Tag: web

The Political Web

I made a thing. On Sunday I mentioned how OpenTech always makes me feel a bit embarrassed that I’m not doing more useful stuff – particularly in the kinds of areas that OpenTech speakers care about. Usually, real life takes over before I get a chance to do anything about it and I forget about… Continue reading The Political Web

Internet Security Rule One

Internet security rule one is “do not share your password with anyone”. There should be no exceptions to this rule. If anyone asks you to share your password with them, your answer should always be no. Sometimes people say “oh well, it’s only a password for [some unimportant web site] – what harm could it… Continue reading Internet Security Rule One

Free Web Advice: TalkTalk

Ten days ago I got a cold-call from TalkTalk. They called me on a number which is registered with the TPS and I have no existing business relationship with them so they should not have called that number. In this situation most people, and this includes me, will probably just be mildly rude to the… Continue reading Free Web Advice: TalkTalk

Free Web Advice: VirginMedia

I’m not a web designer, but I’ve been working in this industry since before there were web sites so I like to think I know a bit about what does and doesn’t work as far as web site usability goes. It’s mainly the stuff which doesn’t work that stands out. And there’s so much of… Continue reading Free Web Advice: VirginMedia

Election Imminent

There’s just over a month until the most likely looking date for this year’s General Election. I’m already getting canvassers knocking on my door and phoning me up even though the starting pistol hasn’t been fired yet. It’s going to be an interesting election. Not least because so many people seem to be floating voters… Continue reading Election Imminent

Competition is Good

For over two years, I’ve been running Planet Westminster. It’s a simple site which aggregates blog postings from all UK MPs. I built it in an afternoon (based on my software Perlanet) and have tweaked it here and there since then. I always thought that it would good to have it working well before next… Continue reading Competition is Good

Building Web Sites is Easy

The geek shall inherit the Earth. But the semi-geek won’t be far behind. Back in April I wrote a piece about MPs’ web sites. I came to the conclusion that a large number of MPs have web sites that are over-complex and therefore cost more money to build and maintain than they should have done.… Continue reading Building Web Sites is Easy

Support From The Internet

I’m currently in Lisbon for YAPC Europe. I very nearly didn’t make it. I flew out on Friday and on Friday morning, about three hours before I was supposed to leave the house, I discovered that my passport was missing. I realise, of course, that looking for your passport on the day that you are… Continue reading Support From The Internet

Checking Copyright

There’s a lot of material out there on the internet. And the nature of the internet means that it’s easy to reuse that material without paying any attention to copyright. If my browser can display an image, then I can save that image to my local disk and then, perhaps, use it on my own… Continue reading Checking Copyright