Recursive

Tag: Musings

  • Form Validation Errors – don’t embarrass your users

    Form Validation Errors – don’t embarrass your users

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    Does it seem fair to scold the user for the errors they make while filling in a form? Are they even “errors”? The term “Error” and the usual associated red colouring is remarkably negative. Almost like accusing the user of spilling blood by making a typo or misunderstanding a field’s intended purpose. Okay, perhaps that’s…

  • The NatWest Card Reader, part deux (I didn’t change banks)

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    My last post on the subject (a fraction over 10 years ago!) garnered a lot of comments for what was essentially just a rant, and it turned out to be somewhat unfounded and sensationalistic. I’m still with NatWest, their online banking is still very good and their app is the best, and I’ve rarely had to…

  • You get what you pay for…

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    PC World, TechGuys (PC Service Call), Parceline – One of them screwed up. The fianceé’s laptop died on a Thursday. It would POST, but it would simply restart itself before Windows started loading. It’s a Vista machine so I tried to use its self-repair options, but to no avail. I took it to work to…

  • NatWest Anti-Fraud Team: Impressive

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    Despite my reservations regarding NatWest’s Card Reader, I wish to voice how impressed I was with their Anti-Fraud Team. DreamHost’s incredible billing blunder resulted in some peculiar charges to my card. So when I was trying to pay what I actually owed, it was denied by the issuer. I tried a few times (just in…

  • BBC Homepage Beta Using jQuery

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    The BBC Beta Homepage is using jQuery, but unfortunately it’s ugly. I should qualify that – I think it’s a good move to make the homepage more personalisable, but does it have to look so Web2.0? Big text was a fad a year ago, but it’s too informal for an internationally recognised and respected news…

  • BT (‘British’ Tele-extortion) Woes

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    BT have me in a head-lock. I get my phone and broadband service from them, and am charged, on average, £30 per month. This is not overly excessive, but I wanted to reduce it somehow, since I’ve been made better offers by Virgin Media. After digging through the website after looking at my online (paperfree)…

  • 3 / Skype Marketing Technique

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    I was recently contacted by Matt of 3mobilebuzz.com and offered the chance to trial a pair of 3 (the network) Skype (the VoIP company) mobile phones (3skypephone.com) for a month. (No obligation to do anything, other than the mention of returning them after a month.) I thought it was an interesting marketing ploy – it…

  • Rename Terrorism

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    If only [tag]terrorism[/tag] were renamed to ‘mild trepidation-ism‘ it wouldn’t be so effective. Fortunately, I live in the [tag]UK[/tag], [tag]England[/tag] specifically, where our stiff-upper-lip-ed-ness prevents us from being too affected by [tag]terrorist[/tag] attacks. It’s only when services are damaged that the country is really slowed. Clearly there are some who unfortunately bear the brunt, often…

  • Why I might leave my bank: The NatWest Card Reader

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    Update, over 10 years later… I didn’t switch. I have received in the post a Card Reader from NatWest. They have designed this device to beef up the security around the (excellent btw) online banking. The flaw? The fact that we will eventually have to take the damn thing everywhere you go. And the card…

  • Ticketmaster Rip Off!

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    I just bought tickets for me and the gf to see Jimmy Carr in June. £18.50 each, seems okay. Total cost once Ticketmaster have added excessive fees and exorbitant postal charges: £46.75! That’s an extra 25%. Absurd, but we have no choice. UPDATE: Jimmy Carr was great! I even got a laugh myself when I…