The American blog network Gawker Media (Gizmodo, Kotaku, Lifehacker…) launched a bold re-design of its websites last week. Gone is the fairly standard news/blog style website and in its place a single page website that loads articles without requiring the web browser to completely re-load a new page: us.gawker.com.

The redesign has not rolled out to all versions of its other sites with the UK and Canadian versions still displaying the old design.

The redesign has caused a lot of discussion both on the design itself and technical implications with creating a website in this manner.

It centres on the #! part of the URLs http://gawker.com/#!5759634/china-becomes-worlds-second-largest-economy – the ‘hashbang’. Twitter and Facebook have also started using them recently.

One of the problems with loading content without completely loading a new page, using a technique like ajax, is that traditionally search crawlers like the Googlebot would not be able to load and index the content. Google has since published a guide on how to make pages that load in this way available to be crawled. The crawler swaps the hashbang part of the URL with ?_escaped_fragment_= http://gizmodo.com/?_escaped_fragment_=5759634/china-becomes-worlds-second-largest-economy

The hashbang approach has received both negative criticism and more measured discussion on the reasons for resorting to this. This is due to the fact that the URL does not actually point to the true location of the article and requires JavaScript once you reach the website to then load in the correct content.

Regardless of the technical pros and cons, a difficulty for websites like Twitter and Gawker is to change users’ expectations for these types of websites. Few people have complained, with Google Maps and Gmail working without requiring full page reloads but, for text content websites that contain articles and information, adopting this approach seems to have agitated a large number of users.

Image taken from Forrester Blog
Ok I admit it; I’m turning into a techie. I used to hate technology; go back ten years I didn’t even have a mobile phone and I refused to use email. Now I’ve converted and the first thing I do in the morning is check my phone, closely followed by facebook. When my friend showed me her new IPad, I thought developers had made my dreams come true – a proper sized screen I can use anywhere without having to plug it in or wait a lifetime for it to boot up!

My main issue with the IPhone, or any web-enabled mobile phone for that matter, is screen size. The combination of poor eyesight and staring at a screen all day isn’t a good one, so the screen has to be large enough to avoid squinting. Also, I find the touch screen a bit fiddly on the IPhone, so with a larger screen and therefore more space for the keys, the IPad definitely seems in the lead to me. But what about business users?

Rise and shine…with your email

I suppose because everyone has mobile phones these days, and with people needing so many different gadgets it makes sense to combine as many of them as possible into one device, and with luck that’ll serve both as a business and a personal function.

The IPhone seems quite good for business purposes, in the sense that it makes you start work earlier. For a start my phone is always on. This works well for business, assuming most of the population is like me, they will always have their phone turned on and with them. With the IPhone it then alerts you when you get an email, so you can constantly receive them. And with many people checking their email before they even get out of bed, you start work much earlier than you actually get into the office.

The choice is yours

That seems to not be true of the IPad. Yes you can switch it on anywhere and check your email before you get up in a morning, if you choose to. And that’s the point, if you choose to. The IPhone is right there, probably your alarm clock, therefore it’s turned on in your hand with your email just a click away. Personally, I prefer not to do that, but you can’t argue against the fact that for businesses it’s a great thing.

I feel the screen size of the IPad beats that of the IPhone. It’s big enough for me to read without squinting, easy to navigate around and simple to use. The IPhone seems a bit fiddly for my liking. However, I’m not a fan of the touch screen in general. Apple have brought out a wireless keyboard for people like me, who can’t quite handle the idea of using a computer-type device without one. But then you’d have to carry both the Ipad and a plug in keyboard around with you all the time. This seems to be getting quite bulky.

Good business sense?

And therein lies another problem with the IPad. It’s a little on the bulky and heavy side to hold up for long stretches of time. Not that people do all their daily work on the IPhone either, but at least that is designed to be used on the go, and not billed as something that could replace laptops or computers in the office.

And how exactly would that work? Natasha Lomez for one reviewed how the IPad and Laptop compare for journalism on silicon.com. Evidently, the IPad can’t multi-task, its office options aren’t as useful for the average office worker, and typing on the touch screen is a hassle. I quite agree with her conclusion – that the IPad is a consumerist device, not a business one.

Fun and games

You’re also quite limited as to what angles you can keep the IPad on as it has a reflective screen that you need to keep away from the light. Apple’s case does keep it at a 45 degrees angle, and you can even buy an IPad dock to give it more of an angle, but with the IPad starting at £429 it can get rather costly.

For me personally, the IPad seems to be more of a toy for people to play around on at home, check emails and watch films, which is great. I love doing that, but it doesn’t quite stack up as a business tool for me. I say keep the phone for when you’re on the go so you’re immediately alerted of any important emails, but once you’re working in the office or at home, I’d hold onto the computer if I were you.

Sat back surfing the net from the comfort of my sofa watching the tragedy in Haiti unfold made me realise just how lucky we really are. First and foremost the country is in desperate need of aid and trained medical staff to deal with the overwhelming number of casualties. But what about the rest of us, how can we help?

Watching a BBC report showing images of UN workers coordinating the relief effort using laptops in a makeshift office also got me thinking about how we can use the skills and resources we already have to make a difference.

So I decided to do some research on how IT professionals can also lend a helping hand.

A quick perusal of the main search engines returned a few related results, a couple of which, to my delight, reported on how some IT professionals are rolling up their sleeves and getting stuck in by volunteering their IT skills as well as calling for the donation of old laptops to help with the rescue effort.

This blog by Scott Stadum details just some of the ways technological initiatives are helping Haiti, while this article describes how solar powered technology is helping.

Unfortunately, all these articles were found on US sites, which not only led me to wonder why there seems to be a lack of such a scheme here in the UK but also led me to the question of whether or not it is only in the case of a catastrophic event such as that of Haiti that we think about how our old or unused items could be used by those in need.

To what extent do we already recycle or pass on our old or unused pieces of technology or does most of it end up in landfill?

Despite the growing popularity of mobile phone recycling companies, few of us ever consider recycling our laptops. We came across the following websites that offer to recycle your old laptops or repair them to be sent to Africa, or donated to charities around the UK. You may also be able to get involved as a volunteer.

Computer Aid International
IT for charities
Digital Growth
Donate a PC
Charity Technology Trust

So although you may not be able to directly use your IT skills for the recent crisis in Haiti, don’t forget that you can still help by donating to the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), which distributes money between 13 humanitarian aid agencies, or call them on 0370 60 60 900.

If you are looking for an IT job in the charity / Not for Profit sector The IT Job Board.co.uk currently has vacancies with Friends of the earth, The British Heart Foundation, VSO and Axis.

Or if you know of any way IT professionals can get involved with charities, post a comment or write your own IT blog.

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Source: www.theitjobboard.co.uk

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