bookmark_borderTransference

A while back (a long while back) when I first discovered tabbed browsing, I moaned that it was affecting the way I used my PC. I have my tabs setup to close when I click on the scroll wheel of my mouse, unfortunately you can’t do the same for applications displayed in Windows taskbar.

Anyway I’ve just noticed another ‘mode of operation’ that I’ve adopted from Firefox into my general PC usage. When I’m using Firefox I usually have at least three or four tabs open at any one time. If I spot something interesting that I don’t have time to look at I’ll open a new tab for it and leave it there until I’m done with it.

This evening I’ve a few little things needing done: a couple of sites to add to Scottish Blogs, the confirmation of the Blogmeet venue to email, some photos to put onto CD, some books to look up on Amazon, and some updated addresses to be added to my contacts.

So I currently have: my HTML editor open (Homesite), two emails containing details of sites to be added to Scottish Blogs, a blank email, a list of confirmed people for the Blogmeet, Picasa (for the photos), a web browser with Amazon loaded, and my contact list. Ohh and iTunes. Of course.

Same process. So I don’t forget to do anything, I just open the application I WILL need and leave it open until I complete the task. Not sure how long I’ve been doing this for but I think it’s.. er.. interesting… in a psychological kinda way… maybe…

Anyway, what was I doing? Ohh yes, surfing for… er… pictures.

bookmark_borderGladly? Why!

I mentioned a while back that I’d been invited to become a moderator on the Haloscan forum. I’m pretty comfortable with HTML, CSS, Javascript and the way the commenting system works, so I thought it would be a good chance to ‘give back’.

But I forgot that people are morons. No not everyone, and I guess, really, they aren’t morons … let me start over.

I’m not a patient kind of guy. In my line of work the only person I really need to explain things to is me or my team. Now as I hired everyone in my team (yeah yeah it’s a team of one at the moment, but it did get all the way up to 5 at one point!) I know that I can expect a certain level of knowledge and go from there.

I should also remember that back in 1997 I was the one asking silly questions in the ADV-HTML mailing list.

I also realise that there is no such thing as a stupid question, that everyone’s knowledge levels are different etc etc etc this is all stuff I think about during my working day (will x know this or do I need to explain it?)

Moderating a forum is pretty straightforward really. Trouble is I’d forgotten that people are morons. Ohh I wasn’t going to say that was I… OK SOME people are just downright lazy. The instant they get a little problem – off to the forums they go, posting merrily. Now the Haloscan FAQ could be better (and yes I’m compiling one at the moment) but the forum has a SEARCH option… how difficult is it?? Obviously too difficult for some.

But of course this is human nature, again something I study for professional purposes. Everyone is the same. If you have a problem with something what do you do? You ask someone for help. You don’t consult the documentation, you don’t check and see if someone has asked a similar question before. There are a myriad of reasons why people don’t use documentation as often as they should, the main one being that in their experience it’s badly written (incomplete, inaccurate or not context-sensitive enough).

However this lack of using a search function is a new one for me. Maybe it is the case the some people are just so new to the whole thing (a lot of people in the forum have ‘just setup their blog and can’t get x to work’), but even then it’s slightly galling that they can’t even be bothered to search the forum first to see if anyone has had a similar problem (and considering 75% of posts I reply to are “I can’t get the code to work” and are a result of people not following the TWO STEPS it takes…. no no, must stay calm…).

Suffer fools gladly.

Why!

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Where did that phrase come from anyway? Ohh the bible you say?

Related:

“Who, in the history of the world, ever did suffer fools gladly? Well, Shakespeare did, obviously. Since he gave them so many roles, he must have liked having them around. Others, less great, may enjoy fools as part of the human comedy, perhaps bearing in mind that all of us are fools sometimes, some of us fools often. In fact, I live in hope of reading someday an obituary that says: “He was wise and talented, greatly accomplished, and much admired, above all for his ability to suffer fools gladly.” “

bookmark_borderCoding myself

“I’ve recently rebuilt my PC, whilst doing so I took some extra time to clear out duplicate and old files and I came across the archives for this site, well what passes for archives at any rate as I’m not the most forward thinking or organised person.

Looking at those early attempts at HTML (via an angelfire home page.. then Xoom.. before my first ‘own’ page via LineOne) and how much I’ve learned since, made me realise that my ‘web tinkerings’ are actually a very good indication of my growth as a person.”

Read on…

bookmark_borderDesigned

I’ve recently rebuilt my PC, whilst doing so I took some extra time to clear out duplicate and old files and I came across the archives for this site, well what passes for archives at any rate as I’m not the most forward thinking or organised person.

Looking at those early attempts at HTML (via an angelfire home page.. then Xoom.. before my first ‘own’ page via LineOne) and how much I’ve learned since, made me realise that my ‘web tinkerings’ are actually a very good indication of my growth as a person.

I created my first website in late 1995 (I still have the certificate from the course I went on) for the company I was working for, it was cutting edge. It had frames, javascript mouseovers and coloured text; it was designed on a PC running Windows 95 BETA. It was a hodge-podge of borrowed ideas and hacked code but it did the job. At the same time I started creating my own pages, mainly just links of sites I admired, with a little blurb about me included. The design changed frequently as I used the site both as a resource for myself, and as an area to discover and tinker with the ever expanding HTML specification.

This version of my ‘site’ kept that format until 1998, then everything changed. Whilst surfing I started to notice more than just the design of a site, the clever use of tables and images or a nice colour scheme, I started to notice the content far more than I had previously. I had long since passed the point that I needed to think about how a nice design was done (ohhh 7 levels of nested tables with colspan=2, that’s clever) and found it cleared my mind to focus on the content. Move on another year or so and I started to notice how the design and the content were inseparable, Ask Tog, Use It and A List Apart became regular haunts, and CSS crept into view.

Zoom up to 2004 and look back. So much has changed, and in such a short space of time.

I can still remember my first day of my first job, meeting all those new people, being given a seat by the door in a small room at the back of a cottage outhouse. I can remember learning about my job, what a technical author does, what he needs to know, who he needs to know and how vital documentation is to a product. I can dream back to the good days at Dr.Solomon’s and Sage Tetra, and then amaze myself when I figure out I’ve been with my current company for almost 4 and a half years (and 4 changes of company name).

I can remember that first day, nervous, unsure and eager, then becoming comfortable and settled, learning but coping with each new challenge. The shock of being made redundant and job hunting, talking about moving down to the South of England, journeys on the sleeper to attend interviews, and finally starting a new job, a new home, a new chapter in my/our life. I remember the next chapter all too well, redundant again, sliding down into depression, then onto the new job, restarting everything in my life. Then the decision to move back to Scotland, for better or worse? Still to find that one out.

I grown and aged, matured slightly. Superficially nothing much has changed, when I started my first job I had a mortgage and was planning to get married. Almost 10 years later and I still have mortgage and I’m very happily married. But that’s a mis-representation of how I’ve grown. I’ve been through a lot of good and bad, learnt a lot (still learning!) and changed myself. I don’t think that process will ever stop, in fact I know it won’t ever stop as it’s my nature to challenge things, to question ideas, even if I don’t have the knowledge with which to challenge them properly.

Today things are much more confusing. We have CSS layouts, XML feeds, PHP, SQL databases and more to deal with, to learn about. We have their inadequacies and faults, quirks and mistakes to become accustomed to and I’m loving every second of it.

Today things are much more confusing. We have changing principles, challenges to our ethics, work and money worries and more to deal with, to learn about. We have our own inadequacies and faults, quirks and mistakes to become accustomed to and I’m loving every second of it.

I’m re-designing myself.

bookmark_borderGallery software

To appease the Pink one, and fyi, the gallery was created by a fantastic piece of software by the name of Express Thumbnail Creator. It’s an absolute doddle to do, simply shuffle the images you want into a folder (of course making sure they are sized and compressed properly… ahem..) then follow the wizard to get HTML pages, thumbnail graphics, everything! Very configurable, and suits my needs as I prefer to work offline with these things before FTPing them up to the site.

I’ll be tweaking the gallery for the future, and no doubt tweaking the rest of the site too, but then I think I’ve said that before.

BTW – Have you seen any Galactic Toss Monkeys recently?

Audio Blogging
OK, not seen this before, and very smart it is too. (from that clever Allaire man, creator of the bestest HTML editor ever ever ever!

Over to David for an explanation.