ELCA Web and Multimedia Development Blog

So, somehow, my Firefox browser got hijacked by a Russian search engine company. They became my homepage, they added themselves to my drop down of search engines, and they even rewrote some files in the Firefox config to become the default search engine when I typed a phrase in the URL field. I guess that’s one way to get your name out there. And I won’t be sharing their name so you won’t be tempted to check them out. I don’t want the same thing to happen to you!

But let’s say it has. Or let’s say you have been tinkering around in Firefox and have changed a lot of settings and just want to go back to simpler times, when Firefox was fresh out of the box. Well, you can! Here’s how for PC.
Make sure Firefox is closed. You will not get the desired results if a browser window is open while following these steps.

1. Click “Start” and then “Run….”
2. In the dialogue box, type, “firefox -safe-mode,” making sure that there is a space after “firefox.” This will put Firefox into Safe Mode, which temporarily disables all custom settings, themes and extensions.
3. Choose the items you want to restore and reset by checking the boxes.
4. To make these changes permanent, click “Make Changes and Restart.”

Your Firefox install is now as good as new and should operate as it did when you first installed it.

Has this happened to you? Was this post helpful? Please comment below.

The Result: A Propo for Firefox!

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While I was in Austin attending SXSWi, I couldn’t help but notice the ubiquitous use of QR Codes. I mean, they were EVERYWHERE. On flyers, on posters, on stickers, on T-Shirts, on wall paintings, on EVERYTHING. It was, without a doubt, the most popular technology.

Credit: WIRED

But it didn’t work.

Sure, if you stood long enough, and held your phone still enough, you might get a good photo and be rewarded with the link. But most times, you just don’t have the time to spend. And QR Codes on T-shirts? Forget it. Unless you want to ask the person to hold their shirt to get rid of the wrinkles and folds, it’s not gonna happen.

And for a guy to ask a girl to make her shirt taut so he can hold a camera at her shirt for a long period of time, is just a bad idea. Free meal coupon, or not.

But now there is a new player on the horizon of image links…. that actually uses images. Enter Aurasma. Billed as Augmented Reality (AR) technology, Aurasma, created by enterprise software company Autonomy, can change a photo into video or presumably anything else you’d like that image to link to. And it does it right in the camera view. This obviously is steps ahead of the QR Code, and some might argue a completely different technology. But for what we want QR Codes to do, Aurasma just might be a better tool.

What are your thoughts? Is the QR Code dead? Have you had a poor experience with a QR Code? Tell us in the comments.

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In a session titled, “Your Mom Has an iPad – How to Design for Baby Boomers,” Lead User Experience Architect at Effective UI, John McRee presented his take on some research results from AARP and Microsoft showing patterns of likes and dislikes. Here are the highlights:

1. Boomers like to learn new technologies and share their knowledge. If you create a Website or app that can be mastered quickly, there is a great chance that Boomers will share your creation with others.
2. Boomers want technology to be safer. We are all familiar with the need for security. But with this means is designing in a way that encourages people to explore deeper into the site. Using breadcrumbs is an example of “safe” design.
3. Boomers want technology to be easier to use. Boomers like consistency in their navigation and app behavior and in site/app nomenclature.
4. Boomers see technology as a tool. Tools usually have one use. You cannot just keep adding features to the same app. Maybe you are better off creating a new app for that feature.
5. Boomers expect technology to adapt to them. Augmented Reality (AR) and Voice Commands are examples of technologies that make Technology more accessible.

As you look at this list, you may see many that you agree with, regardless of your age. You may see some with which you may only slightly agree. My preferences differ slightly with numbers Two and Four. But what is important to remember, and why this list is helpful, is that we are not designing for ourselves.

What do you think of this list? Is it accurate? What would you add?

Slides to this presentation can be seen here.

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Today I found a great tool for checking your website load time. Googlelabs has created “Page Speed,” and I have found it to be very handy. Not only does it give you a page speed rating from 1 to 100, but it tells you what you can do to speed up your load time. It breaks these suggestions up in to high, medium and low priority.

Why should you care about load times? Besides the obvious inconvenience to your readers, your load time affects your SEO (Search Engine Optimization). In other words, sites like Yahoo! and Google use load times to determine ranking.

Have you found any other cool tools to help optimize your site?

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Continuing my recap of sessions I attended while at SXSWi, I wanted to address the iPad, the new tool from Apple. I say new, because as ubiquitous as it seems to be, it has only been around for a year. As with any new device, it takes a while for developers to get used to their new “canvas.” They have a set idea based on past experiences with other smaller devices, as to how design should take place on the iPad. Also, they look to the new device as the answer to problems they had been having with past devices.

But the canvas the iPad offers developers is much more than just more space. It is a new experience.

Speaker Josh Clark gave a great presentation and pointed out common mistakes or pitfalls that iPad developers can make when designing for the iPad.

I think this will benefit not just designers and developers but those of you looking to hire a developer. Read these pitfalls and know what to expect from your developer.

1. Greedy Pixel Syndrome. This is the irresistible urge to  use every pixel on the screen. It’s tempting for developers coming from an iPhone design background to want to go hog-wild! We need to strive for thoughtfulness and art. Don’t feel you have to present all the content at the same time. Let it unfold. Complexity is okay. Just make it uncomplicated. There is a question/answer relationship we need to build with the app user. This means they click, you reveal. Then they click, and you reveal more. This works much better than displaying all the info at once on the screen. While this may be poor design for websites, it is an excellent strategy for tablet design.
2. Frankeninterface.  This was Josh’s way of addressing metaphor clutter. Metaphor, as you may know, as it applies to design, is the bridge we use between analog (what is familiar) and digital (what is new). So, a drawing app may have pictures of different colored crayons that you instinctively “pick up” to begin drawing with. This metaphor is not just eye candy… it must work the way people expect it to. Clutter occurs when you have too many metaphors at once. If you are going with the drawing tablet metaphor, don’t introduce another metaphor on top of that. Some of you will understand this problem from your experience with website design. But don’t get so literal that you are trapped by analog limitations. Don’t abandon the digital advantages. The eReaders that use a page-turn animation when you want to go to the next page, are a perfect example. There is no need to see the page actually turn. It is a waste. As Jer Thorp, contributing writer for Wired UK, tweeted: “Why does an e-book reader need a page flip animation? It’s like having a fake needle on a CD or like horse s#!t coming out of the back of a car.”

These are just two of his points. The rest were more detailed and geared for the developer, but I think you can see that we need to expand our ideas of what a tablet is and what it can be used for. And what it should not be used for.

Do you have an iPad or other tablet project coming up? What do you think of these pitfalls? Please comment below.

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Credit: SXSW

From the SXSWi site:

OK. So let’s say your business has a website, a Facebook page, a Twitter account, a blog (or lots of blogs), an email newsletter, some SEO stuff, and eighty bajillion landing pages you forgot about back when it was still funny to rick-roll someone. Who’s doing all this content? Are they talking to each other? Should someone be in charge? Who? Come feel the love as a marketer, a CMS wonk, a UX designer, and a typical SME are brought together (Jerry Springer-style) to discuss the joys of cross-channel content strategy.

At this panel, between the arguing and disagreement, there were some good truths that came out. We might know these things, but it was good to hear them again.

Content has a lifecycle

• Core Strategy
• Substance
• Structure
• Workflow
• Governance

You hardly ever hear about the last two items in the life cycle, but in order to have healthy content, they must exist. Throwing content on the web and then forgetting about it is a common problem.

Content is a business asset

Take down all your internet content and see what happens to your business/ organization. Intranet content is also an asset. Employees need to be treated like clients or constituents when it comes to providing content for them.

We all own the content Strategy

While one department or unit may come up with the strategy, all must buy in and own it for the strategy to succeed. The content strategy impacts the design of the site.

When it comes to governance, does everyone have a say?

Standards enable collaboration. They may be seen as restricting, but when we can all fall back on the same standards, we can then be free to be creative and still accessible.

I feel the reason the last two points, “workflow” and “governance” are largely overlooked is that no one really understands how to tackle them. Also I think no one wants the responsibility. But for our Web presence to be successful, the complete Content Lifecycle must be attended to.

The audio of this session can be found here.

What has been your experience with your organization’s content strategy? Do you agree or disagree with the lifecycle? Please comment below.

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In this SXSW session entitled,  ”App, Schmapp, Tell Me What Works Accross Platforms,” VP of Production for Mint.com Aaron Forth detailed the planning that went into the building of their financial planning iPhone app. It was more a case study, and some attendees were turned off by this specific look at their app. I was able to find a few good points though, that I think we can all use when thinking about building a mobile app.

Aaron Forth, VP of Prod. mint.com., intuit.com

As always, we must keep the user in mind. When picking which platform to support, Forth used the following criteria and held each mobile platform up against this list:

1. Device Adoption – Which mobile platform would reach the most people?
2. Apps Direct to Consumers – Which platform made it easy to get the app into consumers’ hands?
3. SDK and Support – Which mobile platform was easiest to build on and support?
4. Low Fragmentation – Which platform had the least amount of different OS versions floating about?

For them the iPhone was the first choice. Obviously, other platforms such as Android, win on some of these points, but personally, number three weighs in pretty heavy as a developer. I want a platform where I can spend more time developing and less time supporting and learning the platform. In fact, during Q&A, someone asked if the optimum plan would be to design on some platforms simultaneously. Of course that would be ideal, but if your development team is small or has limited resources, you need to start somewhere. So it is good to weigh your choices based on criteria like these.

Are you planning on having a mobile app built? What criteria are most important to you?

The audio of this session is available here.

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Well, that was interesting. I fully intended to blog daily about the courses and my observations while in Austin at the South by Southwest Interactive conference for the first time. I had no idea about the strenuous schedule and routine I would be putting myself through. I should have known by looking at the intensive session schedule, but my experience at other conferences got the better of me. “There will be plenty of down time to write,” I thought. “Surely between sessions I can sum up the general thoughts and heck, even during sessions, I can write.”

I was not prepared for the magnitude of this event. The number of people. The number of venues. The number of pizza places. (Wait. I’ll get back to that.)

The sessions went all day and into the early evening. Sessions were held in the Austin Convention Center and surrounding hotels in the downtown Austin area. The Convention center is over six city blocks in size. But even a venue this large is not room enough to contain all the sessions. Hotels as afar away as nine blocks were holding sessions. So, planning your day was like trying to hit as many Disneyworld parks as you can in one day.

Needless to say, I got my exercise.

Then, after a full day of that, the evening parties began. Why not just skip them? Because as you might have heard, it is very true: while the sessions are great, nothing compares to being able to meet others in your field and glean their experience. I may have learned as much or more from meeting fellow geeks than had I just gone to the sessions.

Quick story. I was having an issue uploading my recent iPhone app up to Apple for review. For some reason my files weren’t authenticating and matching with the licenses. I had searched all over the internet for an answer with no luck. A guy I met at a party was an app developer and had an answer! Sure enough, I got back to the computer, and it worked!

So, the takeaway here is

1. Go to “South by” next year. It is so worth it.
2. Make sure you meet people. Don’t stay in your hotel room.
3. Wear comfortable shoes.

Oh, yeah– Pizza. Everywhere. Looking for a good meal was tough, especially with the shortage of time. Texas may be known for Tex-Mex and BBQ, but Austin has a pizza joint on EVERY corner.

(Stay tuned for notes from my sessions. Coming soon.)

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Seth Priebatsch is the Chief Ninja of the Boston-based startup SCVNGR. Credit: John Galt

“Interactive” is the title of this group of sessions from March 11-15, here at South by Southwest, or SXSW, as it is usually written. This yearly get-together in Austin is a creative festival that includes Music, Film, and Interactive paths. The Interactive sessions are what I am here for.

From the SXSW website:

The South by Southwest® (SXSW®) Conferences & Festivals offer the unique convergence of original music, independent films, and emerging technologies. Fostering creative and professional growth alike, SXSW is the premier destination for discovery.

I hope to gather some useful information on work we do at the Lutheran Center, hear about fresh ideas on the technological horizon, and be challenged by mighty thinkers, movers and shakers of our time.

I plan to report back to you all any useful info I learn on Web Development. I am excited to be surrounded by such creative individuals!

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