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Gabcast! metbaseball1 #1

A new book that's not so new

I just started skimming through a book I just bought from Barnes and Noble's Web site titled Search Engine Optimization for Dummies and noted a few copy errors. One is in the next paragraph, which is from page 163. Can you spot it?

Do not rely on a word processor's grammar checker. This tool is worse than useless for most writers. Grammar checkers are of benefit only to those what already has a good grasp of grammar.

Did you notice to whom grammar checkers are of value to: "those what already has a good grasp of grammar." Now that's lousy grammar.

I remembered that the Dummies books usually list before their Tables of Contents who edited the book. Search Engine's list included a technical editor, an editorial manager, three proofreaders (one of which was a firm), and an indexer. No copy editor was listed. A curious omission. If any Wiley Publishing insider knows why, I'd love to know.

In addition to being buggy despite the number of people who the publisher lists as being part of its development effort, the book I received from Barney's, as a little girl I know calls the company, wasn't new. In its lower right corner, every page and both covers contained three noticeable creases. This is a slightly damaged book that should never have been shipped. I'm pondering whether it's worth my time and effort to bring this fact to the company's attention. I'm hesitant to do so because I'll then be required to repackage it, bring it to the post office, and possibly pay for its return shipping, all after contacting Barney's and having to describe the problem — with no guarantee that the new copy I'll receive will be in any better condition.

All this could easily have been avoided if the Barney's employee who picked the book off the shelf checked its condition.

Comcast's security screw-up

On May 17 I received an e-mail from Comcast's Customer Security Assurance group titled "Customer Security Assurance Notice." Unfortunately, it was mainly HTML code. Here's a sample, which began the e-mail's content:

(Hopefully, someone at Comcast didn't send this intentionally.)

Further down the e-mail it stated that Comcast had blocked my ability to send outgoing e-mails because "Comcast has determined that your computer(s) have been used to send unsolicited email."

I called Comcast seeking an explanation as I've never sent anyone unsolicited e-mail. The customer service person with whom I spoke told me that I had to contact their security department and gave me its number. I called it. An answering machine responded. I left a message and my phone number.

The next day someone from Comcast's security department called. He told me that I hadn't sent anyone unsolicited e-mail and that Comcast had sent the notice to all its Internet customers. He told me that to restore my ability to send e-mail I either had to call 1-800-comcast or go to comcast.net/help/faq/tb25, which would explain what I would have to do. Why he couldn't explain it to me while I had him on the phone befuddled me.

I went to its Web site, which only offered explanations for Outlook Express 2002 and 2003: I had Outlook Express 6. Eventually, I figured out how to apply the fix to my Outlook.

However, because of this experience, my first award for lousy customer service goes to Comcast, first for sending me an e-mail in HTML code that did such a poor job of explaining the problem and then for its security person's failure to help me to correct the problem while he was on the phone with me.

A Web page whose designer emphasized style over substance

Today I encountered a Web page that was difficult to read. It's at http://www.xs4all.nl/~peterned/csshover.html. It's difficult to read because it contains white text in a smallish font size on a medium blue background that also contains a distracting graphic. After reading only a few lines I stopped. The lack of contrast combined with the distracting background made it impossible for me to easily read it. And though the content seemed interesting, it wasn't worth further effort.

• When designing a Web page, think readability.
  
• For the best contrast, place black text on a white background.
  
• Don't lessen your text's readability by placing a distracting background behind it.
  
• Use a sans-serif font, such as Verdana.
  
• Don't skimp on point size. Unlike magazines whose printing costs increase with the number of pages, you (usually) don't incur that cost on the Web.
  
• And don't place style over substance. Content is king! (Or queen if you're a lady.)