ireckon blog

Browser Image Compression Comparison

Warwick — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 11:42:26 +1000

There are many browsers out there and they all interpret code and images differently. Today I am going to do a comparison on how browsers rescale images differently and rate which browser rescales images correctly.

The browsers I am going to compare are Internet Explorer 6, Internet Explorer 7, Firefox 2, Firefox 3, Safari, Opera and the new Google Chrome.

First off I have taken a 400px by 300px image (see below for original) and manually rescaled by 50% to 200px by 150px.

In normal design you wouldn't do this, but you do in fact come across this a lot with content managed sites, where the users have uploaded a larger image or the image has been rescaled to fit into a thumbnail position as well as the main image position.

So now we need to see how it looks in all the browsers

Conclusion

Internet Explorer 6

Corner Rendering: 2 out of 5
Text Rendering: 1 out of 5
Image Rendering: 2 out of 5

Total: 5 out of 15

Internet Explorer 7

Corner Rendering: 3 out of 5
Text Rendering: 4 out of 5
Image Rendering: 3 out of 5

Total: 10 out of 15

Firefox 2

Corner Rendering: 2.5 out of 5
Text Rendering: 1 out of 5
Image Rendering: 3 out of 5

Total: 6.5 out of 15

Firefox 3

Corner Rendering: 3 out of 5
Text Rendering: 4 out of 5
Image Rendering: 4 out of 5

Total: 11 out of 15

Safari

Corner Rendering: 3 out of 5
Text Rendering: 4.5 out of 5
Image Rendering: 4.5 out of 5

Total: 12 out of 15

Opera

Corner Rendering: 2 out of 5
Text Rendering: 1.5 out of 5
Image Rendering: 2 out of 5

Total: 5.5 out of 15

Google Chrome

Corner Rendering: 4.5 out of 5
Text Rendering: 4 out of 5
Image Rendering: 4 out of 5

Total: 11.5 out of 15

Overall Chrome and Safari in my opinion display images that have been re-sized the best, however these are also 2 of the newer browsers, so no matter how you look at it, browsers are getting better at rendering re-sized images.

This however still doesn't replace doing it server side or in an image editor.

Internet or sex - what would you choose?

Narelle — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 15:17:35 +1000

I was listening to the radio this morning and heard about a new survey that’s just come out. It says 46% of women would choose the internet over sex for two weeks, for men it’s 30%. (58% of all people would give up television for 2 weeks rather than be without the internet).

So it got me to thinking…how dependent am I on the internet? Could I go without it for 2 weeks? (regardless of what I would have to give up!).

Ireckon I would struggle. Apart from the fact my work revolves around all things online…even when I am not in the office (which may seem quite often to some), I am constantly using it.

Whether it’s catching up with friends on Facebook…which I check more than once daily; posting and following tweets on twitter – rather too much for my liking; checking my numerous email accounts; following the latest storm warning on bom.gov.au, watching my shares continue to languish at a horrendous level on the ASX; checking where my husband is heading for the following week on Qantas (he often forgets to mention!); booking flights on any number of airlines – Virgin Blue, Jetstar, Qantas; finding out what time either I play sport, or my kids do, on the various sport websites; catching up on my team’s efforts in the Premier League – Liverpool Rule! – etc etc etc – the Internet is my lifeline to the outside world.

Do I use it too much? – absolutely. It’s like an addiction at times that takes an extreme amount of will power to stop me from hopping on the Net. My kids have been known to complain I spend way too long on the computer.

Maybe over the holidays it would be a good time to try and detox from the Internet – but for 2 weeks? – I don’t think so!

Could you give up the Internet for 2 weeks? Would love to know your thoughts.

Smirking at the past

David — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 14:12:19 +1000

A few weeks back I was visiting family in Melbourne and my father made a comment about how, when he was a boy, used to hook up a crystal radio to a metal pole to pick up the cricket scores. It was the only means he had.

For someone who spends most of my time on the net, I had to smirk at the ancient technology.

It's quite interesting considering today, we log onto the Internet to get live cricket scores, news feeds, email, streaming video.

Then there are the accessories that further push the limits of the Internet. Consumer products such as the apple iPhone and other portable devices are now more accessible than ever and offer broader access to the web.

Items that are not so accessible (for now) such as Microsoft Surface offer a next gen method of browsing and interacting with portable devices and 3rd party objects on touch sensitive screens.

In such a relative short period of time, we've seen some amazing advancements in technology. I can almost envisage myself one day saying, “When I was your age…” and getting the same smirk response that I gave my father!

It's exciting. I look forward to it.

Prepare to be Festive!

Emily — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 12:46:40 +1000

We will all get sick of it very soon but as Christmas is still a few weeks away I’d like to bask in some child-like excitement for a moment. When I think about Christmas I remember all the typical Christmassy experiences; spending hours working on my ‘Christmas wish list’, going to find a tree, decorating mum’s lounge room to look like some tinselled wonderland, leaving a letter and refreshments for Santa and his reindeer because I knew they’d be hard at work, and of course the ultimate.. early morning present time.

I’ve never had my own personal website before. But I’m going to imagine for now that it’s almost like Christmas. There’s the wish list, the budget, the hard work and the preparation to ensure the day (or project) goes as to-plan as possible. It’s about finding the balance between the wish list and the budget and realising that if you have $50 to spend on a present for a friend then they’re simply not going to get the Gucci purse they have asked for, no matter how desperately they want it. It’s also about realising that the day doesn’t just happen, there is cleaning, cooking, more cleaning, decorating and coordinating to ensure the day is as hassle-free and enjoyable as possible.

So the requirements seem to be quite similar, as you could argue, are the pitfalls. Forget your budget and your friend might be ecstatic with their new Gucci purse, but you’re left eating baked beans until next Christmas rolls around. Ignore the wish list and those frangipani stickers you bought for their car may go down like a lead balloon. Preparation and planning out the window? You’ll spend the entire day running around like a crazy person and the day will be over before you have a chance to relax and enjoy yourself, either that or there’ll be nothing to enjoy at all. Not into hard work? Christmas day may see you sitting on the floor eating hard boiled eggs, with nothing but the sound of your neighbours’ joyous laughter to break the silence.

So while Christmas can be the most exciting time of the year, a smooth ride is definitely not as easy to achieve as a black eye in a boxing ring. Back when I was writing Santa letters and annoying my older siblings in any way I could - I was blissfully unaware of the effort my parents and family went to, to ensure we had a memorable day. To me it just magically happened. The food was cooked and ready, the presents were bought and wrapped, they knew what time we had to greet the canal Santa who threw lollies at us from his tinnie and all our neighbours had their cards and containers of homemade rum balls.

With perspective, I appreciate the success of a smooth and fun-filled Christmas. It’s the kind of perspective that’s hard to achieve for someone who’s new to web projects. Whether we like it or not, preparation and managing expectations can mean the difference between getting exactly what you want (whilst being realistic) and winding up with a swagger of socks and undies.

Christmas Matters to Me

Erin — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 10:54:17 +1000

It's that time once again, only 20 more sleeps until Christmas. Shops have had their store fronts ready for Christmas for over a month now. It seems that making a store Christmas friendly is an extremely important task to get customers in and spending money. Compare Myer and David Jones for example. They spend an enormous amount of time and money on their window decorations. So much so, that hundreds of people line up around the block just to see it! So after completely transforming their stores, have they done the same for their online presence? Surely online stores are just as important as it is much easier for customers to access. Not to mention the lack of queues.

Most companies do add a little something to their sites for Christmas, which is why we set up a whole microsite dedicated to helping clients achieve this. Check out christmasmatterstome.com.au Whether it is a small logo change, a special Christmas newsletter, or sending out e-card, it is getting into the Christmas spirit and letting your customers know you care.

So have Myer and David Jones extended their Christmas spirit to their websites? The outcome is interesting. Myer have dedicated a section to Chrismas that is on display when first entering the site. It is done with all the christmas colours. Bright and obvious. It goes as far as letting customers view past and present window displays. When first entering the David Jones site I could not actually see anything to do with Christmas, but on a second glance I did actually see the rather large boxes at the bottom dedicated to Christmas. So why, did I not see them upon first glance? Perhaps because they are not in the traditional Christmas colours. But they have recognised the christmas season, which brings me back to the intial point, that customers like to see a website with some christmas spirit. It is, after all, the season to be jolly.

I just couldn't resist

Craig — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 10:06:54 +1000

I like to think of myself as an organised person, not into fleeting trends, I like to plan my days and know exactly what I'm doing and when I'm doing it. Last weekend is a prime example of this, it had been decided two weeks before that we were going out to buy new Christmas decorations for the house. I knew what shops I was going to, what items I had planned to purchase and what time I was going....

However, the day did not turn out quite as expected, the shops let me down. What happened to the standard extravagant display of Christmas paraphernalia? There was none. This year all there seemed to be was small sections of mundane, boring, run of the mill decorations. What was I going to do? My day was failing me.

This led us to go to a "Christmas Superstore". It was a Christmas Wonderland........ If you like tacky tinsel and a dancing Santa dressed up as Elvis singing "rocking around the Christmas tree". I was despondent, my plan had failed, I had no new Christmas decorations to impress my family and friends - what was I to do?

I walked back to the car head down feeling sorry for myself. Then I noticed a flamboyant sign advertising 'Puppy World'. Surely going in there and seeing all the little happy faces would lighten my mood? Well yes it did. An hour and a half later I was the proud father of 'Cody' and $200 of accessories. What happened? Me? Impulse buy? Surely not? I was sucked in.... I had been considering getting a dog for a long time, but did not think that I was going to go through with it. However here I was with a little puppy in my arms.

Everybody impulse buys, it's a marketing tactic that is well used. I was pulled into the shop, the sign caught my eye with a cartoon character puppy with big doeful eyes (sucker I hear you all say). Marketing tactics like this are everywhere these days even when you go into a supermarket. All the chocolates are there right by the counter. Can you really resist just reaching out your hand and adding that decadent chocolate bar (you know you deserve it) to your shopping basket? I think not.

It's about being 'in the face' of the consumer and using the right imagery and words to attract them. And it works both online and offline.

Think about when you go searching for products on the web. You usually only click on the sites that come up on the first page of your search - maybe the second at a stretch. So it's important to be able to get found by your prospective target market. Of course once they have found you, you also have to be able to keep them on your site - so things like the look of the website, how usuable it is for you, and how functional it is all plays important roles in attracting and keeping the right market.

I know if the shop had not been well signed and 'in my face' I wouldn't have gone there in the first place...and wouldn't have become the proud owner of Cody.

Save time with free web generators

Jamie — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 10:08:39 +1000

Sometimes the best things in life are free. Save time with these free web generators I have stumbled across and also 1 or 2 of them that have been suggested by friends (thanks Dave!)

Stripe Generator

Visit this site: www.stripegenerator.com

Badges Generator

Visit this site: www.web20badges.com

Colour Generator

Visit this site: kuler.adobe.com

Mult-level menu CSS Generator (using suckerfish)

Visit this site: pixopoint.com

Rounded Boxes CSS Generator

Visit this site: mierendo.com/software/rounded_css_boxes

Favicon Generator

Visit this site: www.genfavicon.com

Warning: Contents May Be Hot

Emily — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 08:01:30 +1000

I have a huge issue with the apparent lack of personal responsibility that has now become so common. We’ve all heard the stories about people suing large corporations or individuals for ridiculous amounts of money and actually being awarded huge sums despite their obvious stupidity and its significant contribution to the outcome.

Take the woman who sued McDonalds after sustaining burns whilst driving with a take-away coffee in her lap (rumour has it the cup did not identify that the contents were hot). She reportedly limped away with a burnt inner thigh and a cool (or cooling) $640k. Then there was the guy who broke into someone’s house, injured himself mid-burglary by falling through a skylight and managed to sue the owners (his intended victims) for compensation for the injuries he incurred whilst dreaming of Mrs Victim’s diamonds and eyeing off son Victim’s piggy bank. I didn’t realise burglars were concerned about workplace health and safety, nor that they are entitled to worker’s compensation.

Are we becoming a society that no longer understands consequence? What ever happened to the notion that the outcomes of a person’s actions can and should be linked back to the specific actions themselves? There’s a certain convenience with the lack of correlation, and as a result we no longer have to feel the guilt of our actions or their impact on others. But then – it’s not our fault is it?

The Australian Government has quite recently announced plans to introduce compulsory website filtering. The aim of the filtering is to block access to illegal and disturbing or inappropriate content. Good in theory, not so good in practice. Amongst many others some of the expected downsides include:

Slower internet
Accidental filtering of ‘clean’ sites
More expensive internet; and
General control over what has been long considered the last true example of ‘Freedom of Information’.

Whilst I am of course concerned about the issues that this may cause for both the cost and speed of my internet access, my main beef, and the issue that seems to be prominent in the minds of other webaholics is the fact that this move completely impacts on our freedom to view and research any topic of choice. Now I'm not about to argue that having access to internet pornography and other questionable website content is important to me, but freedom of information is.

How will this impact on my decision making ability? The internet is my main resource for researching topics important to me. If heaven forbid I want to know about a health issue or surgical procedure, how do I know that I'm not missing some important piece of the puzzle as a result of an accidental or questionable filter? The value of the internet lies largely in its ability to provide information to the largest audience possible. What then if the information available to me is censored and limited, in effect – potentially changing the outcome of my decision making process? Is that worse than me making an informed decision based on facts regardless of them being good or bad, legal or illegal?

There's a degree of insult in the proposed filtration of websites. We seem to be being grouped together with the aforementioned coffee spillers and clumsy burglars that cannot and will not take responsibility for their actions.

I don't think anyone expects the Government's proposal will be a roaring success for many reasons, but I'm guessing it will be more of an annoyance to those who want to use the internet for legitimate and legal reasons. It looks like we will have to wait and see. But in the meantime if you want to you can voice your opinions on the Government's proposed internet filtering.

When the going gets tough...

Narelle — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 13:25:21 +1000

There’s a lot of speculation going on and people out there worrying about what this current economic climate means to their business.

How are they going to survive? What should they do?

I came across a great article in Marketing by Geoffrey McDonald Bowell called “When the Fan Gets Dirty”.

And what he’s basically saying is, in times like these:

Don’t panic
Focus on Your Business
Appeal to the Nervous Buyer
Spend Smarter
Jump on your customers (ask them what they need from you - and deliver!)
Beat your competitors
Be more creative (not conservative)
Focus on the sale now
Use the Web
Work your database
Invest in growing segments
Adjust your product for the market
Invest in research
Give value for money
Align sales with marketing
Adjust your language
Screw your suppliers (Do deals that gets you the best service and best products without putting them out of business!)
Hold off on Charity
Get a budget.

You can hear what Geoffrey had to say by watching his vlog discussing what marketers should do in times of recession.

As a marketer now is not that time to hide, but the time to take positive action.

A Philosophical Rendition

Dominique — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 17:25:31 +1000

If I could provide an analogy to wrap up my time at Ireckon in a holistic perspective and describe the impact my accumulated experiences have had on my life thus far I would use this:

My time at Ireckon is like the first chapter to a J.R.R. Tolkien fantasy novel. The tip of the ice berg to a very long and epic adventure that provides excitement, introduces some fine characters and provides the basis to a life path for one insignificant hobbit (me).

As a conclusion to my blog entries there is so much I have to say and so much that will be left unsaid. I leave this list – a philosophical 'rendition' of my cognisance:

6 Self-Discoveries made at Ireckon:

I can consistently wake up early in the morning and coherently make decisions to get to work everyday.
Finding motivation is hard, but when I find something that motivates me – I will always be motivated by it.
Anxiety to me is now a term to describe when others feel worry. I can withstand drinking 3 coffees and 3 red bulls in one day without dying.
Life is short. Mine may have been shortened with subtle self-sabotage. I eat way too much junk food throughout the day
Thinking outside the box is always seen in a positive light. I think frequently out the box - so much so that I can't rationally think back in it.
If 'pet hates' was a term to describe the most frustrating things you have ever come across in life, then my 'pet hates' would be bin lids (I want to throw things in the bin, I don't want to move a bin lid first), politics (any hierarchy which encourages discrimination) and transport department waiting times (enough said).

6 discoveries about the industry / the internet:

Profiting on the internet is like a search for oil. If you hit the right target you will reap the benefits but you can't keep drilling in the same area.
Some of the simplest things to use on a page are the hardest things to develop.
Some people just don't know how to use the internet and feel the need to blame those who do.
Web Development projects are inconspicuously complicated. There aren't very many constraints to keep the project on a sturdy track and project success is very opinion based (by the client). No restraints means high probability of scope creep, leap, backward steps and repeated work effort.
There is a lot of preparation involved at just understanding a request from a client and ensuring the interpretation is correct. No matter how hard we analyse, sometimes we find ourselves lost in conceptual translation. A lot of clients are oblivious to this hardship and expect perfect results from what they see as a simple, concise request.
Innovation on the internet doesn't automatically equal new and useful. Think novelty in its basic form. Cereal boxes do this best. They look appealing (bright colours and cartoon images), have great content to attract (convincing parents to buy) and they almost always have a good reason to buy it (free toy inside).

6 discoveries of work culture:

Quality is essentially a calculated concoction of work and fun. Too much work and you sacrifice quality. Too much fun and you won't have a product to measure quality with.
If you're working in a technical, creative environment the chances are that your co-workers require intellectual stimulation even in their hobbies. Have a go at mirroring their hobbies. You'll be smarter for it.
The office ambiance hides personality. Go for drinks at the pub after work to see your co-workers in a different light and discover their weekend personality.
People tend to fall into a groove of cultural norm and are quite unenlightened of their behaviour after a period of time. If you are lucky to fall into a new culture, note down your observations and what you think is good/bad about the culture. This is invaluable to the organisation who cannot see these things themselves.
I was convinced that authority was just a form of personal vendetta but I have now discovered authority is needed and when used effectively provides agile decisions which gets things done. When used wrong it's still a personal vendetta.
Work culture is closely related to school culture in that if you get along with the people around you, then you'll love coming in everyday to interact with these people. If you're the loner who gets picked on at school – you better hope you get job satisfaction from the role you play and not the people you play with.