Using Wordpress as a CMS allowed to quickly build a full featured website for a small but dynamic company, Wordpress also ensures that all the future needs and changes on the web presence of the company (i.e. blogs, newsletters, forums, …) will be easily deployed using it’s powerful plugin system.

Inst.El. snc. is an Italian company specialized in the production of Hydroelectric Energy using the best technology on the market, the so called Archimedes screw turbines. Inst.El. has also a wide experience on solar photovoltaic systems and electric plants for home and business.

Note: the website is in Italian language only

First of all the old interface:

And now the new design:

And a detail of the main advertisement area:

Old Ads design

New Ads design

Some thoughts

As you can see, the new left sidebar forces the width of the light yellow box to a shorter version, the effect is that now it is more likely for an ad description text to be splitted in 2 lines, using more vertical space and thus having a higher probability to attract the eye of the user (compare the first and second ads on the two designs).

Without the horizontal bar (the one with “Web + Show options” button and the count of search results) the sponsor listing are much more closer to the input box, where the users is supposed to have the mouse pointer as he was just writing the search query text there (if he was already on a search result page).

The “Sponsored links” text now has a reduced font size (11px), it’s much less prominent and, with the use of a gray text color, it’s more difficult to spot it out at a first quick sight.

On the right ad box (the vertical one, without background color) there is an increased line height and white space between the sponsor listings. The law of proximity (from the gestalt principles) tells us that the single add will still be perceived as a unit, due to the bigger distance from one ad to the other, but now with more white space between the lines that perception is less strong, IMHO. Note also that the last ads, the less valuable, are more or less still under the fold.

Looking at the big screenshot, the map now occupies all the width of the central column; I think that this is done to discourage the user from scrolling and have him focusing on the sponsored listing. Such a strong visual block will for sure break the user’s “scan” of the page avoiding, or trying to avoid, him to “jump” under the map. For reference read the interesting research “The myth of the page fold: evidence from user testing” by cxpartners, where they found that “Stark, horizontal lines discourage scrolling”.

Last thing to note is that the first organic result is really close to the page fold, of course, it’s not paying

I personally believe that a lot of these changes are aimed to increase the CTR on the first 3 ads on google’s search results pages. What do you think?

Double disclaimer: if you have read this post up to here you may have guessed that I’m not so good in english, so report any error on the comments. More important, I’m not a interaction designer nor hci expert or wathever, these are only thought of a web programmer but I would like to know the opinion of the experts.

Software

1. xmonad (0.8) - the window manager
2. xmobar (0.9) - a status bar also in haskell
3. trayer (1.0) - small app for a systray
4. feh (1.3.4) -to set the background image
5. gdm, kmix, network-manager, …

How to install stuff

You’ll find more or less all the software needed on the repositories of the distribution of your choice (if you use ubuntu, like me, this should install the window manager apt-get install xmonad libghc6-xmonad-contrib-dev libghc6-xmonad-dev dwm-tools).

Configuration

Following the config files of the various softwares:

xmonad - ~/.xmonad/xmonad.hs

import XMonad
import XMonad.Hooks.DynamicLog
import XMonad.Hooks.ManageDocks
import XMonad.Util.Run(spawnPipe)
import XMonad.Util.EZConfig(additionalKeys)
import System.IO

myManageHook = composeAll
    [ className =? "Gimp"      --> doFloat
    , className =? "Vncviewer" --> doFloat
    ]

main = do
    xmproc <- spawnPipe "xmobar"
    xmonad $ defaultConfig
        { manageHook = manageDocks <+> myManageHook -- make sure to include myManageHook definition from above
                        <+> manageHook defaultConfig
        , layoutHook = avoidStruts  $  layoutHook defaultConfig
        , logHook = dynamicLogWithPP $ xmobarPP
                        { ppOutput = hPutStrLn xmproc
                        , ppTitle = xmobarColor "green" "" . shorten 50
                        }
        , modMask = mod4Mask     -- Rebind Mod to the Windows key
        } `additionalKeys`
        [ ((controlMask, xK_Print), spawn "sleep 0.2; scrot -s")
        , ((0, xK_Print), spawn "scrot")
        ]

xmobar - ~/.xmobarrc

Config { font = "-misc-fixed-*-*-*-*-13-*-*-*-*-*-*-*"
       , bgColor = "black"
       , fgColor = "grey"
       , position = TopW L 85
       , commands = [ Run Network "wlan0" ["-L","0","-H","32","--normal","green","--high","red"] 10
                    , Run Cpu ["-L","15","-H","50","--normal","green","--high","red"] 10
                    , Run Memory ["-t","Mem: %"] 10
                    , Run Swap [] 10
                    , Run Date "%a %b %_d %Y %H:%M:%S" "date" 10
                    , Run StdinReader
                    ]
       , sepChar = "%"
       , alignSep = "}{"
       , template = "%StdinReader% }{ %cpu% | %memory% * %swap% | %wlan0% | %date%"
       }

gdm - /usr/share/xsessions/xmonad.desktop

[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Name=XMonad
Comment=Leightweight tiling window manager
Exec=xmonad.start
Icon=xmonad.png
Type=XSession

xmonad.start is a custom script.

xmonad.start - /usr/local/bin/xmonad.start

#!/bin/bash

xrdb -merge .Xresources

trayer --edge top --align right --SetDockType true --SetPartialStrut true --expand true --width 15 --height 12 --transparent true --tint 0x000000 &

gnome-screensaver

gnome-settings-daemon

if [ -x /usr/bin/gnome-power-manager ] ; then
   sleep 1
   gnome-power-manager
fi

if [ -x /usr/bin/nm-applet ] ; then
   nm-applet --sm-disable &
fi

kmix --keepvisibility

#feh --bg-scale /mnt/archivio/foto/2008-2009-dublino/2009-04-10-stefano/hapenny-desktop.jpg &

exec xmonad

Notes:

• using gnome-settings-daemon (i.e. for multimedia keys) the use of feh for setting the background image is unnecessary.

Screenshots

A screenshot of the desktop without applications (only xmonad and trayer), the background image is the Ha’Penny Bridge, Dublin, by Steve:

now with some apps:

“The font produced uses up to 20% less ink” - they say. You can download it for free here http://www.ecofont.eu/downloads_en.html, instructions on how to install under Linux can be found at this page http://www.ecofont.eu/linux_en.html (little tip: if you are on Ubuntu and don’t have ttmkfdir just sudo apt-get install ttmkfdir on a terminal).

Since I wasn’t able to find a translation into Italian, I made one by myself starting from a previous version (I can’t remember where I found that translation, if you recognize it as yours drop a message and I will give credit).

Here you can download the file:

Pligg 9.9.5 Italian Translation

Finding the design of the book interesting I used it as an inspiration for this wordpress theme.

The theme has been selected by Wordpress authors and now you can grab it from the official wordpress themes directory: http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/the-fundamentals-of-graphic-design

The theme features:

• a widgetized bottom sidebar;
• excerpts exposed before the post content;
• hierachical categories;
• customizable colors and blog position.

For support please use the official wordpress forum at http://wordpress.org/tags/ the-fundamentals-of-graphic-design ?forum_id=10#postform

dbname:/u01/app/oracle/product/10.2.0/db_1:N

to something like

dbname:/u01/app/oracle/product/10.2.0/db_1:Y

Copy&paste the boot script code that follows into /etc/init.d/dbora (the file dbora doesn’t exists, so create it) and modify the bold values to reflect your installation:

#!/bin/sh
# description: Oracle auto start-stop script.
#
# Set ORA_HOME to be equivalent to the $ORACLE_HOME
# from which you wish to execute dbstart and dbshut;
#
# Set ORA_OWNER to the user id of the owner of the
# Oracle database in ORA_HOME.

ORACLE_HOME=/u01/app/oracle/product/10.2.0/db_1
PATH=$PATH:$ORACLE_HOME/bin
export ORACLE_HOME PATH

ORA_HOME=/u01/app/oracle/product/10.2.0/db_1
ORA_OWNER=oracle

if [ ! -f $ORA_HOME/bin/dbstart ]
then
    echo "Oracle startup: cannot start"
    exit
fi

case "$1" in
    'start')
        # Start the Oracle databases:
        # The following command assumes that the oracle login
        # will not prompt the user for any values
        su $ORA_OWNER -c "$ORA_HOME/bin/dbstart $ORA_HOME"
        ;;
    'stop')
        # Stop the Oracle databases:
        # The following command assumes that the oracle login
        # will not prompt the user for any values
        su $ORA_OWNER -c "$ORA_HOME/bin/dbshut $ORA_HOME"
        ;;
esac

Assign proper script privileges:

chmod 750 /etc/init.d/dbora

Create the symbolic links related to boot runlevels [since I'm a long-time-Slackware-user and pretty new to Ubuntu, I'm not well versed about Ubuntu boot system so feel free to correct me (the comments are at the end of the post)]:

ln -s /etc/init.d/dbora /etc/rc0.d/k01dbora
ln -s /etc/init.d/dbora /etc/rc1.d/k01dbora
ln -s /etc/init.d/dbora /etc/rc2.d/S99dbora
ln -s /etc/init.d/dbora /etc/rc3.d/S99dbora
ln -s /etc/init.d/dbora /etc/rc4.d/S99dbora

at the end you should have something like this:

lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root   17 2008-07-16 14:16 /etc/rc0.d/k01dbora -> /etc/init.d/dbora
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root   17 2008-07-16 14:16 /etc/rc1.d/k01dbora -> /etc/init.d/dbora
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root   17 2008-07-16 14:16 /etc/rc2.d/S99dbora -> /etc/init.d/dbora
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root   17 2008-07-16 14:16 /etc/rc3.d/S99dbora -> /etc/init.d/dbora
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root   17 2008-07-16 14:16 /etc/rc4.d/S99dbora -> /etc/init.d/dbora

Release 2 bug: inside /u01/app/oracle/product/10.2.0/db_1/bin/dbstart there is a bug that will prevent the listener to start (Failed to auto-start Oracle Net Listener using /ade/vikrkuma_new/oracle/bin/tnslsnr); to solve change line 78 from

ORACLE_HOME_LISTNER=/ade/vikrkuma_new/oracle/bin/tnslsnr

to

ORACLE_HOME_LISTNER=$ORACLE_HOME

(in this article a modified version of the script at http://www.oracle-base.com/articles/linux/ AutomatingDatabaseStartupAndShutdownOnLinux.php)

Here is a simple howto on how to have an auto incremented numeric column value on Oracle Database using a sequence and a trigger (if you find some errors please use the comments):

Tested on: Oracle Database 10g Enterprise Edition

Precondition: a numeric type (INTEGER is ok) column in a table (in this example the schema is PROVA01 and the table is UTENTI with ID as column).

1. Log in Oracle Enterprise Manager (probably http://servername:1158/em/) as user with proper privileges (SYS as SYSDBA will work);
2. Go to “Administration”;
3. Under “Schemas > Database Objects” open “Sequence”;
4. Select proper schema (in this how to is PROVA01, the table is UTENTI and the field is ID);
5. Create a new sequence by filling:
   1. Name: choose a name, something like UTENTI_ID_SEQ should be fine;
   2. Schema: select PROVA01;
   3. Max value: no limit;
   4. Min value: enter value 1;
   5. Increment: 1;
   6. Start: 1;
   7. De-select “Use Cache”
   8. When done click “OK” button (the screenshot is in italian)
      
6. Return back to administration page and go to “Programs > Triggers” and create a new trigger:
   1. Name: TRIGGER_SEQ_UTENTI is a good choice;
   2. Schema: PROVA01;
   3. Select “Replace if exists”
   4. Trigger body (in bold values you may change):

      BEGIN
      SELECT UTENTI_ID_SEQ.NEXTVAL
      INTO   :NEW.ID
      FROM   DUAL;
      END UTENTE_SEQ_TRIGGER;

   5. Go to “Event” tab and configure the trigger:
      1. “Execute the trigger” on Table;
      2. Table: in this case PROVA01.UTENTI;
      3. Start trigger: before;
      4. Event: INSERT;
   6. Go to “Advanced” and select “FOR EACH ROW”;
7. Save the trigger and, if any, check out the errors.

Test the sequence and trigger by inserting a new table row, the ID value will be auto-inserted (and incremented).

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This script simply loads the MeSH terms (the value of “/DescriptorRecordSet > DescriptorRecord > DescriptorName > String” XML tag) that can be found in the MeSH XML formatted version of the vocabulay (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/filelist.html) into a MySQL relational database.

Download the script or read it:

/**
 * @author Arjuna Del Toso
 * @url http://arjuna.deltoso.net/
 * 
 * @FAQ: what the hell is this?

 * A simple, very simple, program to load the MESH Terms to a MySQL database
 * 
 * @USAGE
 * 1-configure some stuff in the code ("//: CHANGE A VALUE HERE" string is a placeholder for what to change);
 * 2-install the required packages (jdbc connector [http://www.mysql.com/products/connector/j/] and dom4j [http://www.dom4j.org/]);
 * 3-compile it ($javac mesh2database.java);

 * 4-put the MESH Descriptor XML file and the MESH Descriptor DTD file in the current directory;
 * 5-run the program ($java mesh2database) and wait;
 * 6-enjoy the 20.000+ records inserted in your database.
 * 
 */

// Some imports in order to run this program; you need

// the jdbc driver for connecting to MySQL database
// and the dom4j package for XML manipulation
import java.io.File;
import org.dom4j.Document;
import org.dom4j.DocumentException;

import org.dom4j.Element;
import org.dom4j.ElementHandler;
import org.dom4j.ElementPath;
import org.dom4j.io.SAXReader;

import java.sql.*;

// a very fanciful name
public class mesh2database {

	// all work done here
	public static void main(String[] args) throws SQLException {

		// load the jdbc driver

		try {
			Class.forName("com.mysql.jdbc.Driver").newInstance();
		} catch (InstantiationException e1) {
		} catch (IllegalAccessException e1) {
		} catch (ClassNotFoundException e1) {}

		// the connection to mysql db

//: CHANGE A VALUE HERE
//: set your database values
		final Connection con = DriverManager.getConnection("jdbc:mysql://localhost/table", "user", "password");
		// a preparedStatement in the hope to improve speed

//: CHANGE A VALUE HERE
//: configure to match your database schema
		final PreparedStatement s = con.prepareStatement("INSERT IGNORE INTO `table`.`mesh` (`id` , `mesh` ) VALUES (NULL , ?)");

		// the MESH Descriptors XML file,
		// can be found at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/

//: CHANGE A VALUE HERE
//: insert the path to your mesh file
		File file = new File("desc2007");

		// enable pruning mode to call me back as each node is complete

		SAXReader reader = new SAXReader(false);

		reader.addHandler( "/DescriptorRecordSet/DescriptorRecord/DescriptorName/String",
				new ElementHandler() {
			public void onStart(ElementPath path) {}
			public void onEnd(ElementPath path) {
				// process a single element

				Element meshDescriptorValue = path.getCurrent();
				Element descname = meshDescriptorValue.getParent();
				Element descrecord = descname.getParent();

				// remove .toLowerCase() if you are Case Sensitive  

				String meshHeading = meshDescriptorValue.getText().toLowerCase();

				// i just don't want something like
				// "DNA Degradation, Apoptotic"
				// as single record in my database
				if(!meshHeading.contains(",")){

					// simple debug code (outputs the MESH DESCRIPTORS) 

					System.out.println(meshHeading);

					// the database INSERTs executed here
					try {
						// insert current value in the preparedStatement
						s.setString(1, meshHeading);
						// execute the statement

						s.executeUpdate();
					} catch (SQLException e1) {}
				}
				// prune the tree
				descrecord.detach();
			}
		}
		);

		// just reading the file will do all the work
		try {
			Document document = reader.read(file);
		} catch (DocumentException e) {}

		// closing statement and connection

		s.close();
		con.close();
	}

}

In order to run this script you need the Java compiler, the MeSH XML file, a MySQL installation and two java libraries: MySQL Connector/J and dom4j.