tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35032725Mon, 28 Nov 2011 00:15:44 +0000web analyticsPortlandTools and Toys2008 presidential electionwificollaborationfreemaponline pollsprivacylarge file transfernetworkingsoftware developmentonlinePolitics and Societybookmarking serviceOSCONSEOcompany informationIT Issueshighly recommended programs and servicessearchfunmashupUsing Your PCmethodologiesYahooonline surveysgoogleweb designmusic downloadsmethodologies HTML webThoughts on a diverse range of areas (though at this point it's highly focused on software and the Internet).http://bwinett.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (Bill)Blogger53125blogspot/yaxrhttp://feedburner.google.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35032725.post-4703349456273928531Sun, 20 Mar 2011 05:50:00 +00002011-03-20T00:02:38.001-07:00web designSEOI've listened to many SEO gurus' presentations on SEO over the years. There's always a lot of discussion about keywords, meta tags, url's, page titles, headings, javascript, etc. And usually the presenter mentions that Google puts more weight on the links to your pages (and the "quality" of the referring site) than on the factors you can control on your site. But after that short statement, http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/yaxr/~3/OeeWUIG45sQ/elephant-in-seo-room.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Bill)2<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/yaxr/~4/OeeWUIG45sQ" height="1" width="1"/>http://bwinett.blogspot.com/2011/03/elephant-in-seo-room.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35032725.post-6965785372571821774Mon, 03 May 2010 05:36:00 +00002010-05-02T22:49:41.644-07:00web designfunLately I've received several requests for web site changes that don't make sense, either for our web site visitors or for us. The latest request reminded me of a comic I read a long time ago. It was a great comic, so I spent some time searching for it. I'm sure I'll want to reference it some day, so this post is to make sure I can easily find it again. And you may get a kick out of it.http://http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/yaxr/~3/EpkhG6HkY2w/how-web-design-goes-straight-to-hell.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Bill)0<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/yaxr/~4/EpkhG6HkY2w" height="1" width="1"/>http://bwinett.blogspot.com/2010/05/how-web-design-goes-straight-to-hell.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35032725.post-8457218398421397384Fri, 26 Mar 2010 18:32:00 +00002010-03-26T21:37:06.181-07:00I found a helpful trick in Microsoft's Excel help for converting text to numbers in a range of cells. Thought I'd pass it along.Enter any number in a cell.Copy it (Ctl-C).Select the range that you want converted to numbers.Select the menu options Edit, Paste Special.Select "multiply" on the pop-up form.The range you selected should now contain numbers, not text.It's in Microsoft's help, but who http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/yaxr/~3/_pgWoYq1iQw/converting-text-to-numbers-in-excel.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Bill)0<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/yaxr/~4/_pgWoYq1iQw" height="1" width="1"/>http://bwinett.blogspot.com/2010/03/converting-text-to-numbers-in-excel.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35032725.post-567548256908497128Tue, 22 Dec 2009 02:45:00 +00002010-03-23T09:39:26.214-07:00There are custom blocks on a site I manage that contain simple English text. We just started a push to add Spanish to the site. So I researched how to make blocks multilingual. The documentation I found mentioned 2 ways to do this: 1) use Drupal's string translation to translate whole blocks into different languages, or 2) create separate blocks for each language and enable them only for the http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/yaxr/~3/soYGXrktgL4/drupal-better-way-to-translate-blocks.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Bill)0<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/yaxr/~4/soYGXrktgL4" height="1" width="1"/>http://bwinett.blogspot.com/2009/12/drupal-better-way-to-translate-blocks.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35032725.post-8283432701065255282Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:23:00 +00002009-11-11T16:24:11.410-08:00IT Issuessoftware developmentmethodologiesBackground: corporate I.T. talks about wanting to become agile. It has already stopped using the traditional waterfall methodology (requirements, design, development, test, implementation...). High-level requirements are documented. Some development groups document use cases, others document screen shots, data flows...; often the developers simply meet with and email back and forth with customershttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/yaxr/~3/4h_ESTFwndU/can-this-be-called-agile.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Bill)1<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/yaxr/~4/4h_ESTFwndU" height="1" width="1"/>http://bwinett.blogspot.com/2009/11/can-this-be-called-agile.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35032725.post-5587410196499798083Sat, 14 Mar 2009 20:37:00 +00002009-03-15T22:42:01.307-07:00methodologies HTML webYou may already know that I'm impressed by AirSet. I'm using it to publish the web site of Willowbrook Arts Camp, a non-profit daycamp on which I am a board member.Although I am impressed by the service - and I will continue to use it - there are some frustrations. The one I want to discuss in this blog entry is editing the HTML in AirSet pages.AirSet has a WYSIWYG page editor, and most people http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/yaxr/~3/m_csUqBRnAA/beautifying-html.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Bill)0<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/yaxr/~4/m_csUqBRnAA" height="1" width="1"/>http://bwinett.blogspot.com/2009/03/beautifying-html.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35032725.post-697832800391017168Sat, 07 Mar 2009 23:42:00 +00002009-03-12T23:17:05.503-07:00IT IssuescollaborationThere's a lot of buzz about SharePoint in the corporate world. It seems to have come out of nowhere, but I believe SharePoint has hit its stride because it provides a safe answer for IT management when asked about their strategy for web 2.0 in the enterprise. It's a clear continuation of the IT management thought process that's been around since the '70's - what started with the statement: "you http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/yaxr/~3/TGZEJ0jlhOI/sharepoint-for-internal-collaboration.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Bill)2<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/yaxr/~4/TGZEJ0jlhOI" height="1" width="1"/>http://bwinett.blogspot.com/2009/03/sharepoint-for-internal-collaboration.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35032725.post-7618397343211476946Tue, 17 Feb 2009 19:05:00 +00002009-02-17T11:05:23.426-08:00networkingIt continues to amaze me - since December, a steady flow of my friends from grade school, high school, and college have been joining Facebook. But before December it was very quiet. I wonder what happened suddenly to make this happen?In any case, the fact is that, at least with my relatively small, skewed sample population, Facebook is exploding. And this jibes with compete.com's most recent http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/yaxr/~3/WlDvrh2zCf0/2009-is-year-of-facebook.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Bill)2<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/yaxr/~4/WlDvrh2zCf0" height="1" width="1"/>http://bwinett.blogspot.com/2009/02/2009-is-year-of-facebook.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35032725.post-2226889439188506263Sun, 15 Feb 2009 07:06:00 +00002009-02-14T23:28:32.283-08:00Tools and ToysI went to nbc.com to watch a tv episode. One of the options is to download a software application, NBC Direct, that you then use to download episodes and watch them when you want.Well, I downloaded the software and then started reading the license agreement. Here are some key clauses:First, their definition of "content":[The service] manages and delivers video, music, audiovisual and other http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/yaxr/~3/vNyP61347yc/nbc-direct-i-dont-think-so.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Bill)0<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/yaxr/~4/vNyP61347yc" height="1" width="1"/>http://bwinett.blogspot.com/2009/02/nbc-direct-i-dont-think-so.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35032725.post-8987771052877119420Sat, 24 Jan 2009 17:42:00 +00002009-01-24T10:03:25.599-08:002008 presidential electionJennifer Altman's Businessweek slideshowCNN interactive synthesis of hundreds of photos (using Microsoft Photosynth)GeoEye's satelite picture (note: FireFox fits the picture on your web page - click to zoom in)http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/yaxr/~3/msZI44z1YCM/great-pictures-of-inauguration.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Bill)0<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/yaxr/~4/msZI44z1YCM" height="1" width="1"/>http://bwinett.blogspot.com/2009/01/great-pictures-of-inauguration.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35032725.post-6133597654346905932Wed, 07 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +00002009-01-06T16:13:51.927-08:00web analyticsmapfreeTools and ToysI periodically review web sites. And when I do, I like to be able to see graphical illustrations of their structures. In the past I've created these using aharef. The graphs this site creates are helpful, but there's no interactivity - you can't point to a node and find out what page on the website it represents, you can't click on a node to be taken to the page, etc.Well, I've just found a http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/yaxr/~3/QWf4qSi8F5k/webtracer2-for-website-structure.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Bill)0<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/yaxr/~4/QWf4qSi8F5k" height="1" width="1"/>http://bwinett.blogspot.com/2009/01/webtracer2-for-website-structure.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35032725.post-1925746640105398799Thu, 06 Nov 2008 05:36:00 +00002008-11-05T21:48:42.692-08:00highly recommended programs and servicesSyncplicity is a great service. They provide hosted disk space, access via the web, and a Windows program that automatically synchronizes the versions of the files you select on your computer with the files stored on their servers. In fact, if you have 2 computers (for example one at home and one at work), Syncplicity can synchronize your files between all three places. But wait - there's morehttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/yaxr/~3/FlC_R_b2O3c/syncplicity-leaving-beta.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Bill)0<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/yaxr/~4/FlC_R_b2O3c" height="1" width="1"/>http://bwinett.blogspot.com/2008/11/syncplicity-leaving-beta.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35032725.post-586195419729084082Sat, 18 Oct 2008 05:32:00 +00002008-10-17T22:33:06.383-07:00web analytics[ The article below was originally published on WebMonkey in 1998, but Lycos has moved WebMonkey to a wiki and hasn't moved all of the old articles ;^Note that it assumes that web content is made up of static pages. This is becoming less and less the case as interactivity and personalization is enabled. Industry players, such as the Internet Advertising Bureau, are now focusing on metrics for http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/yaxr/~3/X77yxZDgsY8/troubles-with-tracking.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Bill)0<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/yaxr/~4/X77yxZDgsY8" height="1" width="1"/>http://bwinett.blogspot.com/2008/10/troubles-with-tracking.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35032725.post-3311150207954737139Fri, 10 Oct 2008 06:43:00 +00002008-10-09T23:46:53.352-07:00web analytics[The article below was originally published on WebMonkey in 1998, but Lycos has moved WebMonkey to a wiki and hasn't moved all of the old articles ;^(Note that it assumes that web content is made up of static pages. This is becoming less and less the case as interactivity and personalization is enabled. Industry players, such as the Internet Advertising Bureau, are now focusing on metrics for http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/yaxr/~3/6hjQ2sDd_aA/long-distance-data-tracking-ie.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Bill)0<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/yaxr/~4/6hjQ2sDd_aA" height="1" width="1"/>http://bwinett.blogspot.com/2008/10/long-distance-data-tracking-ie.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35032725.post-4254872573957842246Fri, 03 Oct 2008 02:00:00 +00002008-10-03T22:29:37.886-07:00web analytics[The article below was originally published on WebMonkey in 1998, but Lycos has moved WebMonkey to a wiki and hasn't moved all of the old articles ;^(Note that it assumes that web content is made up of static pages. This is becoming less and less the case as interactivity and personalization is enabled. Industry players, such as the Internet Advertising Bureau, are now focusing on metrics for http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/yaxr/~3/VquYgi3z1dQ/tracking-your-web-visitors.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Bill)0<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/yaxr/~4/VquYgi3z1dQ" height="1" width="1"/>http://bwinett.blogspot.com/2008/10/tracking-your-web-visitors.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35032725.post-6079609539549810253Thu, 02 Oct 2008 06:04:00 +00002008-10-01T23:41:24.922-07:00Using Your PCprivacy[I first published this article several years ago. I have updated it with current information]Several years ago I wrote a set of articles for WebMonkey discussing the information a web site can gather about visitors; how to gather, store, and use that information; and limitations of the gathered information. Those articles were geared toward web site owners who wanted to know how their web siteshttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/yaxr/~3/1zXU0tc31e4/online-privacy-what-do-they-know-about.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Bill)0<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/yaxr/~4/1zXU0tc31e4" height="1" width="1"/>http://bwinett.blogspot.com/2008/10/online-privacy-what-do-they-know-about.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35032725.post-9209229834570894369Sat, 27 Sep 2008 05:59:00 +00002008-09-26T23:06:59.466-07:00IT IssuesYesterday I attended the InformationWeek500 Virtual Event. In one presentation, Rob Preston, Editor-in-Chief, discussed survey findings regarding the status of CIO's in their organizations. Predictably, the survey reveals that IT is seen as a cost center rather than a provider of strategic capabilities, and CIO's are regarded less as equal members of the executive team than as managers of utilityhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/yaxr/~3/7YZevCKSoFo/it-and-organizational-strategy.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Bill)0<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/yaxr/~4/7YZevCKSoFo" height="1" width="1"/>http://bwinett.blogspot.com/2008/09/it-and-organizational-strategy.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35032725.post-1553880775046243705Tue, 26 Aug 2008 05:23:00 +00002008-08-25T22:36:04.936-07:00highly recommended programs and servicesUsing Your PCfreeTools and ToysThe University of Washington has published free, open source software you use to track the location of your laptop. It periodically communicates its location (ip address) to a distributed set of servers (OpenDHT). With a Mac OS X laptop, you can also have it periodically capture and send pictures to those servers.When you install the program, you will be provided with a complex, unique http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/yaxr/~3/-PNXBE51L3I/tracking-location-of-your-laptop.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Bill)0<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/yaxr/~4/-PNXBE51L3I" height="1" width="1"/>http://bwinett.blogspot.com/2008/08/tracking-location-of-your-laptop.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35032725.post-6316379164711874006Tue, 29 Jul 2008 04:19:00 +00002008-07-28T21:28:56.405-07:00company informationIt's not often that you hear of a corporation going out of its way to be a good citizen, so I figure when I see one that does, I should publicize it. Office Depot just sent me a rebate check - but not one they owed me. They paid me the rebate I was owed from the manufacturer. Granted I bought the product at Office Depot, but they could easily have just hoped that I'd forget about it. Instead theyhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/yaxr/~3/YOaICNxmZkA/office-depot-good-deed.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Bill)0<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/yaxr/~4/YOaICNxmZkA" height="1" width="1"/>http://bwinett.blogspot.com/2008/07/office-depot-good-deed.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35032725.post-6982486379533187965Mon, 28 Jul 2008 04:36:00 +00002008-08-25T22:38:48.764-07:00highly recommended programs and servicesThere are a lot of interesting and compelling programs and services - more than any single person can keep up with. But out of this multitude, there are a limited number that I think everyone should seriously think about using. This is a table of contents to a list of articles about the software programs and services that I highly recommend.Automatic backup of important filesTracking the locationhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/yaxr/~3/D-1GjOtJcl0/highly-recommended-programs-and.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Bill)0<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/yaxr/~4/D-1GjOtJcl0" height="1" width="1"/>http://bwinett.blogspot.com/2008/07/highly-recommended-programs-and.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35032725.post-4060922870032140430Mon, 28 Jul 2008 03:44:00 +00002008-07-27T21:36:05.073-07:00highly recommended programs and servicesFor a while I've been wanting to write a set of articles discussing the programs and services for Windows users that I most highly recommend. There are a lot of interesting and compelling programs and services - more than any single person can keep up with. But out of this multitude, there are a limited number that I think everyone should seriously think about using. So I'm finally getting http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/yaxr/~3/0MYWhNyObUI/keeping-online-backups-with-syncplicity.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Bill)0<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/yaxr/~4/0MYWhNyObUI" height="1" width="1"/>http://bwinett.blogspot.com/2008/07/keeping-online-backups-with-syncplicity.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35032725.post-6023848301646834889Thu, 24 Jul 2008 04:45:00 +00002008-07-23T23:05:57.315-07:00web analyticsOSCONYahooPortlandmashupI've been going to these for several years now, and it's great to see that each conference is better than the last - the sessions are more interesting, and the expo hall has more - and more interesting - vendors.Evan Henshaw-Plath and Kellan Elliott-McCrea gave a very thought-provoking - and entertaining - presentation offering a way to provide subscription updates when RSS becomes untenable. http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/yaxr/~3/M8FXH212I4Q/oscon-2008.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Bill)0<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/yaxr/~4/M8FXH212I4Q" height="1" width="1"/>http://bwinett.blogspot.com/2008/07/oscon-2008.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35032725.post-7280194574460758090Thu, 17 Jul 2008 05:53:00 +00002008-07-16T23:22:44.265-07:00PortlandnetworkingWent to Lunch 2.0 at Souk in downtown Portland today. As usual, met interesting people:Jim Helms, the blogger behind Today's Best Tools. A medic/soldier turned blogger.Lea, blogger behind A.R. and Proud and Camp Naughty, and half of team that published the widget treasurelicious. Blogged about a greater variety of subjects until a posting about Oprah's use of the word "vajayjay" resulted in a http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/yaxr/~3/QYMLcHZoWIY/lunch-20-at-souk-today.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Bill)0<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/yaxr/~4/QYMLcHZoWIY" height="1" width="1"/>http://bwinett.blogspot.com/2008/07/lunch-20-at-souk-today.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35032725.post-5584480131941653078Mon, 16 Jun 2008 04:20:00 +00002008-06-15T21:57:22.616-07:00IT IssuesI've noticed this conversation coming up more frequently lately - business customers and even IT managers stating their desire to have IT development groups schedule software releases every so many months. They state this as a preference over what I call "implementation as completed" (similar to agile's short development cycles, but more flexible). Note that I am talking about development and http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/yaxr/~3/eev1fNZJZdc/agile-implementation-versus-releases.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Bill)0<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/yaxr/~4/eev1fNZJZdc" height="1" width="1"/>http://bwinett.blogspot.com/2008/06/agile-implementation-versus-releases.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35032725.post-3958104769417374512Tue, 27 May 2008 19:16:00 +00002008-06-12T08:16:46.396-07:00Using Your PCThis may not be sexy, but I find it very helpful, and it seems few people know about it.You can freeze rows and/or columns in Excel. This is great for keeping column headings and/or the first few columns of data on the screen as you scroll through the data.To do this, move to the cell just below the last row you want to remain on the screen and just to the right of the last column you want to http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/yaxr/~3/AkckB_JMY18/freeze-rows-andor-columns-in-excel.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Bill)0<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/yaxr/~4/AkckB_JMY18" height="1" width="1"/>http://bwinett.blogspot.com/2008/05/freeze-rows-andor-columns-in-excel.html