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The Unheard Word

One woman's slightly skewed views

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Follow-up on Feedburner

Sunday, October 9th, 2005

Well, that was short and sweet. I’ve already exited FeedBurner’s service.

Feedburner has no “exit strategy” and once you get people signing up to your blog’s feeds via a Feedburner link, you’re pretty much stuck with Feedburner forever (unless you’re paying for a premium service that will forward feeds forever for you).

Web Essentials ’05

Saturday, October 8th, 2005

I’ve been back for a week now and couldn’t let the occasion go by without remarking on it. Because it was, truly, a remarkable conference.

Firstly the line-up of international speakers was great.

Sign Language City: Laurent, U.S.A.

Monday, September 26th, 2005

Hearing Loss News and Reviews has published an article about a proposed city for deaf people in a town in South Dakota to be named Laurent, after Laurent Clerc, a pioneer of American Sign Language (ASL).

I am quite amazed at this. I know the Deaf culture exists and understand many of the reasons for it.

Unheard Word Feeds Moved to FeedBurner

Sunday, September 25th, 2005

I’ve just moved the Unheard Word blog feeds to FeedBurner. Everything should redirect so there should be no need to re-subscribe, but if you have any issues please let me know and I’ll look into it.

Contact Details on Business Web Sites

Sunday, September 25th, 2005

I remember seeing results of studies that show that one of the top hates of many Internet users is not being able to find details of the physical address of a business on the business web site. Post office boxes just don’t cut it.

I agree: lack of such detail detracts from the credibility of the business…

How Devices Affect Email Comprehension

Sunday, September 18th, 2005

I’ve been very busy in the last week or two and have had several pages open in my news reader (NetNewsWire) to remind me to blog about them. By now they’re old news but this is one I think is worth noting, for those who haven’t yet seen it.

In short, the device that is used to read email is likely to influence the kind of response received. When a user…

Educating the Educators

Thursday, September 8th, 2005

An emerging discussion on the Web Standards Group (WSG) email list has brought up some interesting points on the quality of web design and development instruction in tertiary institutions.

I don’t have any statistics to back this up (and would be surprised if any formal study has been conducted) but there is strong anecdotal evidence that the majority of institutes of higher learning don’t teach web standards — and when they do, it’s with a wishy-washy attitude.

There are exceptions of course, and apparently Sydney TAFE has some excellent, standards-conscious teachers. I am sure…

What Makes a Blog a Success?

Wednesday, September 7th, 2005

Further to my post on why Business Blogging is a Good Thing, I would like to point out that a blog’s success is largely up to you. It’s important to remember that blogging is circular. Blogs don’t exist in isolation. They involve and depend on interaction in order to succeed.

IM Behind Firewalls and Proxy Servers

Wednesday, August 31st, 2005

I Love IM is web-based instant messaging that apparently works behind firewalls and proxy servers.

Free Opera Licences — Today Only

Wednesday, August 31st, 2005

The browser Opera is 10 years old and the developers say, “We’re giving away registration codes for as long as the party lasts!” This is the real deal: I grabbed one.