The FuzzyBlog!
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Wednesday, June 05, 2002

A Plea to Blog Template Designers Everywhere! I'm going to go out on a limb here and make a few general comments / questions here: Are all designers that make blog templates 22 - 25 years old with perfect eyesight ? Have any designers ever used high res monitors (I'm on 1600 x 1200)? Do any of you realize that SMALL TEXT HURTS THE EYES!  And it makes me just leave blogs that use it. Feel free to send the obligatory flame...  But let me continue...  I like to read blogs (ok, I like writing more but I always was a tad weird) but it's honestly hard to read some of these blogs now a days.  For whatever obscure reason, designers are setting the main text font in PX values not % values.  This means that when you use Internet Explorer on a PC that the font size is fixed!  Totally Fixed.  Yes this is a Microsoft bug and one they refuse to fix.  So what?  If it turns off your audience then that's bad.  And the real shame of it all ?  Here's all you need to do to fix it: Just take this:   body, td, p {     font-family: verdana, sans-serif;     font-size: 12px;     } and make it this:        body, td, p {         font-family: verdana, sans-serif;         font-size: 90%;         } I know this might wreck your pixel perfect design.  Sorry.  Don't care.  If people can't read it or just exit the page before it even finishes loading them what does it matter?  And, in closing, lest you think I'm just cranky today, Tim inspired this with email and, a month earlier, Jeffrey Zeldman was wonderful enough to explain it all clearly, slowly and in small words (on a Sunday morning no less).  Tim's Email | Site 1  | Site 2 Jeffrey's Email | Jeffrey's Site So, can you please, please, please make fonts in % not px?  Just for the <P> tag if you don't mind.  Thank you. 7:40:46 PM  Google It!  comment []   IM Me About This

Improving Your Writing: Strunk and White Very cool -- I just found my favorite all time book on writing is now online -- Elements of Style by Strunk and White -- http://www.bartleby.com/141/.  This is a classic book on writing often used in the U.S. but known much out side this country.  Worth a look if you are trying to improve your writing skills (and in this era of blogging, who isn't).  And, yes, I do violate more than one of the rules from time to time... 3:02:35 PM  Google It!  comment []   IM Me About This

The Upgrade Pressure Begins... Do You Want a Microsoft Update? Interesting... I just got the below email.  Here's the bizarreness.  CJ Gorius isn't my rep (Steve Pierce is and he's great).  I haven't even talked to Steve in 15 months probably.  The email is poorly written and implemented at best -- i.e. no salutation, poor formatting, including a damn big attachment unsolicited (707 KB) -- utterly insulting at worst.  And this is a vendor that I've spent > $1,000,000 with over 15 years (most of it as a dot commer outfitting a data center).  Sigh.  And so it goes.  Stupidity award of the week. The email: I wanted to take this opportunity to introduce myself as CJ Gorius' Sales Manager. First, let me thank you for partnering with PC Connection for your Information Technology solutions. As your partner, I just wanted to remind you of the limited time remaining to upgrade your Microsoft software licenses. The deadline for enrolling your MS software in the current MS Licensing Program is July 31, 2002. If your software is not enrolled in this program before July 31, 2002, we will not be able to offer you the "get current and stay current" plan after this date. However, enrolling your licensing in this plan will allow you to save money and keep your technology up-to-date. I ask that you review the attached document which details the reasons that Microsoft Software Assurance will save you as much as 37% while keeping you protected from the high cost of upgrade licensing during the next two years. As a special incentive to our customers to "get current and stay current", PC Connection is offering ninety day net terms on qualified Microsoft purchases prior to June 26, 2002. Please feel free to contact CJ Goruis or myself with any questions you may have on how to protect your Microsoft investments. You can reach CJ Gorius at (800) 800-0014 x33346 or myself at x33160. Thank you for your time and consideration. <<MicrosoftLicenseUpdate081502.pdf>>  (that link works by the way)   Jacqueline P. Lemoine Corporate Sales Manager PC Connection Sales Corp IT Solutions for Business jplemoine@pcconnection.com Phone: 1-800-800-0014 x33160 Fax: 603-683-0311 www.pcconnection.com     2:03:01 PM  Google It!  comment []   IM Me About This

BlogBack: Following Up on Previous Threads Before I start in on a a whole new series of posts, I thought I'd clear up some older issues.  I think there is enough ongoing stuff that I'll probably do this regularly.  And, yes, inspired by Slashdot's Slashback (examples). That Satellite Job? He (Ray) got it. Started yesterday. I ended up passing on another offsite gig to and I think Andy's getting it. Good for him. This Template?  I told you I'd move to it.  Joe does great work.  Later today I'll try and talk about how to permanently archive your template settings so you don't scramble around like I've been doing for the past 2 hours. That O'Reilly Book? Chapter 3 went to the Review list earlier today and Chapter 7 is being finished now. Overall it's dramatically improved. Dramatically. Special things go out to Jake, Lawrence and Roger. Additional thanks go to all these people below. Not every change was made but I did look at each and every one. If you find that I didn't get it right, you know the drill -- scott@fuzzygroup.com.  (Sorry for not linking to your blogs, that'll come later with the official "Scott Owe's You" page. Guy K. Haas Frank Steele Andy Fragen Steve Zellers Greg Kucharo Mike Cohen Rowan Brewer Paolo Valdemarin Mark Yeager Chris Janton Andy Sylvester Roger Turner Lawrence Lee Jake Savin Dave Winer Robert Barksdale Russ Lipton Eszter Hargittai Robert Occhialini K. Dadamo Philip Wolff David Davies Buzzy Bruggeman Justin Klubnik Mike Krus Eric Albert Jeff Cheney Kjartan Mannes Simone Bettini That Satellite Job Again? I've talked to the head hunter several more times and Amy is just a sweet heart. Ray even confirmed it -- she treated him well and was both honest and decent. For those that haven't used head hunters before, that's rare (IMHO). Recommended. She even mentioned that the tech economy is getting better (i.e. she has more recruiting tasks than she used to a few months ago). And she works from Hawaii. How cool is that? My Laptop? In progress.  Sigh. Wish Lists? First gift arrived yesterday. I know who you are and thank you. A warm and fuzzy glow surrounded me for the entire evening once I got it (UPS just leaves stuff for me, never, ever asks for signature. Weird). My Cats? Very helpful in the editing process. Pictures tomorrow probably. Have You Backed Up Your Website Lately? We rarely think about this but the headhunter who got Ray the job told me that her company's web site was completely lost when their ISP didn't do the backups they were required to. I helped her get some back from my browser cache, her's and Google but not all that much. If you haven't ever thought about backing up stuff on a hosted box, I recommend it. Here's how I'm going to do it: www.ftpvoyager.com has scheduled FTP (that actually works). I'll just set up a job for this and then use www.secondcopy.com to replicate it to my backup hard drive. Do I Ever Leave the House?  Rarely it seems.... But I did head for the local Barnes and Noble last night.  Ended up driving about 15 miles behind a garbage truck.  Sigh.  Anyway... I stocked up on Linux Magazine, Linux Journal, 2600 and C Users Journal.  I know... Hopeless geek. 7:55:50 AM  Google It!  comment []   IM Me About This