Oliver Siodmak's Rants & Raves

Over the years I have been involved in the design and development of a lot of different web sites. Part of that design process includes developing error pages to handle errors that either the user or system has produced. While these pages normally follow the branding (see the Maghound.com example below) they rarely exhibit rolling in the isle humor. Smashing Magazine has a great article highlighting some of the more unique and stylish 404 Error pages on the internet.

You just have to love the simplicity of badges and widgets.  Badges are simply code that allow you to incorporate functionality into your web site. Flickr, Facebook and even Twitter provide you with some simple code that when dropped into an HTML/PHP/ASP/.Net page on your site pull content from those sites into yours.

You can see an example of this in the sidebar of my site.  The second column now displays a Twitter badge that displays my last 5 Twitter postings (affectionally known as “tweets”).The code was provided by Twitter (http://twitter.com/badges).  You can select one of three styles of badges.  I am using the HTML version that immediately leverages the CSS file I use to control my site’s presentation. 

To learn more about Twitter check out this video.

To learn more about badges check out:

• Flicker Badges
• Twitter Badges
• Dilbert Widget

Enjoy. 

I downloaded the latest version of Flock and was amazed at how well the browser performed. Additionally, I really enjoyed all of the built in features:

• Media streams
• Blogging support
• Integrated uploading support
• Tabbed browsing
• News feed support
• Web clipping

Best of all, I was able to start using it immediately .. as if it was just naturally the way a software product should work. I’m very impressed. Flock is available for both the Windows and Mac platform. Download a copy at Flock.com

BTW .. I was able to locate the picture above using Flock’s Media Streams support which allowed me to scan a series of Flickr images, select one and then blog about it. Check out more of Angelique Brunas’ amazing photos on her Flicker page.

Tags: Flickr, Flock, Browser

I know that everyone is obsessed with the full web browser capabilities of the iPhone.  After all, the display is incredibly sharp and it allows you to view, navigate and read any web site (providing it doesn’t use Flash or Java).  Before the iPhone web developers had to develop a specific interface for those users wishing to view their site using a mobile device.   Most companies don’t go through the trouble of developing a stripped down version of their site for these small, but loyal group of users.

Fortunately, a number of media companies have reviewed their web logs and recognized that there is a large number of individuals who are trying to access their web site using a mobile device.  The following organizations have special URLs for accessing their content using a mobile device (in the order in which I access them each day):

• Mac Rumors – http://mobile.macrumors.com
• Google (Search) – http://www.google.com/m
• Yahoo – http://us.m.yahoo.com
• USA Today – http://wap.usatoday.com
• Newsweek – http://mobile.newsday.com
• BusinessWeek -  http://businessweek.mobi
• Time – http://mobile.time.com
• AM NY – http://mobile.amny.com
• Exxon/Mobil Locator – http://wapgo2roads.com
• Fox News – http://foxnews.mobi
• Geek.com – http://www.geek.com/portable/index.htm
• You Tube – http://m.youtube.com

What is interesting is the complete lack of consistency in the way the URLs are formed.  Very few of the mobile enable web sites I use are using the “.Mobi” domain designator although the number is growing each and every day.

If there is a mobile site that you find useful, please comment this post and I’ll add it to the list.

Happy trails.