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 'Rest of the Mac Web' survey
Thu, Nov 29 '01 at 02:14PM • from: robg |
Dan Knight of lowendmac.com sent me an email yesterday noting that macosxhints will be included on their "Rest of the Mac Web Survey." This is a survey of 30 to 40 sites that were not on their "Best of the Mac Web Survey". Although I'm not much into polls or popularity contests (so you won't see a permanent link about this survey on the site), I figure this is a good chance to help spread the word about the site. The results will also determine which sites are included on their next "Best of the Mac Web Survey" in spring of 2002.
Starting today, you can vote for macosxhints on lowendmac.com's Rest of the Mac Web Survey voting page. For full information on the poll, visit the survey information page. Voting ends December 7th.
Thanks to lowendmac for hosting the survey, and thanks to those of you who participated in their 'Best of the Mac Web Survey' and wrote-in macosxhints (for that's how we wound up on the follow-up survey).
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Headline hints and other site changes
Sat, Nov 24 '01 at 02:15PM • from: robg |
I've spent some time over the last couple of days tweaking the site a bit.
The first change is that I've removed the "### hints" label from each of the categories listed in the Topics box. This change saves 12 database calls for every page served, which should help with the page loading speed.
Second, I went back and deleted a number of old "Help Request" and "Site News" entries, again in the interest of reducing database access time.
Finally, the last change is the completion (about a year after I started it!) of the Headline Hints layout. This is a headlines-only view of the site, and allows you to quickly scan either the whole site or any particular category. You switch into and out of headline mode with the "Switch to:" link in the "Topics" box at top left of the screen.
Thanks to Steve M. for the prodding needed to finish the headline-view page. Please let me know if you find any glitches, especially in the headline hints area.
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If you can read this...
Wed, Nov 21 '01 at 01:32PM • from: robg |
... it means we're back!! Sorry for the downtime. No excuses for this one - it was completely my fault. Suffice it to say that if one doesn't renew one's domain name, bad things happen (sigh).
And for our U.S. readers, have a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving holiday! Be thankful for all you have and give a moment of thought to those who are no longer with us this year. After I catch up with this morning's queue, I'll be spending the day with family and friends, but the site will be back to normal operations tomorrow.
-rob.
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4 comments
[Latest 11/22 10:16AM]
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Links page updated
Wed, Nov 14 '01 at 10:30AM • from: robg |
I took some time last night and greatly improved (I hope!) the links page. It's still a large page, but it's now much easier to read. The next step will be to move all the individual links to a sub-page by category, but that's down the road a bit.
If you haven't visited the links page lately, there are now nearly 100 links to OS-X related information. It takes a bit of time to load (hence my desire to split it a bit more), but it's now hopefully easier to use than it was previously.
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MacOSXHints celebrates its first birthday!
Sun, Nov 4 '01 at 08:55PM • from: robg |
 That small image to the left is the official MacOSXHints birthday card - click here for the full size (caution - 200kb!) version. For those of you that don't want to download a large image, here's what the card says:November 4th, 2001: The MacOSXHints Birthday Card!
[The hint pictured is the first post on the site, which was published on November 4th, 2000 at 8:26pm]
Thank you to everyone who has shared their knowledge with the MacOSXHints readership - 804 hints and 2,918 comments were published this year. Wow!
And a special THANK YOU! to those who have donated to support the site financially and help keep it ad-free. Your assistance is greatly appreciated. It's been a complicated transition year for Mac users, and I appreciate everything I've learned about the Mac, UNIX, and OS X from everyone during the year. I often times think I learn more from this site than anyone else ;-).
Read the rest for a bit more about the future of the site and some interesting stats from the first year.
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Read the rest... (195 words) •
3 comments
[Latest 11/06 07:58PM]
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The MacOSXHints FAQ
Tue, Oct 30 '01 at 12:31AM • from: robg |
The MacOSXHints Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Read the rest of this article if you'd like to know the answers to the following questions about macosxhints:- What is the purpose of the MacOSXHints website?
- What software do I need to make these hints work?
- I submitted a Help Request, and it never appeared. Where did it go?
- I submitted a hint, and it was never published. Where did it go?
- Can I submit tips and comments without registering?
- Why haven't you responded to my email?
- Why can't I get the registration/login to work?
- Will the site work without cookies?
- Can't you change the site to fully function without cookies?
- What will you do with my information if I register?
- How many people work for MacOSXHints?
- Is this your full-time job?
- Why aren't there any banner ads?
- How can I help support MacOSXHints?
- How long will MacOSXHints be online?
If you have additional questions that are not addressed in the above list, please email me directly and I'll add the most popular questions to the next FAQ ... read the rest of the article for the answers to the FAQ.
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Read the rest... (1177 words) •
2 comments
[Latest 10/31 08:36AM]
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New tips and final thoughts on last week...
Mon, Sep 17 '01 at 02:29PM • from: robg |
I've posted a hint and a few help requests which came in over the weekend, and you may have noticed that the stock quote has been replaced with donation information for the Red Cross. This is the only lasting change you'll notice on the site regarding the events of last week, but I will be leaving it up for the forseeable future as a reminder of what has happened and the continuing need for assistance.
As for the comments regarding the picture I posted earlier...first, the photographer (Thomas E. Franklin) is on staff of The Record, and they have a larger image available, although it is still low-res. For higher resolution versions, you'd probably have to contact the paper directly.
As for the comment that political statements of any sort do not belong on this site, and that the image of the American flag being raised in the debris was, in fact, a staged political image ... the image is not staged. Read Thomas Franklin's first-person account of the image capture for yourself, but it was not a 'set shot' of any kind. Second, I am an American citizen, and that particular image grabbed at my heart strings and captured the essence of the American spirit. Yes, I'm aware of the relative importance of thinking globally and non-regionally, but there's no denying my heritage nor my feelings about the events of September 11th. I'm sorry if anyone found the image to be political, but I do not regret deciding to publish it.
Finally, this is not a political site, nor do I have any desire for it to become one, which is why I'm getting back to the business of posting hints and tips on using Mac OS X, while keeping the victims and their relatives in my thoughts. 10.1 is due out shortly, and with it, a whole slate of new and interesting things to work with ... watch this space for new hints and how-to's once 10.1 hits the streets!
-rob.
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3 comments
[Latest 09/18 12:21PM]
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macosxhints turns 0.5!
Sat, May 5 '01 at 01:00PM • from: robg |
It only seems fitting with the 500th posting to the site to mark the passing of the six-month anniversary (as of today!) of macosxhints. In that time, the response has been tremendous - we now have nearly 2,000 registered users, roughly 100,000 page views per month, and somewhere around 20gb of monthly data transfer! Wow.
A big thank-you to everyone who has contributed their tips and comments to the system, and a very heartfelt THANKS! to all those who have donated to the ongoing costs of the site.
I'm still looking for a new hosting provider, and have one or two potentials with whom I'm trying to finalize the arrangements. Once the move is done, I'm going to add a true tech support forum board to the site - that's the number one project on my to-do list.
Again, thanks to everyone for reading and contributing their knowledge over the last six months. I've learned more about OS X, UNIX, and Macs than I ever would have guessed possible in that short time frame, thanks to the macosxhints community. I can't wait to see what the next six months brings!
-rob griffiths
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2 comments
[Latest 05/08 05:56PM]
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OS X Benchmarks updated
Thu, May 3 '01 at 03:52PM • from: robg |
I have updated the benchmark results for the G4/733 running 10.0.2. I think my system needs a bit of prebinding tweaking, as my application launch times were mostly slower than 10.0.1, which doesn't seem right -- I'll experiment this weekend and see if I can't improve things a bit. Classic, however, is notably faster in task execution and (not benchmarked, but obvious) in application launching. And iTunes ripping speeds have increased from 4-5x on average to 6-7x on average, plus (of course) the burning ability. Overall, I'm quite happy with the update.
I've also added a permanent link to my introductory OS X Guide in the right-hand box, including a version number (currently 1.0). When a new version is uploaded, I'll update the version number in the box; this should make keeping track of updates easier. With any luck, version 1.1 should be out this weekend. I've added quite a bit, and thanks to all who contributed their suggestions!
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The future of macosxhints.com...
Sun, Apr 8 '01 at 12:23AM • from: robg |
The macosxhints.com site has taken off, far faster and bigger than I ever would have imagined. As of today, there are nearly 1,100 registered users, pulling nearly 700mb of data per day from the site. This led me to post a message late last night concerning the future direction of the site (you can read the original post in the remainder of this article). Since I have no revenue streams, the costs of maintaining this growing site were looking a bit daunting.
I asked for help and suggestions, and featured a poll offering some alternatives for the future direction of the site. I was amazed to wake up this morning to a number of emails with positive feedback and great suggestions, and over 35 responses to the poll in about five hours' of night time. Thanks to you, the macosxhints readers, I now have several good leads for new providers with substantially lower costs and unmetered bandwidth, which will alleviate my number one issue. A number of you have also donated to help cover the costs of running the site, which I greatly appreciate.
Based on all the input I've received, the future looks good for macosxhints.com. Read the rest of this article if you'd like to see what's going to happen here in the near future (summary - nothing bad!), as well as the story I posted last night.
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Read the rest... (1209 words) •
11 comments
[Latest 04/14 09:25PM]
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