Page Breaks

While these do not work for every browser or printer, you can instruct them not to “break” your photographs or graphics in two pieces, or break apart blockquotes, or not to have a page break after a heading but to force it to break before the heading. This is not a perfect science, but if you are really particular about how your printed web page looks, you might want to use these.

h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6 { page-break-after:avoid;
     page-break-inside:avoid }
img { page-break-inside:avoid;
     page-break-after:avoid; }
blockquote, table, pre { page-break-inside:avoid }
ul, ol, dl  { page-break-before:avoid }

There was too much content to format here, so I’m just showing a screenshot, you can click the above link to get to the source:

httpErrors image

Classic ASP and Static Content:

<configuration>
  <system.webServer>
         <httpErrors errorMode="DetailedLocalOnly" defaultPath="/404.asp" defaultResponseMode="ExecuteURL">
            <remove statusCode="404" subStatusCode="-1" />
            <error statusCode="404" prefixLanguageFilePath="" path="/404.html" responseMode="ExecuteURL" />
         </httpErrors>
  </system.webServer>
</configuration>

.NET

<configuration>
  <system.web>
    <customErrors defaultRedirect="404.aspx" mode="RemoteOnly">
      <error statusCode="404" redirect="404.aspx"/>
    </customErrors>
  </system.web>
</configuration>

This exampled shows 404′s for all content redirecting to index.html, you will want to include both to get all pages (.aspx and everything else) to redirect correctly:

<configuration>
  <system.webServer>
         <httpErrors errorMode="DetailedLocalOnly" defaultPath="/index.html" defaultResponseMode="ExecuteURL">
            <remove statusCode="404" subStatusCode="-1" />
            <error statusCode="404" prefixLanguageFilePath="" path="/index.html" responseMode="ExecuteURL" />
         </httpErrors>
  </system.webServer>
     <system.web>
                 <customErrors mode="On">
                     <error statusCode="404" redirect="/index.html" />
                </customErrors>
     </system.web>
</configuration>

Google Docs, I believe will take over the Microsoft Office software suite. Maybe not today, not tomorrow, but it will. Do to it’s simplicity, mobility, and collaborative ways it’s one of the best options. Only corporate accounts, privacy, and comfortability stand in it’s way.

Another step in the right direction is the inclusion of templates. Check out SpeckyBoy.com and the article on Google Doc templates for website developers and designers.

I for one, will run a test drive in our next design project.

I just read this funny, but relevant article on PresentationZen where presentation tips are learned from Star Wars IV.

It got me thinking of my 3 step process to draft presentations.

#1 Start by understanding your objective. What single thought do you want your audience to walk away with? What action do you want them to take?

#2 What are the key messages. What are the key points you have to make in order to make your objective?

#3 What facts support your key messages? Why should people believe your key messages?

#4 (Bonus) Do NOT open PowerPoint. Start with the best drafting tools ever made: pencil and paper. Sketch your slides and use the many tips of presentation zen.

I know, I know…we are inundated with tweets and Facebook statuses all day long, and news is just a click away on Google Reader or Google News. So content is readily (and freely) available. What’s interesting to me is how Dell and Intel are both trusting Vice (a brand known for controversial imagery and content) to curate two microsites for them, and…this is the great part, that aren’t pushing Dell or Intel products!

Motherboard - Exploring the Culture of Technology

Motherboard, the Dell side of the partnership, is little more than an aggregation of short posts and snippets about cool and quirky left-of-center technology trends both new and old. Resting alongside posts about Chinese hackers turning their laptops into touch phones and old Demoscene 3D Graphics are some genuinely interesting trends and cultural detritus that are worth perusing for a bit, even just as a distraction while at work.

The Creators Project strives to be “a new network dedicated to the celebration of creativity and culture across media, and around the world.” It highlights individuals who are pushing culture and technology forward, and has video interviews with the creators featured, like Joachim Sauter from ART+COM.

The Creators Project

What’s interesting for me isn’t the success or failure of the individual sites – both, actually, deviate from the User-generated carnival that are Facebook and Twitter. Instead, we find large, well-known brands trying to connect with large segments of clued-in consumers they otherwise might not be able to reach through traditional advertising. Can better content drive through the advertising noise and be better heard? Are creating these networks the best way to do it? I’m not so sure, but it’s an interesting experiment.

The other aspect that resonates with me is the process of curation in digital culture – large brands turning to smaller, ‘with-it’ digital agencies and culture studios to not just create another broadcast spot or Facebook fan page, but instead create a longer, sustained endeavor – a network in-and-of-itself that, ironically, isn’t selling Netbooks, but is promoting the people that (might) use them. This will resonate more with some people than trashing the other guy or rattling off tech specs to get their attention.

In this adaptation of the near future, people have a “social score” based on their trade, the level they have achieved in their trade, and rating by others. For example, in this world I’d be: a level 22 information architect with a 4 out of 5 rating from a base of 143 (totally made up example). It’s my social circle itself that gives me raises and praises.

Your probably reading this thinking of all the lawsuits and litigations that might ensue from the principles of defaming. You might get uneasy thinking that anyone can anonymously give you a rating that anyone (including your mother) can see. You could think of those who would game the system by cheating to give themselves an advantage and their competitors disadvantage.

I for one, am intrigued.
First, I’ve always been fascinated by what people think of my actions. Am I really the good guy that I think I am? I might be surprised.

Secondly, we all grow and adapt from feedback from our surroundings. If I did something that might have hurt someone else, I’d like to know so that I could try not to do the same in the future. It doesn’t help me if no one tells me how I just made them feel uncomfortable. Similar systems are already in place in company’s HR departments with 360 feedbacks and performance evaluations.

Finally, if I am doing something questionable and know that anyone can make public, I might be quicker to give apologies and also be more aware of my actions overall. There are a few people I can think of who should be more aware of their actions.

Where it stands today. I believe society has to be weened into this way of thinking. In fact we are being weened into it. There are a few sites that are introducing the concept (maybe you’ve heard of them):

On LinkedIn you can give “recommendations” to others. This is like a letter of reference. Useful and powerful, but ultimately you can only say good things. You can also “like” people’s comments and follow people and you can “pass” or degrade the comment.

On Facebook you can “like” artifacts that people post such as photos, comments, or objects that exist.

Twitter is a social rating system whereas the more people who follow you the more useful your twits are perceived to be.

eBay sellers have a rating system that increases or decreases their trust from buyers. This way you won’t pay someone who has been rated poorly in the past.

Ratemyprofessor.com does just that. Students can give college and university professors a review. This can potentially help students pick and choose classes. I wonder if administrative staff put any weight to this “user feedback”.

Unvarnished is in public beta and is seemingly the closest thing so far to the world Daniel Suarez created. It uses Facebook connect to rate people over a variety of categories. There’s been many controversy over this one: MSNBC, SMSEO, LATimes. The funny thing is all these sites are criticizing a rating site by giving it a poor rating.

It seems that the world is not be ready for something like this at the moment. I’d like to believe it’s a tool that would slowly help us create a better society. It will cause more contention in the beginning just as most new ideas do. I am curious to see the implications and hear the thoughts of people as me move forward into this area. Especially since we are all rating each other in more ambiguous ways.

Feel free to comment.

Photo credited to ~Milk-Cream

Christine Robinson, 8/14

Tracy Severino,  8/27

Jenn Squillante, 8/28

Here’s the summary of the solution

“We’ve sorted this out, this happens on domains that doesn’t know how to process winmail.dat.
We’re using Exchange 2007 and it happens only when we send emails to mail contacts on a specific mail domain. What we’ve done is in EMC, go to the properties of the mail contact and on the Genral tab on the “Use MAPI rich text format” option, choose “Never” instead of “use default settings”. That sorted it out!”

The whole original solution can be found here

We strive for unique yet usable designs, and our portfolio is no exception.

I’m going to discuss intentions, and one of the unique features of the portfolio, but nothing can replace browsing it for yourself.

Now serving skimmers and readers

A lot goes into a web project. So naturally we have a lot to say about each project that we highlight in our portfolio.

The design needed to give a quick overview for skimmers, while allowing more curious readers the opportunity to learn the details of each project.

A new take on the Modal Box

Each portfolio item has clear thumbnails of the website that can expand in our take on a modal box.

Modal boxes typically lock-down the whole website. Why should you lose your navigation because you are looking at an image?

We also aren’t big fans of having to close a modal box just to reopen a new one.

We solved these problems by lighting up the navigation, keeping the navigation active, and adding image changing functionality.

The result is a better, more usable modal window.

Feedback

Let us know what you think. Feedback is very important to us, and we gladly accept it in any flavor (good, not-so-good, or ugly).

info@localwisdom.com

Wrap-up

A lot of LWers put a ton of effort into improving this portfolio, and localwisdom.com in general. In particular, RJay and Melissa poured themselves into this project. I speak for everyone in the Local Wisdom family when I say, job well-done.

Now it’s time to start thinking about more improvements.