Posted on 13/11/2008, 2:20 am, by Colin Charles, under
General.
Dear Lazyweb,
I was browsing FACES recently, and noticed that they had an e-magazine. Nothing fancy, you have to zoom in and out to read it, making it kind of annoying on a laptop screen (the real experience will come on the 24″ or 30″ screens maybe).
What annoyed me was that the software was Windows only. It seemed to only work in Internet Explorer. These jokers make the software (Digital Magazine I believe, it is). Windows only is a silly market to be targeting – more and more Macs and Linux desktops are becoming a reality.
So, what are the other open source solutions for catalogues, brochures, magazines?
Flash is slow. The Ikea catalogue is a Flash app. Windows only (with ActiveX?) is a fail. Is there some JavaScript+CSS goo that can make it all work, in-browser? Something that also makes it usable on screens that are still standard (1024×768 resolutions?).
Posted on 17/9/2008, 10:11 am, by Colin Charles, under
General.
The Internet is a great tool, but the problem with the Internet is outdated information. I was looking to find the famous Foh San Restaurant in SS2, and while the Internet suggested it did exist, Foh San closed down in SS2 sometime in 2007. The only Foh San Restaurant that exists now is in Ipoh (not SS2), and from what I hear, they plan to open another one in SS2 or the surrounding areas sometime in 2009.
Now, back to the outdated information on The Internet. Look at dineMalaysia. It looks like it was last updated in 2004. A lot can change with regards to restaurants and bars in a period of four years. Their database is also shared with some Expat eatery site. Another catalogue site lists it, but I wonder how many restaurants on that list don’t exist anymore.
The importance of catalogue websites is that they need to be constantly updated. It has to be spurred by someone (maybe the tourism ministry?), and have the capability to be cool enough to have a community built around it. The way I see it, is it should be That’s Melbourne! with a community.
The only clue I got that Foh San in SS2 had closed was from this blog entry – “… the new Korean BBQ shop (formerly Foh San Restaurant branch)”.
This however, didn’t help me, as I had already spent time looking for it. Searching by relevancy, which can also suggest dated content, doesn’t help when there is a lack of information, does it? I see a book about Google’s search algorithms in the bookstore, but I’ve yet to pick it up. I’m just curious, how catalogue information can:
- stay updated, constantly
- be relevant
(1) is easy to solve… It has to involve a community. I guess that will fix (2) too… so how do you get a community involved in catalogue information? Shouldn’t be too hard considering its food and beverage related. Bottom-line is, there needs to be traction built around it…
