Actually Using Algerbra

I always thought learning Algebra in school was dumb. There was so much I knew I would never use in real life. Not that I knew anything about real life in High School (or in college for that matter), but I thought I did.

Sure, I knew that I would need to know how long it would take to fill up a pool with a 1/2 inch garden hose if the 1 inch drain was open. And of course, how long it would take to meet and where we would end up if we were traveling toward each other at different speeds. Sure, practical, but all that other stuff like slope and cosine and square roots and tangents.

Well, I've recently been working quite a bit more with Macromedia Flash in creating games and toys, and I'm actually using algebra.

I'll give you an example:

I've got a ball (actually, it's a circle) in a box that you can drag and "throw". Well, I need to tell the ball that it can't go any further than the boundaries of the box, but the centerpoint of the "ball" is what holds all the information. So, I have to tell the ball that the centerpoint plus the radius of the circle is what collides with the boundary. Otherwise, half the circle will go past the boundary before the centerpoint hits the wall and bounces, which would look strange.

So, basically, I tell the ball(it's diameter is 100): if ball(x=x+50/y=y+50) hits the boundary, then go the opposite direction.

This is not the actual code, but I was trying to explain it in a way I would understand it.

The next part uses cosine to calculate the angle which the ball came and hit the boundary, so when it bounces off, it looks like the correct direction. It has something to do with a triangle.

I sure wish I had paid more attention.

Promote your website offline

The most important thing I tell customers when they launch a website, is that they put their website address on anything they print, including: business cards, brochures, mail outs, car magnets, billboards, newspaper and magazine ads, TV commercials, display booths, specialty advertising…everything.

It’s the one thing that will guarantee potential customers knowing about (and hopefully visiting) your site. This is huge if you want customers to visit the site as soon as possible. You’ll have visitors coming to your site before anyone can find it using search engines (which could take months).

I suggest putting a printable coupon on the site and using that to get them there. People love to save money, and YOU need them to go to your site.

My advice is simply printing “www.yoursite.com”, although “yoursite.com” (without the “www”) is probably fine too. Internet users are smart. No need to have “http://” in front of the address. Look around and see what others are doing. Look at what the big brand companies are doing. There’s no reason why you can’t be doing that as well. (Except for the big budget)

Things to avoid on your website

Sound:
Music on a website is not a good idea. Most visitors use the internet at their office, and when a song suddenly starts playing, they will have to scramble to turn it down to not bother others in the vicinity. It may even reveal to their coworkers and boss that they are in fact not working, but surfing the internet. If your site is a flash heavy site and sound is essential for the feel of the theme, make sure to add a button to turn the sound off.

Blinking Text:
Sure it attracts attention, but it’s also distracting and aggressive, no one appreciates it. Scrolling text should be avoided as well. Make the text interactive and have the visitor choose to scroll it themselves instead.

Overuse of animations:
Animations should be purposeful
and modest, not overly repetitive and annoying.

Huge text blocks:
Web users are scanners. Text should be short, and easily scanned. Use bold headers to get readers the information easily and quickly. 100 word blocks are a good goal.

Overcrowding:
Sites that have too much information can frustrate, and run the risk of losing visitors before the info is received. Keep your site clean, simple and to the point. Make sure the information you are presenting is obvious and apparent as soon as your visitors get there. This way, they will know they are in the right place without having to wonder how many more sites they are going to need to visit before they can get a straight and concise answer.


Dark or busy backgrounds:
These are hard to read and distracting. Be careful with colored text for the main body.

Centering:
Centering everything on the page is a sign of a website that was designed by a “do-it-yourselfer”. This may reflect on the confidence your potential customer gains in the first few moments of meeting you.

No contact information (or hard to find):
If they can’t contact you, then you won’t be contacted by them.

Large unnecessary intro screen:
A huge graphic or flash animation is usually unnecessary. Anything that needs to be presented should be presented on the home page. Once your visitor is on your site and has realized he’s in the right place, then you can tantilize him with inspiring text and engaging graphics.

No “skip intro” on intro screen:
If you feel the need to set the stage with an intro page, please consider adding a “skip intro” button. Forcing visitors to sit through an intro that may or may not have pertinent information is not something many will stand for. More often than not, intro screens say something like “we’re the best” or “you’ve chosen wisely,” but the fact is, it’s just hype. The visitor is in the middle of researching to find a solution, and they just need an answer. If you provide an answer, great, give it to them without making them have to wade through a 3D logo fly-through and a “marketing” type stock techno song.