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Show only articles relating to: Customer Relations, Usability, JavaScript, Life & Work, Reviews, How to's, SEO, Web standards.
On leaving QueroMedia & joining forces with Websaus
Written on May 26th 2010, filed under Life & Work with 3 comments.
Today has seen the end play of a long and hard month. I'm sure I've raised quite a few eyebrows as I made my decision to leave QueroMedia public. I wasn't unhappy here, I wasn't stuck in a dead-end job and I didn't suffer from a lack of responsibilities.When renewing contracts Mobistar finds silence to be golden
Written on April 7th 2010, filed under Customer Relations, Life & Work with 0 comments.
A friend of mine sent me a message today. "Damnit!" He exclaimed. "I wanted to cancel my mobile phone subscription at Mobistar. Turns out they renewed it for two years a couple of months ago. They'll charge me 150 Euro to cancel it." Turns out, I'm in the same situation and it pisses me off.Ask the right questions
Written on November 4th 2009, filed under Customer Relations, Usability with 0 comments.
I spent the better part of my evening so far on the phone with the support service of a company. About 15 minutes after I hung up they called me back. They wanted to know if I was satisfied with their service.Truvo: Lies, damned lies & statistics
Written on September 22nd 2009, filed under Life & Work with 10 comments.
Some corporations are lucky. They've found a nice little way to make a lot of money without much in return. Publishers of the Yellow Pages fell into that category until the end of the nineties when the Internet started to boom.On first, second and third base
Written on September 14th 2009, filed under Customer Relations, Usability with 0 comments.
Using free videos to sell your stuff isn't a bad idea. In fact, it's a great idea. But the step between watching a free video and buying a 500 Euro ticket is too big. The tickets are third base, while the relationship between the site and the viewer hasn't even been to first base yet.Mobile phones for seniors? Now there’s an idea!
Written on September 12th 2009, filed under Usability, Life & Work with 0 comments.
Todays manufacturers focus on two things: creating phones with a boatload of features and making them as small and as light as possible. My grandparents just want a practicle phone with which they can call and be called. Until recently it was impossible to find a mainstream phone that allowed just that.Delivery dates: Stick to them!
Written on September 8th 2009, filed under Customer Relations with 0 comments.
Eleven days ago I ordered something (a set of in-ear earphones, should you ask) on a Dutch discount website. Over the past few days I've seen at least two, and most likely three different dates on which my order should have been shipped.Review: Predictably Irrational
Written on September 2nd 2009, filed under Reviews with 1 comment.
Dan Ariely’s book Predictably Irrational takes us into the wonderful world of the human psyche. He takes you on a journey through dozens of experiments, often with surprising results. The conclusion: We don't always go for the most rational option.Jakob Nielsen proof password masker
Written on July 5th 2009, filed under Usability, JavaScript with 0 comments.
Ok, I’ll admit a lame name for a piece of JavaScript but it does describe what it does. A few weeks ago Jakob Nielsen shocked the web design community by advising to no longer mask passwords. In most situations visitors users would be alone behind the computer and masking the password would cause more confusion than it adds security. Makes sense.A word about planning
Written on April 22nd 2009, filed under Life & Work with 0 comments.
I'm not too fond of detailed schedules. Some people spend most of their days planning things numerous months or steps ahead. You know them. They love their Excel sheets and their schedules. They go absolutely berserk when they're a minute behind.Wifi rant
Written on January 30th 2009, filed under Life & Work with 0 comments.
I’m sitting in the conference room of one of the most exclusive hotels in Brussels, Le Meridien, and I’m writing this in a word processor. The reason? There’s no internet access here.What can and can’t you read and see?
Written on December 30th 2008, filed under Life & Work with 0 comments.
If it were up to the governments and various industries a large amount of websites would be blocked. The mere concept boggles the mind. How can democratic governments — many who criticise China for blocking parts of the web — even think, let alone talk about this.Telenet: You don’t seem to want my money…
Written on December 9th 2008, filed under Usability, Life & Work with 0 comments.
I've never been a fan of the way Telenet treats its customers and potential customers, but today was the last straw. After spending over one hour on the phone - thankfully spread out across several days - I'm told that: "their computer-system is down right now due to an upgrade and I should call back later".Google Chrome: The mini review (with screenshots)
Written on September 2nd 2008, filed under Reviews, Web standards with 0 comments.
Just got my hands on a copy of Google Chrome and immediately took it for a spin. It's not the revolutionary browser promised by the comic book, but it's not bad either. Seems like it does use an older version of the webkit rendering engine, or they took stuff out.Validation is worth diddly-squat
Written on July 17th 2008, filed under Web standards with 2 comments.
Let me get the cat out of the bag: Validation just isn’t important at all. There, I’ve said it and by now the validationistas among you will have steam coming out of their ears. W3C Guidelines or death and all that…Twittering
Written on July 2nd 2008, filed under Life & Work with 1 comment.
Something that's always struck me as kind of useless has, for reasons that are still unknown, convinced me to give it a shot. I'm talking about microblogging platform Twitter.What you do off site matters more than what you do on site
Written on April 29th 2008, filed under Usability with 1 comment.
Here’s one of my favourite pet peeves: off site support. Whether it's replying to an e-mail or answering a telephone call it should be done absolutely spot on. The things you do off site can make or break your reputation. Not responding to an e-mail or having terrible phone support can cripple a websites survival chances.Sanity and SEO just don’t mix
Written on March 26th 2008, filed under SEO with 0 comments.
If there’s one thing I’ll remember from my first few months as a search engine optimizer it’s that sanity and SEO don’t mix. Common sense, basic testing or knowledge, scepticism, people forget it all when they’re presented with the latest and greatest blogposting on some “A list” blog. I read it on the internets, so it must be true!10 Things that make me hit the back button + 1 bonus item
Written on February 18th 2008, filed under Usability with 4 comments.
There's one thing you have to remember when you work on a website: There are thousands of sites like yours out there and most of them are better. This is why it's so important not to annoy users with useless fluff, a point often lost on clients. Unlike a real physical store there's no indirect commitment to look around when you enter a website. There's one big, green back button and it gets used a lot.Why web standards and SEO go hand in hand
Written on February 12th 2008, filed under SEO, Web standards with 3 comments.
It seems like there’s a lot of misconception out there about what web standards exactly are and what they mean to Search Engine Optimization. Some people think its valid code; others think it’s an unreachable ideal and kick it aside as rubbish. But what's clear to me is that both Web Standards and SEO go hand in hand.