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IE7 – Is it worth it?

Let me preface this by saying that I am a user of Mozilla’s Firefox. I think that it is the best thing out there right now.But as a web designer I wanted to see how it would display my pages and I was also a little curious. Who doesn’t want to see what is out there and I like trying new computer programs.
I first read a review of IE7 on CNET. It was pretty straightforward, but critical that IE7 didn’t go far enough to catch up to upcoming versions of Firefox and Opera.

I next went to the Microsoft site and went through their little guided tour and then tried to watch an online video on how IE7 made this person’s life better. What a waste of time. It is the stupidest video I have ever seen to try and promote a browser.

I even used the “higher resolution” one and it was like I was in the world of dial-up again. Microsoft, if you want to promote your products, get better advertising and better quality online videos!

Installation is another issue. Microsoft wants you to disable your virus software and your spyware software. And after installation is complete, you need to restart your computer. What a pain. Firefox does not ask you to do any of this.

I did have a problem one my computer rebooted though. The set up screen that pops up to help you set up the anti-phishing and search engine locked up and caused me to have to do a ctl-alt-del and end the program and then restart the program. I was able to manually do this once I restarted.

I have to say that I agree with the CNET review of IE7. It is an improvement over IE6, especially the tabbed browsing. But it still lags behind Firefox. The user interface is different and will take some learning and getting used to.

Overall, IE7 is an improvement, but it has a long way to go for me to start using it as my every day browser. Also, there has already been some minor isssues found in IE7 already. Go figure, a security bug in Internet Explorer.

It will be interesting to see what Firefox 2.0 is like when it comes out. The RC is now up to RC3 and is getting good reviews. More later on what I think of Firefox 2.0 when it comes out next month.

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Denver Post Updates Their Website

The Denver Post has updated their website. It looks a lot better and is easier to navigate. The information is just right there.
The only issue that I have is the top part of the pages, except for the home page, has a banner ad. Something that I have to look at before getting to the content.

I understand the need to have advertising on a site (I have it on this site), but it needs to be subtle and not the first thing that people see on top of the website. The way I use the website and usability studies show that people look upper left first and then go right. With this design, people see the ad first and then the content.

Not what I am looking for from a news website.

A good start Denver Post. But get rid of the ad on the top of the page.

See my comment that I left on their page.

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Utube vs YouTube

The trouble with having a similar domain name to a big name website. In a story covered in Reuters, “Utube web site swamped with YouTube fans,” people seeking YouTube have been swamping the site Utube, a tubes and pipes supplier.
According to the article, the Utube site owner said he was offered $1 million for the domain name from YouTube, but he declined, hoping for $2.5 to $3 million. YouTube denied that it was offering anything for the site and it wouldn’t do that.

Amazing what trouble a company or business can run into with a similar domain name. Good luck Utube.

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City of Westminster, Make Your Overcharges Right!

For the last couple of years, the city of Westminster, Colorado, has been overcharging homeowner’s associations for water.  They are supposed to charge them the residential rate, but they were charging them $.50 more a 1,000 gallons or the commercial rate.
This does not seem like much, but after a while it adds up.  Homeowner’s associations mostly use their water to irrigate their parks and common areas, plus pools.

But it gets worse.  Once the city was made aware of the problem, they didn’t stop charging associations for over six months.  Still taking their money to pad their coffers.  They now owe my homeowner’s association over $30,000 and we are not alone.  There are several homeowner’s associations that are owed more than we are.  Because of these over charges, are homeowner’s association is now in the black.

The City does not know what to do.  They just struggled through a difficult budget negotiation for a city budget, struggling to balance the budget.  Now they must come up with some sort of compensation for these homeowners associations.

It just does not seem responsible or professional for this to happen.  Especially since they are not responding to questions of their own residents.

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Google to Acquire YouTube

I guess John Dvorak got this wrong on this weeks Twit episode when he said this was a totally false story. According to Google’s news release, they are going to acquire for $1.65 billion. It will combine the leading web video site (YouTube) with one video site that was really substandard (Google). The good news is that YouTube will operate independently, but we will still be stuck with Google Video.
There could be some sticking points. The main one will be the use of copyrighted material on YouTube. According to the Wall Street Journal’s announcement of this partnership, YouTube signed a partnership with CBS and Google announced a partnership with Sony BMG Music Entertainment to have music videos online at no charge.

It will be interested to see what happens with this and if Google can make it work. They certainly have the money behind them.

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What is North Korea Thinking?!

I have no idea what North Korea is thinking.  I guess they don’t think they can play in the rest of the world and no one matters, especially their own people.  The rest of the world has ceased these type of tests.  Here are a couple of links to stories.  One from the BBC and they other from CNN.
I am sure that there will be more coming in the morning, but you would think that one of the worlds poorest countries would be more concerned about feeding its people than spending money on nuclear bombs.  But, North Korea has shown that its crazy leader worries more about inflating his own ego than helping its people.  And he might just start a war over it.

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Firefox 2 RC1 Reviews. Security & Utility Services Reviews by CNET

Firefox 2 RC1 Reviews. Security & Utility Services Reviews by CNET.
This is so cool I can’t wait until the new version comes out. I keep trying to go back to IE (My work does not like that I use Firefox), but I can’t. It just does not do what I need it to do. Firefox is so easy and it does not have as many problems as IE does.

We just need to get web programmers not to program websites for IE only.

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Can’t beat the beer!

You can’t beat beer. It is the world’s best drink. And it doesn’t get any better this weekend in Denver with the Great American Beer Festival.
The 25th Annual Great American Beer Festival brings over 1600 beers and 380 breweries for a wonderful weekend of tasting beer. It is wonderful to attend taste all this great beer and share this with thousands of other people who also enjoy beer. It is a wonderful celebration in the state that has the largest number per capita microbreweries in the United States and some of the best are located right in Denver.

The INHD shoe Beer Nutz just profiled Denver on their show. The come to towns around North America looking for its biggest Beer Nut. They had a wonderful time and hit some of the greatest microbreweries in the city. Congrats to the owner at Falling Rock Tap House for being named the cities biggest Beer Nut.

You can’t beat the beer in Denver. More reviews and discussion of beer to come.

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A Sad Day in Colorado

I want to send my sympathies to the family that lost a daughter today and to all the students affected by this incident and murder in Bailey.

Today is a sad day in Colorado.  There was another tragedy at Platte Canyon High School in Bailey.  (See Story)  Why does this keep happening?  Why can’t we prevent it?  I am sure that there will be many questions over the next few days.

I think the preparation by the Park County Sheriff and the school district saved lives.  Their evacuation plan was well practiced and was well executed.  But I wish that we could do more as a society to prevent this from happening.  There has been too many of these incidents around the country.

It is a sad day.