Archive November 2009:
Today there's a lot of talk about duplicate content and SEO. What happens to your blog when a search engine crawls it and discovers the same blog post exists in a specific category archive, and on an own page? What happens to your e-commerce website when you've got products tagged with more than one tag? Duplicate content.
This creates problems for search engines - but there's a simple solution - canonical urls.
Canonical urls to the rescue
Canonical urls, or canonicalization as it also is called, helps you decide what address should be the standard address for specific content on your website. What you want to do is to start using a new link rel attribute: canonical.
Put the new link rel attribute in <head> and provide the default url for the specific content, like this:
<link rel="canonical" href="http://blog.dileno.com/archive/200907/going-english/" />
Read more about canonical urls in Google's webmaster blog.
Ever e-mailed code? Ever wanted to share code in an easy way, online? Look no further - here's 10 online tools for code hosting, making it easier than ever before to share code.
- Used particularly for .NET code
- Code formatting
- Tagging
- Member area
- Online source code editor
- Code formatting
- Code formatting
- Version control
- Admin possibilities
- Code formatting
- Version control
- Member area
- Code formatting
- Version control
- Admin possibilities
- Code formatting
- Tagging
- Version control
- Member area
- Code formatting
- Tagging
- Member area
- Code formatting
- Member area
- Code formatting
- Member area
Very often you add a namespace or register an assembly on top of an ASP.NET page, like this:
<%@ Page Language="C#"
AutoEventWireup="True"
CodeBehind="Default.aspx.cs"
Inherits="ProjectName._Default" %>
<%@ Import Namespace="System.IO" %>
<%@ Import Namespace="ProjectName.Classes" %>
<%@ Register Assembly="ProjectName" Namespace="ProjectName.Controls" TagPrefix="cc" %>
It works to do once or twice, but when you need to add these namespaces and controls on several different pages, it quickly becomes maintenance hell.
What to do? Use Web.Config instead.
You just have to declare your namespaces and controls in the system.web section, like this:
<system.web>
<pages>
<namespaces>
<add namespace="System.IO" />
<add namespace="ProjectName.Classes" />
</namespaces>
<controls>
<add assembly="ProjectName" namespace="ProjectName.Controls" TagPrefix="PN" />
</controls>
</pages>
</system.web>
Then you will be able to write code like
<%=Toolbox.FormatHtml("....") %>
instead of code like
<%=ProjectName.Classes.Toolbox.FormatHtml("....") %>
A clear improvement. You also won't need to register your controls everywhere to use them.
If you haven't been using this feature (it already came in ASP.NET 2.0!) it's time now!
There's always a load of things that need your attention at work. Meetings are one of the single largest time consumers. Here are some quick tips on how you can be more productive during a work day by adjusting your agenda for meetings.
Reduce the number of meetings
Ask yourself if every meeting you're going to is that important. If no - try to say no thanks in a polite way to the meeting invitations. You'll probably get a chance to catch up on the important stuff communicated at the meeting anyway.
Reduce meeting time
Many meetings go beyond the schedule. What people probably don't know is there are great ways to reduce meeting time. How? Here's a simple list on how:
- Cut down on the social activities during the meeting
- Get to the point faster
- Be clear
I'm by no means a fan of withdrawing social activities at work, in fact I support social activities - but not during meetings - there are better forums than meetings for social activities.
Also, if you work agile using scrum, then you might know how a sprint meeting works. A sprint meeting is the scrum way of doing these so called status meetings. Here's how a scrum meeting might work:
- Meeting starts on time
- Meeting starts at the same place at the same time every day
- Meeting is short (5-10 minutes depending on the number of participants)
Schedule meetings smart
You can save time if you schedule meetings smart. The best way is if the meetings are adjacent to other events in your calendar. I've found out you get the most out of your work day if you schedule meetings like this:
- Early in the day
- At the end of the day
- Right before or after lunch
Why is this? It's because you free up your time during the rest of the day.
The single best productivity tips one can give you, is you should concentrate at one thing at a time, meaning you should do one task enough of the time it takes to get the task done.
If you do a task in between two meetings and there's not enough time for the task, then you wish you would've scheduled the meetings differently. Remember - schedule smart and save time.
Bonus tip - the Warren Buffet method
Warren Buffet, the world's richest man, has a method when it comes to scheduling meetings. He doesn't schedule meetings more than a day in advance. We don't really know if this is true, but if it is, then I think it's an interesting way to do it!
Your way?
I'm also interested in what you do to keep you more productive at work. Do you attend many meetings or do you try to avoid them? How do you avoid the meetings? Please share your thoughts!
I recently attended Swedish entrepreneur event 24 hour business camp, and it was great.
The goal with 24 hour business camp is to gather a number of entrepreneurs who should build web services (or mobile applications) in 24 hours. The goal is to get these web services to survive after the event, too.
This time we were 120 hard-working entrepreneurs in yakutas (Japanese wardrobes), armed with laptops and a high-flying spirit - all set to build their own, unique service.
We also were accompanied by sponsors Microsoft, Swedish media company Bonnier, Swedish buy and sell website Blocket, amongst others.
My team built an iPhone web app used for environment and media coverage. We even made it to Sweden's largest IT website IDG's first page.
I have to say this event all in all was a perfect example on what one can accomplish in 24 hours. I already look forward to the next event.
I hope other events like this will popup not only in Scandinavia, but also across the world - this is truly a great way to inspire and show what one can achieve in practically no time.
Thanks Yasuragi Hasseludden and Ted Valentin, who together with all participants made 24 hour business camp fun and memorable!
More on 24 hour business camp