RKNet Blog... Thing

Well, I’m just back from the first ever NH Media Makers get together. What a terrific idea, and what a great turn out. I honestly didn’t know what to expect, both in people or content, despite the post at the actual NH Media Makers site detailing who would be there and what to expect!

We had all types of people, with different disciplines, but the major unifying factor was our passion for all things internet. Which is extremely refreshing as a majority of people I’ve met here in New Hampshire have not been the slightest bit interested in the internet or tech in general. It was like a high school AV meeting with a million times more class.

After adamantly sucking down as much coffee as possible, I tuned in to each attendee’s introduction and background. Everybody had a great story to tell and a variety of really terrific projects they were involved in too. I don’t think a single person there had just one thing they were working on, interested in, or knew about. There was no shortage of great ideas, and everybody seemed tremendously passionate about their field of interest.

We had photographers, videographers, writers, entrepreneurs, search engine marketers, programmers, culture geeks, and often times most people were several of those things if not all of them! Had I been taking notes I’d have a lot more details about each person. Everybody I met was just terrific. There was a definite buzz in the air and I could tell a lot of really valuable connections were made. Separately we’ve got a ton of super ideas and talents, together we could really turn this area into a hub of internet and cultural activity.

Couple of points I want to shout out to any local readers:

• One of the attendees is a film maker out in Manchester who will be looking for extras interested in dying. :)
• Another wants to get interest up in late night monster movie showings in the area, preferably big screen. Who knows about theater in the area?
• We’ve got film folks who might want extras, guest writers, feedback, or musical contributions/suggestions.
• There are authors chomping at the bit for publishing tips or inspiration in general.
• There’s me, looking for blog authors and people interested in helping my wacky friends commit some of their film ideas to the web.
• There’s a niche marketer looking for ideas and feedback on how to incorporate things like video and blogs into his repertoire to strengthen his position as the top in his field(s).

And so much more. I’m hoping others took better notes. There will be a mailing list, and notes and attendee URLs will be posted over at the NH Media Makers site, so stay tuned. We’ll also have some pictures and video courtesy of a few folks who were there. (Phil, John, and Roger if I remember correctly.) There will be more of these in the future, so if you missed the first one, fret not, you will have a chance to join in the fun!

As an Opera desktop edition user, I am part of a browsing minority.

I started using Opera years ago, back when they still had banner ads to support their desktop offering. Some friends recommended it to me as a browsing alternative, if I recall correctly. I was getting sick of IE, and all the Netscape users I knew were either holier-than-thou about their quirky browser or said it wasn’t really all that great. Don’t recall anybody mentioning Firefox at that time. I tried Opera out, but I didn’t quite “get” it back then, so I stopped using it. IE was just going to have to be good enough, and I didn’t feel like configuring something just to surf the web.

Time went by and I got sick of Internet Explorer and its unwelcome antics, so I went and got Opera again, thinking it was worth another try. It had improved massively, and as I figured out the features I got really comfortable using it. Everything worked, everything displayed right, I had tabs, I had mail, I had RSS, I had IRC. Life was good.

Well, the tech being used on the web has accelerated rather quickly, particularly where java, flash, and creative CSS are concerned. As these cutting and/or bleeding edge techniques were adopted, I started having trouble. Flickr was basically unusable. A few others had some really agitating quirks, too. My enjoyable IE alternative was becoming a liability.

Also, Pet Peeve time: If you run a website, do not tell me I am using the wrong browser, do not refuse me your content because you assume my browser will not display it. That is the absolute fastest way to send a visitor packing. That would be like going to the grocery store and getting yelled at by the produce guy for bringing your own shopping bags. Usability testing means making sure YOUR site works. Complicated sites may not work in all browsers. If your functionality demands things be done a certain way, and it won’t work in all browsers, then do the testing and find a non-insulting way to inform your clients of how to get the most out of your site. It’s very bad business to decide who gets to view your site and how. I’d rather surf a site that displays a little funky in Opera then show up and be told that I’m not allowed to view the site until I change browsers.

As new releases of Opera come out, the challenges do lessen. Yet with the latest update to WordPress, I am faced with a rather irritating challenge. The “Add Media” tool is now a (very slow) AJAX-type pop up window, rather than the on page form used in previous versions. It absolutely will not work in the most current version of Opera. I have to use Opera 9.5b (aka Kestrel) or Firefox to make it work. (Haven’t bothered testing in IE 6, and IE 7 is out of the question because I won’t upgrade.) I have yet to find a simplified plugin or fix for this issue, so for the time being if I wish to use images or embed any other kind of files, I’ll just have to use another browser. I prefer not to, it’s just a simple matter of convenience.

So I feel inclined to ask, what are your browsing habits? Do you use more than one browser on a regular basis? (Note: Usability testing in multiple browsers doesn’t necessarily count, unless you do it all day.) Do you run across sites that tell you that you’re doing it wrong, and don’t come back until you get one of the browsers we bothered to test? Do you ever run across sites that just plain don’t work?

Possibly most importantly, What is the responsibility split between content developers and browser developers for making sure that web technologies work for internet users?

I personally feel like it’s 70/30. The browser developers have a responsibility to build a platform which will support the latest approved standards. The content developers have a responsibility to utilize those standards to develop what gets displayed in that browser. It stands to reason that if something is coded correctly, it will display correctly. (I realize that’s not always the case, but generally, it is true.) If someone wants to employ bleeding edge code, hacks for cross-browser compatibility, or just generally be sloppy, they shouldn’t expect people to conform to the browser in which it happens to work best. At this time I know this site needs many improvements in this regard, something which irks me every time I go to post, because I know what I should be doing is a code audit. (Incidentally, I am still seeking willing contributors, if you’d like to help me keep the good times rolling while I take care of such matters.)

Weigh in, web denizens! Your voices shape the tomorrow of our future, or the future of our tomorrow, or the flatulence of our tomatoes or something like that!

The front page of the site finally got an overhaul! As you can see, it is much less of a CSS nightmare than what the Wayback Machine will prove the previous incarnations were. It’s also got a custom fancy wallpaper-y background, too. As more content emerges that is best suited to its very own page, a navigation and so forth shall emerge from the overall chaos. The other new page is my Author’s Profile page, containing everything you need to (stalk) find out more about me, too.

I’m looking forward to getting the proper info from the other contributors and authors (*hint*) so they can also have profile pages. Report any obvious bugs, please.

What more is there to say? Ok, well, for anyone who isn’t in the know: SMITH Magazine, Larry Smith, and Rachel Fershleiser set about collecting six word memoirs from all types of people. Some were famous, some were just everyday people who entered a contest to have their miniaturized life story printed.

The outcome of many hands and many voices came together in a volume called Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure. (I happen to be in it! It still amazes me that I was chosen, honestly.)

At some point, Rachel Fershleiser wound up on my Gtalk list, and I periodically mouse over people’s names to see what their tag lines say. Well! Imagine my surprise when I mouse over her name and see that the book has hit the New York Times’ Bestseller List (Category: Advice/How-to/Misc)!

It’s currently at #9, and it’s the book’s first week on the list. With all the rave reviews, great press, and (I imagine) a lot of contributor-based enthusiastic sharing, I’m really not surprised. With any luck, we’ll find our way to #1! I can’t emphasize enough how much fun this book is, and how addictive it is to start applying the six-word limitation to come up with summations of life, love, and all kinds of ephemera. Get in on the hubbub by going to the site or go pick up the book.

Gentle readers: Well, it’s happened. I done hit the big time. It’s only a matter of time before I’ve abandoned you to go sip expensive bottled waters on yachts and anal-retentively police my own wiki entry.

What, might you ask, has caused this sudden surge in adulation for and popularity of yours truly? Well whether you’d ask or not, I’ll tell you! I’m published!

A while back, I heard about a six word memoir contest being held by SMITH Magazine. I mulled it over and decided that sounded like a lot of fun. So I cruised by the contest site, mulling over my life and adventures and everything so far. It’s hard to write a memoir when your life is still in full swing, but I found six words that I really felt fit who I am and where I am at this point in my life, submitted them with my contact info and that was that.

Some time passed and I got an email from Rachel Fershleiser, the woman who did an awful lot of work to make this happen. The editors of SMITH mag hand selected my entry out of over 5000 that had been submitted! WOW!

Truth be told I didn’t really believe it until yesterday evening when I got my contributor copy of the book in the mail, along with a press kit to help promote this volume that I had a hand in creating.

The book that is the result of so many people’s honesty and wit is called: Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure. They aren’t kidding about the famous, either. They were able to get six words of to-the-bone slices of life from the likes of Stephen Colbert, Aimee Mann, and Mario Batali!

It is a privledge and an honor to have my words chosen, and put into this really interesting volume. True, I cracked it open to find my name, but wound up reading the introduction and marvelling at the process and the TLC the editors clearly put into the project. The memoirs themselves run between hilarious and heartbreaking, with about every other sentiment you can imagine in between. I wound up going through it cover to cover already, and I keep thumbing back to share with my co-workers and friends. I actually can’t say enough good things about this, and I’d say only 25% of that excitement has to do with seeing my name in print.

For anybody who lives near me, if you get a copy and want to get my signature next to my entry, I’d be positively ecstatic to do so. I actually think it would be a lot of fun to go around getting signatures from as many chosen entrants as possible. (Especially if you could get a signature like Colbert’s!)

And in truth, this isn’t exactly my big break or anything, but it is certainly a lot of fun and I got a really entertaining book for free out of the deal, so I certainly can’t complain. Check it out! Oh, and you can still submit your six word memoir at SMITH and read contributions that you won’t get in the book.