The Unheard Word

I’m not fond of Microsoft but the new Windows Live Beta, which is a Web 2.0 application, looks like it will be good when there’s full browser support.Tim O’Reilly says:Windows Live is described as Internet-based personal services, centered on the individual, focused on communication, information, and protection.In general, I like the way Web 2.0 is heading.

I’m a bit concerned, after some recent comments on some of the email lists to which I subscribe, about the attitude of some web standards advocates towards others.

My journey to a career in web development and design was quite a gradual one. I drifted into it one day when I was bored. I made a horrific attempt (of which I was extraordinarily pleased and proud at the time) at a home page at GeoCities. Thankfully, that site from way back in 1998 is long since dead and buried! I remember well my pain…

The reason I moved away from Feedburner was because I thought it was difficult to exit the service and was afraid of my feed subscribers getting stuck. However, last night I had a really great chat to Rick Klaus from Feedburner, and he explained a lot of things that now make sense. I see I was quite wrong in my fear that there was no easy way to exit.

I was totally delighted to see the different approach Derek Featherstone has taken when putting his presentation from the Web Essentials 05 conference online.

Rather than just upload his prepared slides, Derek has created a new website, Simply Accessible.

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.

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.

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…

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…

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…

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