January 19th, 2010
Allowing multiple, simultaneous downloads
In building DubFiler, I had to learn all about downloads and browser behavior. Browsers usually only allow two downloads from a server at once. Which meant if I started downloading a file while another was downloading or “streaming” (being downloaded by the Flash audio player), the page would hang. Not a great user experience.
After some digging around the web, I found the solution. Browsers consider subdomains (anything.dubfiler.com) another domain, so you get two more simultaneous downloads. People use this for faster image downloads, but it works great when yre downloading other files, too.
So I just created subdomains pointing to the same domain – images.dubfiler.com just points to dubfiler.com. There was no noticable server hit, and browsers will download more files simultaneously. Hope this helps.
Tags: browser hangs, file downloading, simultaneous downloads, subdomains
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January 11th, 2010
Can Balsamiq’s Mockups work for an enterprise site?
For the last few months I had the opportunity to use Balsamiq’s Mockups on a really big client. I had to create wireframes for about 80 web pages. At the high point, I had open more than 40 wireframes. Here’s how it held up.
Mockups is an Adobe Air app, which can be buggy, but I find Mockups to be fairly stable in Windows XP. It got a little slow, but performed well.
I love that Mockups assumes you will be working with lots of files, with options like “Close all” and “Export all”. What a time saver!
My only complaint is there is no functionality for includes. Since this was a web site, every wireframe had one of two headers (“logged in” and “logged out”). I created groups for headers so it was one copy and paste, but that’s one per file. I would I love to have been able to update a two files and have all my wireframes change.
So over all, it was great. Performance was fine and it made my life easier. Don’t think you need an “established” product for doing lots of wireframes. Balsamiq continues to rock my world.
Tags: balsamiq, big project, enterprise, large site, mockups, wireframes
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January 4th, 2010
Four productivity apps I swear by
I love tiny web apps that are 100% utility. I try to build apps like this because I think it’s one of the biggest values of the web. Get out of my way and help me get the most out of the work day.
Here are four apps (web based and not web based) that I use often:
RescueTime.com – You run a little app that monitors your activities, and then generates reports. It’s definitely insightful!
Tweetminer.com – Post web content to your Twitter account.
GetItDoneapp.com – My favorite GTD app (while I work on my own)
mite.yo.lk – I tried every time tracking app I could find. This one does less than all the others, and that’s why I love it. I use it to track more than work now.
And here are a couple I can’t wait to try:
GetConcentrating.com – A super simple little app for OS X that forces you to concentrate on the computer.
TeuxDeux.com – SwissMiss designed a great looking daily todo list. I’ve signed up, it seems awesome. I just haven’t incorporated it into my life yet.
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December 28th, 2009
Google browser sizes
Google has introduced one of their best tool ever. It simple shows you what percentage of people will see what percentage of your web page. So simple, yet so crucial.
http://browsersize.googlelabs.com/
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October 24th, 2009
Own your space, like this…
Brian Clark from Copyblogger created a site explaining how effective authority can be in marketing.
The site, Authority Rules, is amazing. It illustrates it’s own point. Well worth reading through.
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October 14th, 2009
Usability and conversions on Fearless Business TV
I had the pleasure of being on Fearless Business’ first episode on Uba.TV today. I got to talk about some simple things you can do on your web site to increase conversions. I’m on around 7min, but I recommend watching the whole thing to learn about social media for small business, and also how to pitch your self or your business better.
Fearless Business TV Pilot on Uba.TV
Tags: fearless business, podcast, small business, tv, tv pilot, usability, video
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August 10th, 2009
Tr.im closing, and thoughts on monetizing on the web
If you haven’t heard, the URL shortening service Tr.im is closing down. It’s a shame because it was my favorites, and I wasn’t alone. In a busy space, the tr.im product wasn’t particularly unique, but it was easy, clean and offered a couple features that no else did. And it was free.
But all of the url shortening services are free. Some have freemuim models, some, like tr.im, are meant to drive traffic to the company’s other products. Free is a big topic of discussion right now, and a lot of people building web apps struggle with it. What do we give away, and what do we charge for? What will people pay for? How do we make money off of free? Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: chris anderson, free web sites, monetizing, saas, tr.im, url shortening, web apps
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July 22nd, 2009
What if you had to pay for clicks?
Google has made a million dollars on their pay-per-click adSense, but that’s not what I’m talking about. I’ve been reading books like the 4-Hour Workweek and there’s a big push for efficiency. It’s great. “Check your email twice a day. Not more. Really. You’ll survive.” It’s amazing – I never thought I could do it, but it feels good, and is actually more efficient. Less changing gears. But I digress. This sort of tip has made me think about efficiency in front of the computer. Things like thinking things through before even touching the mouse. Putting pen to paper. Working on one project at a time. Like that.
And then I realized a great measurement would be clicks. Imagine if you had to pay for clicks? Or there was an odometer on yr mouse? How efficient would you be! I’ve tried to think about how to do things in fewer steps, fewer movements, fewer mistakes. I’ve gotten better about focusing, and def am more efficient. Give it a try and let me know what yr results are!
Tags: clicks, efficiency, focusing, GTD
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July 20th, 2009
Great comments on life in a start-up
Onstartups has a great collection of comments made about one of their articles.
Tags: comments, insights, link, onstartups, start-ups
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