. To quote:
More with less seems to be the mission impossible for web designers: Addressing more customers, a broader audience, more diversity in terms of browsers, more accessibility, users asking for more speed, while spending less to maintain or redesign a web site. Caught between a rock and a hard place, web designers face a formidable challenge. Yet they are finding an unsuspected ally in the battle: web standards.
The upcoming version of Microsoft Word (for Windows...not Mac) will be able to read and write XML (using the WordML syntax). Oleg Tkachenko writes about creating an XSLT stylesheet to produce WorldML. The upshot: you can now produce Word .docs without Word (ie, in a CMS or other system). Cool.
Peter-Paul Koch finishes up his two-part series on ideal web teams with a look at server-side and client-side specialists.
So the ideal Web team consists of a maximum of seven people, all specialists in their own field, who are willing to listen to each other, to defer to each other’s judgment, and to communicate important or even not so important information immediately upon receiving it.
How many users do you need for a usability test? The standard answer for the past ten years has been "5." This is due largely to Jakob Nielsen's research on the matter. And, I suppose, many people like this because its much easier to grab 5 subjects than 20 subjects. But, as Larry Constantine reports from the CHI 2003 conference, some people are beginning to argue that the 5 user rule isn't quite right.
True to their aim, the panel reviewed and summarised relevant work already reported elsewhere and previously discussed. As an erstwhile firm believer in the small numbers approach, Jared Spool started the panel by recounting how his views had changed after an experience with one client who insisted on testing with at least 18 users. Expecting to uncover fewer and fewer problems as testing progressed, Spool and company were surprised that new problems were still showing up at about the same pace after 16 users. Their experience was supported by Rolf Molich, whose well-known CUE (Comparative Usability Evaluation) studies have the same software evaluated by a number of different usability testing labs. In the second study in that series, for example, the 7 teams returned almost completely different, mostly non-overlapping results. Of the total 310 usability problems uncovered, 75% were identified by but a single testing team and missed by the others, and only one problem showed up in the findings of every team.
In his article "Why Blogs Haven't Stormed the Business World, Tiernan Ray argues that the lack of portability and structure in weblogging tools presents a barrier to entry for the Enterprise. As someone who has been working to get weblogging going in a (somewhat) corporate environment, I disagree with him.
The issues, by and large, are not technical ones. Granted, there are some technical issues. Weblog setup is still very much an individual thing. The tools to support easy setup and organization of multiple weblogs just aren't there yet. But these aren't huge issues.
When I talk to people about weblogging, they are often excited initially. But the motivation often gets drowned out by busy schedules. There are probably other reasons including fear of technology and fear of looking stupid in public. And, its hard to build up a reader base. If heard others note that bloggers should blog for themselves, not an audience. This is probably good advice, as it can be quite difficult to build up an audience. And without some sort of feedback, people's motivation to write can diminish.
I don't think I have a good answer for the problem right now. Except to say that as with any emerging technology, the growth starts with motivated early adopters. The challenge is moving beyond the early adopter stage into some sort of maturity. We're not there yet.
The Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education has a "monograph" on Knowledge Management in Education. I just downloaded it, and haven't had a chance to read it yet, but it looks interesting...