Programmers Kit

I really like this article, almost as much as I hate it:

Deadly Web Design Sins

I like it because:

1. It has the name ‘dwight’.

2. It has all the things I hate that people ask me to do, including:

• Blinking Text *SideNote: Please tell me why this was ever cool?!? I don’t get it!
• Marquee text.
• Stupid, stupid frames
• Tables for silly reasons

BTW - I apologize for this post in advance. It’s annoying, I know. I couldn’t even list the other examples of the deadliest sins because they were just too badddddd.

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I had to laugh when I was reading Gmail’s custom time joke this morning:

Gmail Custom Time April Fools Joke

The idea is that you can send an email in the past.

Here at the college, the students all have gmail accounts. Google didn’t add the joke to their personal accounts, but many of the students have personal gmail accounts outside of the school as well.

I overheard a conversation:

‘Did you see that Google has set it up that you can send an email that is time stamped in the past?’

‘You could send your instructors assignments that were late, but they would never know!’

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At this time in the semester, some of my students are asked to create a quote for a fictitious client.

I receive many emails asking “I don’t know how much to charge”.

Never tell someone that you charge $10/hour. Even if you make an ugly page that only the client likes, $10/hour is a slap in the face.

I have found that in the beginning, it is better to charge per page and page elements rather than per hour. You can later charge per hour when the client requests updates.

If you are building a static HTML, 5 page site with no Flash - it may be fair to charge $300. You are trying to build a portfolio and gain a little experience and a little extra cash at the same time.

In the beginning, it may take you 5 hours to figure out one little problem with your CSS - obviously, you cannot pass that charge to the client.

It is always a good idea to search and find out what others are charging for similar websites - and to see current salaries.

You can visit:

http://www.sitepoint.com/article/web-work-should-charge

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There are some rules to remember when emailing.

Here’s a list of my pet peeves:

1. Writing in all caps: I am not going to read one more thing that is sent to me in all caps. I MEAN IT! See…I was shouting there. IT IS SO ANNOYING!

2. Emails without any white space, punctuations, or breaks: This is really hard to read because I am just going to type and type and never end this sentence well i dont know lol what do you think and i like to misspell can you help me with this but i am not sure with what and wow it looks like i wrote a lot here that is so funny lol ha man sorry this is so long but i haave a lot to say

3. Vague emails: ‘yeah’.'no’ ‘this isn’t working’ - I, like many others, get tons of email just in one day. If the email doesn’t keep the original thread or isn’t specific with the purpose of the email, I will have no recollection of what the heck we are talking about. Don’t make the recipient have to do a lot of work or digging just to answer you.  Without specific questions or details, my brain hurts and all of the emails get jumbled up into one giant mess.  I will then turn off my computer and go to bed, positive that I am never going to answer another email again.

4. Writing ‘I’ in lowercase: Mrs. Latona (second grade, Waterloo elementary - the best teacher ever) was right - this just isn’t cool: ‘i am writing you to see if you can help. i am having a really hard time and i just don’t understand.’

5. Like OMG! LOL!: This is fine if you are writing to a friend, but don’t use acronyms for business emails or when writing to your instructor. Or to your Mom.

Remember, the interpretation of an email is ultimately with the reader…emails can be taken a lot of different ways, and in ways that you may not have intended. It is much different than having a conversation. When in doubt, always go for super-polite and end your email appropriately:

Thank you,

Valerie

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