Bookmarking and website progress

I have recently added my bookmarks onto ma.gnolia. Here you can find some great resources and blogs to aid any form of web design and devlopment, as well as general programming.

It also serves as a great place to get all of my bookmarks from when I leave Switzerland and go back to the UK, which is in about 3 weeks time.

A new version of my website will be available soon, and this includes my own blogging system, which will publish entries back to my blogger.com site when I have worked out how the ATOM api works.

Bis dann...

Website documentation... or lack of it!

A new student has started working in my office, due to the fact that he is taking over my position fully in 4 weeks (when I'll be dragged kicking and screaming from Switzerland). I was horrified to find that very little technical information there is about the web application I have devoted so much time to over the past year.

I now find myself having to teach the student with demonstrations and looking through the code together. I am trying to piece together a technical manual at the same time, to act as a reference for him when I leave.

It makes me wonder.. How many web sites or web applications actaully have a technical guide?

I'm not after a fancy class diagram either!

Ignorance and standards compliancy

Being a "Microsoft Partner", the company I work for employs Internet Explorer as the standard web browser for all of its users.

A new student has joined the company two days ago, and immediately "needs" Firefox installing on his computer. Here's the transcript of a conversation I had:

ME: "Why do you need Firefox. Standards within the organisation require you to have IE. I get to have all of the Browsers installed as my job is a Web Developer."

HIM: "Firefox is better."

ME: "No argument there. But that doesn't really provide a real need for it."

HIM: "I want to be able to read my Blog."

ME: "Surely you can just read it in IE."

HIM: "It only works in Firefox."

ME: "Why didn't you design for IE too?"

HIM: "It's standards compliant."

ME: "And?"

HIM: "Besides, I don't want people using IE to read it."

ME: "That is 85% of your potential viewers. Just because it's apparently standards compliant, you can't be ignorant and shut people out."

It frustrated me, how he came across as a purist, but then revealed that Firefox was the only browser he designed for. He's a Browser Targeting Developer, not a Web Developer.

New people are coming along claiming that they only develop with standards compliancy in mind. In truth, these people are designing for Firefox, because Firefox is a standards compliant browser. It's not the only browser, and certainly isn't the most popular yet. Even if Firefox had 85% of the Web Browser market, it still wouldn't stop me from developing for IE and Opera.

Constructive criticism

I'd just like to give my thanks to the people who have given me some great tips and improvements for my site so far. Your help has been brilliant and well received in helping me build my site.

Thanks go to: Steve Daniels, Nicola Carroll, David Purdom, Matt Dovey, and Mark Wraith.

I strongly believe that a website designer should welcome all comments, both good and bad inorder to make their site much better. If people hate the contact form, why do they? Hopefully I can be in a position some day soon to show my site as an example of usable feedback.

On a side note, I have recently aquired the domain name www.aaronallport.com. This should point to my site on the 9th July 2006 onwards.

Blog integration

I have finally integrated my blog into my website. It took a sunday morning, two cups of coffee and some toast with marmite, but its now there.

Blogging on aaronallport.co.uk

I have nearly finished aggregating this blog on my website. I have developed a lovely atom feed consumer which I've dropped right into my asp.net framework (which is still small, but continously being developed). I have to sort out the display slightly, but hopefully will have something to push tomorrow.