Alan Gutierrez

In an IM exchange with Matt Hampel of ArborWiki, we discussed how I’m using the ArborWiki theme to create a new, database driven implementation of the List of New Orleans Bloggers. I asked Matt about forms and he pointed me toward work that he’d done at Ann Arbor’s Community High School, specifically the form guidelines for the school’s website. Moreover, he sent a link to a blog called Functioning Form where I found a post called Web Form Design Best Practices which has a presentation in PDF that is a great start in understanding form design.

I removed a hack that I’d thrown in to implement asides. Think New Orleans has been slow. It is now performs acceptably. I’d not feel like posting much lately, since I couldn’t imagine anyone wanting to read a website that took 30 seconds to load.

I was reading Christopher Johnston today and he linked to this very lovely story Expert networking techniques from a playground-savvy 9-year old.

Michael Arrington publishes an email from a college student distraught because his Facebook account was revoked. He then goes on to say. “And frankly, I don’t care all that much, ’cause the last thing I want is for everyone with a Facebook customer service issue to start emailing me.” That whiff of self-importance was too pungent. He made an article of this kid’s email, but then has to make a backhanded statement. Honestly, who really needs to read TechCrunch anyway? Update: Same post at TechCrunch; what a bunch of idiot comments. Both Arrington and his readers miss the point entirely.

Last Friday I went to see Betty Harris at the Old Point Bar in Algiers. DJ Lingerie sent me a text message that she and a friend were in Algiers and that I should join them. I rode my bicycle through the Treme and French Quarter to cross the Mississippi with the ferry. On the ferry I heard that Betty Harris was playing at the Old Point Bar. I understood why I was headed there. We stood with our toes touching the stage. One of the backup vocalists was close enough to knock me while swaying. I was embarrassed for having disrupted her with my presence, yet she smiled and apologized. “Cry To Me” was haunting. Strange New Orleans evening which begins reluctantly and unfolds into unforgettable.