tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-264969232024-03-07T18:24:03.693-08:00CHRISdotTODDFor years I had used this space as my own personal knowledge base and to share tech news of interest to me. More recently I've moved to share some of my experiences from my very successful career with scaled-support and as a leader and manager.Chris Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09035433827373014702noreply@blogger.comBlogger509125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26496923.post-59153426756665226212022-05-06T10:25:00.001-07:002022-05-06T10:25:06.094-07:00Cache clearing tricks for Chrome<p> Don't you hate it when you need to <a href="https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/32050" target="_blank">clear your browser cache</a> for one site or domain, and you therefore have to clear it for all? Well, you don't have too.</p><p>You should be able to just hit <b>SHIFT+F5 of CTRL+SHIFT+r </b>(⌘ + Shift + r on a Mac) on a page, but it seems it isn't always effective.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Here are 2 new approaches.</h3><p>Open the Developer Tools (F12) and then:</p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Click and hold the <b>Refresh button</b> for a new menu.<br /><img alt="" src="data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAR4AAABSCAYAAACCJLt1AAARtUlEQVR4Xu2dDXAV1RXH/wEcE6JUQCGhfMcgQURxRhJB4lCJHyS0TCkwHRgCTBSoTklVBBUUGyxUnJp0RKBSIbZOiyhSIUxpUEatip3p4AcWBRMJoyQBrSOiQgXTvXfv7t69b9++fXn7Nm9fTmYymeTt3nvu/977e+ecfbkno037An2RAqQAKeCzAocbmpCfN8ix1QwCj89qU3OkACnAFSDw0EIgBUiBwBVg4Mnp0wvdunXj3127dkVGRob+TR5P4PNBHZICnUIBBp62c2fQvXt39OjRA1lZWRxABJ5OMf00SFKgYxRg4Dn0wQH07t0b/fv3R69evZCZmYkuXbqQx9MxU0K9kgLprwADzyt765Gbm4v8/Hz+Mzs7m8CT/lNPIyQFOk4BBp5dO7dzb6egoID/ZODhuR7K8XTcxFDPpEA6K8DAs/PFbRgwYAAHD/tJ4EnnGaexkQIpoECA4DmB5+aMxeK8rfh4+VXS0N/Gr+c0YOHmqbgkYEFOPDcPd+O3qP2Z2rNm09Bp2GTaMx5r3noKEZfZ7GX37MTkxmUY7cs4mF5LgDWx+vWlM2oklRRo3o2q5dvRIGyacPs6lHtZVOy+tcDClTfh4pjjeRu1FRuw17yuL8qrVmBCbswbfbkgYPAswQ68hrxFh/GAKWSqgkeCyP6VGFJTgH+5wpHA48uK7OSNfLZrBe7eloOlGxdguNDig127cfEkDSaxwBLrdeWNsrZiHwqNfvavx5znh+BRT9BKfJJM8Jx7F6uOT8beZROTFWqJd/BFpdhRAzxqbuIQgAdeoOLlmngmjDyeeNRKj2uZFyLBQB1ULLDEet0NPNoad+3bZ4F18NTixN/fxID7HsXM0UnL8VgbKW99PqoL3hAhjgKeE8+jvHApXhUDnfu84R3pG3vEI41YfI8WgWihD2tnR9lWYKoeFrFrFzbMw5h7XtN+k8Ij5rFMrRUtWn93D7UUj2dnmRUiyu0VrxaekAKeKH2CQ8wK44ofMXTQzJPvmbsaaxrqKNTyecGndHPM63i9CJvvkFMRwmKH8Ku0eQXW4VoM3LYde6+aj81TWx1CrRbNm9iO3JWWB6W3qIDGre8kiMbB80wVXm4cjtWLb0lmcll+B2eb7/cYwfMmEng4dOow2cynKNdpG7ZB2qj7q/Lx003l2MbyKgJYEK8zqIw5+EslnyQ2t4CI5xzPXCkvxeAgQchq41Mrx8MBAt0uNmnctoOojMj/SLBSx87baPSQW0rCqqAmO0QBFmatwwIsn5Tj3L/i0USEZY4ejxt4pBwPA5cT8JKkBAPPllWz0Dh8Ee66JalPtZTQwdzAsJLL2t/KG+bbkr2OG1uIwcCzo8zuEZnJXRsgRGLbcKOElwLX5LLweBRocKBxj0r64mDSxiGSy/21a9blPSXlsTRnRrLV3obwwD5Rx06hVpLWfOo2G8vrcACPDVTy64qHZAzaSlRLHg+/9mNMk/JKyRaJgWfJzZUYv2ombkzu43R1I+kw+M8iLVSqEU+1kgKeH4p+BKAYSBbrOSZP4GEOiwQoL+GZG3h4KGh6YpYm17+iPmEj8CR78adc+7EAEA94zMF5C7Viels+i8XAc+uqWtxx84hkf47HYSNxCGh5DJTqyeaYoZb9cbU3j4d5IkZYp0NkzM5SnpfxCh49LyPa0DwTWxhlTogUNrmEWtA8HzO/JY8XSjhGoZbPSz0czX3w+EKsbpkiPV3SwPH4O7jijsinWhGwiDvUkhPZzAPajoEBPVJn4FnzzDbcOCLpHyB0fgfneZoGI0ErcjBmIlhPGOuP3iOfGnkDz1U6bER4VDy3HGgoiMvj4WkaBVhyuKXbaLfPMZxiHxeSk+fF5ZiLRowQn9Wx3UPJ5XCQIglW6rmbVtGy/Pka5r08hNoWgIVMenJZygkl9FQL4P2+cW0gj9QD/BxPEmaImiQFSIFQKkDgCeW0kdGkQLgVIPCEe/7IelIglAoQeEI5bWQ0KRBuBQg84Z4/sp4UCKUCBJ5QThsZTQqEWwECT7jnj6wnBUKpAIEnlNNGRpMC4VaAwBPu+SPrSYFQKkDgCeW0kdGkQLgVIPCEe/7IelIglAoQeEI5bWQ0KRBuBQg84Z4/sp4UCKUCBJ5QThsZTQqEWwECT7jnj6wnBUKpQIDgcT6Ph51Box4TGr+S0Ss8RBxVKp+fHKUj+zk/8Vuj3hH91MLE26YWfFYgkJpW4uwb48ydHOvgL3YQ2FvjnOpoKQd1sWNS174DSPd6V8I618e4x3PtLu+duF7JwLN505O8Znpe3qX8Z1ZWVjJKGHcceKyifcZxq3Jdr0h9CDw+ra6QNRNYTSu1htX+3dibcxMvphcdPLKYDBzrgdtFAb64DgBj7Tjc3wFnLm9/YSuvmT58+PBk1k5PBfDYz0+Oti8IPCEjhi/mBlfTyu184w4BjwoiX/R0b4R5PKkDnmi1qMQB7ZPzlmKxKGfDDlQ3jzN9ZDXy7jnoWD7YHuYo8LPV8BJlcjS97OBRKlRIoZo9jLPut9fOKscarRbYDsdSyQHMMHXhTYEga1qJcG6gQ2liHTzzgbWi9IxZdsYA4xQ0i+NP2cDySm4A6l+KWu6YQa4ud4VSAjlRj8mbpG5XBQwerXa6UWJGsso6V1n6o1yeRgAizzh/WTlMXQfAUKuOldSM69nHotoEr5wu9WeBR4fOjjKr6B57zSpGaHVkAU47Q952j17AT64Hlvi0UQt+KxCzyoKvNa2Y9UbtcnvNcn7Y+9tXihLGcl5H9si8gyM6ePSzm/lXu/JEic1AwOBZElEZ055cdq5/xatPSJCITEi7J5eNHI8NGjbvSogo6m19YtbAciivbLPFXhUURn2tOaJcj2iWksuJLdJA7g60ppU0Iu79vInrRHUHNdSyfo8HPJHJY96j6T3J4Aq2uoQx8hQCj5L4lTe4Ap7IHIw38NgqVSgVQeXFbbXvBp48rJPK5pge04IGGyRZuwSeQNCRWCeB1rSymyp7W/6Ax2rfU6gVC7qJKet4dwqBRy5XbC8no3o8fJPXFIia5eJal1DLeqolrmUF9RggbOWSLX08hVrXv2orS8zL9IBVFFUKCIpa6RRqJWH1+txkUDWtPtu1Hu+NXsCfYrEv1u/WoQ/y0sUdAh6eXH4IR6c6Pcb3WWTRXAqBxwCIXh5Yrn8VAR7tdb1uuj6KYs/JZXa1Hh6B5YvAivPVmsoWi7rrkfW6pkF0pRX6suqoyzbM1ep1bUKZXqtdSVpTcjk5izcZrQZX08q5bnm7wCPAYdTbKud16Ny+lBwRu5R/LggitxTr/sRfDxA8iRtLLZACpEB6KEDgSY95pFGQAqFSgMATqukiY0mB9FCAwJMe80ijIAVCpQCBJ1TTRcaSAumhAIEnPeaRRkEKhEoBAk+opouMJQXSQwFX8LS0tLalxzBpFKQAKZBKCpw89W30/04n8KTSVJEtpED6KEDgSZ+5pJGQAqFRgMATmqkiQ0mB9FGAwJM+c0kjIQVCowCBJzRTRYaSAumjAIEnfeaSRkIKhEYBAk9opooMJQXSR4EAwfM56ip/jKq3LPFmPPk6fjWy48U8UD0OFVuEHYX3o656EnrHa9bnu1BZBSxvz73x9hX1eqbxw5oRv0OpMoDP6+5EFe5HtfwCs/lPA1FdmcgkRO8TB2pQdOuzlrUetHW0MxF9mA17bsC+hMaYiAF0r5MCAYPHeVP4MjXt2vgH8Ni189G07EVrQ2rt1DVPQmm8e7Fd/fsycqmRFASPtOkZ4DfmS1o7DJ/A4/eaSM32OjV4fF3kBJ4IL4t7PLK34cH78HVO2J7z0Gdqbs30tioFwMO8jpdQ8iRQwd3y6dj45iw0GWGZ5J7ri3IeSurni5CNXbsII9mmL3sY+8Rczbh3Ora8nC+FTKyPpzBspxyCuIQIvB0lNJyxQXLX7a/xkDFXD7UqSvagYiWLJwuxXOpPDueKZA/LXF/R+2P31k/cANw6HzwilG2Rw5kZ92P5kT3tDLV078+IOC0b9fkZtqwJVSu1ptmYmqUQyqVPddPr4zDCawcNNS9TBU/UMNgWxslay+1qf182CFWHKdRKNYwx8DzxxOPo2zcHQ4YMRd+cHF7CuEuXLsjw918m1ByPsVjEghebiS28UmOB99bvOVShL1b7a+L3w/N0INg8DgUqju96AngMXDFnxd6eY8gg4AcBFW6rsC1yw8UKOSP7q9giIAsJomDA3YMSA3B8MzbZgGcMTddOSrAZL9iAavxR1kYJR/k4vfWp5nisnJ4Kfau/XCkXxaEDC/iyprYpk+bXfo9Yc4PlN42Yk00XBKBA6ng8BgAUSMibNtINlzaIEurI19o3vrkVoyZiTd2V5Ki+caIASw21zN8LNTDak+rcaXFKrDv2p0ULNk9B+h01qGyaJSWME8vx2OEkvzFoHqk0P177lD0eOzTs3pWut95f0T4jCQ5tfv6MQdXyG4OsvfJGxj1jprVyD4VaAWAk/i7SFjza9sRjlUcxu3ognuY/I59UuSY72YLdaIVr5uYXIVXE0ytX8MTycEQuwqk/zR2LBp7ZTeqTqvaDxw4GuR07aCPhH+Oplpnjid6mvGyt9t3Ao4fihidsebvaXLOwXfZifQbPqCvHYvPmDbh69BXx7za6w1SAgefp2s3I7dcPl16az39mZXVH165dkxFqOW1AxYOI4fGU1k80cze2zeKQ3D1QfSea8gehHrJXIM2+CI8Gyd6H1v9jWAS2qY1QiUNMy3+AX6e/09aXKE9nooJnEpqVkMFp/Tl5BHp/Lh4Pg2DZYVTI3qJLqOX2ON0GYVs4pcwPf81bn47JZQ5X3QuM0JBl1jyFWrDl7Lh2Yl0wra0nZ/6HWgw8lw3Lx7333U3wSQCkAYPHHnLoCcxmPbnsNdQ6PAjY8qyeSLZ9LsRyvc0whocu0BPQUUVS3H4z5yH/fTpmzNAS32Zi1H6PnFw2PaGInJM8diNfIxsVvb+ooZaZ9xK5m0SSy3KCvlAbL5owjH8eKDK0tIVkcSSXjYS9Dhw271Yy25hL2D5v5BRO6Z6rbEPRjOnAkXzxGSpZR/+Tyww8rS0fobj4FoJPOMCTgJXi1rgftfrsZic+Amoh7AoY4GHjIPi0fzYD9Hjab6RxZ3zgsT8RS7x3aoEUAGTwEHzavyLSEzzi6ZDz52XaLxbdSQqo4CH4tG9NhAo87Rsi3UUK+KeAE3gIPvHrS+CJXzO6oxMrEA08BJ/4FgWBJz696OpOroAbeM787yxKJk6mp10e1giBx4NIdAkpYCjgBh52zZdfnsLkydMIPjGWjCt42rQvWnKkAClgKZDbbxiajx1ylaS19QRmzqzAw795EIVjrib5HBRgBf2ifnKZwENrhhSwK+AFPOyOo0c/wbx5t2PPnr+RhAQeWgOkQGIKqOD5+uvTyM7O5I1OnPiTiMYJPM56u3o8hz46QqFWYuuU7k4zBcaN/RGOtzbwUTHoXHLJYDy79RmUld6AcdfdjPI5MzFhQnGajTo5w4kaar20959tR4404vjx4/jmm2/Q9v33pgVORMpIjn3UKimQMgpUV2/AVyePcej07Nkfs2ZPR93O3dr/bzXw8OqaMdfjtttmu9rbo0c2f/3kya9TZlwdYUj2BRegT58+GDx4KPr07cP/O50fBPbGvn+3Nbccwxf//QJnzpwGSzVnEF06Yo6ozxRR4N6lD+HYpx+hV+8BWFT5C23T9Mf6JzZh7dpqjB8/BqNGjcV144sw8oqCFLE4dc3IzMzERT17IjenH35w0UU4//zzdfC0Hj/edurUKe7tnD17VgNPYpFXovenroRkWWdRYOGCu/Dee+9j/R9qMPLyy/iwD7z/IR584Df4uPFdHDz4IaZM+Tn+8tc/dhZJ2j3O8847D927d8eFF17Ijz3t1q2b5thkIOOrU6favvvuO5w7dy4mdGJBhTVIX6RAuiowa+ZtqK5ehYKCyzB69Hj8o/6FdB2qb+NiTGCwYd/8ADAGHfb97enT5hN1FSxOoCG4+DYn1FDIFGhuacWkSdNQVHgNFiychytHXR6yEQRvrsEL9ef/AVKuEh4lGwmWAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" /> </li><li>Choose Empty Cache and Hard Reload.</li></ol><p>OR</p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Click the<b> Network</b> tab.</li><li>Check <b>Disable cache</b>.<br /><img alt="" src="data:image/png;base64,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" /></li><li><b>Reload</b> the page.</li></ol><h3 style="text-align: left;">Extensions</h3><p>You can always use an extension to simplify the process, too, though most of the available extensions clear all cache, not just a specific domain.<br /></p>Chris Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09035433827373014702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26496923.post-48270751829211993272022-01-12T16:17:00.002-08:002022-01-12T16:17:19.819-08:00Writing good titles<p>I originally created this PowerPoint in 2007 to assist knowledge base writers at my company. As I've worked at different companies and time has passed, I found that this presentation is still relevant.In fact, not only is it still relevant, but it's relevant to more than just titles -- it's relevant to the headings and subheadings in your documents, too.<br /></p><p>Many years later, I find myself still referencing these same principles, but I no longer need the presentation to speak to them. Instead I usually weave them into various discussions and make sure they get added appropriately to training and governance related materials.</p><p>Here are a few take-aways.</p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Your goal in writing article titles is to get your users/customers to click on the pages of relevance to their situation and to not introduce click fatigue because they've had to view so many articles to find the right one.</li><li>We browse, we don't read. We did in 2007 and we still do. When viewing a list of search results, we browse for the right article title to click.</li><li>Promise a benefit in the title (and deliver that benefit it in the article).</li></ul><p>You have to view the presentation, <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ef0zNHhUS1eFDv4FfEiwZi4snyO_y7CO/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">Writing Good Titles</a>, to get the rest.</p><p>When you finish that, I recommend reading, <a href="https://www.chrisdottodd.com/2019/04/your-site-search-isnt-as-important-as.html">Your site search isn't as important as you think</a>. At a minimum, search and read the section, "Article titles and metadata."<br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Chris Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09035433827373014702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26496923.post-4912305114961105282020-03-28T11:21:00.000-07:002020-03-28T11:26:01.213-07:00Video get-togethers with family and friends using Google HangoutsKeeping in-touch with family and friends using the phone, SMS, or email is good, but with a video conference, you can have a great time together. There are several video conferencing solutions, some free, some fee (WebEx), and some restrictive (Apple Facetime). I've found Google Hangouts to be a great platform that nearly anyone can use.<br />
<br />
You can participate in a Google Hangout meeting using your computer, tablet, or smart phone. <br />
<h3>
Join a Hangout</h3>
As long as your device meets the requirements, just click the link sent to you by the organizer to join a Hangout.<br />
<h4>
Google Hangout Requirements</h4>
<ul>
<li>Must be started by someone who has a Google account.</li>
<li>Camera (for you to be on video).</li>
<li>Speaker.</li>
<li>Microphone.</li>
<li>App installed if you're using a mobile device (see below). </li>
</ul>
<span style="color: red;"><i>If you're using a computer, no additional software required -- it's just a website.</i></span> <br />
<ul>
</ul>
<h4>
<b>Pro Tips </b></h4>
<ol>
<li><b>Have an older computer </b>that is missing some of these capabilities?<br />Most of us have a smart phone that will work fine.<ul>
<li>Make sure your phone is connected to wi-fi (no big cell phone bills).</li>
<li>You're phone is charged up (or plugged-in/charging).</li>
<li>Has a front-facing camera.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><b>No speakers or mic</b> for your computer?<br />Use your ear buds that came with your smart phone. In most cases, these have a microphone. </li>
<li>You can <b>turn video and audio on and off</b> during a Hangout.<br />When you're using your computer, just move your mouse towards the bottom of the video screen. You will find 3 options: (1) mute/unmute audio; (2) disconnect (hangup) from the Hangout; and (3) disable/enable video.</li>
<li><b>Get Hangouts on your mobile device.</b><br /><ul>
<li>iPhone and iPads: <a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/hangouts/id643496868?ign-mpt=uo%3D4">https://apps.apple.com/us/app/hangouts/id643496868?ign-mpt=uo%3D4</a></li>
<li>Android devices (should work on Kindle Fires, too): <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.talk">https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.talk</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ol>
<h3>
Start (organize) your own Hangout (from a computer)</h3>
<ol>
<li>Go to <a href="https://hangouts.google.com/">https://hangouts.google.com/</a><br />Login to Google if you're not already logged in.<br />You must have a Google account to stat a Hangout</li>
<li>Click the <b>Video Call</b> button<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KgBNTbfEjSA/Xn-Kn1Rn2OI/AAAAAAABB1w/MGhN6zMizV8tulLFyh7sq_Q0M94Q0ppjwCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Hangouts-GetStarted.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="394" data-original-width="680" height="185" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KgBNTbfEjSA/Xn-Kn1Rn2OI/AAAAAAABB1w/MGhN6zMizV8tulLFyh7sq_Q0M94Q0ppjwCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/Hangouts-GetStarted.png" width="320" /></a></div>
</li>
<li>When the new window opens, enter the email address or names (from your address book) of the people you want to invite.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-K8o53u_GSY4/Xn-Kyc9vChI/AAAAAAABB10/L8hXPnTN2I4a6JPR-8AD0peYeoOZTp-uACNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Hangouts-invite.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="250" data-original-width="514" height="155" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-K8o53u_GSY4/Xn-Kyc9vChI/AAAAAAABB10/L8hXPnTN2I4a6JPR-8AD0peYeoOZTp-uACNcBGAsYHQ/s320/Hangouts-invite.png" width="320" /></a></div>
</li>
<li>
Once you've finished finding all the people, click the INVITE button.</li>
</ol>
<h4>
Pro Tip</h4>
<ul>
</ul>
You can schedule a Hangout on Google Calendar. You can even set the invite for reoccurring meetings, so you connect with family and friends at the same time every day, week, or month.<br />
<ul>
</ul>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Creating the invite</b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jHjmy3GSoC8/Xn-LtQz18uI/AAAAAAABB2I/kcfWLmJ87echJVomZNfQHOSw0ZK6liEwACNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Hangouts-withCalendar.png" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" data-original-height="426" data-original-width="944" height="288" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jHjmy3GSoC8/Xn-LtQz18uI/AAAAAAABB2I/kcfWLmJ87echJVomZNfQHOSw0ZK6liEwACNcBGAsYHQ/s640/Hangouts-withCalendar.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>An invite in your email</b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5PpAQH-bMJk/Xn-OK9Pg61I/AAAAAAABB2U/5Qgrb2f_t5ErIsQdZjcFQ3cCuV8K5DYCQCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Hangouts-inviteInGmail.png" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" data-original-height="295" data-original-width="485" height="242" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5PpAQH-bMJk/Xn-OK9Pg61I/AAAAAAABB2U/5Qgrb2f_t5ErIsQdZjcFQ3cCuV8K5DYCQCNcBGAsYHQ/s400/Hangouts-inviteInGmail.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<h3>
Troubleshooting</h3>
<h4>
Hangouts not working with your Chrome browser.</h4>
<ol>
<li>Go to <a href="https://hangouts.google.com/">https://hangouts.google.com/</a></li>
<li>Click the lock to display the drop-down menu</li>
<li>Make sure Flash is either Ask or Allow -- not "Block."<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HkWRweaOt2c/Xn-PSFzHStI/AAAAAAABB2c/y5jDwKPEN5AR1Fr-t1vFa94XB53B5iPTwCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Hangouts-ChromeLock.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="336" data-original-width="360" height="298" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HkWRweaOt2c/Xn-PSFzHStI/AAAAAAABB2c/y5jDwKPEN5AR1Fr-t1vFa94XB53B5iPTwCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/Hangouts-ChromeLock.png" width="320" /></a></div>
</li>
<li>If it still fails, click Site Settings (last option on "Connection is secure" image above)</li>
<li>Make sure your camera and mic are not Blocked. Below is my configuration.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bi28fprmu94/Xn-PqtJPkBI/AAAAAAABB2k/fqly9jJstzIn9xLgp2O3fKF868TVq0wFgCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Hangouts-ChromeSettings.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="388" data-original-width="660" height="188" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bi28fprmu94/Xn-PqtJPkBI/AAAAAAABB2k/fqly9jJstzIn9xLgp2O3fKF868TVq0wFgCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/Hangouts-ChromeSettings.png" width="320" /></a></div>
</li>
</ol>
<h4>
Hangouts not working with your Firefox browser.</h4>
<ol>
<li>Go to <a href="https://hangouts.google.com/">https://hangouts.google.com/</a></li>
<li>Click the lock to display the drop-down menu</li>
<li>Make sure your mic and camera are "Allowed"<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KfrA6CM1Fi8/Xn-IP91pwJI/AAAAAAABB1k/rpqgcz_QlU8DdMxnEbWxzfsPZcGIl2z7ACNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Hangouts-Firefox.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="255" data-original-width="469" height="173" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KfrA6CM1Fi8/Xn-IP91pwJI/AAAAAAABB1k/rpqgcz_QlU8DdMxnEbWxzfsPZcGIl2z7ACNcBGAsYHQ/s320/Hangouts-Firefox.png" width="320" /></a></div>
</li>
</ol>
<h3>
Free alternatives</h3>
<ul>
<li><b><a href="https://zoom.us/pricing" target="_blank">Zoom</a></b>. If you don't have a mic and/or speakers, Zoom has a free, unlimited number of meetings (max 40 minutes per meetings), including a phone number for an audio connection. Don't expect this call to be free, though.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.messenger.com/login/" target="_blank"><b>Facebook Messenger</b></a>. <span style="color: red;">Requires a Facebook account for all participants</span>. Available through a web browser and mobile apps.</li>
<li><b>Facetime</b>. <span style="color: red;">Requires all participants to have an Apple device</span>.</li>
</ul>
<br />Chris Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09035433827373014702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26496923.post-14168916318899023332019-10-01T14:49:00.001-07:002022-01-12T15:48:57.797-08:00Visio print to PDF wider than paper choicesI really struggled with this one. I had a Visio diagram (Microsoft Visio Pro 2019) that ran 50 inches by 11 inches, i.e. 3 tabloid pages strung together in landscape.<br />
<br />
The solution ended up being quite simple.<br />
I had a few things set that I don't think matter, but may be helpful to know.<br />
<ul>
<li>The Design was set to Auto Size. </li>
<li>In Page Setup (Design > Size > More Page Sizes), the Page Size was set to let Visio expand (add) pages as needed.</li>
</ul>
With the Page Breaks on (See the View ribbon), it's easy to see where each page begins and ends as you expand pages across and down.<br />
<br />
<br />
The actual steps are as follows:<br />
<ol>
<li>Make sure you can see your entire diagram on the screen. </li>
<li>Click <b>File</b> (upper-left).</li>
<li>Click <b>Save As</b> from the left navigation.</li>
<li>Click <b>Browse</b> from the list to the right of the navigation.<br />This will open a <b>Save As</b> dialog box.</li>
<li>Navigate to the place you want to save your file using typical Explore functions.</li>
<li>Click the dropdown on "<b>Save as type</b>."</li>
<li>Find and select "<b>PDF (*.pdf)</b>."</li>
<li>If you don't want to print your entire file, i.e. you only want to print certain tabs, select the <b>Options..</b>. button.</li>
<li>Under Page range, select the appropriate option such as "<b>Current view</b>."<br />Click <b>OK</b> to close the dialog box when completed.<br />This will return you to the Save As dialog box.</li>
<li>Click the <b>Save</b> button to create your PDF file.</li>
</ol>
That's it. You now have a single virtual paper in PDF format of your Visio diagram. Chris Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09035433827373014702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26496923.post-43753418287107109092019-08-13T10:32:00.000-07:002019-08-15T10:07:46.075-07:00Job Search Process Overview<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Slow and steady wins the race.</i><br />
<i>-Robert Lloyd<br /> </i></div>
<br />
It took me 5 months from the time I was let go from my former job to find another position that would leverage my skills and bring me both challenges and satisfaction in my work. I learned a lot during the 5 months and I also wrote an article abour hiring, “<a href="https://www.chrisdottodd.com/2019/03/finding-right-candidate-is-difficult-at.html" target="_blank">Finding the right candidate is difficult at best</a>,” in March 2019.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qJroILj7My4/XVL1lZQqaAI/AAAAAAABAak/9ni3Ra700OUJXXLek4OuSxPc01-Cdq0igCLcBGAs/s1600/manager-308474_960_720.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="541" data-original-width="960" height="180" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qJroILj7My4/XVL1lZQqaAI/AAAAAAABAak/9ni3Ra700OUJXXLek4OuSxPc01-Cdq0igCLcBGAs/s320/manager-308474_960_720.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
IMHO the hiring manager and team needs to do the bulk of the work to find <b>the candidate</b> who’s the best fit for the position. BUT, as a candidate, it’s up to you to be prepared so you have the best chance of landing the role.<br />
<br />
Below I’ve captured <strike>14</strike> 15 steps/categories that I used. If I had to choose one key takeaway, it would be that you need to have enough practice interviewing so you’re comfortable and able to tell your story and that your expertise, therefore, comes through.<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>Start <b>log files</b>.<ol type="a">
<li>Track all job-related activities by date in a Word or Google document file.<br /><i>These next ones can all be tabs in the same Excel or Google Sheets file.</i></li>
<li>Keep a separate list that is just jobs you applied for.<ol type="i">
<li>Job title</li>
<li>Company</li>
<li>Status (Submitted, Interviewing, Rejected, etc.)</li>
<li>Date you applied</li>
<li>Brief description of the role</li>
<li>Link to the posting</li>
<li>Additional notes</li>
</ol>
</li>
<li>Keep a list of your networking contacts. Both who’ve you contacted and who you should contact.<ol type="i">
<li>Name</li>
<li>Company</li>
<li>Title</li>
<li>Contact info</li>
<li>How you met them</li>
<li>Last contact date</li>
<li>Contact notes</li>
</ol>
</li>
<li>Keep a list of any classes that you have taken to improve or refresh skills.</li>
</ol>
</li>
<li>Update/create your <b>Resume</b>.<ol type="a">
<li>Must be <a href="https://www.topresume.com/career-advice/what-is-an-ats-resume" target="_blank">‘scannable’ by machine</a> and also by the reader.</li>
<li>Check for overall succinctness.</li>
<li>Some color is ok, but it must look good when viewed/printed black and white.</li>
<li>Accomplishments should begin with the results. For example.<ol type="i">
<li>"50% reduction in ______ through ______."</li>
<li>"35% revenue increase within 6 months by _______."</li>
</ol>
</li>
</ol>
</li>
<li><span style="color: red;">Apply to <b>2 jobs minimum every week</b>. Don’t wait for your resume to be perfect!</span></li>
<li>Update/create a <b>LinkedIn Profile</b> based on your resume.<ol type="a">
<li>Make sure you have a professional headshot photo.</li>
<li>Add a background image.</li>
<li>Update your setting so recruiters know you're looking.<br />(See Privacy > Job seeking preferences.)</li>
<li>If you're unemployed, add a new job, but insert the name of your city as the company and add your skills and capabilities as the job description. This can be the same info as the intro on your resume.</li>
<li>Make sure your core competancies are within your About section. This helps with SEO and can also be taken directly from your resume.</li>
<li>Build your connections -- ideally people from within your industry.</li>
<li>Grow your Recommendations.</li>
</ol>
</li>
<li>Order<b> business cards</b>.<br /><span id="goog_1497279143"></span><span id="goog_1497279144"></span><i><a href="https://www.vistaprint.com/lpt/businesscards-plas" target="_blank">Vista Print </a>often has sales as low as $10.</i><ol type="a">
<li>Add a headshot, so you're remembered.</li>
<li>Your title should be generic enough for reuse in multiple situations. </li>
<li>Include contact info and your LinkedIn URL.</li>
<li>The back should be blank, so you can write notes.</li>
</ol>
</li>
<li>Contact <b>Recruiters</b>.<ol type="a">
<li>Contact all Recruiters in your Linkedin Connections Network, letting them know you’re looking for work. Be specific with title(s) and/or brief job description.</li>
<li>Contact all Recruiters who are 2nd in your Linkedin Connections Network, introduce yourself, let them know how you found them, and let them know you’re looking for work. Be specific with title(s) and/or brief job description.</li>
</ol>
</li>
<li><b><a href="https://www.business2community.com/strategy/10-tips-for-effective-networking-02105940" target="_blank">Network</a> <span style="color: red;">every week</span></b>.<ol type="a">
<li>Former co-workers.</li>
<li>Friends.</li>
<li>People from any groups you belong to. For example church and softball team.</li>
<li>Attend conferences and Meetups. Be sure to talk to people.</li>
<li>Job seekers network groups.</li>
<li>Strike up a conversation at a coffee shop and/or bar.</li>
<li>Volunteer at non-profits and events.</li>
</ol>
</li>
<li>Create and start using a <b>Cover Letter</b> on jobs you apply for. Use as a template and modify as needed for subsequent applications.<ol type="a">
<li>I don’t think it’s as important as it once was.</li>
<li>Must have specific examples different than the summary bullets on your resume.</li>
</ol>
</li>
<li>Create <b>5 - 10 <a href="https://www.nl.edu/media/nlu/downloadable/careerservices/how%20to%20soar%20in%20the%20job%20search_2014-15.compressed.pdf" target="_blank">SOAR</a></b><a href="https://www.nl.edu/media/nlu/downloadable/careerservices/how%20to%20soar%20in%20the%20job%20search_2014-15.compressed.pdf" target="_blank"> (situation, obstacles, actions, results) stories</a>.<ol type="a">
<li>Illustrates a strength.</li>
<li>Illustrates overcoming a weakness.</li>
<li>You’re a team player.</li>
<li>Working with a difficult team member.</li>
<li>Working with a difficult boss or senior person to you.</li>
<li>Big achievement/success.</li>
<li>Failure with lessoned learned. *BETTER: how you then applied the lesson.</li>
</ol>
</li>
<li><b>Deep-dive into your job searching</b> keywords and criteria and look for additional postings based on your skills and experience that you’ve uncovered through SOAR stories and searches to-date. <b>The goal</b> is to improve your searches by finding additional or different keywords and job titles to use in your job search.<ol type="a">
<li>Highly <a href="https://www.chrisdottodd.com/2019/06/job-searching-with-google.html" target="_blank">recommend using Google</a> to search across all job sites.</li>
</ol>
</li>
<li><b>Update</b> your Resume, LinkedIn profile, and Cover Letter based on SOAR stories and search deep-dive. Likely you will find yourself updating these items several times throughout your job search process.</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dFp3eSHaDgk/XVL0fYspPrI/AAAAAAABAac/kPmT1MjB0DcAOacOFoHro-ms1imKQCLoACLcBGAs/s1600/avatar-2155431_960_720.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="960" height="180" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dFp3eSHaDgk/XVL0fYspPrI/AAAAAAABAac/kPmT1MjB0DcAOacOFoHro-ms1imKQCLoACLcBGAs/s320/avatar-2155431_960_720.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<li><a href="https://www.thebalancecareers.com/practice-interview-tips-and-techniques-2062805" target="_blank"><b>Practice interviewing</b></a>.<ol type="a">
<li>Use SOAR stories.</li>
<li>Review and make sure you have answers for the top 10 questions from "<a href="https://soulsearch.files.wordpress.com/2007/05/64interviewquestions1.pdf" target="_blank">How to Answer The 64 Toughest Interview Questions</a>" (pdf). </li>
<li>Develop questions. Some will be generic while others may come from specific research of the company you’re interviewing with.</li>
<li>Be succinct and don’t talk too much. Allow the interviewer to ask for more info as needed. The trick is to get to the point of being more conversational with the interviewer. Note that you may be the one setting them at ease.</li>
</ol>
</li>
<li>Create a <b>References</b> document.<ol type="a">
<li>Validate with References that you’re using their name, email, and phone.</li>
<li>Notify the References every time you’ve shared their contact info. Provide them with the company and the role with a brief description.</li>
</ol>
</li>
<li><b>Interviewing</b>.<ol type="a">
<li>Be early.</li>
<li>Ask the HR Recruiter appropriate dress code for onsite and video interviews.</li>
<li>Research the company. Add to potential questions you will ask.</li>
<li>Send ‘Thank You’ cards after interviews. If handwriting is a concern, type, print, and insert into a card.</li>
</ol>
</li>
<li>When you get your new job, <b>notify and thank</b> all contacts you worked with.</li>
</ol>
Let me conclude by stressing that this is a marathon and not a sprint. Continue to work on your job hunting every day, but don't allow it to all consume you. Use this time away from the work grind and do a few things for yourself such as visiting family and friends and/or taking a (low budget) vacation.<br />
<ol>
</ol>
Chris Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09035433827373014702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26496923.post-25414352696026191172019-06-05T16:34:00.000-07:002019-06-07T09:48:59.010-07:00Search a single website with GoogleOccasionally we have the need to search just a single website, yet the site search engine doesn’t seem to be up to the task. Google has a great feature that many don’t know about that lets you search a website using Google. The steps are quite easy to follow.<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>Go to <a href="https://www.google.com/" target="_blank">www.google.com</a></li>
<li>In the search box enter the following: <b>site:domain search term(s)</b>. For example <b><a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Anba.com+damian+lillard" target="_blank">site:nba.com damian lillard</a></b>.</li>
<ol type="A">
<li><b>Site:</b> (including the colon) is the Google keyword telling it to restrict its search to the domain you will name next.</li>
<li>The <b>domain</b> must come immediately <span style="color: red;">after the colon -- no spaces</span>. You don’t need to include “www.” or other sub-domains unless you’re certain you want to restrict the results. Here are some examples:</li>
<ol type="a">
<li><b>nba.com</b> for the NBA website (<a href="https://www.nba.com/" target="_blank">https://www.nba.com</a>)</li>
<li><b>nhl.com</b> for the NHL website (<a href="https://www.nhl.com/" target="_blank">https://www.nhl.com</a>)</li>
<li><b>adobe.com</b> for Adobe’s website (<a href="https://www.adobe.com/" target="_blank">https://www.adobe.com</a>)</li>
</ol>
<li>Treat the <b>search term(s)</b> like any other Google search</li>
</ol>
<li>Check out the results.</li>
</ol>
<br />
There are a few tricks that you can add to make this feature even more helpful.<br />
<br />
Some websites have a clear organizational scheme based on the URL path. Here are 2 examples.<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>The NBA website has a path for each NBA team.<a href="https://www.nba.com/blazers/" target="_blank">https://www.nba.com/<b>blazers</b>/</a> contains all of their content for the Portland Trail Blazers.</li>
<li>The Business Journal website has a different path for each city. <a href="https://www.bizjournals.com/portland/" target="_blank">https://www.bizjournals.com/<b>portland</b>/</a> contains all of their content specific to the Portland Business Journal.</li>
</ol>
<br />
With this new information, I can change the domain value to be more specific to limit the search within a website. <b><a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Anba.com%2Fblazers+damian+lillard" target="_blank">site:nba.com/blazers damian lillard</a></b> will only return the result for Damian Lillard that are posted on the Blazer portion of the NBA website.<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span id="docs-internal-guid-0fd4ecba-7fff-e02e-4846-e1b4896ffe78"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img height="288" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/d5p-m_OQxga2BSwiOk0bJstpz8ieJeD4ywWkbCSdGtVwaxcHyd1wHLkkMJXZYhI-CBZuq451Vj861fiwJyW6GINZKcs-NcqnsuXQv3bJVEnE-RhR24xDBt1JaOluOPJ5i9PSpbr7" style="border: none;" width="624" /></span></span></div>
Notice that 2 of the first 3 articles must not be posted on the Blazer specific portion of the NBA site due to them not being returned in the more restricted search on the right.<br />
<br />
The other search trick you might want to include is the boolean operators. Perhaps you want to find all the articles posted on NBA.com related to Larry Bird AND Magic Johnson. Simply write your search using the string I included above, <b><a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Anba.com+Larry+Bird+AND+Magic+Johnson" target="_blank">site:nba.com Larry Bird AND Magic Johnson</a></b>.<br />
<br />
Google has many more tricks that can help you find exactly what you’re looking for. Check out Joseph Hindy’s article, <b><a href="https://www.lifehack.org/articles/technology/20-tips-use-google-search-efficiently.html" target="_blank">20 Google Search Tips to Use Google More Efficiently</a></b>, on LifeHack to learn more.<br />
<div>
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Chris Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09035433827373014702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26496923.post-62075489836849937822019-06-05T15:36:00.001-07:002019-06-05T15:36:33.006-07:00Job searching with GoogleThere are many job search apps and websites including <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/" target="_blank">LinkedIn</a>, <a href="https://www.monster.com/" target="_blank">Monster</a>, and <a href="https://www.indeed.com/" target="_blank">Indeed</a>. It seems with all the various search apps and sites, it’s difficult to find a good match for the job titles I’ve been seeking. After many frustrating attempts to use the advanced search features on these sites, I discovered that good old reliable <a href="https://www.google.com/" target="_blank">Google</a> has a better solution.<br />
<br />
To use Google to find your next job, search Google by following this simple pattern: <b><i>job level</i></b> (optional) of <b><i>job title</i></b> followed by <b>jobs</b>. For example, “manager of social support jobs.” If you want to search in another city or if you’ve blocked your location, just modify your search to include the city, “manager of social support jobs in Seattle.”<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span id="docs-internal-guid-3c04c8e4-7fff-2758-4a38-62f7d88d0cb3"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img height="575" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/NhzA7LGTMzTMctMIDYmW4sXIKY3dYdhZV7L2CjKXI2M901E9KzXWRxu9fIoQNPPik9KmAGZTFb8NERCkQoIGien3jsq2NovnnWPzpKzZh_o4S5ASjDnGPtLOoJJCggXPil8XtWx_" style="border: none;" width="624" /></span></span></div>
When you get the initial results, either select the heading or one of the many filter options, e.g. “Full-time,” and you will be directed to a page specific to job postings matching your search criteria.<br />
<br />
From the job postings page, you can very easily further refine the results simply by selecting predefined filters. The filters include:<br />
<ul>
<li><b>Date posted </b>(All, Past day, Past 3 days, Past week, or Past month).</li>
<li><b>Location</b> (2 mi, 5 mi, 15 mi, 30 mi, 60 mi, 200 mi, or Anywhere).<br /><i><span style="color: red;">You must include a city as part of your search string to reference a specific location that is different from your browser location.</span></i></li>
<li><b>Type</b> (full-time, part-time, contractor, or internship).</li>
<li><b>Title</b>. The list is dynamic based on the results that were returned.</li>
<li><b>Category</b>. (e.g. Manager, Director, Analyst).The list is dynamic based on the results that were returned.</li>
<li><b>Company type</b> (e.g. Health Care, Retail, and Consulting). The list is dynamic based on the results that were returned.</li>
<li><b>Employer</b>. The list is dynamic based on the results that were returned.</li>
</ul>
Every time you add, remove, or change a filter, the results quickly update.<br />
<br />
If you’re searching using a desktop or laptop computer, simply clicking on a job posting from the list will display the job details in a large window on the right, otherwise, a new page is loaded. Directly above the listing is 1 or more buttons linking to sites to apply.<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span id="docs-internal-guid-ced572de-7fff-61c5-1e24-862ef3b53b24"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img height="59" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/bh5GRd_-Bryegh9f1QxCLeFTPUvBDjpr4L9jsfllBi0hpuxS3g6rdzRYhU6Ife7S8zDsofvLLbvqBFITcO5Ic9NBjF1ntNuGw9wLEh-vtQFNMWOsElQK6qNzNRT13eUffaYbcnVr" style="border: none;" width="504" /></span></span></div>
There are additional features if you’re logged into your Google account. You are able to bookmark specific job posts and have Google email you weekly new results based on your current search string and filter criteria.<br />
<br />
The options don’t end here, though. Scroll below the listing and a snapshot of the typical salary range (when available) for the role followed by company ratings from multiple sites such as GlassDoor and ZipRecruiter. Finally below the salary range listing is the company rating from popular sites -- it’s very similar to what you would find on a product review on Amazon.<br />
<br />
It isn’t perfect. Due to multiple listings of the same job, you may see the same job listed more than once -- Google doesn’t always recognize that it has a duplicate posting in its list of results.<br />
<br />
That’s it! I simple, powerful way to search for jobs. No more missing jobs due to limited posting or difficult to use job site search engines.<br />
<br />
<br />Chris Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09035433827373014702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26496923.post-29935318477534464432019-04-16T10:16:00.001-07:002019-04-16T14:21:31.916-07:00Knowledge Base Content MaintenanceYou’ve invested in a knowledge management program, maybe Knowledge Centered Support (KCS), to improve the availability of self-support content for your customers. It’s going reasonably well, but one day you realize that the amount of written content has begun to pile up. Before you reach this point, I highly encourage you to start a content maintenance program as part of your overall content governance. If you're past this point, well, better late than never.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tRgmJ44ILBk/XLYN6apAshI/AAAAAAAA_yI/YfhKktn_Kt40nh159xAyz80_CtR-piMWwCLcBGAs/s1600/files-1614223_960_720.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="721" data-original-width="921" height="250" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tRgmJ44ILBk/XLYN6apAshI/AAAAAAAA_yI/YfhKktn_Kt40nh159xAyz80_CtR-piMWwCLcBGAs/s320/files-1614223_960_720.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<h2>
Why do you need a maintenance program?</h2>
You may think of content governance as defining roles and ownership for creating content with appropriate processes and editorial guidelines, which it is, but you need to include ongoing maintenance, too. Without a maintenance program, you likely have one or more of these issues going on.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Your support agents and customers are running into <b>irrelevant articles</b>, having to skip listings in search results and/or even clicking and reading those articles that are no longer relevant. Worse, if they don’t realize the article is out-of-date, they might be trying to perform steps or taking action based on inaccurate information. </li>
<li>You are <b>backing up content</b> that you don’t need to.</li>
<li>Your search engine is <b>indexing content that is no longer relevant</b>. If you have enough outdated content it may even be slowing down the indexing process.</li>
</ul>
<br />
Think of content maintenance like maintenance for your car. Without appropriate maintenance, you'll start to incur some hidden costs like a decrease in gas mileage. Without a maintenance program, you get less mileage from your help content. If you ignore your car maintenance long enough, your costs can skyrocket from major repairs to a shortened life.<br />
<h2>
Maintenance Program</h2>
I’ve heard of companies auditing all of their content, and that’s entirely possible, but it seems like a very daunting task. (Unless you have a small repository and enough resources, a full audit may never be achievable.) Your content maintenance program should be a part of your content business and never a case of competing for priority. I prefer having some specific triggers that make up my maintenance program and the program being just another part of my knowledge management operation.<br />
<br />
<b>Your maintenance program should be ongoing</b> and again, just another part of my knowledge management operation. Don’t let it pile up because something else is more important. If you’re using Scrum methodology, you can easily add new stories whenever there’s a maintenance trigger event. If you’re not using Scrum, you need to make sure the maintenance work still gets <b>prioritized with your other content work</b>.<br />
<br />
I’ve made a few assumptions about your knowledge management program. Keep in mind you may need to make some accommodations if these are not safe assumptions for your environment.<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>Your help content is <b>NOT being used for source-of-truth for product prices, event dates, etc.</b> If you’re doing this, you will always need to manage against a list of articles that require special handling, even if those articles are rarely or never viewed (though you may still want to include them on a review cycle for relevancy). That being said, I highly encourage you to NOT include this type of information in your help content and come up with a more appropriate solution. For example, if you want to promote an event on the help site, use an ad module that is configured to display upcoming events.</li>
<li>Your knowledge base <b>does NOT contain legal and privacy documents</b>. If it does, it likely should be locked down tight with a strict change control methodology. (Occasionally you may need to reference something legal in nature in your help knowledge base. That’s fine, don’t repeat any of it, just link to those documents when necessary.)</li>
<li><b>You DO have an existing content governance program and a content QA program</b>. Each of these is important for a maintenance program, and I would recommend getting them on track before starting your maintenance program. The governance will help with article consistency, so you don’t have a lot of maintenance due to a difference of opinion from the originally authored content and what is being reviewed for maintenance. The QA program will also help with the consistency between writers as well as it will reduce the maintenance load because you will have less ‘broken’ content to fix.</li>
</ol>
<br />
<h3>
Maintenance Program Triggers</h3>
As previously mentioned, a content maintenance program isn’t just one thing, but rather a series of events and triggers that cause a maintenance review for the content that fits within the trigger criteria.<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li><b>Update to an existing product or service</b>. Whenever you have an update where the features, functions, or operations are impacted, at least a subset of your content for that product or service will require review for accuracy and relevancy based on the changes -- this is a trigger for review. This review should use the same critical eye as any maintenance review. Whether updates are made or not, the article record should be updated to indicate that a maintenance review was performed.</li>
<li><b>When a support agent or customer notifies you of an issue</b>. You should have a process defined for agents to report issues that are technical in nature, misspellings, broken links, and missing information. You should do more than just fix the noted error -- use this trigger to perform a maintenance review. If you didn’t recognize it, this is the “Improve Knowledge” step of the Solve Loop in the KCS methodology.</li>
<li><b>Review based on the lack of article views, over the last 3 (or 4) months</b>. This is just a simple report that you should look at monthly, evaluating page views for all of your content in the last 3 (or 4) months. Based on normal view behavior, your threshold will vary, but low to no views should trigger a maintenance review for those articles. Your first step with these articles is to determine why they're no longer being view (or perhaps they never have been viewed). Either you’re going to try and make changes (title and SEO improvements) so they are viewed, merge them into other articles, or remove them altogether.</li>
<li><b>Review based on a high number of views, over the last 3 (or 4) months</b>. Be sure to also look at this monthly. The most obvious action is to make sure your most visited articles are accurate and up-to-date. Because of the high view rate, these topics are important to your customers. Start with verifying the content matches the title. The article I wrote on “<a href="https://www.chrisdottodd.com/2019/03/measure-success-of-your-help-knowledge.html" target="_blank">Measure the success of your help knowledge base content</a>” (also <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/measure-success-your-help-knowledge-base-content-chris-todd/" target="_blank">posted on LinkedIn</a>) can help you figure out whether your articles are effective -- remember, a high view rate doesn’t mean the content is effective.</li>
<li><b>Updates from 3rd parties such as an OS or web browser</b>. If you’re not paying attention, out-of-date content due to changes from 3rd parties can be a real headache. Nothing is worse than a scramble to fix a bunch of articles because you hadn’t planned for the impact from an OS or browser update. Hopefully, you have the appropriate metadata on your content, so it’s easy to identify those articles that may be impacted by a change to an OS or web browser.</li>
<li><b>AFTER new content was released (based on a new or updated product or service.)</b> The time can vary from within a few days to 30 days. This is the ONLY time I wouldn’t treat this as a full maintenance review, but look at these 3 specific things:</li>
<ul>
<li>Any early indications from the support organization that suggests there are <b>gaps in the content?</b> Look at support call drivers, talk to agents, and look at search records for any indication of gaps.</li>
<li>Were there any <b>last minute changes</b> that didn’t make it into your content? This could be as simple as last minute changes to labels on an app or on a website. Check in with the product team and make sure nothing has slipped through without your knowledge.</li>
<li><b>Are there any articles that aren’t getting viewed?</b> If so, do you have a title issue or was there a feature that was pulled at the last minute? If certain topics just aren’t getting viewed, perhaps on future releases you don’t write about the subject.</li>
</ul>
<li><b>Everything else that hasn’t been reviewed</b>. Again every month run a report, but this time look for articles that haven’t been reviewed for the last year.</li>
</ol>
<br />
To recap, you have triggers based on…<br />
<ul>
<li>Time</li>
<li>Agent reports</li>
<li>New launches of your products and services and from 3rd party updates</li>
<li>Post launch of your products and services</li>
</ul>
<br />
In summary of the process, anytime an article needs an update or review for a potential update, it should follow the critical eye used in every maintenance review. No shortcuts. No saving for later -- later will never happen. Use the triggers I described, so your help knowledge base content is relevant and up-to-date.<br />
<h3>
What to include in the maintenance review</h3>
Now that you have an understanding of the process, this is my recommendation on what to include in your maintenance review. It may seem a bit long, but you are likely already following these practices when you create your content and therefore you’re not doing anything new. There may be a few special cases that I didn't cover that you will need to build into your program, but this should be reasonably complete.<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li><b>Is the content still required or should it be combined with another article/topic?</b> This is the most important question if the article is getting very few or no page views.</li>
<li><b>Does the content deliver what the title and metadata description promise?</b> I put this 2nd for a reason. If the content doesn’t match the title, you will need to make a decision on what you will change prior to anything else. It’s wonderful when your articles get page views, but if it doesn’t add value, then what’s the purpose?</li>
<li><b>Technical accuracy and completeness</b>. Validate the steps -- no shortcuts! This is a culprit for articles that get poor ratings -- something is missing in the steps that the author assumed when they created it. Unfortunately, I find this too often from product experts who are part-time writers.</li>
<li><b>Grammar and spelling</b>. Forget about how misspellings or poor grammar may make you appear less professional, consider your audience. If you’re a native reader (speaker), you can often overcome grammar and spelling issues, but what if the reader isn’t a native speaker? Don’t make the solution any more difficult than it has to be. If you have a good translation team, fortunately, or unfortunately, they will capture much of this for you but it will come at a <b>cost of time</b>. When it doesn't get caught, then you also get to <b>pay for another translation</b> when it’s finally fixed.</li>
<li><b>The content is following the latest brand style guide</b>. Work with your marketing or brand team to develop a specific brand style guide for your support website, including your content. While there may be some differences between marketing and support content, e.g. support content is rarely fun, your brand voice should be consistent.</li>
<li><b>Short, succinct and to the point</b>. Whether your corporate branding guidelines call for short and succinct or not, you want that in your knowledge base articles. Don’t make me read any more than I have to, please! This will also help the non-native-language readers and save you significant money on translations.</li>
<li><b>Too complex or too simple</b>. A close cousin to short and succinct. If articles are too simple, does it make more sense to include the topic with another article? Don’t make me click more than necessary, but I would trade that over complexity. Remember, if the article is too complex, your customers are going to give up. (If your products are naturally complex, you might try including a label for easy, medium, or hard or an estimated time to read.)</li>
<li><b>Duplication</b>. This one drives me crazy. What’s worse than duplicate content? Duplicate content that differs based on which article you read. How does your customer know which article is correct? How does Google know which article to list in its search results? In nearly all cases, no matter what the task is, don’t repeat that process in every article, instead, point to a single article that has all the steps. When something changes, it’s much easier to update, too.</li>
<li><b>URLs, addresses, and phone numbers are still valid</b>. I’m surprised at the number of broken links I find in content because the author was sloppy. A savvy customer might figure it out, but even for them you’ve made it more difficult than it needs to be. For other customers, you might have missed a self-resolve opportunity.</li>
<li><b>Brand names and product versions are still correct</b>. This gets missed most frequently when it comes to 3rd party software and services.</li>
<li><b>Any images or videos used are still accurate and helpful</b>. Also, check these against your standards. While bandwidth in many places is getting faster and faster, remember you may have customers in rural or underdeveloped areas where fast throughput is still elusive.</li>
<li><b>Metadata</b>. Is your content tagged appropriately for searching, sorting, filtering, and reporting? You should have already looked at the metadata description in the context of it matching the content, but it should also be checked for SEO benefit and confirming it has a call to action.</li>
<li><b>Translated versions are current with the latest version of your master version</b>. Why go through all the effort of having a site in other languages if the content isn’t up-to-date? Some companies will complain that they can’t afford to translate after each update. Can you afford to take more support calls? Remember I assumed you had content governance and QA programs? Each of those (along with short, succinct content) will help reduce your translation costs because you will have fewer updates (which require another translation).</li>
<li><b>The content was written independently of the display platform</b>. Your content should display appropriately whether in the agent UI, on a customer’s computer, or on a customer's mobile device. You might also be using it in other contexts too, such as in-product help or in a chatbot. Never allow the content display to be fine-tuned by adding custom HTML and/or CSS. If it crept into the article you’re reviewing, it’s time to remove it.</li>
<li><b>SEO friendly</b>. The most obvious things to check include:</li>
<ul>
<li>Does it make use of headings, subheadings, and bullets?</li>
<li>Is it a duplicate of an article that has a better title?</li>
<li>Does it have a unique metadata description?</li>
</ul>
<li><b>Date, who performed the maintenance review and what updates were made</b>. History is important in case any follow up is required.</li>
</ol>
<br />
<br />
While you may not come up with additional triggers or review categories, you should come away knowing that <b>a maintenance program is required</b>. Due to the potential effort required for a maintenance program, having governance and QA programs can help reduce the work immensely, i.e. doing it right the first time will reduce rework later.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
Chris Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09035433827373014702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26496923.post-61210754148775982742019-04-08T18:00:00.002-07:002019-04-08T18:17:42.946-07:00Add a watermark to Office files, Word, Excel, and PowerPointOnly Microsoft Word has a built-in watermark feature, but Excel and PowerPoint have a reasonable workaround to adding watermarks on those files, as well.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
For each of the instructions, I'm using Office 2016 for Windows.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<h2>
Word</h2>
<div>
Word is very easy -- just 3 quick steps.</div>
<div>
<ol>
<li>Go to the <b>Design ribbon</b> in your Word document.</li>
<li>Click on the <b>Watermark icon</b> of text found near the right end of the ribbon in the Page Background section.</li>
<ul>
</ul>
<li><b>Select a watermark</b> you prefer or Custom Watermark... from the menu.<br />If you select the custom option, you have multiple options beyond just custom text.</li>
<ul>
<li>Enter watermark text (or alternatively a picture).</li>
<li>Change the font used.</li>
<li>Change the font size or use auto for auto-scaling.</li>
<li>Text color.</li>
<li>A layout of diagonal or horizontal.</li>
</ul>
</ol>
<div>
When you need to remove the watermark, repeat steps 1 and 2, and then select <b>Remove Watermark </b>found at the bottom of the menu.</div>
</div>
<h2>
Excel</h2>
<div>
The workaround for a watermark in Excel is done by using an image file. </div>
<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<ol>
<li><b>Find or create an image</b> with the watermark of your choosing. Capturing a watermark from a blank Word doc is an easy solution to this.</li>
<li>Go to the <b>Insert ribbon</b> in your open Excel spreadsheet.</li>
<li>Click on the <b>Header & Footer icon</b> found near the right end of the ribbon in the Text section of the ribbon.</li>
<ul>
<li>If the Excel window isn't wide enough, the Header & Footer icon may be dropped from the ribbon due to space constraints. If this is the case, click on the Text icon to see all the text options including Header & Footer.</li>
</ul>
<li>You should now see your cursor flashing in the Header section of your Excel file. The ribbon should have changed to Header & Footer Tools | Design.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AHXbgZMb3xk/XKvj6VJZ_UI/AAAAAAAA_vw/SNuSw2TpZM02OcFSF7_ZfN1VlKNAg5UsQCEwYBhgL/s1600/ExcelHeaderAndFooterTools.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="370" data-original-width="560" height="211" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AHXbgZMb3xk/XKvj6VJZ_UI/AAAAAAAA_vw/SNuSw2TpZM02OcFSF7_ZfN1VlKNAg5UsQCEwYBhgL/s320/ExcelHeaderAndFooterTools.png" width="320" /></a></div>
</li>
<li>Click the <b>Picture icon</b> found in the ribbon.</li>
<li><b>Find the image file</b> you created in step 1, and complete the insert file dialog.</li>
<li><b>Click anywhere</b> below the header to finish the process.</li>
</ol>
<div>
If you want to change the format of the picture, begin by repeating steps 2 and 3. Then click the <b>Format Picture icon</b> for options including Color, Brightness, and Contrast options, which are available on the Picture tab.<br />
<br />
To remove the watermark picture file, follow these steps.<br />
<ol>
<li><b>Repeat steps 2 and 3</b> above to open the Header section of the spreadsheet.</li>
<li><b>Delete the text</b> "&[Picture]"</li>
<li><b>Click anywhere</b> below the header</li>
</ol>
</div>
</div>
<h2>
PowerPoint</h2>
<div>
The workaround for a watermark in PowerPoint can be done with an image (preferably transparent) or with text. The steps below will describe how to use text for a watermark, but the steps are very similar when using an image for a watermark.
<br />
<ol>
<li>Go to the <b>View ribbon</b> in your open PowerPoint presentation.</li>
<li>Click on the <b>Slide Master icon</b> found in the Master Views section of the ribbon. Note that you're now on a new ribbon, Slide Master, which was inserted between File and Home.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OU3cQBB7uR4/XKvx22pvPJI/AAAAAAAA_v8/QCivIbmdkzw9wrK73EpXfQcG0xlqNSRxACLcBGAs/s1600/PowerPointSlideMaster.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="338" data-original-width="795" height="136" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OU3cQBB7uR4/XKvx22pvPJI/AAAAAAAA_v8/QCivIbmdkzw9wrK73EpXfQcG0xlqNSRxACLcBGAs/s320/PowerPointSlideMaster.png" width="320" /></a></div>
</li>
<li>Follow these steps to add a watermark to all the slides of your presentation <b>EXCEPT</b> the Title slide.</li>
<ol>
<li>Go to the <b>Insert ribbon</b>.</li>
<li>Select the <b>WordArt icon</b> found in the Text section of the ribbon.</li>
<li>Select the <b>font decoration of your choice</b> from the dropdown menu.<br />This will insert a text box in the middle of your slide with the text "Your text here" using the font decoration you chose. Note you're now in a new ribbon, Drawing Tools | Format.</li>
<li><b>Replace </b>"Your text here" with your watermark text, e.g. "DRAFT."</li>
<li>You have many options to <b>customize your watermark</b>.</li>
<ul>
<li>Use the rotate handle to change the text rotation, e.g. diagonal.</li>
<li>Move the text box to anywhere on the screen.</li>
<li>Choose a different WordArt Style.</li>
<li>Return to the Home Ribbon and change the font type and/or font size.</li>
</ul>
<li>When you're satisfied with your watermark, return to the <b>Slide Master ribbon</b>.</li>
<li>Click the<b> Close Master View icon </b>found at the end of the ribbon. Your watermark will now be ONLY displayed when you use the Title slide in your presentation.</li>
</ol>
<li>If you <b>ALSO want the watermark on your Title slide</b>, complete these additional steps.</li>
<ol>
<li>Return the <b>Slide Master</b> by repeating steps 1 and 2 from above.</li>
<li><b>Select and copy</b> (CTRL-c) the watermark you previously created.</li>
<li>In the slide navigator found to the left, click to the <b>next slide</b>, which should be your Title slide master.</li>
<li>Type <b>CTRL-p</b> (paste) so the watermark lands in the exact spot it is on all other slides. (Of course, you can move the watermark text to anywhere on the screen if you wish.)</li>
<li>Go to the <b>Drawing Tools | Format</b> <b>ribbon</b> if you wish to customize the watermark for just the Title slide.</li>
<li>Return to the <b>Slide Master ribbon</b> and click the<b> Close Master View icon</b> once you've completed any customization.</li>
</ol>
<li>If you want the watermark <b>ONLY on the title slide</b>, follow the original steps 1, 2, and 3, but before step 3.1, in the slide navigator found to the left, click to the <b>next slide</b>, which should be your Title slide master.</li>
</ol>
To remove the watermark, repeat the steps to open the slide master (steps 1 and 2) and remove the inserted (watermark) text box from the primary Slide Master and/or Title slide master slide(s).
</div>
<div>
Admittedly if you're not familiar with the Slide Master in PowerPoint, it can feel a bit stressful, but once you've done this, you realize you have opened up a lot more options for creating custom PowerPoint presentations.</div>
<div>
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<div>
Your watermark will stay with your PowerPoint if you change the presentation theme though PowerPoint will update the style to try and match the new theme. You likely will have to return to the Slide Master and modify the watermark, again.<br />
<br />
<br />
Now you're an expert at watermarks in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.</div>
<div>
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</div>
Chris Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09035433827373014702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26496923.post-25791466028884296922019-04-08T12:15:00.001-07:002019-04-24T11:04:12.829-07:00Flush left and right on the same line of a Word document<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-T4X3KojZcRM/XKu6k2EdESI/AAAAAAAA_uQ/d9UH01QEPTsWq-4WD0GCIwl55rmjQeuGwCLcBGAs/s1600/text-editor-1794110_960_720.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="925" height="249" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-T4X3KojZcRM/XKu6k2EdESI/AAAAAAAA_uQ/d9UH01QEPTsWq-4WD0GCIwl55rmjQeuGwCLcBGAs/s320/text-editor-1794110_960_720.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
If you've ever used a Microsoft Word template, you often find the same line that has both left flush and right flush text. I had a recent need to do this and set out to figure out how to accomplish this trick.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mxSdIRHkZVc/XKumL2to4OI/AAAAAAAA_uE/ecQTmF7zSzU7sJQmD3xjg-0rnccUsHMpACLcBGAs/s1600/LeftAndRightText.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="185" data-original-width="824" height="89" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mxSdIRHkZVc/XKumL2to4OI/AAAAAAAA_uE/ecQTmF7zSzU7sJQmD3xjg-0rnccUsHMpACLcBGAs/s400/LeftAndRightText.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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It ended up not being so difficult - it can be done with Tabs.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<ol>
<li>Have the line you're working on set to <b>left flush.</b></li>
<li><b>Enter the text</b> that you want to be left-flush. (Leave the cursor at the end of the text.)</li>
<li>Select the <b>Home Ribbon</b> (Home tab).</li>
<li>In the <b>Paragraph section of the Home Ribbon</b>, <b>click the lower-right corner</b> where you see the half-square and arrow.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-E0HRN7rM6o8/XKuhqCuxrlI/AAAAAAAA_t4/5viTM42qRY41O6akwzptydNAXn5TRHNbgCEwYBhgL/s1600/WordParagraphTabSettings.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="90" data-original-width="232" height="77" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-E0HRN7rM6o8/XKuhqCuxrlI/AAAAAAAA_t4/5viTM42qRY41O6akwzptydNAXn5TRHNbgCEwYBhgL/s200/WordParagraphTabSettings.png" width="200" /></a></div>
This will open the Paragraph properties dialog box.</li>
<li>Click the <b>Tabs... </b>button located in the lower-left of the dialog box.<br />This will open the Tabs properties dialog box.</li>
<li>There are 2 settings to make in this dialog box.</li>
<ol>
<li><b>Enter 6.5" for the Tab stop position</b>. This assumes you're using 8.5" width paper and have 1" borders on the left and right sides. 6.5" was determined by this simple formula:<br />Paper width - left border - right border = Tab stop position</li>
<li>Set the <b>Alignment to Right</b>.</li>
<li>Click <b>Set</b>. (To change, highlight the entry and click Clear.)</li>
</ol>
<li>Click <b>OK</b> to close the dialog box</li>
<li>Hit the <b>tab key</b> on your keyboard</li>
<li>Type in your desired right-aligned text.</li>
</ol>
<div>
This was done with Microsoft Work 2016 for Windows.<br />
<h3>
<b>Pro Tip</b></h3>
You can do the same thing to have multiple columns without using tables. For each line, set multiple Tabs with each being Left-aligned (or right- or center-aligned). If you want each item to have a bullet, insert the bullet symbol.<br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ItghmxH443g/XMCk-C8KC0I/AAAAAAABABw/q359w5q-4iEiahteIzXayC6qP3CmJcRfQCLcBGAs/s1600/WordColumnsWithTabs.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="163" data-original-width="821" height="78" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ItghmxH443g/XMCk-C8KC0I/AAAAAAABABw/q359w5q-4iEiahteIzXayC6qP3CmJcRfQCLcBGAs/s400/WordColumnsWithTabs.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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Chris Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09035433827373014702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26496923.post-61272007567648868552019-04-04T09:34:00.000-07:002019-04-04T10:16:21.089-07:00Your site search isn't as important as you think<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KGbK27HW1LE/XKYx3m_EAQI/AAAAAAAA_ow/YtdpHkE7XPIUuO4dNnm0NSYUiSW8YqumgCLcBGAs/s1600/78496c97783c29b4c04abe2467d7-1437755.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="911" data-original-width="1200" height="302" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KGbK27HW1LE/XKYx3m_EAQI/AAAAAAAA_ow/YtdpHkE7XPIUuO4dNnm0NSYUiSW8YqumgCLcBGAs/s400/78496c97783c29b4c04abe2467d7-1437755.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Many times I've heard from colleagues who want to make our help website search the top priority and <b>I think they’re really missing more important priorities</b> that are much more effective in assisting customers in finding relevant content (and site features/functions).<br />
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Step back for a moment and consider your site search compared to a Google search. (For that matter even compare to Bing and Yahoo search.) The technology is fundamentally different. Google indexes every page its crawler can access. Your site search has a finite amount of content to index. Google looks at what pages are the most popular both from links to (the pages) and click-throughs (and so much more). At best your search engine knows page popularity, which will become a problem for new content and may likely become a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy.<br />
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<b>Most people will search with 1 to 3 keywords</b> -- only sometimes using a phrase. Google has a rich history of search results related to those words and what’s been clicked on most frequently. Your site search tries to use natural language search, though the search wasn’t natural language, so it eventually <b>reverts to keyword popularity</b>. You may have invested in some concept and synonym work, which is very time consuming, but your search engine is still just playing a popularity game, matching the searched keywords with articles that contain those keywords.<br />
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Your search engine is going to add weight to longer articles that match the keywords because there are more matches. If you have many similar articles, the Searcher is going to have to weigh through a lot of links and content to find the most relevant match. Your short knowledge base articles don’t stand a chance. Meantime, in addition to the popularity of prior searches, Google is considering site reputation and how many other sites have linked to a page in order to find the best possible search results.</div>
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<div>
I know I’m scratching the surface on how Google achieves its success, but hopefully, I’ve made my point. If not, <b>consider while Google has invested billions of dollars on search</b>, how much have you invested? <b>How much can you afford?</b> Could you spend 1%? Not even close.</div>
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<div>
Now that we agree that your site search will never live up to Google’s search, the best we can hope for is that our customers (and prospects) know how to use an inferior site search engine. Unfortunately, most Searchers don’t know how to make more sophisticated searches or use natural language to get the most out of your site search. Therefore, you need to prioritize other factors above working your site search.</div>
</div>
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<div>
<div>
<b>Think in terms of findability and discoverability</b>. What can you do to improve the findability of your content and reduce the need to even use your site search? I’ve got 5 items on my list that you should prioritize above your website search engine.</div>
<div>
<ol>
<li>Product (or marketing) links</li>
<li>Improve Google search results (SEO)</li>
<li>Article titles and metadata</li>
<li>Site browsability</li>
<li>Chatbot</li>
<li>Site search capability.</li>
</ol>
</div>
<div>
[I know someone is going to argue that a recommendation engine as part of the site search makes the search engine more important. While I don’t disagree there is some value, you still need to consider the maintenance cost and how many recommendations you can surface as part of the overall equation. Yes, find a way to make sure your customers can easily find your top contact drivers, but wouldn’t it be nice if you didn't have to constantly manually maintain that?]</div>
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<h2>
Product (or marketing) links</h2>
<div>
Why is this #1? Because your customers have the best shot at discovering your content through the course of their normal workflow. If I’m configuring your software and I have a question, I hope there is an obvious link to more info from that screen/page -- I should never have to hunt around for more info. Ideally, I would stay within the configuration workflow, too, never leaving the configuration screen to go to your help website.</div>
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<div>
If I’m reading some marketing materials about your product and a particular feature or function is of interest, embedded links should take me to a deep-dive on the subject. If you’ve written contextual links, it will also help you with your 2nd priority, SEO.</div>
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The key takeaway is to make it so your customer and prospect <b>never have to search to begin with</b>.</div>
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<h2>
Improve Google search results (SEO)</h2>
<div>
If your customer is looking for help and there is no obvious, easy help within your product, this is likely where they’re going to search Google. For those potential customers, they might not even know you’re a player in your market, so SEO becomes even more important.</div>
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<div>
People have made careers being SEO experts as well as written untold number of articles and books. <b>Before you invest further in your own site search engine, invest in SEO</b>. In fact, a good site search engine will leverage some of the things you do for SEO. I’ll focus on some of the fundamentals here, but I recommend you make this someone’s responsibility on your team (and have them dig deeper).</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li><b>Don’t have duplicate content</b>. Have 1 source of truth for every topic. With duplicate content, you’re asking Google to determine programmatically what is the most relevant. Google may also split influence scores (link juice) across your duplicate articles instead of focusing it all on the one source of truth. If Google does return your duplicate content, then you're forcing your customer to choose what's more relevant.</li>
<li><b>Use meaningful titles and headings/subheadings</b>. Your content should match exactly what your title and headings promise. If you want Google to return the right content at the right time, be sure to give Google the correct information. Of course, it’s worse for your customer -- how many times will they be willing to click-thru only to find content that doesn’t match the title?</li>
<li><b>Canonical URLs</b>. This is a way to tell Google a preferred URL for a page (and how you can clean up your duplicate content mess). Image if you have 3 URLs that all lead to the same content (1) myURL.com/123.html; (2) myURL.com/the-title-123.html; and (3) myURL.com/product/the-title-123.html. Without a canonical definition, Google may treat these as 3 different pages. You lose the benefit of the weight all 3 bring together to weigh the pages against other potential results. Further, you may again have your customer trying to figure out which of the 3 links to click. Finally, if you have multiple country based pages, e.g. Canada, UK, and the US, this is one of the techniques to use to tell Google to make sure it displays the right country-specific page. This last point regarding the country should really be emphasized. If you have similar content, but some unique considerations based on country, you definitely want the right content to display in the right country.</li>
<li><b>Unique metadata per page</b>. Very similar to not having duplicate content and the use of meaningful titles and headings -- make sure it’s really clear to what is Google the purpose of each page.</li>
<li><b>Site reputation</b>. If I start writing news articles on technical subjects on my own site, there are very established, reputable outlets that are already writing about technology that I must compete against (and it’s more important than ever to not negatively impact your site’s reputation). If Google sees your site as a reputable source of information, your placement improves on search results, but if Google sees your site as surfacing a lot of click-bait or other ‘poor’ behaviors, you will lose reputation and struggle more and more to get your results to show above the fold.</li>
<li><b>Write better content than your competition</b>. Whether your competition is another company or a scammer trying to take advantage of your customer, your content better be written better and more compelling. Study and mimic and build upon what’s already performing better than your own content until you’re content and your SEO performance is better. I realize in some cases this may be a nearly impossible task if you're in a very crowded market, but for the rest of us, it’s a good plan.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
There is so much more that can be written here and Google is constantly tweaking and improving, too. If you’re interested in <b>learning more yourself</b>, <a href="https://moz.com/" target="_blank">Moz</a> and <a href="https://searchengineland.com/" target="_blank">Search Engine Land</a> are great places to start.</div>
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<div>
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<div>
<h2>
Article titles and metadata</h2>
<div>
I already spoke about this in the context of SEO, but there’s one more consideration. When your customer looks at a list of search results, how will they choose what to click on? <b>Most people skim or scan lists and will only read the first 3 to 5 words or the first 11 characters</b>. Your titles should be front-loaded with the subject, so the customer recognizes that the link will take them to the information they're interested in. Imagine results like this (below) where everything initially appears to be the same.</div>
<div>
<a href="http:/#" target="_blank">How to fix XYZ dishwasher </a><u><span style="color: #999999;">water leaks…</span></u></div>
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<a href="http:/#" target="_blank">How to fix XYZ dishwasher </a><u><span style="color: #999999;">water not getting hot…</span></u></div>
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<a href="http:/#" target="_blank">How to fix XYZ dishwasher </a><u><span style="color: #999999;">hard water issues…</span></u></div>
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<a href="http:/#" target="_blank">How to fix XYZ dishwasher </a><span style="color: #999999;"><u>dirty dishes…</u></span></div>
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When you’re not front-loading your titles, you’re forcing the reader to slow way down and try to read each. Will they slow down? Research says they won't, so you risk your links getting skipped over if you aren’t front-loading with the subject of the page.</div>
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<div>
If you’re a help website, most customers are searching on symptoms, so front-loading with symptoms makes it much easier to quickly find what they want.</div>
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<a href="http:/#" target="_blank">Leaking from the bottom of </a><u><span style="color: #999999;">the XYZ dishwasher</span></u></div>
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<a href="http:/#" target="_blank">Water never gets hot in </a><u><span style="color: #999999;">the XYZ dishwasher</span></u></div>
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<a href="http:/#" target="_blank">Soap scum residue on dishes </a><u><span style="color: #999999;">from XYZ dishwasher</span></u></div>
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<a href="http:/#" target="_blank">Dirty dishes after a full </a><u><span style="color: #999999;">cycle on the XYZ dishwasher</span></u></div>
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<div>
The second example is much easier to scan and find what I’m looking for than my first list. Notice I still included a product context. Depending on the subject, this may or may not be important. If your customer searches without including the model, it’s very important.</div>
<div>
<a href="http:/#" target="_blank">Water never gets hot in the XYZ dishwasher</a></div>
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<a href="http:/#" target="_blank">Water never gets hot in the LMNOP dishwasher</a></div>
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<div>
In the above example, the searcher immediately sees that they have the right subject and with closer inspection now they can decide to click based on the specific model. I highly encourage you to also <b>think before</b> including a range of models in your title, e.g. “Water never gets hot in the 9000 series dishwashers.” Will the article still be returned if I searched on “9001” or “9999?”</div>
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<div>
If it really makes sense to include a series, this is where metadata can assist you. In addition to the SEO benefits previously mentioned, you can give your customer more information.</div>
<div>
<a href="http:/#" target="_blank">Water never gets hot in the 9000 series dishwashers.</a></div>
<div>
<i>For owners of MyBrand models 9001, 9002, and 9999, you can learn how to fix the hot water issue in this article. The solution is usually quite easy.</i></div>
<div>
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<div>
In this example, I've also added more information to reinforce with the Searcher that they’ve found the article they were looking for. I’ve included the brand, each model number, and a synonym for “fix” - “solution.”</div>
</div>
<div>
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<div>
<h2>
Site browsability</h2>
<div>
Why is your sites browsability more important? Because if your customer or prospect comes to your site with a specific goal or task in mind and they can easily recognize what to do, they <b>never have to search.</b> Research has shown that customers will click many layers deep into your site if they can continue to <b>follow the scent to their goal</b>. <b>Search is the bailout path</b> when the scent is lost or there’s no obvious next step.</div>
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<div>
Keep in mind a few more things. We don’t need fancy, unique websites because our designer or CMO thinks that it looks great. <b>You need a site that is comfortable and familiar</b>, so your customer doesn’t have to spend time exploring and trying to figure out how your site is designed. Consider mimicking popular sites. Even though Amazon is terribly crowded, we use it so much, it’s very familiar. <b>You want your site design to fall into the background</b> so your customer or prospect can easily achieve their objective.</div>
</div>
<div>
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<div>
<h2>
Chatbot</h2>
<div>
What is a chatbot? It’s a new version of your search engine. <b>Most chatbots are using the same natural language processing that your search engine has</b> that you’ve already invested a lot of time training and tuning it. The difference is the customers’ UI. First, because of the chat interface, your customer is more likely to use natural language INSTEAD of 1 - 3 keywords. Second, you have a familiar interface to ask clarifying questions. On Amazon, on the left rail, you would filter search results based on ratings, Prime, brands, etc. The chatbot will ask the same sort of questions to filter down and to get more clarity - the same details you need to provide a reasonable search result.</div>
<div>
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<div>
The chatbot also has the benefit where you can <b>keep your customer in the same UI context</b> and hand them off to an agent (assuming that’s what you want to do). If your goal is to engage a prospect, this a much better path than hoping the prospect will click on a Contact Us link.</div>
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<div>
Finally, we get to the end -- your site’s search engine. Should you have one? Absolutely! Should it work reasonably well for common searches? Of course. Just don’t get stuck in over-valuing it when there are so many other priorities. If your customer engagement on your search engine is high, likely you’re failing in one of the prior areas mentioned.</div>
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Chris Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09035433827373014702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26496923.post-80351693675447193762019-03-26T10:21:00.004-07:002019-04-30T08:31:11.301-07:00Finding the right candidate is difficult at best<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tB6L9bkPWSo/XJqfHA1xelI/AAAAAAAA_lM/JM8Mu-PR6KIeah7wxgAfyTnXZEe2uICawCLcBGAs/s1600/job-interview-3410427_960_720.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="960" height="266" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tB6L9bkPWSo/XJqfHA1xelI/AAAAAAAA_lM/JM8Mu-PR6KIeah7wxgAfyTnXZEe2uICawCLcBGAs/s400/job-interview-3410427_960_720.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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I’ve been on both sides of the interview table throughout my career. Having been hired and passed upon as well as hiring (and firing) great employees, I’ve had plenty of time to practice the skills in hiring and interviewing. In short, it’s extremely difficult to get to know someone from just a few hours (at most) of dialog. In most cases, I think the interviewers are doing it wrong and they’re missing out on great people. In this article, I’ll share some of my own experiences and best practices from interviewing and being interviewed.<br />
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I honestly believe 85% of the work belongs on the interviewer side. If you’re looking for the best candidate based on how well they can interview, you’re missing out. <b>If you want to find the best employees, you need to do the work!</b><br />
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Think about the times you’ve started dating someone new. Most of us have experienced that person who was on their best behavior for a period of time, but that charade can only go on for so long. As an interviewer, you want to get past the charade and learn about the potential of the person sitting across from you. What can they bring day 1 and what will they bring during their time working in your organization? <b>This is going to take practice</b> on your part.<br />
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I once went to a 2nd round interview where I was flown into a city to meet with my potential new boss and colleagues. One of the interviewers stated her (flawed) assumption. “Because your experience is focused on knowledge management, you, therefore, don’t have experience with processes and process management, right?!” Huh? What? Now if you’ve ever worked within a support organization, you know there are processes involved between the knowledge management side and the agent side of the business. And, with a worldwide organization the size that I was responsible for at the time, there were many processes requiring development, training, and managing (working with my team and within my team). In my situation, the entire organizational processes were stored and managed on the platform that I was responsible for, so I actually probably had more experience than most because I had been working very closely with the team that had ownership over all the agent processes.<br />
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Now this interviewer was the Process Manager for the support organization of her company, so perhaps she had more direct experience than me, but it didn’t mean that I lacked the experience. Unfortunately, I don’t think I was successful in changing her biased view during that interview. I think she thought she knew the answer to my experience well before we spoke, so I was in a hole even before I had started.<br />
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The lesson here? As an interviewer, you need to work hard to<b> avoid as many assumptions and biases as possible</b>. Don’t assume you know the candidates experience without giving them a chance to respond and discuss. Maybe she could have asked me a question instead, where I could articulate an experience where I had success in developing and introducing a new process across our worldwide organization. Also, be careful of the weight you’re putting on experience. In this specific case, the primary role wasn’t process management -- they weren’t looking at me to replace her.<br />
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Another time, in discussing with my boss and staff, we recognized we really needed someone who had high attention to detail -- <b>someone who was much better at it than we were</b>. So we ended up hiring a great guy to perform this role -- someone who I’m happy to say 15+ years later is one of my best friends. The point in this story is that if we would have been looking for someone that was just like the rest of us, which is so common, we would have never hired this guy. Was he perfect in everything he did? Of course not, but he was perfect when it came to capturing and managing details -- a role we really needed.<br />
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What’s the takeaway from this story? <b>Be willing to sacrifice some skills to get the skills you need most</b>. As long as the employee is hardworking and not disruptive, why wouldn’t you fill a critical need, even if they weren’t perfect in other areas? None of us are outstanding or even above average in everything we do. There are also other lessons to be learned from this. Perhaps most important lessons for candidates is that just because you don’t check the box on every item listed on a job description doesn’t mean you’re not the most qualified candidate.<br />
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Back on the interviewee side of things, I had an experience that really put a bad light on the hiring manager. First, some background. I had previously interviewed for a different role at this company. From what I gather, I was a close 2nd but didn’t get the role. When the recruiter shared with me the disappointing news, she also shared that there was another open position that she thought I might be even more qualified for -- and wanted to know if I was interested. Yes, I was interested.<br />
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The recruiter contacted the hiring manager and a video conference was arranged. The 1st thing I noticed was the interviewer (the hiring manager) was wearing a t-shirt. (While dress code isn’t everything, a collared shirt of any sort would have been more appropriate.) But more jolting was that he was in his kitchen and clearly there were others in the room that he was talking to with his eyes and gestures. After a brief introduction, he immediately offered for my consideration an entry-level role, well below my qualifications. I politely declined and shared a bit about what I thought I was applying for. He pointed out that my experience seemed to match his current role, but since his company requires a test (a PowerPoint presentation which I had recently done for the other position), I might as well complete the test before we talk further. What? I only wish I would have pushed him for that being poor form, but of course, I agreed that that would be fine and we ended the call.<br />
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Here’s a lesson for the interviewer. If you’re either (a) not interested in the candidate or (b) unable to provide your full, undivided attention, <b>don’t waste the candidates time</b>. In fact, don’t waste your own time. I had invested time in preparing and I had made sure I had a quiet place where I wouldn’t be interrupted or distracted. Why couldn’t you do the same for me?<br />
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Let me share a lesson based on my experience as the hiring manager. In this case, I wanted to have my staff more involved with the process -- giving them more experience in the hiring process. We had been using some form of test for years and I really liked it for assisting in finding potential talent from internal candidates in particular. For this go-around, there was 1 particular internal candidate where the team felt the resume and the test was good but not great. The general feeling was, we had already had 1 strong potential internal candidate, so there was no reason to look closer at this other person.<br />
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Well, I liked to always talk to every internal candidate. If for nothing else, selfishly it’s a chance to start a relationship with someone that may be of benefit down the road. I was so happy I had this interview! I quickly learned that this person was quite the leader despite not having a leadership role mentioned in her resume. She clearly ran her household, including the family budget. She also had led multiple fundraising events. Not only did she lead her fundraising events, but it required project management skills to pull-off those events. So while her resume never indicated it, she had experience in leadership and project management -- 2 skills I valued very much. At the end of the day, we hired her, and she went on to become one of our best-performing employees in her role.<br />
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There are again a few lessons to take away from this experience.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Look beyond the obvious. <b>Look for transferable skills</b>. <br />(Most internal candidates claimed to not have any project management experience, yet when pushed, most had moved multiple times, most had planned vacations, and most had managed their college school workload -- all project management experience.)</li>
<li>This is another one of those bias examples - in this case, <b>don’t let a test overly bias you</b> - it’s just another tool in your tool chest.<br />(There was a person that nailed one of our tests that later I had to fire.)</li>
<li>Ask probing questions. <b>Help the candidate get their experiences out</b>.</li>
</ul>
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<br />
This next experience I’ll share led to me being hired. Through networking, I had met this guy who was now looking to fill a role within his organization. Like a good hiring manager, he was leveraging his network and shared the job description with me -- just in case, I knew anyone interested and qualified. This had occurred a few weeks prior and now we were on the phone coordinating a time to get together to talk shop. In terms of timing, he was explaining how he had one more candidate interview lined up for this role, and as soon as he was done, he would be free to meet up.<br />
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This got us down the path talking about this role he was trying to hire, which he wasn’t having much success finding the right person. I started quizzing him about the role, the skills, etc. I finally told him, “What you described is not what you have in your job description.” I also added, “If that’s the role you’re looking for, I’d be interested in the job.” Well, that conversation ultimately led me to a new job and a relationship with this person that I still cherish so many years later.<br />
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There are 2 lessons from this. <b>Network, network, network!</b> I took a chance at an event introducing myself to a group, who turned out to work in an office within walking distance, which led to meeting this guy who ultimately hired me. The other lesson? Have someone or even multiple people <b>review your job descriptions</b> before posting and see if it matches the role you're trying to hire.<br />
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I have to share this last one where I was looking to fill the role of a web developer. I was reviewing a resume where the candidate seemed to have the qualifications, but no college education. I decided to call up this candidate and ultimately bring in the candidate for an interview. I found out that he was self-taught and had worked himself into a full-time job at his current company, having started there at an entry-level position. The long and the short of it is, I hired this guy, and he went on to have great success in my organization as well as a great career since. To this day, he’s on my short-list of great hires.<br />
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The lesson? <b>Don’t let one factor, in this case, a college education, bias your entire perception of a person</b>. Not only was he a hard worker who was able to learn what he didn’t already know, but everyone loved him. He made our entire extended team so much better just by his personality and his work stood on its own.<br />
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What have I learned from all this? Oh, so many things, but here are some highlights worth reinforcing.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><b>Know what skills and experiences you’re looking for</b>. Work with your team prior to even posting, to make sure you’ve identified the most important skill(s) you want to hire. Remember, not all skills are created equal, so make sure you’re giving the most weight to your hiring decision based on those critical few skills.</li>
<li>Everyone on the interview team should be working very hard to <b>help each candidate get past their nerves or shyness to truly learn about them.</b> Find those skills where they excel and set them apart from the next person. Remember, no matter who you hire, they won't be perfect. For those areas where they’re not as good, do you have others on the team that can bridge the gap? <b>Don’t miss out on a talented individual because they weren't the most polished interviewee</b>.</li>
<li><b>Biases</b>. We all have them. Do everything within your power to not let a bias keep you from finding great talent.</li>
<li><b>Network</b>. Take a risk - I promise you if nothing else, you will meet some great people.</li>
</ul>
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What other advice do I have?<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><b>Meet with your interview team</b> before, during, and after the process. Help them grow their skills to be the best at interviewing. Explain to them your reasoning for interviewing each candidate, i.e. what stood out and what you want to learn more about.</li>
<li>I highly encourage you to <b>practice interviewing</b>. This is a great way for you and your interview team get comfortable prior to the real interviews. It will also help you develop better interview questions.</li>
<li><b>Screen the resumes yourself</b>. I’ve worked with several great recruiters, but none of them know my business better than me. Leverage the recruiters to make sure you’re using good hiring practices, to perform initial screening for things like salary and location, and to coordinate with candidates, but use your skills to find the best potential people.</li>
<li><b>Look beyond the resume and test/assignment</b> -- look at their LinkedIn profile and any published work they may have. While not all candidates have received the same number of recommendations, there are some candidates that have clearly made a positive impression on their colleagues and LinkedIn Recommendations tell you so. If nothing else, it’s a good resource for potential interview questions. Seriously, go read those recommendations.</li>
</ul>
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One last thing -- If you’re responsible for communicating with candidates. Please <b>show them courtesy and respect </b>and follow up with them even if they didn't get the job.<br />
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Chris Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09035433827373014702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26496923.post-91367966076061482172019-03-25T14:36:00.004-07:002019-06-19T09:26:24.669-07:00Measure the success of your help knowledge base content<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Let me start first by talking a bit about scope and strategy. The discussion on measuring your help knowledge base often gets caught up in the measure of call deflection on your website and the strategy of your knowledge base -- whether the knowledge base is primarily for your agents or customer help website. Regarding call deflection, it’s extremely likely that not all customers on your help website would contact you if they are unsuccessful with self-resolving, which is why how to measure or what to measure using call deflection is frequently debated.<br />
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While your agents and customers have different needs from a knowledge base, it must serve both audiences! The fundamental issue is that agents and customers have different needs.<br />
<ul>
<li>In most cases, your <b>agents</b> know exactly the issue and what to do to solve it, they just need to find the right article to share with the customer. These leads them to often try searching <b>based on a solution</b>.</li>
<li>Your <b>customers</b>, on the other hand, are visiting your help website because they have a symptom and they don’t know the solution. The customer is looking for an answer <b>based on a symptom</b>.</li>
</ul>
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I’ll say it again, your knowledge base must serve both audiences. Also, throughout this article, I will periodically reference processes that should be a part of your support or knowledge strategy in order for you to measure the success of your help knowledge base content.<br />
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I have 1 more related area worth mentioning before getting started, which is the ability to <b>discover and find your help content</b>. No matter how effective your help knowledge base articles are at solving problems and issues, if your customers and agents can’t find what they need, you’ve still failed with your knowledge base initiative.<br />
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With those related topics out of the way, I’m going to specifically focus on the knowledge base article measurements in this article, with a concentration on effectiveness. I define effectiveness to be whether the help article achieves its intended purpose or not. You may be asking, “Aren’t all articles intended to solve a problem?” Well, ultimately yes, but no, not necessarily. The intent of an article could be any of the following.<br />
<ol type="A">
<li><b>Solve a problem</b>, i.e. a solution. This article typically clear on the symptom and there is one way to resolve. It could also be an article that solves many issues, such as clearing your browser cache. </li>
<li><b>Troubleshoot an issue</b> which then leads to the steps to resolve. A good example of a troubleshooting article - the article would have the customer try something and based on the results, the customer would click-thru to an article that contains the solution.</li>
<li><b>Direct the customer</b> to your support staff because the issue can’t be resolved by the customer.</li>
<li><b>Others</b> such as training and reference materials.</li>
</ol>
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<h2>
Measure articles used by agents</h2>
Let’s dig right into measuring effectiveness when articles are used by agents. In most cases, I expect an agent would send an article with a solution to the customer’s issue, but with email support, the customer may not have provided enough details so your agent may send a troubleshooting article to get the customer down the right path. This leads to some questions:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
How do you measure an article’s effectiveness when an agent sends the customer an article, but the customer is still unable to resolve their issue? </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Was the article too difficult to understand or did the agent send the wrong article?</blockquote>
I’ll get to this in a minute, but 1st consider the processes you’ve defined for your agents when it comes to knowledge base article usage. Your processes will be key to getting the measurements you want. If you are forcing your agents to search for an article on every case, you will very like introduce inaccurate data. If your phone agent knows the answer to an issue off the top of her head, once the call is wrapped up with the customer, the agent may just select the easiest article to associate with her call instead of the correct article. An agent that feels the pressure to close as many cases as possible within a timely fashion with a process that adds little value to them, will lead to shortcuts on cases just so they have met the required criteria.<br />
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So this is your first step in measuring your article effectiveness. <b>Make it super-easy</b> for agents to associate and send an article. Therefore, for every article that they’ve already used 20 times today and 100s of times this month, let the agent retrieve the article using a simple ID that they will quickly memorize. Also, make it easy for them to reference highly used/shared articles. (Don’t worry, when something changes, as long as you always update the same article, the agent will always have the most current information.) Only have your agent search for issues they’re unfamiliar with. Trust me, they’ll love you for this. (While you’re at it, make sure you teach them how to search using natural language AND provide them familiar, easy to use filtering).<br />
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Once we have the right processes and we know our data is clean, how do we measure? Simply <b>report against the last article referenced (shared) in the support case</b> -- that last article represents the primary customer issue and resolution. What if the customer return for more help after an article was sent? That’s the measure. If your agent sends the customer article X and the customer comes back for additional help, either the wrong article was sent or the article failed. (It really is black and white - the customer problem was solved or it wasn’t.) Now you just need to figure out, was it the article or the agent?<br />
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On the follow-up customer interaction (for those first interactions that failed), <b>if no additional article was shared</b>, i.e. your agent only had to provide more details or clarity, then the article failed -- it was ineffective. (Don’t get fooled on this. If your agents are routinely providing more context for articles when they’re sent on the 1st interaction, the article is still failing, but your data won't show that. Instead, your agents should have submitted a correction for the article. [sounds like another process you must have]) <b>If a subsequent article is shared</b> with the customer, then we assume that the original article shared was done in error and you can still report against the last article shared - the correct article for the issue.<br />
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Yes, there will always be exceptions, but they should be minor. For example, if you frequently send multiple articles and/or handle multiple issues with a single case, add a checkbox in your system where your agent can specify the primary issue/article for the case.<br />
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To bring this together for measuring help article effectiveness based on agent usage, the measure works as follows. Evaluate all articles that were <b>the last article sent/shared</b> on a case by an agent. For those articles associated with a case where there was a subsequent interaction with your customer, the article failed to live up to its intended purpose, i.e. the article needs some work. For all other cases, the article was successful. (For the article that failed, you can use the case verbatim to figure out what needs improving/correcting.)<br />
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You will end up with a percentage of success (or failure) for each article. At the end of the discussion on measuring articles on your help website, I’ll talk about different ways to slice this data.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Pro Tip</b>: Instead of separate close codes, you can use article usage data to identify your top call drivers.</blockquote>
There are a few more issues you might have thought about measuring when thinking about measuring articles used by your agents.<br />
<ol>
<li>Did any of your agents send an article where the article’s intention is to <b>send a customer to support</b> to get the resolution? If so, was it an agent error or something about the article? From my experience, the strategy around creating articles that direct a customer to contact you are ONLY created when there are NO “things to try” for customer self-solving, and therefore there wouldn’t be any information in the article that an agent would need to convey to a customer -- they've already contacted you. So if any of these articles show in your data, you have some additional digging to do, to determine why it’s happening -- is it the article or the agent?<br />[This goes hand-in-hand with your contact strategy, which is beyond the scope. Briefly, at no other time should you include contact specific details within an article. Your help website should have easy-to-find information on how to contact you. That “contact us” article should be for a unique exception and very brief: (1) enough info for the customer to confirm the specific issue and (2) instructions to contact you to get assistance in resolving.]</li>
<li>Articles sent by agents that your<b> customer could have found on your help website</b>. Until we look at the help website data, we don’t know whether the customer even tried to self-resolve before contacting you, but when we measure articles based on agent usage, it really doesn’t matter. We just want to see if the article works (was it effective?) or not in solving the customer problem or issue.</li>
<li>Measuring your knowledge base improvement process that your agents use. I hope you are already using the KCS (<b>Knowledge Centered Support</b>) methodology or your own processes and methods to improve your knowledge base. As experts of your products and services, your agents should be identifying article shortcomings for every topic that runs across their desk. In short, you need to measure:</li>
<ol type="a">
<li>Agents are flagging or reporting articles that need improvement or the need for a new article.</li>
<li>Those submissions are legitimate. For example, a submission for change because a difference in opinion on article style wouldn’t be a legitimate submission.</li>
<li>The articles being corrected are done in a timely fashion.</li>
</ol>
</ol>
To summarize, the article effectiveness measure helps you identify how you’re knowledge base articles are doing. Having the right processes and measures for those process will help you improve your effectiveness score.<br />
<br />
Everything I’ve covered so far works for articles where you have agents that are also using those articles to support your customers. What happens for those articles where you have no agent support? For those knowledge base articles that are never used by an agent, you absolutely need a good effectiveness measurement. (I’m not suggesting that you only measure articles on your help website if you don’t have agents, but rather it’s critical that you have this process for measuring when you don’t have agents.)<br />
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<h2>
Measure articles on your help website</h2>
A huge portion of your customer support strategy should be focused on customer self-resolution, which your help website will likely be your largest component of that strategy -- it’s cost-effective and very likely the preferred support model for a large portion of your customers. (This varies by several factors including the product, its complexity, and your customer demographic.) I’ll leave the measure of the entire help website to another article and continue looking specifically at measuring help content effectiveness on your help website.<br />
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Before getting into the measurement details, consider for a moment why a customer might come to your help website for assistance (or even call you). <b>What were they doing or trying to accomplish just prior to visiting your help website?</b> I’m willing to bet that a significant majority of your customers didn’t wake up this morning thinking they wanted to come read your help content like they may do each morning reading their Facebook feed or Twitter posts. While a few may be looking for educational purposes, most paid you a visit because <b>something went wrong</b> when they were trying to use your product or service and they were unable to resolve it on their own. Maybe they were trying to plan a trip to visit old friends and your email software quit sending emails. Perhaps they were trying to book a reservation at their favorite restaurant and your app crashes again and again. Or maybe they have a deadline to finish a drawing for one of their customers and they're unable to save the file.<br />
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My point is, your customer is using your products and services to live their life or do their job. While they may have loyalty to your company (for now), ideally they would never have any friction or interruption from their intended goal, i.e. ideally they would never have a reason to seek your help. <b>Why is this point so important?</b> Because as soon as their issue or problem is resolved, your customer is going to go back to their regularly scheduled life. They might make a note to reevaluate you as a provider or to look for a discount or refund from you, but their intention is to <b>go back to what they were doing</b> before something happened with your product or service that interrupted their personal or professional life.<br />
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With that in mind, let’s start by defining a <b>conversion</b>. When measuring a website, conversion is the key metric. If you’re selling products (think Amazon), a conversion is the successful completion of the purchase step(s) to buy the products in your virtual shopping cart (i.e. your credit card was charged and a fulfillment process was triggered). For other companies, a conversion could be the point when you provide your contact information in exchange for a whitepaper or other product details. (The company likely had one or more marketing initiatives that use the collection of your contact info to share with their sales team as a critical measure of the success of their campaigns.) These conversions are the measure of success for the site’s intended goal. Here’s one more: a content site such a Medium or CNET want you to read article after article, so they can serve you ads, which generates revenue for them. They have multiple conversions -- each time you click on another page on their website, which loads another story for you with ads -- which generates revenue for them. (Those companies who have the ads also have a conversion on the website -- when you click on the ad.)<br />
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For your help website, you probably have just 2 conversions:<br />
<ol>
<li>[Preferred] Your <b>customer resolves their issue</b> through reading 1 or more support articles. Unlike Medium or CNET, the goal is to solve the customer issue with the fewest number of articles (but not at the expense of having huge articles covering multiple topics). Remember, the customer is on your site because they need to be to solve an issue, not because they want to be on the website.</li>
<li>Your customer successfully <b>submits a ticket</b> for assisted (agent) support. This is similar to the 1st two conversion examples I shared. An exchange of some info and in return you will provide a support service (free or for a fee).</li>
</ol>
Let me repeat this, your customer only pays a visit your help website because they need assistance <b>to continue the use</b> of your product or service to accomplish a goal or task. And remember, once the issue is resolved, your customer is going to go back to what they were doing. With that in mind, the simple measure of article success is:<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
All visitors that left your help website (site exit) immediately after reading a help article</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<hr width="200" />
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
All visitors to your help website</div>
<br />
When you look at your web analytics data, this is the exit rate on your site from knowledge base help articles. If you had 100 visitors enter (visits or sessions) your help website and 75 of those visitors left your website immediately after reading a help article, you would have a 75% conversion rate or a 75% article effectiveness score.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The first argument I usually hear is “The visitor left the website to try what the article suggested. How do you know it solved their issue?”</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Which I ask in return, “Did they come back?”</blockquote>
While there are a number of potential corner-cases as to why a visitor didn’t return, the most likely case is that they actually resolved their issue and then continued with their goal or task, ie. got on with their life. As long as the visitor returns before their session timed out (usually 30- or 60 minutes) then you can conclude that the issue wasn’t resolved. Of course, if they come back before the time-out, they will still eventually leave. For each visitor session on your website <b>evaluate what was the last page viewed</b>, i.e. the exit page, when they finally left your site.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Pro Tip</b>: If visitors go away for a long period of time, but still return under the session timeout limit, you will see long page view times. When evaluating how to correct the article and yet it seems correct, it's likely the article is just too long or too complex.</blockquote>
<br />
Let’s dig a bit deeper on our measure -- <b>I don’t think we chose the best denominator</b>. Have you looked closely at all the visitors to your help website? How many of those visitors actually never even try to self-resolve? Or how many visitors tried searching, but never clicked into an article? While each of these visitor types suggests there may be other opportunities to improve on your website, it’s diluting the real help article effectiveness measurement. Therefore I recommend a change to the formula and not include any visitors that never viewed at least 1 article.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
All visitors that left your help website (site exit) immediately after reading a help article</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<hr width="200" />
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
All visitors who viewed 1 or more articles</div>
<br />
Now you can use this to evaluate overall success and also slice it by a few things. (Likely you’re going to want to combine these together to gain the most insight.)<br />
<ul>
<li><b>Articles for a given product</b>. Different products likely have different support volume, This will allow you to evaluate for each individual product, so your most frequently visited products don’t over-shadow the performance for other, less popular products and services. Use the formula above, but limit it just to those help website visitors for a particular product or service.</li>
<li><b>Per article basis</b>. By looking at the exit rate on a per article basis using your web analytics software, it’s easy to find what articles have a low exit rate. Even better, add a weighted factor so those articles that get most views, even if not the worst scoring, get improved first.</li>
<li><b>By article type</b>. Remember I talked about 3 different types at the beginning of this article. This is where you’re going to really find where improvement is needed by also considering what should the visitor be doing AFTER reading the article. In some cases, clicking into another article or onto another page IS the correct behavior.</li>
<ul>
<li><b>Solver</b>. This is going to be the bulk of your articles. These articles should have been written specifically to resolve issues without requiring the need to read additional articles and therefore the exit rate from this article types should be very high.</li>
<li><b>Troubleshoot and redirect</b>. While some customers may resolve their issue by reading this article type, a big proportion of the traffic should lead to another article. So the exit rate for these articles will likely be small, which is the opposite compared to those “Solver” articles above.</li>
<li><b>Contact support</b>. Like the “troubleshoot and redirect” articles, there really is no expectation for customers to exit from these article types. You want to verify these visitors actually clicked-thru to your contact flow.</li>
<li><b>Others</b>. Remember the other possible article types I previously mentioned? They also should be measured based on their intended purpose. For example, training documentation. Unless you have a single, large training document, you would expect customers to jump through all your training documents. And while the overall roll-up score of exiting from an article should still score well, at an individual article level, those documents may not appear to perform well when using the article exit as the benchmark of good performance. If nothing else, you want to exclude those documents from your overall article performance number.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<br />
Based on the discussion of measuring per article type, you should adjust your formula accordingly. Remember, if you're looking at the overall performance of your help website, the more customers who leave upon reading an article, the more effective your help knowledge base content is. But, if you’re looking to measure and evaluate on a per article basis, you need to consider the type of the article (the article intention) when measuring, as some articles are expected to route customers and not have them exit the website from that article.<br />
<br />
To this point, I’ve discussed article effectiveness measures and some related processes for your agents. As part of the greater effectiveness analysis, we should briefly discuss some measures of related topics.<br />
<br />
<h2>
Article changes</h2>
Are you looking at how often articles are being updated? Do you know why they’re being updated? I previously mentioned you should measure and make sure you’re only getting changes submitted that are appropriate. Let’s assume the needed changes are appropriate, then consider these 2 additional measurements.<br />
<ol>
<li>Within the <b>first 30- or 45-days of a new release</b>, articles for a product release may require 1 or more updates. This could be as simple due to a patch or minor change after a release, but it could also very much indicate the knowledge base articles were <b>incomplete or inaccurate</b> at the time of a release. This measure is a great way to flag you with potential problems, specifically:<ol type="a">
<li>A product was released too early. In this situation, there may be frequent product updates, which therefore require frequent knowledge base article updates. The cost for many frequent changes is often not considered or not fully understood. If you’re also paying for translation, this can be a big financial hit.</li>
<li> Poor work was done by your article writer. This might be the best method to identify an issue with a writer who hasn’t been effective in authoring new content.</li>
</ol>
<br />Remember, while you will likely always have some changes, such as a screenshot from the final released version to an update on a late changing error message, the total number of changes should be few.</li>
<li>Frequent changes to an article <b>during any time period</b>. From my experience, this is usually a case where an argument is happening on the accuracy of an article. (Though it could also be due to a new KCS program where agents are looking for any excuse to update an article.) The point being here is that if you have several changes to an article in a short time period, you likely have a problem that requires further investigation.</li>
</ol>
<br />
<ol>
</ol>
<h2>
New article creation for a release</h2>
There are 3 points worth measuring and therefore discussing regarding article creation.<br />
<ol>
<li><b>Changes after a release</b>. This is the same measure and argument I made above.</li>
<li><b>Articles that are never used</b>. Think about the time and effort it takes to create each article. So after you have a new product released or update was made to an existing product, were there articles created that have never been viewed? Why is that?<br />
<ol type="a">
<li>The article was a subject that is not needed or of interest to your agents and customers. This should be captured, so it doesn’t continue for future new product releases.</li>
<li>Your agents and customers were unable to find the article. This could be due to a number of reasons from the article not getting published to a poorly written title to an issue with SEO and/or search indexing.</li>
</ol>
In either case, you have some work to do. While I rather slightly over-invest in help content than forcing customers to have to contact me, there is a limit to what you can afford. Likewise, if you have valuable content but no one is finding it, why did you bother writing it to begin with?</li>
<li><b>Creation of new articles</b>. It can be difficult to predict all possible issues and therefore all necessary knowledge base content for a new product. If you have to create too much new content after a product launch, there’s likely something wrong with your process to identify necessary content needs. There are definitely some differing opinions on the right approach to help content development as it relates to a launch. Some companies want very minimal and let agents identify what’s needed while others may not even have agents and want to get this as close to perfect as possible at the time of launch. No matter where you fit, you want to watch this to make sure it’s not different than what you expect.</li>
</ol>
<br />
<ol>
</ol>
<h2>
Find what’s missing</h2>
I already talked about the expectation that your agents should be identifying both problems with the facts of your content and in identifying gaps in your content, but that's likely not enough. Who’s making sure your customers are making the most use of your help content? Perhaps your content is already extremely well written, but you’re still only achieving a 75% effectiveness score? There are (at least) 2 more areas to look.<br />
<br />
<b>Internal article audit</b><br />
When was the last time you audited articles that are only available to your agents? For every knowledge base article you have that is only viewable by an agent when your customer has that issues, they MUST talk to one of your agents to resolve the issue. Examine how often internal articles are used and make sure you don’t have topics that you would be ok with sharing with your customers, but currently you are not sharing publicly. It’s time to rewrite those so customers can self-resolve.<br />
<br />
[Related to this, the higher percentage of issues solved by your agents that require an internal article or access to an internal tool is a great indicator of how well your help website is working. The more customers are able to help themselves, the fewer agents you need to employ.]<br />
<br />
<b>Article ratings and feedback</b><br />
If you aren’t already, start collecting a rating (thumbs up / thumbs down) and feedback on your knowledge base help articles from your customers. Based on my experience, assuming you have statistically relevant data, i.e. enough ratings, the ratings will closely mirror the exit rate for the articles intended to solve issues. But what’s really important is that the feedback will leave clues as to how the content isn’t meeting the needs off your customers. While I’ve also seen a lot of irrelevant or inapplicable feedback, if you’re able to filter through the noise, it’s a great place to identify gaps in your help content.<br />
<br />
<h2>
Conclusion</h2>
By now you should have “the big rocks” to measure the success of your help knowledge base content. I realize there is much more to talk about, including where to focus next now that you know how your content is performing. Between your agents and feedback plus measuring the processes I’ve shared, you should actually be able to make quite a bit of positive progress.<br />
<br />
So what’s left? Here’s a list of related topics and measures.<br />
<ul>
<li><b>Measuring the success of the discoverability or findability of your content </b>(and how to fix it). At the time of this writing, I’ve been working on another article that discussed 5 things that are more important in finding your help content than your site’s search engine.</li>
<li><b>Measuring your help website</b>. This is very much inter-related to your content and findability success, but there are a few more things such as navigation, taxonomy, and your contact flow to look at, too.</li>
<li><b>Effectiveness of images and videos</b>. You might be surprised here. Remember, these can impact page load times and force unnecessary page scrolling.</li>
<li><b>Regional and cultural differences</b>. Hint - No matter where your customer is located, no matter what language they speak, they didn’t wake up this morning thinking that wanted to read all your new knowledge base article posts.</li>
<li>Analyzing your <b>internal knowledge processes</b>, whether KCS, Scrum, or something else.</li>
</ul>
<br />
There are also very related, relevant topics that I’d like to address at some point.<br />
<ul>
<li><b>Help website strategy</b> and<b> knowledge base content strategy</b>. These are inter-related but each deserves its own discussion.</li>
<li><b>Knowledge base content maintenance</b>. I actually covered much of these, and the rest I would likely include in a knowledge base content strategy discussion.</li>
<li><b>Chatbot, community, and social support strategy</b> fit within your strategy discussions, too. For example, a chatbot can be very helpful in content discoverability while a community is a great resource to help you identify gaps in your help content.</li>
<li><b>Writing for the web</b>, <b>writing for translations</b>, <b>writing for mobile</b>, and <b>SEO</b>. I would consider all of these as subsets of your knowledge base content strategy including you should have an ongoing effort to manage your SEO performance.</li>
</ul>
<br />
After this long list, I feel like I’ve likely left a few things out. Maybe abuse and safety, for example. Oh, and dealing with trolls and scammers. What else?<br />
<br />
Let me know your thoughts and feedback on this and potential future topics.<br />
<br />Chris Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09035433827373014702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26496923.post-60807412899806138552019-03-15T10:31:00.004-07:002019-04-04T09:35:24.883-07:00How do you find a good boss, not just a job?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cAaYEeR38cA/XJqf7hyLZ7I/AAAAAAAA_lk/XcKnNk1bzEEqHi6rVvSfJ57N1XdEFaRLgCLcBGAs/s1600/manager-308474_960_720.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="541" data-original-width="960" height="225" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cAaYEeR38cA/XJqf7hyLZ7I/AAAAAAAA_lk/XcKnNk1bzEEqHi6rVvSfJ57N1XdEFaRLgCLcBGAs/s400/manager-308474_960_720.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Recently a friend of mine asked me “I always wonder how to find a Boss rather than a job. Any pointers or experiences, kindly share. Let us assume I am on the interview and I don't know the Boss, the interviewer may be someone else.“<br />
<br />
I thought that was a great question! I’m sure there are plenty of experts who have greater insight than myself, but this is what I offered.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Ask the interviewers about how they like working at the company and with their boss. Also ask, what do they like most and may about their boss.</li>
<li>Hopefully, you will eventually talk to the boss and you can ask him/her how they define success and what he/she likes most about their boss. Whatever he/she likes most is likely a strong trait of their own.</li>
<li>Remember you're interviewing them, too. Don't be afraid to dig deeper for more insight.</li>
</ul>
I’m sure there’s much more. A few more things have come to mind since this exchange.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Prepare ahead of time and know what kind of a boss you like to work for. Think about the bosses you’ve worked for that you liked the most and least, and why.</li>
<li>Dig into the question (above) about defining success. Learn how you will be measured.</li>
<li>See if you can learn how the boss and the company views on what matters most to you. For example, what’s their view on investing in the growth of their employee? Will they give you roles to stretch? Will they fund education and conferences?</li>
</ul>
I think the key is to prepare ahead of time and don’t be afraid to pass on a job where there are red flags regarding the person you would work for.<br />
<br />
I had one interview where I quickly realized whether they wanted me or not, it wasn’t right for me. The hiring manager (the boss) already had a very clear view of the exact person he wanted, with the exact skills, and exactly what they would do. It didn’t matter that it was a field where I had excelled in for a very long time, he already knew everything. Personally, I’d like to be brought on because I’m an expert in my field and have an opportunity to add value to an organization. You should be able to work with your boss to establish goals which you will be measured against, and then he/she should assist you as necessary to achieve those goals.<br />
<br />
I’m interested in hearing input from others.Chris Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09035433827373014702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26496923.post-75030463118124773212017-05-19T18:55:00.001-07:002019-04-04T10:00:15.589-07:00Use Excel to parse text to hours<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cqW87UQg5yk/XKY10RJrHuI/AAAAAAAA_o8/l2QzWkSS2j47p7YGwDhFrCsSxEPlw-ufgCLcBGAs/s1600/spreadsheet-98491_960_720.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="697" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cqW87UQg5yk/XKY10RJrHuI/AAAAAAAA_o8/l2QzWkSS2j47p7YGwDhFrCsSxEPlw-ufgCLcBGAs/s320/spreadsheet-98491_960_720.png" width="309" /></a></div>
<br />
I use a tool that displays elapsed time in the format of Xd Xh Xm, for days-hours-and minutes. If it's less than 1 day, then the output is Xh Xm. It's easy for me to scrape the output, but I need it in hours to manipulate it further.<br />
<br />
Example outputs and converted results:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>2d 0h 18m = <b>48.3</b> (in hrs)</li>
<li>14h 9m = <b>14.15</b> (in hrs)</li>
</ul>
<br />
I wrote an Excel function to accomplish this task.<br />
<br />
Assuming my output is in cell B3, this is the function.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">=IF(<span style="color: red;">ISERROR</span>(FIND("d",B3)),LEFT(B3,FIND("h",B3)-1)+(MID(B3,FIND(" ",B3,FIND("h",B3))+1,FIND("m",B3)-FIND(" ",B3,FIND("h",B3))-1)/60),(</span><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">LEFT(B3,FIND("d",B3)-1)</span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">*24)+<span style="color: #76a5af;">MID(B3,</span><span style="color: #134f5c;">FIND(" ",B3,FIND("d",B3))+1</span><span style="color: #76a5af;">,FIND("h",B3)-FIND(" ",B3,FIND("d",B3))-1)</span>+(<span style="color: #f6b26b;">MID(B3,</span><span style="color: #b45f06;">FIND(" ",B3,FIND("h",B3))+1</span><span style="color: #f6b26b;">,FIND("m",B3)-FIND(" ",B3,FIND("h",B3))-1</span>)/60))</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Notice it starts with an IF statement. The IF statement with <span style="color: red;">ISERROR</span> checks to see if the text being parsed begins with 'd' for days or 'h' for hours. Once this is resolved, there are just a couple simple things to do.</span><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>FIND is used to locate a specific letter in the string.</li>
<li>For the first value, use LEFT to parse, and get the value up to the letter 'd' (or 'h' when 'd' isn't present). LEFT needs to know which cell you're checking (B3), and how many characters to grab from the beginning. FIND helped us determine how many characters in until we reached 'd' so we know we need to go when character less.<br /><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">LEFT(B3,FIND("d",B3)-1)</span></li>
<li>MID is used to get subsequent values. MID requires the cell reference (B3), where to start, and the number of characters. We want to start after the prior letter, i.e. if we're searching for the minute (m) value, we'd start after hour (h) + 1. We add an additional 1 to compensate for the space after the prior letter (h).<br />The number of characters is easy, it's the location of the designators letter (e.g. 'm') - the start location - 1. Remember the designator letter (m) is one more character than the actual number, hence we have to subtract 1 as part of our formula.<br /><span style="color: #f6b26b; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">MID(B3,</span><span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">FIND(" ",B3,FIND("h",B3))+1</span><span style="color: #f6b26b; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">,FIND("m",B3)-FIND(" ",B3,FIND("h",B3))-1</span></li>
<li>We can't forget about converting our days and minutes to hours. So when we parse the value for days, we multiple by 24, and for minutes, we divided by 60.<br /><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">(LEFT(B3,FIND("d",B3)-1)<b>*24</b>)</span><br /><span style="color: #f6b26b; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">(MID(B3,</span><span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">FIND(" ",B3,FIND("h",B3))+1</span><span style="color: #f6b26b; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">,FIND("m",B3)-FIND(" ",B3,FIND("h",B3))-1)<b>/60</b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Remember --</span></li>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">You need to add them together.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">You need 2 versions: 1 for the condition where the day (d) is included and 1 when the day (d) isn't included.</span></li>
</ul>
</ul>
<b>TIP</b>: Whenever I build complex functions like this, I first build smaller pieces and then combine them together.Chris Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09035433827373014702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26496923.post-70791953307553269882017-02-10T10:26:00.000-08:002019-04-04T09:52:05.464-07:00Is your Mac shutting down after it goes to sleep?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-L0O500xa1IY/XKY2L9vyX8I/AAAAAAAA_pE/isbrJImKw9k9nONhpjWe88DC4zIYoB3zgCLcBGAs/s1600/startup-593327_960_720.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="960" height="213" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-L0O500xa1IY/XKY2L9vyX8I/AAAAAAAA_pE/isbrJImKw9k9nONhpjWe88DC4zIYoB3zgCLcBGAs/s320/startup-593327_960_720.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
This eluded me for some time! Usually it didn't go all the way through the shut down, as there were files that needed saving. Either way, it was a pain getting going after my Mac was asleep.<br />
<br />
This is how I solved it.<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>Go to <b>System Preferences...</b> > <b>Security & Privacy</b></li>
<li>Select the <b>padlock</b> in the lower-left.<br />A user name/password dialog box will open. If you don't have the correct privileges for your Mac, you may be stuck at this point.</li>
<li>Enter your user name and password.<br />The padlock icon will change to an open padlock; The Advanced... button will no longer be grayed out/unaccessible. (See the image below.)</li>
<li>Select the <b>Advanced...</b> button.</li>
<li><b>Uncheck the box</b> proceeding "Log out after _XX_ minutes of inactivity."</li>
<li>Select <b>OK</b></li>
<li>Close the <b>Security & Privacy</b> preferences dialog box.</li>
</ol>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-L7fJjxqmsDU/WJ4FdzV1z-I/AAAAAAAA01s/uiF4IibSRUQqTqDkCWva0XVL1zTbOd2TACLcB/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-02-10%2Bat%2B10.11.57%2BAM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="262" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-L7fJjxqmsDU/WJ4FdzV1z-I/AAAAAAAA01s/uiF4IibSRUQqTqDkCWva0XVL1zTbOd2TACLcB/s320/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-02-10%2Bat%2B10.11.57%2BAM.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
That did solve the issue for me.<br />
<br />
<br />
I've heard from others that had similar issues, and what finally solved it for them was to make sure their hard disks didn't go to sleep (found in the Energy Saver preferences).<br />
<br />Chris Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09035433827373014702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26496923.post-75545999491342066702017-01-25T09:27:00.000-08:002019-04-04T09:53:46.852-07:00Simple notification script for Google Sheets<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pThdDl-bbLc/XKY2k6s_uAI/AAAAAAAA_pM/c3tL_3bi094ZXAw1DhLe99Xw5XEKMSqfwCLcBGAs/s1600/coding-1841550_960_720.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="960" height="213" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pThdDl-bbLc/XKY2k6s_uAI/AAAAAAAA_pM/c3tL_3bi094ZXAw1DhLe99Xw5XEKMSqfwCLcBGAs/s320/coding-1841550_960_720.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<b><br /></b>
<b>UPDATED: May 19, 2017</b><br />
<i>I changed the script to be more user-friendly and the ability to include HTML in the email body. I also found that Google moved a few things in the menus, so I modified the instructions as appropriate.</i><br />
<br />
Google Sheets has a nice feature to notify yourself if something has changed, but every person who wants to be notified must add a notification for themselves. With a simple script, you can send notifications to people of your choosing.<br />
<br />
In this example, I've written a script to send an email when 1 or more rows are added.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Get started.</h3>
<ol>
<li>Go to the sheet</li>
<li>Find a cell in the sheet that wont ever be over-written.</li>
<ol>
<li>Enter the value of the current total number of rows in the sheet.</li>
<li>Note the cell for use in your script. I used G2.</li>
</ol>
<li>Go to <b>Tools > Script editor...</b></li>
</ol>
<h3>
Write your script.</h3>
<div>
Add this script in the script editor. Change as required to meet your needs.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;">function check4NewLines() {</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #783f04;"> </span><span style="color: #b45f06;">// /////////////// //////////////// ////////////////</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"> // /////////////// Cell to track last row //////////////// //</span><br />
<span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"> // /////////////// //////////////// ////////////////</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"> var <span style="color: blue;">theLastRow =</span> "G2";</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"> // Remember to put the number of rows, i.e. last row, in your spreadsheet into the cell you've referenced here.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"> <span style="color: #b45f06;"> // /////////////// //////////////// ////////////////</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"> // /////////// End cell to track last row /////////////// //</span><br />
<span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"> // /////////////// //////////////// ////////////////</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"> <span style="color: #b45f06;">// get the spreadsheet object</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"> </span><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;">var</span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"> <span style="color: blue;">spreadsheet =</span> SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet();</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"> <span style="color: #b45f06;">// set the first sheet as active</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"> SpreadsheetApp.setActiveSheet(spreadsheet.getSheets()[0]);</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"> <span style="color: #b45f06;">// fetch this sheet</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"> </span><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;">var</span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"> <span style="color: blue;">sheet =</span> spreadsheet.getActiveSheet();</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"> <span style="color: #b45f06;">// fetch sheet name</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"> </span><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;">var</span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"> <span style="color: blue;">sheetName =</span> spreadsheet.getName();</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"> <span style="color: #b45f06;">// figure out what the last row is</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"> </span><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;">var</span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"> <span style="color: blue;">lastRow =</span> sheet.getLastRow();</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"> <span style="color: #b45f06;"> // cell used to track last row we checked. See the Get started section in this post.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"> </span><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;">var</span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"> <span style="color: blue;">lastRowChecked =</span> sheet.getRange(theLastRow).getValue();</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"> <span style="color: #b45f06;">// The number of new lines on the sheet.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"> </span><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;">var</span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"> <span style="color: blue;">newLines =</span> lastRow - lastRowChecked;</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"> <span style="color: #b45f06;">// /////////////// //////////////// ////////////////</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"> // /////////////// Customized variables //////////////// //</span><br />
<span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"> // /////////////// //////////////// ////////////////</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span> <span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"> // These variables that can be used in your subject or message:</span><br />
<span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"> // 1. newLines : the number of new rows added to the sheet</span><br />
<span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"> // 2. theSheetURL : the URL to the Google sheet</span><br />
<span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"> // 3. sheetName : the name of the Google sheet</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"> <span style="color: #b45f06;">// Update with appropriate email address(es). Multiple addresses should be comma delimited.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"> </span><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;">var</span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"> <span style="color: blue;">theEmailDistro =</span> "my-email-address@foo.com";</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"> <span style="color: #b45f06;">// Set email subject</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"> </span><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;">var</span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"> <span style="color: blue;">theSubject =</span> "My email subject";</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"> <span style="color: #b45f06;">// The URL specific to your Google Sheet. This variable can be used in the email body.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"> </span><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;">var</span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"> <span style="color: blue;">theSheetURL =</span> "https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/my-super-sheet";</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"> <span style="color: #b45f06;">// The email message. The message must be quoted. If using HTML, be sure to only use single quotes in your HTML.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"> <span style="color: #674ea7;">var</span> <span style="color: blue;">theEmailHtmlBody =</span> "There is " + newLines + " or more new entries in the " + sheetName + " Google sheet."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"> <span style="color: #e69138;">// /////////////// //////////////// ////////////////</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"> // ///////////// End customized variables /////////////// //</span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"> // /////////////// //////////////// ////////////////</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"> if (newLines > 0) {</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"> <span style="color: #b45f06;">// This is the message that will be emailed. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span> <span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"> // 'newLines is</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"> MailApp.sendEmail({</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"> to: theEmailDistro ,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"> subject: theSubject ,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"> htmlBody: theEmailHtmlBody</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"> });</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"> <span style="color: #b45f06;">// set new 'last row'</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"> sheet.getRange(theLastRow).setValue(lastRow);</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;"> }</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;">}</span><br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Go to the menu and select <b>File > Save</b>.</div>
<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3>
<b>Test your script.</b></h3>
<div>
Testing is easy.</div>
<div>
<ol>
<li>Make sure your email address is one of the notification email addresses.</li>
<li>Either change the value in the row tracking cell to lower than the number of rows OR add a new row.</li>
<li>Run the script.</li>
<ol>
<li>Click the 'play' button -- find it left of the 'bug' button.<br />OR</li>
<li>Click 'Run' from the menu and select the name of your function.</li>
</ol>
<li>Wait for your email.</li>
</ol>
<h3>
Deploying.</h3>
</div>
<div>
<ol>
<li>Clean up from your test.</li>
<ol>
<li>Make sure your last row number (in G2 in my example) is correct.</li>
<li>Make sure the notification emails are correct.</li>
<li>Save the script again if you changed anything, such as the email address(es).</li>
</ol>
<li>Select <b>Edit > Current project triggers</b> from the menu.</li>
<li>Select from the trigger options. For example you can have it check on the hour or once a day.</li>
</ol>
<div>
Need more help? Search Google of course.</div>
</div>
<div>
Good luck!</div>
Chris Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09035433827373014702noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26496923.post-31216353238513238122016-06-29T08:00:00.000-07:002019-04-04T09:59:48.700-07:00Front-loaded text and scanning the page<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-l2IZGJpL7mw/XKY32HayJAI/AAAAAAAA_pg/uQtdJ2pRHUYGWzCF9yxdyuWp4hC2hmwNACLcBGAs/s1600/search-engine-76519_960_720.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="525" data-original-width="960" height="175" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-l2IZGJpL7mw/XKY32HayJAI/AAAAAAAA_pg/uQtdJ2pRHUYGWzCF9yxdyuWp4hC2hmwNACLcBGAs/s320/search-engine-76519_960_720.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
We push our writers to always front-load their titles and paragraphs not just because we think it's a good idea, but because studies back up the technique.<br />
<br />
Jakob Nielsen posted a great article, "<a href="http://www.nngroup.com/articles/first-2-words-a-signal-for-scanning/" target="_blank">First 2 Words: A Signal for the Scanning Eye</a>," where he goes into the details of his research in this area.<br />
<br />
Jakob starts with reminding us how our customers have many lists to read, err scan -- it's not just search results.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Search result pages</li>
<li>List of current and/or archived articles and press releases</li>
<li>Product listing</li>
<li>Table of contents</li>
<li>Question lists on an FAQ page</li>
<li>Bulleted and numbered lists, checklists, etc</li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
11 characters is used as the baseline measure the number of characters a user actually reads when looking through a list (link text). The test is to see just the first 11 characters and see if you can predict what's behind the link -- what will you get when you click.<br />
<br />
The best link text has these characteristics.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Plain language</li>
<li>Specific terminology</li>
<li>Follow naming conventions</li>
<li>Front-loaded, action-oriented terms</li>
</ul>
<br />
The first 3 have something in common -- no slang or internal jargon.<br />
<br />
What're the characteristics of bad link text?<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Generic words</li>
<li>Made-up terms</li>
<li>Having the information-carrying text at the end</li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
Jakob concludes with a reminder that our customers do have the option to read past the first 11 characters. What we need to remember is to front-load our titles and links so the customer, when necessary will read the rest of it, i.e. it needs to grab their attention to read enough to validate it's the correct link (which would be followed by a click). "Nanocontent (first bit of a link) just needs to be good enough that users will sniff the most promising links in full." How?<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Provide enough additional context, so the user knows what to expect (and make sure the clicked-to page actually delivers).</li>
<li>Clearly differentiate links -- don't make me choose between 2 very similar links.</li>
<li>Don't mislead or over-promise.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
It's all so simple. Right?Chris Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09035433827373014702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26496923.post-46507711941398792422016-06-28T08:00:00.001-07:002019-04-04T10:02:50.010-07:00Improve your writing for the web with the Hemingway EditorAs we know, readers on the web don't really read, they scan and skim articles, and won't read anything that's long form. With the <a href="http://www.hemingwayapp.com/" target="_blank">Hemingway Editor</a>, you can improve your writing by making it more "bold and clear" -- make your writing standout so your audience actually reads it.<br />
<br />
The Hemingway Editor is going to give you feedback and input on the following:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Sentences that are too hard to read</li>
<li>Simpler alternatives to words and phrases</li>
<li>Unnecessary adverbs</li>
<li>Use of passive voice</li>
<li>Readability score</li>
</ul>
<br />
The Hemingway Editor also has other helpful functions:<br />
<ul>
<li>Basic formatting</li>
<li>Import from Word</li>
<li>Export as HTML</li>
<li>Character count</li>
</ul>
<div>
It's free to use online, or a mere $10 for the app version.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-epPth2ajZHI/XKY4tAte78I/AAAAAAAA_ps/HhlavKwXcm4UIG7zTzH7z8sZUezcXcTXACLcBGAs/s1600/creative-108545_960_720.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="638" data-original-width="960" height="212" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-epPth2ajZHI/XKY4tAte78I/AAAAAAAA_ps/HhlavKwXcm4UIG7zTzH7z8sZUezcXcTXACLcBGAs/s320/creative-108545_960_720.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />Chris Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09035433827373014702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26496923.post-43224621004146382042016-06-27T15:44:00.003-07:002020-11-19T16:11:41.786-08:00Text (SMS) from your computer using MightyTextIt's 2016 -- if you're not texting, you've fallen behind. I text my family, I get appointment reminders via text, and text is being used for 2-factor authentication.<br />
<br />
At my company there are several different communications apps, from Yahoo Messenger, to Slack, to HipChat. They each work well, but only texting is guaranteed to reach the person I want to talk to.<br />
<br />
With that being said, texting can be difficult from my phone if I have multiple conversations going on, or I have a lot to share. Fortunately, I've found a great solution. Whenever I'm at a computer, PC and Mac (I have both), I can use <a href="https://mightytext.net/" target="_blank">MightyText</a> instead.<br />
<br />
MightyText works with Android phones and Google Chrome browser. Not only can I type faster using MightText, I get notices from my phone on my computer screen. I no longer need to take my phone out of my pocket to see alerts or respond to text messages.<br />
<br />
It also as the added benefit that I can easily attach any image that I can access from my computer. There's also an integration with Gmail, if you want to work within the Gmail interface (over having its own tab).<br />
<br />
<a href="https://mightytext.net/" target="_blank">MightyText</a> is on my short-list of must have apps.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<img border="0" height="283" src="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/screen-shot-2012-11-14-at-6-18-03-am.png" width="451" /></div>
<br />Chris Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09035433827373014702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26496923.post-47650729173694581202016-06-27T11:31:00.001-07:002019-04-04T10:19:32.206-07:00Favorite Podcasts<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-D5aytNchJe0/XKY8n-Be4xI/AAAAAAAA_p4/ufK9EXw6x1cesJnXNK8rayhenbym5LZggCLcBGAs/s1600/avatar-2155431_960_720.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="960" height="180" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-D5aytNchJe0/XKY8n-Be4xI/AAAAAAAA_p4/ufK9EXw6x1cesJnXNK8rayhenbym5LZggCLcBGAs/s320/avatar-2155431_960_720.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
It's been a year since I've posted, and only once in 2015... how time flies! I was sharing with a friend my favorite podcasts and thought I could share here.<br />
<br />
<ul data-setdir="false" dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1466886916814_122016" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: verdana, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 2px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 40px;">
<li id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1466886916814_122015" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><b id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1466886916814_122419" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><a href="http://www.dailytechnewsshow.com/" target="_blank">Daily Tech News Show</a></b> (DTNS) -- I've been following the host, Tom Merritt for 10 years. He's excellent. If you only have time for 1 podcast, this is the one.</li>
<li id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1466886916814_122015" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><b id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1466886916814_122420" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><a href="https://serialpodcast.org/" target="_blank">Serial</a></b> -- Spin-off from This American Life (below). There have been 2 seasons. Each is a story. I would highly recommend listening to both seasons. </li>
<li id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1466886916814_122015" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><b id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1466886916814_122421" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><a href="http://www.thisamericanlife.org/podcast" target="_blank">This American Life</a></b> -- Big variety; some better than others. The host Ira Glass is excellent. </li>
<li id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1466886916814_122015" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><b id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1466886916814_122433" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><a href="https://twit.tv/shows" target="_blank">TWiT</a></b> -- This is a network of Podcasts. The quality varies. The founder, Leo Leporte should be recognized as the person who pushed podcasts to be more mainstream. I've been to their studios in Petaluma, CA. Try these:</li>
<ul data-setdir="false" dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1466886916814_122276" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; margin: 2px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 40px;">
<li id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1466886916814_122015" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">This Week in Tech. This was the original show that started the network.</li>
<li id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1466886916814_122015" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">Tech News Today. Started by Tom Merritt (DTNS).</li>
<li id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1466886916814_122015" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">The Tech Guy. Syndication of Leo's radio show.</li>
<li id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1466886916814_122015" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">Security Now. Deep technical -- if you like this stuff, the host Steve Gibson is the best.</li>
<li id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1466886916814_122015" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">Triangulation. Interviews with current experts in the tech field.</li>
<li id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1466886916814_122015" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><i id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1466886916814_122434" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">there are several more, too</i>.</li>
</ul>
<li id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1466886916814_122386" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><b><a href="https://art19.com/shows/vertical" target="_blank">The Vertical Podcast with Woj</a>.</b> If you like basketball, Woj is highly respected NBA writer. Not the best radio voice, but well worth the time.<br />[** I currently work for Yahoo, where Adrian Wojnarowski is also employed, though our jobs are unrelated.]</li>
</ul>
Chris Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09035433827373014702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26496923.post-91902923958138406062015-05-22T10:11:00.002-07:002019-04-04T10:22:14.211-07:00When you need two VLOOKUPS together<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IxRGTzDG3IY/XKY9P2i6gVI/AAAAAAAA_qA/ZeUs0bytAtEIvYIkDrNOMmJlbpjW5dNGACLcBGAs/s1600/accounting-1928237_960_720.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="719" data-original-width="960" height="239" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IxRGTzDG3IY/XKY9P2i6gVI/AAAAAAAA_qA/ZeUs0bytAtEIvYIkDrNOMmJlbpjW5dNGACLcBGAs/s320/accounting-1928237_960_720.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
VLOOKUP is a quick and easy way to return a value from a bunch of rows, by matching a single value. But once you need to match two values, all of sudden things become a bit more difficult.<br />
<br />
One solution is to concatenate the two cells in the source and lookup tables. Another is to leverage INDEX and MATCH.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<pre>=<b>INDEX</b>(<b>E2:E1000</b>,<b>MATCH</b>(1,(<b>C:C</b>=<b>A2</b>)*(<b>D:D</b>=<b>B2</b>),0),0)</pre>
</blockquote>
When entering this formula, because it's an array formula, you must enter it by using <b>CTRL</b>-<b>SHFT</b>-<b>Enter</b>, instead of just <b>Enter</b>.<br />
<br />
Here's how this works:<br />
<ul>
<li>The MATCH syntax is <pre><b>MATCH</b>(lookup_value, lookup_array, [match_type])</pre>
where match type is 0 = exact, 1 is less than, and -1 is greater than. When the match occurs, it will return the relative position of the match within the range.</li>
<li>In our MATCH formula, it's looking for an exact match to 1 (lookup_value = 1).</li>
<li>If the value of A2 is found in column C, a value of 1 is returned, otherwise, a 0 is returned.</li>
<li>Likewise for the value of B2 in column D.</li>
<li>When multiplied together, if a matching value in columns C and D on the same row match the values from A2 and B2, then a 1 is returned, else we get a 0 (lookup_array).</li>
<li>The INDEX syntax is <pre><b>INDEX</b>(array, row_num, [column_num])</pre>
</li>
<li> When MATCH returns a value of the matching row, we get the value in column E for the corresponding row.</li>
</ul>
With this formula, if you needed to add a 3rd or even more cell matches, you could just extend the multiplication technique.<br />
<ul>
</ul>
Chris Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09035433827373014702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26496923.post-43747864583876131792014-08-09T14:39:00.000-07:002019-04-04T10:25:36.752-07:00Columns side-by-side or stacked -- CSS to adjust for screen width<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rkjblWmyvH4/XKY-C_z09jI/AAAAAAAA_qM/pByEKOA-CGgf7AGHFHNtAotlKgymSkPAgCLcBGAs/s1600/programming-3201149_960_720.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="960" height="180" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rkjblWmyvH4/XKY-C_z09jI/AAAAAAAA_qM/pByEKOA-CGgf7AGHFHNtAotlKgymSkPAgCLcBGAs/s320/programming-3201149_960_720.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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I recently had to brush up on my CSS skills to develop a solution where two buttons would appear side-by-side unless the viewport was less than 480 pixels, in which case they should then display stacked. Through a bit of research, I found a couple of solutions. When I tried to implement the solutions as presented, the buttons didn't appear side-by-side, but instead on separate rows -- I'm sure something I must have overlooked, but nevertheless, I, therefore, came up with my own modified solution.<br />
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My particular example used 3 columns -- the middle just for space, which could be done with padding and/or margin. The key is using "@media." By default the widths of the columns were all set for 100% -- configured for stacking. When the screen was 480 pixels or larger, using "@media" the widths are adjusted 45%, 10%, and 45%. If you're not sure what each of these CSS properties does for you, try searching "css [property]" such as "<a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=css+clear&oq=css+clear" target="_blank">css clear</a>" and click on the link for <a href="http://www.w3schools.com/" target="_blank">w3schools</a> -- usually the first or second response.<br />
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This should be enough to get you going. Depending on your use you may need to do further work, so when you're on the 480+ pixel screen, you're not consuming all available width.<br />
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<h2>
Class definitions</h2>
.mySection {<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>clear: both;<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>padding: 0px;<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>margin: 0px;<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>zoom:1; /* For IE 6/7 */<br />
}<br />
<br />
.mySection:before {<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>content:"";<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>display:table;<br />
}<br />
.mySection:after {<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>content:"";<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>display:table;<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>clear:both;<br />
}<br />
<br />
.myGroup {<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>display: block;<br />
}<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
.grid_1of3, .grid_2of3, .grid_3of3 {<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>width:100%;<br />
}<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
.grid_2of3 {<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>height:10px;<br />
}<br />
<br />
@media only screen and (min-width: 480px) {<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>.myGroup {<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>display: inline;<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>}<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>.grid_1of3,<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>.grid_3of3 {<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>width:45%;<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>}<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>.grid_2of3 {<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>width:10%;<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>}<br />
}<br />
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<h2>
HTML code</h2>
<pre><code><div class="mySection" style="text-align:center;">
<div class="myGroup grid_1of3"><img src="first_btn.png" border="0" /></div>
<div class="myGroup grid_2of3"> </div>
<div class="myGroup grid_3of3">< img src="second_btn.png" border="0" /></div>
</div>
</code></pre>
Chris Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09035433827373014702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26496923.post-24825532640180253132014-06-16T10:29:00.001-07:002019-04-04T10:28:35.366-07:00Comcast will use your service to offer WiFi to other customersYes, you heard that right! If you're a Comcast customer and you rent a cable internet modem from them, then it has a separate wireless channel that other Comcast customers can use. This means as a Comcast customer, you can surf the Internet from any neighborhood where Comcast has an install base.<br />
<br />
While in theory I like the flexibility as a Comcast customer to get WiFi anywhere (<a href="https://customer.comcast.com/help-and-support/internet/about-xfinity-wifi-internet/" target="_blank">Xfinity WiFi Hotspots</a>), in practice I'm not too pleased.<br />
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<h3>
Why I'm not pleased.</h3>
<ul>
<li>I pay Comcast to have their Internet service, which enables this capability.</li>
<li>I pay another $8 to rent their modem, which is also required for this capability.</li>
<li>I was never asked; my account was opted-in.</li>
<li>If I have an issue with my connection, I have to hold a long time (typically), and if something is wrong at my end, I have to pay for them to correct, yet again Comcast benefits from my service working.</li>
<li>If you live in an apartment complex, Comcast advertises your apartment complex on the list of <a href="http://wifi.comcast.com/" target="_blank">available hotspots</a> (mine shows up).</li>
<li>Unless you have Comcast, if you want more than the guest pass allows (see below), Comcast is making money from this service, yet isn't passing it back to its customers that make it possible.</li>
<li>It has the potential to slow down connectivity for all of us on the same Comcast Headend. Note, it shouldn't slow you down specifically, unless the headend itself is congested. Comcast claims a separate 6 Mhz channel is used.</li>
</ul>
<div>
There may be another benefit beyond flexibility for you. If you have friends and relatives visiting, and they're Comcast customers, they can use for free and not consume your data -- it seems Comcast caps data at 250 GB per month. If your friends or family don't have Comcast, they can still use it as a guess, twice for up to an hour in a 30 day period.</div>
<div>
<br />
<h3>
What can we do about it?</h3>
</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Dump Comcast. I know this can be difficult because for most of us the only other option is a much slower DSL connection.</li>
<li><a href="http://20somethingfinance.com/how-to-replace-a-comcast-modem-with-your-own/" target="_blank">Replace the Comcast modem</a> (<a href="http://www.slideshare.net/cooltechnology/return-your-comcastcablemodemsavemoneygofaster" target="_blank">more info here</a> and <a href="http://www.ehow.com/how_5873445_replace-comcast-modem.html" target="_blank">here</a>) with one of your own.</li>
<li>Figure out how to opt-out -- I looked through my account options and couldn't find it.</li>
<li>Write Comcast and your congressman. This, of course, is a slow process, but worth doing.</li>
<li>If you're not already rebooting your cable modem on a frequent basis like I am, do it just for fun and kick-off anyone who might be connected. Also, be sure to turn it off when you're not at home.</li>
</ul>
<div>
<br />
<h3>
If Comcast was to make a few changes, I might be more amenable.</h3>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Ask me -- no auto-opt-in.</li>
<li>Offer me free onsite service -- if the service is failing for me, it's also failing for any other Comcast customer who wants to use the service via my rented modem.</li>
<li>Ah, rented huh? The modem should not have a rental fee.</li>
</ul>
<div>
I don't think any of these things are unreasonable, yet when you're already recognized as one of the worst companies to do business with and you have a virtual monopoly, Comcast has no incentive to be reasonable.</div>
</div>
<div>
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<div>
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Chris Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09035433827373014702noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26496923.post-35120835442347019902014-05-22T12:35:00.000-07:002019-04-04T10:30:21.541-07:00Firefox Status Bar gone missing? Let's bring it back!With the release of Firefox 29, the Status Bar workaround no longer worked. I don't recall when it stopped displaying, but now there's no option. I found a <a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/status-4-evar/" target="_blank">handy add-on</a> that brings back the Status Bar, <a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/status-4-evar/" target="_blank">Status-4-Evar</a>, so my other add-ons display again.<br />
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<br />Chris Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09035433827373014702noreply@blogger.com0