While implementing the Add This widget for a client, I stumbled upon a curious list. Since Add This allows companies to add their services to their widget, the list of available services has grown to a level of absurdity.

While some of the services are standards like Facebook and Twitter, Digg, or Reddit, most of the rest comprise what I call the Social Media Haunted Mental Institution. With names like BleetBox, CiteULike and Grumper, this may be one of the most comprehensive list of shattered website dreams, representing millions of lost investment dollars.

In the quest to create the next Facebook, they built a hall of madness.

So much effort, so many dreams, crushed in the stamped to create the next great social network. For example, are just the ones that start with “fav”: FAVable, Faves, favlog, Favoriten.de, Favoritus.

I know, it is far easier to criticize than to create, but honestly, Blurpalicious?

Checkout the full list after the jump.





The full list: 100zakladok, 2 Tag, 2linkme, 7Live7.com, A1-Webmarks, A97abi, Add.io, Adfty, Adifni, aero, All My Faves, Amazon, Amen Me!, Aol Lifestream, AOL Mail, Armenix, Arto, Aviary Capture, Baang, Baidu, Bebo, Bentio, BiggerPockets, Bit.ly, bizSugar, Bleetbox, Blinklist, Blip, Blogger, Bloggy, Blogmarks, Blogtrottr, Blurpalicious, Boardlite, Bobrdobr, BonzoBox, BookmarkedByUs, BookmarkingNet, Bookmarky.cz, Bookmerken, Bordom, Box.net, Brainify, Bryderi, BuddyMarks, Buzzzy, Camyoo, Care2, Chiq, Cirip, CiteULike, ClassicalPlace, Clickazoo, Cndig, Colivia.de, Communicate, Connotea, cOOtopia, COSMiQ, Curate.Us, Delicious, DesignBump, Designmoo, Dig This Webhost, DigaCultura, Digg, Diggita, diglog, Digo, Digzign, Diigo, Dipdive, doMelhor, Dosti, DotNetKicks, DotNetShoutout, DotShare, Douban, Draugiem.lv, Drimio, Dropjack, Dwellicious, dzone, edelight, EFactor, eKudos, elefanta.pl, Email, Embarkons, euCliquei, Evernote, extraplay, EzySpot, Fabulously40, Facebook, Fai Informazione, Fark, Farkinda, Fashiolista, Fashion BURNER, FAVable, Faves, favlog, Favoriten.de, Favoritus, Flaker, Floss.pro, Folkd, FollowTags, forceindya, Formspring, FreeDictionary, Fresqui, FriendFeed, Friendster, funP, fwisp, Gabbr, Gacetilla, Gamekicker, GiveALink, GlobalGrind, Gmail, Good Noows, Google, Google Buzz, Google Reader, Google Translate, Gravee, GreaterDebater, Grono.net, Grumper, Haber.gen.tr, Hacker News, Hadash Hot, Hatena, Hazarkor, Healthimize, Hedgehogs.net, HelloTxt, hipstr, Historious, Hitmarks, Hot Bookmark, Hotklix, Hotmail, HTML Validator, Hyves, ideaREF!, Identica, iGoogle, ihavegot, Index4, Indexor, Instapaper, InvestorLinks, iOrbix, iSociety, iWiW, Jamespot, Jisko, JoliPrint, Jumptags, KaBlog, Kaboodle, Kaevur, Kipup, KiRTSY, Kledy, Kommenting, La tafanera, Laaikit, Ladenzeile, Librerio, Link Ninja, Link-a-Gogo, LinkedIn, Links Gutter, LinkShares, Linkuj.cz, Livefavoris, LiveJournal, LockerBlogger, Logger24.com, Lynki, Mail.ru, Markme, Mashbord, Mawindo, Meccho, meinVZ, Mekusharim, Memori.ru, Menéame, Messenger, Mindbodygreen, Mister Wong, Mixx, Moemesto.ru, mototagz, mRcNEtwORK, Multiply, myAOL, mylinkvault, Myspace, N4G, Nasza-klasa, NetLog, Netvibes, Netvouz, NewsMeBack, NewsTrust, Newsvine, Nujij, OKNOtizie, oneview, OnGoBee, orkut, Osmosus, Oyyla, Packg, pafnet.de, PDF Online, PDFmyURL, PhoneFavs, PimpThisBlog, Ping.fm, Planypus, Plaxo, Plurk, Pochval.cz, PopEdition, Posteezy, Posterous, Prati.ba, PrintFriendly, Pusha, QRF.in, Quantcast, Qzone, Read It Later, Reddit, Rediff MyPage, RedKum, RideFix, Scoop.at, Segnalo, Sekoman, Select2Gether, Shaveh, SheToldMe, ShirIntarIn, Simpy, Sina Weibo, Slashdot, SMI, SodaHead, Sonico, Speedtile, Sphinn, SpinSnap, Spoken To You, sportpost, Spread.ly, springpad, Spruzer, Squidoo, Startaid, Startlap, Story Follower, studiVZ, Stuffpit, StumbleUpon, Stumpedia, Stylehive, Surfpeople, Svejo, Symbaloo, Taaza, TagMarks.de, Tagvn, Tagza, tarpipe, TellMyPolitician, The Web Blend, Thinkfinity, ThisNext, Throwpile, Tip’d, TopSiteler, Transferr, Tuenti, Tulinq, Tumblr, Tusul, Tvinx, TweetMeme, Twitter, TwitThis, Typepad, Upnews.it, Urlaubswerk, Viadeo, Virb, Visitez Mon Site, Vkontakte, vybrali SME, Vyoom, Webnews, Whois Lookup, Windy Citizen, WireFan, WordPress, Worio, Wykop, Xanga, XING, Y! Bookmarks, Y! Mail, Yammer, Yardbarker, Yemle, Yigg, Yoolink, Yorumcuyum, Youblr., Youbookmarks, YouMob, Yuuby, Zakladok.net, Zanatic, ZicZac, Zootool

It will grab all the variables you’ve declared for the model, then try to load them up with submitted data. Nifty.

function load_model() {
     $vars = get_class_vars(get_class($this));
     unset($vars['_parent_name']);
     foreach($vars as $key => $value) {
          $this->$key = $this->input->post($key);
     }
}

My good buddy Will Garrison (pictured left) recorded this on my answering machine. Also check his band Spirits of the Red City if you like delicious earfood.

On a completely unrelated note, if you can’t get your WordPress Audio Player plugin to work, don’t just search Google for “Why does my WordPress Audio Player Plugin show up blank?”, (Although that search should now lead you here … ) just check the Troubleshooting page! Apparently your header.php needs to call <?php wp_head(); ?>, and your footer.php needs to call <?php wp_footer(); ?>.

Whew, toofer!

Searches on the Yelp homepage were different than via the API. It took a bit of sleuthing, but I finally discovered the reason:

Yelp API doesn’t return unreviewed listings.

You heard that right. A search on the homepage will wield vastly different results than a search via the API because listings without any reviews don’t show up. This has something of a deleterious effect on searches which are less than urban.

For instance, when I search for “Hospitals” in a small town on the homepage, I get a big pile of them. When I search via the API, I get BBQ joints. That’s right. Since the hospitals have no reviews, and the BBQ reviewers used phrases like “The ribs may land you in the hospital, but they sure are delicious”, these show up in a search for hospitals.

It is perhaps darkly comic to consider the man having a heart attack and using Yelp to find a hospital, only to be presented with a list of BBQ restaurants. However, if you’re dumb enough to use Yelp to find a hospital, well, there you go.

So now I don’t use the Yelp API, and Google wins again.

Ever since the days of the blink and marquee tags, browser have ventured to set themselves apart from the pack. By implementing features ahead of the standards, they offer a progressive enhancement for the developers and users of that browser. Utilizing these new features, unsurprisingly, became known as progressive enhancement, and it has often lead the standards writers by the nose in the adoption of these fancy techniques. (See HTML5, CSS3)

Browser markets have diversified. Choice is abundant, but often the choice that developer wants the user to make, isn’t the one they do make. If my subtext is unclear, allow me to transcribe it into text: A great majority of developers want users to choose a standards compliant browser over Internet Explorer, or at the very least, IE the Younger over IE the Elder, for IE discontentment is inversely proportional to version number.

Users however, are a stubborn bunch. Despite the seemingly apparent improvements in speed, security, feature availability and handsomeness, individuals and corporations alike choose to stay with a browser that drives developers mad, instead of fast gorgeous browsers like Chrome and Safari. (Sorry Firefox, but you’ve been a dog of late.) There seem to be a few choices, all bad, in this regard.

Bad solution: We could ignore the browsers we don’t like.
Why this is a bad solution: We know in our heart of hearts that we cannot turn our back on these netizens. Is it their fault that their companies force them to use IE6 at work? What about Grandma? She uses IE6 because that’s what came on her computer, and asking her to “updating her software” is like asking her to do her own dental work. I mean come on, she’s on the freakin’ Internet after all.

Bad solution: We could grin and bear it.
Why this is a bad solution: These antediluvian browsers, by their very use, are holding back the progress of all of web-kind. Developers are not using cool modern techniques because the ecosystem doesn’t fully support them. Also, for the cost of nothing grandma can improve her web experience by an order of magnitude. She must be brought to know this.

So how does a developer balance human progress without leaving humans behind? Progressive enhancement. That is, give dapper things to those who will accept them, and don’t bother with the rest.

In order to embrace this philosophy you need to first accept a concept which virtually no employer will support: Websites do not have to look the same in every browser. This was a difficult thing to embrace, both for myself and my clients. It does however make sense in the grand scheme of web design, and here is why.

The website must work. In all browsers. Grandma gets the same content, just not the same experience. If we incrementally add spiff for browsers that use it, then we improve the user experience for those browsers. Improved experience means that users will prefer it in that browser, even if it’s incremental, and even if they dont’ know why.

Eventually, if we use these new features, they will do what they were intended to do originally by the browser-smiths: Lure users away from other browsers. Basically all we need is the grapes to tell Grandma “No”.

http://linkub.us