iOS or Android or Else? – Part 1
The question comes up with every project: "I want to bring my app to mobile phones. How do I decide where to put my app?" Slow down, buddy. Do you really need a native mobile app?
Read MoreTag and Shorten Your URLs in Bulk for Better Google Analytics Data
OK, you wrote a killer new article for your company, and you want to share it with the world. So, you tweet it, you post it on Facebook, and you copy it to LinkedIn. Then you email it to everyone else in your company, because you want them to read it and share it with people as well. One week later, you check out your analytics, and you see a spike in traffic. Great, people like your...
Read MoreHow to Tell if You’re an Office Cowboy (and why you don’t want to be one)
I blame it on movies like Rambo, and Die Hard. Many of us watched these movies, or movies like these, growing up. So it’s no surprise that, as adults, we all want to be cowboys (or cowgirls) too. I’m not saying that we’re all chasing after bad guys, drinking whiskey, and shooting whoever and whatever gets in our way (though I must admit, there are days where alcohol and...
Read MoreMailchimp + iPad = Newsletter Success
One of our clients recently asked us to develop a piece of software that would allow them to run an iPad sweepstakes to incentivize people to subscribe to a new monthly newsletter. The software would take a list of invitees, and handle the rest itself. Though we do love working on new projects, we try to leverage existing tools whenever possible to keep costs down. In this case, we figured that...
Read MoreScaling Your Business
Your Business Is a Flow Chart I like to visualize Setaris as a flow chart, and the same paradigm is useful for thinking about other businesses. Each box corresponds to a particular department or role. For us, the main boxes on the flow chart are: Marketing: Finding people who might want to work with us. Sales: Proposing solutions to them. Development: Building their product. Testing:...
Read MoreAt the Corner of UX, SEO, and Accessibility
Your search engine of choice, whether it is Google, Bing, or my recent favorite, DuckDuckGo, uses pieces of software called “robots” that crawl the around the web and map the Internet. Your job is to ensure that when a user is looking for X on the map of the Internet, your web page marks the spot. Ideally, these robots are meant to traverse the web just as humans do: Get your...
Read MoreCopying an entire menu hierarchy in Joomla
A friend of mine recently asked if we could make a quick change to his client’s Joomla site. The problem seemed simple enough: duplicate an entire section of the site and make it available under a different menu heading. For the most part, the articles being pointed to by each menu did not need to change though there were a few exceptions. The solution seemed simple, so I decided to knock...
Read MoreBaby Steps To Greatness
I was about 13 when I first watched What About Bob? and so the power of the Baby Steps program devised by Richard Dreyfuss’s character wasn’t immediately apparent to me. In the movie, the baby steps program is presented as the path to a life free of fear. The idea is simple enough and is an oft-used psychological tool. As an example, let’s say that you’re deathly afraid of spiders. To...
Read MoreA Case of the Fitts
Which UI button is easiest to hit? This is a prime illustration of the most basic principles in usability and interaction design known as Fitts’ Law. The time it takes to point to an object is a function of the distance to the object and its size.
Read MoreFocus on the Fundamentals
It’s 1908. You’re the dominant buggy whip manufacturer and business is strong. You’ve got committed customers, a great team, and more knowledge about your line of manufacturing than any of your competitors. There’s just one problem… The Ford Model T is about to be released, ushering in the automobile age, and drastically changing the landscape your business is operating in. The market...
Read More