**Warning** The following could be considered a “Rant” and has little to no academic value!

Proceed at your own intellectual risk!!

According to the guardian.co.uk, Victoria Beckham, better known to some as “Posh” of the Spice Girls,  told the press that she has “never read a book”. Now I am not in the habit of writing stories about ignorant celebrities but it struck me that this moronic statement was akin to the statement that I hear from people quite often.  I sometimes get it when I am in a social situation or maybe getting coffee at the local shop. Someone will introduce me and mention what I do. Someone will say, ” Computers? I don’t use computers. Waste of time. I don’t even know how to send an email” Then they will spit tobacco on the floor. and grin (ok, I made the last part up). Bragging that you don’t know anything about technology in this day and age is, in my opinion that same as saying you have never read a book. It’s not surprising that ignorance and arrogance oft times travel hand in hand, but that doesn’t make it any less frustrating.

I know that people are busy, and it takes work to learn new things. I’m no spring chicken, and I have to learn new things every day, but if you are going to interact with the humans of the 21st century (that is the century we are currently living in) then you are going to have to take some responsibility for acquiring a few tech skills.

It has never been easier, in my opinion, to learn new skills. There are thousands of videos on YouTube that will teach you how to do almost anything. I learned how to fix my washing machine from watching a YouTube video. A simple Google search in plain language will turn up hundreds of websites dedicated to the seeker of truth and wisdom. Finally, go to any coffee shop in town that has an Internet connection and ask someone, for god’s sake if they answer you, take notes. Nothing is more infuriating than having to explain the same thing over and over because someone won’t take the time to write it down.

If you do not take an active part in social networks (Facebook, twitter, etc…), don’t be hurt when you didn’t get invited to the party, or when you didn’t get the memo. That’s quickly becoming the way most of us communicate. You don’t have to drink the kool-aid and spend your life checking your Facebook, but it is common courtesy to at least have a way that people can get a hold of you.

After having said all of that, I realize that there are still some of you out there that:

• Don’t use email
• Don’t use social networks
• Don’t have a cell phone
• Don’t have an answering machine
• Still pay your bills with envelopes and stamps
• Are deeply angry that the world has passed you buy and the good old days are gone

But let’s be honest, those people aren’t reading my web page are they?

Let me begin by saying that I use Flash, I love teaching my students how to use Flash, I watch videos in Flash (.flv) format, and I RARELY use Flash in my web designs.

Flash (for those of you that aren’t into this sort of thing but are still reading for some strange reason) is a program from Adobe that allows creation of animations for web pages, as well as video.  If you have ever watched YouTube.com, you have watched flash video (probably). The frustrating “punch the monkey” type banner ads that move around at the top web pages trying to get you to click on the ad are probably built in Flash.

Many clients (or potential clients) that I deal with are very excited about “whiz-bang” animation on their pages. They want images flying in and out of the frame, exploding text, “neato stuff that moves”! They are perplexed when I tell them that I do not recommend large Flash applications for commercial pages. Let me tick off my reasons:

• Not all of your customers will have Flash (or the proper version of Flash) installed. I know, please don’t send hate mail in this issue, but I deal with customers all the time (read gramma and granpa’s computer) that do not update their Flash as they should. If you business ONLY markets to tech-saavy people, I guess you can skip this one.
• If you want viewers to visit your site often, then don’t make them sit through mind numbing Flash intros and animations. People are busy, they get really pissed when you waste their time, pissed off people don’t tend to want to do business with the page that pissed them off.
• Mobile applications may not work with Flash. (iyou iknow iwho iam italking iabout). Mobile devices are quickly becoming the way a majority of people are accessing the Internet. Just this morning, I was stopped by a group of ladies from out of town that needed directions. I grabbed my phone, went online and got directions. Boo-yah!  If you are using a massive amount of Flash (unless you make an alternate page access for mobile) these people will not see your page.

Business pages should be easy on, easy buy types of pages. Anything that you include that is going to make your customer work harder to do business with you is…well…ill-advised. I don’t mean to say that a little Flash used “tastefully” to accent your page is a bad idea, it’s not. Make sure however, that if Flash doesn’t work on your customers page that you have not adversely affected your customer’s experience.

Happy Geeking.

I have found that in most cases, for most of my clients, for most of my applications, my best website building option is to use Wordpress. Now I am not claiming that I will never recommend a conventional website construction again, but there are several reasons that Wordpress has become my CMS (content management system) of choice. Here are a few things to consider:

• Cost
  • A Wordpress site has a much lower investment than a standard website. You  will need to pay for the following;
    • A server to host your site. The server I use and recommend runs about $4.00 per month. A wordpress site can be built on the Wordpress.com site for free, but there are several advantages to hosting your own site.
    • A domain name, about $8.00 per year
    • You may want to hire professional help with the initial setup and customization of the site & training. This price will vary, but in many cases if you have the time, and the desire, you can learn to do much of the setup yourself.
• Control
  • You (or your designated people) can upload stories and images directly to the site. You can set up the process to hold everything for your approval before publishing. There is no need to employ a web designer to upload new content to the site.
• Community
  • The site can be set up to integrate with social networks (facebook, linkedin, etc…).
  • Your community can sign up for RSS feeds (automatic notification of updates) and for newsletters.
• Content
  • Content is King. New content brings viewers back.  The interface is easy, and content can be updated as often as you wish without any need to know html or webpage code.

There is never a “one size fits all’ solution, but in my arena, in most cases, Wordpress has offered a solution that works. It is customizable, it is reliable, and it works. Give it a try.

Recently, I messed up. Let me explain. While driving on a very busy road in my town, I was cut off by someone crossing through my lane. The driver of the other car never even saw me. He was focused on talking on his cell phone. I was furious. I honked and hollered. When we reached the next stop light I pulled out my trusty IPhone and snapped a picture of him. I uploaded the picture and a caption full of anger to my Facebook to let the world know what an idiot that this guy was. The reaction from my community was not at all what I expected. There was a measurable amount of concern for my behavior, which was not at all normal for me. I am usually a very measured, calm, person.  I am used to keeping my temper in check. I had hung my dirty laundry out where everyone could see. When I realized my error, I deleted the entry, but the damage was done.
I have now instituted a few rules before I post anything to a social networking site:

• Wait a while. If it still makes sense to post after some time has passed, go ahead. Never post in anger or in haste. Nothing is that important that you must share immediately.
• Can it be read by Grandma, Mom, teacher, student, boss, employee, colleague, pastor or priest? if not, think long and hard before you push the “publish” button.
• Is it OK if this post lasts FOREVER? Because it will. A post can be removed by you, but it probably exists somewhere else (or many places) the moment you post it. At the very least it will always exist in the minds of those who read it.
• Is it honest? People are great BS detectors, and many will call you out. If it isn’t honest and true, don’t post.
• Don’t be rude. This is difficult sometimes. Especially when some troll busts your chops and deserves a good thrashing. It won’t make a difference, a troll will still be a troll, and you will have wasted your time. Let it go.

Well, I’m sure the list will grow and change in time. Let me know if you have anything to add. I could use the help. Even I violate my own rules from time to time. I guess the important thing is to keep trying to do the right thing. I will admit though, I’m still kind of sore about that guy cutting me off. (oooohhhhhhmmmmmm……..)

Before we get started, if you have been living under a rock for the past several months you may not know about the Apple IPad. So for those visiting from another planet; The IPad is a mini computing device introduced by the manufacturer “Apple”. The IPad measures approximately 7.5 by 10 inches. It weighs about a pound and a half and has a multi touch screen interface. It is available with several different memory capacities. It uses many programs, or “apps” that are written by both the manufacturer, as well as other developers. That being said, I would like to take a moment and discuss exactly why I believe that this product will be a huge success.

Steve Jobs presents the IPad

I want to begin by saying that I am not a “fan-boy”. The only Apple product that I currently own is an IPhone 3GS, and I have a very lukewarm relationship with my IPhone. I love the way that Apple products like the IPhone (and let’s make an assumption here, the IPad as well) just seem to do exactly what they are supposed to do. They work. I use many different apps, I listen to Podcasts, I watch video. In this respect my IPhone is a perfect tool. My problem manifests itself whenever I want to travel outside the “Apple-approved” parameters. Whenever I want to make changes or run programs that are not approved through the manufacturers process, I hit a roadblock. The IPad will share the same issues. “Tinker-geeks” will not be a fan of the product, but I don’t believe that we are the target market.
I have spoken with many people who are intimidated by the complexity of their PC’s, they don’t understand how their machine works,  they would never dream of running a Linux operating system.  They still use Internet Explorer or Safari instead of Firefox or Chrome, but they are very excited about the new IPad. They don’t want to run more than one application at a time, they don’t want to “hack” their IPad and make it do something it wasn’t intended to do. They want a comfortable, small, handy device that will perform basic tasks such as browsing the Internet, Facebook, Email, Ebooks, etc…, and that’s OK. It’s ok not to want more than a product can provide. Those of us in the “Tech” community will have our chance soon enough. Before long I guarantee there will be many products on the market that share the IPad’s size and design characteristics but will allow us to “hack” the machine and push it’s limits to the extreme. (Let’s be honest here, those products already exist, if you doubt me check out my favorite, The Archos, a wonderful, hackable, whacable, internet tablet).
So my Geeky brothers and sisters, leave the IPad folks alone, its a fine product, I believe that those who buy it will be happy with it, and it will open the door for many IPad-like products to follow that you and I will probably be happier with.
My parents will probably end up with an IPad, your parents probably will too.
Let the healing begin.

Thanks so very much for stopping by. I have finally launched my new JeffreySlough.com website and I am pleased with the result. I hope you are too. If you have comments, please feel free to register and leave your thoughts, I’d love to hear them.
A few things about the new site. I have added a “social-networking” component to my site. If you go to the pages tab and register as a user, you can network with other users and share ideas on your own part of JeffSlough.com. I don’t expect you to use my site to replace your Facebook, but the opportunity to network with other people that share you interests is always appreciated.
Please take a moment to click on the links to the right and follow me on your favorite networking site.
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