Sound in Websites: Generally not a Good Idea

I'm looking at going to the User Interface 11 Conference in Cambridge, MA this October so have been doing some research on transportation, as I have never been there before. The conference looks at ways to improve usability, particularly with websites.

So I'm eventually looking at the website for the Logan Airport, seeing what information I could find on transportation to and from the airport. I usually take shuttles, so I took a look at the websites for the shuttle companies they had listed to see what their rates are and if they go where I need to go.

It's been a long time since I've seen anything so horrendous. Having your navigation menu in Flash is bad enough, but then to add sound as you go over each item is too much. They weren't even pleasant sounds to listen to. Most of the sites I looked at did this. One went so far and actually had music playing. It reminded me of those pages that would play MIDI files when you visited them.

I only hope that the designers for those sites argued with the companies about that. If not, they shouldn't be designers at all.

A Creek Runs Through It

Continuing with the photos I took at Rancho San Rafael Park in Reno, NV is a creek that runs through parts of the park, eventually ending up at a small pond. In the background, on the left, is Peavine Peak.

This was taken with a Canon Powershot G6, focal length 7.2mm, ISO 50 or 100, 1/250 s. @ f/8.

Am I The Only Freak That Does This?

I've got a potential trip to Boston coming up later this year. I've got a number of options for airlines to choose from. So what do I do? Check out the Bureau of Transportation Statistics airline data and statistics. From here you can check on time arrival and departure percentages by airline and by airport as well. You can also check out which airlines do the worst when it comes to lost baggage.

The Shadow of a Tree

This picture was taken during my first homework assignment for one of my photography classes at Rancho San Rafael Park in Reno, NV. It was taken with a Canon Powershot G6, focal length 7.2mm, ISO 50 or 100 I believe, 1/250 s. @ f/5.

The design that the shadow of this tree made fascinated me. I almost expected it to come alive at any moment.

Odd Monitor Troubles

I've seen some odd problems with a couple of monitors in the last few weeks.

A few weeks ago we had a very quick power surge at work. Not much later, I received a call from a user saying that her computer froze up. I went to take a look, held in the power button to shut down the computer. The computer shut off, but the image on the monitor remained the same. I tried pressing the power button on the monitor, but it would not turn off. Unplugging the power for the monitor and plugging it back in worked and fixed the problem. I never saw a monitor freeze up before!

Today I had a similar problem, except this time the screen was blank. I rebooted the computer. Still nothing. All connections were fine. I could not turn off the monitor. I unplugged it, plugged it back in, and it came back on - with a blank screen, not the usual monitor "boot up". Again, I could not turn off the monitor. Wondering if something was wrong with the video card, I grabbed another monitor and plugged it in - no problems there. While the problem monitor was not connected to the monitor, but was plugged into the power, I decided to unplug it from the power and plug it back in. This time the monitor looked normal. I reconnected it back to the computer and all was fine again. What in the world happened remains a mystery to me.

Do Geese See God?

We had just received some snow the day before - the first day of Spring. I had just received a Canon Powershot S80 (I would've gotten the Canon Powershot G6, but it had stopped being sold.) for work to use for taking pictures for the website, award presentations, and anything else that might happen to come up. My boss called me to grab my camera and see what was outside of her window. I grabbed the camera, getting as close to the window as possible, and took this shot. I had not become familiar enough with the camera to use it competently, so I hoped I would not get a flash that would reflect off the window and show up in the picture. While not the greatest quality, I think it came out rather well.

This shot was taken with an exposure time of 1/200, f/5.3, and focal length 20.7mm.

I hope to have a picture that I have taken posted each week along with the story behind it.