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Microsoft: What does the future hold?
2008-06-30 21:29:00
I suspect that at some point in the future, today may well be seen to be very significant! Why? Simply because today was the first day that Microsoft moved forward without its founder at the helm. (Bill Gates retired from Microsoft as an executive last Friday, although he still remains its non-executive chairman). Changes in strategic leader nearly always are accompanied by big changes in direction, not necessarily immediately, but often relatively soon afterwards. This is even more evident when the strategic leader has been the organisation’s founder. Microsoft is clearly very keen to play down any hint of a change and I doubt there are any plans to be different at this stage, but I suspect when we look back at some point in the future, the big changes will seem to have sprung from this period. Obviously, the direction and stance that Microsoft takes will have a profound influence on the computing industry and business at large. It will be interesting to see how Microsoft...
More About: General , Future , The Future , Hold

Web Compliance? It is often simply unbelievable!
2008-05-31 16:56:00
I can’t believe just how many web designers claim that their web sites are compliant with the standards when they are demonstrably not!   I’m talking in particular about the World Wide Web (W3C) consortium’s standards for HTML and XHTML. You’ve probably seen their compliance logos proudly displayed on web sites that claim to comply. The standards are exacting and very unforgiving on slips in the code. A particular page either complies or it does not, but this is nothing particularly challenging for a professional discipline that is used to such binary situations.   The standards are important for all sorts of reasons, not least because there is a greater chance that more browsers will render the sites as intended, that search engines are more likely to index them properly and that people using less popular browsers because of their disabilities are more likely to be able to access them.   There are standards in many different professions ...
More About: Web Design , Simply , Unbelievable , Compliance

A Contentious Lunchtime Thought?
2008-03-18 16:40:00
I came across an interesting article by Bruce Lawson on The Web Standards Project web site about the UK Government Accessibility Consultation that was held by the Cabinet Office last November. The consultation clearly aimed at looking at ways of making .gov.uk web sites more accessible to people with disabilities. It proposed making it mandatory for government web sites to achieve World Wide Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) AA-level compliance (presumably to meet European objectives for inclusive e-government). The bit that caught my eye was the proposal that government web sites should face withdrawal from the .gov.uk domain if they failed to comply. It occurred to me that a similar approach could be very effective at ensuring commercial .uk web sites comply with existing UK legislation (such as the Companies Act 2006 and the Disability Discrimination Act 2005). What if the Internet domains publishing web sites that failed to comply with UK legi...
More About: General , Thought

EMail: The Beginning of the End?
2008-03-07 15:32:00
I was interested to read Ben Limberg's article on the BBC News web site this morning about how stressful email is becoming. It highlighted for me that spam continues to grow and it reminded me of my earlier article on this blog about the need to start tackling the phenomenon rather than hiding it. The BBC article suggests that around two million emails are sent every minute in the United Kingdom. The majority of reports I read suggest that spam currently accounts for around 95% of all email in circulation, so the BBC statement implies that an amazing 1,900,000 junk emails are sent every minute in Britain! Certainly, my own consulting practice's email logs have doubled in the last six months and I am pretty confident we are not getting that much more real email. The growth of spam seems to be as exponential as ever. In fact, what I used to think was a pretty cool feature - the pop up facility in Microsoft Outlook that notifies you of new email - has started to ...
More About: Email , General , The Beginning of the End

Internet Attacks: It Won?t Happen to Us?
2008-02-11 22:35:00
The lack of understanding of IT-related security issues in many small-to-medium sized businesses that I encounter as a management and technology consultant often worries me. There seems to be a mindset amongst senior managers (often at partner and director level) that security breaches are only perpetrated by external human hackers and that their firms are not sufficiently important enough to attract attention. These senior managers miss the fact that almost all initial external attacks are automated and that although many of these attacks may be unsuccessful in compromising their organisation’s data security, they may nonetheless seriously damage their internal infrastructure, resulting in significant costs in order to rectify the damage. It would be a lucky organisation indeed that did not have its Internet defences probed at least once every couple of minutes. The most recent log I inspected for a small organisation was receiving an attack per minute in what appe...
More About: Security , Attacks

Personal Details of 25M People Compromised by UK Government
2007-11-20 22:28:00
I suspect the loss of 25 million child benefit records by HM Government in the United Kingdom will have considerable, long-term ramifications. I understand that the compromised data represents the details of all the recipients of Child Benefit in the United Kingdom and includes names, addresses, dates of birth, national insurance numbers and, in many cases, the banking details of the parents or guardians involved. According to a BBC news report, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) sent a couple of CDs with this highly sensitive data to the National Audit Office on 18th October 2007, but didn’t discover the information was missing until 24th October 2007. Apparently, the CDs were sent by internal mail without being registered or recorded in any way. It was clearly an accident waiting to happen. Worse still, when they didn’t turn up, it seems from the statement made to the House of Commons by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling MP, that a further copy ...
More About: Personal , Security , People , General

Do You Have a Good Web Site?
2007-11-05 18:43:00
What is the minimum for a good web site? I am often asked to give an opinion on whether a web site is good or not. I normally start by assessing whether the web site complies with relevant law and technical standards, since these are easy and objective tests to apply. It seems sensible to me to say that all good web sites, at the very minimum, will comply with these. I am, of course, aware that good web sites will also have well-written copy and excellent graphics, be informative and easy to navigate, but these are much more subjective than the bare minimum requirements above and consequently far more open to opinion. However, I do believe that it is reasonable to assert that any site that fails these basic fundamentals cannot realistically be called a good web site, so it is pretty easy to assess whether a particular site is not good. So what laws and standards are applicable? Legally, web sites built for operation in the United Kingdom should comply with the Companies Ac...
More About: Web Design , Site , Good , Web site

Sweeping Spam under the Carpet
2007-10-05 20:43:00
Unless I am greatly mistaken, there has been yet another surge in spam in the last few weeks. Like many firms, Revell Research Systems uses a fairly sophisticated anti-spam system, which generally performs pretty well. It occasionally needs tweaking to improve its detection rate, but on the whole, it does its job well. However, I am acutely aware just how much spam is actually chucked into our email system on a daily basis. It is literally huge. There is the spam that is sent to our active email accounts and then there is the massive amount sent to random addresses in the hope that something might strike lucky! Worse still, spam is increasingly being sent with large attachments, which eats away at our bandwidth. I believe that the majority of Internet users are blissfully unaware of just how much spam is actually in circulation (although they know that they receive an unreasonable amount). The problem is that much of it is sent to non-existent people and is handled in the...
More About: Spam , Carpet , The Car , Sweep

Plymouth University's Best Computing Graduate Receives Recognition
2007-10-04 00:04:00
I'm pleased to announce that Darren Rees, from Llantwit Major in South Wales, formally received the 2007 Revell Research Systems Prize at the University of Plymouth at a small ceremony in Exeter this afternoon. It was the first time I've actually met Darren, who is interested in pursuing a career in the highly competitive games industry. He is obviously a very able programmer and Dr Nigel Barlow, his tutor while at Plymouth, was clearly impressed with his final year project. The prize (which we established last year to mark our 21st year in business) is awarded annually to the best final year student on the university's BSc(Hons) Computing programme. Essentially, Darren is the best computing graduate from the university this year. Although he intends to take some time out to discover New Zealand, he would be a catch for any company looking for a young and talented C++/Java programmer with an interest in gaming. More details about the prize are available at http://pri...
More About: Graduate , General , Recognition

Northern Rock Not So Sturdy for Online Customers
2007-09-16 13:53:00
I?ve just read the BBC News report about the problems Northern Rock ?s online savers are having in accessing their funds. Like many online accounts, it appears that Northern Rock?s online account holders can only access their funds online in accordance with their terms and conditions. This is clearly both frustrating and alarming to the bank?s online customers, who like many of their offline counter-parts, are trying to withdraw their money quickly, since they all perceive their investments as being far from safe. I can?t help but wonder whether this will have an impact on the public?s perception of online banking as a whole. I think people may conclude that online-only accounts are inherently less secure than traditional accounts. It seems to be certainly true that the bank?s traditional customers have received better service when they?ve eventually managed to get inside their branch than their online counter-parts. The traditional customer has obviously had to queue for ages,...
More About: General , Customers , Online

Do Bloggers Prefer FireFox or Internet Explorer?
2007-09-13 19:33:00
Hans-Eric Grönlund has an interesting article on the popularity of FireFox (FF) on his blog, entitled "The Firefox Domination" which you should read. Frank Carr has also remarked on Hans-Eric's blog that he has also noticed a high ratio of FireFox users compared with those using Internet Explorer (IE), which he finds particularly interesting because his site is about all things .NET, which he supposes would attract a more pro-Microsoft audience. This trend is something that I've noticed on my blog here, although we don't see the marked contrast that Hans-Eric sees. However, it is very clear that those actively subscribing to my blog or being referred from other blogs (etc) are far more likely to be FF users. Interestingly, our analytic software suggests that overall IE users out number FF users by something like 7-8:1, but this figure is probably skewed heavily in favour of IE because many spiders declare themselves as being based on IE. The demographics of this i...
More About: Web Design , Internet Explorer , General

Backwards IT Thinking?
2007-09-12 22:50:00
I was interested to read Martin Atherton's article 'Boots, House of Fraser not renewing IT director posts poses some interesting questions' on his blog at IT-Analysis.com, which ponders the somewhat odd move by Boots and the House of Fraser not to re-appoint new IT directors when their current incumbents leave. This certainly does pose some interesting questions...! Although, I broadly agree with Martin Atherton's maturity model for IT governance, I am very uneasy about the idea of a board without an IT director (or at least some representation at the top table)! While I certainly agree that the most mature model is where the IT function is completely integrated across the organisation and is seen to be (and actually is) integral to the whole operation of the business; I can only see an IT department without board level representation as a rudderless vehicle (even if the IT department is only managing out-source...
More About: Thinking , Backwards

Straight Back to Google!
2007-09-06 19:55:00
I'm constantly surprised by web sites that still have some form of doorway page. I've always felt that such designs probably allude to the designer's origins in print media, where one might argue that the book cover has to sell the book. The cover has to attract the casual browser in the bookshop to engage them in the sales process. Designers with this sort of background (and naive web site buyers who accept their advice) presumably feel that web sites must have some sort of "cover" in order to attract visitors, which I presume leads to the concept of a doorway page. In fact, our terminology of "having a home page" probably doesn't help matters!! I'm not keen on doorway pages because if the user does approach the site via the home page, these often actually just serve as a barrier to the real content. It requires the user to make one further click with the risk that they will return instead to the search engine results page that got them there in the first place. (Note...
More About: Google , Web Design , Back , Straight , Googl

Nostalgia for Turbo Pascal
2007-09-04 10:26:00
I was interested in Hans-Eric Grönlund's post on the decline of Delphi and (implicitly) its predecessor Turbo Pascal . I used Turbo Pascal extensively in the late 1980s and early 1990s, particularly versions 4.0 and 5.5, and then later Turbo Pascal for Windows 1.0 and 1.5. Version 5.5 introduced me to objected-oriented programming (OOP) in practical terms and I fondly remember the OOP guide that was part of the documentation for version 5.5. I stopped using Turbo Pascal for Windows in favour of Visual Basic and never really adopted Delphi, which I always thought would have faired better if it had been called Visual Pascal. A considerable amount of my original code library built in Pascal survives today as part of the internal Revell Research Systems code library, having been ported to the .NET Framework. Indeed, much of my thinking around bannering emerged while writing code in Turbo Pascal and 6502 Assembly and was much influenced by Lance Leventhal's approach to docume...
More About: Nostalgia , Coding

Banner Blindness
2007-08-23 23:19:00
I've just read an interesting article by Jakob Nielsen (who is an expert on web site usability) on useit.com, which reports on their research into banner blindness - the well-known effect whereby web site visitors manage to completely ignore banner advertising. I found the article interesting and was reminded of Seth Godin's views on interruption marketing and how he believes that people are becoming immune to this form of marketing. This weblog is produced by Revell Research Systems.
More About: Web Design , Banner , Blindness

Language Convergence
2007-08-22 13:54:00
I've just read an article on Hans-Eric Grönlund's blog, which discusses how close Java and C# are as languages. He concludes that "C#.NET is the best platform for Windows based systems since it was in fact designed for it. Java on the other hand is the only option for systems that are targeting other operating systems." I would agree that Java is probably the only realistic option for systems targeting non-Windows environments. However, I would be reluctant to assert that C# was the best language for Windows development, although I would certainly agree that .NET is now the best platform for it. The issue is that on this front we are discussing three levels: the language, the platform and the operating system. The only language supported by the "Java" platform is Java, but it targets multiple operating systems; whereas .NET supports multiple languages and mainly targets the Windows operating system (although as Hans-Eric mentions the Mono project widens this base a little...
More About: Language , Coding , Convergence

Comparison of UK and French Wifi Charges
2007-08-20 20:33:00
I've recently been working from France and have often had to rely on wifi hotspots operated by Orange. I consider the charges made by this firm to be very reasonable and one that encourages casual wifi use. I was being offered 10 hours of broadband access for 15 euros directly from the hotspot's web site. 15 euros is around £10 sterling, which works out to be around £1 per hour. Furthermore, the 10 hours was available for 30 days at any hotspot from first login, which provides additional and valuable flexibility. Orange also offers shorter periods of access down to 1 hour for 4.50 euros (approximately £3 per hour). Naturally, I consider the Orange Wifi offering to be excellent and it certainly encouraged me to remain connected for longer. I've just compared this with BT OpenZone, which is no where near as flexible. I have generally been looking for enough connection time to economically read and reply to my emails; browse for current news and to c...
More About: French , General , Comparison , Char

Further Details about the 2007 RRS Prize
2007-08-09 00:04:00
Plymouth University has just published details about the award of the 2007 Revell Research Systems Prize to Darren Rees at http://www.plymouth.ac.uk/pages/view.asp? page=19863. More details about the prize are available at http://prize.rrs.co.uk. This weblog is produced by Revell Research Systems.
More About: General , Details , Tail , Tails

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
2007-08-02 12:26:00
Ever since I supervised a student on a post graduate industrial placement who was undertaking some research into what was later to be termed search engine optimisation for a marketing agency in Exeter in the mid-90s, I have been deeply sceptical about many of the claims made by SEO specialists. Do not get me wrong! Well-written copy intelligently presented using standards-compliant HTML can be successfully optimised and I do believe that huge placement differences exist between poor quality pages and those of a much higher standard. What I believe is that writing search engine optimised pages is part and parcel of good web design and not a black art to be practised by specialists. At the end of the day, a lot of SEO work comes down to writing good, crisp copy that balances the needs of the reader with those of the search engine. There really isn't much of a substitute for this. The copy must pay attention to what potential visitors might search for, so keyword analysi...
More About: Web Design , Search , Search Engine , Engine , Search Engine Optimisation

Navigational Structure
2007-07-29 14:54:00
I believe that web site navigation is extremely important and designers that ignore the navigational structure of their web sites severely reduce the usability of their sites. It surprises me how many people do not consider the likelihood of a visitor landing on anything but their site's home page. It seems obvious that the larger the site, the more likely this is to occur. Such people are also often very anxious about their site's positioning on major search engines, which implies that they at least appreciate that most visitors will probably stumble across their site via some form of search. Nonetheless, it does not seem to register with them that the first page visited is very unlikely to be their home page! For instance, I've often been told that just using backspace or the "back to" button is adequate to return to the home page and that no explicit link is required, but this assumes that the visitor started from there in the first place - which often simply isn...
More About: Web Design , Structure