Linn Barringer

A different way to get results in Google

2010-02-02T19:01:00.000Z

I've recently learnt that Google is restricting the results of searches for web designers and (perhaps more particularly, and pointedly) for SEO experts.

SEO = Search Engine Optimization. This can sometimes mean "trying to fool the search engines to reach your site by un-google-approved means". These methods are called "black hat" and are considered "search engine spam" by Google and other search engines. Me, too. The google-acceptable method is basically to understand what the search engines are doing and, without taking your focus away from your audience, make sure the search engines find your site for appropriate search terms.

Now, what I would normally tell people who are new to using search engines to find websites, would be to ignore the definite and indefinite articles (the and a) and non-specific filler words such as pronouns; on, in, at, by, etc.

However, because of this new anti-SEO algorithm presently operated by Google, if you now search for web designer woodbridge you will find different results than if you search for web designer in woodbridge.

Whereas I would normally omit the "in" from a search, if you are looking for any business "in" a particular town, it seems like a good idea to include "in" in the search!

I was out, now I'm back in

2010-01-30T10:22:00.002Z

If Lord Goldsmith can change his mind about the legality of going to war in Iraq, I think it's OK for me to change my mind about Twitter.

Some months ago I left Twitter because my account had been hacked and some slimeballs were sending their own scam tweets in my name. I had just left Facebook because I didn't like the extreme openness of umpteen levels of "friends" knowing about me. Not from paranoia but just because I didn't like the lack of control over who sees what. Having my Twitter account hacked meant I was primed to make the instant decision - I'm out!

Despite finding that Twitter can be time-consuming, I did miss the chat, and I did miss the obvious promotional opportunities that arise, such announcing new properties on JustSuffolk.com.

So, when a client asked how she could use the internet more to promote her website and interests, we discussed forums, blogs, Facebook, and Twitter.

Rather than try to explain how Twitter works, I decided to demo the service. I also wanted to demo the ability to track clicks from Twitter to websites - I use tr.im.
So I signed up with twitter again.
You can "follow" me through this link to twitter.

Are you getting enough website visitors? Think pips!

2010-01-08T11:25:00.004Z

Sometimes my website clients ask "will I get enough visitors to my website?" I think to myself "enough, compared with what?" They also ask "will I be number one on page one of Google?" On that question I think "number one out of how many similar sites?". This is not defensive thinking, it's about managing my clients' expectation to a level of reality.

As ever, "enough" depends on many things. Not least, it depends on the number of other similar websites in the same industry in the same geographical area that are attempting to attract the same audience as my client. Perhaps it should more reasonably be asked as "how am I doing compared with similar sites?"

I'll use the holiday accommodation business sector as an example, because there are extremes of website sizes. In the holiday accommodation industry, there are thousands of competing websites and, perhaps more importantly, competing web pages.

There are websites for individual bed and breakfast establishments, or a single holiday home for rent. These start from one-page sites to larger sites that don't usually extend beyond five pages or so. There are also "listing" websites such as JustSuffolk.com, which has over one hundred places to rent, so it has over one hundred pages. Then there are the agencies, with dozens, or hundreds, and sometimes thousands of properties, with a consequently huge number of pages.

It's really not reasonable to compare a five-page single-property site with a site that has hundreds or thousands of pages. It's not reasonable to compare apples with pears, let alone grapes with pomegranates (think pips!).

The bigger the website, the better they are placed for SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) - just because they will have to mention the key words holiday, accommodation, bed and breakfast, self catering, etc. many times. They are not "cheating" in any way, it's just because of the number of properties they advertise. So, because of their inherent SEO advantage, they usually fare well in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages).

So when a client with a single property website asks if his visitor numbers, or his position in Google SERPs are good, I explain that it's really not easy (not possible, in some respects) for a single property website with just a few pages, to compete with larger, multiple-page websites.

What is more important to the website owner is that the visitor numbers on his own site are seen to grow, as the website becomes better known, and that the level of enquiries and bookings or sales are good.

Think of these simple comparative statistics for two imaginary websites:
One receives 100,000 visitors, from which the owner has 100 enquiries, which lead to 10 sales. The second receives 10,000 visitors, from which the owner receives 1,000 enquiries, which lead to 100 sales. Which website would you prefer to own?

Although high visitor numbers are a very important part of the success of a website, they are not the be all and end all. What is far more important than visitor stats, is the success of the business.

Is your spam filter perfect?

2009-11-19T11:25:00.004Z

No! Spam filters are not perfect. Some are too weak, or you set them too weak, and a mass of spam is delivered. Some are too strong, and genuine emails, are wrongly identified as spam. And Murphy's law decrees that the one's that get mis-filed as junk are the urgent ones you need now.

And spam filters generally operate in two distinct arenas. Most of us have our spam filtered as it arrives in the inbox, under our control, and have the spam filed in a specially-named folder which we can peruse from time to time to ensure that genuine emails aren't mis-filed. Some of us have access to spam filtering on the mailserver, which means you can remove or "flag" the spam before it arrives in your inbox. Both are under your own control.

If you use BT or Yahoo for your email service, you probably have some of the best spam protection around. But sometimes it might be "too good." The chances are, you have also experienced the problem where someone claims to have sent you an email but you believe that you have not received it.

The sender says "I definitely sent it to your correct address" and the recipient says "It definitely has not arrived." Before you get into a serious argument with your correspondent, understand that it is quite possible that you are both right!

I have experienced dozens and dozens of cases of this and in every single one, the reason is that the BT and/or Yahoo email spam filtering service has been a little over-zealous. The email has been delivered but it has been hidden from the recipient.

I am not criticising BT/Yahoo or any other ISP who tries to protect us from all the millions of pieces of junk that are sent by email. But it is not such a good idea for them to intercept and hide legitimate emails for you. OK, they don't actually hide them but in the real world, my experience is that plenty of BT/Yahoo customers don't know where or how to find the intercepted emails.

This morning I received rejections from a message I sent to 105 addresses about computer security. Admittedly, the content of my message did repeat selected parts of a "phishing" scam email but of the 105 addressees, only those sent to BT or Yahoo were rejected. That shows that the BT/Yahoo spam filter is doing a great job in protecting their customers from virus or phishing scam emails.

While it's a great idea in principle, there seem to be two flaws in the BT/Yahoo SpamGuard system, or the way it is implemented and/or publicised:

1. It creates too many "false positives" - identifying legitimate, normal email as unacceptable for various reasons and
2. Customers don't know how to find the intercepted emails.

Although BT/Yahoo have advised their customers how to check their "bulk mail" folders, empirical evidence indicates that very many of them have never even heard of the facility and of those who have, many of them do not know how to use it.

Here's an example of how this can easily occur (and it's based on real events) when the sender sends a perfectly normal, innocent email to someone who has never previously received an email from that sender:

A BT/Yahoo email user might be interested in holiday accommodation and click on a website email link to send an availability enquiry.

When the holiday company replies, this is the first time the company has ever emailed that BT/Yahoo user. Very often, that email reply will be sent to the "spam" or "bulk mail" folder for no other reason than that the recipient has never received an email from the holiday company before.

The problem is made much worse, in reality, because BT/Yahoo user can only see the Bulk Mail folder if they access their mailbox via webmail. They may not know how to use webmail, or even be aware that exists.

So the sender knows they have sent their reply to the right address, because they used "reply" in their email. And the recipient "knows" the reply has not arrived in their email. It can cause a lot of misunderstanding...

Further information on Yahoo's SpamGuard can be found here...

Think you know your stuff?

2009-11-13T11:12:00.002Z

Be careful when buying computers from Dell - and maybe other computer manufacturers. Even if you think you "know your stuff" about computers, it might be best to let the manufacturer's sales team to guide you through your purchase.

A client of mine had always bought from Dell and had always been totally satisfied with their products for many years. And so have I. This time, he was preparing to replace his ageing desktop computer and, with advice from various sources, had decided on a laptop - chosen for the convenience and sociability of being able to take into the sitting room instead of being locked away in the "office."

Although he had chosen a laptop, he also wanted a conventional keyboard, a separate mouse instead of always having to use the touchpad, and a big screen, external to the laptop. This meant that for the tidiest and simplest installation, he needed a docking station, or E-port replicator.

The number, type, and specification of Dell laptops, plus the ability to customize your purchase, means you can buy virtually any specification you wish. Dell makes it entirely obvious on their website that some of the laptops are intended for "home use" and others are meant for "business use."

My client selected a laptop, screen, bluetooth wireless keyboard and mouse, and the port replicator/docking station to join them all together. The reason for a docking station is that it makes changing from a "virtual desktop" environment to portable "pure laptop" working is a simple matter of un-docking the laptop from the docking station, with the press of a button. The alternative would be to separately unplug printer/s, screen, keyboard, and mouse. Not impossible but less convenient.

The docking station/port replicator (shown above) and other peripherals arrived one day, the laptop arrived several days later. Maybe that's part of the problem that was encountered, as the order seemed to be picked and packed as two separate orders, but it could be entirely irrelevant.

Once all the components of this exciting new set-up had arrived, I set about transferring the data from the old computer to the new laptop. At the same time, we changed from ADSL-modem to ADSL wireless router. Almost the last task was to plug the laptop into the docking station. But it wouldn't and couldn't be plugged it because the Inspiron laptop was not designed to be used with a docking station.

We will now develop a workaround, probably plugging the peripherals directly into the laptop, leaving the changeover from "virtual desktop" to "pure laptop" working to be a less convenient process than envisaged.

My opinion is that Dell should not allow a single order from a single customer to comprise such obviously incompatible components.

Dell's opinion is that if the customer had spoken to a Dell salesperson before ordering, the error would not have occurred. I think they are probably right.

Buying computers is a daunting, complex task. I think it would have been helpful if Dell's on-line buying process began with a "questionnaire" about the customer's requirements, from which (with the skills and knowledge of their own products) they could suggest a selection of equipment that would meet the customer's needs.

In the absence of such an on-line system, I would now very strongly recommend that anybody buying from the excellent range of Dell computers and associated equipment should do so via the telephone sales process, where they can discuss their needs with someone who is very knowledgeable about the whole range of Dell products. I suspect that such an error that my client experienced is unlikely to occur when purchasing through that route. It happens to be the way I bought my first-of-many Dell computers.

And the Dell website does prompt the website visitor to do exactly that...

What a variety of websites!

2009-11-10T20:40:00.006Z

My latest website build was for an NLP consultant. I'd never heard of NLP - Neuro Linguistic Programming - until my work on this website for my latest client, Jenny Dey, who runs NLP-based personal and business workshops from her base in Ingatestone, Essex.

And it occurred to me that I have worked on websites for a very wide variety of industry, business, personal, and charity sectors. The subjects of the most recent websites are Business Change Workshops mentioned above, an Over 45s Social Group, Building Services, two holiday accommodations in Suffolk - Self Catering at Blythburgh, near Southwold, Suffolk, and Self Catering at Middleton, Suffolk, a Veterinary Practice in Felixstowe (the third I've built in that sector), Haughley Parish Council (my second such site), an small business providing Fencing and Gates, and finally Natural Holistic and Beauty Therapies, in Aldeburgh.

Further extent of the diversity of my client base is demonstrated on my Website Portfolio page, where you will find links to websites for Furnishings, Accommodation, Veterinary, Parish Council, Pilot Training, Suffolk Vehicle Enthusiasts Club, Bespoke Waistcoats, Sorrel Horse Inn, Martlesham Heath Aviation Society, Restaurant, Nursery, USAF, Cattery, Printer, another Veterinary, Freight Mangement, Bed & Breakfast, Accountant, Optician, Charity for retired horses, Local History Council, Maritime Event, Landscaping.

Web design and building is an interesting and varied line of business to be in!

Weekend's events and Recent News

2009-10-28T19:56:00.010Z

Weekend's Events
Sat - Magazine Feature Writing Workshop, Belstead
Sat - Halloween Party, The Old Coach House, Thornham magna
Sat - Live music - Rich Young Ye Olde Bell and Steelyard
Details...

Recent News
Maritime Auction and Jumble to be annual event
Road Closure near Notcutts on 11 November
Plans for Christmas Shopping in Woodbridge revealed
Details...

Should creationism be discussed in science lessons at school?

2009-10-27T18:24:00.001Z

The subject, above, was being discussed on local radio and one of the speakers was Margaret Nelson, an active member of Suffolk Humanists and Secularists. Margaret gave her usual balanced, intelligent reasoning against the suggestion. The radio presenter tried, as they do, to play devil's advocate, and tried to "catch her out" - he failed miserably. I could not resist emailing Margaret with my views, which she then prompted me to post in the forum on the Suffolk H & S website. I did that, and provide another version of it below...

They can discuss it all they want and I don't see a problem in discussing it among those who don't believe, either, but I would strongly object to my children, or grandchildren now, discussing it in a science lesson. That's no more logical than discussing it in history lessons. Creationism is not science because it's not fact. It's not even "theory" in the same way that evolution is a theory. They (believers) don't seem to see that it is exactly as Margaret said in the radio programme; simply a primitive way of explaining the inexplicable.

Evolution, and the big bang theory both have evidence to support them. Creationism is quite simply ridiculous - it just couldn't have happened that way, it was just a very primitive way of explaining to very primitive people how it might have happened, that has subsequently been proven wrong.

And even evolution and big bang don't answer the question "what was here before that?" and "is there a supernatural being who controls all this?" I don't know why god-believers don't use the argument that yeah, OK, the old testament was wrong in some details but even the big bang was caused by the almighty, and he created the conditions for life to begin. I'm not suggesting that that's sensible because I don't believe in ghosts, holy or otherwise, but if I wanted to believe in an almighty god, then I think I could find a way to make him/her still responsible for everything.

P.S.
Poor deluded Mark, who telephoned in with totally illogical reasoning about why creationism is true (which was not the point of the programme anyway). He rambled on about humans having the imprint of some "prehistoric" creature on his shoe, and that could only happen if dinosaurs and humans had co-existed.
No, Mark, your argument is totally devoid of logic. When I was in Dorset I (could have) got an imprint of a millions-of-years old creature in the sole of my shoe - an ammonite, which lived between 251 and 450 million years ago. I didn't have to be there millions of years ago for that to happen. It could have happened last week, 251 million years after the last ammonite squirmed on this earth.

Woodbridge News for last couple of weeks

2009-10-25T17:05:00.001Z

From having the Best Baker and Best Cafe in county-wide awards, holding a Marine Auction and Jumble, Woodbridge recently announced its plans for Real Shopping Woodbridge on the run up to Christmas.

Latest News, next weekend's events

2009-10-06T16:13:00.009+01:00

This week's news items and the forthcoming weekend's events, in and around Woodbridge, Suffolk, England.

This week's NEWS

Felixstowe TV and Ipswich24 working together
Woodbridge Boat Auction and Marine Jumble
Woodbridge Retail Market returns from its temporary site
WRUFC Fun Day report - big cheque to Help for Heroes

What's on at the weekend 9/10/11 October:

Friday, Mayor's Coffee Morning, Shire Hall, Market Hill
Friday, Spanish Night at The Sorrel Horse Inn, Shottisham
Saturday, Matthew Coombs & Guests, Ye Olde Bell & Steelyard
Sunday, Jazz n' Lunch, Ye Olde Bell & Steelyard, New Street

Assert your copyright

2009-09-18T13:07:00.007+01:00

If you are a photographer, be it professional or amateur, the images you create are yours. Only you can allow someone to reproduce them in print or on a website, or anywhere else. And it helps to know a bit about the law that protects those rights, which you automatically have. In this case, it is the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, in the United Kingdom.

Recently a friend was looking for a conservatory and found a "local" conservatory provider. They were not actually local but they had a database-generated page that implied they were. On that page were some interesting titbits of information the Woodbridge area, including a photograph of nearby Rendlesham Forest (shown, left).

My friend emailed me to say that the photograph looked very similar to one of mine. I had a peek and found that is was indeed very similar. So much so, in fact that it was more than similar, it was one of my photographs! And to make it even more cheeky, the image could only have been taken (stolen) from one of my websites.

Although it is definitely not a requirement of the appropriate law, it will obviously make it easier to support any claim you have, if any of your published photographs already carry the copyright notice, in the Berne Convention format, which, in my case would be Copyright © 2009 Linn Barringer.

When I find a case of my photographs being used without permission, I write a letter to the company asking them to either remove my image, or pay for the privilege. Obviously, in this instance, I expected the response to be the former rather than the latter!

As an aside, it can sometimes seem difficult to write to a company if their website does not show the company's physical address - apart from being against UK company law, I usually won't deal with a company who won't show their address - I always wonder why they won't, which makes me suspicious of their motive. Anyway, after a quick search on the Companies House website I was able to quickly find their postal address.

My letter to the offending company (the offender might, of course, have been their web design company) had the desired effect. My image was taken off and replaced with another, presumably of Rendlesham Forest - although I didn't recognise the spot... and hopefully from someone who had given them permission. Yes, of course they had. They wouldn't just "borrow" someone else's photo again, would they? Would they?

Anti-plastic bag day

2009-09-09T10:40:00.004+01:00

Saturday 12th September 2009 is the first international plastic bag free day.

Since someone started the idea to rid the planet of thin film plastic bags, I've been doing my bit most of the time. But I'm sure it would be even easier to be completely supportive if our government took the Irish approach and taxed the bags almost out of existence.

While plastic bag use in the UK has dropped by a reasonable 26% over two years, the rather more successful Irish solution resulted in a 94% reduction in use. They didn't have to ban them, just made people think about whether they really wanted to pay for them. A bit like the "polluter pays" rhetoric from the UK government.

There's a website promoting the whole anti-plastic bag crusade, called Abolish Plastic Bags.

If you Google anti plastic bag you will find plenty of references to the subject, including a pro plastic bag group funded by (surprise, surprise!) Exxon Mobil and Dow Corporation.

It's probably not realistic, nor even reasonable, to ban or stop using plastic bags because they do have many practical uses. But would it not be reasonable to make an effort to significantly reduce our use of them, and particularly take care in the way we dispose of them, instead of them lining our roadside hedges with fluttering tatty bags.

Pay to stop them praying?

2009-09-07T18:09:00.010+01:00

Today I received through my letterbox a card from a church in Woodbridge offering to pray for me. That might seem a reasonable offer but as an atheist, I find the whole concept of prayer and worship distasteful and, frankly, ludicrous.

I am very happy for others to believe in what they want to believe in but I am not at all happy for them to force their views or irrational practices and rituals on others without invitation. I consider their card an unwarranted and certainly unwanted intrusion.

However, the extreme irritation it caused pales, when compared with the announcement on the card that church members were going to visit my house and interrupt either my working day (10.30 -12.00 noon) or our private time at home in the evening (6-7pm) on some unspecified date next week.

The card added insult to irritation by asking that if I did not wish anybody to call, I should telephone the church to stop the visit.

In the words of the Catherine Tate character Derek Fay, "How very dare you?" They ask me to telephone them to stop them doing something that they will otherwise do, without my invitation or permission.

No I would not. That is absolutely unacceptable. I do not, ever, want believers to attempt to force their beliefs on me and then ask me to spend money to stop them doing it!

I might consider turning up at their church, uninvited, and explain to the gathered followers why I consider them to be brainwashed, weak-willed, pathetic people. Maybe they would be outraged. Perhaps they would "pray" for my "soul." Either way, I think it would be an unreasonable way for me to act. And I see a very strong parallel with the way the church acted in sending these cards.

Are Traffic Lights Always Green?

2009-09-03T12:00:00.007+01:00

Today is a big day for road traffic. The schools are back. The school runs are up and running. And today of all days, the main traffic lights in Woodbridge, Suffolk were not working!

You might think this would make the traffic disaster even worse. But no. As predicted by me for years, the pointless addition of traffic lights at the junction of Lime Kiln Quay Road and Thoroughfare only cause traffic problems and increase pollution; they do nothing to improve traffic flow. How often have you seen traffic sitting at a red light with no traffic going through the green lights?

Councillor Cocker has been concerned about the air quality around the junction for some time. It is obviously caused by queues of stationery traffic that were never there before the traffic lights were installed. These queues often reach right back to the other pointless traffic lights at the junction of Quayside and Hamblin Road.

These traffic lights should be removed and replaced with a single or even double mini-roundabout. It would save the electricity, save on maintenance, keep traffic moving, clean up the air, and reduce fuel wastage. The traffic lights might be green some of the time but mini-roundabouts are greener, permanently.

But what about pedestrians? First, many pedestrians totally ignore the “red man” signs that are intended to stop them crossing. They use their common sense and judgement to cross when the road is clear. Secondly, it would be possible to leave pedestrian-controlled lights in Lime Kiln Quay Road, which would be left at “green” for traffic and only changed to “red” when a pedestrian needed to cross, not simply at a timed interval.

There is a precedents: About twenty years ago in Brentwood, Essex, a complex mis-aligned crossroads at Wilson's Corner had traffic lights. The day they failed, the usual long queues of traffic on the four approaches dissipated. The responsible authority was bold enough to listen to the grapevine suggestions that the traffic lights had been causing the congestion, not alleviating it. They installed temporary, experimental double-mini-roundabouts and the traffic continued to flow reasonably and "fairly" – allowing the volume of traffic to automatically adjust priorities. And the multiple-mini-roundabouts are still working successfully today, with far higher traffic volumes than twenty years ago.

Come on Woodbridge/SCDC/SCC – get our traffic moving again!

Freedom of information. How about photography too?

2009-08-09T14:24:00.008+01:00

I'm a member of an interesting, friendly and helpful photography website called Phototopix. Recently, one of the members posted a link to invite photographers to sign a Downing Street petition, requesting the Prime Minister "...remove new restrictions on photography in public places..."

The restrictions seem to be yet another government knee-jerk over-reaction to circumstances; another means of restricting 'normal' freedoms under the misleading and inappropriate cover of "prevention of terrorism." As one of the Phototopix members wrote, if we were taking photographs for terrorism reasons "...we wouldn't stand in the street with a DSLR with big zoom lens... would we???

No reply required. I do invite you to sign the petition for photographers' freedom, and for common sense. Just visit the Number 10 Petitions website. I joined as no. 6094.

Will it ever end? Windows 7 is coming

2009-08-07T15:20:00.003+01:00

Windows 7 is the latest version of the Windows operating system, which replaces Windows Vista on 22 October 2009.

When and how will you change to Win 7? VERY briefly, consider...

If you're using Vista with SP1 or SP2 now, you will be able to do a direct in-place upgrade, installing Windows 7 over Vista, so that you won't have to reinstall your applications.

If you're running XP, or an older Windows, or if you're Vista service pack installation failed (see below), you'll need to do a clean installation of Windows 7. The Win7 installation is faster than Vista or XP. But you'll have to reinstall your application programs. But you can use the free User State Migration Tool to migrate application settings (along with your data) so you don't have to reconfigure everything from scratch.

If you buy a new computer with Windows 7 installed, you can transfer the files and your old OS settings from your old computer by using the Windows Easy Transfer, that’s built into Windows 7.

Another thing to consider for Windows 7 is which edition you want or need. With Vista, the only way to get the business features and consumer features was to buy the Ultimate edition. With Windows 7, you may not need to. Every edition of Win7 contains all the features of the ones below it on the price scale, so Windows 7 Professional (replacing Vista Business) has business and consumer features.

For most people, Win 7 Pro will do everything you want.

More reading: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/

Windows Vista Service Pack 2 (SP2)

2009-08-07T15:19:00.000+01:00

If you're running Windows Vista, you either have or will shortly be invited to install the latest Windows Update - Vista SP2.

I have done this on three computers now and be warned, it is a huge download - about 340mb - so could easily give you the impression that it has failed. It did me!

Do persevere. It took me about 50-60 minutes to complete the whole process, including the re-start with three-part update, on each computer. One took even longer because a setting in Internet Explorer interfered with progress.

Ideal for a rural family holiday in Suffolk

2009-08-04T14:22:00.007+01:00

Pomona House, Hasketon, Suffolk recently joined the JustSuffolk.com website. It's available for self-catering rental and sleeps six - one double bedroom, one twin bedroom and two singles.

Bedlinen provided
Towels and teacloths provided
Ensuite shower room to double
Family bathroom plus shower cubicle
Free wi-fi internet access
Dishwasher
Oil heating
Contemporary presentation
Private parking
Rural
Pub walking distance
2 ½ miles to Woodbridge

There are plenty of photographs, including a view of the back garden, and a view over the garden fence to the agricultural scenery that surrounds the area.

It's only been on the website for a few days and it's already attracting enquiries, and bookings. Click this link to see the photos and summary information.

Self catering cottage added to JS.com

2009-06-29T17:38:00.007+01:00

I've just added another self catering cottage to JustSuffolk.com.

The cottage is called "Gayfers", sleeps 2 and is located in a quiet village just a few miles from Ipswich and a similar distance from Woodbridge. Quietly tucked away, yet in easy reach of all that's available in coastal and rural Suffolk.

Details on the website: http://www.justsuffolk.com/Playford/Gayfers.html

Don't throw domains away, oh, no, no, no ...

2009-06-27T18:17:00.007+01:00

If you're no longer using a domain name that has been attracting visitors, keep it. Even if you don't want it any more, keep it. A client and I were the victim of an unscrupulous silver-tongued "domainer" who abused my naivety - he registered an old, unused domain name for his own personal benefit and to the detriment of my website client.

Here's how it happened.

Some years ago I was working with a team to develop their website and one of the subjects discussed was whether to use a long domain name or an abbreviated domain name, effectively an acronym. I'll use a dummy/fake/alias organisation name to illustrate my point. If this name really exists, let me know and I'll choose another!

Let's call our fictitious organisation "Alfa Bravo Charlie Zulus," which was usually referred to colloquially as ABCZ. My recommendation was that they should register ABCZ.org.uk but they (the customer) preferred the formal alfabravocharliezulus.org.uk. So that "long domain name" was registered rather than the "short domain name" ABCZ.org.uk.

As time passed, the website became increasingly popular, not least because it had scores of external links to associated websites. After a couple of years, and with personnel changes at ABCZ, I persuaded the Hon. Sec. to also register ABCZ.org.uk, and to use both domains during a transition period, with a view to migrating fully from alfabravocharliezulus.org.uk. to ABCZ.org.uk. I think you can see why!

Eventually, when the long domain name was due for renewal, the organisation decided to "let it go" as there was little chance that anybody would want to re-register it, unless they had an interest in Zulus, and were naming themselves Alfa Bravo Charlie. So the long domain was not renewed.

Some months later, a new Hon. Sec. was appointed. While building up her knowledge of the organisation, she commented that some of the images in the website would not load. And, in fact, bits of the website were missing.

This was rather odd, and tests from other computers, using many different browsers could not see the website errors that she had reported. Then I asked her "What domain are you looking at?" and she said she didn't know but was just clicking on a link from the Favorites in the organisation's office computer. This turned out to be still pointing at alfabravocharliezulus.org.uk., instead of ABCZ.org.uk. Rather strange, because the long domain should not work. It didn't exist.

Oh, yes it did. The silver-tongued domainer has found the domain was now available and, being smart enough to find out that it had earned good Google ranking, decided to register the domain and use it for his link-building business. However, not satisfied with merely (quite legally) registering a previously-used domain name, he had the gall to use and old, copyright marked, versions of ABCZ's own website! That's not legal, decent and honest. The new Hon. Sec. could not see all the images because the "archived version" of the website (from where silver-tongued domainer obtained the copy) did not contain all the required images.

There ensued a long exchange of words with the silver-tongued domainer, who eventually removed the copyrighted content and replaced it with his own. However, the ABCZ were not satisfied with that because their audience were still being confused by which was the real and which was the imposter ABCZ website.

They tried to reason with the silver-tongued domainer, to no avail. He had even boasted on one of his many 'expert' blogs that he knew how to fight off legal claims in such circumstances, even from Nominet legal department. ABCZ was not deterred. They employed lawyers, spent a lot of time (and money) getting their story right, then unleashed the solicitors onto the silver-tongued domainer. I'll omit all the gory details. The end result was that ABCZ now have both their short and long domains back under their control. Silver-tongued domainer lost.

Most people or organisations might not have the inclination or resources or stamina for such a fight, so the easiest way to avoid such a saga happening to you is, even if you don't really want that 'old' domain, especially if it had been successful, don't let it go. Spend the few quid to maintain it every two years, and keep your domain safe from unscrupulous silver-tongued domainers.

They are only words but...

2009-06-27T17:58:00.005+01:00

There are many types of words that annoy, irritate, or offend people. Since I'm off Twitter now, I'll have to use this blog to air my personal gripes.

A friend highlighted "icon" and "iconic" as the latest label to be applied to almost anything that is in the slightest memorable or celebrity. Of course, Michael Jackson's untimely death brought out the "iconic" status for him. Joanna Lumley was an icon a few weeks abo. But since it had been mentioned to me by Carol, I'm hearing it all too frequently.

Another Twitter acquaintance was irritated by the frequency of the word "absolutely," particularly when it was usually an affirmative response to a question, where a simple "yes" would definitely suffice. He would time Radio 4's Today programme to see how long it go before hearing an "absolutely."

Of course, there's a load of management-speak weasle-wording and the one that springs to mind, possibly because it is heard so often, is "going forward" - used when the speaker means "in [the] future."

And I've only recently noticed the increasingly frequent occurrence of "key" (and old Fordism, in my experience) when the speaker means "important" in a phrase such as "this is key to our success."

And finally (for the time being), a rather geeky irritant. I belong to a photography 'forum' type of website, where many of the contributors claim that they have made some adjustments to their photograph using "CS4".

Oh, no they haven't! They have done their tweaking in Adobe Photoshop. And the version they are using is from the Adobe Creative Suite, version 4; CS4. As there are several other programs in the Creative Suite, using the term CS4 is meaningless, as it could be version 4 of any number of software products within the suite. Stop it! Please.

I'm out

2009-06-17T17:44:00.002+01:00

I was rather enjoying Twitter, until one of the people I was following said they had earned TONS of followers from such-and-such website. I clicked on the link in her Tweet and saw what was on offer. It didn't look genuine, so I closed the website.

A few minutes later "I" posted several Tweets about things I knew nothing about. OK, I suppose there's nothing new in that! But the fact is, it was not me who was Tweeting this stuff. My Twitter account had been compromised, accessed, hacked.

I left Facebook because of what I would call it's "hidden openness" - meaning that it was not always entirely obvious that almost anybody can jump from 'friend' to 'friend' and find out all sorts of stuff.

Things seemed a little better on Twitter, where you could block people from seeing your Tweets, and not receive theirs. But in the end, social networking sites seem to be ripe hunting grounds for the scumbags and low-lifes that invade the internet for all sorts of reasons, from what they consider fun, through nuisance to criminal. I don't think I'll be joining another "social network" any time soon so I'm afraid I have to say to Twitter, "I'm out."

Make decision-meetings decide things

2009-03-26T15:12:00.004Z

Seth Godin, self-styled author and agent of change (a business thinking guru) recently blogged "At Ford, they used to have meetings to prepare for meetings, just to be sure everyone had their story straight."

My response to that is: I know, it's true, I was there, we called them pre-meetings. I also wondered whether it was appropriate to use the past tense... :o)

Seth Godin's blog (http://sethgodin.typepad.com/ suggested nine good strategies to make meetings work well.

Here's another idea for successful decision-meeting success:

Some meetings are intended to make decisions, to get answers to questions. So the agenda should not be a list of subjects for discussion (that's too open-ended, and helps generate never-ending meetings). If a meeting is to make a decision, then it's likely that the decision is an answer to a question. So the agenda should be a list of questions, to which the meeting must find an answer. And you must minute the answers generated by the meeting.

Otherwise, you failed to meet the objective of the meeting.

Clipboard + ring-binder + mouse = memory error!

2008-12-16T13:52:00.004Z

I was working on an update to a client's website when my computer started to show unusual signs of misbehaviour. When I opened a file to edit, it jiggled around on the screen. Is it a virus? (doubtful with my multi-layer security), is it hardware fault? Mouse? Computer? There's never a good time but in the middle of a client website update, I don't need this!

At first, I thought it was my mouse because as I clicked to open a file for editing, it appeared on the screen then jiggled around - a lot! So I closed the application (Dreamweaver CS3) and opened it again. It all seemed normal, clicked on the file to open it, it appeard in the workspace, then started jiggling around. Hmmm... Looks like a problem mouse. Checked in other applications but there was no obvious problem. OK, maybe it's not the mouse, perhaps the computer. Do a restart (breaking my own Gold Rules - never restart, always shut down and start from cold).

After the restart I went through the process again and the problem was still with me. OK, it looks like it is the mouse - my fairly old but much loved Microsoft Intellimouse. Swapped mice and the problem was still there. Oh good, it's not my favourite mouse. Oh dear, it's probably the computer.

Shut down fully. Start from cold. Oops, the computer flags a possible memory error by giving me the choice of starting in Windows Vista, or the Memory Diagnostics. I choose Vista. Go through the test again and the problem has gone. Phew, the memory has fixed itself. Really? Actually, no.

During the mouse swap, I had to close the drawer that my keyboard stands on. I had been working with a clipboard resting along the top of my keyboard, on top of which was lying an open ring-binder with the source for the website updates - quite weighty, and resting on the top row of F-keys. There must be some combination of F-key and mousing that triggers this odd jiggling thing. It's the type of combination of keys that usually only cats know about.

Since I re-sited my clipboard and ring-binder, the problem has not returned. So I conclude that a strategically (but poorly) placed clipboard, in combination with a ring-binder and a mouse, can cause a memory error!

PLEASE don't forward hoax virus warnings

2008-11-18T17:07:00.019Z

Before you succumb to the temptation to "forward this email to everyone you know" as requested, please read the comments below.

There are websites that can be used to check the veracity of emails that might seem to be chain letters, or virus hoaxes, or other hoaxes, or those that offer good fortune with the suggestion that if you forward the email "you will receive... [insert benefit of choice]"

A good indication that the email content is utter nonsense is the very fact that you are asked to "forward this to everyone you know" or "forward this to all your contacts."

It is best not to forward emails labelled "important" "useful" "live-saving" "fascinating" "awesome" "unbelievable" "must see" "pass this on" or similar, without checking with these websites first:

To find out if an email is genuine or a hoax:
Sophos Hoax listing
Truth-or-Fiction
About Urban Legends
Snopes Urban Legends Reference

How to handle chain letters and virus warnings
Break Chain Emails
McAfee
Symantec Hoaxes

And, if you cannot resist it, and decide that you simply must forward an email, joke, pretty picture, live-saving advice, etc. at the very least please, please, please use "Blind Copies" and remove any previous 'forwarded' email addresses. That way, you won't share and publicise all the correspondents' email addresses with a huge list of people they don't know. Ultimately that's one way email addresses get into the hands of spammers. With a Blind Copy, each recipient only sees their own email address.

Also, while you're editing the forwarded email, please remove all those ridiculous corporate disclaimer notices that are attached in sequence at the end, and remove any spurious ISP-added advertising junk, too, like those Incredimail graphics, and the extra 'smiley' offers.

One problem in overcoming this problem is that it's so easy to just forward the email, but it takes a bit of effort to investigate. But if you think this advice is worthwhile, even if you don't investigate the email, it might at least dissuade you from bothering to forward junk "just in case it's real;" so that's a good result!

This advice is is meant to be helpful, not patronising - despite what people think when I send this sort of advice in an email. All I am doing is trying to help people reduce the amount of junk email that floods our inboxes.

Only believe virus warnings from trusted sources.
When it comes to accurate, informed advice about viruses, your friends and relatives are probably not a "trusted source." And they are definitely not to be trusted on the subject if they have just sent you one of these junk emails without checking it with any of the resources shown above.

Yes, I know people send this stuff on in good faith - "I was only trying to help" - and they even say things like "it's better to receive 25 of these warning emails than to receive a virus." No it isn't. You should make other arrangements to protect yourself against viruses and not rely on spurious advice that arrives "out of the blue."

The point of this rant is that you should not forward "useful" or "lucky" or "compassionate" or "life-saving" or "virus warnings" without checking it's true.

You check.

Personally.

Yourself.

Do not rely on the fact that the message contains the exaltation that it was "checked with Snopes" or "Microsoft say this is the worst virus ever" because those claims are demonstrably not true.

Everyone should check these things out themselves, regardless of the source before they think of forwarding them. Or just delete them.

I do follow my own advice on all such emails but, because so many people don't, these messages circulate for years. One I received in November 2008 first surfaced in 2002.

Can you begin to imagine how much time has been wasted by all the people re-forwarding just one message? If everyone sent to only 10 people (and many send to more) in 6 iterations, that junk has gone to 10 million people. If they all spend 5 minutes forwarding it, that's more than nine and a half man years wasted for one email!

And there are hundreds of these stupid emails.

So I'm just trying to reduce the massive time wastage.

And if you feel chastised or patronised along the way, so be it.

And if you expected that "some good luck will befall you if you pass it it on..." think on...

I did what you told me...
I sent the email to 10 people, like you said.
I'm still waiting for that miracle to happen...

Warbird Experience

2008-09-27T12:24:00.013+01:00

If you've only ever flown in airliners, you may not have experienced the excitement, fun, wonder, and spectacle that flying can be in a smaller aircraft. When I was a teenager, in the early 60s, I was a member of 452 Squadron of the Air Training Corps (ATC) in Hornchurch, Essex.

Among the most exciting memories from the ATC (apart from the itchy uniform and drill - which I did enjoy) was during the Summer Camp at RAF Chivenor which, at the time, was flying Hawker Hunters - the aircraft flown by the world famous 111 (triple one) squadron aerobatics team.

Only the senior ATC officer's son flew in a Hunter but the rest of us took a half hour flight in a De Havilland Chipmunk, which was then, I believe, the RAF's basic trainer. Kitted out with a parachute, we each took our turn. I was expecting to travel at the fastest I had ever travelled but with a top speed of 120 knots, I don't think we ever exceeded about 90mph! But it made me love flying.

For my 60th birthday in 2006 my family bought me a wonderful birthday present - a flight in a T-6 Harvard (a.k.a. Texan) from

based at Rochester Airport, Kent.

Yesterday, for my son's 40th birthday, close family clubbed together for a simlar flight. The team at Wardbird Experiences are all such a friendly bunch, it's like spending a couple of hours with old friends, who just happen to operate a flying school - the flights are introductory flying lessons, and you get to fly the Harvard!

I think the smile, above, indicates how much fun it is. And he hadn't even got into the 'plane! I'm sure he'll agree, it's nothing like riding in an Airbus - it's real flying.

Chrome is the new black

2008-09-04T20:13:00.009+01:00

Even BBC Radio four announced that Google (tm) had launched a new browser, called Chrome, so I thought it must be worth looking at.

Because I build websites, I have several browsers to test with: IE7, Firefox 3, Opera, and Safari. I have always been happy with Internet Explorer, particularly version 7. But several people keep telling me I should use Firefox and, since I installed Firefox 3 a few weeks ago, I have started using it more, and have even set it as my default browser for previewing and testing web pages.

One thing has been bugging me though - I suppose it must just be me but, although I really like working with tabbed browsing, with Firefox 3 I keep inadvertently closing the tab I'm reading. That's very irritating, and I don't think I did that with FF2... And FF3 has a tendency to be left running in the Applications list, so it won't re-launch without resorting to Task Manager and Ending the process.

I don't usually touch any software that is in beta (test) mode because it often causes unexpected(?) problems with other applications or even the operating system. But as I'm a bit of a fan of Google, products I thought I'd have a go with Chrome.

The download was seamless. Installation went as planned - quickly and trouble-free. Then I launched Chrome and wondered where everything was. There was a clue that I'd read somewhere that, when you want them, the tools are easy to find. I am amazed at how that could possibly work. But it does. The screen is very clean and tidy. The tabs are right at the top of the screen. There are no text menus but right-click (which seemed obvious) on an an icon here or there, and everything I've needed so far, is where I felt it should be.

Remember when you first used Google search? I remember thinking, and others saying "it's as though they know what you were thinking about when you started the search." Chrome has that same eerily "just right" feeling, to me.

Two things stand out (apart from the clean screen and the lack of menus and toolbars - nobody expects the Spanish inquisition) is that I have watched in amazement as many people "mis-use" the address bar in Internet Explorer, thinking that data entered there would be used to search for a website.

Well, apparently, for many people that's the intuitive thing to do (in the absence of any Browser Schools). And with Chrome, that's exactly what happens! Put "Fred Bloggs" into the address bar and, if it can't already find that among the websites you've already visited - like FF3 does, it uses your text for a Google search.

And it is noticeably faster than Firefox 3. Going back to IE7 shows it to be very slow by comparison, subjectively. And the screen is smoothly Opera-like. There are some good techie reasons why it's fast, apparently. But all I care about is - it works, I like the look and feel, I like the speed, I really like the 9-most-visited-sites feature showing on your own home page.

If you want to risk the beta, give it a go. If you don't want to risk the beta, keep your eye on the news, the real thing can't be far off. My opinion so far is that instead of thinking, "Yes, is OK," I was immediately really impressed with Chrome. I can see it will be my no.1 browser of choice very soon.

P.S. I created this entry via Chrome. I did have a bit of trouble uploading the image into Blogger, but I found a workaround. And I've signed up to have Google track what's going on, to help development, so we can hope that they're working on it right now!

LinkStar Media for the last time

2008-09-03T10:53:00.004+01:00

LinkStar Media have updated their website and have asked the administrators of the Aardvark Business Forum to remove the thread that discussed LinkStar's operations.

LinkStar UK Limited's website has been greatly improved and now explains that they have a new way of link-building to improve their clients' SEO (search engine optimisation).

The website also now shows a registered address and their registered company number. So I am assuming that we can now expect that LinkStar's future emails will also include those details, as required by the Companies Act 2006. Had they done so in the first instance, perhaps the suspicions of website owners may not have been aroused.

So, if you are approached by LinkStar UK Limited, you can now make up your own mind based on a bit of research into websites, addresses, and Companies House. It's always worth spending a couple of quid (and that is all it costs) to find out just that little bit more about the company you're considering dealing with.

Copy and Paste in Blogger

2008-08-21T15:36:00.007+01:00

Some people might want to use their previous post to create a new one - I have a client who wants to do just that.

I tried to copy and old post and paste into a new Create Post compose screen. The words were all there but the fancy formatting - emboldened text, bulleted text, font-size changes, etc. - were all lost.

I asked a fellow Blogger blogger who tried it and all the formatting was copied, in exactly the way my client wanted. What am I doing wrong? Nothing, really. The answer was, as is so often the case these days, my choice of browser.

I use Internet Explorer browser (like 73% of the world) but she is using Mozilla Firefox (about 20% market share*).

* Source: Market Share

Using Internet Explorer 7, copy and paste between Blogger screens loses all formatting, even new-line/paragraph. Using Firefox (I occasionally do, v 3.0), the formatting is retained. Yet another reason to make Firefox my primary browser, and IE7 my secondary.

And another way, of course, would be to copy/paste the HTML code, and not the text as seen in the Compose screen.

LinkStar Media again

2008-08-12T15:03:00.006+01:00

Further discussions on the Aardvark Business forum might even be part of the reason that LinkStar Media do now have a website, albeit one that is bland in the extreme, and still has no "real world" address.

There was a lengthy contribution to the discussion by someone from LinkStar Media, who seemed to answer many of the specific questions that had been posted by other sceptical website owners.

See the Aardvark Business forum.
Update 3 September 2008: Sorry, no you can't see the Aardvark Business forum on the subject of LinkStar, because a LinkStar manager has requested the forum entries be removed.

However, most others viewed the responses from LinkStar as "unconvincing." Of course, you can make up your own mind, and hopefully the discussion on the Aardvark forum will help your decision-making.

Testing to get the bullet

2008-08-11T16:00:00.005+01:00

I am having trouble with bullet lists, or unordered lists. They look OK in the Compose view, bullets show up in the Preview view, but when they are published, they indent is present but the bullet graphic has disappeared.

Like this

Bullet one
Bullet two
Bullet three

What's happening?
Well the test didn't perform quite like I remembered it failing before. Looks like a good bullet list to me.

LinkStar Media

2008-08-10T16:50:00.005+01:00

I received an intriguing offer for a text link from one of my very successful websites. And they offered me to suggest the price.

The company offering to buy the advertising link was LinkStar Media. I did some basic research into the company, based on the email sender's URL but could not find satisfactory answers to my enquiries.

Usually, I just delete this type of email even before doing that type of research but something made me want to investigate further. So I Googled the company name and found a blog discussing the subject.

You can see the resulting discussion, comments, and opinions of LinkStar Media here [there used to be a link here].

Note added 3 September 2008:
No, you can't see the resulting discussion because a LinkStar manager requested it to be removed.

70s revisited - will it last longer this time?

2008-08-01T19:39:00.011+01:00

Ford has been getting pretty good on economy recently but their response to the 2008 fuel crisis is a huge leap, with the debut of the 2009 Fiesta EcoNetic at this week’s London Motor Show, held at the Excel exhibition halls.

The small hatch has an optimized diesel engine that places it at the very top of the UK’s list of economical five-seaters. Rated at a combined efficiency of 76.3mpg (63.6 mpg U.S.gallons, 3.7L/100km).

The primary modifications that achieve the economy include aerodynamics, lower suspension, lower rolling resistance tyres, low friction oil, shift indicator light (remember the Ford Escort "change up" light?), modified engine calibration, and a higher transmission final drive ratio from 3.37:1 to 3.05:1.

The 89hp (66kW) 1.6L TCDi diesel produces just 98g/km CO2, and with a starting price of just £11,845, available in three-door or five-door variations, both rated at identical efficiency values, the Fiesta EcoNetic is looking like a serious threat to relatively complex hybrids.

Other EcoNetic models will follow...

Source: Motor Authority
Further reading: Green Car Congress

Cars to run on fresh air?

2008-07-08T17:45:00.004+01:00

Cars are being developed to run on compressed air instead of petrol/gasoline.

In February 2007 Tata Motors signed an agreement with MDI (Moteur Developpment International). Early in June 2008 Tata announced that they were developing a car for 2008 production that will run on compressed air. It doesn’t sound like it could work, does it?

MDI has developed two types of piston engine powered by the expansion of compressed air: one runs on compressed air alone, the other uses liquid fuel to supplement the compressed air. Under 50kph (31mph) it uses air only. Over that speed the on-board compressor refills the compressed air tanks.

The existing MiniCat vehicle has a horizontally-opposed 800cc four cylinder engine.

The above details were extracted from various on-line sources, mainly Green Car contress.

To find out more, put >> tata air car << into Google and you will find many reports and articles on this interesting subject.

Century

2008-07-02T17:28:00.008+01:00

Yesterday I added two new properties to my JustSuffolk.com website, bringing the total of individual properties to ONE HUNDRED.

Property number 100 was The Old Postmill, Thorndon, pictured on the left.

I have to thank Penny Moon for the initial suggestion and encouragement that led to me build the JustSuffolk website. It was Penny who thought that I could do “something different than the big accommodation sites.” The strategy that came from that idea was the “single county, targetted, accommodation website.” The first website to follow that plan was JustSuffolk.com, which benefits greatly from the popularity of WoodbridgeSuffolk.info. Both sites do well in Google searches.

JustSuffolk.com has subsequently been joined by other Just… websites, including the recently launched but not quite fnished JustEnglishCottages.com. As the name suggests, this is not a single-county site. Because it is a national website (like “the enemy”) with a much wider spread, I devised a different USP; brevity - I exclude marketing waffle. I have pruned the verbiage down so that busy accommodation hunters can find a suitable property much more easily.

For example, instead of describing a cottage as “ideally situated in the heart of [village] among the beautiful rolling hills, dales, and rivers of the world-famous Yorkshire Dales, ” I have described it simply as “in [village]” - the rest of the words frequently found in accommodation websites (including my own) are over-blown marketing waffle - yes, it might make it sound more attractive but I believe it can detract from actually finding the facts about a cottage, campt site, hotel or B&B. All such flowery rhetoric is similarly pared down.
More details...

During the research to add the ’seed’ properties, I was struck how often the terms “ideally situated” and “in the heart of” appeared in so many websites. So many that it did not add to the website experience at all - it just became tedious. We’ll see how well that goes down with the property-seeking audience.

Wotta Regatta!

2008-06-29T16:05:00.004+01:00

Belated news - the Woodbridge Regatta has returned.

There wasn’t a Woodbridge regatta in 2007 and the one in 2006 was preceded by miserable weather but the day itself, in August 2006 was lovely and warm, brining out the crowds.

The 2008 Woodbridge Regatta was held on 8th June. And again, the organisers must have been wondering if they’d picked a wrong date as again, most of the week preceding the regatta was rainy and miserable. Even Saturday the 7th was pretty grim but “they” (the weather men) had forecast fine weather for Sunday. And they were right. It was a gloriously warm, even hot day, bringing was seemed to be the biggest crowds I’d ever seen on Tidemill Quay, Ferry Quay and along the river walk to the Yacht Club.

Several more photos on WoodbridgeSuffolk.info

The other kind of stag

2008-06-20T16:22:00.002+01:00

There are plenty of deer in Suffolk and in June, there are stags of another kind.

While starting out on a walk, we came across this poor thing, covered in dust and with a damaged front left leg. It wasn’t the biggest stag beetle we’ve seen in this area but, sadly, the great majority have either apparently been squashed in the road by cars or on the pavement by humans. This one was a good 2″ (50mm) long, and was still alive.

If you see a stag beetle, please help the study into these creatures’ numbers, habitat, behaviour, etc. by submitting a report to this website.

Fox on the run

2008-05-18T17:00:00.002+01:00

I have recently been trying to take a photograph of an adder, because two friends have had such good results.

One has taken several with a camera phone. Another has taken a striking photo with a proper camera. This morning’s early walk in the woods was another of my adder-hunting escapades. We didn’t see any adders but had a pretty good view (but not such a good photograph) of a Reeves’s Muntjac deer. Muntjacs are lone and very shy creatures but are quite common in the woods and forests of Suffolk.

However, the “safari” was not in vain. After only a couple of minutes walking, I spotted a fox lying in a sunny spot in the undergrowth. My lack of experience with my Nikon had me fumbling with focus, and exposure pre-set type, and taking the lens cap off (again!). He was looking right at us, because we were “in the sun” from his viewpoint, but I just managed to get a reasonable photograph before he stood up and walked away.

The result is not as sharp as it might look in this reduced image - this is a small crop out of a 3872×2092 pixel image - but I was quite pleased with it, as my first ever fox photo.

As green as green can be

2008-05-18T15:31:00.004+01:00

My wife and I went for a relatively early walk this morning, to see if the bluebells that were so abundant and richly coloured a couple of weeks ago, were still there.

The bluebells were mostly “going over” but the early sun through the now thickening spring green beech trees bathed everything in a light that was as green as green can be. The photo has had nothing done to it except re-sizing.