An online notebook
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An online notebook
Here’s a little presentation I have cobbled together to try and show what’s possible with a web browser these days. It certainly isn’t intended to be comprehensive, rather to give folk an idea of where they can go to start experimenting. Feel free to use it, edit it, do whatever you like with it.
[slideshare 175910 be-more-productive-with-web-2-1195739427150628-3]
Have downloaded and am using the FireFox 3 beta, partly out of interest but also because of the many problems I have been having with version 2 since I switched to Vista.
I’ve found myself having to reinstall FF on an almost daily basis, as it just won’t load otherwise. A real pain in the neck. Anyway, the new beta has already been slammed in TechCrunch, and I’m already annoyed because none of my extensions work with it – something I probably should have predicted. The big problem I currently have with it is the fact that I can’t download anything – it just doesn’t happen. I’m having to flick to IE everytime I need to download a file.
I have had a really great idea for a little site that I think will be of use to quite a few people in the UK. Trouble is, it relies on using the Google Maps API, and I haven’t a clue how that works, despite my recent best efforts trawling through the documentation.
The basic idea is pretty simple: a homepage with a zoomable map of the UK on it , with markers on the map which when clicked display information about that location. I’d like eventually to be able to show people directions from their address to one or more of the markers too, but that can come later.
I’m guessing that, given there is plenty of information to be handled, a MySQL/PHP/Google Maps integration job might be on the cards. Again, beyond me at the moment, but I just need someone to point me in the right direction.
Can anyone help?
Nice graphical representation of the social media landscape, posted to Flickr by DBarefoot.
Caroline Middlebrook has produced a guide to Twitter – what it is and why we should all be using it. Great stuff.
Thanks to Phil Bradley for the link – I hadn’t come across Caroline’s blog before but am now subscribed.
I love Charlie Brooker’s columns at The Guardian‘s Comment is Free site as much as I love his TV stuff. I’m just catching up on his posts after being offline for a while, and came across this gem:
Years ago, on a night out with a girl I was slowly going crazy for, the sheer weight of mental calculation left me unable to make any sort of move. We shared a cab together, and after it dropped her home, she sent a text message saying: “I wanted you to kiss me.” But the moment had gone. A week later she met the love of her life and that was that. It happens to everyone at some stage, obviously. But this was worse because it happened to me.
Quick presentation on improving a WordPress blog from Mark Jaquith:
[slideshare 158924 amping-up-your-wordpress-blog-1194474703187376-3]
Sketchcast is a great little tool which allows you to record yourself drawing a sketch – whether roughly with a mouse or more accurately with a graphics pen – and you can add audio commentary too.
Here’s a great example from Anecdote, explaining how communities of practice can be used to create action and outputs. I hope it embeds ok – one of the few limitations of WordPress is in the way that embedded media works, it often messes up the layout of the post unless you use a plugin to handle it for you. Hopefully there will be a Sketchcast plugin for WordPress soon.
Richard Pope has been working on a new social website for MySociety, called GroupsNearYou.com. Here’s how he explains it on his blog:
For all the talk of social networking people forget that for a whole host of internet users have been doing this kind of thing for years using really the really the < web 1.0 technology of email groups and phpBB forums (sw4people, Urban75 and Hern Hill Forum blog are just a few local to me).
They can make a real difference to the local community aspects of people’s lives – discussing crime, finding out about local restaurants, ganging up on their local council or whatever. Many of the people who run these groups (especially the email based ones) are often not that internet savvy, but have found simple tools that let them connect with people where they live that have a shared interest.
The problem is, unless someone tells you directly about one, they are all but invisible.
To this ends, I’ve been building a site for mySociety called (sticking to the “does what it says on the tin” naming convention) GroupsNearYou.com that is aiming to map the locations and details of these groups and, importantly, help people find ones relevant them.
At the moment the site is pretty sparsely populated, but I am sure that will change in the very near future. Making decent websites available to community groups is a topic I am greatly interested in, but equally important is making them accessible and easy to find. Great work, Richard!
I have been looking for a cheap, quick to implement and eay to use CRM (customer relationship management) system to use while a long term solution is identified. This led me to have a play with Zoho’s offering, which is a real gem. Not only is it pretty fully featured, but there is also the ability to customise fields, and add your own. This is invaluable as the service is pretty heavily sales-focused.
Add to this that the system is free for the first 3 users, and only $12 (about £6) a month for any additional users, it’s a real bargain.
Another option within this space is 37 Signals’ Highrise, which isn’t as fully featured as the Zoho effort.
There are downsides of course – I’m not sure, for example, what the data protection issues are for holding large amounts of other people’s personal data online are, especially for a public body. But in terms of features, ease of use, customisability and price, this is a real winner.