Corporate Gibberish Generator

Need quick content about your business that sounds like you took your time to craft? Let the Corporate Gibberish Generator do the work for you. Al you have to do is enter your company name and click “Generate.” Ta da! Look at this amazing paragraph it created within seconds (before you read it, double up … Read more

2005 Gift Ideas: Updated

I’ve added a few more gift ideas since originally posting the entry. You can see the 2005 gift ideas here. I’ve gotten most of my shopping done. Whew. Now I have to figure out birthday gifts for Paul (celebrates 40 in January), my middle child, my daughter and my dad. I’m staying calm about the … Read more

Work Overtime to Get Readers to Open Newsletters: The Second Send Controversy

Many newsletter publishers believe in “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” So they send their newsletters a second time and maybe even a third. Whether or not this is a good thing has yet to surface. Spam has driven many publishers to take this step, as legitimate email newsletters get diverted to … Read more

Writing for the Web: Digital Web

I’ve written many articles about writing for the Web and feel like there’s nothing new to say. What worked a few years ago still works today… chunking text, short paragraphs, bold headers for scanning, and so on. Then I read “Resurrect Your Writing, Redeem Your Soul” and can tell you this is a different article … Read more

Links: Line-through and Colors

Why do some sites use line-through for the a:visited style? A person who visits a page may want to go back to it. It’s not unusual. It is important to make it obvious when a visitor has visited a link because she may be looking for something and wants to check the links she has … Read more

Don't Make Me Think: A common sense approach to Web usability, 2nd edition

When we design Web sites, we often overlook the simplest things because we’re too wrapped up in the design. After working on Web sites for a while, some of us have slowly moved away from what we know is usable to adding or removing elements that may enhance the ‘look’ — and also break a … Read more

2005 Gift Ideas: Books and Board Games

The catalogs are pouring in and filling up my mailbox. Stores have posted holiday decorations. Some places have Christmas lights up. One question: Did we forget about Thanksgiving?
It’s the time of year when some of us suffer from shopper’s anxiety. What do I get? How much should I spend?
First, I was going to do a complete guide in one posting and found I was spending too much time trying to do everything. So I’m breaking up the guide by item type. Here are books and board games.
For my family, it’s not just the holidays, but also the birthdays and anniversaries that come immediately before and after the holidays. This year is a special year as my parents celebrate their 50th anniversary on Thanksgiving. I had something in mind from them, but the lady who makes them is not returning my calls. There is no place else to go.
2006 kicks off with a biggie. Paul celebrates his 40th birthday in January. Here are ideas and suggestions for gifts.

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How to Make Meetings Work

Meetings are out of control. They’ve been that way since my first job out of college when someone gave me a book called How to Make Meetings Work. When I could control it, I stuck to the following rules to ensure the meetings were effective. Have a good reason for the meeting Sounds obvious, but … Read more

Get Clients Now! A 28-Day Marketing Program for Professionals and Consultants

Until recent years, I never thought seriously about starting my own business because I didn’t want to deal with the bookkeeping and the marketing. After all, no marketing equals no clients. I’m no sales person. But I love the work and believe it’s worth doing the “I’d rather not do” activities. It’s easy to get … Read more

World Usability Day — Fixing What's Broken

We have a day or holiday for everything now including usability. November 3 is World Usability Day, which is about to start as it’s Thursday in New Zealand. Its purpose is to promote the importance of making things easy to use. If my toaster oven breaks today and I buy another one, I won’t likely … Read more