Communiqué

Say Hello to our new Sys Admin

Dave Tufts — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 17:06:29 EDT

We're excited to welcome Mike Denning to iMarc. He's our new systems administrator.

Over the past couple years, iMarc's hosting business has grown quite a bit. We now run 12 web servers and manage about 150 websites for clients. We're hosting DNS, troubleshooting client email issues, and trying to keep our internal network and workstations up and running. Until this month, the job of maintaining all those systems fell on iMarc's developers. Now, it's all Mike's responsibility :)

Mike comes to iMarc with an extensive background in network and server management. His resume includes things like sed, awk, Snort, and BSD—what's not to love?

Actually Mike has been here for a couple weeks now. In his first week, he configured our non-GUI FreeBSD fileserver to play hold-music on our phone system—clients kept asking for more Scorpions and Kraftwerk while on hold. If you've ever tried to mix command-line FreeBSD, mp3 playlists, and an ancient phone system, you'll appreciate this feat.

Going forward, Mike will play a crucial role in keeping servers up and running as well as implementing measures to make our hosting infrastructure more efficient.

Welcome to iMarc, Mike.

"Not Invented Here" for a Triple Word Score

Dave Tufts — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 14:01:33 EDT

Scrabulous, one of the most popular Facebook add-on applications, is no longer available to many users. Scrabulous was an online copy of Hasbro's board game that allowed users to play Scrabble with each other.

There are a number of articles explaining what happened, but I don't understand why—from a business perspective—Hasbro wanted to remove the popular copy.

Facebook users could choose to play Scrabulous, the rip-off game, or an official version created by Hasbro.

The difference in the two versions is summed up accurately in today's Dallas Morning News: "[Scrabulous] was simple, easy to use and very quick loading. On the other hand, Hasbro and Electronic Arts recently released an official Scrabble application for Facebook, which is heavily graphical, slow and clunky."

As noted in the Washington Post, Scrabulous had 3 million registered users and over half a million people were actively playing on Facebook, while only 14,000 users had added the official Hasbro version.

After a couple months of threats and lawsuits, Scrabulous' developers gave in to Hasbro's demands and blocked their application from US and Canadian Facebook users.

I might understand Hasbro's decision if Scrabulous somehow diluted the Scrabble brand, but the rip-off was actually more on brand—capturing the simplicity of the board game—than Hasbro's clunky online version.

I'd also understand the lawsuits if Scrabulous cut into Hasbro's sales, but that doesn't seem to be the case. In fact, my wife and I recently bought the board game. It was the free Scrabulous that reminded us how fun Hasbro's game was.

From the business side, why wouldn't Hasbro put all their effort into buying Scrabulous. Instead, Hasbro sued the two brothers who created Scrabulous and hired Electronic Arts (EA), a gigantic and probably very expensive video game company, to create their own slower, less fun, official game.

Was the cost of hiring EA, plus the cost of lawsuits really less than the cost of buying out Scrabulous? I guess not...once Hasbro factored in the cost of admitting that two brothers can more accurately recreate the Scrabble experience than the official company can.

ca·coph·o·ny

Nils Menten — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 17:06:37 EDT

What do Cole Porter and Social Distortion have in common? At this very moment? I am listening to them both simultaneously from dueling stages just outside my office window. Read More

Clank

Nils Menten — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 11:52:36 EDT

That's the sound I imagine my framed "Partners" print made as it fell off the wall, bounced off the top of my fish tank, and hit the floor. We have zealous and energetic cleaning folk that come through here on weekends, making our offices clean and tidy, and one of their points of pride apparently is to dust the top of every framed thing on the walls, and leave them just a teeny bit cockeyed. It's just another assurance for us that they are doing a great job, getting it all looked after. Apparently they accidentally knocked this one all the way off a few weeks ago.

The print is nothing special, except to me. A friend gave it to me in our second year, as we were a little short on decor, and I liked it. I had it framed with a simple black molding, and sprung for the fancy non-glare glass. It's a 16 x 30 inch mounted print, of a bunch of pears in a basket. It says "Partners, Two or more that have joined together and share a common interest with each other", below the photograph. It's hung in my office since 1999, in sight of my desk. It's reminded me more than once that I owe so much to my two partners, Dave and Nick.

Amazingly enough, the expensive glass survived the trip to the floor intact, but somehow the stiff extruded aluminum frame did not. It got dinged and a little twisted, and there was no good way to bend it back flat without trashing the finish.

So off I went to our neighbor Colleen and she had her husband Garry cut me a new set of molding. I just put it back together and dug out a new picture hanger and just as soon as I finish this blog post I'm going to hang it back up above the fish tank.

These things take maintenance and a little extra effort at times, but it's totally worth it.

Thanks as always you guys.

Year in Quotes (volume 2)

Dave Tufts — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 09:35:51 EDT

About a year ago, I posted a collection of quotes taken from our Wiki.

iMarc's Wiki home page starts with a quotation. Any employee can change the quote. When a new quote is posted, the old one gets archived.

Here are some of the quotes we've seen over the last year:

There is time enough for everything, in the course of the day, if you do but one thing at once; but there is not time enough in the year, if you will do two things at a time. [...]

This steady and undissipated attention to one object is a sure mark of a superior genius; as hurry, bustle, and agitation are the never-failing symptoms of a weak and frivolous mind.

— Philip Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield, 1747

This too shall pass.

— From Jewish folklore, supposedly King Solomon charged his wise men to invent the "perfect sentence". It had to be true and appropriate in all times and in all situations.

Content precedes design. Design in the absence of content is not design, it’s decoration.

— Jeffrey Zeldman

If I had more time I would write a shorter letter

— Mark Twain

There is no such thing as information overload, only bad design.

— Edward Tufte

I will solve your problem for you, and you will pay me. You don't have to use my solution, but if you want 'options', go talk to other people.

— Paul Rand, via Steve Jobs

The more simple any thing is, the less liable it is to be disordered, and the easier repaired when disordered.

— Thomas Paine, Common Sense

Wherever you work, most of the smart people are somewhere else.

— Bill Joy, arguing against centralization

Deriving frameworks from production code really is a pleasant way of arriving at something useful.

— David Heinemeier Hansson, on how Rails was developed

If I had asked my customers what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse.

— Henry Ford

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.

— George Bernard Shaw

Any fool can write code that a computer can understand. Good programmers write code that humans can understand.

— Martin Fowler

Gunslinging Rockstar Ninjas

Dave Tufts — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 15:01:21 EDT

Looking for a job? We typically hire designers and programmers. Other way cooler companies hire rockstars, ninjas and gunslingers.

Seriously, why? If you're in the job market, is it really more attractive to apply for a Front End Guru position?

Now Hiring: Junior Interactive/Web Designer

Nick Grant — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 14:38:46 EDT

Junior Interactive/Web Designer
iMarc is seeking a Junior Interactive Designer with a strong emphasis on graphic interfaces and visual problem solving skills. Candidate should also have a solid understanding of information architecture and user interface design as well as experience in identity and branding building.

Requirements:

Strong sense of design fundamentals and type
Understanding of HTML and CSS
Advance knowledge of Flash (ActionScript a big plus), Photoshop, Illustrator
Team player that can work closely with clients
Ability to handle multiple projects in a timely manner.
Survey and explore creative concepts and brainstorm with co-workers

What iMarc Offers:

Competitive Salary
Excellent benefits including health and dental coverage
Company-sponsored retirement plan
A fun, creative work environment, in excellent surroundings
Challenging, varied projects

How To Apply
Email a resume to careers@imarc.net
* Inquiries without links to web-based work will probably be ignored.

About iMarc
iMarc is a full-service web development firm located in Newburyport, MA. We provide high quality custom Web sites, online applications, e-commerce, and intranets to discerning businesses.

Photoshop: Create Your Own Glossy Icons

Craig Henry — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 11:24:33 EDT

I was feeling particularly crafty the other night and decided to make my own dock icon for my contacts. OSX Icon Masters be warned, I in no way followed your strict lighting and gloss standards put forth by Apple or the clowns in their Gloss 'n Shine Department. By clowns I mean geniuses, of course.

Here's a quick rundown on what I did:

Step 1: Make a Sexy Shape

The rules in this tutorial can apply to any shape really, but here is the one I made. Basically, its a square with an oval on the top and bottom.

Step 2: Dupe That Sexy Shape

Make it a little darker. Stick it in the back (behave) - and bump it up a bit (behave twice, please).

Step 3: Tweak It, Sucka!

Select only the top portion of the back shape, and distort the tops in. This will create a small amount of perspective. Nothing crazy, friends. OH - I also brushed in a small amount of shading at the bottom of the front piece.

Step 4: Add A Hint of Light

Next, add a small spotlight of ominous glow at the bottom portion of the back piece. Then we'll add a small strip of light across the top. 1px will do.

Step 5: Metal Screen Framing, Part One!

This part's easy. Dupe the front layer, make it a nice gray, select and move the bottom part up, then transform the whole thing in about 15%.

Step 6: Metal Screen Framing, Part DEUX! (Final Part)

We'll get that metal look by creating a new angle gradient with the settings seen below. Also, for effect you'll notice I added a little inner shadow and a small stroke. Not necessary, though. VOILA!!!

Step 7: Keyboard Frame

Along the same lines, dupe and transform another copy of the front piece. Make it black, align it with the bottom of your front piece, and erase the top for a nice fade into the screen area.

Step 8: The Screen. Not the Screen Frame, The Screen.

In case confusion has set in, in this step we'll create the screen. Dupe the screen frame, transform it in a little - remove the efects layers, and darken it up. Add a small black inner shadow around the edges.

Step 9: Let's Reflect. Things on the Screen.

Step 10: The Ominous Glow Down Below.

Remember step 4? Do that again, for the bottom. OMINOUS GLOW!!!

Step 11: Rince and Repeat. For Le Top Piece.

yes.

Step 12: Keyboard, Part 1 of 4.

Lets make a simple Key. It can be anything you want, but just make one!

Step 13: Keyboard, Part 2 of 4: ROWS

Dupe that key a few times until you have something not in any way standard on cellphones - like the one below. Dupe the row 3, 4 or 5 times (again, lets keep this unrealistic people). On the bottom layer make sure you stretch out some room for a space bar.

Step 14: Keyboard, Part 3 of 4: L-L-L-LIQUIIFYYY!!

Now lets include a little warp-action by utilizing the most well-named Photoshop Filter ever. Ok - now keep it simple. start at the top row and push down a tiny bit. Use the pic below for reference. If you didnt use this shape, match it up to your specific curvature.

Step 15: Keyboard, Part 4 of 4: Place it!

Shrink it down and it'll clean up nicely in place with your keyboard frame you created previously. Add a little D-Shadow. Haha - Oh man, that's Step 15 for ya!

Step 16: Stank

Add some! Add some nice keyboard lighting, a NON-RECEDING headphone jack, and some buttons that do things.

Step 17: Finish Him!

All done!

In our next tutorial I'll show you how to add service to your Cell-Phone Icon.

Until Next Time!

They only come out at night

Patrick McPhail — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 18:27:36 EDT

(6:23:15 PM) Me: that better not have been you singing

(6:23:22 PM) Ruk: hahaha

(6:23:28 PM) Ruk: i thought i was the only one left here

Not a valid excuse.

Context switches are expensive

Robert Mohns — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 10:34:26 EDT

Anyone who is familiar with how operating systems manage multitasking knows that context switches are expensive. But that's nothing to how expensive context switching is in humans[1].

This morning I wanted to consult with a coworker about an important but low-urgency issue, so I went to my IM contact list ... and discovered he wasn't logged into IM. I didn't want to interrupt him (low urgency) but did want his input (important issue). So I dialed his desk on the intercom: "Ruks, are you interruptable?"

Turns out this sort of tiered communication is pretty common. Shortly after consulting with Craig, I spotted an article[2] reporting on research done by Ohio State University and the University of California that found exactly this.

It seems that workers use instant messaging to reduce interruption.. in place of phone calls and showing up at each others' desks. This reduces context switching, and consequently increases productivity.

One of the study's authors thinks that IM won't be as widely adopted as email. I'm not convinced; there are 2.4 billion SMS text users in the world[3], or 74% of all mobile handset users, while the there are just 1.2 billion email users worldwide[4]. While there are "only" 67 million "enterprise" IM users, I think the massive adoption of SMS — a form of instant messaging IM that happens not to be PC-based — gives the lie to the idea that IM doesn't have the same traction as email.

Given the inordinate amount of time we waste on email every day — consuming up to 25% of our workday[5] — I see the adoption of IM in business as a hugely good thing.

IM seems to not only reduce that email load but make us more productive... that's some nice icing on that cake.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go interrupt a coworker...

Footnotes

Human Task Switches Considered Harmful by Joel Spolsky is a great article on this.
Instant Messaging Provdes Usefil in Reducing Workplace Interruption, Science Daily.
SMS - Wikipedia
Number of e-mail users worldwide to reach 1.6 billion in 2011, says Radicati Group
Survey: "More than 50% of those surveyed say they spend about one to two hours reading or writing e-mail each day".

is not evil.

Robert Mohns — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 08:47:26 EDT

One of the greatest accomplishments of the web standards movement has been successfully convincing web designers and developers to create semantic markup for web pages. But, like any movement, it can become blinded by its own ideals and forget the meaning of changes.

Case in point: the italics tag has been deprecated in favor of the emphasis tag .

Purpose: Italics are usually used for emphasis, therefore, use the semantically-oriented emphasis tag instead of the style-oriented italic tag.

So far, so good.

Now, let me draw your attention, for a moment, to one of the books currently set out for visitors in Dave's office: Web Form Design: Filling in the Blanks by Luke Wroblewski.

Let's view source: Web Form Design: Filling in the Blanks

Note the use of italics tag intead of the emphasis tag. Why? Because it's not about emphasis, but distinction. A method is needed to make the title distinct from the surrounding text.

Thanks to centuries of typographic experimentation, evolution and standardization, we already have a method for accomplishing this: Italics are used to set out book titles as distinct from the rest of the text.

Let me recap that: The tag is semantically inappropriate in this context.

Which leaves us with several hundred years of practice to fall back upon:

The much-maligned italics tag.

Reflexively replacing all instances of and with and is a mistake... and a violation of the spirit of the semantic web, because those semantic elements are not always correct for the uses they are put to.

UPDATE!

To my surprise, this post was picked up on Reddit (where there is some great discussion). And, it's been pointed out by a commenter here that my example was a poor choice, because the cite tag is specifically designed for article names (such as book titles). So, I was wrong.

Still, there are quite a few other valid uses of the italics tag which are not accounted for in the available HTML tags (see below). So, I posit that is still not evil.

But don't use it for book titles. Use cite. :-)

Finally, I would like to request that commenters please be civil. I expect some snark, but please avoid personal attacks. I would hate to shut down comments on this entry, because there have been some very informative comments already.

Thank you. —Robert

Schooled.

Craig Henry — Fri, 30 May 2008 17:42:17 EDT

Full-screen branding

Robert Mohns — Fri, 30 May 2008 10:21:39 EDT

Pandora, a music streaming service, is one of my favorite web apps. I'd say I use it for about half of each workday, leaving the window open on the laptop on my desk.

Which means I see it pretty much all the time. This is an advertiser's dream.

Pandora not only realized this, but they've taken advantage of it in a way few web-based services can. They rebrand the entire page for advertisers, without impairing core functionality. And to my surprise, I find this not irritating, but delightful. It's like getting a neat new skin on the application.

And better still, some of these include one or more custom Pandora stations. I'm sure the music was carefully selected by some marketing staff, but I get a kick out of it, and I have even been introduced to some new music.

So, that's what it is. Here's how it looks:

Embedded Flickr slideshow created with flickrSLiDR, a handy little tool.
It even supports Internet Explorer's failure to cope with web standards. ;-)

Maybe not everyone will be as enamoured of this as I am, but I think it's a pretty slick way of paying the licensing fees for the music I listen to for free — and about seventy thousand times less intrusive than the 20-minutes-per-hour of commercials I hear on broadcast radio. Advertisers get to associate with something i find positive, while I get internet radio customized to my taste in music — if that's not a win-win, what is?

Summer Job, iMarc Style

Dave Tufts — Thu, 29 May 2008 16:59:46 EDT
We're excited to welcome summer intern Alden Michaels to iMarc.

Like iMarc, Alden is a native of Newburyport. He's currently a junior at NBPT high school, but has the knowledge of a grey-bearded UNIX guru. Alden has taken programming classes at MIT, enjoys building analog synthesizers, and writes notes to himself on the back of his hands.

Say "hi" to Alden, but be nice…he's still in school.

Custom Away Messages are Overrated

Fred LeBlanc — Thu, 22 May 2008 13:04:41 EDT

I don't know if this is a trend or a weird coincidence, but everyone on my buddy list that was away a couple minutes ago was using the standard message that comes with their IM client. What happened to random quotes, clever sayings or even some custom form of "I'm away?"

Those were the days.

Random Vent

Nick Grant — Wed, 21 May 2008 10:01:10 EDT
Why is it that every time I go to woot, they're selling a vacuum cleaner?

It's either the Dyson or the Roomba.

Hiring: Junior Systems Administrator

Dave Tufts — Fri, 16 May 2008 12:06:39 EDT

iMarc is looking for a junior Systems Administrator / Webmaster. We're a small web development company in Newburyport, MA. We need help maintaining internal workstations and leased/co-located open-source web servers. The ideal candidate will have 2-4 years experience.

Things you'll help manage:

IT needs for 18 employees (we're web geeks, so shouldn't be too hard)

25 internal workstations and servers

12 externally hosted servers hosting about 200 small-scale websites

Web, DNS, and some email for 150 clients that we maintain

Things you'll do:

Set up new *NIX servers

Manage DNS, Apache, and open-source databases

Proactively implement improvements

Server surveillance, spot bottlenecks, warn us of impending doom

Document your work, write an occasional blog

Monitor backup routines

Keep us clear of daily issues

Our Setup:

Internally we run Macs and PCs (mostly XP)

Our servers run FreeBSD, Apache, PHP, Postgres, and MySQL

We've been in business, building web sites for over 10 years. During that time, we have built and maintained all our IT systems. As we've grown, sys admin time is taking our developers away from client work and development. You'll be helping us to get our developers back to their work.

Email a PDF or Plain Text resume to careers@imarc.net
We're flexible on hours and open to considering part-time candidates.

About iMarc
iMarc is a full-service web development firm located in Newburyport, MA. We provide high quality custom Web sites, online applications, e-commerce, and intranets to discerning businesses. Check us out at http://www.imarc.net

Using A Framework

Dave Tufts — Tue, 13 May 2008 15:08:47 EDT

Will Bond recently shared an article, curtly titled Why Frameworks Suck. Though the article is a year old it was recently promoted on Hacker News.

The author, like an old Beastie Boys song, uses every analogy in the book to dismiss frameworks.

Frameworks, to the author, are like an all-in-one woodworking tool…

I like a big set of tools available to call upon at need, I like to have a favorite hammer and a favorite saw and know the tricks for making them both fit on my belt without running into my legs when I am working on something. Framework people like the 5-in-1 lathe-press-drill-saw-grinder and figuring out the tricks to fit the piece of wood they are working on into the machine. When you have a framework everything will be lathe-press-drill-saw-grinded into submission, and you better read the manual otherwise the machine won’t even turn on.

Frameworks are like organized professional sports…

If building an application with libraries is playing football with your buddies, building an application on a large framework is playing football in the NFL. […] it’s just not fun anymore.

Frameworks are inseparable dinnerware…

Frameworks hurt sharing. I’d really like to give you this fork Jimmy, but you’re gonna need a knife and plate to use it.

Frameworks conspire against creativity and individual problem solving…

Frameworks suck because they make you fit your project to the toolset rather than the toolset to the project, and frameworks suck because they take the fun out of programming, long live the library.

While the arguments are valid and refreshing to hear, they are one-sided. After reading the article, I found myself agreeing with many of the follow-up comments at Hacker News. Most of all, it's not the concept of frameworks that stinks, it's other people's frameworks. Your own, custom written framework will never stink—at least, it won't stink for you.

For our first 8 years, 1997–2005, iMarc used libraries and shunned frameworks. As the author points out, there are many positives to this approach. All components—database library, session library, form validation library—are independent and self-contained. Our developers used these libraries to speed up common tasks, but each website was a new frontier.

Using analogies from the original article, at some point there's a preferred middle ground between the freedom and independence of working with programming libraries and the shackles of using someone else's monolithic framework.

In woodworking, the carpenter can still use his favorite tools while utilizing jigs and implementing a well-defined process. In backyard football, it's actually more fun when there are some agreed-upon rules. With dinnerware, most people eventually succumb to matched utensils and place settings. In each instance, it's the individual finding there own way and implementing a framework customized for them.

It's a logical step to evolve one's library of tools into a custom framework. The framework will be based on your needs. It will be the right size for you. It will impose restrictions—but everything will be based on decisions you make.

A collection of libraries solves coding problems—repetition or complication of code. A framework solves process problems—repetition or complication of process.

for lack of nail

Robert Mohns — Sun, 04 May 2008 22:28:53 EDT

I just registered an account at member.nin.com so I can buy advance Nine Inch Nails concert tickets when they go on sale in a couple weeks. After registering, I received this email, which is supposed to have a link to use to activate my new account:

Subject: nin: registration From: nin Date: Sun, May 4, 2008 10:22 pm To: robert Congratulations! You have successfully registered with www.nin.com. You're almost ready to begin using your account - just confirm your email address by clicking the link below to activate your account: $controller->url You will then immediately be logged in. Enjoy, The Staff www.nin.com

You're Not Crazy for Smiling at your Plant

Fred LeBlanc — Fri, 02 May 2008 16:21:39 EDT

You're only crazy if it smiles back.