simpler than you think

10 Interesting Insights on Website Usability

noreply@blogger.com (Brence) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 21:19:00 +0000

I am a sucker for good usability. Usability is one of those things you don't notice - until it is bad. Usability affects all areas of life; however, we all typically encounter bad usability on a daily basis on the web.

If something is easy to use, then it is a fun, enjoyable and stress experience to use. Unfortunately this is typically not the case on the web, and we regularly find ourselves cursing a website for its confusing mess of advertising and poor navigation - ultimately leaving that site - never to return.

I came across this very interesting article, that lists 10 Useful Usability Findings and Guidelines for web design. It is by no means a definitive guide; however, it does offer up some really good suggestions that are backed up with compelling evidence and examples - a rare find on the Internet.

The summary of the headings is listed here, head over to the Smashing Magazine site to read the full article.

1. Form Labels Work Best Above The Field
2. Users Focus On Faces
3. Quality Of Design Is An Indicator Of Credibility
4. Most Users Do Not Scroll
5. Blue Is The Best Color For Links
6. The Ideal Search Box Is 27-Characters Wide
7. White Space Improves Comprehension
8. Effective User Testing Doesn’t Have To Be Extensive
9. Informative Product Pages Help You Stand Out
10. Most Users Are Blind To Advertising

Do you want to learn more? Here are some related books from Amazon:

7 steps to clearly communicate and avoid misinterpretation

noreply@blogger.com (Brence) — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 05:28:00 +0000

Have you ever had a discussion with someone where you thought that the other person understood you, only to later discover that they had a completely different understanding of what was discussed? I would imagine that if you are married; or if you have ever been in a relationship then you will almost certainly will have experienced this! At work and home we encounter communication difficulties on a regular basis.

When we communicate with another person, we have a tendency to assume that the person hears and interprets the information in the same way that we do. It is hard for us to realise that there are different interpretations of the information that we are communicating.

We are biased to the interpretation that we have, and therefore to us the understanding seems simple and obvious. We may not even stop to consider the possibility that the information we are sharing could be interpreted in a another way.

An Example

To illustrate this point I will use an example on punctuation; the correct use of a comma can make a big difference. This is a written example but the same principle still applies for verbal communication - when we talk we 'punctuate' our words with pauses and the intonation in our voice, that affect the interpretation.

Take a look at the following two sentences - the only difference is the placement of the comma:

"A woman; without her man, is nothing."
--True or False?

"A woman; without her, man is nothing."
--True or False?

When we communicate with other people we tend to assume that they hear and understand everything that we say.

The above example could, for arguments sake, have been written in an email without punctuation. When the recipient reads the text they will add the punctuation themselves when the read the statement and may interpret the wrong meaning.

We may also lack verbal punctuation with the way we pause and use our tone of voice and intonation when we are speaking. As the above example shows, we could intend to communicate one statement and have the other person interpret a completely different understanding if we pause in the wrong spot whilst speaking.

It is important that when we communicate with others that we ask questions and confirm understanding by repeating what was said back to them in our own words. This will help to clear up any misunderstandings.

Managing Interpretations

1. Clarify: check that the correct message was received

If you are the person communicating, then it is up to you to ensure that the listener has understood. You cannot rely on the listener to clarify. This means that you need to ask clarifying questions to ensure that the other person understands and has interpreted as you intended.

If you are on the receiving end of the communication, confirm the message by repeating it back in your own words and asking clarifying questions.

2. Avoid misunderstandings before they happen

Consider other ways to interpret the information that you are communicating. Avoid the potential misinterpretation before it happens -by ensuring that there is sufficient information in your communication. Explain what you do and don't mean!

For example, a wife asking husband to cook some dinner for tonight's meal might ring home on the phone and say "I will be late home, are you OK to sort out some dinner?"

Possible interpretations by the husband could be:
- Sort out your own food...don't worry about me.
- Cook some food for both of us
- Get some take out food for both of us

the original statement could have been communicated clearer if more information had been provided:
"I will be late home, are you OK to cook dinner for us tonight?"

3. Stick to the most important information

In our house we have a little saying which is occasionally expressed when one of us is giving an over complicated explanation for something: "can you explain that... in 10 words or less".

Find the simplest way to communicate what you want. Stick to the most important information. As a gross generalisation: women have a tendency to elaborate on explanations (sometimes too much) and men tend to do the opposite, where they provide straight facts without enough surrounding information to give them context.

Provide enough information to make the message clear, and that is all. If you provide too much information the important points of the message will become confused with all the other less important information.

4. Have a Reason

It is important that you articulate a reason for your request or communication.
This creates a higher level of importance to what ever it is that you have communicated. The exact reason is not as important as the fact that there is a reason. Even if the reason is slightly selfish or self serving, people appreciate the honesty and are more likely to understand what you are trying to achieve and be willing to help.

"Can you make a photocopy of this document for me please"
"Can you make a photocopy of this document for me please, I need a copy for my report"

If you do not give a reason, the other person may interpret that your request is for another reason and they may make assumptions because of this. In the above example, the communicator may have forgotten to tell the person that it must be a color photocopy, however, if the person was aware of the purpose of the job (i.e. for the report) then they may have thought to ask if it needed to be in color, rather assume that it was just a black and white copy for reference.

5. Communicate the expected outcomes

If you are communicating something and you expect the other person to do something with that information then tell them! Don't assume that they will automatically know why you have told them the information.

6. Don't Assume!

A blanket rule here is to avoid making assumptions about how the other person will interpret the information that you are sharing. Find ways to share the information as if you were explaining to someone that knew nothing about it. It is important however, that you do not do this in a condescending way. This is best achieved by asking clarifying questions, for example, "have you ever used the X Y Z before?" - this will help you to understand their level of knowledge.

7. Relate information instead of giving orders

Another useful technique to use when you are communicating with someone is to share knowledge from a first hand experience. It can be insulting to tell a person about something that they already know, but if you really want to make sure that you can tell them that information, then relate it from first hand experience; "Hopefully you already know about this, but I had a real problem getting the defribyulator to work until I realised that the stability switch was around the back - worked great after I found that!"

Put it to the test

The only way to improve your communication with others is to practice. Practice is more than just trying a technique out - it is also very important to observe - take note of how well it worked. What worked and what didn't. What could you have done better if you were able to do it all over again.

Share your experience

If anyone has any stories from personal experience - about either successful - or unsuccessful communication, or any tricks that they have learned then please share your knowledge in the comments!

Do you want to learn more?

Here are some recommended books from Amazon. I have read these books and can recommend them as being excellent books for helping you to more effectley communicate and interact with people:

How to Remove and Hide Blogger NavBar (Top Navigation Bar)

noreply@blogger.com (Brence) — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 21:49:00 +0000

By default, Blogger shows a navigation bar (navbar) at the top of every blog that you create with Blogger.

The hack to hide the Nav Bar so that it does not appear on your blog is very simple. Follow these simple instructions to hide the blogger navigation bar on your blog.

Steps to hide your blogger blog navigation bar (NavBar):

1. Log in to Blogger and go to the Layout > Edit HTML tab

2. Search for the following line of code

/* Header

3. Add this code as shown in red directly above the header comment

#navbar {display: none;}
/* Header

4. Save your template changes.

Done!

simpler than you think!

Do you want to learn more? Here are some related books from Amazon:

5 Minute Chocolate Mud Cake in a Cup

noreply@blogger.com (Brence) — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 21:49:00 +0000

Ever wanted to have a fresh baked chocolate cake fix in 5 minutes flat? Well now you can! This is a recipe to make a chocolate mud cake in a cup and cooked in the microwave in a matter of minutes. This is about as easy as cake making gets.

This is not an original idea of mine - believe it or not, this was chain mail that hit my inbox. Unlike the other junk in my inbox, this one caught my attention; I didn't believe it would work. So I had to give it a go - and the results were surprisingly good!

This is a great little recipe to have tucked away for when you need that 5 minute chocolate cake fix. If you have children, I imagine that it would be a fun thing to make with your kids as well.

The cake is big enough to feed 2 people, or one person who has a serious need for a chocolate fix.

The recipe:

4 Tablespoons Flour

2 Tablespoons Sugar

2 Tablespoons Cocoa

1 Egg

3 Tablespoons Milk

3 Tablespoons Oil

3 Tablespoons Chocolate chips (optional)

1/4 Teaspoon Vanilla extract

1 large coffee mug, that is safe to put in the Microwave!

Instructions

1. Add the dry ingredients (flour, sugar and cocoa) to the mug and mix well.
2. Add the egg, milk and oil and mix well
3. if you are adding chocolate chips then mix them in as well
4. Microwave on high for 3 minutes(for a 1000 watt microwave). The Cake will rise over the top of the cup - but don't worry....it will be OK!
5. Allow to cool for a minute before tipping out onto a plate
6. Add chocolate sauce and ice cream if desired!
7. Eat Eat EAT!

Here are some photos from making the cake. Enjoy!

Adding the dry ingredients into the cup.

In goes an egg...looking good so far.

Mix it all up and then add some chocolate chips.

If you are anything like me you will probably still make a lot of mess

Watch that cake go!!!

The cooked cake. Waiting for it to cool. Waiting is hard.

Out onto the plate! Looking good.

Add chocolate sauce and ice cream if you want. I highly recommend it.

The cake was thick and sweet. Very tasty, but also very rich eating. Nice treat.

simpler than you think.

Do you like baking? Here are some related books from Amazon:

How to Open a New Jar with a Tight Lid

noreply@blogger.com (Brence) — Mon, 25 May 2009 02:59:00 +0000

Here is a great trick for opening those tight lids on jars, sent in from the Diamond Dame:

I used to struggle with opening jars of pickles and sauces for ages, asking boys to do it for me, running them under hot water, using tea towels, until I discovered this ridiculously easy trick.

This only works on jars that are new and unopened, not for ones that you can't open simply because someone has put the lid back on too tightly.

New jars are vacuum sealed. If you can break the seal, the lid becomes really easy to open. Hold the jar upside down and whack the lid really hard on a solid surface (like the kitchen counter) on an angle. A solid whack pops the air seal and the lid will unscrew easily. Sometimes I have to whack it 2 or 3 times, but this method works 95% of the time.

simpler than you think.

Why Google Adsense ads are not displayed on your Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Brence) — Sun, 24 May 2009 23:53:00 +0000

This is a Simple thing... once you figure it out!

I have Google Adsense ads on my Blogger blog and I could not figure out why the Google Adsense advertisments in my sidebar where not showing up. The Google ads would show up on the permalink page, but were not being displayed on the main page where multiple posts were shown.

After a fair bit of head scratching, this is what I discovered.

There is a limit on the number of ad units that will display on one page. You can only show 3 ad units per page. Once there are more than 3, the rest wont show up.

Maximum of 3 ad units

On any given page, you can place up to:

Three standard ad units
Three link units
Two search boxes
Three referral ad units
One video unit

Be aware however, that if in Blogger you select to show ads between every 1 blog posts, and you are also , for example, have Blogger set to display 7 posts on the main page (this is the default). This means that the adverts are shown between blog posts until 3 units are used. If you have a separate Adsense unit in your side bar, then this will not display anything, as the 3 units are used!

But don't remove the ads in your sidebar just yet. If you click on the permalink to go into a blog post, then there is less than 3 usnits used in the main content panel, so your sidebar adverts will be displayed.

Options to display Google adsense ads

If you want adverts to show in the side bar on your main blog page then you have 3 choices:

Decrease the number of posts shown on the main page (so less units can be used inbetween psots), or
Increase the spacing of adverts between posts. ie if there are 7 posts displayed and you show ads every 3 posts, then only 2 units will be shown inbetween posts and you can palce one unit on your sidebar.
Remove the advertising between posts, and just have the ads in the sidebar (max of 3 units).

Simpler than you think!

Do you want to learn more? Here are some related books from Amazon:

Blogger expandable post summary and 'Read More...' link

noreply@blogger.com (Brence) — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 21:23:00 +0000

This is the best expandable summary hack for blogger. This code does not use any JavaScript and does not have the errors that the JavaScript solutions have.

This solution uses pure CSS to achieve the post summaries, so it is a really elegant solution that is also really robust.

This version of the hack fixes the problem with other versions where the 'Read more...' text does not disappear when the full post is shown.

Because this post summary hack uses CSS and <div> tags, instead of <span> tags this hack does not have the problems with the new blogger code changes where other <span> tags for formatting cause the summary to be inconsistent.

Step 1 - Lets start!

Open Layout / Edit HTML.
Backup your template before you make any changes.

Step 2 - Find the code that we are going to change

Click the Expand Widget Templates check box. We need to do this to find the code that we are going to change.

Search for this line of code in the template to find where you need to make your changes:

<div class='post-body entry-content'>

Step 3 - Changing the code

We are going to change this piece of code:

<div class='post-body entry-content'>
<data:post.body/>
<div style='clear: both;'/> 
</div>

Add in the new lines of code as shown here in red:

<div class='post-body entry-content'>
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType != "item"'>
<style type='text/css'>.restofpost {display:none;}</style>
</b:if>
<data:post.body/>
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType != "item"'>
<a expr:href='data:post.url'>Read more...</a>
</b:if>
<div style='clear: both;'/> 
</div>

Save your template
Click the save template button to update the changes to your blog.

Step 4 - Set up your Blogger post template

Go to Settings / Formatting in Blogger.
In the Post Template box add this code:

Write summary here
<div class="restofpost">Write rest of post here</div>

You can edit existing posts, by wrapping the content that you want to be hidden with the <div class="restofpost"> tag. Anything outside of this tag will be displayed as the summary; which includes pictures.

When you paste a picture into your Bogger blog post it is added to the top of the post by default and you must move the picture inside the <div class="restofpost"> tag to ensure that it will not be displayed in the summary. If however, you want a picture to show as part of your summary (as I do on this site) then leave the image outside the restofpost tag.

Limitations of this post summary method?

There is only one limitation that I am aware of with this method of post summaries. This is that all posts will display the "Read more..." link at the bottom of them. This means that if you do not want a summary version for a very short post for instance, that the "Read more..." link will still show and will be a link to the permalink page for that post.

There seems to be no way around this that I am aware of at the moment. To get around this you will need to use a Javascript summaries hack, or handle this by stating at the end of short posts that it is the [end of post].

Do you want to learn more? Here are some great books from Amazon:

**Note: since being first published this post has been edited to correct the following:
- Updated so that the summary will work on all pages, including archive pages, searches on categories and older post pages - as long as each post has had the DIV tag added.
- Updated to remove the summary DIV tag, as this was unnecessary. The restofpost tag is all that is needed to create the summary.

SEO: How to add META data to your website or Blogger blog

noreply@blogger.com (Brence) — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 02:36:00 +0000

Adding META data into your blog is very important for search engine optimisation (SEO).

If you want to get people to come and visit your website, then have a think about a clear and concise description of your website, and several keywords. The META tags will define how a search engine recognises your site and what it is about and will also define the description that is displayed when your website shows up in a search.

This post will show you how to add these META tags into your blog or website.

How to add META tags to your website

The first thing you need to do is to have a clear idea of what your blog / website is about and who you are targeting. This will help you to identify keywords which are relevant to your website - and ultimately they type of words that people will use when they are searching in Google.

Make sure that your keywords match the content in your site. Ideally the keywords that your choose will be found in your website text, in the navigation and in anchor tags. This will help you get better rankings in Google searches.

In the main page of your website/blog add these tags into the <head> section, above the <title> tag.

<meta content='DESCRIPTION' name='description'/>
<meta content='KEYWORDS' name='keywords'/>
<meta content='AUTHOR NAME' name='author'/>

DESCRIPTION:
A human readable description of what your website is about.
Do not add a list of keywords into the Description tag - this is raked badly by search engines and can get your site blacklisted.
Try to keep this to less than 200 characters.
This is an important tag to have. This description is what people will see when your website shows up in a google search.
KEYWORDS:
Add a comma separated list of key words for your website, for example 'blogging, blogs, how to, productivity'.
Try to avoid repeating any words more than 3 or 4 times to stop the search engine thinking that you are keyword spamming.
Try to keep to 20 key words or less (this is the number of comma separated keywords - but each keyword could contain more than one word) for example, "blog, blog design, blogging" is interpreted as 3 keywords.
This tag is important. Search engines using these keywords to display the most relevant websites when someone does a search.
AUTHOR:
This specifies your name or your company name.
This is important if you want to promote your business name, but otherwise it is not that important.
TITLE
The <title> tag is important as well, and you should already have this tag in your html.
Use your most important keywords in your title to make it meaningful and relevant.

How to add META tags to your Blogger blog

Add the META tags as described above to your Blogger blog using these steps:

Go to the Layout tab
Click Edit HTML
Backup your template
Add the META tags as described above between these two tags:
<b:include data="'blog'" name="'all-head-content'/">

--add tags here--

<title><data:blog.pageTitle/></title>

Note: if you add special characters into your text, for example, ", ', &, < or > then you will need to escape these characters.
quote (") "
apostrophe (') '
ampersand (&) &
less than (<) <
greater than (>) >
More details about this here.
To change the text in your <title> delete the <data:blog.pageTitle/> text and replace this with the title that you want to use.
Save your template

Check your meta data tags work

Once you have added your tags, test them to make sure that they are working.

Click the SEO link here to go an online test for SEO meta tag analysis.

All you need to do is the URL of your website and submit it. You will be given a full comprehensive analysis of the results.

This analysis will give you lots of data and suggestions on how to make your tags better and more friendly to search engines. Not all of the information that is returned will be relevant or meaningful to you, but it is a good starting point on the way to getting your site optimised.

A Cure For Hiccups

noreply@blogger.com (Brence) — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 21:22:00 +0000

There are many theories on how to stop hiccups. Hiccups can be hard to get rid of, and not all methods work as well as others.

Hiccups are commonly misspelled as hicups and are also know as Hiccoughs. Hiccups are caused by spasmodic contraction of the diaphragm and can be incredibly irritating and can become painful.

I had a nasty case of the hiccups the other day. When they would not go away my Sharon suggested a new cure that I had never tried before - and it worked like a charm.

If you have the hiccups, then this is a sure fire way to get rid of them!

How do I make my Hiccups stop?

Swallow 1 table spoon of white vinegar.
This is best done in a sitting position (not lying down)

You will feel the vinegar tingle on its way down into your stomach and within 5 minutes your hiccups should be gone. It most cases the effect is instant and your hiccups will stop straight away.

Not everyone likes the flavour of vinegar - but if you want to get rid of hiccups then this is a great method, and it appears to work every time.

If this method does not work for you I would recommend looking at the WikiHow Cure Hiccups resource which describes many other methods that might work for you.

Less is More: Too much choice and how to deal with it.

noreply@blogger.com (Brence) — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 22:34:00 +0000

We live in a modern fast paced society that bombards us with choice.

Take a trip to your local supermarket and you will find yourself confronted by a dazzling variety of every type of product with different flavours, colors and promising marketing slogans.

When we buy our morning coffee we must decide between small, medium and large; different flavours; do you want yours with cream or no cream; perhaps an extra shot? Decaf or regular? How about a shot of caramel? Do you also want to join to coffee club points program? How about a combo with a muffin and a coffee? Arrrrh!! My head hurts just thinking about it.

What choices do we want?

Our human nature drives us to seek out variety - variety is the spice of life after all; however, too much choice confuses us and is mentally exhausting. Despite our natural desire to seek out variety, we also crave consistency - this drives us seek out things that are already familiar to us.

So where does this leave us? Basically, we want to be able to choose - but we don't want to have to choose from too many choices.

Given no choice at all we will become defensive - backed up into a corner with no options. However, giving us 2 or 3 options gives us control. Having choice is empowering.

Conversely, if we are presented with too many choices, we loose confidence in our ability to make a good choice, and therefore, even when we do make a decision we are left wondering if we make the right choice.

Simply picking out toothpaste at your local supermarket is an agonising decision. In the 1970's Colgate sold just two varieties of toothpaste, but today they offer around 17 different types -and that's just the Colgate range.

The downside of too much choice is that we can become overwhelmed by the number of options. This often leads to making a poor choice or potentially no choice at all. I recently had this experience when trying to select a version of Microsoft Office 2007. There are numerous options to choose from with different licencing constraints and different bundles of software at various prices. After 30 minutes of deliberating about which option was best I became overwhelmed and decided that to stick with Office 2003 for a while longer.

Information overload and the Internet

The Internet is causing an information overload. Never before have we had so much information at our fingertips. This is both a blessing and a curse. You can easily access information and reviews at the click of a button and the Internet has also opened up the commercial world and commerce has gone global. However, I am now dealing with choices from my local area and the rest of the world, as well as reviews and opinions from millions of people.

The information overload has also led to a new revolution in online services that try to help us wade through all the choices. For example, Amazon tells you what other people thought of a particular product, and what people ultimately bought after viewing it. There are thousands of review sites set up specifically to help you make a decision by seeing what decision other people made.

Social networking sites like Facebook, Bebo, myspace encourage people to become part of a community where you can share your likes and dislikes - which can also help to narrow down choices.

Last.FM and Pandora enable you to see what music other people recommend and to see what options are the most popular. This decreases the choices that we have to make and enables us narrow the pool of possible options.

How do we deal with all the choice?

The first thing to understand is that we are trying to find the best fit solution; not the perfect solution. There is no silver bullet option that will be perfect.

Despite what all the marketing hype will tell you, it is rare that to find one option that will perfectly satisfy all your needs. There is normally some compromise that needs to be made.

Eliminate and compare side by side

First, know what you do want and know what you don't want. We are given many selling points - the features and benefits of whatever it is we are looking at. Evaluate these and eliminate anything that does not fit what you want first, so that you can decrease the pool of potential options.
Side by side comparison technique:

Pick any one item from the pool of options. This is your starting benchmark - option 1
Choose one of the other options. This is your option 2.
Make a decision option 1 or 2?
The winner of the comparison in step 2 is now the new benchmark.
Repeat these steps, comparing and discarding until you are left with the one that you want.

Be decisive. Make a decision.

The battle is half won by making a choice and sticking with it. The longer you take to deliberate over your options, the more confused and uncertain you will be about the choice that you make. This does not mean that you need to make a hasty or uninformed decision. Assess the facts, then make a decision and stick to it. Decisiveness is simply the ability to decide with speed and clarity.

Take ownership. Admit when you are wrong

We must also take ownership of the decision that we have made. In his book The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People, Stephen Covey states that "We are free to choose whatever we want to as long as we take responsibility for the consequences of that choice." This means that you have to admit when you were wrong. When you make a bad decision, recognise it for what it is and move on. Don't dwell on it.

Be proactive

Don't put off making decisions. If you are invited to a party, make a decision immediately if you will go or not and put in your RSVP. Don't say that you will get back to them. Doing this creates mental drain. You have to cognitively remember to get back to them and in the back of your mind you will deliberate over what choice to make. If you have decided already the it is done - and you can move on to making your next decision.

Be more selective about the options you give to others

Less is more. Apply this to your own life - in your work, at home or on your blog / website.
When you are providing choices, try to provide less options - preferably the ones that are more relevant.

For example: If someone wants to book a meeting time with you and your whole week if free. Don't say "my whole week is free, take your pick" instead be decisive and give them some concise options, for example: "what would suit you best - Monday at 3pm or Thursday at 2pm?". This gives them choice and helps them to make a decision.

Its simpler than you think.

Affect vs Effect

noreply@blogger.com (Brence) — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 02:09:00 +0000

Affect with an 'A' and Effect with an 'E'. These two words are very similar, but have a different meaning and are often confused.

This post is not the be-all-and-end-all of the grammatical rules about using these two words - in fact, it is nothing of the sort. This is just a very simple generalised description about the difference between the uses of the two words to help you remember.

Affect is causing or influencing something. Its something you do.
to remember think of "affection, patting a dog"

Effect is a result of something that happened.
to remember think of "sound effect"

"Affect causes an effect"

This illustration from Grammar Girl of and Aardvark helps explain the difference.

For more in depth details about the finer differences you can read more on Grammar Girls post about affect vs effect which provides more detail if you want to understand this more.

Do you want to learn more? Here are some related books from Amazon:

Remove color noise using Photoshop in 2 easy steps

noreply@blogger.com (Brence) — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 09:42:00 +0000

This method takes only two simple steps to remove color noise from your image and produces a quality result. It is a great tool to have in your box of tricks! There are numerous 'how to' tutorials on the web about removing color noise from a digital image using Photoshop. Most of these methods are over complicated and require several steps to achieve the end result.

Color noise is a common problem encountered by photographers. The noise in an image often worse when a higher ISO has been used. You can use this method to help clean up the photograph so that you have a nicer looking picture!

I learnt this handy tip from Sharon at Sharon Blance Image Workshop.

Before you start
Create a duplicate layer - Work on the duplicate layer so that changes can be compared to the original and if a mistake is made, the new layer can be thrown away.

Steps to remove color noise

Filter > Noise > Median
Select the lowest value possible to remove the color noise. Move the preview window to the worst effected part of the image and zoom in if necessary.
It is common to use a value between 5 and 20, but it entirely depends on the amount of noise and the desired effect that you want.
Press OK when you are done
Edit > Fade Median
Set the Mode to Color, Leave it set to 100% and press OK.
Color mode means that the changes will only effect the color of the image, and not other attributes, for example, the grain in the image.
Note: You must do step 2 directly after step 1. If you apply other new changes to your image between these 2 steps access to this menu item disappear.

Before:
After:

Do you want to learn more? Here are some great books from Amazon:

Managing a successful To Do list

noreply@blogger.com (Brence) — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 04:11:00 +0000

Here is how to keep on top of your To Do list and how to make it accessible from anywhere by managing your To Do list in your online email client as a draft email.

Master your To Do list
Create 3 headings for your To Do list:

Important/To do Today:
Tasks that need to be done now, or very soon. These are your top priority items.
For Example: Buy present for Sarah's birthday on Tuesday.
General:
Tasks that need to get done, but which can wait until later in the week, or that done have a deadline or a sense of urgency to them.
For Example: Take car in for annual service
Other:
Tasks that you might never get around to doing, but which you want to have written down so that you don't forget.
For Example: Read the book "The Alchemist"

Every morning when you review your To Do list you can promote items into the 'Important/To Do Today' group, and this will make up your list of things to do for the day. If required you can put the important list of a piece of paper, if you like to carry your list around with you.

Make your To Do list accessible
A large majority of people use online email accounts, for example gMail, Yahoo or Hotmail.
Use your online email facilities to manage a centralized To Do list, or to record any important information by saving the details in a draft email.

We all check our email on a regular basis from work or home, or on the go from your Blackberry or iPhone. So it is easy to keep on top of your to do list and to keep it up to date.

Make a centralized To Do list

In your favorite online email client simply start a draft email with an appropriate title such as "My To Do list".
In the draft email you can write your to do list or any other important information.
save the draft.
You can now access your list from anywhere that you have access to the Internet.

Delete a song from iTunes library directly from a Playlist

noreply@blogger.com (Brence) — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 21:27:00 +0000

If you press the Delete key for a selected song on a playlist whilst you are in iTunes, the song will only be removed from the playlist. The song will still remain in your iTunes music library and on your hard drive.

Here is a simple keyboard shortcut you can use to delete the song from all playlists and remove it from your iTunes library (and your harddrive as well if you choose).

What will happen?
A selected song (or multiple selections) will be:

Deleted from the play list you are currently in
Deleted from all other playlists the song is in (i.e. it will not leave and empty references in other playlists)
Deleted from the iTunes library
Deleted from your hard drive (if you choose this option)

How to delete the song from within a playlist -

iTunes on Windows
Click on the song you want to delete
press SHIFT + Delete (Hold down SHIFT and press the delete button)
Click 'Remove'
Click Yes to send to the recycle bin
You can check the 'don't ask me again' option so that you don't have to always click the buttons on the windows

iTunes on a Mac
Click on the song you want to delete
press Option + Delete
Click Yes to remove from iTunes library and to the trash (or hit the M key on the keyboard)

Simpler than you think!

Photo Gallery for your Blogger Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Brence) — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 04:19:00 +0000

Do you want a photo gallery like this on your Blogger blog?

This post will tell you how!

See the 4 simple steps below to see what you need to do to display your images in a gallery like this on your blog.

This is a working example to try out!

How to get this gallery in your Blogger blog...
There are 4 simple steps listed below that you need to follow to get this gallery to work in your Blogger blog.
Please note that not all blogger blogs are created equal. This blog is based on the 'Denium' template. You may experience some layout problems with other templates. If this happens, you should be able to change the CSS code for the Gallery to get it to work.

So lets get started...

1. Edit your blog HTML template/layout
First we need to update you blogger layout, so that your blog knows how to display the gallery.

From your Blogger dashboard, select Layout for the blog you want to add the gallery to
Click the Edit HTML tab.
Backup your template. Click the Download Full Template link and save the file with a meaningful name. Should you have any problems with this upgrade you can restore the template.
Copy the code from the blue box below and paste it between the </title> and <b:skin> tags as demonstrated. These tags can be found in the beginning of the <head> tag which is near the top of the code.

<title><data:blog.pagetitle/></title>
--paste code here--
<b:skin><!--[CDATA[

Code:
<script src='http://code.jquery.com/jquery-1.2.6.js' type='text/javascript'/>
<script src='http://devkick.com/lab/galleria/jquery.galleria.pack.js' type='text/javascript'/>
<script type='text/javascript'>

jQuery(function($) {

$('.gallery_demo_unstyled').addClass('gallery_demo'); // adds new class name to maintain degradability
$('.nav').css('display','none'); // hides the nav initially

$('ul.gallery_demo').galleria({
history : true, // deactivates the history object for bookmarking, back-button etc.
clickNext : false, // helper for making the image clickable. Let's not have that in this example.
insert : undefined, // the containing selector for our main image.
// If not found or undefined (like here), galleria will create a container
// before the ul with the class .galleria_container (see CSS)
onImage : function() { $('.nav').css('display','block'); } // shows the nav when the image is showing
});
});

</script>
<style media='screen,projection' type='text/css'>

.galleria{list-style:none;width:100px}
.galleria li{display:block;width:40px;height:40px;overflow:hidden;float:left;margin: 0px;}
.galleria li a{display:none}
.galleria li div{position:absolute;display:none;top:0;left:100px}
.galleria li div img{cursor:pointer}
.galleria li.active div img,.galleria li.active div{display:block}
.galleria li img.thumb{cursor:pointer;top:auto;left:auto;display:block;width:auto;height:auto}
.galleria li .demo_caption{display:block;padding-top:.5em;font:130% 'helvetica neue',sans-serif; }
* html .galleria li div span{width:470px} /* MSIE bug */

.photobox{padding:0px;background:white;color:#555;width:100%;font:80% 'helvetica neue',sans-serif;} /*font:80%/140% 'helvetica neue',sans-serif;}*/
.demo{margin:0; padding:0;}
.demo a{text-decoration:none;outline:none;}
.demo a:hover{color:#67a;}
.demo_caption{color:#888;float:left; width:455px;}
.demo{float:left;}
.gallery_demo{width:100px;float:left;text-align:center; padding:0; margin:0px;}
.gallery_demo li.hover{border-color:#bbb;}
.gallery_demo li.active{border-style:solid;border-color:#222;}
.gallery_demo li{width:40px;height:40px;padding:0px; margin: 4px; text-align:center; border: 1px solid white;}
.gallery_demo li div .demo_caption{font:130% 'helvetica neue',sans-serif;}
.galleria_container{height:470px;width:470px;float:right;text-align:center;}

.nav{padding:0px;clear:both; float:right;letter-spacing:3px;text-transform:uppercase;font:120% 'helvetica neue',sans-serif; } /* float: left; position:relative;}*/
.notebox{width: 95px; float: left;}

</style>

2. Get your images/photos online
I have used Flickr for this example. Photobucket, or any other online hosting would be appropriate. The steps listed below assume that you are using Flickr.

3. Create the post that will hold the gallery
Create a new post, or edit and existing one.
Make a copy of the code below in the blue box - you will need to edit the code slightly before it will work.
Each <li> represents one image in the gallery.

<li><a href="FULLSIZE" title="Caption"><img src="THUMB" alt="" /></a></li>

Locate the images one at a time on Flickr and click to view All Sizes
Replace the word THUMB with the URL from Flickr for the 75x75 Square image
Replace the word FULLSIZE with the URL from Flickr for the Medium image (which should have max dimensions of 500x500)

Paste the code into your post after you have made the appropriate substitutions as listed above.

Code:
<div class="photobox">
<div class="demo">
<ul class="gallery_demo_unstyled">
<li class="active"><a href="FULLSIZE" title="Caption"><img src="THUMB" alt="" /></a></li>
<li><a href="FULLSIZE" title="Caption"><img src="THUMB" alt="" /></a></li>
<li><a href="FULLSIZE" title="Caption"><img src="THUMB" alt="" /></a></li>
<li><a href="FULLSIZE" title="Caption"><img src="THUMB" alt="" /></a></li>
<li><a href="FULLSIZE" title="Caption"><img src="THUMB" alt="" /></a></li>
<li><a href="FULLSIZE" title="Caption"><img src="THUMB" alt="" /></a></li>
</ul>
<div class="notebox">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<p>
<span>Photography by </span>
<a href="link">Name Here</a>
</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>

*Important: if you put extra carriage returns into the code above blogger will interpret this wrong and the thumbnails will not align properly.

Dynamic Thumbnails:
You can have the thumbnail images created 'dynamically'. This is a less efficient method, but is simpler code. This will result in mini versions of the images. Follow the same method as above, but you only need to specify the URL of the full size image.
<li><img src="FULLSIZE" title="caption" alt=""></li>

4. Publish!
Publish the post and you are done!

Customization and Playing with CSS
You can change the CSS that is posted into the HTML template to achieve a different look and feel for the gallery. If you know how to change CSS then go nuts, if not, I have provided some simple suggestions below.
Please add a comment linking to your gallery if you have done anything cool with the gallery that you want to share.

More columns of thumbnails:

Change the width specified in the CSS as below to 150px to have 3 columns. Adjust the width according to what you want to achieve.
.gallery_demo{width:100px;float:left;text-align:center; padding:0; margin:0px;}

Thumbnails on the right hand side:

Move the thumbnails to the right by moving the position of the main image container to float on the left.

.galleria_container{height:470px;width:470px;float:right;text-align:center;}

Further Information:
This Gallery uses Javascript. Occasionally some people will have javascript disabled - in this situation the gallery will display the thumbnails in a vertical row and will open the image when it is clicked.

Credit where credit is due - please note that this code has been modified and adapted from the fantastic Galleria gallery from devkick.com. The vanilla version of this gallery does not work in Blogger. I have made the necessary changes for it to work for you in your blogger blog. Galleria is licensed under the GPL licenses, so please give credit where credit is due.

Other Gallery Options for Blogger?
I really struggled to find anything on the web that provided a flexible gallery like this one for Blogger. There are a number of image/photo galleries that use macromedia flash to generate fancy galleries - some of which are very nice - but they are all very limiting in the ways they can be customised and did not provide much flexibility.

Splashr was the next best thing that I was able to find. This is very easy to use to generate a quick gallery and might also be a suitable option. There are options to generate flash or html based galleries. There is no ability to customise the background colours and a lot of text gets picked up straight out of Flickr, which you may or may not want.

Fotoviewr is based all in Flash, and does have some very nice modern 3D effects. Fun to play with, but do not necessarily generate a very professional gallery. Depends on what you are trying to achieve!

About simpler than you think

noreply@blogger.com (Brence) — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 01:10:00 +0000

Time is valuable. Life is short. Don't waste it.

Simpler than you think shares insights and opinions on how to manage life a little better. It is not about being perfect; it's about clearing the clutter and getting to the point and making life that little less complicated and hopefully having a lot more fun!

Our goal is to help improve your life by making things easier.

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