This would go a long way toward soothing ruffled users and would work the kinks out early. When the latest changes launched the new sidebar on the right side was sticky but the sponsored links underneath were not so for a few days when you scrolled you couldn’t help but cover up content and I’m glad to see they fixed it quickly.

Now it has been pointed out by thousands that facebook is a free service and if we don’t like it we are free to go somewhere else but to me it is starting to feel as though they are asking us to be the lab mice for their usability studies.

Initially a blog software more and more sites (even large enterprise sites) are choosing it as their Web site CMS of choice.

Unfortunately there is a downside to this that is just now becoming apparent. WordPress is free, easy to install, and there are thousands of available free and low cost templates. For the most part just about anyone can get a WordPress site or blog up and running on their own. That’s the good news.

The problem actually comes when estimating the cost of customized design, customizing plugins etc. – In short, the very client who just saved a lot of money on functionality that would have run into the tens of thousands (or more) back when the functionality had to be custom built is loath to spend much at all on customization. The customer assumes that the software that does so much for nothing must only need a few tweaks to get it to look and behave exactly the way they envision. Sometimes that’s true – more frequently its not.

This issue is not restricted to clients using WordPress – customizations are even more complicated with Joomla. I recently developed a Joomla site that had so many tweaks and customizations that in the end it might have been wiser to have built a completely custom site.

(As an aside) Many of these customizations will also affect the ability to easily upgrade the main software as well as plugins and components.

Flash is Bad for SEO and Accessibility)
A lot of people adopted it to give their sites “a little bit of edge and movement” but in the process hid their most important content entirely from search engines and site readers in much the same way that putting phone numbers and addresses in images completely buried their content.  People have been cautioned to take their critical content out of Flash for years.

Not visible on iPhones and iPads
Apple decided not to support the technology on its products based on the fact that it is a proprietary technology. As some one who depends upon both quite a bit, I think site designers and owners should take this seriously. Imagine this scenario. A couple is searching for a home and while driving around is looking up listings using their iphone or ipad. If the local Realtor’s® website is built in Flash the listings won’t be seen. A lot of local Realtor® sites are in Flash – luckily larger companies know better.

Social Media
Today’s post was prompted by my attempt to put a facebook link to a Museum of Bird Carving in Maine. The carvings are spectacular and I wanted to share them with my friends. As you are no doubt aware facebook allows you to embed a thumbnail with your post based on the images that are coded into the page you are linking to. One is chosen automatically but you can select another if more than one exists.

The thumbnail image is really what attracts people to check out the link. Its visual.

My first attempt was to link to the home page. Unfortunately my only thumbnail choice was the image of wood shavings. I decided to select the Collection page instead. This gave me the option of selecting the image of the bird with the fish in its mouth (a vast improvement over the wood shavings) yet I was sorry that the spectacular work in the Flash banner wasn’t available.

I’m not pointing a finger as this particular website. Considering the impact on social media when creating Flash banners is a very new issue.

The lack of a compelling, or at least pertinent, image will could a direct impact on the number of clicks your shared link may receive.

It is an issue though and I’m often surprised at websites which don’t even have a logo

I have been warning clients away from utilizing Flash for years – definitely not for important content. Most understand that if search engines can’t see it site visitors won’t find you. Now that it’s likely that a lot of visitors won’t be able to see your content either Flash will be utilized only for those things that only Flash can do.

It should get easier now to make a convincing argument against Flash now that the drawbacks are less abstract.

Those that are are truly dedicated.

Its cool that the game basically knows where I am so can provide a list of places near where I am. Its a great local marketing tool as well.

Here’s the problem (ok a couple):

First: Even though it has a pretty good geo-locater built in it will allow me to check in anywhere I want. I just checked into a golf course that I had forgotten to check into two days ago. Its about 20 miles away so I immediately know I can game the system. That’s a big fail when you consider that one of the best applications of foursquare is for businesses to offer special discounts or offers to customers who show their loyalty by checking in a certain number of times or better yet being mayor.

Second: Though the social aspect is aided by the ability for anyone to enter a location that doesn’t appear accuracy isn’t. I’ve checked into Cosi several times (a favorite eatery) but there is also a “cozi” on the list of places entered by someone who can’t spell and, who knows, perhaps a Cosi Restaurant or Cafe somewhere on the list. We can all be mayor of our own version of Cosi.

This is something facebook has gotten right. They make it very clear that if you are creating a facebook page for a business you need to be the owner of that business. Its a hard call. Entry by users makes the app far more viral and social. Balance that against the person checking into a restaurant 5 times in the car outside so they can get the discount (or even just randomly through the week because they know they are going later).