For at least four or five years I have favored Google for almost every search I perform. I found it to be superior when I started using it way back when. In all honesty I have not tried another search engine lately so it was reassuring to see this PC World Article that basically confirmed my perception. It does suggest that for a couple of niche searches there may be other equally good options. Thanks Google for keeping us in the know.

Thunderbird has lagged behind Firefox in both user acceptance and version numbers, but they are slowly making up ground.
Thunderbird 2 looks much like it’s predecessor, but has numerous tweaks like Message Tagging and history all of which are designed to make life easier. With Sunbird (calander), Firefox (browser) and Thunderbird (mail) Mozilla have created a professional quality range of tools all based on open source code and available for Windows Linux and Mac. Get your’s today!

Apple Creates a Stir in Michigan by Encouraging Legislatures to Proved Ipod to Every Student.

Several Michigan legislators took a funded trip to Apple Headquarters in California. The legislators returned and at least one of them suggested that providing an i-POD to every student in a Michigan public school was a worthy idea. I’m sure the students would not mind having one either … but why? Are teachers then going to distribute content in pod-casts or something? Give Michigan’s poor economy at this time, the idea was hardly well received and once it got out that Apple had funded the trip, the legislators decided to repay the costs of the trip. Maybe they need a pod-cast about ethics and every legislator needs an IPOD as well?

This is an interesting article suggesting that many successful websites work because of ease of use even though they are ugly. The article comes with some prime examples like Craig’s List. I have to agree, many of the sites where I have done repeat business are simple, and well, not all that over-designed or pretty. They lack margin shadows, fluid design, all the things people talk about when offering up design services.

Interesting stuff to think about — and it infinitely increases my job opportunities. I can do pretty — but I may be better at ugly! I do understand making things work. It’s one of my specialties and often people hire me to do just that, make it work. I repair their OS Commerce Shopping Cart, or fix a navigation bar, or make the WordPress Install start working again. I enjoy it and they enjoy it, usually enough to pay me if it isn’t a simple fix. One client recently told me I’m like duct tape in her tool kit. I consider that a compliment. Many feel that duct tape is mans’ best friend, but it isn’t pretty …

Changing topics, sort of, Matt Jordan writes a funny article on being a freelance web designer. Of course that isn’t so much a change because I was just talking about doing freelance work in the paragraph above. I do not hire myself out because I’m tired of the boss, I do it because to me fixing other peoples’ web problems is like a giant jigsaw puzzle. There is joy in seeing it all fit together. Unlike him, I enjoy chatting at some odd hour with a client or responding in a short period of time to an email that was sent overnight with the thought it might not be seen for hours. But it has never consumed me either, what he cautions against, because I control how much to take and when.

So I better get back to doing something ugly but functional for someone. After all, their web page is broken and I’m the one going to fix it.

A web designer who regularly subcontracts me to prepare various elements for pages they are working on hired me to do a Son of Suckerfish Drop Down Menu. The requested layout was a bit more complex than even the prettied drop down menu version on the site. My requested task involved the use of a background image, borders around the drop downs, and images that formed dividers between each main menu item to essentially make them look like buttons.

As is usually the case with this designer, they requested that my fix work in Firefox, Internet Explorer 6.x and Internet Explorer 7.x. So I went about drafting the proper xhtml and css to create the desired look and functionality. I tested it in each of these browsers and all went as planned. (more…)