Delicious Redesigns

If you haven’t been to del.icio.us today, then what is wrong with you? I mean….then you probably didn’t know that they redesigned their site. They split the main content area into two columns, one for recently submitted links and one for most popular links. I’ve always thought that del.icio.us had a nice clean layout that emphasized the content. Now, their layout seems to be much more intuitive then before.

None of the other pages on del.icio.us seem to have changed, other than a few color changes. No matter, the front page is where all the goodies are anyway.

Tags: Delicious, del.icio.us, layout, design, usability

Simple Sharing Extensions (SSE) from Microsoft

Microsoft introduced a new specification that extends RSS. It’s called SSE and I’m not the first one to blog about it.

Exactly what it does (Microsoft):

SSE could be used to share your work calendar with your spouse. If your calendar were published to an SSE feed, changes to your work calendar could be replicated to your spouse’s calendar, and vice versa. As a result, your spouse could see your work schedule and add new appointments, such as a parent-teacher meeting at the school, or a doctor’s appointment.

This extension of RSS has some great potential. Expect to see some great new web services and updates to old ones.

Tags: Microsoft, SSE, RSS, Simple Sharing Extensions

Google Analytics

Google has created free analyzing software for your website. Google Analytics promises to be a sophisticated and easy way to track your visitor’s actions while they are on your website and, ultimately, allow you to optimize your site for the most click conversions per visit.

Google Says:

Google Analytics tells you everything you want to know about how your visitors found you and how they interact with your site. You’ll be able to focus your marketing resources on campaigns and initiatives that deliver ROI, and improve your site to convert more visitors.

I have not yet been able to test Google Analytic’s capabilities because it takes the software twelve hours compile it’s initial traffic analysis of your site. All this information is tracked through a simple javascript include that is placed on every page you want tracked. Very simple for us bloggers to just include in our header file. God I love server side programming!

Google Analytics is being compared a new startup company called Measure Map. Although Measure Map does provide similar services, I believe that Measure Map is much more geared to bloggers and Google Analytics seems to be more aimed towards websites in general. This is all speculation on my part because Measure Map is STILL in closed beta. Come guys, just let me in to the beta, please!!!!

Tags: Google, Google Analytics, Analytics, Software, Tracking Software, beta, Web 2.0

First of Many

Welcome, to All Things Dev dot com! I decided to embark on this new adventure of mine mainly to allow me to post whatever I please on my personl blog and focus more on new and old web development trends here.

My name is Jeff Purcell. I am a senior at LCSC in the technological mecca of Lewiston, Idaho. I will be graduating with a BA in Web Development and Minors in Computer Science and Information Systems. I am by trade a PHP programmer and web designer, although I find myself avoiding web design at all costs these days. Something about working with Edna who wants to sell her “World Famous Jam” online just doesn’t appeal to me like it used to. Plus I’m not graphically creative enough to pull the big jobs.

The aim of this weblog is to discuss current trends in development on the internet. Be it programming, social browsing, or usability, we will be discussing it all. Please point your RSS readers to http://allthingsdev.com/feed/ and stay tuned. I promise you won’t be disappointed.

Tags: blog, usability, trends, ecommerce, php, web design