The Hot Iron

Friday, May 16, 2008

Reporting Web Site Bugs to Web Site Owners

Have you ever had a problem with a Web site?  Notice how I did not ask for a show of hands, otherwise there would be a lot of arms in the air right now.  When you encountered this error, what did you do?  Did you call the company, or try to contact them via email or the contact form on their Web site?

As someone who spends most all of my days on the Web, I encounter many.  If I do find an error or something out of the ordinary, sometimes I report it.  I say sometimes as when I do, I am often confronted with the sounds of crickets on the other end of the phone, get an automated, generic response or something that contains words but is not necessarily a sentence.

Why is this?  There are many contributing factors to this, including the typical siloing of functions within a company, the fact that who answer the phone or check the email from the Web site has no knowledge or way to process such a contact, and the Web site being accessed may be managed by a third-party or other entity outside the company and there are no lines of communication in place.  Where these are all realistic scenarios, they do absolutely nothing to serve those actually use the Web site, otherwise known as paying customers.

As an Internet consultant and Web developer, I work closely with my clients and sometimes directly to their customers to resolve any issues with a Web site solution I have provided them.  When I do get such a report, I check to ensure the following 4 questions are addressed:

• Who are they – their computer, operating system, browser, Internet connection speed and any programs that may be running while they are accessing the Web site
• What are they doing – the Web site they were accessing, including any and all links and where they linked from, and how they got to this point
• What happened – as much detail as possible, including a written or verbal description and screenshots
• What did they expect to happen – this is always helpful as it could be a case of mistaken expectations, or it could be they knew what was supposed to happen and it didn’t work that way

Generally people are willing to provide this information, especially if they are treated with courtesy and respect.  Armed with this knowledge, a troubleshooting path can be put together rather quickly and hopefully a resolution is close at hand.  That is, if you take the time to do your best to support the Web site user.

Friday, May 02, 2008

Radio Button And Checkbox Survey Hell

Not a day goes by where my inbox is not loaded with at least one email message asking me to take a survey.  I typically don’t mind sharing my opinions, however it has to be a win-win situation.  This is where I am able to respond to survey questions using a Web-based form that is not loaded with a million radio buttons or checkboxes, and after completing the survey I feel good about completing the survey.

By the use of the word Hell in the subject, you can guess I am not winning with many of these surveys.  Most times I click on a link, answer a few demographic questions, then I am onto the bulk of the survey.  And bulk is the right word, as I am presented with a page jammed packed with radio buttons – typically to answer questions on a scale of 1 to something – and checkboxes.

The problem is there is usually too many, tightly spaced, and I always miss some if not many.  There are usually no visual elements, like different colored backgrounds or lines, to differentiate each question.  When I am confronted with such a page, I usually click the “X” in the browser tab and close the survey, never giving my answers.

If I do make it through the survey, many times I have an empty feeling that I didn’t really provide any information, rather satisfied someone who was looking for some response unknown to me.  I once was told you can write a survey to get you pretty much any result you are seeking, and I believe it.  Surveys that either do not offer a general text box or offer too many seem to fit the bill.

When someone asks you for an opinion it generally gives you a good feeling.  Perhaps the real reason I find these surveys painful is that I never see any changes or results from them.

What do you think?  No radio buttons necessary for the response.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Remembering The Boston Computer Society

In my never ending quest to rid myself of as much unnecessary paper as possible and replace it with PDFs, I ran across the final newsletter for the Boston Computer Society from October 1996.  Of course I pulled it apart and scanned it, and I am offering it to the public here.

The Society, or BCS, is how it was in the “old days” - large computer clubs that had many special interest groups, or SIGs, on a variety of topics.  I don’t recall membership being all that much, maybe $30, and some meetings had a fee and others were sponsored or free.  I was only a member for a few years and attended a few meetings and presentations.  I recall seeing Dilbert’s Scott Adams at one annual meeting.

Comparing organizations like the BCS to today is like comparing corporate America to a commune.  Where things were much more organized, there was also more structure.  Today there are a plethora of forums, chat rooms, blogs and Web sites on all aspects of computers and technology, but the only way they are organized are with search engines.

Even if you are not from the Boston area you may still find this last BCS Journal interesting to read, if not for the articles then for the advertisements.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

freeagentnation.com Points To Nothing

If you are a regular reader of The Hot Iron you may know I am reading through all of the books on my bookshelf, blogging my takeaways from them, and passing the books along to friends and colleagues.  One book I just finished is Free Agent Nation by Daniel Pink, published in 2001.  Look for my takeaways on this great book soon.

At the end of the book it mentions the Web site for the book at freeagentnation.com.  So I entered the address into my browser and it resolves to nothing, no Web site.  Daniel Pink has a Web site for himself and one of his most recent books, Johnny Bunko.  According to the Internet Archive Wayback Machine, the last pages of freeagentnation.com archived were on November, 2005, and it was a link to his personal Web site.

This surprises me, especially as the book is probably still sitting on the bookshelves of many entrepreneurs and in circulation.  I am glad to see at least he still owns the domain name.

Web sites can and do have a shelf life, and taking it down can be the right move.  However people still may be seeking the site or its topic.  Routing Web traffic to another site at a minimum is straightforward and can suit those looking for the Web site, and maintain value for the topic as well as the domain name.

Friday, March 21, 2008

Is Windows XP Here To Stay?

Despite efforts by Microsoft to push its Vista operating system and get users to stop using Windows XP, the previous version isn’t going away.  Why?  With the performance and compatibility issues of Vista, plus the stability of XP – not to mention the fact there is little need to spend the money to upgrade – XP remains popular.  But don’t just take my word for it.

As a self-professed Internet Generalist, I keep abreast on all elements as much as I can, from hardware to software.  One source that keeps me in the know on all issues regarding Microsoft operating systems and software is WServerNews.  They provide both expert opinion and detailed information, with a touch of humor.

In their latest edition, interestingly #666, they talk of the upcoming release of Windows XP service pack 3, or SP3, as well as link to a detailed comparison of XP and Vista.

So will XP go away?  Not for a while, and not for a while on the computer where this was written!

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Packers.com Reacts to Brett Favre’s Retirement

There’s nothing like a Web site being down when there’s a big event or a breaking news story.  For a high-profile Web site to be down can be detrimental to its owner, especially if the particular event – or any type of event - can be predicted.  Black Friday online shopping and Super Bowl ads mentioning Web sites come to mind.

Last week, it was mistakenly posted on the Web site of the NFL’s Green Bay Packers its star quarterback Brett Favre was retiring.  It turned out the “story” was merely a preparation for whenever the announcement of his retirement was made.  It caused a small panic for Cheeseheads everywhere.

Today it was announced Favre is retiring.  So I went to the Packers’ Web site at packers.com to see how they handled the announcement.  The team and its Internet consultant apparently anticipate a deluge of traffic, so they redirected traffic to the home page to a special “breaking news” page as shown below.

(click on the link to view a larger version)

On the page is the following text:

Welcome to the Packers.com Breaking News page.

Due to the magnitude of today’s Packers news, Packers.com is offering this Breaking News page in lieu of our normal Packers.com site. With minimal graphics and no ancillary content, page loads should be quick, even in this period of high demand. All news stories from today will be listed right here on the Breaking News page. If you are seeking archived Packers.com material, you may still access the regular Packers.com site here.

This is a wise move, and interesting they actually stated it as they did.  And to Mr. Favre, thanks for the memories, except for Super Bowl XXXI.

Monday, February 25, 2008

LinkedIn Offers Stripped-Down Mobile Version

Business networking site LinkedIn has released a version of its service formatted for mobile devices.  TechCrunch reported its release though there is no mention of it to be found on LinkedIn itself.

The mobile version is located at m.linkedin.com provides basic but stripped-down functionality of what you can do in a standard browser.  Once you log in, you can see your own profile and contacts list.  The Updates link appears to be similar to what is on the home page of LinkedIn, but unfortunately does not match the Web page.  This is a feature I have identified as one of the key features of LinkedIn.  Also, you can view your own Connections, but not your Connection’s Connections.  Perhaps this is why there is a “beta” label at the top of the page.

You can of course view the mobile version in a standard browser.  This will benefit LinkedIn members who are visually impaired and use a screen reader when surfing the Web.  A while back when LinkedIn restructured the Connections list, it made it unreadable for those using screen readers.  Using the mobile version will give those users back this vital feature of the service.

Thursday, February 07, 2008

likemind is back in Chicago on Friday February 15

The next likemind coffee will be next Friday, February 15 in dozens of cities around the world.  In Chicago, it will be at Intelligentsia Coffee, 55 E. Randolph, at the corner of Wabash in the Loop.

I call likemind it a gathering of creative-minded people, from various disciplines including Internet, advertising, art, et. al.  Coffee is gratis thanks to Anomaly.

This marks the return of likemind after several months, and now I am one of the coordinators.  In addition to posts on The Hot Iron you are welcome to join the likemind Chicago Facebook group.

Tuesday, February 05, 2008

One Laptop Per Child For An Adult

The second gift I got from Dunkirk Systems for Christmas was a computer from the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) program.  This comes from what was originally the US$100 laptop program.  Now, they are $200, and through the end of last year you could have bought 2 for $400, one for yourself and one for a needy child.  This article talks about how the OLPC computers have helped a village in Peru.  For someone like myself who has had a computer since junior high school and made a career out of them, I bought into this program completely.

The notebook itself (sorry, I don’t like the term laptop) is interesting.  It is white with green trim and looks like it was made by Fisher-Price.  Its most prominent feature is a carrying handle – why hasn’t someone thought of this before?  It is designed to be rugged.  When you flip up the antenna on each side then the top, it is open for use.  The top swivels like a tablet PC but the screen is not touch-sensitive.  Right away by the size of the screen and keyboard you see it is for a child, especially with the spill-proof keyboard.  Other hardware features include a camera, speaker and microphone.  You can read more of its features on its Web site.

So what have I done with it?  Not too much so far.  I was able to get the MAC address of the WiFi card with help from the OLPC Wiki and set it into my wireless router and I was quickly on the Internet.  I ran the gauntlet of several of my Web sites with the pre-installed version of Firefox and all looked generally good, though I could not get the Flash plug-in to start and sound did not come from the browser.  I also tried some of the various applications pre-installed, from drawing to video, but only once.

When you connect to WiFi you look for it in the “neighborhood” and see dots representing each hotspot.  If another OLPC is within range, you see a stick-figure icon that is the logo for the program.  This is how children can link to each other and is part of the power – and fun - of this program.

So far I have yet to see anyone within range when I have used it, which doesn’t surprise me.  Does anyone out there reading this have one?  It would be interesting to get a group of people together with their OLPCs to connect and learn!

Thursday, January 31, 2008

Class Action Suit Settlement for Palm Treo 600 and 650 Owners

If you own or owned a Palm Treo 600 and/or 650 and had multiple returns for repairs or replacements, please read on.

I got an email from Palm on the settlement of a class action suit against them for the above reason, something I endured myself.  A Web site has been created at palzasettlement.com with links to PDF documents relevant to the settlement and filing a claim.  An owner can either get a repair, $75 if they owned a 600 or $50 if they owned a 650.

As I am not a lawyer nor do I play one on YouTube, check out the settlement Web site for complete details and you have until July, 2008 to file a claim.