Who is Kim Siever?

One of the frustrations I have with filling out my address in web forms is the postal code field. Often, it is not a problem, but regularly, there are problems. For example, a form for a US-based company may indicate they accept Canadian addresses, but their zip code field is restricted to five characters (the length of a basic US zip code). Another example is a field that restricts the input to six characters.

Here is an example of a Canadian postal code:

T0K 0K0

Notice the space. That is the standard format: three-character pattern, space, three-character pattern. That is seven characters.

Please let me enter the postal code how I want, and at the very least in the standard format set by Canada Post.

One thing I have found with being on the Internet for ten years is a tendency for a US-centric web. The usage of words such as “foreign” and “international” (as in “our international visitors” or “we offer content in foreign languages”) are often used to mean “not USA”.

I do not think this is an approriate usage. After all, the USA would be foreign and international to someone in China or Argentina. I think a better term would simply use what is meant: non-USA.

Something I have been thinking about lately is the idea of naming folders that make sense in the future. For example, it does not make sense to name a folder “Word documents”; a year from now you might wonder what kind of Word documents are in that folder.

A common technique I have seen people do when introducing new websites or new software is to move all the old files (previous version of a website, supporting documents for old software) to a new folder labelled “old”. At the time, it makes sense.

Yet it does not make sense down the road. Should information that is new now be put in that folder a year from now? What reference point does the folder use to determine when something is old?

Folders should have names that accurately describe what is in them.

If you haven’t heard, Google announced an integration between Google Talk and GMail. This means Google Talk users will now be able to chat directly in the browser. Even more, GMail users will be able to chat with each other, without having to install Google Talk. A step closer to complete web-based applications.

In addition, GMail now has an option to archive Google Talk chats. I am very excited about this. I could not even begin to tell you how many times I needed to reference an old conversation and could not recall if it was email or IM. Now it does not matter.