Apple Announces Peace in Our Time

Well, not exactly. Not even close as a matter of fact. Instead, a very minor announcement of a new boombox for the iPod, a leather case for the iPod, and new Mac Minis with the Intel chip and a higher price point. Needless to say, many were very disappointed.

I'm a Mac guy myself. I use one at work and at home and I follow the news around the Mac platform. Occasionally I'll even dip my toes into the world of extreme Macintosh fandom where owning a Macintosh is merely your entry into a secret society where the Supreme Being--also known as Steve--enlightens your journey through life with his every pronouncement. But I have to admit that I just don't have the same fervor that so many Mac users have towards their beloved Apple products.

I think Steve Jobs is a smart guy, and more than any other computer company on the planet Apple has the determination to choose a path for their company based on their vision, and stick with it. Apple for the most part makes great products that I enjoy using.

But gosh folks. They're only freaking computers. So pull yourself away from the edge of that cliff. Stop trying to make every announcement, rumor, and leak from Cupertino a life and death struggle between the forces of good and evil.

That way you won't be so crushed when the next announcement doesn't bring forth the video iPod, replacement for the Newton, or a personal intergalactic transportation device.

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Standardized Testing and the Reality of Our Students' Lives

Florida began its annual round of high-stakes standardized testing of students yesterday known as the FCAT (Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test). As is the norm, those of us who work in the school district office were dispatched out to the schools to assist teachers with the administration of the test.

In the 3rd grade classroom where I was assigned, the students were anxious, but ready to go. As the teacher bustled around getting everything in order, I had the chance to talk to a group of boys about how they felt about the test and what they'd done to prepare. Inevitably, I asked if they'd all gotten a good night's rest and were ready to take that day's test.

Most of the boys answered that they were ready, and that they'd gone to bed early the night before. And then I got to the last boy.

"What about you? Did you sleep well last night?" His sobering reply, told in a matter-of-fact tone that you'd expect from an 8 year-old went something like this:

Well, I tried to get a good night's sleep, but it was a little hard. There was a shooting in the trailer park where I live with my grandma, and the cops were across the street for a long time. What with all the lights flashing and the police radios and all the noise and my grandmother crying it was a little hard to sleep. I finally got to sleep after midnight, but I kept waking up.

Wow.

Here's a kid, 8 years old, who doesn't live with his parents, and who's grandmother is caring for him the best way she can. Reading the newspaper later that day I came across the story of the shooting, how a man had binged on crack cocaine all weekend long, finally returning to the dealer's house--across the street from this child and his grandmother--where he shot the dealer because he wasn't getting high enough any more.

And here's a teacher who has worked all year long to prepare this child to take a test on a series of days where he hopes the world stands still and bad things won't happen. Where the child can come to school rested and ready for the test, with nothing else on his mind, totally focused on the task at hand. Where his students can perform in the way they've been taught and achieve the test scores that are needed to keep the child and the school and the teacher from being branded as a failure.

There is no box to check on the test that asks if the child had a shooting in his neighborhood last night. There is no bubble to fill in to indicate whether this boy had to comfort his grandmother as the police are outside their door, investigating something terrible. And there is no place for the teacher to indicate that the child might not be prepared to take today's test because his life is in turmoil and last night was a bad night in the place where he lives.

No, this child took the test, just like all the others, and as I watched him concentrate and do his best, I was amazed at the resiliency of children, but also at the folly of a once-a-year test that assumes that the world stops for the few days that these children are asked to put everything aside and perform.

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Help Shape the Future of Fireworks

Do you love Fireworks? Do you depend on it for page compositions and layouts like I do? If Fireworks is an essential part of your workflow you'll want to take this chance to leave a message for the development team at Adobe on what you'd like to see in the next version, and how the company should marry--or not--Fireworks with it's new sibling, Photoshop.

John Nack at Adobe is soliciting comments on what the future of Fireworks ought to be. Pop on over and leave a comment. Specifically, the team is looking for the answers to these questions:

If we could do one thing to improve the process of making graphics for the Web, what would it be?

Are there tasks (e.g. rapid prototyping of Web and app interfaces) at which we should target Fireworks more than Photoshop? (Or, to take the other side, would you rather there be a single über-app with a customizable interface?)

Do we need to improve integration between Fireworks and Photoshop (e.g. better file format compatibility, Jump To), or does it work well enough?

What about compatibility with Dreamweaver? What tasks could/should we improve?

Are there interface elements or ideas from one app that we should emulate in the other?

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Usability vs. Suckability

My. The web design world is certainly in a twitter these days over the use of what are broadly known as Rich Internet Applications, whether they're created in Flash or in the emerging set of tools known as AJAX. In the blogs that I follow and some of the private discussion groups I belong to the question of what should and shouldn't be presented to the end-user of a web site are being fiercely debated.

On one side of the debate, we find a group of people who seem to think that anything other than straight HTML delivered in a straight-forward is inherently evil somehow. These folks hate Flash no matter how it is used and are wary of the things that sites using AJAX technologies might do. (If you're not familiar with AJAX it's a new way of using JavaScript and other web technologies that allow parts of a page to reload without having to reload the entire page. Think Google Maps.)

Among this set of folks, Flash will always be bad, no matter how it is used and JavaScript ought only be used for, well, very little. The blog postings by the anti-AJAX crowd are rampant, with one theme running through all of their postings. AJAX is the new Flash, and it sucks. (Thanks to John Dowdell for pointing to yet another posting on this topic.)

As with any zealots, there is a grain of truth in what they say. Flash and AJAX can be misused. No doubt. We're certainly as likely to see poorly conceived sites designed using AJAX just because it's cool as we are to see poorly designed Flash sites. For the anti-Flash, anti-AJAX crowd, web design is all about usability and in their opinion both AJAX and Flash fail the test of what should be considered a usable site.

But let's think on that a bit and look at a real-world example. In my day job I'm working on a project where a series of videos need to be presented. Quite a few in fact, and they need to be organized in such a way that the end user can see the categories of the videos and make selections on which ones they want to see. What's the most usable format for that type of situation? Without a doubt, the answer is a Flash interface that incorporates Flash video. By going this route I'm able to present the 23 videos that I want my viewers to see in a format that loads quickly and makes sense to them. If I were to present this information in straight HTML I'd have to create multiple links to multiple files. I'd need to have both Windows Media and Quicktime available to solve platform issues, and even then who knows if they'll have the correct player installed to view the videos properly. Flash allows me to build a better interface that's easier on the end user and makes the presentation more effective.

And guess what? The back button on their browser won't work. To which I say, "So what?" If I were to throw the video into a separate window, as is common with video files, it wouldn't work either. But if I build a logical interface and follow good usability guidelines it will be obvious to the viewer how the videos are accessed and how to return to the index of my movies. For myself, the goals of my organization, and for the greater good of the viewer, Flash makes sense. So that's what I'll use.

So, pardon me if I don't get drawn into this whole suckability vs. usability debate based on the perceived evilness of the technology in use. Where appropriate, both Flash and AJAX have their uses, and are superior to the types of "standards-based" design that has become the Holy Grail in the eyes of some folks. Yes, accessibility matters. Yes, web standards matter. But I'm not throwing out any babies or bath water based on the perceived notion that these technologies are in and of themselves bad.

----

For an excellent and level-headed guide to Rich Internet Application usability, see Donna Maurer's
Usability Guide for Rich Internet Applications at Digital Web Magazine.

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Teacher Performance Pay via *More* Standardized Tests

Yesterday Florida's Secretary of Education announced his new plan for teacher performance pay. The good news is.......

Uh, I'm still looking for good news. Let's see, pay for teachers is going to be tied to a set of new standardized tests that students will be required to take. The good old FCAT will still be used for grading teachers who teach subjects covered by those annual exercises in industrial thinking regurgitation of standardized skills, but for those who teach subjects like Spanish, Music, Graphic Design, and the myriad other courses that students have access to, well, the state will either develop new tests or buy a set of tests to assess student "learning". (That slavering sound you hear comes from the companies that produce these tests as they lick their chops and envision the millions of dollars that will come their way.)

From today's Miami Herald (annoying and counter-productive free registration may be required):

Reading and math teachers would be judged on their students' annual improvements on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test. The measure for teachers in other subjects was the focus of another last-minute change.

Instead of directing each district to develop its own objective way of judging those teachers, the state will adopt or create student exams for every subject. Districts could be able to select from a menu of approved exams or develop their own. Winn's chief deputy said some of the tests may not be traditional pen-and-paper exams.

Unlike the FCAT, the new exams would not affect high school graduation or school grades.

They would only be used to track student progress and set teacher pay.

But the idea of adding dozens of new exams to a school system already under national scrutiny for its intense testing program is certain to generate controversy....

'Testing is designed to find what are the weaknesses of students and make corrections, not to use the scores for a reward or punitive action,'' said Pat Santeramo, president of Broward Teachers United, which represents more than 17,000 teachers.

Oy.

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The Internet is Broken

This article is a bit dated in Internet time, having been originally published in December of 2005, but the issues raised by one of the early pioneers of the Web--David D. Clark--are worth taking time to read if you're interested in where the Web may be going in the future. In The Internet is Broken published at Technology Review, Mr. Clark looks at the fundamental problems that remain with the way the the Web is wired together. From his perspective, it's a chewing gum and baling wire affair that has begun to resemble the seedy side of town.

Indeed, for the average user, the Internet these days all too often resembles New York's Times Square in the 1980s. It was exciting and vibrant, but you made sure to keep your head down, lest you be offered drugs, robbed, or harangued by the insane. Times Square has been cleaned up, but the Internet keeps getting worse, both at the user's level, and -- in the view of Clark and others -- deep within its architecture.

Clark argues for a new Internet architecture that would incorporate advances in security, authentication, and traffic routing that would require some new ways of thinking and a fair amount of cash. Would it be worth it? You have to wonder if we may not be painting ourselves into a corner as we rely more and more on the Web for our daily lives but rely on a network that is fundamentally un-secure and depends too much on the average user keeping their security settings up to date.

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Blogging in Education: Is the Worm Turning?

Edward Abbey continues a conversation that has been percolating in the world of education blogs recently at his CogDog Blog in a post titled The Dissonance of “Blogs in Education”.

It's good to see some thoughtful consideration of what blogging in an educational environment really means, and to see someone note not only the practical limitations, but the legal and technical as well.

In our school district we've been discussing blogs and the potential they hold for teachers and students for some time. I'm firmly entrenched on my spot on the fence--straddling between the idea that almost anything that harnesses the power of student self-expression as being terrifically good, and the very real concern that students will reveal personal information about themselves and/or use their blogs in a destructive manner.

It's a very scary world out there, and ultimately public schools have a legal and moral obligation to provide an environment that is safe and secure for our students and that provides adequate guidance for our students. Can every blog environment do that? Probably not. Can teachers find value for the education of their students by allowing them a place where they can control their own writing, share ideas with others, respond to criticism, and express themselves? I'd like to think so, but there are significant technical hurdles to overcome and a massive amount of resistance by those who would over-control.

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Dear Salespeople: Please Don't Blow Smoke Up My A**

Dear Salespeople--

Interesting presentation.

I suppose it must work on some people, because your pitch was obviously well-rehearsed and one that you've given more than a few times. You had all the buzz words that you thought I'd want to hear, had some very pretty PowerPoint slides, and had the whole thing down rather pat.

Bully for you.

Here's the thing. Just because we happen to work in the education field, that doesn't mean my colleagues and I don't know a thing or three about technology, web applications, user interfaces, and the myriad ways that technology can be used to impact the work our teachers do. Don't think that we don't remember what it was like to be in the classroom and aren't capable of determining what things would--and wouldn't--make our teachers more empowered. And don't think that we can't see the gaping holes in your service, the empty promises, or the horrible experience that our teachers would have using the system you propose. Most importantly, don't ever think that we would allow a vendor to dictate to us what is right for our teachers just because it happens to be what you're selling.

Oh, and please don't insult our intelligence. You toss around words and ideas like this is all supposed to be new and shiny and exciting and cutting edge.

Please.

That might play in some other venue, but frankly we've seen better systems, better services, and better ways to do what you're proposing, and at a fraction of the cost. Sure, you have highly paid salespeople and you've got your schtick down, but that doesn't mean we're buying into your service.

Because in the end, it's not evenly remotely about you. It's about doing the right thing for our teachers, students, and the taxpayers. And you've got a long way to go baby.

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Need a Heart for Valentine's Day?

Here's a quick tip for creating a heart-shaped graphic in Fireworks:

1. Choose the Text tool and set your font to Webdings.
2. Type an upper-case letter Y. You'll get a perfect little heart.
3. Select the heart.
4. Choose Text > Convert to Paths.
5. Choose Modify > Ungroup.

You'll now have a perfect heart that is a vector shape that you can use to your...wait for it...heart's content.

Look for my Captivate video tutorial on Valentine's Day at Community MX that takes this technique to the next level by showing how to use the shape to create a photo frame.

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Great Name for a Rock Band

"Dick Cheney's Shotgun"

Inspired by actual events.

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The Day I Discovered the Triple-Click

Another admission of my own stupidity.

Last week I was talking to someone at work, where the percentage of Windows users hovers at about 99.65% about one of the things that bothers me about the Mac.

"You know," I said, "with a PC you can click in the address bar of a browser and the URL is automatically selected. On the Macintosh you can't do that. I have to click inside and press Cmd+A to select the address for use as a link. What a pain!"

But, um, duh, as I was reading something else a few days later I came across a reference to something called the triple-click. It went something like this: "Well, on a Mac the ability to select an entire line of text or a web address has been available by triple-clicking for many years."

Dang. All these years of pressing that keyboard combination when it wasn't even necessary.

Now, I wonder what other habits I've ingrained in myself over the years that I could have avoided by actually getting the facts?

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Good Idea: Paperless US Grant Applications; Bad Idea: Windows Only

This could just as easily be titled Bureaucracy Run Amok. According to this Washington Post article, the U.S. government has spent "tens of billions of dollars" developing a new paperless application process to allow for the submission of grant applications online. Only problem--it only works on Windows computers. As one observer on a Macintosh listserv reportedly remarked:

"Uh, this would be the same government that spent a lot of time and money pursuing Microsoft for its anti-competitive behavior?" one blogger wrote. "And they now offer a government site that mandates monopoly?"

To me, the bigger question that screams for an answer is this: "Tens of billions of dollars?" What, are they paying by the pixel? By the keystroke? $10 per 1 kilobyte of information downloaded? Is the development of these forms spread out across as many congressional districts as possible to make passage through Congress an easier process?

Anyway, hard to believe that in this day and age no one bothered to test the development of this system or to point out that the durn thing doesn't run on the kinds of computers that people use?

via John Dowdell.

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Some Thoughts From TCEA

I spent most of this last week traveling to and attending the Texas Computer Education Association annual convention in Austin, Texas. I had a great time as always, and my presentations on Breeze and at the Adobe breakfast event went well. I also had a chance to attend a few workshops sessions, and I spent a lot of time in the vendor hall scoping out the new stuff from all the companies offering educational software and hardware.

You can get a pretty good read on where educational computing is going by walking the vendor hall and seeing where companies are putting their marketing dollars. This year the big displays and the big money were going to the student response systems from companies like eInstruction and Promethean. eInstruction in particular must have had some gnomes at the back of the convention center shoveling cash into the furnaces that fueled their efforts. They spent some serious coin on give-aways and on one of the after-hours bashes that are common at these events.

I'm not implying that this is bad in any way, but you can get a sense of where companies and their investors believe money can be made. And really, these are pretty slick products, allowing a teacher to hand out little remote control devices to their students so they can respond to questions that are projected on the classroom screen. The teacher gets immediate feedback on how well the students are grasping a particular concept, and can modify their instruction on the spot if they come across something that the kids are struggling with. And of course, the kids enjoy using them, which adds an element of engagement and motivation to instruction.

Otherwise, the show featured the same kinds of things that most of these events do. Software out the wazoo for evaluating student performance and "transforming" education. Software that will target the specific needs of individual learners and help them attain mastery on whatever high-stakes standardized test that your particular state requires. Many of these products are quite nice, but I have to admit that the sheer volume of companies offering "solutions" for evaluating and preparing student's for standardized tests causes my eyes to glaze over.

Finally, there seem to be more companies devoted to security than ever before, which is a trend that I'm more than a little uncomfortable with. I understand the need for things like desktop and network security, but I'd rather see more energy devoted to engaging students and the appropriate use of classroom technology than means for restricting how students use computers. In my years in the classroom I always found that the best way to insure that students use the assets we provide them in an appropriate way was to have solid lessons that got them working and involved with useful work that stimulated their imaginations and focused their energies on learning. All of this time and money that goes into denying access and creating barriers is counter-productive to what kids should be doing, and in the long run work against what's in the best interest of learning.

It was great (as always) to see my buddies from (formerly) Macromedia--Megan and Johann and Jill and John and Anuja and to spend some time talking with them about the direction that Adobe is taking and see their enthusiasm for the things that kids and teachers can do with their products. I also got to meet some of the Adobe Master Teachers and learn more about what they've been doing with products such as Photoshop and Acrobat. I was encouraged to find that they bring the same sense of excitement to the classroom use of technology that was present with Macromedia products, and it looks like in the education field that the merger between Adobe and Macromedia will bring some great new possibilities in the future.

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Uh-Oh: Apple Releases Affordable iPod Nano

$149.00 may not be exactly an affordable price, but I can definitely feel my resolve crumbling now that Apple has released a new iPod Nano model that holds 1 GB of songs, photos, or files.

Let's see, I need a new iPod so I can replace my Flash drive and carry around music with me at the same time. Yeah, that's it. It's work related. It's not just that it's tiny and cool and has a color screen and feels soooo good in your hand and that I feel my geek lust rising every time I hold one.

Not at all. It would be an essential tool for getting my work done. You know, transferring files from work to home and back again. I could probably even write it off on my taxes. Yeah, that's the ticket.

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Off to a Convention With Good Blogging Intentions

I'm off to Austin Texas bright and early in the morning for the Texas Computer Education Association annual convention. I'll be doing a couple of presentations on Breeze and visiting with other Macromedia Education Leaders and my buds from what is now Adobe. (The name for the education advisory group that I've been a part of since its inception at Macromedia hasn't quite made the change over to the new corporate identity.) And of course I'll be scoping things out in the vendor hall and looking for those must-see sessions on the classroom use of technology.

I always enjoy these gatherings as they bring together teachers who are excited about what they're doing with their kids, and I never fail to learn something new. I also always have good intentions of writing it all up here at the old blog but sometimes other things happen instead. Who knows what will transpire this time around.

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The Collective Genius of the American Advertising Industry...

...as evidenced by the television ads from this year's Super Bowl are now available at Google Videos.

Judging from the ones I've watched things are pretty tough. The only one I found to be really funny was the one from FedEx. Most of the others? Dreck. Boring. And obviously designed by committee.

And would someone please tell the guys at GoDaddy.com that it's time to grow up. Ugh.

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Gartner Group's Hype Cycle

An interesting press release describing the latest study by The Gartner Group on the most hyped corporate technologies and how they'll affect business into the future has some thoughtful comments regarding emerging technologies. Of particular note are their comments regarding blogs, RSS, podcasting, wikis, and more. You can read this synopsis of the full report if you're organization is not a subscriber to their service.

I tend to agree with their conclusions on most fronts, especially as they apply to the business of public education. RSS, for instance, will take on more of a role in company communication as the ability to publish notifications of new information is integrated into company/school portal systems. Blogs will continue to evolve as a corporate tool but their use (technology companies excepted) may have already peaked. VOIP and the technologies that employ it will continue to grow as organizations seek low-cost ways to communicate.

In all, a nice thumbnail look at emerging technologies and the impact they'll have on companies and their customers into the future.

Via Assorted Stuff.

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On Lacking the Relationship Gene

My wife has been having a bit of a time at her place of work recently, with lots of issues resolving around the relationships she has with her coworkers. This morning as she was telling me about yet another problem that had come up with the women she works with it occurred to me that I have a fundamental problem.

I just can't understand what she's going through.

I'm not sure if it's just me or not, but this whole "She said this, and I wonder why she said that, and do you think I should have responded differently?" conversation is one that I just can't relate to. I'm trying to be supportive--really I am--but I'm just playing along. My hearts not in it because I seem to lack the relationship gene that would allow me to care. I think there's a gene on the second X chromosome that makes it possible to care, but since I don't have one of those, I'm having a tough time relating to the angst that these workplace relationships cause her.

Is this a Venus vs. Mars thing? That's my suspicion, but since I can't really speak for all men, it's only a guess on my part. Men tend to be direct and to speak their minds without a great deal of agonizing over how the other person might feel about what they've said--especially at work, where we don't attach any emotional baggage to our jobs. We have a job to do, we have opinions about the right way to do it, and when we interact we discuss what we think is best with our coworkers and move on.

Many women on the other hand, can't seem to take that direct approach. For them, it's not just the work, but also a delicate balance they feel they have to strike between stating their opinion and being certain that they haven't somehow offended the person they're talking to. I've seen 20 minute conversations have a ripple effect that lasts for weeks as the women involved discuss, recap, opine, and worry about what was said, what was really meant, and whether anyone had their feelings hurt.

I'm not saying that one way or the other is right or wrong, or that every man or every woman behaves this way, but for me--well, I just can't relate to what the women are putting themselves through.

As my wife left for work today she said that she'd be arranging a dinner date with a former coworker so the two of them can discuss the latest drama where she works. I think that's probably best. Because I clearly lack the ability to care very much.

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Married White Male Seeks Attractive, Mature, Computer Software Products

I had several interactions today that got me to thinking on the topic of software maturity. Not a really sexy topic, but for someone that works and recreates at the computer for a major portion of their day, it does matter to me.

I'm going to leave out the names to protect the innocent, but in two instances today I had the chance to see software that was, well, immature.

In the first case, the product has some terrific features, but there are some things that just don't behave themselves the way you want them to. Instead of doing what you ask, they cop an attitude and sulk like a teenager who's been asked to clean their room. They might do it, but they won't do it very well, and there will be lots of complaining.

In the other case, I had the chance to work with someone who had an older version of a program. One that was missing some major features that are needed to make it completely useful. In this case, it was a product that I've worked with from its initial release, and I could remember the growing pains that it had gone through. This one started out as an infant, and I've seen it grow up now to the point where it's quite good, but I'm still hoping for the day when the growing pains are over and it reaches its full potential.

Of course, when you're spending good money on software, having to suffer through the growth spurts in development of your tools can be a bit of a pain. It would be great if every product that was released was fully realized, and that no compromises had to be made for the sake of making a mere profit. But the reality is that companies have to pay the bills and salaries and keep the lights turned on, while still pleasing their investors. So we, their customers, help pay for software to grow up and be what it should be.

Fair? Yeah, I guess so, at least in the tech market where we simultaneously clamor for the Next Big Thing, while complaining that the Last Big Thing didn't really meet our expectations.

I guess if we're going to be partly responsible for the birth of these products then we have to expect to hold up our end of the bargain and help them grow up. But wouldn't it be better if we were able to skip all the growth pains and temper tantrums and the other things that come with reaching maturity?

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Two Free Fireworks Tutorials Et Moi

You know you might have been at this publishing thing a bit too long when you can't even remember some of the work that you've done in the past. (Or it's yet another sign of advancing age.)

Case in point. A question came up in a forum that I follow regarding slicing techniques in Fireworks that caused me to look into my Community MX vault and see what I'd done on that topic in the past. I was pretty sure I'd done a few on that topic, but couldn't quite remember what they covered.

Lo and behold, not only had I done one, but it's a nice long 22 minute lesson on creating rollover navigation bars done as a Camtasia video. Not bad, if I do say so myself. This one is a freebie with the alluring name: Slicing Fireworks Navigation Bars With Frames.

That reminded me of another set of Camtasia videos I did almost exactly two years ago. In this one I took a look at the Pen tool, one of the tools that lots of people struggle with understanding, be it in Fireworks or some other vector application. Understanding the Pen Tool is also a freebie.

Enjoy!

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