Jessica Esper // Professional Web Developer

Condo for sale!

February 11th, 2008

As life has it, I scored a G-RRRRRRRRRRR-EAT new job. I love it so far and have been here for about a month now. Unfortunately for me, it’s located quite a bit farther from “home” than is feasible for the commute. So, I am selling my condo.

Located on the West-side outskirts of Lansing, in between Lansing and Grand Ledge, this 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom, second floor condo unit is one of a kind. Please tell all your friends and family. Visit www.townsenddrive312.com for more information and pictures of the place.

Posted in Life of a web designer

Quote of the day

December 26th, 2007

“If we can make the effort to care about cross-browser compatibility then we can make the effort to care about cross-person compatibility.”

Well, here I go again: “a glutton for self-induced punishment” it’s been heard echoed through the office more than once when I go on a tangent about accessibility. Apparently the websites we produce would be just fine without the extra effort but I do have to say that I would not sleep at night if that were the case. Not to mention, if I saw me on the street, I’d have to point out how ignorant I am being when it comes down to thinking “it’s ok for my site to be this way…after all, I can view it just fine.”

The truth is: it’s not ok! And on top of that, it makes me rather angry, as the OCD web developer that I am, that other web developers or business people find it to be just fine. May I remind you the purpose of a website? To reach a larger audience of people, give them easier access to your goods/services. For some people, it’s just not so. For some people, they are not given these opportunities because a web developer was too lazy to follow good coding practices, or because a business man didn’t want to spend the extra few bucks to pay the web developer to make sure it is indeed “accessible by all”. To you people, shame on you! After all, we won’t tolerate IE6’s 3 pixel bug or its lack of png support. We spend countless hours tweaking, hacking and otherwise manipulating our designs to perfection visually for the most asinine of browsers; why not spend an hour optimizing it for accessibility so a few more people can appreciate those many hours spent on IE6?

Tags: Accessibility, Mindful quotes
Posted in Accessibility, Life of a web designer

Google. Good or Evil?

December 26th, 2007

For years now I have been pretty loyal to Google. I love their services. They are always ahead of the game with their cool little apps and widgets, and from a web development standpoint, they seem to get what we (as developers) want to know about the web. Today I was purusing one of my favorite blogs (Googling Google > Garret Rogers > ZDNet.com) and received a chill down my spine when I read some shocking news about a cool service I have been using since I read Rogers’ blog about it, as well as referring all my friends to use: Goog-411.

In Rogers’ post, GOOG-411 isn’t what you think, it is pointed out that Google has started this, not as a service to help the public, but to better train their speech-to-text model by using many voices, inflections, accents, etc. of people calling this free 411 service.

Now, I’ve long argued against those that are determined that Google is out for evil purposes and once they know enough about you, they are bound to do horrible things. However, this type of behavior makes me question the intention. Personally, if you wanted my voice (in a database of thousands of others) to help better your services, I wouldn’t mind, IF YOU’RE UPFRONT with me about it; I might even think it’s rather cool that I can help out a company such as Google to better their services. I love the Goog411 service, and this news is not going to make me stop using it, BUT why would it be so horrible for Google to reveal their true intentions when a product such as this is released instead of months down the road. I mean in the long run, it helps everyone out. In exchange for a little bit of voice, you have another option to 411 service (instead of paying Verizon $1.75 per 411 call and another $1.75 to connect!).

I will also note that since I have been using it (maybe 6 months now), I have seen an improvement in the service itself. This means Google is making progress. It is a great (free) alternative to other 411 calls and I will continue to encourage friends/family to use it. I guess my point here is, why can’t you just tell us up front Google?

Tags: Goog-411, Google
Posted in Google, Life of a web designer

The Honda FCX

November 23rd, 2007

So, it seems these days everyone is on the bandwagon for a “greener” earth. I have to say, I too bought into the idea and purchased a gas/electric hybrid car from Honda two years ago. I love it! I get awesome gas mileage and I get to brag about it on a daily basis! I thought for sure this would bury the American motor companies eventually, seeing as they are very focused, or so it seems, with the almighty SUV.

Shockingly, Chevy will be producing the Volt soon. From what I have read, you will be able to drive 40 miles on the electric engine before the gas engine kicks in. This is a pretty cool concept. However, the one downfall is that it has to be plugged in over night to recharge. Two things here: 1) What if you don’t have a cozy little garage with an outlet to plug your car into? and 2) Really you aren’t doing as much good for the earth as you possibly could here. By plugging it in, you are using electricity, which comes from a power plant, which burns coal, which pollutes the air. Now, I am not sure what the difference is of the carbon offset of this method vs. exhaust pollution and all that jargon here…but you are still indirectly polluting. Even with those questions and concerns in mind, I still feel it is a step in the right direction for GM/Chevy. I wonder why they don’t use the Honda model that is used in my car (unless there are patents for this, which there may very well be). My car regenerates itself anytime I break or coast. This eliminates the need to ever “plug it in”.

Anyways, onto the topic that I really started writing this blog post about…the Honda FCX, debuting summer of 2008 (in California only at first)! Honda’s first hydrogen-powered car. Now, living in mid-Michigan, the idea behind this seems very obsolete at the moment. There are no fueling stations for hydrogen anywhere that I know of, how do you fill up? Well, unlike GM/Chevy, Honda has taken their idea one step farther. They have not only partnered with a company to manufacture hydrogen fill-up stations to make them more available on the road, but they have also come up with an idea to give consumer’s the option to have a fill-up station at their own home. Looking over their concepts on their website, this still seems big and bulky, and if you lived in Michigan or any other place that got relatively cold, it may still have some challenges. Also, not to mention, there were no hints as to cost or how the fuel would be supplied to the actual in-home station. However, I believe this kind of forward-thinking will help propel the idea of a hydrogen-powered vehicle, at least until fill-up stations become more prominent, purely for the fact that as a consumer you have an option.

The car itself, will initially carry a $600/month leasing fee for a 3-year term. At first this seems a bit heavy, but it includes any maintenance that the car needs for those 3 years. Knowing how much Honda charges for service on my vehicle, I can only imagine what service would cost on the FCX, so some may be willing to pay a little extra for that on a monthly basis.

As for the American motor companies, I hope they take this as a challenge. Competition is only healthy in an industry and it will only push us to make our products better and even “greener” than before.

Tags: environment, green vehicles
Posted in Green Earth

Fall 2007 Reboot

November 9th, 2007

Well…here it is, the fall 2007 reboot of jessicaesper.com. I always like to keep things fresh around here and what better time to do it than with the changing of the seasons.

Keeping things fresh also means that I am applying any new knowledge that I have learned since the last time I rebooted. This version may not look much different than the last in ways of bells and whistles, however underneath it all, I have made a large effort in keeping the code clean. Although this is a blog powered by WordPress, there was still a decent amount of code manipulation that was necessary to get my design implemented within it. I like to think I did a pretty good job…if I do say so myself.

Tags: fall 2007 reboot, wordpress integration
Posted in Life of a web designer