The steps you take before you actually start the design or coding will save you a lot of wasted time, energy and money in the long run. You will be able to determine the major objectives for your web site as a result of defining its purpose and identifying the audience.  Stating objectives for a website is similar to setting up goals for a business, in that doing so gives structure and direction. The document you create serves as a reference point throughout your project and keeps the planning and creating phases on target.

Before you start planning your website, take out a pencil and a sheet of paper and do some preliminary research to help you answer some questions:

• Explore other websites and identify those that impress you
• Describe elements that contributed to that positive impression
• Identify means by which information was presented to you - photos, text, video, sound
• Describe what made the information easy to find
• Why would you want to return to the website?

After this exercise, you should have a better idea about the direction you want to take and how you are going to approach your website.  Start your planning by creating a site specification document. This is the blue print for your site. The site specification will serve as a reference point and guide as you build your site and will help to maintain your focus. Answer the following questions in your site specification:

• What do you hope to accomplish with your website? Write a two or three paragraph mission statement that briefly states the site’s goals. Your goal may be to increase communication with your audience, increase your online presence, provide a new service or attract new customers and business. No matter what your end game, your website will require lots of work, therefore it is essential that you have viable and achievable goals for your website.
• What do you or your company or organization hope to gain from creating and maintaining a web site?
• How will you judge the success of the website?
• What are the measuring factors you can use to assess the effectiveness of the site?
• How will people find out about your website?
• Who is the target audience?
• What characteristics to they share?
• How will you find out more about them?
• What are the limiting technical factors affecting your site?

Clearly define and understand your websites goals.  It is likely that through this discovery process you will want to achieve most if not all of your goals.  Prioritize these goals as you define the purpose and  carefully consider what type of site you are building.  Do you want to communicate information, educate, entertain, or sell a product or service?

Keep in mind, what you want the site to accomplish and what your users want from your site may differ.  Adopt your user’s perspective and think about the type of content you’re presenting.  Look to the web for examples of how best to present it.  As you continue to develop your design plan, choose content, and create your website, keep the purpose at the forefront of your planning and let it guide you as you make those critical decisions.

So how do you ask did we do it? Thanks to Jon Tackabury and Binary Fortress Software we have been given the gift of… Display Fusion.  Display Fusion is free dual monitor wallpaper setup software.  It can take any widescreen or high resolution background and display a different desktop wallpaper image on each monitor.

1. Get started by downloading Display Fusion and installing the program.
2. Once the software is installed, you’ll notice a new tray icon on the lower right hand side of your main desktop window.
3. Right-Click the Display Fusion icon and make your way to the top of the menu.
4. Click on “Desktop Wallpaper” to open up the dialog window where you will set up a different wallpaper for each desktop.

Open up the Settings Menu by Right-Clicking on the Display Fusion Icon

Once you have the Desktop Wallpaper menu open, click on each desktop in the display (1 and 2p) to configure the settings independently for each monitor. Note there is also the option to span your wallpaper across the entire desktop or download images from Flickr.com or Vladstudio.com.

1. To select your images Click “Load From…” in the Display Fusion Menu
2. You will get a drop down with options to upload images from:
   • Your Computer
   • Flickr.com or
   • Vladstudio.com
3. Select the images you want and Viola! You now have a different wallpaper on each desktop.

You can click on each desktop in the display, and set display settings differently for each monitor, or span the wallpaper across the two.

Also here are some of my favorite stomping grounds when I’m looking for new desktop wallpapers. Have Fun!

• Abduzeedo.com
• DesktopNexus
• Smashing Magazine

The Long Road Home

you managed to find this page.   Soh Tanaka is a talented web designer and developer and thankfully he took the time out to write CSS On-Hover Image Captions.

I used his code to successfully implement captions over images using only CSS for EduBasics: Home of Multiplication Hip Hop product page. In all it took about 15 minutes to update the stylesheet, html and upload it to the server. At the end of the day I hope this saved you some time and provided the code you needed.

A little due diligence; here are the Google queries that led me to Soh’s article - CSS On-Hover Image Captions. This list is a history of two hours of fumbling around on the internet. The queries are in order #1 being the last query that led me to the light.  What search did you perform to get here? Comment and let me know.

1. css image captions (after two hours)
   
2. show text over image css on hover
3. display text over image on hover using css
4. diplay text over image on hover using css
5. on hover show text
6. css hover display text
7. css hover display image
8. show text over image on hover
9. display text over image
10. css hover
11. show text on hover using css
12. show text on hover
13. highlight image hover effect
14. how to highlight and show text using javascript
15. call multiple javascript functions
16. script.aculo.us highlight on mouseover
17. mootools
18. jquery
19. highlight on mouseover and display text jquery
20. highlight on mouseover and display text
21. spry highlight
22. scriptaculous
23. moo tools

For those of you that don’t know, whenever you export data out of Google Analytics that contains for example, the average time a user is on the site, Google only provides you with the seconds.

The quick and easy way for me has been the following:

1. Create a new column beside the data you want to convert
2. Enter the following formula =DataCell/(60*60*24)
3. and then format your column or cell to display the data in minutes:seconds
   1. Open the Format Cells Dialog
   2. Select Custom
   3. In the Type: box enter mm:ss
4. Voila! You are done. If you follow these steps it should convert the seconds to minutes:seconds.

If you were wondering about the formula the creative people over at Microsoft decided that it was an excellent idea to store all dates as integers and all times as decimal fractions.  So for example in Excel a period of one day or a 24 hour period looks sort of like this:

1 = 1 day = 1 24 hour period = 1 24 hour period * 60 minutes * 60 seconds * 24 hours = Total Seconds

Remember that time is stored as a decimal between .0 and .99999, where .0 = 00:00:00 and .99999 = 23:59:59. Anyway, I hope this helps you out the next time you need to convert seconds to minutes in Excel.

So now that you are reading this article hopefully you’ve stopped banging your head against your desk and I have you attention for a minute or two.  Here are the resources  I have used and found helpful to aid you in your process.

1. I would start with the Email Standards Project. Here you can find a list of all the major web email clients and how they stack up to the Email Standards Project acid test.  When coding, this will give you a head start on what each email client supports and what will render properly before you decide to really flex your creative CSS muscle.




2. Another great resource is from Campaign Monitor. You can take a look at the CSS support for both desktop and web email clients so you don’t have to figure it out for yourself.  You can download the 2008 CSS guide in PDF, Excel format or view it on their webpage.




3. Now that you know what you can and can’t do you will need to test your work. Litmus has a great email testing tool that allows you to view your work in every major desktop and email client application. You will see exactly what you recipients see without having to open 10 different email accounts checking each one every time you make a change.




4. If you need a good place to start or some plain ol’ fashioned inspiration. Here is an added bonus. 30+ Free HTML email templates that will look good in all the major email clients tested by Campaign Monitor. They are organized by Left Sidebar, Right Sidebar and Single column layouts.

Well, I hope this helps gets you started or figure out why that image just won’t line up.  I want to hear from you.  What resources are you using to keep your emails inline?

Before planning the agenda, write down a phrase or several phrases to complete the sentence: By the end of the meeting, I want the group to… Depending on the focus of your meeting, your ending to the sentence might include phrases such as: …be able to list the top three features of our newest product, …have generated three ideas for increasing our sales, …understand the way we do business with customers, …leave with an action plan, …decide on a new widget supplier, or …solve the design problem.

Think of the overall outcome you want from the meeting and what activities you need to occur to reach that outcome. The agenda should be organized so that these activities are conducted during the meeting.

The benefit of setting objectives for the meeting is to help you plan the meeting. The more concrete your meeting objectives, the more focused your agenda will be. A second important benefit of having specific objectives for each meeting is that you have a concrete measure against which you can evaluate that meeting. Were you successful in meeting the objectives? Why or why not? Is another meeting required? Setting meeting objectives allows you to continuously improve your effective meeting process.

I think sometimes we miss a step and assume that just by calling a meeting a naming it “Meeting to Talk About Stuff”, that it will be enough information to conduct a productive and effective meeting. We need to take a step back and address one of the most important elements, the meeting agenda.

Understanding the Meeting Agenda
The meeting agenda is the framework that helps a meeting run effectively and efficiently. It is a step-by-step outline of what will be covered in a meeting.
Let’s take a look at the benefits of an effective meeting agenda:

• First, the meeting agenda lets the team know what will be discussed and when.
• It serves as a checklist to ensure all of the information is covered.
• The meeting agenda provides focus when the objective has been clearly thought out and communicated.
• It makes effective use of the team’s time by ensuring adequate consideration of all issues, events and projects.
• When distributed before a meeting it gives the team an opportunity to come prepared for the discussion.
• And It keeps the discussion focused and on track.

Steps to Creating the Meeting Agenda

1. Figure out what you hope to accomplish with your meeting
   (Set Your Meeting Objectives)
2. Consider who should attend the meeting
3. Decide the actions to be taken during the meeting
4. Figure out how much time to spend on each topic
5. Distribute the Agenda

What should go into the Meeting Agenda
Remember to provide all participants with an agenda before the meeting starts. A meeting agenda should always include:

• who is attending the meeting
• the date and time
• meeting location
• the meeting name. Think about how you label the event, so people come in with that mindset.
• a brief description of the meeting objectives
• the topics for discussion. Be descriptive and include the type of action needed or the type of output expected, i.e. decide, vote, assign, create
• the presenter or discussion leader for each topic
• the time allotment for each topic
• any background information that your team members will need to hold an informed discussion on the meeting topics
• and space for any additional information or notes

Understanding the key concepts behind effective meeting agendas and the added benefit of creating them should help your next meeting start off on the right path.  Remember the agenda is the framework and structure for you meeting and the stronger the foundation the better the result.

So what do you do? You are the facilitator of the meeting and you don’t want to offend anyone or stifle creativity. Here is your life saver, the Parking Lot. That’s right, you did not misread anything. My recommendation is to take that person out to the Parking Lot and well… be creative. No, seriously the Parking Lot and meetings go hand in hand. The Parking Lot ultimately increases meeting productivity and generates a launch pad for future decisions.

So What Exactly is the Parking Lot?
The Meeting Parking Lot:

1. is a visible reminder, a flip chart or designated white board space in your meeting area labeled “Parking Lot”.
2. It is a temporary holding area for ideas or suggestions that are not directly on-topic with the issues facing a group during a meeting. These ideas essentially get “parked” for future discussion.
3. It helps keep things focused and moving forward.
4. For the team members, it is a visible reminder that his or her idea will not be discounted and could form the basis for a follow-up agenda or discussion point.

And How Do You Use It?

1. Before your meeting prep an area in the meeting room designated for the Parking Lot. You can use the white board, flip chart or projector. Call the area or page out and label it “Parking Lot”.
2. As a part of the introduction for the meeting introduce the concept of the Parking Lot. Explain that when an idea is submitted and the team agrees it’s worthy of discussion, but not at this time the idea will be “parked” or written down in the designated area labeled “Parking Lot” for later discussion.
3. Also explain and encourage that team members can self-park if they know in advance that a contribution will be parked. This will help keep the meeting and discussion moving forward with less tangents and interruptions.
4. By explaining the Parking Lot with your team members at the beginning of your meeting you have established ground rules that everyone can follow as you move through your discussion. Good ideas will not be lost and team members will feel much better about their contributions knowing that their ideas are accounted for.
5. At the conclusion of the meeting, review the Parking Lot items. Some may have been resolved during the normal course of the meeting. Others may not. Survey the group for those Parking Lot items that should be discussed and schedule them as a part of your next meeting.

As you can see the Parking Lot is a very useful tool for keeping meetings on track and avoiding the “Luck Charms Scenario”. Using the Parking Lot during your meeting will create an environment that is prepared for great ideas during the meeting, but just not appropriate for the current discussion. It will foster excellent ideas for future discussions and it will ultimately make you job as the facilitator that much easier.

If you don’t already know meetings are very expensive activities considering the cost of labor and how much can or cannot get done in them.  Therefore it is important that serious time and consideration is put into making sure the right people are in the room.

Let’s take a look at some of the factors that are critical to ultimately having a successful meeting.

1. One of the first things you need to address and understand is, “Why are you having this meeting?” Is it a kick off meeting? Are you reviewing a design or maybe technical specifications? Take some time to understand the purpose of your meeting before thinking about who needs to be there. This may seem too obvious to state, but without a clear understanding of what you hope to accomplish your meeting will wind up without the right people there. After you know why you are having your meeting it should be more obvious who to initially invite or exclude.
2. Next, none of us work in a vacuum, so you do not have to depend on your own judgment about who should come. Take a moment to explain the purpose of your meeting to your supervisor, subject matter expert, coworkers, clients, or your friendly potted plant and ask their opinion as well. Though, if you are talking to your plant you may have bigger issues at hand.
3. Once you have identified all of your potential attendees, when feasible, briefly meet or call each person to tell them about the meeting, its overall purpose and why their attendance is important. If you involve them early you can identify whether or not they truly need to attend or it can lead to recommendations of additional attendees you may not have thought of.
4. Last but not least implement all of your hard work by inviting your list of meeting attendees and meet away.

You will see that if you take the time to identify the purpose of your meeting, reach out to your peers for advice, and confirm you have invited the right attendees the overall success and productivity of your future meetings will go up. Unfortunately, if you done your job right the para-trooping bunnies may have seen there last days.