Archives for Software
Geolocation; localized content hits home
The online user experience is becoming more localized and we expect to see major growth in the coming years as AT&T, Google, Yelp, Foursquare and others get into the action. We already have geo-targeted ads, segmented content and social search serving content in a more personalized way. But now, we are seeing the emergence of [...]
Web Analytics
Marketers have always used analytics to measure consumer behavior and ROI. However, we now have more insight than ever before thanks to the internet’s ability to offer limitless measurement and analysis opportunity. The web analytics industry which had been fledgling in past years, now takes center stage in today’s global market place. There are several [...]
Great Clients make for Great Campaigns
A friend once told me that behind every great campaign is a great client. Of course, what they meant was that a client who trusts you take their brand in new directions will likely be a collaborator in the creative process. This could not have been truer than in the case of the latest online [...]
What I wish the Apple Tablet Was
Last night, I was secretly hoping this long-rumored Apple device was just a big hoax. Seriously, how funny would that have been if all the rumors were nothing but … rumors? But as Anton and I got to talking about it, we started imagining the purposes a keyboard-less, WiFi-enabled touchscreen might have in our daily [...]
Contrasting iPhone Development Tools
When Apple released the iPhone in 2007, I was very disappointed when Steve Jobs announced that developers would only be able to write web applications that run inside of Safari. Thankfully, Apple shifted course a year later and released the iPhone SDK and things became much more interesting. Developing applications that are targeted for the iPhone [...]
So, You Asked for a CMS
In my position, I get to respond to a bunch of RFP’s. If there’s a marketing/brochure web site involved, you can make a reasonable bet that the RFP includes a content management system (CMS). These solutions are super easy to build and deploy, but organizations are often unaware of the entire bargain. The promise of a [...]
Google Chrome Frame for Internet Explorer
Long story short, Google released a plugin for IE 6, 7 and 8 that will run Google Chrome (which uses webkit) inside a frame in the IE browser. Now IE6 can be standards-compliant, and all versions of IE get blazing fast javascript and HTML 5 support. Sounds great, but there are some problems, as lifehacker [...]
Eliminating Development Traffic from Your Google Analytics Stats
Recently we were asked by a client if traffic from their test site was being posted to a Google Analytics (GA) account. It turns out it is. Not only that, so is any version of the site hosted on their development and test servers, and any developer’s local site. We tested this by placing several pages [...]
IE8 Compatibility Mode and IE7 are Not the Same Thing
Just so we’re clear, testing your website in an actual copy of IE7, and testing in IE8’s Compatibility Mode are not the same thing. Compatibility Mode does an acceptable job of imitating IE7, and for the average user who’s just trying to fix a site that looks broken under IE8, it’s good enough. However, there [...]
How to Do Something You’ve Never Done Before
As a technologist, I’m often asked to do something that I’ve never done before and have no specific competency in performing; tasks which I’m completely unqualified to execute. The more palatable way of saying the same thing is: As a consultant, technical lead, solutions engineer or a business analyst, I’m given challenges that require me to identify [...]
Intelligent Defaults Save Time
Have you ever been a regular at a coffee shop? The barista knows you by name, and every morning when you come by, she’s already got your Triple Non-Fat Sugar-Free Vanilla Latte waiting for you. That’s an intelligent default. She doesn’t know for sure that’s what you want, or even that you’ll come in today, [...]
Free Advice for Adobe Acrobat Programmers
I often find myself making PDFs to send our design work over to clients. Acrobat is a great little program that nearly everyone has, and is rarely blocked by corporate firewalls. It’s generally very easy to use, too. Here’s how I make most PDFs for client presentations. Make comps. This takes some time. Drag files onto Acrobat icon [...]
How to Convert from Community Server 2007 to Wordpress
It’s safe to say that no one at Pop Art was ever really happy with Community Server. We selected it as a platform for a variety of reasons, some of which turned out to be based on faulty assumptions. Once we finally made the decision to switch to Wordpress, the conversion was a huge pain, [...]
Where are all the Mac Developers?
I heard an interesting quote on a recent podcast of RunAsRadio.com, where the guest talking with Richard and Greg said: We’re the second largest Mac development shop in the world behind Apple. We have more Mac developers than anybody except Apple. Who is “we”? Well, Microsoft of course! This seemed counter-intuitive at first, but after you consider everything [...]
JavaScript Injection Attacks
A little over a week ago, I described Cross-Site Request Forgery attacks and how they can damage your site with just a simple website request using any modern browser available today. This time, I’ll describe another type of JavaScript attack that can cause equal harm to your site. Lots of sites, including blogs, accept user input. [...]
Windows Notepad Stinks!
When making quick changes to an existing code file, using Visual Studio is akin to hitting a nail with a sledge hammer. These tasks are best suited for a simple text editor. Like most operating systems, Windows includes a small text editor named Notepad for completing such tasks. The problem with Notepad is that it’s completely [...]
Six Wordpress Tips from the Pop Art Blog Redesign
When we converted the Pop Art Blog to use Wordpress, I learned some clever tricks that I would like to share with you. If you like what we’ve done around here, you might be interested in some of these techniques for your own site.
Why Projects Fail
I listened to a recent podcast (several times in fact) featuring Patrick Hynds on DotNetRocks.com. I thought I would share some real gems I found in there. The following info was culled from that interview. Let’s start with some agonizing realities: About 50% of software development projects fail About 60% of off shore projects fail, but they’re cheap, so people [...]
Cross-Site Request Forgery
In this post I’d like to explain one of the most common ways the bad guys can steal your information on the Internet today. I’ll use the literary technique of schizophrenial-paragraphs to help explain the hacker’s technique.
Golf fans rejoice, your Masters iPhone App is here.
Who says that Golf is out of touch with the younger, tech savy, audience? The folks over at Augusta are really on the ball with serving up interactive coverage from the course, with live video, hole flyovers, leaderboards and more. Best thing about it, its FREE. Features of the Masters iPhone App: Live Leaderboard keeps you up to date, [...]
MLB iPhone App is ready to play ball
Today is my favorite holiday, MLB Opening Day. Being a Detroit native living in Portland, I need a good way to keep up with my Tigers. This is why I’m excited to try out the official iPhone app. MLB.com At Bat 2009, is available for $9.99. It is one of the more pricey apps in [...]
Why Aren’t You Using Fireworks to Compress Images?
I’m sure you’ve all heard the Fireworks vs. Photoshop debate. When I started at Pop Art, I was a Photoshop user. It was the application that we were taught in my graphic design program, and when I found out that the creative team used Fireworks, it took quite awhile for them to convince me that [...]
You Can Build Software Too
A common misconception in software development is that you need a programmer, developer or any other similar name that sounds technical. Sure, we read books on the subject, attend conferences, conduct lectures, and compile our fair share of bits, but the truth is that a good deal of building software doesn’t involve programming. Actually, most [...]
My Windows 7 Experience
Early last month, Microsoft released a public beta of Windows 7, their follow-up to Windows Vista. I decided to take the plunge and give this new version a try… Vista’s launch was plagued by poor device drivers, steep system requirements, and the much maligned User Account Control (UAC). Vendors have since developed Vista compatible [...]
Windows + Space = Backslash
My primary machine, a MacBook Pro running Vista, experienced an ailment the other day: the backslash key broke. So, I was stuck with no pipe character and no backslash. If I needed one, I had to find an existing instance of the character, then copy and paste. Not a good time. Developers like to use [...]
