Advertising on the DMV Website?

I was more than a bit surprised to find advertising on the DMV's website. My first thoughts were "Why is a government agency having ads on their website? Don't our taxes and fees pay for this?" I don't think that would put the DMV in a good light. We already face ads on so many other websites and to see one on a government website just doesn't feel right. If it is an ad for another government agency, that is one thing, but to advertise for other companies?

At the same time I think that if they can make money on this and it results in a reduced cost for me, then maybe it isn't so bad. I also know, as a webmaster for a local government website, that finding funds for programs and projects is always an issue and that this would be an avenue for getting some of those funds.

I'm curious to see what everyone else thinks of this.

A Discussion that Still has Importance Today

In 1986, Frank Zappa was interviewed about censorship of words, particularly in music. Frank Zappa even pointed out the road towards fascism that the country is taking. Length is 21:17, but worth watching.

Linksys WRT54GL Installation and Setup Fun

Last night I finally tackled installing and setting up my new Linksys WRT54GL. I've been wanting to access the Internet with my laptop from anywhere in my house and now it is finally a reality. It took a little bit to get working, though.

My current setup consists of an Asante FLC3004 router that I have my computer and laptop hooked up to. I wanted to keep the Asante as my main router, especially since it allows me to put my Samsung ML-1430 laser printer (which is only parallel and USB) on the network - I got this working fine in Linux, but have not been able to get this working in OS X.

Looking through the WRT54GL's manual, it talks about changing the main router's IP address so there isn't a conflict. Asante's default IP address didn't conflict with the IP listed in the manual, so I left it alone. The manual also seemed to suggest that I should plug the WRT54GL into one of the ports of my main router and have the other side plug into the WAN/Internet port of the WRT54GL. This didn't work for me at all and showed another problem - while the WRT54GL has a default IP address, the Asante would assign it a different IP address.

I saw no way to change the IP address that the Asante would assign to that port and I was absolutely stumped at how I could access the WRT54GL's setup and change it's IP address to match that of the IP address the Asante gives it. The idea finally came to me to have my laptop connected to the WRT54GL, which then allowed me to get into the setup and change the default IP address.

Now, instead of the long time of trying to connect to the WRT54GL from my main computer, I got an automatic unable to connect message. I finally found the answer to this on Asante's support forum that had a post of someone trying to do the same thing as me. The solution: instead of plugging into the WAN/Internet port of the WRT54GL, plug it into one of it's other ports. After thinking about it for a while, it made complete sense: the WRT54GL would view my attempts to connect to it from the desktop as an attempt to connect to it from the Internet as opposed to the LAN.

I was able to connect to the setup from my desktop after that, setting up the security and fun things like that. Now came the real test: could my laptop connect wirelessly? It did so without a hitch. I've got an excellent signal everywhere in my house, including downstairs (while my router is upstairs). I definitely look forward to having fun with this.

More on User Interface 11

I was so busy with the events of User Interface 11 and exploring other parts of Cambridge, MA that I obviously did not get to posting.

I particularly enjoyed Rolf Molich's session on Advanced Usability Techniques. The session taught me a lot, despite my not having any usability testing experience. I've just looked at sites on usability and have read some books. The session was almost like a class, complete with exercises that really helped drive things home. The knowledge I gained will definitely help me at work.

I do not think I will be able to go to next year's conference, but I would definitely go if I found the chance. I highly recommend this conference.

User Interface 11 Conference - Cambridge, MA

Greetings from Cambridge, MA, where I am attending the User Interface 11 Conference, a conference that covers topics such as usability and information architecture.

Today I am attending Gerry McGovern's full day session entitled "How to Design a Task-Based Information Architecture." I've enjoyed the session very much so far. He is a very engaging presenter and has a good dose of humor in his presentation. I also enjoy listening to his Irish accent.

I'll be trying to give updates as the week goes on.

Uncommon XHTML Tags, Part 8

The <optgroup> </optgroup> tag groups up the <option> </option> tag to show their relation. The name of the option group cannot be selected in the drop down list; only the options can be selected.

For example:
<select>
<optgroup label="Vowels">
<option value="A">A</option>
<option value="E">E</option>
</optgroup>
</select>

becomes:



A
E