General: September 2008 Archives

As I mentioned in my first post here, I come from a print background. Magazines, specifically. Now that I’m working on the Web, I’m learning more about what does and doesn’t work online.

Good grammar and punctuation? Catchy headlines? Simple sentences that are clear and to the point? Those things are important no matter where your work is published. My trouble lies more behind the scenes.

Writers often record their interviews so they can allow the conversation to flow without being bogged down by excessive note taking. It’s also great for going back to check quotes. I’ve been recording for a while, but it wasn’t until this week that I realized I have a habit of saying “mm-hmmm” and “uh-huh” as my subject speaks. I’ve always done this as a form of active listening and to let my interviewee know that I was following what they were saying. That, in itself, isn’t a bad thing. But it does become a problem in the internet realm.

Right now I’m working on a story that is going to have an audio slide show. Unlike many people I’ve interviewed in the past, this particular subject spoke in complete, coherent sentences that didn’t require a lot of additional context. Those are just the kinds of audio snippets that are perfect for an audio slide show. That is, if you haven’t mucked them up with a bunch of “mm-hmmms” and “uh-huhs”…

It appears that the announcement of Google’s new Web browser, Chrome, was sent out bit early in comic book form. What got my attention, being a comic geek, was that the comic was drawn by none other than the awesome Scott McCloud, creator of Understanding Comics.

You can read the official word about it on Google’s blog. You can also read the comic and get a more detailed rundown at Google Blogoscoped. I recommend reading the comic. McCloud does such a good job at explaining complex concepts and breaks down everything into easily understood pieces.

At first glance, it appears to be open source using the Webkit rendering engine with a brand-spanking-new JavaScript engine called V8. There’s also the standard stuff other browsers have like plug-in support, tabs and phishing protection. The focus on the project seems to be on making the browser faster, more efficient with memory and more secure.

I know what everyone is thinking: “Great. Now we’ve got another browser to test in.” Don’t fret yet. Since it’s based on the Webkit rendering engine, your sites should look just fine. (You test in Safari, right?) If you have a Web application, it remains to be seen how it will handle existing JavaScript code. Chrome is in beta and currently only available for Windows, with Mac and Linux versions on the way, so you have some time to see how things sort out.