Paul Sizemore

Paul Sizemore  //  

 
Nov 7 / 9:10am

Axure iPhone UI elements widget / library download

Click here to download:
iPhone-Axure-Widgets.zip (1972 KB)

I've created a Axure RP iPhone widget library and you can download it below. The bulk of the work on this library was done one night while I was up late from the pure pain and agony from eating a Taco Tico taco - it was just one taco, and I wanted bragging rights. Taco Tico is a Louisville fast food Mexican joint, equivalent to the White Castle circa 1980.  The important thing I learned, don't eat things you think are dangerous simply to bond with other people, but I don't know if I'll be able to do it in the future. I'm a risk taker. Maybe a good fall-back is only eat part of it. Either way, I hope I never get sick like that again.

Anyway, I've been prototyping iPhone applications, and I really want to be able to do it in Axure RD; this will let me turn over the prototype to the stakeholder in a web browser. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any existing iPhone UI widgets that did do a good job of covering the common iPhone UI elements. Bingo, add Taco Tico, Axure, an iPhone and the result, a iPhone UI element library. 

First, I want to point to teehan+lax, the creators of the 'iPhone_GUI_3_0.psd' that I used for a large part of this widget. I also used Yahoo! UI elements and then created a few of them myself. 

The aim is to create a library of common iPhone User Interface patterns for me to use; sharing is the right thing to do. 

You can reach me, Paul, at Paul.Sizemore /at/ Gmail.com, but I would stay away from Taco Tico. 

 

 

 

Filed under  //  Axure   Software  

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Nov 5 / 2:38pm

Maximizing the pages indexed on your site

I recently had a client come to me and say 'We just launched a new site, now what SEO should we do?' My first thought, was that they had missed the boat, but I didn't tell them that. That's a lesson they will learn before they launch the next site or feature. 

Minutes after running the YSlow Firefox/Firebug add-on, I noticed some low hanging fruit. No HTTP compression on their server. 

I told them, 'Just do it.' They had to ask why. 

First, it will save you bandwidth, and bandwidth is money, right? Here's a nice case study from IBM that details the bandwidth impacts server compression has on overall bandwidth. 

Second, and more important, because engines only index pages to a certain volume, the rest of the page is lost. Implementing it is a change that not only reduces the bottom line, but provides growth into new areas of SEO. 

According to Sitepoint the engines stop points are:
     Yahoo:    210 kb
     Google:  520 kb
     MSN:      1020 kb

That means most pages with a footprint more than 210 kb in download size will not be indexed completely by yahoo, and that's something that could be tragic. 

Links: 
Filed under  //  SEO  

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Nov 4 / 6:50pm

Srsly? SEO Expectations, realistic expectations

Often time business SEO stakeholders are not SEO savvy, and therefore might have unrealistic expectations. Education is the key, and relating the SEO efforts is quality reporting. 

Stakeholders often look for immediate results in rankings, and that they will maintain a steady curve increase. This isn't the case, report on the incoming traffic, and not the rankings. SEO will increase the organic inbound traffic, and stakeholders can understand this if it's communicated to them. 

Stakeholders also often feel that since the research was done on a keyword, the site should rank on that keyword. Certain keywords are more difficult to rank on than others, and the process of the search engine crawling the site varies. There are also a lot of other variables that factor in, and it's not a 100% process. No business process is 100%. 

When stakeholders see numbers it sets an unrealistic expectation. The numbers, the rankings and the analytics often set a false sense that the entire process is as sharp, defined and quantitative as the numbers. This isn't the case. I like to relate it to the stock market, it's up and down, but there is a trend. This analogy resonates with a lot of stakeholders.
Filed under  //  SEO  

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Nov 4 / 6:50pm

Book Report: How to Wow by Frances Cole Jones

I grabbed this on the grand opening day at the Newburg branch of the Louisville Free Public Library specifically to pass on a few of the tips on to the presenters of Ignite502. The book had a lot of common sense tips, as to be expected, and a lot of tips. 

/     Your communication style 
/    Introduce yourself with panache, so the other person remembers it, don't I know him, I have to get to know him.
/    Instead of using useless modifiers, tell people why. How do you feel, what was it, where was it. Don't simply tell people working with them is great. Tell them why it's great. Don't tell people cliff diving is fun, tell them why it's fun. Tell them where it is. All the details of how it makes you feel will craft a better story. Strengthen the story with the right words..
/    Use persuasive words: you/money/save/new/results/health/easy/safety/love/discovery/proven/guarantee.
/    More isn't better, better is better.
/    Speaking in stories will help your listener retain what you said.
/    Your impact is 7% your words, 38% tonal quality, 55% body language

/    People are either Visual,Aural or Kinesthetic
/ Visual people relate when you use phrases like: see what I'm talking about... or looking from this angle...
/ Aural people relate when you use phrases like: can you hear the difference... or listen to the description again...
/ Kinesthetic people relate when you use phrases like: throw your hat into this discussion...
/ Listening to someone to hear cues on the type of language that relates to them, and adjusting your language can go a long way to help the communication process

/    Turn mistakes into service opportunities: SMEAC
Situation - The happening of the mistake
Mission - Includes the Commander's intent / this lets everyone know the intent
Execution - The plan of attack
Administration & Logistics - what resources will be needed
Communication - communication between the resources 

/     Professional Relationships
/ Whenever talking to someone, ask yourself 'Why is this person's unique contribution valuable to me & the project? '
/ When you are talking to someone, you can look at their right eye if you want to issue a command to them, and their left eye if you want to gain their trust
/ Make sure you record a good voice mail, it is often the first contact people have with you. You want it to be authoritative, and record it while standing, smiling, calm and on the exhale. 
/ Agree and Add to what is being said, do not disagree with a 'but ...'

/     Stress free interviewing
/Say what you believe, not what you think is the right answer. 
/ Know your softball swing, the easy question: tell me about XXX, and then tell a story
/ Be prepared for the  three worst questions
/ You are being hired to fit into the culture / what is their mission statement / best products / what is their strategy / 
/ Be aware of your body language
/ If you can't fix it, feature it - job hopping, then bring it up in the interview as an asset 
/ know why the job is right for you, and why you are right for the job

Filed under  //  Book Report  

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Nov 4 / 12:23pm

The showdown of the century? Facebook vs Friend Connect

Can Facebook's entrenchment hold the Google onslaught at bay? Google Friend Connect is out and about, getting ready to hit the streets. One of the big wins, it ties your AdSense account to both your site's content and the user's interests. Wow. That will result in highly targeted ads, and it's going to be interesting to see how fast Friend Connect can gain on Facebook.

In addition to the ad component, Friend Connect will allow you to manage newsletters and email blasts to the subscribers. There's even an Event widget. Remember, if Google can do it, it's not an effective business model, right? That's not exactly true, but I've heard often. 

Pick the features you want, and put them on your site. 

Links:

     
Click here to download:
The_showdown_of_the_century_-_.zip (212 KB)

Filed under  //  Social Media  

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