Useful Links: Sheryl Sandberg, Vine, Swipp

Sheryl Sandberg takes a blowtorch to gender stereotypes in the workplace. It isn’t 1951 and Jon Hamm isn’t your boss – but it feels like it.

Vine is huge after only about two days. I downloaded it while sitting in my living room and made a video of my only available moving objects – my feet. Are you already on the Vine bandwagon?

Speaking of apps, I wrote about an app called Swipp for BlogHer. I think it has the potential to be influential. Check it out: Swipp Your Way to Social Intelligence.

10 Best Design Freebies of January 2013

Designers make their mark by staying one step ahead of the pack. Itís your job to be design-savvy, so don’t let clients catch you using last year’s tools and
templates. Thankfully, there are plenty of successful (and generous) designers out there willing to throw you a bone. The following 10 design freebies were
released this month so you can stay competitive without breaking the bank.

1. Simple Icon Set by Joshua Andrew Davies

When it comes to design, the devil’s in the details. These eye-catching icons will instantly give your work a fresh, modern feel. Clean. Simple. Free.

Simple Icon Set

2. Leo Restro Joomla Template by LeoTheme

This template is the ultimate time-saver. The themes adapt to smartphones, tablets, and desktop screens, reaching a broader audience with your portfolios,
blogs and project sites.

Leo Restro Joomla Template

3. Insect Photoshop Brushes by Lileya Brogu

These 42 realistic insect brushes will make your skin crawl. The detail in these illustrations really stand out, down to the veins in a fly’s wings.

Insect Photoshop Brushes

4. Hand Drawn Speech Bubble Photoshop Brushes by Kerby Rosanes

Get 30 unique speech bubble shapes in one download. Use these brushes when you want a hand-made, personalized design that still pops.

Whether it’s an advertisement, web site or comic, there’s a speech bubble to fit.

Speech Bubble

5. Free WordPress Theme: AyoShop by AyoThemes

WordPress is still the go-to platform for personal and professional sites. Unique, user-friendly themes are in high demand.

This one fits the bill without sacrificing quality, contemporary design.

Free WordPress Theme

6. Responsive Blog/Magazine Themes by Design Bolts

More WordPress themes! A handful of basic themes that can help you transition to responsive design. Think of them as one-size-fits-all templates for when you
need to get your client up and blogging fast.

Responsive Themes

7. Portfolio Layout Template by Bloom Web Design

Online portfolios aren’t just for designers. Artists and professionals of all kinds want to showcase their talents. This template is simple enough to be versatile, yet bold enough to make an impression.

Portfolio Layout Template

8. Wispy Fire Brushes by Dustin Schmieding

These five abstract brushes will inspire you. Do you see wispy fire or squid ink?

Fire Brushes

9. Responsive HTML5 Template: TXT by n33

If you’re using HTML5 Up!, you’ll be hard pressed to find a better starting point than TXT. It’s fully responsive and works across mobile, tablet and desktop.

Responsive HTML5 Template

10. Gemicon Icon Set by Turqois

Dig into more than 600 fresh icons in one place. When you need an ultra-specific icon (Cassette tape? Chicken leg?) Gemicon saves you from scouring the
internet — a designer’s most dreaded time-suck.

Gemicon Icon Set

Writer Brian Morris writes for the PsPrint Design & Printing Blog. PsPrint is an online commercial printing company. Follow PsPrint on Twitter @PsPrint and Facebook.

Review: The Tao of Twitter

[Disclosure: I received a free copy of this book from the publisher for this review. Opinions are my own. Links to Amazon are affiliate links. Here is my review policy.]

book cover

The Tao of Twitter: Changing Your Life and Business 140 Characters at a Time is by Mark W. Schaefer, published by McGraw Hill (2012). The book’s intended audience is business owners who are new to Twitter. It’s a slim and inexpensive volume that explains the uses and benefits of Twitter from the perspective of growing business and networking.

I wouldn’t suggest that anyone who has been using Twitter for a while bother with it, but for the absolute newbie, it is full of things you need to know. Some of the information is out of date, but it remains a good guide for the business man or woman who wants to take on social media.

For current Twitter users, it may seem strange to imagine that there are still people out there who know nothing about Twitter. But I see such folks in my continuing education classes all the time. My classes are filled with people who are retraining with an eye to working on the web or people who want to do something to improve their business or business web site. Yet many of them are not using Twitter. I could suggest this book as a resource to those students with confidence.

I was put off by the glowing examples of the benefits of Twitter that the author provides. They were personal and anecdotal rather than based on statistics or any hard data. The results for others would certainly vary.

Summary: A very basic guide to Twitter for the new user.

A review by Virginia DeBolt of The Tao of Twitter (rating: 3 stars)

Rethinking transparent affiliate link disclosure as required by the FCC

OQO Transparent Desktop

I am an Amazon.com affiliate. When I review a book here that is available on Amazon, I normally link to it using an affiliate link that will earn me a few cents if readers buy the book using that link. I wrote about several suggestions for disclosing affiliate links per FCC requirements in Tips for Disclosing Affiliate Links back in 2010.

In the past, I’ve used a title attribute in the link to announce that the link is an affiliate link. I’ve been rethinking that practice since I read Using the HTML title attribute – updated at The Paciello Group Blog. Here are the findings the article discusses:

Situations in which the the title attribute is not useful due to lack of support:

  • Displaying information for web content viewed on mobile phone browsers. Typically in desktop browsers title attribute content is displayed as a tooltip. From what I could find, tooltip display is not supported in any mobile browser and alternative visual methods of accessing title attribute content are not supported.
  • Providing information for people who cannot use a mouse. Typically in desktop browsers, title attribute content is displayed as a tooltip. Although the tooltip behaviour has been supported for 10+ years, no browser as yet has implemented a practical method to display title attribute content using the keyboard.
  • Using it on most HTML elements to provide information for users of a variety of assistive technologies. Access to title attribute information is not supported uniformly by screen readers

It seems clear now that affiliate links must be disclosed in plain sight within the content of a post. There are two ways that can be done.

  1. A sentence at the beginning or end of a product review stating that the link to the product is an affiliate link.
  2. A notice in parentheses following the link that simply says affiliate link.

I may play with these two methods in the next few book reviews I write to see which feels most effective and transparent to me. I normally include a sentence at the end of a review disclosing that books were provided to me by publishers for review. An affiliate link statement could be included in that disclosure statement.

I have a book sitting on my desk waiting for a review, so I’ll get a chance to test this out very soon. Do you have other ideas about how this in-the-content disclosure could most effectively be accomplished?

 

Useful links: a quiz, voice computing, programming for politics

You have until Jan. 29 to get in on the fun at Simplequiz #7: Pinterest. How should a pin be marked up in HTML5?

Any Eureka fans out there? Check out this article: Siri Jokes Aside, Voice Control will Make Computing Better.

As Obama heads back to office, a battle rages over the tech that got him reelected. This is potentially a very important question regarding building on open source. The tech community should be discussing this issue everywhere.

At issue is the code created during the Obama for America (OFA) 2012 campaign: the digital architecture behind the campaign’s website, its system for collecting donations, its email operation, and its mobile app. When the campaign ended, these programmers wanted to put their work back into the coding community for other developers to study and improve upon. Politicians in the Democratic party felt otherwise, arguing that sharing the tech would give away a key advantage to the Republicans.

Useful links: Lawmakers, Bookless, CSS for Babies

All 100 US Senators are now on Twitter. Have you used Twitter or Facebook to send a message to your senators, representatives, or the POTUS? I have.

In the “where the world is heading” department, here’s news of the first bookless public library.

Chris at CSS Tricks is having a great time with his CSS for Babies: A Critical Analysis.

Useful links: Liquidapsive, women and CES, @supports

Liquidapsive enables you to demo a site done as static, liquid, adaptive and responsive. Nice to use with students or clients.

Women are the major electronics buyers. What happened at CES 2013 that actually appealed to women?

I’m officially making fun of that potty with the iPad attached until they make one for full-sized commodes. What’s your position on iPads in the john?

@supports API lands in Firefox nightlies examines which browsers currently are heading toward support for @supports.