Still on the topic of last night’s myXchange get-together… is it just me or did everyone forget about one very important issue that we needed to address today (over and above the most funnest myXchange yet). Amongst other things, one very hot topic was the issue of a certain website constructed by two students from the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University.

A while ago I was encouraged to take a peek at a website that an establishment had just had constructed. The person who pointed me in this direction did mention that it was nothing spectacular, but that I should keep in mind that they only paid R1000 (yes that’s one thousand smackers) to have the site constructed.

Off I went then keeping an open mind and when I get to the office I fire up the fox and has meself a wee looky at this shit. Now from a design point of view this was obviously no masterpiece. What the text lacks in volume, it surely made up in size and who-so-ever slapped this pile of cowshit together should really not have accepted money for it.

So what next? Obvioulsy I am curious to see what the clockwork looks like – i.e. I wanted to see how badly it sucked. Frames never bode well to start with. This was done by putting old pieces of broken perspex through an old fashioned coffee grinder and stuck back together with donkey snot.

HOWEVER… all is not lost. I saw through these evil-doers’ foul plot – these guys are the Woody Allens of markup. This was all a sick, cynical joke. What gave them away you ask. THIS DID!!! …and I quote from their “Feedback” page: “Please fill out this form to help us improve our site.” with space for your name, comment and e-mail address. Fair enough, but then…

“What did you like about our site?” with no check box/radio button for ABSOLUTELY FUCK-ALL. Instead your options are:

Site Design – should be easy to see that should not be your first choice
Links – WTF, yes I like the links… especially the fact that they turn red on mouse over
Ease of Use (Simplicity) – that simplicity bit is a winner for sure
Images – they have images?
…and then the one that takes not only the cake, but the whole fucking bakery…
The Source Code – yes… the source code.

Now first up – if I was not a web designer and did not know WTF source code is, how could I possibly like/dislike the source code. Secondly – what is to be liked about this source code other than maybe the fact that it’s so deprecated that it’s almost retro?

Come on guys – go give your client their money back or offer to re-do this mockery – this is does not even qualify as sub-standard. Get with the new web and familiarise yourselves with modern web standards – or get out of the game before you completely ruin the already shaky reputation that local web designers have.

wOOt … we officially have our first girlygeek on board and we happens to fink she’s a hottie too. Welcome Bev AKA FeistyFemale and thank you for gracing us with your presence. Mefinx the evening was another screaming, roaring success and would like to thank the South African Breweries for their fine product of which I consumed a fair amount last night – next time you can keep the headache though.

Regulars like Charl, Imel and Stii get another honorable mention for the sake of spreading link love – thanks guys, great to hook up with you again. More newcomers were Leroy (a pleasure to meet you man) and my good friend Louis. Louis is the owner of JDL Printing on the corner of Market and Meade Street in George and the poor soul we suckered into sponsoring us some floorspace for the FREEDOMTOASTER (which happens not to make toast – at least not too well I am told) from where enthusiasts, hackers and cheepskates alike can come and fetch some FREE SOFTWARE a’la open source philosophy.

The date for our next meeting has been set (check out the WIKI) and we look forward to having more of you lot present. As usual everyone’s welcome, simply add your name to the list and come join the geeky fun.

Well there it is… our myXchange logo in all its glorified glory and not much use for it at present ….. except ….. well we have a website (of sorts), we have a wiki (of course) and we’ll be having our fortnightly get-together at Upstairs at Harry’s on Wednesday, 25 April @ 18:30 ’till late. We mainly talk about things I don’t understand, but a well timed nod can do wonders for a man’s perceived IQ. At this stage all the usual suspects will be there. Due to careful lack of planning only three of us convened on the 18th, but there’s bound to be more of us this coming week. Thanks Charl and Imel for making the effort.
The list of attendees at the time of this post:

Charl van Niekerk – tech boffin
Stii – database boffin
Gerry – marketing boffin
Meself – jayx of all sorts … boffin of none
Imel – programming boffin
…and then some characters I look forward to meeting (1st time boffins).

Come along to learn more about all things technical in a relaxed environment where no question will be considered a stupid question – we’re all here to learn. If you feel that you have no place at this type of meeting, please tell someone who does. We’re non-profit, just pay your own coffee/tea/beer.

See you there FFS.

Social media developments have broadsided the local media industry in the past 18 months, leaving many publishers scrambling to try upskill from a predominantly media or sales background to having to understand technology constructs that – unless you graduated in the past three years – you were never taught. People like me are so ancient we started in what is now affectionately called ‘print media’ two decades ago on typewriters (those heavy machines like keyboards, but with big clickity clack keys that broke your nails and WITHOUT power cords and no EMAIL – really!). We have had to nervously embrace the power of the blogosphere where one arbitrary blogger can destroy a brand with one post (think Kryptonite locks; Dell ‘hell’) and editors blog about their latest brand extension (The Times‘ editor Ray Hartley). Forget the Age of Aquarius, it’s the Age of Transparency and there’s no where left to hide. The savvy media and marketing people are using bloggers to launch their products and ‘leak’ their news, thereby creating a veritable storm of chatter and anticipation across cyberspace from these ‘consumer evangelists’. The local Stormhoek wine case study is one of the best globally on this. It’s the old ‘let me tell you a secret.’ thrill of knowing something no one else does. We’ve seen this particularly lately in the new media world with the launch of innovations on blogs with all ‘leaks’ denied. What was very interesting on Bizcommunity.com this past week was the debate on social media by ITWeb founder and media innovator Jovan Regasek and one of the hottest local bloggers right now (barely out of school) Tyler Reed. Basically the shift in power to citizen journalists (bloggers) is not great news for media owners or marketers. Reed’s view is that marketers need to embrace the power of social media and use it properly. The debate on the future of media and blogging ethics is still open. the conversation has only just begun!

Keep talking! Louise Marsland, editor, editor@bizcommunity.com

This from todays issue of Bizzcommunity.com – it seems the debate around blogging is hotting up and some of our regular favourites are making headline news as well as causing a stir in marketing circles. Again the crowd from Stormhoek gets an honourable mention (some more bribery with some of that fine wine it would seem).

Web development companies will have to start digging deeper in their pockets as well to employ expert code monkeys it would seem – the web is changing fast and even those in the industry are finding it nigh impossible to keep up. Exciting times these.