Here’s a quick and painless way of getting rid of that annoying spam on your phone:  

1. If you don’t have a Gmail account yet, get one. I would suggest getting a good username that you’re comfortable with using as a default mobile address (if you choose not to use your Gmail account as your default address this trick will only be good for replying, not sending email). Luckily my Gmail address is what I prefer to use. 

2. Once you have your new Gmail account set up, log in and click the “Settings” link in the top right corner, next to your email account’s name.

3. Click on the “Accounts and Import” tab at the top.

4. There you will see the second option says “Send mail as:” Click the button labeled “Send mail from another address.”

5. When you hit this button a dialog box will pop up. Enter the name you wish to have as your reply name, as well as the email address you wish to send from then click “Next Step.”

6. Next click the radio button labeled “Send through _______.com SMTP servers and enter your information.

7. Next, a confirmation email will be sent to that email address with a code, enter that code in the “Verify” area.

8. Once verified, go to that account's settings and find the forwarding options and enter your new Gmail address.

9. Do this as many times as necessary to cover all of your accounts. 

10. Once this is all done all of your emails will forward to Gmail, utilizing their great spam filtering, removing it from your iPhone's non-existent spam filter.

11. Sync the phone with the one mobile account (you can label it iPhone Mail or whatever else will help you out) and no longer receive unwanted spam.

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Do you have any tricks to help with email issues on the iPhone?

Let us know if this works for you, or if you have any troubles with it. 

 Thanks for the read! 

Flexibility

Flexibility is the number one reason we use ExpressionEngine. Whereas other CMSes (such as Wordpress and Drupal) assume a basic structure like a blog or community, ExpressionEngine assumes very little and lets us take complicated wireframes and impossible designs and turn them into an easy-to-use site.

For example, take a look at our portfolio and specifically the Nomad Mobile Guides project. This is a very complicated page: you’ve got a large banner image, some project images, a description of the project and some related articles. Creating these things—especially the related articles—is typically an exercise in frustration, but with ExpressionEngine this is typical.

Getting those related articles to show up is a multi-step process, but it makes sense after you take a look at the steps.

1. First, you create the blog posts. The idea would be that you already made these in your day-to-day work anyways.
2. Either create or edit an existing project.
3. Find the area that says Related Articles.
4. Find the article that you want to show up (feel free to use the drop-downs and search box) on the project page and just drag it from the left to the right.

That’s it, that’s all it takes to get those related articles to show up on a project’s page. The best part? When you update the blog post down the road, it’ll update on the project page without you doing anything!

Security

Folks who have been using other CMSes (especially Wordpress) know that security is a big concern. It’s pretty easy to find a whole slew of sites that have been hacked into and covered in spam. ExpressionEngine has been a secure platform and there are several reasons for that.

Their release schedule produces a new build about every two months and a new release (1.x.x) every six months or so. It’s a slow, deliberate pace and they rigorously test these releases before we ever see them.

One of the big reasons Wordpress gets hacked as often as it does is because of something called XML-RPC, which lets you post to your blog or site from somewhere else—such as a desktop blog editor like MarsEdit. Now, ExpressionEngine offers the same functionality—the ability to remotely edit your blog posts and other content—but it’s not enabled by default, closing up what is typically a security risk.

Accountability

Accountability is a hidden gem of a feature. For the most part, this ‘feature’ gets glossed over and forgotten about, but it’s the reason we keep coming back to ExpressionEngine. Take a look at open-source CMSes, and there’s a whole slew of them: Wordpress, Drupal, Joomla, MODx, SilverStripe, Habari, the list goes on and on. One of the biggest issues with open-source CMSes is accountability: when something goes wrong who's accountable?. Sure, there are exceptions to this such as Drupal’s Acquia—the commercial support wing of Drupal—and you can always report the problem you’re having; but for the most part, if there aren’t enough people with the same problem, it’s up to us to fix it.

With ExpressionEngine, once you have a license, you’re given access to their support forum where a very active—and paid—support team descends upon your problem. I’ve found most problems get resolved within a week if not the same day.

Now that’s all fine and dandy, but with all of these CMSes you aren’t only using the CMS’s core features, you’re using plugins and add-ons; and there’s been several times where something I depend on working breaks and the original developer is nowhere to be seen. At that point it's up to me to fix my problem.

ExpressionEngine developers are a bit different. Granted, there are cases where the above scenario has played out with an ExpressionEngine add-on, but it happens a lot less often. Why’s that? There’s a good number of ExpressionEngine add-on developers that charge for their work and developers that charge are invested and accountable. If the add-on stops working all of a sudden, they’re there to support you and get it working again. (On a personal note, I’ve had one developer offer to log in to an in-development ExpressionEngine site, find the problem, fix it and let me know what was wrong. And that’s not an exception, this happens a lot more often then you’d think.) I get the feeling that they’re not just offering this level of support for the money, I think they truly care about what they’re doing and want happy and satisfied customers.

Answered Questions

I hope I’ve answered the question “Why ExpressionEngine?” for you. Between it’s flexibility, security and accountability, we’ve found our tool-of-choice. No longer do we have to push back on a feature because the CMS won’t let us do it. But I know that there still may be some lingering questions out there, so if you still have any unanswered questions about why we use ExpressionEngine, please let me know and I’ll try to answer them.

• AFFINITY for the brand and INTEREST in the subject are the two most important factors in email participation.
• Users spend an average of 51 seconds reading a newsletter.
• 69% look forward to receiving at least one of their newsletters.
• Users read content as a form of personal address—anything you write should be directed specifically at them.
• Users hesitate to subscribe to newsletters because they already receive too much information, and are concerned about information overload.
• LISTEN TO YOUR GUT:  If you're really stumped for something interesting or compelling to write about, chances are your readers are tuckered out too.

Some User Pet Peeves

• Too-frequent mailings
• Irrelevant content 
• Unsolicited newsletters
• Ads that lead to sites with pop-ups

GUIDELINES

Things to think about with every email you send

• Does my subject line entice readers to open it?
• Am I making the most of my preview pane?
• Is it easy on the eyes?
• Does the message come through even if the images don't? Add descriptions to images (alt tags) so that users can still know about the images even if they are blocked.
• Does this email have a personal touch or does it feel like a "blast"?

Make content conversational, readable and compelling

• Strike a balance between more general information and insider scoop.  Your readers signed up for the newsletter - make them feel like they're "inside the organization".
• Include employee recommendations, favorite spots, etc.
• Offer something in the newsletter the reader can't get anywhere else - content that isn’t on your site or in your brochures, etc.
• Think about expanding content authors...  guest posts on newsletters are interesting because they provide different perspectives.

Make content easily scannable for your readers

• Feature prominent headlines
• Keywords should be in the first few words of a headline
• Go for impact rather than complexity...  they'll keep reading, we promise.
• Appealing campaigns make their appeals EARLY
• Too many campaigns bury the lead
• Group similar items together, like News & Announcements, Events
• Pull out common, desired information across content groups for sub headers.  For example for Events, use the Event Title as header, with dates & location as subheaders.
• Keep content short and use the website for discursive material
• Give your readers a teaser and make them click the link to read full details

Ensure content is timely/recent

• Think about when you send your emails out and when is the most likely time that these readers will actually read your newsletter. If possible, look at your stats to see how send times affect open and click through rates.
• Tuesday through Thursdays fare a little better than Monday or Friday due to full inboxes. 3:00 - 4:00 is a good time window to hit readers who may be reading at work- people are usually more receptive to a "distraction" during this timeframe so make sure to have you email delivered before then.

Subject Lines

• Use descriptive but short subject lines that entice readers to open the e-mail and distinguish this e-mail from spam
• Use A / B Testing to determine effective subject lines
• Good content often comes from bad- write the most boring subject line first and improve from there
• Consider a consistent newsletter title for easy recognizability
• The subject line is another form of identification for your email. Leverage the fact that the reader signed up for your email, not that you'll create a compelling enough subject line to trick them into opening in.  
• Inform but entice
• Avoid using words that could get your campaign filtered, such as FREE, HELP, PERCENT OFF, and REMINDER.  It's also best to avoid exclamation points - typically subjects framed as questions work better.
• Stick to 50 characters or less - 80 characters are ok if it's an active sentence
• Think of it as a newspaper headline

Layout

• First few inches of your e-mail is key (above the fold)
• At least 60% of your subscribers will see your email in a preview pane, therefore avoid large link groupings or images at the top of the page.
• Include your logo (but not too big)
• Include the content you want to emphasize most
• Things such as mission statements, taglines, regulatory info, etc. need to occupy cheaper real estate
• Beware of the side column, Readers may ignore a list of things in a side column—this is often used as ad space, and, if using a free webmail service, readers will already see a column of ads/sponsored links on the right.
• For your events, consider having a single link to a PDF that readers can print and keep
• Provide prominent links to Unsubscribe, Send to a friend, Contact Information (if they have questions), an Online Version, and JTHG’s website
• Provide sample eNewsletters on your website. This encourages users to subscribe because they can see what they'll get (and what they've missed).

Personalization

• Break newsletter down into smaller, targeted segments
• If including reader information is possible, consider personalizing with info other than last name
• Send out a welcome email and allow people to make selections on what topics interest them, where they live, etc.
• If possible, follow up with targeted email based on their click through activity.
• Go through subscriber lists and periodically send out emails to readers that haven't opened your emails in six months.  Sometimes in offering to remove them from your list, you re-spark an interest in your newsletter.  Ask them for feedback!

Statistics

• Keep them!
• Break newsletter up into trackable components and keep track of what works and what doesn't.
• Review statistics and revise subject lines, number of articles and width of header accordingly.
• Review time of delivery compared to open and click-through rates
• Review open rates by subject type - events type, calls to action, etc.
• Follow up click throughs with targeted emails if possible

If you'd like help with a specific email strategy, please contact Jessica Behal, ext 201.

Selecting Kuler in Photoshop CS4

I use Kuler all the time to explore color themes for comps and in developing branded colors for clients.  Getting those colors into Photoshop or Flash has always been a clunky export then import kind of process.  Come to find out that Kuler has a direct extension window within these CS4 applications.  Kind of makes sense, but a lot of designers overlook it or simply don't know its there and it can be extremely helpful.  

Kuler can be found in Photoshop for example under the "Window" menu item, then select "Extensions" and Kuler.  A Kuler palette will open up and after a short load the highest rated color themes will come up just as if you went to Kuler's site.  

Double-clicking on a theme brings up the color wheel (right) and several options for tweaking that theme.   From here you have all the functionality and control to edit the theme, create a custom theme, or load it into your swatch palette.  You can also double-click an individual color to load it as the primary color in photoshop as well as get its RGB and HEX value.  

Pretty simple and straightforward but knowing its available might save you some time. Enjoy.

Today, our work for the International Reporting Project (IRP) was the subject of an article by Z. Kelly Queijo (@zkellyq) at Handshake 2.0 as part of their weekly Rackspace Tech Showcase series. Thanks to Kelly for the kind words, as well as to everyone at Handshake 2.0 and Rackspace Email and Apps for the forum.

Here's an excerpt from the article:

At NewCity, every project begins with the end-user in mind. For the IRP, the end-user included editors, journalists, as well as readers. According to Melissa Beaver, User Experience (UX) project lead, “In our research for this project, we found that the author was as important as the content. People read a news blog because they like the blogger. The subject is the primary draw but it's a personal connection that keeps them reading.”

Here's a link to the entire article.

Dave Watson jumping riders in the Tour De France

Everyone has seen those awesome multi-freeze frame photos of athletes doing their high-speed moves like this one of Dave Watson. Dave pulled off a stunt during the Tour de France, in the Alp d'Huez stage. He waited for the peloton to round the corner in the mountains and proceeded to literally jump over them. The good news is that he wasn’t arrested and thrown into jail. The bad news is that he didn’t land it.

I’ve always thought that the process to make a photo like this was long and arduous, requiring a film camera exposing multiple times on the same frame. But if that were the case, wouldn’t the photo turn out overexposed? The guys at Adobe answer the question. In Adobe Bridge CS4 there is an option called “Photomerge” that makes the process of creating an amazing action photo easy as buying tainted meat from McDonalds.

Open Bridge and locate a few photos that are fragments of a cohesive whole. I’ll use something practical from a productivity standpoint. In the office we’ll often brainstorm and fill a dry-erase board with boatloads of information that ends up as a coherent sitemap or a straightforward concept for the operation of a function we’re implementing on a site, ect.

The downside to this is that the whiteboard needs erasing, so we take photos of the board, but as larger sections so that the writing isn’t illegible on screen. Before we pieced together the photos in Photoshop, but only with limited success. After all, there are sections where the white balance is different, not to mention the other automatic corrections such as exposure, ISO and aperture. With Bridge’s Photomerge option, all of this is fixed on the fly.

Best of all, once you select the photos you want, it only takes three clicks of the mouse to use it. Here’s how it works.

Open Bridge and locate the files you want to merge. Here’s mine:

Select your images then go to Tools > Photostop > Photomerge

This dialog will open up in Photoshop:

I always select the Auto Layout option.

Click OK and watch the magic. Here is a final version of what Photoshop produced with a little Level correction.

We looked for seems and found nothing. Here is a screen shot of the layers and masks that Photoshop produced:

After seeing the automated attention to detail in the masks, I felt like a weight that has never had to be carried by me is no longer a looming ominous threat. Could you imagine having to do the job that that little trick just did?

Here are a few more images that caught my attention while searching around:

Growing up racing BMX has obviously influenced my genre of taste.

I’d love to hear if any of you have used this tool, if you’ve seen cool pictures you think have been created successfully, and if you haven’t used it, how you will plan to use it now that I’ve bestowed this piece of wisdom that was once imparted to me.

Thanks for the read!