emchi.co.uk

Wow it’s really very humid today.  Took the dog out for a walk and came back hot and bothered, then stupidly decided to do the laundry and hoover.  I’m now seriously hot and icky.  Bleurgh.

Pupzilla decided to eat the travel bowl while I was having breakfast.  I kind of decided “if she’s not trying to eat me while I eat my breakfast… meh”.  Also, how is it possible to get all excited when she goes to the toilet outside? I just did.  I feel we’re making progress on her bathroom habits.  Which for those of you who have puppies or kittens… it’s a relief when they don’t keep making a mess of the house!

As some of you may know I work with web technologies.  At the moment specifically I’m looking at a massive intranet re-development.  So part of what I do, is to look at usability and accessibility.  Most of the sites I’ve looked at have had to try and comply with WAI standards.  So one of the biggest websites that I always follow for changes is BBC.  They seem to be one of the few organisations that spends a lot of time and effort (read money) in developing websites that are of a really high standard.  They take the time to combine current trends with accessibility.

So I was reasonably surprised to be presented with a new BBC home page a few weeks ago, being a div, I haven’t really had a chance to look at the site until today.  It would appear at the moment it’s only the home page that has undergone a massive update, but even so you have to look at it for it’s revolutionary approach to delivering content.

When I say revolutionary, I mean look for the navigation.  Breaking with a massive norm, the main navigation is at the bottom of the page, below the fold.  To do something like this, and not have people shouting “you can’t do that” is quite an achievement.  I suspect not many people have noticed though, because what you’re presented with is an eye catching diversion from the norm.

At first glance the page does appear a bit cluttered, but if you stop for a moment and click your way around it’s very well thought out.  Whilst they have taken the time to include bright promo panels, they don’t flash and move around distracting you from the content.  OK so they don’t have to have advertising on the site, but you have to ask why so many companies need to cram in as much junk as possible.  There is no need for it, a well thought out advertising policy, that’s controlled by the site owners and not by the advertising agencies that buy the space is important.  Anyway, I feel that even if BBC had to have advertising content on the site, they would approach the problem with good thought and the users of the site in mind.

The customisation abilities of the page on their own are quite impressive.  You can control you location in individual components or select a page wide change to your location.  So if you want to keep an eye on the weather in one part of the country, but the news in another, it lets you do that.  Quite clever.

As for the seemless changes to the colour when you click on the bottom tabs of the promo box on the right of the screen, completely effortless. Smooth transition without juddering effects.  It’s a really well presented page.  I hear on the grapevine that the news and sports pages are due for release next week, I’m looking forward to seeing what changes they have made here, as it’s always been one of my favourite websites.  Let’s hope they’ve moved into the middle of the page and lost the big chunk of whitespace down the right of the screen.

Now for website nightmares… go check out the Sky Showbiz news website.  What they were thinking? I have no idea, but with lack of decent navigation, page weighting, structure or sense of direction, it’s a wonder anyone uses the site any more.  With all the money they have, and all the design agencies in London, they end up with something that’s akin to Heathrow Terminal 5, i.e. a complete disaster.

Well it’s definitely snowing out there today.  It started not long after the Grand Prix, and to be honest, the snow is much more interesting to watch than the Grand Prix.

It helps that the sofa is now facing not only the TV but the patio doors so we can see out beyond the conservatory to the weather outside.  It’s rather relaxing watching snow, which I’m sure I’ve said on more than one occasion.

My dad is coming for lunch today.  So I’m cooking slow cooked lamb.  Got a nice leg of lamb from the amazing butchers in the village, if it’s as nice as the last one, we’re in for a lovely lunch today. 

Grand Prix almost finished… barely noticed it was on.

Wow, I’ve moved to the country and all I’ve got to talk about is the weather.  Well that’s what it seems like.  We are however living in a miniature tornado alley here.  Seriously, I think the areal is going to fall off the chimney. Which in all fairness wouldn’t be a massive loss as it picked up bugger all when we were using it for about four days (well in less you count really great static an not a great picture, then sure, it’s the best areal in the world).

Anyway, I braved the weather this morning to go and do the grocery shopping (apparently it doesn’t do itself… which is a huge shame).  Firstly I got assaulted by the wind as I stomped about 3 meters to my car (trying my hardest not to sink in the bog our garden now is), then tried to get the car out.  Lets just say it REALLY needs a good wash.  Then I got assaulted by the big white cross as I came out of the village.  Is there some kind of religious thing going on this weekend? JOKE (I don’t know why I bother putting Joke after the end of that, if people who read this know me, know that’s the kind of thing I would joke about and those that don’t obviously need to unclench their arse cheeks a bit).

So anyway, I managed to get to the supermarket and I think on the way (it’s a fifteen minute drive before you get carried away), I think there was rain, sleet, hail, snow, sunshine and an almighty gale.  Quite amusing.  Has anyone else noticed that sleet looks an awful lot like dandruff? Cue lots of jokes about being covered in dandruff when in fact it’s just sleet.

Right, believe it or not I’m typing this on my big G5 as I’ve sorted out my desk area at the top of the stairs (there’s a little alcove at the top of the stairs, and my desk fits in perfectly, as if it were made to go here, the pitched roof is limiting the height of my monitor a bit but even so it’s still more comfortable than my desk at work.  I also forgot how much I like using LastFM, I don’t have it loaded on my PowerBook, so I always forget about it.  Currently scrobbling music by BT, and it’s brought back some really nice tunes.

OK I’m now just burbling random shit now so I’m going to go do something constructive (and incredibly anal), changing ID3 tags in iTunes.

Is it me, or is “Lara” the weather “girl” on Channel 5 a patronising cow that’s got no business being a weather presenter? She’s even more annoying as Kaddie Lee-Preston on BBC South East, now that’s saying something.  There’s something to be said about the “oldies” on prime-time BBC.  Or just good old Met Check, no annoying presenters, just good, accurate weather news.

As the title says I should consider myself lucky, but at the moment I’m feeling rather sorry for myself… I left work at my normal Friday afternoon time (I say normal, I’ve only been there for two Friday afternoons), that was 4pm btw.  Anyway, the weather at work was really rather naf, I say naf, it was nice to listen to, the wind blowing the trees, the rain hammering the window, it was a nice sound, better than London taxis and people anyway, still the weather was utterly rubbish.  It stopped raining sometime after lunch, we noticed because it got very quiet, very quickly. 

Anyway, I got on the motorway and noticed that the clouds were looking rather ominous, constantly threatening to unleash a deluge of water that would have made driving close to impossible, motorways at a crawl always have accidents on them.  Still the rain held off, well pretty much held off, and I got home just after 6ish. 

Yet I’m reading about the weather being so bad that some people who work in Swindon not getting home until the early hours of the morning because of the dire weather.  They also left at the same time as I did… I can’t understand it, obviously I was going in the other direction, but I really was lucky on this occasion.  I hope I’m just as lucky on Monday, not only do I have to get up at 5 to get to work, but I’m coming home again, then turning around and doing the same thing the next day… Waiting for paperwork essential to our move to turn up, and I don’t actually have anywhere to stay next week. 

I know it seems like a sensible idea at the moment but I think I’ll be on my knees by the end of the week… still no point in complaining, I keep seeing our lovely house we’re moving into and it’s keeping me going.  My job is great, I’m really happy there, I feel like I’ve found a great bunch of people to work with, where we’re all equals and we’re all on the same kind of level with each other.  Dare I say it, I’m actually happy?!?

I’m not quite sure what is going on with the weather today. The undulating clouds that fluffed their way across the horizon, have today been replaced with a grey misty haze that hangs in the air and smudges out the landmarks of London. OK Scratch that, it is actually pelting down, I just wasn’t looking hard enough.

The BT tower visible in the distance, almost isn’t visible, it’s as if someone has done a pencil drawing and smudged it all around the edges, now it’s almost gone from view. I think I’m going to get soaked going home… c’est la vie!!

Anyone who knows me knows I’m not exactly the bravest of individuals when it comes to heights. It’s a justified fear I’ll hasten to add. Anyway it will come as a surprise that today I have been in two buildings which have amazing views. Neither of which is very high, but both have spectacular views out over the roofs of homes and businesses into the distance. The biggest benefit of which is being able to see the weather role in off the sky.

From Simpsonesque sky scapes often giving way to the dark threatening grey cloud as it boils across the sky. I’m also reasonalby impressed with myself for remembering to bring an umbrella with me this morning… I needed it when I stepped outside Blackfriars at lunchtime… sheesh! talk about storm in a tea-cup!

I miss the country, don’t get me wrong. But you can’t beat a view that always has something going on in it. I’ll miss this office when I leave it tomorrow, only because the veiw from here is amazing. It is almost inspiring.

Reading the Observer food monthly when you’re a foody is a bit of a mistake. You end up dreaming of perfectly white langoustines in their delicate pink shells, or steamed trout or, well, just about anything else. Damn… Given the distinct lack of perseverance in my department (thanks to a bloody sore neck… curse the lack of core stability and the pile of laundry the size of the gherkin), I am resorted to some healthy eating thing that does have prawns in it.

Another thing to curse is the wonderful English weather. It put the kibosh on the cricket for the day, and now the Grand Prix is over I have the choice of reading a book, watching a DVD, surfing channels (and wishing I could be slovenly and watch CSI until the cows came home)… Such choices, have settled for watching Star Wars… again… all six of them. Bank Holidays can be great if you’ve got things to do, but when the weather sighs in protest at the thought of everyone but it having fun, you are somewhat limited to what you can do.

So I am back to the sofa, cursing it more each day as it is a monstrosity that does nothing but make me grumpy, watch the endless rain and find things to occupy myself. There’s something salacious about knowing the weather is awful and you can actually stay indoors doing the things you actually enjoy. Boring? not in the slightest!

Took advantage of the nice weather today and went to Wisley. Nice weather and all that. I’ll post some photos later. Most enjoyable day though even if we were there for only a few hours.