John's Technology Blog

jobs.nsw - web user interface design at its worst

2011-12-01T12:00:00+10:00

I was recently looking at the jobs.nsw job search page and was astounded at how such a high profile site could be so poorly designed.

The design is fine, my issue is with how it operates.

It's a dynamic site with AJAX and some animation of content areas appearing and disappearing. On some sites animation might be welcome, but this page's purpose is job hunting, and users like me don't want to wait while the search form disappears to make room for the search results which are displayed by AJAX on the same page.

Next problem, and this one is a big one. I get a bunch of search results and several of them are of interest to me. So I middle-click expecting the job details page to open in a new tab but it opens in the same tab. So I try right-clicking and select open in new tab. The new tab opens but I get a new search form, not the job detail page that I was hoping for and expecting.

So users are forced to view job detail pages in the same window, which means that we need to click back (browser button or hyperlink provided). This does take us back to the search results page and to give the developers some credit at least they coded in such a way that the search results and search form are populated with all the right details that were previously populated by AJAX - many developers don't handle this at all.

Personally, I generally avoid AJAX for search results as it is better for search engines to pick up content and allows users to bookmark search results pages.

Want more jobs.nsw usability problems? If I click on "job search" on the navigation bar it takes me to a page where I then have to click the big "job search" image which then opens the job search page in a new window.

I love sites that use lots of AJAX to avoid post backs, but they have to be (A) well designed, (B) quick (the AJAX on jobs.nsw is not fast), and (C) relevant to the content, not just AJAX for the sake of it.

Want an example of a good site with a lot of ajax, see stackoverflow. Leaving comments and answers on this site is such a smooth experience.

eBay Tip: How to find what best offers have been accepted

2011-09-10T12:00:00+10:00

Have you ever been interested in buying an item on eBay that is available as "Best Offer", where there is multiple quantities on offer and some already sold, and you want to see what the other people have paid?

eBay want to hide this information, of course, but it is revealed in certain places.

The first place to look is in that seller's completed items. On the item page, click "See other items" which will bring up a list of any other items that the seller has listed. On the left hand side, under "Show Only", click "Completed listings". You may need to log in at this point. This will bring up a list of items from this seller has finished. Once an item has finished all of the best offer prices will be visible in the history (click the "x sold" link next to history in the "Other item info" section of the completed item description page) so you will be able to get an idea of the seller's limits.

However there is an even better way to see what offers have been accepted for an item that hasn't finished yet. Simply look at the seller's feedback. Assuming the seller hasn't set this information to private, the best offer price is shown immediately when a buyer leaves feedback.

That is a great advantage to buyers but not to sellers, and a significant flaw in the eBay system in my opinion.

eBay Changes Starting 22 September 2011

2011-08-19T12:00:00+10:00

Most eBay customers should already be aware of the fee changes coming 22 September 2011.

I have mixed feelings about the change to allow you to list items with zero insertion fees. As a seller I think it's great because you can try and sell all that stuff that is probably unlikely to sell and not pay unless it sells. However, as a buyer I am not looking forward to it as this change will most likely result in having to wade through a whole lot more crap to find the good stuff. For example, most of the searches I do on the free-to-list quicksales.com.au results in 99% crap, 1% good stuff.

The thing that annoys me about the upcoming eBay changes is the deceitfulness we have become accustomed to with eBay.

As you are probably aware final value fees are increasing from 5.25% to 7.9%, which according to eBay is: "To enable eBay to offer this up front saving and simplified fee format, eBay is re-balancing and simplifying fees by slightly increasing final value fees..." (source)

However, if you list ore than 30 items per month you have to pay the same listing fee as before AND you still have to pay the new nearly 8% listing fee.

On top of the new 7.9% final value fee you will more often than not also have to pay the PayPal (an eBay company) commission on both the item final value and shipping costs, making the percentage payable to eBay quite considerable.

On a positive note it's about time we got free gallery image (shame it doesn't apply to all listings). This is a good benefit to sellers and whatever benefits sellers benefits eBay too!

You've heard of Shazam, but there are alternatives

2011-08-19T12:00:00+10:00

Many people are aware of Shazam, the service used on mobile phones where you can play a song near the microphone of your phone and it will (usually) identify the song after a few seconds and tell you the name, artist, album, etc.

There is a free alternative service that you can download and use on your desktop. It's called Tunatic and it is available for PC and Mac.

But possible the most interesting website I found that offers a similar service is Midomi. Midomi is also free and in instead of identifying pre-recorded music you can sing it yourself or hum it.

That's a pretty amazing useful service in my opinion. Can't get a song out of your head that you don't know who the artist is? Give it a go.

Midomi is also available for mobile devices.

The Commodore 64 Lives On

2011-08-17T12:00:00+10:00

I came across an interesting website which details a new version of the Commodore 64 that you can purchase new now.

It no longer has 64kb of memory, a cassette player, and an 80x25 character display. Instead the new Commodore 64 features Intel processors, DVD or Blueray drives, and runs Linux or Windows.

There is also an operating system - Commodore OS - which is a community-driven Linux distribution.

In addition to the 64, Commodore have another model called the VIC-Slim which is a modern looking all-in-one computer housed in a keyboard style casing. They also have a line of "Amiga" models, modern looking computers styled in the spirit of the original Amiga models.

The company building these computers is Florida, USA-based Commodore USA, LLC. Their website is www.commodoreusa.net

Jquery/Javascript plugin to truncate text to fit container height and width

2011-07-06T12:00:00+10:00

I recently needed a Javascript function to truncate text to fit a container such as a DIV, not just in width but in height. I found plenty of functions that truncate to width but couldn't find anything by height so I created this Jquery plugin that does the job. Please note that it does not handle HTML so if HTML content is truncated it may truncate mid-tag and break the display.

To use the function use one the the following syntax:

$("#id").truncate();

Truncates to size of container and adds "..." if the text requires truncation.

$("#id").truncate("<a href='#'>read more</a>");

Truncates to size of container and adds specified text (in this example a read more link) if the text requires truncation.

Your container should have a fixed height and overflow set to hidden. You will obviously also need to include the Jquery library.

(function ($) {
       $.fn.truncate = function (options) {
              var defaults = {
                     more: '...'
              };
              var options = $.extend(defaults, options);
              return this.each(function (num) {
                     var height = parseInt($(this).css("height"));
                     var content = $(this).html();
                     while (this.scrollHeight > height) {
                           content = content.replace(/\s+\S*$/, "");
                           $(this).html(content + " " + options.more);
                     }
              })
       }
})(jQuery);

Multiple Projects in Visual Web Developer 2010 (VWD)

2011-06-25T12:00:00+10:00

I use Visual Studio 2010 at work and Visual Web Developer 2010 at home. One feature of VS2010 that is missing from VWD2010 is the ability to create a solution with multiple projects.

However, if a solution with multiple projects create in VS2010 is opened in VWD2010 it seems to work fine and you can even add and remove projects as you like.

So I have created a solution folder which I (and you if you download the attached file) can use to develop this type of solution in VWD2010.

Using the attached file:

* The file has a two projects, a website (Website1) and a class library (ClassLibrary1). They are in folders with the same names. If you want to rename the projects and folders you will need to change the proprties of each project, rename the folder and manually edit the solution file (.sln).

* It is simpler to just add new projects and delete the ones that I have included.

* Warning: If you delete a project leaving only one project then you will not be able to add any more projects in VWD2010.

Download: vwd2010-solution.zip

Installing ASP.NET Web Pages Helpers in Visual Web Developer 2010

2011-05-21T12:00:00+10:00

The documentation for ASP.NET Web Pages (Razor) is good if you are using WebMatrix, but there are some shortcomings if you are using Visual Web Developer or Visual Studio.

One example is the Helpers that are mentioned in the documentation: for Google Analytics, Twitter, Facebook, etc.

It is not explained how to add this functionality in VWD or VS 2010.

Here's how to do it... In Solution Explorer right-click on your project and click Add Library Package Reference. This brings up a dialog where you can search online for packages. The one you are looking for is microsoft-web-helpers. Search for it and click install.

In this dialog you may find some other interesting packages that you can install. You can also view these packages on www.nuget.org. There is a JQuery package which adds Intellisense for JQuery, amongst other functionality. There is a PayPal Helper. Or you may find the JQuery client-side form validation helpful.

Connecting to MySQL Database with ASP.NET Web Pages (Razor)

2011-05-20T12:00:00+10:00

To connect to a MySQL database from ASP.NET Web Pages (Razor) you need to do the following:

1. Add a "Bin" ASP.NET folder to your project and copy the file MySQl.Data.dll in to it.

You can obtain this file by downloading the latest version of the MySQL Connector/NET (http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/connector/net/), installing it, then locate the file in the installation folder.

2. In your web.config file add a connection string for your database, for example:

<configuration>
<connectionStrings>
<add name="Any-name" connectionString="Server=server-name-or-ip;Port=3306;Database=database-name;Uid=username;Pwd=password;" providerName="MySql.Data.MySqlClient" />
</connectionStrings>
</configuration>

3. In your code you can then open a connection to your database:

var db = Database.Open("Any-name");

Finally... A Replacement for Classic ASP

2011-05-18T12:00:00+10:00

Recently I noticed that on the ASP.NET website there was a new menu option. In addition to "Web Forms" and "MVC", there is now "Web Pages". This leads to information on ASP.NET Web Pages and the new Razor syntax.

After a brief look through the documentation it appears to me that this is he closest we have to a replacement for Classic ASP!

Although it goes against some of the coding best practices established by ASP.NET, such as separating content from code, to me it seems like an excellent way to get back to coding like I used to with Classic ASP -- simple, efficient code with the programmer in control instead of Web Forms.

I have read some opinions on "Web Pages" and I disagree with those who claim that this new development option will only appeal to those looking for a simple way of producing dynamic websites. It appeals to me as I like to have more control over the HTML sent to the client browser and minimise the amount of server traffic (no viewstate data), and am sick of creating repeaters with OnItemDataBound events to do things that were so much simpler in Classic ASP. Surely the simple option is "Web Forms" with drag and drop controls and code-less development.

Microsoft has made available a free tool called WebMatrix as a simple tool for creating web sites, but Visual Web Developer or Visual Studio 2010 is the better choice for professionals. You will need to download the MVC 3 Tools from Microsoft.

I plan to produce some test code and see how well it works out. I see it combining well with JQuery for doing AJAX.

The official website is at http://www.asp.net/web-pages.

There is an excellent 270+ page PDF book available from Microsoft at ASPNETWebPagesWithRazorSyntax-Book.pdf (free download).

Cheap Media Centre Build

2011-04-22T12:00:00+10:00

For some time now I have been trying to set up an inexpensive media center PC to record from Foxtel and manage my multimedia collection.

I find it amazing how many hurdles I have encountered on the way.

I had already Windows 7 Home Premium so this was the obvious choice of operating system.

First up I tried to use a Pentium 4 system that I had spare but it was difficult to find an AGP video card that was compatible with Windows 7 and that could display 1920x1080. I did end up getting a Matrox card to work, but it required some hacking.

I planned to connect the Foxtel set top box to the composite video input of a TV tuner card. I was also going to use the Foxtel remote to change channels. I bought a digital TV tuner card with an analog input and plugged it in. I then found out that the analog input of many DTV tuner cards will not work in Windows 7 Media Center. So that card was sold on eBay and the search for a compatible card started. Apparently Hauppauge are one of the few that work.

In the meantime I acquired a Pentium Dual Core specifically for the Media Center PC role.

Eventually I found a used Hauppauge WinTV PVR 250 which I thought would be compatible. It was delivered but found to be faulty. Surprisingly the seller had another and swapped it for me.

With the replacement card in finally I could get composite video input in Media Center. Unfortunately I came across a new problem which was that I needed IR hardware to control the Foxtel set top box. I wasn't going to use this hardware so I found it annoying that Microsoft demanded it.

More hacking was required, this time the installation of a virtual IR device, which resolved the problem. (You can download this driver here.) I did have to choose a set top box from a list and pretend that it was working before I could finish set up of the TV tuner.

So things were progressing... straight to the next problem. I have a widescreen TV but the picture was 4:3. There is probably no resolution to that problem as I think it is due to the old analog card. I will look into that later.

Now I am ready to move the new PC to the main TV. I plug it in and it is forced back to 1280x1024, with no option to increase the resolution past 1366x768.

Will I ever get this going?

Bought a Chinese Clone Phone (Review)

2011-04-14T12:00:00+10:00

Having been looking for a new phone on eBay I had been exposed to the many cheap clone phones from China, and was curious about what they were like. Unfortunately there isn't much information online about them, although there are plenty of warnings not to buy.

Anyway I really liked the thought of getting a Sony Ericsson X10 Mini Pro and thought it might be interesting to try the Chinese clone, of which there are a couple to chose from. I chose one branded "Perfect" which cost round A$75 and purchased it through aliexpress.com which was cheaper than the same seller on eBay and also offered a free escrow service which meant that the supplier wasn't paid until I said that I had received the item.

I was very impressed with the aliexpress.com buying process, and my phone was delivered from China to Australia in exactly one week. The aliexpress.com site is very good (it looks like they have cloned amazon.com) but the search facility is bad, making it hard to locate items amongst the thousands and thousands of items for sale. Also many sellers do not classify there items correctly which makes them appear when not relevant to your search.

Right, back to the phone. Basically it's pretty crap, just as warned.

It is a touchscreen phone with a slide out QWERTY keyboard. It came with an Australian charger, two batteries, earphones and a USB cable (also used for charging). No user manual or software were provided.

It does have some interesting features however. Such as the ability to use 3 SIM cards simultaneously, and a built-in analogue TV tuner.

It has WiFi which connected first time to my home network and seems to work well.

The built in browser is okay but doesn't seem to load some pages (reports server error). The control buttons are small and hard to select and there seems to be some bug that causes the buttons to display wierdly sometimes. Opera Mini is included in the Java applications and works better, if not as quick to load.

I was disappointed that it didn't have an integrated email client. I was able to download PicoMail, a Java email client, which is quite good but there are certainly a heap of clicks required to do anything. I was able to set up my Hotmail account manually (automatic detection worked for receiving email but not sending).

I also plan to download and install an instant messenger Java application too.

Incidently I couldn't install anything until I added a Micro SD card.

I haven't tested the phone with a SIM yet as I wanted to check that it wouldn't try and use my mobile plan for data first.

The QWERTY keyboard is useful and works well however the switch from portrait to landscape doesn't always happen. I also got trapped in some text prediction model which I couldn't work out how to get out of. Very frustrating to enter web addresses with!

The phone also has handwriting recognition which looks impressive but had about 5% success rate in my test.

The advertisement claims the phone has Bluetooth but I haven't found any settings yet.

The camera is 1.3MP and from the one photo I have taken so far... Crap!

Battery life seems good, though I understand it will be reduced drastically if using more than 1 SIM. With little to no use (and no SIM card installed) it is down to 75% after 24 hours.

I will keep investigating the phone and post on what I find.

Edit: Although the phone didn't come with a user manual I found the following manual which has a similar version of the same MTK operating system:

Cect_P168__2007_06.pdf

Linq to SQL - Order By Nulls Last

2011-04-07T12:00:00+10:00

Using Linq to SQL and need to order by NULLS last?

The following example orders by the field DisplayOrder ascending and keeps rows where DisplayOrder is NULL last.

List result = (from c in dc.GetTable()
where (c.DisplayOnHome == 1 && c.Approved == 1)
orderby (c.DisplayOrder == null) ascending, c.DisplayOrder ascending, c.PublishDate descending
c).Take(limit).ToList();

Chinese Mobile Phone Information Replicas/Fakes/Clones

2011-03-30T12:00:00+10:00

If you have shopped for a mobile phone on eBay Australia recently you have probably seen a large number of phones available from China, brands and models you haven't seen before with a lot of features (including some not usually available on local models) at very cheap prices.

These phones often support dual SIM cards (or triple) which means that you can make and take calls from multiple phone numbers and/or networks. A great feature if you want one phone for both work and personal calls. Please note that making use of this feature usually significantly increases power consumption, and for this reason many phones come with two batteries.

Although some of these models look unique, many are copies of popular models. iPhone replicas are very common, and there are some interesting copies of many models including the Sony Ericsson Xpedia X10 Mini Pro, Nokia X6, Nokia E71, just to name a few.

They might look virtually identical to the original but they usually differ in terms of operating system software. Some may have Android or Windows Mobile but most have software based on an open source operating system called Nucleus Plus (click here for manufacturer's site). They usually have processors made by MediaTek (MTK) of Taiwan.

There are some interesting phones available (and very inexpensive)... Fancy a wrist watch phone? How about a phone that can be used as a projector?

Chinese phones are obviously not locked to any local network. But an important point is that some models do not support all common GSM frequencies so may not be compatible with all networks, and most do not support 3G or CDMA.

Some general tips about these phones:

Many phones have an analog TV receiver built-in, with a retractable antenna (it's not digital TV so will not work in a few years time in Australia)
Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are common features
The rear camera is almost always 1.3MP and the front (if fitted) is 0.3MP
A GPS receiver is available on some models but often Australian maps are not available
Multi-tasking is not supported by the operating system
Accessories like spare batteries are generally not easy to come buy (keep hold of the seller's details)
Warranty is usually 12 months, but requires that you return the phone to China

Where can you learn more about Chinese mobile phones?

Important note: If you are in Australia and planning on buying one of these phones then be aware that it may be illegal to import some of these phones, or use them on an Australia telephone network. Some of these phones may not have passed the same testing as official locally available models and may be more dangerous to your health. You should check with the relevant government body if you are unsure.

Excellent tutorial to make DHTML windows

2011-03-06T12:00:00+10:00

I found this article which looks at building dynamic DHTML windows that can appear like those on the Windows desktop and are draggable, resizable, and can be minimised and restored.

See the sample here.

The full article is here.