More and more I notice antitrust lawsuits appearing against larger corporations.  Google and Microsoft seem to be at the forefront of the attacks.  Of course, this is expected.  Company A blames Company B of such and such.  Company B retaliates after losing the suit and blames Company A of something else.  Back and forth, back and forth.  Why can’t we all just get along?  Because business is business.  So what’s new in the world of cyber suits?

Microsoft Starts The EU Browser Update Option

Microsoft has been forced to provide users with browser options when setting up their operating system.  The cyber giant made a deal with the European Union when they were questioned about the legality of offering Internet Explorer with Windows.  Now, Windows operating systems will offer a variety of options including Microsoft’s leading competitors; Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Safari and Opera.  Personally, I am happy the option is being enforced.  I would like to see this happen in the US.  The ability to give people options and hopefully turn them away from Internet Explorer would be amazing.  IE is regarded as one of the worst browsers to develop for.  Despite the smile it would put on my face, I doubt this will happen in the US.  Business is business.  Read more about this subject at the following locations:

Microsoft Agrees To Browser Ballot Terms

Microsoft Starts The European Browser Choice Update

Antitrust Suit Against Google… No Really?

So now appears that Microsoft may be trying to push an antitrust suit against Google.  The accusation is that Google’s search result algorithms are unfair.  Foundem and ejustice.fr have ties with Microsoft and are two of the companies accusing Google.  The third is Ciao, which has been acquired by Microsoft.  Microsoft is pushing it’s new search engine Bing.  It does not surprise me that this suit is being started by Microsoft and affiliates.  Google is the leading search engine and Microsoft wants to take over the market share.  Do they have a suit?  Of course.  Google has the ability to deny sites visibility in search results.  So we already know they can modify the results.  But do they do it intentionally?  I do not think this is the case.  I would agree with Craig Buckler “If Google engaged in mass rank manipulation, it would involve a colossal amount of human effort and search results could become meaningless.”  Read more on the subject at:

Wired.com – Google Hit With Antitrust Complaints In Europe

Sitepoint.com – Google Faces Antitrust Inquiry

So What Do You Think?

Personally, I think Google and Microsoft could get along.  There is plenty of market share for both companies.  I am also against monopolies.  In my opinion, Microsoft still has a monopoly with operating systems and Internet Explorer within the general public.  And if you are a general user, you are going to use the products installed by default.  Of course, there are more options now.  Mac and Linux are gaining more popularity.  Mac is no longer just the choice of graphic artists and Linux is no longer just for techies.  I would still like to see options enforced to help keep Microsoft’s domination at bay and raise awareness of the other products.  That being said,  the same applies for other companies, not just Microsoft.  When one falls, another rises.  Your thoughts?

Start Supporting The MVC Pattern

Joomla! recently released a video about the next version, 1.6.  The video talks about many of the changes to Joomla!.  One comment was made about the MVC (model view controller) programming pattern.  It was mentioned that developers not using MVC will have a difficult time upgrading to 1.6.  I always promote good programming habits, ie using the programming patterns.  Time and time again, I will run into a third party component that is built off a several pages of linear code.  This is frustrating to modify and shows the developer is either lazy or has no knowledge of programming patterns.  All developers should use patterns.  Joomla! was designed with MVC to increase portability and scalability.  MVC makes it easier to develop and modify applications without drastically effecting the overall application.  I am glad to hear that Joomla! is starting to become stricter.  This means applications will be forced into following programming patterns making life easier on developers.

No More Legacy Mode

If you run Joomla! in legacy mode, be prepared.  Joomla! 1.6 will no longer support legacy mode.  WOOO, finally.  Legacy mode is a disaster for 1.5 components.  A component built for legacy mode will break just about anything.  I have run into situations where a client “has to have legacy mode” and then is unable to use more modern programs.  Whenever possible, avoid legacy mode.  Now that Joomla! 1.6 will cease support, I am hopeful that legacy enabled components will slowly dissipate.

Prepare For Upgrades

If you use components that are not built on MVC, start to look for replacements.  When Joomla! 1.6 is released, you will most likely want to upgrade if time and funds allow.  Start preparing for the upgrades now.  Otherwise, you may be in for a nasty surprise when you try to install that legacy photo gallery or help desk.

Your Thoughts?

Watch the Joomla! 1.6 video here.  What do you think about this new release?  Personally, I am very excited.

Phoca Gallery is a photo gallery component by Phoca for Joomla!.  This component is highly extensible but lacks one basic feature.  The ability to edit the copyright information.  In the earlier versions, the copyright was easy to find, wrap a tag around and style.  With the newest version, the copyright has been moved and buried in the code.  I would speculate this is due to many users removing the copyright information.  You should always leave the copyright information if the author asks.  The product is free.  By removing copyrights the author may start charging fees for use.  But you should be able to modify the styles of the copyrights.

I searched several forums, blogs, etc and found nothing on where the copyrights were stored.  It took me a little bit of testing to finally determine the location.  I only use the categories and category views.  Therefore, this solution may only apply to them.

In order to edit the information, go to line 1589 in the file /components/com_phocagallery/views/category/view.html.php.  Around this line you will see something similar to the following:

parent::display($tpl);

echo $tmpl['go'];

The line echo $tmpl['go']; prints the copyright information.  The copyright is not wrapped in a tag with a class.  Whenever the category rendered, the footer was the same size as the rest of the content.  You should keep the copyright information present, however, you should be able to style it so there is little effect to your page content.  So I modified the code to look like the following:

parent::display($tpl);
echo ‘<div class=”phoca-footer”>’ . $tmpl['go'] . ‘</div>’;

Hoo Haa….  We now have a CSS abled Phoca Gallery footer.  As I said before, please leave the copyrights in place.  The author worked hard on the component and is providing it for free.

Online security is becoming more and more important.  Everyday we hear about hackers breaking into websites and stealing a user’s identity.  If a hacker can gain access to a website, they may possibly have access to your credit card information, social security numbers and more, depending on the data the site collects.  A simple, yet overlooked security measure is the password.

I have met users who use common knowledge terms for their passwords.  The password may be a pet’s name, family member, favorite car, birthplace… Users choose these passwords because they are easy to remember.  In most cases, a user will use the same password for all of their accounts.  Doing so is simple and requires memorizing only one phrase.  There are two problems with this.

1) Common knowledge passwords are very easy to guess.

2) If a hacker guesses a password, they could have access to all of your accounts.

I propose two solutions.  The solution to the 2nd problem is easy.  Use different passwords for all accounts.  It may be more difficult to remember them.  But it is better to provide more security than less.  The common knowledge solution is a little more difficult.

Many websites are starting to require a certain number of characters and character types to be present in a password.  This is great.  It helps provide a unique password that is difficult to guess.  For example, the password @3T_6y is harder to determine than one that is your spouse’s name.  Due to the difficulty of randomized passwords, few users choose to implement them when not required to.  By choosing the easier route, you leave yourself more open to attack.  How do you remember a difficult password?

Start by creating a reference sheet.  A reference sheet references a different character (or characters) to each letter of the alphabet, punctuation mark and symbol on the keyboard.  For example, A may be @, I may be 1, E may be 3.  Memorize your references.  Do not write them down.  Do not let others know about it.  If someone knows, then someone will be able to use it against you.

Next, while creating a password, choose a term or phrase to apply your reference sheet to.  If you are on an insurance website, you may choose the term “insurance”.  Depending on your reference sheet, the password may become “1NSuR@Nc3″.  Because you have you have a capital letter, lowercase letter, symbol and number you have already bypassed many password requirements.  Because the word visually represents “insurance” and you have a specific reference to each letter in the word, it is easy to remember.  Now you have a way to create unique, difficult passwords.  Passwords that are easy to remember.

If the word is random, every site will have a different password phrase.  Having hundreds of accounts would mean hundreds of passwords.  With the scheme above, you still have to remember the password phrase you used.  Or do you?  When creating a password phrase you could create a scheme to create the phrase.  You may choose to use the website name, tagline or url.  You may even make it more difficult by choosing the first letter of each word in the company name and tagline together.  By employing one of those schemes, you can easily determine what your password phrase was.  Sure, someone could figure out your scheme.  Even if they did, they would still have to know the references to each character.

I have employed similar techniques with my accounts.  I have a reference sheet memorized.  Some characters are represented by two or more other characters.  This adds even more security to my reference sheet.  I also have my own scheme for determining what my passphrase was.  I never memorize a single password.  Well, after repeat visits to the site, I will memorize it.  In the beginning, I just determine my passphrase and then convert it to the proper characters.  Easy to remember and difficult to guess.  Simple, great security.

Just remember, never, ever give out your reference sheet or any other schemes.  Do your best to stay secure and stay safe.

Steve Krug’s Don’t Make Me Think is a book about the usability of a web site.  He takes a “common sense approach” to appeal to users, developers and clients.  I definitely recommend this read to everyone.  Whether you are a developer or client, you will take something away.  Some of the topics can even be applied to other areas, not just websites.  Some of the topics Steve covers are:

Basic Usability

He writes about how to make a website usable for everyone.  Not just your target market.  Some users may understand industry lingo, while others will have no clue what you are discussing.  Some users will know to click this image or that image, but other users may think it is just that, an image.  Steve does a good job of providing examples with details about how companies made their websites more usable.  I have run into many of the items he mentions.  In the end, you are the ultimate decision maker.  But your clients are where you make money.  If the site is not usable, then you risk losing money.

Navigation

I have run into several cases where someone wants to put navigation everywhere.  They want it in the left column, bottom, right column, top.  And each navigation panel is different.  This just confuses users.  Navigation needs to stay in one place, be consistent and easy to understand.  Steve does a good job of showing the evolution of sites like Amazon and their attempts at creating user friendly navigation.

How to avoid inner office politics

One of the most time and money consuming problems are inner office politics.  One person likes this color or this navigation scheme or this page title.  Someone almost always disagrees.  Then you end up wasting time and money trying to make everyone agree.  Steve does a good job of showing how you can avoid these disagreements, solve them early and save time.  There is no right way to build a website.  But many times, there is a better, more usable solution.

Testing

The book has a chapter based on testing.  How to test, what to test, when to test… These are all questions that are answered.  Unfortunately, small companies do not have the time and resources to do monthly usability tests and make changes to their websites. Regardless of company size, I believe this is a good chapter for everyone to read.  You may not be able to make monthly changes, but when you do test you will know how to do so.

Accessibility = Usability

There is some information on accessibility and usability.  I do believe the two go hand and hand.  If a site is not accessible to everyone, then it is not usable.  By programming without accessibility in mind, you will have to spend more time and money to make it accessible.  By developing with accessibility in mind,  you will save that time and money.   Accessible sites need little development to make them work for both visual and handicap users.  In my experience, an inaccessible site, almost always needs to be rewritten.

Inner Office Politics 2

Near the end of the book, Steve discusses how to handle inner office politics when it comes to a higher up.  Developers are just that.  They develop.  They do not make decisions.  So how do you convince someone not to make a terrible decision, when they believe it is the right course of action.  Many bosses have been out of the development game for a long time or have never been developed before.  Yet, because they are the decision maker, they are always right.  Steve gives some examples of how you can sway there opinion and help save your company time and money.

Fin

This is a great book.  It is a little outdated and the site examples are thus outdated.  However, the concepts are still applicable to today’s web world.  I only had one criticism.  Many times, Steve mentions that everyone can afford to do monthly usability testing and continue making changes.  I work with a lot of non-profits and small businesses and  would have to disagree with his belief.  Many clients are purchasing a website as an added expense, while still implementing their current marketing strategy.  The upfront cost of a website and the cost to have someone update that website can strap marketing funds for a time… for a time.  It takes time to see a return on investment.  Once that ROI hits, then the organization can start putting money back in for usability testing.  Big businesses can surely afford to continue tweaking their websites.  I think those with smaller budgets should focus on changes once a year, not monthly.  The point is to continue updating your website to adhere to accessibility and continue to be user friendly.

As Steve says, “building a great website is an enormous challenge, and anyone who gets it half right has my admiration.”