Mark's Ignores Website Bugs

It's hard to understand why Mark's, a large Canadian clothing company, would have a web store Marks.com so poorly coded that I could not use it to order the colour I wanted. Then they ignored me when I told them. It's easy to understand why they have to sell off their clothing at fire sale prices... If people can't use the Mark's website properly, let's face it, most won't complete orders that are this wonky! I just gritted my teeth and forged ahead.

After I received my order (wrong colour), I took the time to document the problems via Marks.com. I can't include their reply, but it's just a form letter! telling me to "contact our Web Order team at estore.support@marks.com" or phone "1-800-663-6275 Extension 7500". Really?  Why can't the person who answers these messages forward them to the appropriate department like EVERY OTHER BUSINESS? So Mark's wants to ignore customer complaints?  The result is posts to this blog, twitter and Facebook!  Caveat Emptor

Email sent to Mark's Work's Wearhouse on March 19, 2013:

---

From: patdrummond@gmail.com
Date: 3/19/2013 12:49:48 PM
To: customer.service@marks.egain.net
Subject: Web order problems

Your website has problems with colours and prices. 
The page for knit dress (3DJGDHFB2-780) is shown in attached photo for this link:  www.marks.com...

1. The first photo that appears is the colour I wanted - light beige-white heather mix - but it does not appear on the list of colours.

2. Clicking on onyx heather you see a tiny swatch of mixed gray-white -- the dress shown is bordeaux.
I ordered onyx heather but when it arrived it was a flat gray!!
Clicking "Neutral twist" you see a gray-white swatch but the photo shows a flat tan colour dress.

3. The cross-out price shown is $19.99. The dress arrived today with a tag $79.99. Quite a difference.

My order was # ...
--
Patricia Drummond,
  {address, phone}

Parks Canada determined to kill the Rideau Canal

New Fees proposed for Federal Canals is from my other blog "Boating in Canada News".

Update May 2013: Canal fees have been frozen for 3 years, giving the government lots of time to come up with a new governance model that can keep the heritage canals functioning without destroying the economic regions that have grown up around them.  Boating in Canada News

After shortened canal hours for this year, Parks Canada now propose to triple lock and dockage fees over this year and next. They must think tripling national park fees would cause too much noise so they pick on canals and the

World Heritage Site, in particular.

Would you stop at a lockstation in your fishing boat if tying up for lunch cost $20? What 30-footer would pay $1080 to cruise the Rideau canal round trip? Would that boater pay $60 to dock overnight  - they throw in toilets and a picnic table for that. I predict that in 2014, 75% of the boats will decide not to cruise the Rideau Canal. That results in less income for the canal, not more. What were they thinking?

The economic fallout all along the waterway will be serious. And without boats locking, there will be nothing for tourist to see. The Rideau Waterway will no longer be a "working" canal, and will definitely lose its status as a World Heritage Site. At that point Parks Canada will justify laying off canal staff and their office staff who manage heritage canals.

Once the canal and the spiderweb of tourism and business is destroyed, there will be no way to restore it.

Email your objections with reasons to droits2013.2013fees@pc.gc.ca by February, 2013.

Parks Canada: User Fees Proposal - Public Consultation
Ottawa Citizen editorial: Sinking canal usage
Ottawa Citizen: Rideau Canal structure would almost triple fees
Facebook page: Save the Rideau and St. Lawrence
"Boating in Canada News"

Christmas bird

A young man named Fred received a parrot as a gift. The parrot had a bad attitude and an even worse vocabulary.  Every word out of the bird's mouth was rude, obnoxious and laced with profanity.  Fred tried and tried to change the bird's behaviour by setting an good example by speaking politely, but to no avail.

Finally, Fred was fed up and he yelled at the parrot. The parrot yelled back. Fred shook the parrot and the parrot got angrier and even more rude.  Fred, in desperation, grabbed the bird and put him in the freezer. For a few minutes the parrot squawked and kicked and screamed.  Then, suddenly there was total quiet.  Fearing that he'd hurt the parrot, Fred quickly opened the door to the freezer.

The parrot calmly stepped out and said, "I believe I may have offended you with my rude language and actions.  I'm sincerely remorseful for my inappropriate actions and I intend to do everything I can to correct my rude and unforgivable behaviour."

Fred was stunned at the change in the bird's attitude.

As he was about to ask the parrot what had made such a dramatic change in his behaviour, the bird spoke-up, very softly, "May I ask what the turkey did?"

_,.+-^*~*^-+.,_,.+-^*~*^-+.,_

Merry Christmas

_,.+-^*~*^-+.,_,.+-^*~*^-+.,_ 

Rogers PVR formware update (Sept/2012) causes serious problems

In mid-September 2012, all Rogers PVRs (Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8300HD ) received an automated firmware update. Updates are "pushed" to your PVR and change how your equipment operates -- you have no way to stop these updates.  Replacing the hard drive was not a solution. (newer PVR model 8642HD has similar problems.)

UPDATE Oct. 24, 2012: 8300HD firmware update began rolling out 6 weeks after the problems began - better than 2010!

After the September 2012 update, the PVR hard drive cycles on and off every 5 minutes or so when it's turned "off". This activity will shorten its life considerably. This problem was named HSUD (hard drive spinning up & down) in online forums during the last firmware fiasco in the fall of 2010. That problem was not fixed until May 2011. (The 'fix' was to keep the hard drive spinning all the time.) The first post in forum #3 below lists other problems that started with the September 2012 update.

If you own your equipment rather than rent it, you will want to protect the hard drive from early failure by unplugging it when it not in use or keep it turned on all the time. You may also need to schedule a recording from 1-6 am to prevent it from automatically entering "sleep" mode (manually schedule an SD channel with 1-day retention uses least storage.)

Everyone with a cycling hard drive should call Rogers tech support 1-888-764-3771. Then tweet, blog, email your MP, MPP, CRTC and post online. Some online forums discussing the 8300HD problems:

1. HD PVR hard drive constantly spinning up (Msg #80 Sep/2012) http://communityforums.rogers.com..
2. PVR Drive Cycling http://www.dslreports.com..
3. New SARA Firmware 1.93.14.1 Discussions (SA8300HD) Summary in Post 1 http://www.digitalhome.ca..
4. New SARA Firmware 1.93.15.1 for SA8300HD Discussions - Summary in Post 1 http://www.digitalhome.ca..

Web designers - consider your readers

Why do website designers using gray text?

I'm puzzled by the large number of websites and blogs now using gray text colour  - especially since blogs often use themes designed by people who should know better. Text in any shade of gray is hard to read for most people.  In the last few years I have been wearing glasses to read so maybe I notice it more than those who don't need them. I guess web designers just can't seem to stop themselves from copying the latest thing - but gray text?! (I also find black backgrounds horrible to read in any colour text, but I digress.)
Easy Color Contrast Ratios

Why do website designers small font sizes?

In addition to odd colours, web designers have a love affair with "fixed" font sizes like this that they force on the poor visitors trying to read their websites. Most people don't even know they can change the font size used in their browser, so website designers force these small fonts so their (badly designed) websites will fit in the designer's screen. The designer should be forced to view their work on a 3-inch phone screen for a real-life test of their font choices. This crime is #5 on the Top 10 Mistakes in Web Design.  They should use 1em (100%) for general text to respect the reader's chosen viewing size in their browser. Read what the W3C says about fonts.

I assume even beginner courses in web design teach the basics of CSS styles, but students should also be taught the benefit of using relative (smaller, larger) or percentage (90%) font sizes. They should also be taught to resist the temptation to reduce sizes without a really good reason.

Since styles are normally contained in separate style sheets it should make it easier to change sizes - or even remove them. It might impress the customer looking at tiny text on a 24-inch monitor, but everyone else has to learn to enlarge the text to be able to read it at all. Those who don't know how to do this just leave - less than impressed by your website.

Small and gray text

If you combine gray colour and small size text styles together, the text becomes hard to read for many people.  The only thing that helps me to read some sites without grinding my teeth is a little toolbar button that toggles between website colours and my colours: black on white - like this text you are reading right now. 

The fact is, every person who visits your website has a different screen resolution, different system display options, different browsers with different settings. Each person will see a slightly different website from the one you are looking at. If you don't understand the effects of all these, then you should do some cross-platform testing. You will be surprised. Then you will start using styles that will work for everyone. Problems for people with real sight problems are the subject of another post (which I have not yet written).

2013-Jan-31:
Recently I reset my browser to "normal" font size. What an eye-opener.  Now I have to "reduce" the font size on websites just to view them properly.  The style they use actually works against a "normal" size. They expect everyone to set font size (do they?) The designers assume that what they see in their browser, is what everyone sees.  Scary.