I am in RSS hell

Every so often, I come to a point in my life where I hate all my software. This is one of those times. It seems like all my apps are conspiring against me to make my life a fractured inefficient hell. While some love their web apps, I tend to love/hate mine. While the apps are useful, I hate having my data spread out all over the place. I work on two computers regularly (work and home), and you’d think that moving to web-based apps would help with my synchronization. And it does, for the most part. I use del.icio.us, Backpack, Basecamp, FeedBurner, gmail, and Flickr, and while I can access all this stuff from wherever I am computer-wise, it still makes me feel disjointed and slightly schizophrenic. And I need to have about 80 tabs open in my browser at all times. And my two machines are on different operating systems, so my version of Saft won’t work at home, but I digress. What brings all these fractured apps together for me, is my use of RSS to keep track of it all. Which leads me to the point of this post: I currently hate every RSS reader in production. I own NetNewsWire and NewsFire. While they are both great products, I really would like something web based. I am trying to simplify my life these days, and it seems like I shouldn’t need to have another app open just to read my feeds, when I already have a browser open. I should just be able to read my feeds from there. I always click through to a browser to read articles, and the switching back and forth between the reader and the browser is driving me nuts. Plus synchronization across my machines is a chore. NNW can synchronize, but the method is clunky and annoying. NF, while I love the simple interface, can’t synchronize at all. I have tried Bloglines: too frickin’ ugly. This is shallow, I know, but I can’t stand looking at it. I have tried Rojo: this to me is the epitome of an app that was designed by men for men. That part is stupid, and I take it back, see comments. While the interface isn’t ugly, per se, it does nothing for me. Also, it is too slow, in several ways. It takes forever to refresh the display when you click on a certain feed, and articles show up hours after they have been published. This would be OK if I used my feeds only to read blogs, but as I said above, I use them to keep track of all my data. When my student assistant completes a project I set up for him and clicks “Done” in Backpack or Basecamp, I need to know right away. I have tried Kinja: it has the same problem as Rojo with feed being updated too slowly, and seemingly pretty randomly. This is a shame, because Kinja currently has the interface I like the best. Simple and to the point. I was in love with Feedness for all of Saturday, until I figured out that it is the slowest of them all in updating feeds, and it can’t understand the feeds from Backpack. I was all ready to write a post about how all those years of Spanish came in handy after all. Rats. So, what to do? Currently, I am leaning toward NewsFire because it understands all my feeds, updates them reliably, and doesn’t have a lot of features I don’t need. The synchronization is an issue, though. I really would like something web based. So what aggregator do you use? Have I missed any worthy web-based readers? I’m really hoping one of you can point me to a gem I’ve been missing…

Guess what color my kitchen is now

Brian and I spent all weekend painting the kitchen. The first person that guesses the color gets to determine the next animal theme I add to this site. Hopefully you can remember what used to be here before the redesign— if not, I’ll give you a list. I’ll give you a hint. Wait, no I won’t. I’ll tell you what color my kitchen used to be: terracotta with red/orange accents. Here is a crappy photo of what it looked like: Good luck!

Speaking in San Diego

I have been invited to speak at the E-Recruitment Mastery Workshop, October 12-13 in San Diego, CA. The conference is cosponsored by Noel-Levitz, a higher ed recruitment consulting company, and Liquid Matrix, a software company specializing in higher ed e-communication. I will be speaking on October 12, and the title of my presentation is “The Changing Role of the University Webmaster.” The secret subtitle (in my brain only) is “We don’t just post links anymore.” Here is my abstract:

As the Web becomes more and more crucial to key university functions, university Web sites are becoming increasingly complex. This complexity, coupled with rapidly changing technologies and large scale adoption of the Web as a major communication tool, has changed the field of university Web development in recent years. Webmasters must be focused on strategic planning and team building as well as the technical aspects of Web development, and must make significant efforts to keep abreast of progress within their field as well as the needs of their university. How the role of the university Webmaster has evolved, and some predictions about the future direction of university Web development will be examined.

Why Most University Web Sites Suck*: Part 3

Most University web sites are mediocre at best. How can this be, with the bevvy of experts in computer science, business, marketing, psychology, sociology, and visual design that a University affords? In Part 1, I explored the problems created by the large and varied user base of a University’s web site. In Part 2, I discussed institutional inertia, and it’s implications for university web sites. Here I tackle the subject of university politics and the decentralized nature of the University web site.

Decentralization

How to Embarrass Yourself in 3 Easy Steps

1. Assume that no one, except for about 5 women that you know will cut you some slack, reads your site.
2. Launch a redesign on Sunday afternoon before it’s completely ready, just to get it up there and off your plate.
3. Happen to launch about the same time as the redesign of a famous web zine that uses Georgia much better than you do, and made sure they didn’t launch before they were ready. I am working on the IE issues. I really am. But I have a day job where I have to kiss IE’s ass far too much, and here on my personal site it gets to take a back seat. This helps to keep me sane. Thank you so much to whoever submitted my site to CSSBeauty, and to those of you coming from there— welcome! I am honored to be featured there, and slightly embarrassed. I’m working on the IE issues. I really am.

Welcome to Version 2.0

Grab a cup and have a drink— this is version 2.0. If things look wacky, try clicking reload. If they still look wacky and you’re using Firefox, you may have to choose View > Page style > Okapi. I’m not sure why this stylesheet isn’t loading by default for me in Firefox— I’m trying to figure that out. Update: this is fixed. If they still look wacky and you’re using Internet Explorer, sorry about that. That is tomorrow’s project. I will fix things for you, I promise. This version is all about information architecture—hopefully we’ll all be able to find what we’re looking for now. It’s also all about drinking, and how different beverages play a role in my life. Professional posts will be under “Coffee at my desk”— serious, no-nonsense stuff that you may need caffeine to get through. “Cocoa on the Couch” is all the personal stuff—sometimes sweet, sometimes bitter, and it’s good to have a fire going and a cat purring in your lap when you read these. Then there’s my favorite, “Margarita on the Rocks”. This section contains all the rants, most of the profanity, and most of the fun stuff. It’s the kind of stuff we would talk about if we went out to the bar for a drink. I may be full of crap when I post things here, so take it with a grain of salt (get it?). Why is this particular post under Cocoa? Because the cat is purring in my lap right now and I’m still in my pajamas. I will be transitioning to the margaritas soon. Hope you enjoy the new place. Update: Forgot— you may need to update your feeds— new feeds explained here. Update 2: Things should be usable in IE PC now. I am having major png issues, however, so there’s a lot more grey than there should be.