Category — howto

Internet Explorer 7 – why do we use it?

There are other ways to look at all the Internet has to offer: (Firefox, Opera etc.) without having to swear at IE7. However, IE is the browser that most people are used to, so despite the frustration of not being able to find anything and the fact that IE7 seems to assume all its users are morons, we keep using it.

Well, if you’re going to use it anyway, you may as well learn to control it. Part of having control is being able to delete your internet history; the cookies, the browser history – the stuff you don’t want your significant other, your mom or the geeks at Best Buy to find on your computer.

There are two ways to delete cookies (or your browser history):

1. Open Internet Explorer.
2. Click Tools > Delete Browsing History…
3. Choose one of the options and click the corresponding delete button.

This will delete ALL of whatever option you pick. You will not have the option to pick and choose. So, if you chose to delete cookies, all cookies would be deleted. Even the ones you wanted to keep.

Or, you can delete cookies this way:

1. Click Tools > Internet Options
2. On the General tab, under Browsing history, click Settings.
3. In the Temporary Internet Files and History Settings, click View Files.

You can now choose the specific files, images and cookies you wish to delete.

If you want to delete things from your browser history, you can choose to delete everything through the Delete Browsing History… option (see the first set of instructions), or you can pick and choose:

1. Open Internet Explorer 7.
2. Click the inverted triangle  to the left of the address bar.
3. Click History.

You can now pick specific folders or pages to delete without being forced to delete everything.

Happy deleting!

As of September 9, 2008, I will be taking some geek lessons at UBC.

I’m finally putting up a website for my business – so far I have the domain name and lots of enthusiasm – and since I want to use WordPress for the site, I need some idea of how PHP works.

I’ll be taking Introduction to Programming Basics and Introduction to PHP Programming as seen here. If those go well I might take the Advanced Web Programming Using PHP course too.

When I can, I prefer to do things myself. If I can teach myself HTML and CSS, I can learn programming basics and PHP too. Even if I’m a complete dunce at these courses, I hope to at least walk away with some idea of what I’ll be paying other people to do for me.

I’m kind of excited to take some university courses – I’m interested in seeing how the old grey matter stands up against new information and what my classes will be like.

I hope it’s better than the time I was in fourth year university and taking a first year course. I know I was an obnoxious little moron in first year and I didn’t pay nearly as much attention as I should have, but I had no idea how annoying I was until I took that class.

All the new students did was talk – well, they whispered, but it was still distracting.

“Oh my god, I was soooo sick this morning. Monday nights are SO NOT the new Friday.”

“This class is so boring, if goes on any longer I might kill myself.”

Some people simply slept, which was OK by me - drooling on a $150 textbook is stupid, but at least it’s quiet. The professor for that class is legally blind and therefore has exceptionally keen hearing. He used to turn his milky eyes on the worst offenders and stare at them until the whole class was uncomfortably silent and then he would continue the lecture.

I always wanted to applaud when he did that. It was very effective. After a few classes the talkers either shut up, or dropped the course.

So, I’ll be a student again – at least for a month or two – now who wants to pay for my textbooks?

It’s 5 a.m. and I’m awake thinking about blog content.

Really.

I spend a lot of time reading blogs, commenting on blog posts (when I have something intelligent to say) and blog-hopping in the hopes of finding cool new reading material. I also spend a crazy amount of time thinking about what to write in my blog about that will be interesting, relevant and maybe even useful.

I’m never going to be the blogger who writes something entitled How the political climate of America influences Canadian spending habits (a quick Google search didn’t turn up anything on this specific topic, so I suppose I could write this) nor will I ever have the popularity of Dooce who, internet rumour has it, makes $40k a month from her site (is this true? do people believe this?).

So why am I up at 5 a.m. writing a post that will not change the world or pay the rent? I’m not sure.

I don’t write about my relationships on here – I’ve alluded to them, but I can’t give details because it’s not really a private life if I tell everyone about it. Besides, in some cases I know I won’t say anything nice so why bother? Though, I sort of enjoy reading about other people’s relationships. I like knowing I’m not the only one making a mess or getting left with one.

I don’t talk about the specifics of my work because it’s easy enough to find this blog and writing about your employers or clients on a public blog is a good way to get yourself into trouble. Most people who write “My boss is a total jackass and here’s why.” posts aren’t getting book offers or a sudden increase in traffic to their site – just a lucky few, the rest of us are getting reprimanded and probably fired.

I don’t use my blog as a journal either because one day is pretty much like the next and repetition is boring. I have to be honest and say that I do use this blog as way to work things out in my head about things like guilt, dishonesty, love and the like. I like the feedback and so far it generally agrees with me and let’s me know I’m not crazy, I just think too much.

That doesn’t seem to leave a lot of things to write about and yet, here I am, writing anyway.

So what should blog content look like?

Does it always have to be full of deep meaning? Should it always be relevant and useful for your readers? Can it be something just for yourself – like a session with hundreds of would-be psychologists reading and commenting? Is it OK to baldly state opinions you know few people share and then refuse to apologise for upsetting your readers? Can I post everyday – even if it’s drivel like “I got up, ate breakfast and went to work – same as all the other days for the past 5 years.” and not find a single humourous thing to expand on?

What if I want to go into all of my relationship poo-poo in great detail – with names and places – because it makes me feel better to talk about it? What if I just want to talk about it because I feel vindictive? Does wanting comfort and comradeship make it OK to reveal those details? Do the rules change if you’re just being mean?

Is it really OK to post the private details of the people I live with? Am I violating boundaries by telling the internet personal things about the people I love – details I know I would never tell our friends over dinner? If I have kids, would it be OK to post pictures of them running through the sprinkler in the nude? What about detailing their most embarrassing moments? Is that amusing or awful?

I guess a blog is whatever you want it to be about and somewhere out there is an audience who wants to read it.

The rules you make are personal ones depending on your level of comfort and how well you can take having pissed off relatives and friends when you post pictures of them drunk and throwing up at your Canada Day barbeque.

Should there be general rules for posting? Should the spelling and grammar police be allowed to ticket people who write in “txt msg” format or who type with their Caps Lock key on? Should spell checking be mandatory?

I have my own opinions on this which other people would find restrictive and probably anal and yet I’m sure there are readers who’ve come here and thought “Did she not read this before posting it? What garbage!”

Again, I think it’s all a matter of what you’re capable of and what you’re comfortable with – there is an audience for everything. 

I think the best advice I’ve been offered on the subject of blog content is: “Before you hit the ‘post’ button, be aware that this content will be viewable by anyone who looks for it, the content will outlive you and deleting it means nothing. It’s still exists somewhere.”