As if the many disconnects we get here in KSA is not enough, now many pages return "500 Server Error" and I need to refresh and refresh to display the page. I initially thought the problem was with the site I visted, but no, it;s some proxy somewhere between me and the internet. Sometimes half the page loads, and sometimes only the text loads with no images...
And because ADSL is sold by STC and we got our ISP from another company, you can imagine what will happen if you call either one with a problem! They each blame the other....
Grrrrr.. I hate to say it, but Batelco was better! Service with Batelco was generally reliable, and not half the internet was blocked! It's so annoying when browsing a Google Blogger page, and just seeing half the images stored on Blogger. And it's not because they have any porn or obscene images, it's because for some reason, the URL contains some sequence of characters that the Great Proxy did not like... Take for example this page, by my friend about Jelly Fish, I can only see the first image, the rest are blocked...
Damn it, I'm getting these errors while trying to post this!!!
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Friday, July 13, 2007
Freedom of Speech vs. Respect
I saw Remember the Titans few days ago, and loved it. One of the best lines in the movie was when Denzel Washington was talking to the two groups of his team. The team at that time was not getting along and extremely racist black and white groups. He told them:
Another thing I feel directly related to this is freedom of speech. Everyone has the right to express their point of view. We may not agree with that opinion, but we should be willing to at least listen.
However there is a thin line between freedom of expression and showing disrespect. The problem is that this line is not concrete, and what may be freedom of expression to some, may be regarded as disrespect and wrong doing to others.
My own "line" is much closer to freedom of expression. But for many people, their line is much closer to disrespect and they see anything and anybody that disagrees with them as completely wrong.
Do you see any line? Do you have your own limits?
You don't have to love each other, but you have to respect each other.And just as we do not need to agree with each other on many things, we need to respect each others' opinions and differences.
Another thing I feel directly related to this is freedom of speech. Everyone has the right to express their point of view. We may not agree with that opinion, but we should be willing to at least listen.
However there is a thin line between freedom of expression and showing disrespect. The problem is that this line is not concrete, and what may be freedom of expression to some, may be regarded as disrespect and wrong doing to others.
My own "line" is much closer to freedom of expression. But for many people, their line is much closer to disrespect and they see anything and anybody that disagrees with them as completely wrong.
Do you see any line? Do you have your own limits?
Monday, July 02, 2007
That tune is in my head!
I'm trying to get rid of this tune that's been playing and playing in my head for some time now. It's the very old tune used as theme from old Bahraini program Cinema Al-Video. Remember that program? By director Thawwadi?
Does anybody know what is it called? Composer?
Well, THERE! Maybe now I can get rid of it, or if I'm lucky, I can find it somewhere :-)
Does anybody know what is it called? Composer?
Well, THERE! Maybe now I can get rid of it, or if I'm lucky, I can find it somewhere :-)
Sunday, July 01, 2007
Google AdSense
Unless you have something like Firefox Adblock extension, you may have noticed the Ads By Google column in my blog. Actually I have Adblock, and I thought my AdSense account did not work!
So anyway, I'm not really trying to make any money from this blog. But I am just curious how the whole AdSense concept actually works. It's actually pretty cool when in my Weddings Post you see some Wedding Planning Sites in the Ads By Google column.
If you have a Google Blogger account, it is as simple as one two three and you'll have Google Ads on your blog. You can even make some money!
Of course you are free to click away on my Ads and get me some points ;-)
So anyway, I'm not really trying to make any money from this blog. But I am just curious how the whole AdSense concept actually works. It's actually pretty cool when in my Weddings Post you see some Wedding Planning Sites in the Ads By Google column.
If you have a Google Blogger account, it is as simple as one two three and you'll have Google Ads on your blog. You can even make some money!
Of course you are free to click away on my Ads and get me some points ;-)
Thursday, June 28, 2007
The Seven Days Weddings
Ok, so some people do want to make the best wedding and spend all their just started life savings. And they want to start their life together with big a loan just to have a wedding. Their call, it's their wedding and their life after all. I do not agree on it, but hey, just my opinion.
But having seven days for a wedding? C'mon!!! Day for henna, for Jalwa, for whatever, and then two days for dinner, and some others for i don't know what?
Hey, it is your wedding, but did you think of all the people who have to attend? And especially women who now have to make like 7 different new dresses costing that much, and they may not wear them again. And they have to attend all those seven days and seven nights? So who takes care of kids, and husbands? And of course everything else will be on hold for seven days or more.
Anyway, if you are thinking of a 3 or 7 days wedding, think of the people who have to attend. Do them, and yourself a favor and spend a nice honeymoon with your wife, and ease it on the credit card.
And my best wishes to those who got married, and those who will.
But having seven days for a wedding? C'mon!!! Day for henna, for Jalwa, for whatever, and then two days for dinner, and some others for i don't know what?
Hey, it is your wedding, but did you think of all the people who have to attend? And especially women who now have to make like 7 different new dresses costing that much, and they may not wear them again. And they have to attend all those seven days and seven nights? So who takes care of kids, and husbands? And of course everything else will be on hold for seven days or more.
Anyway, if you are thinking of a 3 or 7 days wedding, think of the people who have to attend. Do them, and yourself a favor and spend a nice honeymoon with your wife, and ease it on the credit card.
And my best wishes to those who got married, and those who will.
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Green Screen vs Mouse
You know those very old computer terminals with just green text? The IBM and mainframe Terminals? Or at least the emulators that access some of these mainframes. These are now almost only seen in airline reservation systems.
Why are they being replaced with "good looking" interfaces, lots of graphics, colors and many fonts, drop down lists and whatever controls. WHY WHY WHY???
An operator, or a clerk does not need all that fancy GUI and using the mouse, which by the way gets lost below all the paperwork on their tiny desk, to click here and there to enter one simple account number. Nor do they need to scroll through a list of 541 cities and countries! They do not have to select from a list of all possible 24132 flight numbers! And generally the most common item in the list is close to the end, and users have to scroll through the whole list.
It is much quicker for the operator or clerk to just use the keypad to enter everything, press a couple of function keys here and there, and you are done. No hunting for mouse, and trying to point it to that teenie meenie check box or selecting an incorrect item from a drop down list that takes 7 seconds to scroll to the item mostly commonly needed. With all this GUI, one transaction will now take the clerk 2 minutes to enter, and will take 7 minutes for the PC to bring all that information and save it. And look at the bandwidth usage skyrocketing, and the cost of getting all those new PCs to support the huge applications, and just see how much more powerful infrastructure is needed...
WHY??? WHY??? Just so that a manager somewhere can "demonstrate" to some other managers that "We are now in a new era. We have the latest user-friendly, and colorful interfaces for our clerks that will allow us to provide better services to our clients"
Yeah right... When I go to book a ticket, or complete a transaction at a bank, or anywhere else, i don't give a swat about how pretty the clerk's new, shiny, colorful, state-of-the-art user interface is, and I don't even think the clerk cares. All I care about is that the transaction takes the minimum time needed, and it completes successfully... I think clerks will want that too. I've seen theme in many places complaining about the "new system" and struggling with pointing the mouse at that list and that check box!
Don't get me wrong. I see no harm in having an interface that does include menus, colors, graphics and drop down list, but it has to be designed properly.
Here are my personal guidelines for Form Design:
1) Allow shortcut keys for all fields, or at least arrange the fields by tab order.
2) If a drop down list contains many items, allow the users to quickly select the item using the keyboard. It is not that hard at all.
3) Use default values.
4) Try the form yourself. If it takes you more than two mouse moves, something is wrong. All data must be entered using the keyboard.
5) TEACH the users how to use the forms and the shortcuts. Not all users, specially those who worked with green screens for years, know that you can TAB to the next field instead of using the mouse. Or that you can use the ALT key to move to a field, or that you can type the first letters to select from a list, or that a CTRL-P will print and CTRL-S will save or send.
6) Function Keys are still there! Use them for common tasks. Not that hard to do. But please use them consistently.
7) Don't give the user too much information. If a field is not absolutely necessary, don't prompt for it.
8) Remember that users are generally lazy and want to finish things quickly. So:
9) Many Critical error messages with a Yes/No prompt will not even be read! The default will be used.
10) If a field is not validated, you WILL end up with lots of garbage in your database. If a field is not mandatory, you WILL get many empty fields in your database.
11) Some of these guidelines may be conflicting, so choose the best. but
12) TEST TEST TEST with real users and perform at least minimal usability tests.
Just remember that some of these forms you are designing will be presented to some people 8 hours a day. Make their life easy.
Why are they being replaced with "good looking" interfaces, lots of graphics, colors and many fonts, drop down lists and whatever controls. WHY WHY WHY???
An operator, or a clerk does not need all that fancy GUI and using the mouse, which by the way gets lost below all the paperwork on their tiny desk, to click here and there to enter one simple account number. Nor do they need to scroll through a list of 541 cities and countries! They do not have to select from a list of all possible 24132 flight numbers! And generally the most common item in the list is close to the end, and users have to scroll through the whole list.
It is much quicker for the operator or clerk to just use the keypad to enter everything, press a couple of function keys here and there, and you are done. No hunting for mouse, and trying to point it to that teenie meenie check box or selecting an incorrect item from a drop down list that takes 7 seconds to scroll to the item mostly commonly needed. With all this GUI, one transaction will now take the clerk 2 minutes to enter, and will take 7 minutes for the PC to bring all that information and save it. And look at the bandwidth usage skyrocketing, and the cost of getting all those new PCs to support the huge applications, and just see how much more powerful infrastructure is needed...
WHY??? WHY??? Just so that a manager somewhere can "demonstrate" to some other managers that "We are now in a new era. We have the latest user-friendly, and colorful interfaces for our clerks that will allow us to provide better services to our clients"
Yeah right... When I go to book a ticket, or complete a transaction at a bank, or anywhere else, i don't give a swat about how pretty the clerk's new, shiny, colorful, state-of-the-art user interface is, and I don't even think the clerk cares. All I care about is that the transaction takes the minimum time needed, and it completes successfully... I think clerks will want that too. I've seen theme in many places complaining about the "new system" and struggling with pointing the mouse at that list and that check box!
Don't get me wrong. I see no harm in having an interface that does include menus, colors, graphics and drop down list, but it has to be designed properly.
Here are my personal guidelines for Form Design:
1) Allow shortcut keys for all fields, or at least arrange the fields by tab order.
2) If a drop down list contains many items, allow the users to quickly select the item using the keyboard. It is not that hard at all.
3) Use default values.
4) Try the form yourself. If it takes you more than two mouse moves, something is wrong. All data must be entered using the keyboard.
5) TEACH the users how to use the forms and the shortcuts. Not all users, specially those who worked with green screens for years, know that you can TAB to the next field instead of using the mouse. Or that you can use the ALT key to move to a field, or that you can type the first letters to select from a list, or that a CTRL-P will print and CTRL-S will save or send.
6) Function Keys are still there! Use them for common tasks. Not that hard to do. But please use them consistently.
7) Don't give the user too much information. If a field is not absolutely necessary, don't prompt for it.
8) Remember that users are generally lazy and want to finish things quickly. So:
9) Many Critical error messages with a Yes/No prompt will not even be read! The default will be used.
10) If a field is not validated, you WILL end up with lots of garbage in your database. If a field is not mandatory, you WILL get many empty fields in your database.
11) Some of these guidelines may be conflicting, so choose the best. but
12) TEST TEST TEST with real users and perform at least minimal usability tests.
Just remember that some of these forms you are designing will be presented to some people 8 hours a day. Make their life easy.
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
IE For Linux
Okay so I really hate Vista, and I think Microsoft products are crap. But there are still a few sites out there that think everybody else in the world is running Windoze. Take for example GMArabia who insist on using ActiveX and Microsoft DOM components. Their main page does not even load on anything but a Windoze PC.
Anyway, so there is Wine and you can run lots of Windows progs on it, but it was nit the easiest program to install and configure, and I did have some issues with it some time ago. So I did not bother installing it again and switched to Vista for some things.
Well, not any more. Thanks to IE4Linux.
With IE4Linux, all what you will need are just a few lines in the shell, and you will have IE 5.5, IE 6.0, and IE 5.0 if you need, with Flash, and with desktop shortcuts too. It does everything for you.
So now, I really have no reason at all to run Vista. Well, maybe just for some games ;-)
Are you using Wine with other programs?
Anyway, so there is Wine and you can run lots of Windows progs on it, but it was nit the easiest program to install and configure, and I did have some issues with it some time ago. So I did not bother installing it again and switched to Vista for some things.
Well, not any more. Thanks to IE4Linux.
With IE4Linux, all what you will need are just a few lines in the shell, and you will have IE 5.5, IE 6.0, and IE 5.0 if you need, with Flash, and with desktop shortcuts too. It does everything for you.
So now, I really have no reason at all to run Vista. Well, maybe just for some games ;-)
Are you using Wine with other programs?
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