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iMarc’s blog


2008 in ReviewDecember 31 2008

Contrary to the media's description of 2008, iMarc had an exceptional past 12 months. Whether we were lucky, or smart, or a bit of both, we're certainly thankful to be working on great projects for some really great clients. We grew to 20 employees and added a whole new production team

Website Launches and Redesigns

In addition to all the little projects, 2008 saw the launching of a number of full-scale websites.

Inconsistent Web Analytics Numbers: Google vs. The WorldDecember 22 2008

Over the past 11 years, iMarc has used a number of web analytics tools. Whether FunnelWeb, Webalizer, Urchin, Mint, or Google Analytics, the goal is always to understand how people use the web and make optimizations based on that usage.

Recently, we've been recommending Google Analytics. Of course Google Analytics has its limitation and problems, most notably, Javascript and Cookie-acceptance is required by the end-user. That said, Google's ease of use—especially when compared to other reporting software—made it our choice for most clients.

Once we started moving clients sites from Webalizer and Urchin to Google Analytics, we were amazed at the discrepancies in traffic numbers. Google's numbers were much lower— sometimes half, 1/5th, even 1/10th the traffic that Urchin was reporting. Luckily, though the numbers were inconsistent between software packages, traffic trends were almost identical. Moral of that story: don't change reporting tools.

However, once committed to switching from a log-based analyzer like Urchin to Google Analytics, we were determined to learn more about what was causing this discrepancy.

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What's going on?December 16 2008

Earlier this year, I commented on Ubuntu's package manager, which duplicates its status in both title bar and main window:

Recently I was helping the lovely and talented Kim Jackson migrate some files to her new laptop, and I noticed that Vista does the same thing:

Note that both title bar and window content say the same thing. But here's how it's different: Vista provides a status update, not just a label. It addresses a use-case that Peter Wood described in a comment on my Redundancy blog: "I only pay attention to [window titles] in the context of switching between various tasks."

The Vista copy dialog box bar actually provides useful status information in its title bar ... so if you see only the title — say when minimize to the Start Bar — you can find out exactly what the copy operation's ETA is.

Granted, it omits the information that the operation is a copy, but presumably if the user initiated it, they'll know that.

Unwanted AdditionsDecember 9 2008
Today I bought myself an M&M — or “Rainbow” — cookie from Starbucks. When I got back to my desk to get down to business, the bag I received had two things in it: 1. my cookie and 2. the piece of waxy tissue paper used by the barista to pick up the cookie.

I assume that the baristas use the tissue paper to maintain the illusion of cleanliness during the transaction. I mean, those same hands are handling my money, and who knows where that’s been, right? But doesn’t it defeat the purpose of her putting the tissue paper inside the bag?

That’s like a dentist giving you the latex gloves he/she uses after your visit.

I’ve thought way too much on this topic, and have come to determine that there is never a need to have the tissue put in the bag for you. Even if you were going to split the cookie with someone, the bag itself (which I’ll let you rate on your own “probability of cleanliness” scale) can be used as a faux-glove to handle breakage.

Am I crazy? Isn’t this a weird concept? I’m singling out Starbucks because today pushed me over the edge, but they’re not the only place that does it. Just about all bakeries do. As far as I'm concerned, it’s a bad practice.

The solution to this whole thing is that I should probably just stop buying cookies. I don’t need the calories, anyway.









Lunchroom Banter (Volume XIX)December 9 2008

Logan, as is his wont, happily trotted into the bizdev office, and picked up Karin's winter boot and began happily whining and walking around with his new prize. Nils noticed and went to the rescue...

  1. Nils: Want me to press the eject button?
  2. Karin: Could you please? I don't want to get slobber on my boot.
  3. Fred: He doesn't slobber, he just puts it in his mouth!
  4. Karin: Here, take this boot and tell me what this is on it.
  5. Fred: I'm not touching that.

More banter »