Minor Changes

Who says I don't listen to feedback???

It turns out that my "readership" is roughly split in half on a certain number of topics. 50% of you like the fact that the blog includes some funny comments and posts, and like the fact that there is *usually* one post a day to at least pass the time at work. The other 50% of you would rather I stuck to the subject matter at hand, even if it meant less posts.

I'm a big believer in quality over quantity, even if it isn't really obvious by my writings; but I do think that I should write about my life to give all readers, especially those who have not been with us for too long, a better understanding of me and where I'm coming from.

The Dilema

How do I keep the funny comments, pictures, posts for 50% of people, but limit the amount of redundant posts/space take up on the front page for those that don't want to see it?

The Solution

The Show / Hide button I use for posts considered NOT WORK SAFE.
From now on, long posts, non relavent posts, images, t-shirts, funnies, pictures, nonsence, rants etc, will all require a click to be seen. I'll clearly state the category at the top of the post so you know whether it's safe or not safe for work. I know it's not exactly genius idea, and it does require me to put in a small bit of effort, but, I do hope that this keeps both sides happy. I'm really really happy to hear any feedback, via comments, email or MSN.

Major Site updates

Major thanks to Kev for hand coding most of these changes.

It's been a long process for him as many of these features are *not* avilible on the blogging service I use, so he's literally had to hack out some amazing code, and I appreciate the time he's put in. I do hope it improves your interactivity with the site, especially those of you who read it at work, or who are more selective about what you come here to read and comment on.

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Taking my geekyness to the next level, I've made some rather sweeping changes to how the blog works in the past 6 weeks. Some are things that people have been screaming about for quite some time, so I'm hoping that these changes should push us through that magic 100 unique views a day / minimum 10 posts per topic barrier.

1. Formatting on your comments.

Comments can now have HTML added to them to make them easier to read.
I realise that this may involve coding for some of you (sorry), and I'm trying deperately hard to come up with a WYSISWG editor, but it looks like I'll have to get kev to hand code it, so it'll take a while.
basically, BOLD and UNDERLINE now work really well to make your points that much clearer.

2. RSS / XML feeds

These are now back working, and should work with Macs and the new versions of Windows Vista / Live software. I have about 25 people who only view the site this way, and while that's not a huge number, they do represent 25 page views for every post. Big thanks to CarolAnn for doing the testing on her Mac.

3. Better Layout Loading

I doubt you'll notice it, but the amount of code generated has roughly halfed, so the whole page should load quicker. I've also cut back on quite a few design features, so that I can integrate more information on the right hand pane. I'm definately up for any suggestion you might have.

4. Flickr

Thats right, I have added some flickr integration to the blog. So anyone that's got a photo of themselves, please please send it to me and we can all see each other. I'd really like a small sense of community here, and I think that would really help. Ok, i'm lying, i'm after naked pics...

5. NOW WORK SAFE!!!!

This, my friends, is the one you've been waiting on.

All non work safe comments are now placed inside a hidden div, and you HAVE to click on them to be able to view them. I'm so so glad of this, and currently it's working in IE6 and Firefox browsers. Safari for the Mac has a small issue with some images being visible until the whole page loads, but I've had to ask Kev to re-look at the code, as it's not a simple cut and paste job.

I'm so very happy with this one, as I know that a number of you can't look at the site at work for fear of seeing something that you shouldn't. Hopefully, thats a thing of the past.

And now...

I need help. Play around with these changes. Tell me via email or comments if any of them are useful. Tell me if there is anything you'd like to see added. I've been asked for Polls, PodCasts, BlogLinks, better search option, better archiving, VideoCasts, spellchecks, filters and more. Some of them are not what I want to do with the site, some really really are. But I'd really appreciate some feedback.

thanks,

Steve

New Toys 3

I'm not a Mac lover. That is not to say they've not done some fabulous things, and that some Mac features do work wonders (the iPod Nano is amazing), but on the whole my opinion of a Mac is that it looks good but it's quite crap.

Basically, it's like Tara Reid. Looks good at a distance, seems to be fine to play with, but when you wake up teh next morning you're regretting it.

That said, i download these 3 addons for windows that make my PC look like a Mac, and I'm loving it. One is free, the others cost money (but have a free trial); but I wanted to share them with you anyway.

Yahoo Widgets (the free one)

Basically, it's a little program that does one thing. They can be shown or hidden with the press of a button. I have the weather one, the Google search and a "Post-it Note" equivalent.

I really want a good iTunes controller and possibly one that does a good job of reaching RSS feeds and my email. If I can find something that will automate the things I do alot of, then yeah, i'll be really happy with the whole Widgets package.

http://widgets.yahoo.com/

Object Dock

Makes your menu on your PC work like a MAC. Thats it really. The free version does anything you'd need, the one you pay for does some other things that I've never looked at.

http://www.stardock.com/products/objectdock/

Top Desk

Alt + Tab. In windows terms, it brings up a box with all the programs you have running. It's been teh same since Windows 3.1 (thats 15 years). THIS tool makes it all better. It has 3 modes, all of which need to be seen to be belived.

1. Pressing F9 makes all the windows minimize, so you can see your desktop.

2. Pressing F10 makes all the windows appear on your monitor, so that you can see them all at once. then just click the mouse on the one you want to use.

3. This replaces ALT + TAB, so that oou can see what each program is before you select it. It's amazing, and totally changed the way I do work at work. Really, i'm not over stating it.

If this interest you at all I'd suggest going to http://www.otakusoftware.com/ and looking at teh screenshots or videos to see it in action. It was well worth my £8. But there is the 30 day free trial too.

Voxy Lady

I'm getting bad at coming up with these titles. Anyway, VOX is the new beta version of LiveJournal. LiveJournal is the more group orientated version of the blogging package I use here from TypePad. It has some features I really like, and some that would be amazingly useful, but on the whole the old service didn't quite cut it.

Vox, on the other hand, seems to be feature rich, and allow content to be pulled in from many places, and make sure it's viewed in the way I want. This is something that really interests me, as i don't really like the way my posts are shown here. I want the Work Safe version to be on homepage. I wan people to have to click into stories longer than 2 paragraphs. I want the archiving to work better, and I want to be able to do a ton of other cool stuff that currently, isn't availible to me here.

So, I'm signing up for the Vox service, and I'll be duplicating posts for the next month or so, to see how it pans out. I may ask a few of you to check out both, to see if it works ok. I may decide it's God Awful and leave it, but anyway, this is the first post on my vox site, so I'm duplicating it here. You don't need to read it. Hmmmm, maybe I should have said that at the start.

T-shirt Tool

I don't know who you are, but you're an idiot.

T-shirts on my website get about 50 clicks a week. Mainly because there is a higher quality version after the click. This one has had over 150 today. All from the same IP address. Meaning that someone is constantly clicking on it tosee if thre is indeed a naked lady underneath.

Dude, give up!

New Toys 2

I did one of these a while ago, and no-one really noticed. Well, no-one commented on it but I like sharing with you all. That, plus, with my work being IT related, I do like to enjoy the fun things too.

So I'll just list these here, and those of you who're looking on this blog from your home PC can upgrade to or not.  Those at work, well, good for you;  i used to write this at work to pretend I was busy too.

Microsoft Vista (beta 2)
Yep, it's the NEW version of Windows that isn't being released until next year (unless you work for a big business) and it's is yours to download for free. Now. I've had the first version for a while, and it wasn't great. It was full of bugs. THIS version though, is simply imcredible.  It is a 4.7 Gig Download, but i am really really enjoying. It's intuitive, and both works and looks great. And it can be yours from:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/getready/preview.mspx

Google Earth

I don't know how many of you use things like MultiMap or StreetMap, but for the past 6 months, I've almost exclusively used GoogleEarth. It works the same way as MultiMap, but it has real ariel pictures, and all buildings in major cities can be made into 3D. so you can see the exact building you're looking for BEFORE you leave. If you thought Multimap's made your life a wee bit easier, go have a look at the future. Oh, and it's scary when it find your house...

http://earth.google.com/earth4.html

Google Firefox Sync

I have 3 computers. One laptop (that's crap), One PC at home, and One at work. I use FireFox at work and the laptop (not that I used it), and I'm trying to use IE7 more at home. Anyway, this extention add-on lets you sync up any firefox browser that you use. All your bookmarks, pages, rss feeds, extentions, ANY OF IT. It's all sync'd by adding a simple 8 digit pin. It rocks!

Right, I'm off to watch the Germany vs. Poland game. (yes, this is a diversion tactic)

Google news

I know few of you care about these site stats that I rattle off every couple of months, but if you go to www.google.com and search for Steve Bank I'm 5th. I'm one behind Steve Lamaq of BBC1 and 2 behind the Bank of England. How cool is that ?

If you be even more exact and type in "Steve Bank" (i.e. with the quotes) I'm behind Steve Banks professor at Cambridge who is top. I'm also positions 2,3,4 7 and 10 on the first page as my site starts to get more syndicated.

Considering how little updating the site had in May, I'm really quite chuffed about this.

Now I just need to find a woman to celebrate this with...

New Toys

Today I downloaded a host of new Microsoft Betas, so far, i'm really enjoying them all. I'll post links to them all later, and possibly a wee review if anyone is that interested, or I may jsut forward the email that Kev forwarded to me. But if you do go to www.microsoft.com I'd download the following:

• Internet Explorer 7
• Windows Media Player 11
• Windows Defender (anti-virus and spyware)
• and Windows Messenger Live (the new version of MSN messenger)

Unless you're on a Mac, in which case you should go and buy a real computer, and not just a glorified Speak and Spell: