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About 2 months ago I received an email from Blockbuster.com announcing the forthcoming redesign of their online rental site.

"Great!" I thought. The site was starting to show it's age. Type was small, it relied heavily on graphics for presentation and navigation and, in general, had begun to take on a very dated appearance.

From a functionality standpoint the site was solid, but it was difficult, or not always clear

Well, I noted the coming redesign and went about my normal business.

About a week ago I get another email from Blockbuster with the subject... ANNOUNCING THE NEW BLOCKBUSTER.COM.

Great! I clicked the logo in the email and was taken to the ne....the same old site. My first thought was "It is an IE only redesign. Ugh...". I went to a Windows machine that had Internet Explorer and, after logging in, came to the same old rental interface.

Completely confused and more than a little letdown I referred back to the email and read a little more closely. Toward the bottom, I noticed a link to a preview of the new site.

Ahhh! If you're just going to show me a preview then tell me as such. Don't "announce the new site" and then let me down with a simple flash preview. I am already a customer after all, so you have my business. About the only thing you can accomplish with another new site email is irritate me.

Or just remind me that it's still not done, and that the current site is painfully out of date.

Got an email from Best Buy today notifying me of their new online store designed specifically for their business customers. While the design is nice enough to look at and I do enjoy not having to make my way through all of the glossy movie and games promos, the markup is most definitely Web 1.0. There is no DOCTYPE specified, the page (markup/XHTML only) weighs in at a hefty 14kb. Worst of all? A spacer.gif!

There is just no excuse for using old, crusty table-based layout for that design. It could easily be implemented, probably in a single afternoon of work by Travis, and provide faster loading times and better accessibility to boot.

Shame on Best Buy!

My friend and co-worker Adam Parrott is going under the laser today in Gainesville, GA. After waffling for more than 6 years he decided to make the jump and get LASIK.

Adam has the kind of eyes that benefit the most from LASIK... the kind that are basically worthless without heavy correction from glasses or contacts. The same kind of eyes I had when I had LASIK done in 1999.

As of right now, Adam's quality of life should have gotten a major boost. Amazing that such a dramatic change can happen in a matter of minutes.

P.S. You can see an actual LASIK procedure on the Affinity Health web site.

It's more secure

Firefox benefits from being Open Source, basically meaning that any qualified programmer can pick at it for vulnerabilities before it's released. This way most of the dangerous holes have been sniffed out before it ever a final ever gets downloaded to your drive.

Even the U.S. Government recommends you use something else.

It's extensible

Firefox has hundreds of handy utilities called extensions for you to choose from. They give the innovative community of Firefox users a framework to develop fun and useful extensions that enhance your browsing experience.

Some of my favorites...

• Web Developer Toolbar - A must for any Web Development professional
• ForecasFox - Updated weather integrated into your browser
• Sage - View and manage your RSS subscriptions directly in Firefox.
• Google Sync - Keep Firefox synced up across multiple machines. Works on all platforms (another reason to use Firefox).
• Google Toolbar - The power of many Google tools one click away in Firefox

Tabbed browsing

The feature that fundamentally changed my browsing habits and experience. I was so tired of sorting through all of those IE windows. Firefox to the rescue. View multiple sites in one browser window minimizing that desktop clutter.

If that isn't enough you can learn more at Mozilla.com

In February 2005 I got some bad news from my brother. I found out that his squadron, the VMFA-142 Flying Gators, were to be deployed to Iraq's tumultuous and violent Anbar province.

My brother and I had casually discussed ways in which we could use the web to assist the Marines of VMFA-142 during their deployment. After much talking I finally decided on a course of action; a blog. They are relatively easy to setup and manage, and a blog's ease of use may enable the Marines in Iraq to help with the updates, eliminating myself as a middleman and ensuring the folks back home got information as fast as possible.

Finally, about a week before the deployment, I got to work on a design that incorporated the look and feel of the Gators Squadron.

Once the design was settled and everything was setup through Blogger I just needed content to post.

March came around and it was time for the Gators to leave their Atlanta home for their temporary quarters at Al Asad airbase in Iraq.

Many photos were taken at the deployment departure and I posted them to the blog immediately. My brother got the word out among the pilots and he assured me I'd get some photos tracking their progress. I was skeptical, it'd be difficult to handle the responsibilities of a Marine being sent into a war zone, and also take digital photos and find a way to email them out for posting to the blog.

Slowly though, the photos came and the url began to arrive into the inboxes of more and more family members. They started to comment on the site, generating more proliferation and participation. The response was more than I'd ever thought it would be.

I'd spend an or or so a night, processing pictures for posting, and the site got as many as 1,000 daily hits.

Family members overwhelmed me with their appreciation. The site had more of an impact than I thought it was capable.

Eventually the squad came home and the site now stands frozen as a unique visual log of their deployment. I plan to leave it up so that anyone who wishes can return to look through the old photos of their 2005 deployment.

I was fortunate enough to be recognized by the Gators at the Atlanta, GA Marine Corps Ball with a large squadron portrait signed by all of the squadron members.

Though I will say it seems strange to be recognized in such a way for something that was so rewarding in and of itself.