Tag: Google

Borders Scrap Store website launched

Borders Scrap Store

Late last week the Borders Scrap Store website was finally launched. I had fun designing and building it. Here are a few features that I’m proud about:

Dynamic site on a static host

The site is built using XHTML 1.0 Transitional, CSS 2 and hosted on a static hosting account. In order to allow the staff to update the news section more easily I set up a WordPress account: http://bordersscrapstore.wordpress.com/ and then used the Google AJAX Feed API to pull-in the latest news items into the static HTML page.

There can be a delay of about an hour (or more) before news is updated, because it relies on Google Feedfetcher, which is also used for Google Reader and the Google personalized homepage.

I discovered that a good way to ensure that Feedfetcher was picking up the new feed from the Borders Scrap Store WordPress account was to simply add the feed to my Google Reader account. That way it was in the system and guaranteed that Google will be watching this feed.

Microformats and Google Maps

Other neat features of the site include the use of hCard microformats on the contacts page, and personalized Google Maps.

Microformats are simply ways to mark-up existing XHTML code so that the data can be read equally by humans and machines. This means that on the contacts page if you have a browser add-on, such as Operator for Firefox, then you can automatically import the contact details into your contacts application (such as Microsoft Outlook) without having to manually type in the information.

I used Google Maps to create custom markers for the Selkirk store and Musselburgh store which should make it easier for folks to locate the stores using familiar mapping tools.

Next

I’m already working on my next project: a new website for the Christian Fellowship of Healing.

Synchronizing Outlook with Google Calendar

SyncMyCal

At last! My online experience is now complete. For this afternoon I managed, using the wonders of modern technology, to synchronize my Microsoft Outlook 2003 calendar with my online Google Calendar.

I used the excellently simple SyncMyCal which allows you to synchronize your Google Calendar(s) with either Outlook or Pocket Outlook (on a PDA).

The free version allows you to synchronize appointments for a maximum of only 7 days (3 days in the past, today, and 3 days into the future). The full version (£13.50) allows you to extend your synchronization period AND setup an automatic scheduled sync (the default is every 15 minutes).

It really couldn’t be more simple. Now Jane can really keep an eye on my goings on, because if anything knows what I’m supposed to be doing it’s my Outlook calendar.

Other options

You may be interested, while I was searching for a solution to sync Outlook with Google Calendars these are the three options I looked at (as well as others folks have recommended in the comments):

  • SyncMyCal (Lite for free, or Pro for £13.50)
  • gSyncit (US $9.99)
  • RemoteCalendars (Free OpenSource)
  • Calgoo

Firefox beats IE on my blog

Google Analytics pie chart of browsers used

What joyous news!

I was just checking my Google Analytics results for this blog and discovered that there are more people using Mozilla Firefox than Microsoft Internet Explorer to view my blog.

For those who can’t quite read the results on the graph above, here is the list of top 10 browsers used to visit my blog during the last month:

Visitors’ browsers (15 May – 16 June 2007)
# Browser Visitors %
1 Firefox 2,930 51.22%
2 Internet Explorer 2,401 41.98%
3 Safari 289 5.05%
4 Opera 53 0.93%
5 Mozilla 23 0.4%
6 Netscape 8 0.14%
7 Konqueror 6 0.1%
8 Camino 4 0.07%
9 Mozilla Compatible 3 0.05%
10 Agent 000,gzip 2 0.03%

Google Analytics is a wonderful — and free — tool. If you run a website I urge you to check it out; all you need is a Google account. It shows you how people find your site, how they navigate through it and where they leap out when they do. All very useful stuff when trying to improve your website.

Anyway, thanks to the majority (51.22%) for using Firefox when viewing this site. And to the other 48.78% (apart from Mike using Konqueror and those Mac users with Safari or Camino) I urge you to give Firefox a go.

Google Maps Street View

Have you seen the new feature on Google Maps: Street View? It allows you to see a 360° high-resolution view of certain cities at street level. Currently the only cities available are in the USA (from West to East):

  • San Francisco, CA
  • Las Vegas, NV
  • Denver, CO
  • Miami, FL
  • New York, NY

Check out the video (imbedded above) on YouTube of the Google Maps Street View; it’s a very entertaining introduction, created by the fine folks at the Googleplex.

Closer to home

I’d love to see this implemented for St Andrews, so that we could use the information on the university website (will mash-ups be available for Street View too?); we currently use Google Maps on the University maps page.

Unfortunately, at the moment the ‘satellite’ view of St Andrews is very low quality on Google Maps.

Microsoft, however, are one step ahead and can provide Scotland’s oldest university with the following wonderful aerial views of St Andrews at Live Search Maps. (The postcode linked to, by the way, is where my office is.)

Google in braille

A picture of the Braille letters spelling out Google.

Today is the birthday of Louis Braille, inventor of … well, braille! So as a tribute Google have replaced their usual logo with one written in braille.

Only it’s not actually braille because if you touch the letters on your monitor you won’t feel anything. Apart from your monitor. Unless you have numb fingers, in which case you’ll actually probably not feel anything. Which is what I said to start with.

To enable web users with accessibility issues to know of what the images are, all web images are recommended to include in the code a description of the image. It is this description (or “alternative text”) that screen reader software reads out to those who can’t see the images themselves.

Today’s Google logo is a good example. The alt text says:

A picture of the Braille letters spelling out “Google.” Happy Birthday Louis Braille!

While sighted viewers can see that it is a word writtein in a Braille font, and when they hover their mouse over the image it simply says “Happy Birthday Louis Braille!”, which is the title that this image has been given.

The archive of Google Holiday Logos is quite fun. Download Braille fonts.