mike.mainguy

I heard this statement today and it stopped me in my tracks... It came from a developer who was trying to explain to me why it was a good thing to embed our job postings as static files in our main corporate website. "After all, it only takes 15 minutes to get the new files and deploy the new version of the application" he continued. "After all, how often will they change?" I had to resist the urge to say "sooner than you might think"... At that point I should have realized that perhaps this guy was unreachable . I say that because when I attempted to explain my position he just waved me off and immediately stopped listening and started doodling on his notepad. Upon reflection, a number of problems were evident: I have done a really bad job explaining the value of using reusable components or what a "service" is I have done bad job of explaining why decoupling the content of an application from the code is a good thing I have forgotten that I ...

I've noticed an interested effect on corporate portals or extranets. They are often set up so that external access is allowed, but only certain applications/links actually work. This leads to a situation where you either #1 always VPN in (often redundant and useless) or #2 randomly have links break that will not work for you until you VPN in. A better solution might be to make the links visually different if they only work internally and perhaps even put a little broken symbol next to it. This would be best if it only showed up when you are navigating to the site from outside.

First off, let me confess, I am employed by Sears Holdings Company, so my evaluation might have some bias. I have tried very hard to be as unbiased (for OR against) as possible. That having been said, one thing that really bothers me is how many large retailers with an online presence continuously fail to understand basic things like web design. As a quick and unscientific measure, I thought I'd review a big box retail sites and give a quick once over. The selections are based on my personal preferences and have no real scientific backing. Let's use the following sites: Wal-Mart Sears (obviously) Target To make it real, I'm actually going to try and buy some new socks. It's winter here in Chicago and my last pair of Smartwool socks now has a hole in it. Again, not scientific, pretty practical. First off, the 800lb gorrilla of retail. One thing that blows me away is the huge waste of real estate for anyone with a wide-screen monitor. If you look at this image,...