tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29805724692793581952024-03-05T13:03:57.028+05:30Transcendental Tech TalkWhat started to be a blog of random geeky stuff has transformed into a somewhat personal diary with a touch of technology and football. And some satire, of course!Shaumik Daityarihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04781340539175177101noreply@blogger.comBlogger265125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980572469279358195.post-51488060666212314662016-07-13T13:20:00.001+05:302017-05-13T15:23:48.204+05:30Exploring Southern Sri Lanka: Bentota and Galle<div style="text-align: justify;">
This summer, I visited Sri Lanka for my internship and had the opportunity to explore the fantastic island nation. I landed in Colombo when the Sri Lankan new year celebrations were going on (mid April) and therefore decided to take a trip down South to the beautiful little towns of Bentota and Galle.</div>
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How to Reach</h3>
International Flights from Chennai take about an hour to reach Colombo. From Colombo, you may take a train from the Colombo Fort railway station to Bentota. There are many options in terms of the International Airlines, with Sri Lankan Airlines providing jumbo jets for the journey.<br />
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Day 1: Bentota</h3>
Bentota is a small town about an hour from Colombo. Bentota and Galle are similar in terms of attractions, but Bentota hasn't been commercialised as much as Galle. Therefore, I would suggest you spend some more time at Bentota.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The dilapidated train to Bentota</td></tr>
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I stayed at a guest house, Mihin Villa, which provided clean rooms for a relatively cheaper rate (LKR 3500/night ~ INR 1600) for solo backpackers. There are quite a few attractions at Bentota, out of which the river safari and the turtle hatchery stand out.<br />
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You need to rent a boat for the river safari and the rate is a flat 2000 LKR/ride, irrespective of the number of people (boats have a capacity of carrying upto 8 people). Interestingly, the name of the river is Bentota Ganga! It's good if you start the safari early in the morning to make sure you get to see a wide range of species. I was lucky enough to see tree snakes, some wild birds, a monitor lizard and baby alligators!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yo alligators so scary, my fingers are getting slippery!</td></tr>
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The turtle hatchery is a wonderful place too. There are many hatcheries along the West coast, with fees getting progressively higher as you go South (due to the commercialisation!) There's one hardly 5-6 km from the Bentota Railway Station. Visit the hatchery around sunset to make sure you are present when one-day old turtles are released into the sea!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Releasing the turtles into the sea</td></tr>
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Food is very costly in Bentota and water isn't complimentary in most restaurants. The Taj Vivanta provides a good buffet option at LKR 3500, but it's quite cheap since I had ordered some poorly prepared Biryani for LKR 1400 earlier in the day.<br />
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Day 2: Galle</h3>
On the way of Galle, the moonstone mine may be of interest if you like gemstones. Sri La\nka is famous for blue moonstones and this is one place where you can get these gemstones for cheap.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Extracting the blue moonstone from the mine</td></tr>
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The main attraction in Galle is the Galle Fort and lighthouse area, but one also encounters the Galle stadium on the way (Galle is where Chris Gayle score his famous 333.) The Galle Fort provides a serene adobe to just walk around and enjoy the environment.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Galle Lighthouse</td></tr>
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A trip to Sri Lanka can serve as a weekend getaway from India, and I would suggest you hop on the next airline if you want to enjoy the South Asian country unlike any other!</div>
Shaumik Daityarihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04781340539175177101noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980572469279358195.post-49614812044499489182016-05-21T17:28:00.004+05:302016-05-21T17:28:50.690+05:30Sri Lanka - Two Months On!<div style="text-align: justify;">
It has been almost two months in Sri Lanka, after Unilever decided to send me to conquer this nation for the internship (just kidding!) And here I am with yet another blog post about the experience in a South Asian country unlike any other!<br />
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First, let me talk about my accommodation. Essentially, it's a large bungalow and I am the only occupant. Only if the caretaker wore business formals, my dream of having a butler would be fulfilled.</div>
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The commute to work is a bit difficult, considering the heavy traffic on the Galle road. Even on a Sunday afternoon, it takes 40 minutes to reach office. However, I guess that's completely normal, considering Bangalore is probably the only location in India where the IT interns work. These hour long commutes have given me the opportunity to interact with numerous Uber or Tuk drivers (Autos are known as Tuks here, and an Uber, like in India, is cheaper than a Tuk).</div>
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The environment of Sri Lanka, combined with this bungalow, reminds me of Duliajan, where I grew up. This residential area is much like the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Assamgas/photos/ms.c.eJw1ztsNBDEIA8COTsGYV~;~_N7YXA58jIBhJHs5gqRrUfrusYK3FKxhLizKCPEZ17jdU6R45pt0~_TY2PfE~_vsPLbfve06~;jddW6x733P3891z79~;~;Ov~;znNNGrd8eZCzRFoyB7ufmKjdH5QetuTnh.bps.a.217038811648782.60732.193531250666205/217039171648746/?type=3&theater">AGCL Campus</a>. Also, this place has a tin roof, and the sound of the raindrops hitting the roof is very comforting.<br />
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Commuting to work made me notice quite a few things in Sri Lanka. If you look at the map above, it shows 16 km to work. When I interchange the source and destination, it reduces to 14 km. That's because of the loads of one way roads in Colombo - it's almost impossible to control the traffic at peak times!<br />
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Had it not been for the commute, I wouldn't have made a wonderful discovery - I found the hiding place of the Autobots! Michael Bay, are you listening? I found two Autobots in a single day - this can NOT be a coincidence.<br />
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Yet another interesting observation is the respect for pedestrians. Crosswalks are distributed throughout the city, even on the busiest roads and drivers respect people crossing them. I wonder if there are as many crosswalks in India overnight - people would be knocked off right and left.<br />
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Thanks to the weekends, I got to travel as well, although it was curtailed by how fragile I had become. I pulled a nerve in my left foot and that got me constrained to the bed for half a week. I also caught a stomach bug (damn you, bug!) due to which I could not join the others on a trip to Sigiriya (yes, that's the fancy rock fortress that I missed!) But I did go South and Central, covering 3 provinces.<br />
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I released one day old sea turtles into the sea in Bentota (also found Squirtle!), posed with baby alligators and witnessed Mussooriesque weather in Nuwara Eliya. I tried being Jack Sparrow too, but failed to add the captain into it.<br />
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And did I mention the casinos? Casinos here are open only to foreigners (feels weird that I am thinking of myself as a "foreigner"!) I did manage a few blackjack rounds and let's not discuss how that ended, shall we?<br />
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It's just a few days until I travel back to Mumbai, but this trip has created a lot of happy memories that I am going to cherish for a long time.<br />
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Until next time, Ceylon!</div>
Shaumik Daityarihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04781340539175177101noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980572469279358195.post-10923171909762914712016-04-24T15:41:00.000+05:302016-04-24T15:42:03.602+05:30Sri Lanka: First Thoughts<div style="text-align: justify;">
It has been such a long time since I blogged that I feel something like this Led Zeppelin song - "been a long time, been a long time, been a long, lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely time!"<br />
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As I was racing towards the other terminal in Chennai, I suddenly realised what I had in store for me. Two months in a foreign country all alone - as if that was not enough, I hadn't slept the night earlier chatting up with some old friends and I was practically in a trance state. By this time, I realize the earlier sentence is getting too long and I need to abort, or risk failing the Flesch test.<br />
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Cutting to the chase, I am in Sri Lanka for my internship with Unilever (and I have been given a palatial bungalow - more on that in a later post). I will directly go down to the crux of the matter and let you know what surprised me the most (or least).<br />
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Immigrations officers are the same everywhere</h3>
I actually feel sorry for them. This guy looked like he must have handled at least a hundred people since morning (and it was just 9 AM), and he makes a objection on the short address I have written on my form, to which I get through by saying "the post office is inside the campus" and a smirk.<br />
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Etisalat</h3>
Imagine my surprise when the first stall I see on landing in Sri Lanka is of Etisalat! During an earlier visit to the UAE, I blogged about how <a href="http://dada.theblogbowl.in/2012/12/the-great-etisalat-customer-service_4163.html"><sarcasm>wonderful</sarcasm> their customer service is</a>! Definitely, this was a strict no no.<br />
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If you are a 90s kid from India, you surely know what this killer drink is. You would probably remember arguments with your parents to get Milo and not the other "health" drinks. Over the years, Milo faded out of the Indian market, but it turns out, it's still very popular in Sri Lanka. No prizes for guessing what my first purchase was. What's better is that Angelo Mathews wants you to drink Milo.</div>
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Clogard</h3>
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Does the product look familiar? Does the font look familiar? I'll give you a hint - Colgate Max Fresh! This brand is the market leader in Sri Lanka, and no, it does not belong to Colgate-Palmolive.<br />
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Gelleme</h3>
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Although I was careful not to be fooled by Clogard, this one had me fooled. I realized what I had bought only once I had returned home. Well played, Chinese Gillette.</div>
Shaumik Daityarihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04781340539175177101noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980572469279358195.post-19846149308033710002016-03-29T13:05:00.002+05:302016-04-24T14:04:20.274+05:30The WearYourStyle.in - TrendzVenue Scam - DO NOT BUY<div style="text-align: justify;">
A few weeks go, I saw an ad on Facebook for <a href="http://wearyourstyle.in/">WearYourStyle.in</a> and order 5 T-shirts for Rs. 1700. It took some time to get them, but to my surprise, I was shipped only 4 (even though the invoice mentioned 5 of them!)</div>
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I contacted their customer care through email (when you email contact@wearyourstyle.in, contact@trendvenue.com replies) they asked me which item was missing from my shipment. That was a week ago, and there has been no reply from this on this matter hence.</div>
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I called all numbers listed on their website (TrendzVenue.com, as WearYourStyle.in has NO contact page listed), and none of them are responsive. This only means one thing - it's a scam.</div>
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<a href="http://www.consumercomplaints.in/the-trendz-venue-only-got-2-out-of-3-contents-in-the-order-c1251275">This has happened before</a> with other people as well. I am attaching the screenshot of the complaint.</div>
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Shaumik Daityarihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04781340539175177101noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980572469279358195.post-65019733514485474582015-09-14T01:40:00.000+05:302015-09-14T01:40:04.666+05:30Kolkata #BergerXP IndiBlogger meet, Marketing Insights, and some Blogging Tips<div style="text-align: justify;">
4 years, 4 long years. That's how long Kolkata bloggers have been waited for a blogger meet. Thankfully, I am more of a Nomad and I visited the Kose IndiBlogger Meet, which coincided with my IIM Indore interview. Being that pseudo Kolkatan that I am, I knew about the rich heritage of the Oberoi Grand. Add to it the spice of an IB meet, and I knew missing it would be stupid. What's more? I got my mother into it too.</div>
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If you know me, you would probably know that I am a developer (yes, I still consider myself one!) and developers are introverts. Introverts are good at blending into a crowd, and not stand out. In the previous meet, I had done so successfully, and managed to talk to others too, but this time I had Mamma with me, which changed the dynamics.<br />
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When Anoop (who's a wonderful host BTW) asked for artists in the crowd, Mamma's hand shot up instantly. She talked about her digital paintings and how convenient it is to sketch on a cell phone. There goes my effort to blend in.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm39NGbx8zzt9AgXrYCVkv_6CJNYkOcFvOo3-7fn62JhXUnR1-0DOzuH4Jp_ptxgMPhBFRrPM5Aqx1IPbfJKr9JBF8Zqe2rQSIqCck59ZtmGiTRjBK01k5OeBRmbOnYHWIYPgrrUAnKeFF/s1600/11113719_10153154483717883_18884632715338213_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm39NGbx8zzt9AgXrYCVkv_6CJNYkOcFvOo3-7fn62JhXUnR1-0DOzuH4Jp_ptxgMPhBFRrPM5Aqx1IPbfJKr9JBF8Zqe2rQSIqCck59ZtmGiTRjBK01k5OeBRmbOnYHWIYPgrrUAnKeFF/s640/11113719_10153154483717883_18884632715338213_o.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mamma with her impromptu speech, me trying to look <b>intellectual</b></td></tr>
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Mamma mentioned how I was the one who inspired her to start blogging. Hmmm... I did. Didn't I? Now that I realised I was not going to escape attention (That fact that we left such an effect on others that when I introduced her to Renie, he said that everyone in the room knew that she was my mother), I talked about my blogging experience. Unfortunately, I forgot to mention that my blog has a million hits. Pretty sure that was among the highest in the room.</div>
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I was also asked for some blogging tips. The controversial personality that I had made me divulge my big secret - keep it long. Someone else had already mentioned that it was important to keep your blogs short and crisp, but I believe that longer posts give you sincerer followers. (If you are reading this and you disagree, please look at the number of hits on my blog on the left - it's 1.1+ million and counting!)</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6SG3rrtY7boFrrc_F3ww2v4Y5hKUs1GncLel7tBXNFesbsNkACkkcUOOAstvE-Yet3AVjH28OZvzb-na38sbRxPu_b9JQ-kjMjhyGWzja_F5a9AcNFK-F0T4cEgKMgJMrqlhY8F0RjGR6/s1600/11237222_10153154484217883_4943475502083375996_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6SG3rrtY7boFrrc_F3ww2v4Y5hKUs1GncLel7tBXNFesbsNkACkkcUOOAstvE-Yet3AVjH28OZvzb-na38sbRxPu_b9JQ-kjMjhyGWzja_F5a9AcNFK-F0T4cEgKMgJMrqlhY8F0RjGR6/s640/11237222_10153154484217883_4943475502083375996_o.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Keep it long darth-bloggers, or a laser beam will come out of my fingers and burn your blog! Muhahaha!</td></tr>
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People love controversies and I thrive on them. The business development officer of Berger, during his presentation, pointed out to be and said that he'd like to keep it short. I agreed, after all a presentation is not a blog post. However, he proceeded to show a 10 minute long video about Berger's new products (which I will come back to shortly) - I guess, he followed my advice unknowingly ;)</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwHBSRjhAKrrD7qvjq8tUKSvWLiDhT5DIvQvVAIKvmr3-IgGOmxuDnbb0U0LfTlU3HBTrblu78DEYk_7uvgQQ0maXW-cWXxhriDfOBUwKyUhgCCTOMkDHy4vx_Jql32N-sMIlTO68F0ruS/s1600/Vlcsnap-2010-09-07-02h15m09s46.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwHBSRjhAKrrD7qvjq8tUKSvWLiDhT5DIvQvVAIKvmr3-IgGOmxuDnbb0U0LfTlU3HBTrblu78DEYk_7uvgQQ0maXW-cWXxhriDfOBUwKyUhgCCTOMkDHy4vx_Jql32N-sMIlTO68F0ruS/s400/Vlcsnap-2010-09-07-02h15m09s46.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Time for a self five.</td></tr>
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One more advice for fellow bloggers, which I should have mentioned, is that your greatest reader is the future version of you. If your readers are not interested in your posts anymore, they would stop reading your blog, but if future you is not interested, he would just stop working on the blog (and maybe, start a new one!)<br />
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I have noticed that these promotional activities have a lot of marketing insights behind them (after all, MM-I at IIM Lucknow did have an effect in me). In the Kose IndiBlogger Meet, which saw the launch of a new brand Spawake, the key marketing insight was that the Indian consumer was attracted to two key elements associated with fairness creams - enhanced fairness (like the whole range of Fair and Lovely products), and the use of natural elements (like Olay Natural White). Spawake targeted the segment from both angles though it's too early to say whether they were successful!</div>
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In the case of Berger Express Painting, Berger identified a key issue in the way consumers painted their houses. It is a tedious process and you need to get in professionals to work for a few days to get the work done. There is often a tendency to delay the whole process altogether. In addition to that, painting involves a lot of dust and who loves dust?</div>
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In the west, the process of painting is so costly that people often do it themselves. Berger Express Painting enables one to easily learn the process of painting and do it themselves using the tools by Berger. Berger Express Painting tackles two issues - innovation to retail and extend your market share, and challenging the status quo to change consumer behaviour.</div>
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An analogy with respect to challenging the status quo can be made with that of Starbucks. This example is explained wonderfully by Professor David Bell of Wharton School (on the Coursera course- <a href="https://www.coursera.org/course/whartonmarketing">Introduction to Marketing</a>).</div>
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Several years ago Mr. Howard Schultz in founding Starbucks noticed that in the United States, people were drinking coffee. Most of it, however, was not very good coffee. It was just simply a product, without much peripheral experience or service to go with it. <br />
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Then he went to Europe and he noticed in Europe people also drank coffee. But when they drank coffee, they did so with their friends, they drank higher ends of coffee, they knew about things like macchiatos and lattes and so on. So, it was really, a completely different experience. It was the core product, with all of these other things wrapped around it. <br />
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And so when he came back to the United States and started Starbucks, in his mind, he had the notion of Starbucks being something what he refers to, or Starbucks refers to, as the third place. So, the first place is your home. The second place is our work life, workplace. That's certainly more difficult and more stressful, we're all working a lot harder. And the idea of Starbucks, is the third place. That's where can you go and all of your troubles float away, on a steamy latte.</blockquote>
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Moving on from marketing to teamwork, there were two team tasks.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdB31ZsRCpPwZRPiDBIjxjr0OM0VJXDy-uJZfhSpPlh5FhG_1gQt5ZeiUkRMovvlmHyS1Pt_u7qQFgjZffpIzef6Bip7iPlk-DrvC45Ze5vcoykG44gIgG0kx2VE7xzI3kEb19b_cKkdKt/s1600/12010778_10153154489567883_8421259792190798875_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdB31ZsRCpPwZRPiDBIjxjr0OM0VJXDy-uJZfhSpPlh5FhG_1gQt5ZeiUkRMovvlmHyS1Pt_u7qQFgjZffpIzef6Bip7iPlk-DrvC45Ze5vcoykG44gIgG0kx2VE7xzI3kEb19b_cKkdKt/s640/12010778_10153154489567883_8421259792190798875_o.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Making the walls smoother</td></tr>
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The first one involved us..., well..., I don't remember exactly what the target was, because getting ready for it was definitely more exciting! The second one, though, was more challenging.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYHas-6RAZ4UVLRGtSZLuWTEDvhSPfV7qlzp3p_CcLF-w398q2cUGFsPzMLIvhjUljMtFuc1-5zXR4KNhGfx8BtcFg4i7aro37i3i5rwv_YI70nsIszuAhLczXVOvsghBgZ7uY3Y5gKzUa/s1600/11230648_10153154492642883_1700090108754738032_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYHas-6RAZ4UVLRGtSZLuWTEDvhSPfV7qlzp3p_CcLF-w398q2cUGFsPzMLIvhjUljMtFuc1-5zXR4KNhGfx8BtcFg4i7aro37i3i5rwv_YI70nsIszuAhLczXVOvsghBgZ7uY3Y5gKzUa/s640/11230648_10153154492642883_1700090108754738032_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The final product!</td></tr>
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A painting on women empowerment was the final result. Although we didn't win, the activity was wonderful. In particular, I loved intimidating the neighbouring groups about how great our task was going on!<br />
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Here's hoping Kolkata gets more blogger meets in the future! (And let's hope I am there to hop onto the IndiCar when it arrives!)</div>
Shaumik Daityarihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04781340539175177101noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980572469279358195.post-58633907276684149822015-09-04T18:21:00.002+05:302015-09-04T18:25:19.857+05:30I got Published!<div class="tr_bq">
The title says it all.</div>
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Wait, what?!? Published? Not self-published, I got published published. If memory serves me correctly, not long ago, I was struggling to complete those writing skill questions back in 12th standard. It's been a long journey since then!</div>
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It all started one evening back in my third year, after I had failed to secure a research interns (I was never a fan of mass mailing). My blog was two years old, and with some nagging from <a href="https://www.facebook.com/kshitij.awadhiya?fref=ts">you know who</a>, I applied to content writer positions. Eight months and about fifty freelance articles later, I found myself applying to <a href="http://www.sitepoint.com/get-paid-write-html-css-sass/">an open position at SitePoint</a> (BTW, they always have openings for potential writers).</div>
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SitePoint was offering over 10 times what I was earning then, and with only a little experience in the field, I half heartedly sent a mail about why I would be suitable for the position. Surprisingly, I received a reply asking me for potential articles and there was no looking back.</div>
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A year and <a href="http://sitepoint.com/author/sdaityari/">half a century of articles</a> later, I was approached to write a book on Git. If you look at my articles on SitePoint since that cold January evening in Roorkee, you would notice that most of them relate to <a href="http://git-scm.com/">Git</a>. SitePoint's sister website, Learnable (now renamed <a href="http://sitepoint.com/premium/">SitePoint Premium</a>), a collection of courses, books and videos on web development, needed a book on Git and I should thank <a href="http://www.sitepoint.com/author/louis-lazaris1/">Louis Lazaris</a>, the HTML and CSS channel editor for SitePoint, for referring my name for the book.</div>
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The contract was signed in early April. I was about to finish my undergraduate degree at IIT Roorkee, I had almost completed my dissertation, and I was waiting for the results of the IIM interviews. I thought about the book — what more could it be than a long article? Combine my fifty odd articles for SitePoint, and we have a book that was twice the length of the proposed book. It wouldn't be that hard.<br />
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Meanwhile, I got into IIM Lucknow and with some extra effort, completed the first draft of the book before I joined. Although I knew that life at a B-School was going to be tough, completing the second draft would hardly take time...<br />
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It took another two months to complete the second draft. It's finally <a href="https://www.sitepoint.com/premium/books/jump-start-git">live on SitePoint</a> and the hard copies should be available on <a href="http://amazon.com/Jump-Start-Git-Shaumik-Daityari/dp/0994182651/">Amazon</a> shortly.<br />
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What did I learn from the book? Here are my thoughts.<br />
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Don't treat it as a long article</h3>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsaJzIyBcIMRZgfTBmo_XKMem4S3xHgRMgmxWSIrjPYxAk8ZxEAnfk8sXLRrVM-1TeuRr8meVLVeIBG5K8reBMsIwiSItKhi9bSoZro7V4VVeihTQpF4lAz7PJ9FdqrTxFVpjSwdkTQQvk/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-09-04+at+6.12.36+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="156" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsaJzIyBcIMRZgfTBmo_XKMem4S3xHgRMgmxWSIrjPYxAk8ZxEAnfk8sXLRrVM-1TeuRr8meVLVeIBG5K8reBMsIwiSItKhi9bSoZro7V4VVeihTQpF4lAz7PJ9FdqrTxFVpjSwdkTQQvk/s640/Screen+Shot+2015-09-04+at+6.12.36+PM.png" width="640" /></a><br />
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When I write an article on SitePoint, I try to solve a particular problem. People searching for that problem search it on Google and land on the article. If they don't like it, they check the other link.<br />
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A book, on the other hand, contains a ton of details about a topic. And what's more? People PAY for the book. You have an obligation to justify the money your reader spent on the book.<br />
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Books can't be updated...</h3>
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... in the short run, at least (Thank you, Economics!)</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh28UoAfg9szNIco6QxTVREkAjqGUOEhgaDdvAkKTR2lHlvQORtV49zFE58EpfF8yimyL4py_qwOs92xE_-oWZxy2nByKxom5Sjo4gqwB2iS7zawmqTMqIzJyHDUtjwyno-z83ZDVoFw4E-/s1600/mistake-pano_21762.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh28UoAfg9szNIco6QxTVREkAjqGUOEhgaDdvAkKTR2lHlvQORtV49zFE58EpfF8yimyL4py_qwOs92xE_-oWZxy2nByKxom5Sjo4gqwB2iS7zawmqTMqIzJyHDUtjwyno-z83ZDVoFw4E-/s640/mistake-pano_21762.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The day my book was released on SitePoint, I received a tweet pointing out an error in the book. As I read through the message, I wondered how could such careful proof reading by three editors, in addition to my razor sharp sight, could escape the error.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
What I mean to say is an addition to the previous observation. If there is an error in an article, you can simply go and edit it. However, if you find an error in a book that has already gone for print (or has a few thousand copies already), there is no way you can correct it. You just have to live with that. </div>
<h3>
Writing a book requires patience</h3>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt89YupLe3wWKWoxoWY6Aj4k0AinuN_-05zH8qDUZLL4Hw2KAJsqwL8eaLuOWoQN4DEP9hYq37wc9QoCcH0-7VybtpmdBQ-lejKY49RxFO6jZEMb0F03OiNZ100UDPy7lZ2FbPsCD54CU8/s1600/97816060885241.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt89YupLe3wWKWoxoWY6Aj4k0AinuN_-05zH8qDUZLL4Hw2KAJsqwL8eaLuOWoQN4DEP9hYq37wc9QoCcH0-7VybtpmdBQ-lejKY49RxFO6jZEMb0F03OiNZ100UDPy7lZ2FbPsCD54CU8/s640/97816060885241.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Writing a book on such a topic not just requires you to frame your words well, but includes a lot of screenshots and codes. In addition to that, you must already have guessed that you need to go through your work a million times before it gets published. By the end of the project, I had read the book so many times that I had grown blind towards the words that I had written. Had it not been for the editors, many errors would have crept through unnoticed.</div>
<h3>
You will overestimate your capabilities</h3>
<div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSrNFDxDcnwQjso9urJq82Zt0Z0BHpVBOYBSC8XJ5PAovV-Uo-ewXRp0kId1Ra30h5PFdBWKdE0p_QYJVjmTL9WGu_gvUnb_eCzaqzEYsOFZJLRPIyKynTLKVhve1kQlkDIqpCGTy0EA2C/s1600/dunningkruger.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSrNFDxDcnwQjso9urJq82Zt0Z0BHpVBOYBSC8XJ5PAovV-Uo-ewXRp0kId1Ra30h5PFdBWKdE0p_QYJVjmTL9WGu_gvUnb_eCzaqzEYsOFZJLRPIyKynTLKVhve1kQlkDIqpCGTy0EA2C/s200/dunningkruger.jpg" width="168" /></a>Normally, you can write a well planned chapter in a day. Does that mean that you can complete the book in two weeks if your book contains only a dozen chapters?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Definitely not. As I mentioned, writing a book is more stressful than an article, primarily because of the risks associated with it. Ideally, I kept weekends for the book, and did the reviews in the weekdays. But, as I have now come to accept, there are always going to be unprecedented delays and you are going to miss your deadlines! Having a cool project manager like <a href="http://www.sitepoint.com/author/simonmackie/">Simon</a> does help ;)</div>
<h3>
I am bad at goodbyes</h3>
After writing 150 pages, here's how I abruptly end it.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
With this, we come to the end of the book. Although the book is ending, it’s just the start of your journey. Get out there and do some amazing things with version control! I hope you’ve enjoyed reading the book as much as I’ve enjoyed writing it.</blockquote>
You may argue that it's short and crisp, but I have seen writers do wonderful stuff with endings. I guess, I am just not good at this.<br />
<h3>
Happiness is ...</h3>
<div>
... the end.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitzsIdeUaA8wRCe83zhb46YOlsCp8MLhLrSG2yqEf43k5STRe0An1LcmwoyQXvME6IJQNrBM_-rIpHRSB1ZKdCGti6IFW4jooLlAyYgZHYH6d0ikgrY4tgOKHoxonUafSDfcGfe3vJ7Qq1/s1600/legit-patience.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitzsIdeUaA8wRCe83zhb46YOlsCp8MLhLrSG2yqEf43k5STRe0An1LcmwoyQXvME6IJQNrBM_-rIpHRSB1ZKdCGti6IFW4jooLlAyYgZHYH6d0ikgrY4tgOKHoxonUafSDfcGfe3vJ7Qq1/s640/legit-patience.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #545454; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small; line-height: 18.2px; text-align: start;">"</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #6a6a6a; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18.2px; text-align: start;">Patience is bitter</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #545454; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small; line-height: 18.2px; text-align: start;">, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #6a6a6a; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18.2px; text-align: start;">but its fruit is sweet</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #545454; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small; line-height: 18.2px; text-align: start;">." - Jean-Jacques Rousseau</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
Yes, writing a book is hard work. But, when you finally see the final result and people start congratulating you, somewhere deep down, you know that it was totally worth it.<br />
<br />
P.S. Keeping with the tradition, this blog post comes during my end term exams. Reminds me of those Roorkee days (with <a href="http://crankyanimesh.blogspot.in/">the cranky dude</a> telling me to stop with the writing!)<br />
<br />
P.P.S. I wonder why the cranky dude didn't discourage me during the course of the book. Were you so busy, man?</div>
</div>
Shaumik Daityarihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04781340539175177101noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980572469279358195.post-79445386131889900672014-12-31T01:27:00.000+05:302014-12-31T01:27:47.855+05:30How to use request.PUT or request.DELETE in DjangoThose of you who use Django might know that using request.PUT or request.DELETE on Django doesn't work. This is because Django doesn't construct dictionaries for such "verbs", and you need to work with request.raw_post_data or request.body and parse it to get your data (Go ahead, give it a try, while I have a cookie!)<br />
<br />
If you are creating a simple REST API, you are not going to have a good time unless you are working with a framework.<br />
<br />
Wouldn't it be nice if you could use request.PUT just like the dicts request.POST and request.GET After finally searching online, I have stumbled upon a way to do just that.<br />
<br />
You can find the code on <a href="https://bitbucket.org/jespern/django-piston/src/c4b2d21db51a/piston/utils.py#cl-154">BitBucket</a>.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
if request.method == "PUT":<br /> if hasattr(request, '_post'):<br /> del request._post<br /> del request._files<br /> <br /> try:<br /> request.method = "POST"<br /> request._load_post_and_files()<br /> request.method = "PUT"<br /> except AttributeError:<br /> request.META['REQUEST_METHOD'] = 'POST'<br /> request._load_post_and_files()<br /> request.META['REQUEST_METHOD'] = 'PUT'<br /> <br /> request.PUT = request.POST</blockquote>
<br />
What you do here is simply change the request method back to POST, reload the variables and rename the request method and request.POST dictionary. A nice hack to get your job done.Shaumik Daityarihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04781340539175177101noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980572469279358195.post-35527229671457700222014-12-11T19:45:00.002+05:302014-12-11T19:45:43.768+05:30Zico, the ISL and ATK<div style="text-align: justify;">
Zico might have been a great footballer, but the White Pele is perhaps one of the best players not to have won a World Cup ever. Maybe that's why he considers <a href="http://www.goal.com/en-india/news/7083/isl/2014/12/10/6921432/qualifying-for-the-semi-finals-is-one-of-the-greatest-moments-of-">qualifying to the semi finals of the ISL as one of the greatest moments of his career</a>. It's commendable how he has engineered the uphill task after a poor start by FC Goa to the tournament.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The moment I entered the Salt Lake Stadium, I knew the crowd wasn't going to let Zico go away with a victory, a result that would eliminate the home team Atletico de Kolkata out of the tournament. As the starting XI was being announced, the stadium cheered every name. The presence of 36 year old marquee signing Luis Garcia on the bench, raised doubts on his fitness, but Kolkata seemed to go with whatever they had.</div>
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After the first few matches, Kolkata were top of the table. Injury to few key players like Cavin Lobo, and Fikru losing his form as the season progressed led to a string of draws and Kolkata were steadily pushed below. The last game required a win or a draw or a one-goal loss with over 5 goals to ensure that they progressed at the expense of the Delhi Dynamos (Alas, no Del Piero in the semis!)</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Goa made 9 changes to their starting XI and it was apparent that Zico wanted to rest his important players. The FC Goa players looked fresh, but it was Kolkata who created chance after chance. Lacking the finishing touches to their hard work, FC Goa's Elano scored with the first real chance for his team.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Fikru was having a bad game. Mistiming runs, getting offside at the wrong time, losing possession unnecessarily and missing chances - everyone in the stadium seemed to be disappointed the moment he had the ball. Goa were playing the passing game and looked very comfortable going forward. The Kolkata crowd consists of common people, but everyone seems to be a self proclaimed football pundit (even I am guilty of the same!) If the crowd had their way, they would substitute even my grandmother for Fikru considering the chances that he had missed.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Kolkata's midfield seemed to be absent. Even after Garcia came on after half time, the one thing that every Kolkata player seemed to do was look for the long ball. Fikru is no Drogba - he doesn't have the pace to bully defenders, nor did he seem to go through them without the linesman raising his flag for offside. Until the 66th minute.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Fikru finally made a perfect run into the box, but was unlucky as his shot came off the post. That certainly didn't discourage him as he make timed another run perfectly, this time, only to be brought down by Goa defender Bruno Pinheiro. The referee pointed to the spot and gave marching orders to Bruno as the second largest stadium in the world came to life as if Kolkata had already won the trophy.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Bruno was one of the regulars in the Goa squad and the red meant that he would miss the semi finals (which was most probably going to be against Kolkata!) Fikru, with a check in his run, sent the goalkeeper the wrong way to level the scores. As it stood, Kolkata were going through. It was surprising that they didn't press on to seal the qualification even after Goa were reduced to 10 men.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Zico and Bruno have both come out to complain about the artificial turf at the Salt Lake Stadium, but hey, weren't the opposition also playing in the same conditions? And do you remember what happened during the reverse fixture?</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Pires gets a special mention. Prior to the red, he was the prime orchestrator of the Goa midfield machine. At 41, although he was struggling to chase the long balls, his flashes of brilliance and passing consistency reminds you of the days of the Invincibles. Perhaps the Andrea Pirlo-esqe look makes him look a bit more intimidating!</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The semi finals are going to be played Champions League style - over two legs - home and away. The first leg of the semi final is at the Salt Lake stadium on Sunday (already booked tickets for that!) I know a full strength yet tired ATK side struggled to get a draw against a weaker FC Goa team, but it's football. If Goa turned it around after their first few matches, why can't Kolkata do it in the semis? They could still suffer huge losses over the two legs, but anything is possible. Remember that Fernando Torres goal against Barcelona?</div>
Shaumik Daityarihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04781340539175177101noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980572469279358195.post-38237032849518290852014-12-10T12:40:00.000+05:302014-12-10T12:40:07.628+05:30And I'm back!<div style="text-align: justify;">
It's been a long time. A very long time indeed...</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
It's been so long that the once familiar Blogger interface seems alien to me. Due to my sabbatical, I must admit that I had thoughts of leaving this blog altogether and moving on to a new one, but recent events have convinced me otherwise.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Random people have asked me why I have stopped blogging. I had no idea so many people read this blog - and that they would miss my posts. But the one thing that wanted me to start writing again on this blog was during a job interview.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I had cleared the first level of interviews in a company, and the moment I walked into the room, one of the interviewers asked me - "How is your blog?" (The fact that I have neglected this blog in recent times might have contributed to me not making it to the said company.)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Apart from my readers reaching out to me in real life, I am going to start writing again because I am fresh out of the placement season at IIT Roorkee - a place where students are only as good as the packages they bag. I have a lot of things in mind - about the placement process, the selection procedure and a lot of other things - and I am going to share them on this blog soon (albeit in a safe way- to make sure I don't get in trouble with certain people).</div>
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<br /></div>
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To the readers, I would like to sincerely apologize because I have been away for a long time due to my own selfish reasons (the freelancing pays well, you know!) But watch this space, I am going to share my experience soon.</div>
Shaumik Daityarihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04781340539175177101noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980572469279358195.post-17761006273240569242014-05-03T17:14:00.004+05:302014-05-03T17:14:55.127+05:30Swelling in your Galaxy S4's battery- here's how to get it replaced in India<div style="text-align: justify;">
Although the S5 is out, Samsung is probably still working hard to get the S4 issues fixed. After a rather late upgrade to Android Kit Kat, you must wonder how important this ex-flagship device is for Samsung. I usually write on cribbing issues, but here's one about a good thing- how I got my Galaxy S4 battery replaced in India.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The battery swelling issue has been well known in case of the S4 and Samsung has acknowledged this issue. In fact, it has been giving free replacements in some parts of Europe. Why not India then? Perhaps, the customers are spoilt kids who couldn't care less for a few thousand bucks?</div>
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Weirdly enough, I never found anything online that explained</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
If you are facing the battery swelling issue, irrespective of whether your device is under warranty (for the battery, it's 6 months from the date of purchase), the service center guys will give the reason of "<b>overcharging</b>". That is an outrageous accusation, but it is hilarious at the same time too! There are certainly checks within the device to prevent overcharging. If you say that overcharging is the cause of a swollen battery, aren't you admitting that a 40000 bucks phone doesn't have a proper internal system to avoid such a basic mishap?</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The company policy is to reject all batteries that have been damaged due to overcharging and the service center guys will re-iterate the same fact a hundred times if necessary. <b>What you should do without arguing further, however, is take the name and contact number of the guy you are talking to and the manager of the service center.</b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Then, register a complaint on the Samsung site <a href="http://www.samsung.com/in/info/contactus.html">here</a> (under both Executive Customer Care and CEO's office). Explain your problem and provide the necessary details. My battery was 10 days out of warranty and I still got it replaced by explaining (<b>very</b> <b>politely</b>) that a swollen battery definitely didn't happen in a matter of one or two days. You will get a call back from Samsung with a solution to the issue. <b>If they call you back promising you that your battery will be replaced free of cost, remember to tell them to talk to the service center guys and explain the procedure to them as well.</b></div>
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<b><br /></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
More often than not, your battery would be replaced too. Just make sure you let the customer care know.</div>
Shaumik Daityarihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04781340539175177101noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980572469279358195.post-79481665443922423042014-04-01T16:30:00.000+05:302014-04-01T16:30:11.836+05:30Create your own basic lightbox with CSS and jQuery<div style="font-family: Helvetica, arial, freesans, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px;">
If you Google "lightbox", you would be greeted by hundreds of plugins, each with its own speciality. Quite often, these plugins are very heavy and contain a lot of functionality that you would probably not require. In most cases, your requirements are very basic and you wonder if it's practical to use a heavy plugin to get the job done. In this tutorial, we will talk about creating your own basic lightbox plugin. Why carry the whole Swiss knife when you just need a pair of scissors?</div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica, arial, freesans, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px;">
The lightbox that we are about to create is inspired by the look of the lightbox in <a href="http://www.script-tutorials.com/how-to-create-a-lightbox-ultra-using-css-and-javascript/" rel="noreferrer" style="color: #4183c4; text-decoration: none;">this tutorial by Script Tutorials</a>. However, we will discuss it in such a way that enables you to re-use the code in further projects.</div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<h2 style="border-bottom-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; cursor: text; font-family: Helvetica, arial, freesans, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 2em; line-height: 1.7; margin: 1em 0px 15px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
<a class="anchor" href="https://gist.github.com/sdaityari/56c89bd7e235fd312f49#create-basic-lightbox-look" name="create-basic-lightbox-look" rel="noreferrer" style="bottom: 0px; color: #4183c4; cursor: pointer; display: block; left: 0px; margin-left: -30px; padding-left: 30px; padding-right: 6px; position: absolute; text-decoration: none; top: 0px;"></a>Create basic lightbox look</h2>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica, arial, freesans, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px;">
The first step is to create the basic CSS to define the look of our little plugin. The following is the CSS.</div>
<pre style="background-color: #f8f8f8; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); font-family: Consolas, 'Liberation Mono', Courier, monospace; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; overflow: auto; padding: 6px 10px; word-wrap: normal;"><code style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: none; display: inline; font-family: Consolas, 'Liberation Mono', Courier, monospace; font-size: 12px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; word-wrap: normal;">.black_overlay{
display: none;
position: absolute;
top: 0%;
left: 0%;
width: 100%;
height: 100%;
background-color: black;
z-index:1001;
-moz-opacity: 0.8;
opacity:.80;
filter: alpha(opacity=80);
}
.white_content {
display: none;
position: absolute;
top: 10%;
left: 10%;
width: 80%;
height: 80%;
padding: 16px;
z-index:1002;
text-align: center;
}
.white_content img {
max-width: 100%;
max-height: 100%;
z-index: 1003;
}
</code></pre>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica, arial, freesans, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px;">
Here, the <code style="background-color: #f8f8f8; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); display: inline-block; font-family: Consolas, 'Liberation Mono', Courier, monospace; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; overflow: auto; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; white-space: nowrap;">black_overlay</code> class gives the lightbox a translucent background and the <code style="background-color: #f8f8f8; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); display: inline-block; font-family: Consolas, 'Liberation Mono', Courier, monospace; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; overflow: auto; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; white-space: nowrap;">white_content</code> class contains the basic image. We fix the size of <code style="background-color: #f8f8f8; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); display: inline-block; font-family: Consolas, 'Liberation Mono', Courier, monospace; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; overflow: auto; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; white-space: nowrap;">white_content</code> and let the image contained within it resize itself to fit properly in it. The reason we fix the size of the parent container of the image is to give it a proper position on the page.</div>
<h2 style="border-bottom-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; cursor: text; font-family: Helvetica, arial, freesans, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 2em; line-height: 1.7; margin: 1em 0px 15px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
<a class="anchor" href="https://gist.github.com/sdaityari/56c89bd7e235fd312f49#show-and-hide-lightbox" name="show-and-hide-lightbox" rel="noreferrer" style="bottom: 0px; color: #4183c4; cursor: pointer; display: block; left: 0px; margin-left: -30px; padding-left: 30px; padding-right: 6px; position: absolute; text-decoration: none; top: 0px;"></a>Show and Hide lightbox</h2>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica, arial, freesans, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px;">
Notice the <code style="background-color: #f8f8f8; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); display: inline-block; font-family: Consolas, 'Liberation Mono', Courier, monospace; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; overflow: auto; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; white-space: nowrap;">display</code> of both the overlay and the content divs have been set to null for now, which essentially doesn’t show them when the page loads. Therefore, we need handlers in JavaScript to show and hide the lightbox. The function to render a lightbox is as follows. Notice that it takes an argument of the path of an image that it needs to show within the lightbox.</div>
<pre style="background-color: #f8f8f8; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); font-family: Consolas, 'Liberation Mono', Courier, monospace; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; overflow: auto; padding: 6px 10px; word-wrap: normal;"><code style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: none; display: inline; font-family: Consolas, 'Liberation Mono', Courier, monospace; font-size: 12px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; word-wrap: normal;">var show = function (image_source) {\
var content = $(".white_content");
if (!image_source) {
return;
}
$("<img />", {
"src" : image_source
}).appendTo(content);
content.show();
$(".black_overlay").show();
};
</code></pre>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica, arial, freesans, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px;">
The function to hide the lightbox is as follows.</div>
<pre style="background-color: #f8f8f8; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); font-family: Consolas, 'Liberation Mono', Courier, monospace; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; overflow: auto; padding: 6px 10px; word-wrap: normal;"><code style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: none; display: inline; font-family: Consolas, 'Liberation Mono', Courier, monospace; font-size: 12px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; word-wrap: normal;">var hide = function () {
$(".white_content”).find("img").remove();
$(".white_content").hide();
$(".black_overlay").hide();
};
</code></pre>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica, arial, freesans, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px;">
The interesting thing to note here is that we remove (and not just hide) the image within the lightbox before hiding it. This is to ensure that only a single image is displayed at a time (when the lightbox is initialized again at a later stage). An alternative way is to change the source of the image directly when showing the lightbox.</div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica, arial, freesans, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px;">
Although we have defined a hide function, we need to make a cross symbol, clicking which would hide the lightbox altogether. In this example, we use the unicode symbol <code style="background-color: #f8f8f8; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); display: inline-block; font-family: Consolas, 'Liberation Mono', Courier, monospace; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; overflow: auto; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; white-space: nowrap;">&#10007;</code> to signify a cross symbol. The styling to position it at the top right of the displayed image is as follows.</div>
<pre style="background-color: #f8f8f8; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); font-family: Consolas, 'Liberation Mono', Courier, monospace; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; overflow: auto; padding: 6px 10px; word-wrap: normal;"><code style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: none; display: inline; font-family: Consolas, 'Liberation Mono', Courier, monospace; font-size: 12px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; word-wrap: normal;">.white_content a#cross{
position: absolute;
right: 0;
top: 0;
background-color: #fff;
height: 20px;
width: 20px;
border-radius: 10px;
cursor: pointer;
font-weight: bold;
color: inherit;
text-decoration: none;
z-index: 1004;
}
.white_content a#cross:visited, .white_content a#cross:hover{
text-decoration: none;
color: inherit;
}
</code></pre>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica, arial, freesans, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px;">
The lightbox essentially looks like the following.</div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica, arial, freesans, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px;">
<a href="https://camo.githubusercontent.com/7a43bf67ea9de6a04f47ae388334b9bd649c43f0/687474703a2f2f692e696d6775722e636f6d2f464b56757575792e6a7067" rel="noreferrer" style="color: #4183c4; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="alt text" data-canonical-src="http://i.imgur.com/FKVuuuy.jpg" src="https://camo.githubusercontent.com/7a43bf67ea9de6a04f47ae388334b9bd649c43f0/687474703a2f2f692e696d6775722e636f6d2f464b56757575792e6a7067" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 100%;" title="Lightbox for demonstration purposes" /></a></div>
<h2 style="border-bottom-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; cursor: text; font-family: Helvetica, arial, freesans, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 2em; line-height: 1.7; margin: 1em 0px 15px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
<a class="anchor" href="https://gist.github.com/sdaityari/56c89bd7e235fd312f49#bind-functions-to-images-on-click" name="bind-functions-to-images-on-click" rel="noreferrer" style="bottom: 0px; color: #4183c4; cursor: pointer; display: block; left: 0px; margin-left: -30px; padding-left: 30px; padding-right: 6px; position: absolute; text-decoration: none; top: 0px;"></a>Bind functions to images on click</h2>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica, arial, freesans, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px;">
Now that we have been successful in displaying and hiding the image previews through a lightbox, we have to bind this function to every image in the page that we wish to show a preview for. We assume that all the images that are to be a part of the lightbox have the same CSS <code style="background-color: #f8f8f8; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); display: inline-block; font-family: Consolas, 'Liberation Mono', Courier, monospace; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; overflow: auto; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; white-space: nowrap;">class</code>. We also ensure that the <code style="background-color: #f8f8f8; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); display: inline-block; font-family: Consolas, 'Liberation Mono', Courier, monospace; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; overflow: auto; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; white-space: nowrap;">data-source</code> HTML attribute of the <code style="background-color: #f8f8f8; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); display: inline-block; font-family: Consolas, 'Liberation Mono', Courier, monospace; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; overflow: auto; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; white-space: nowrap;">img</code> tag contains the path to the larger version of the image to be displayed. For instance, an image tag looks like the following-</div>
<pre style="background-color: #f8f8f8; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); font-family: Consolas, 'Liberation Mono', Courier, monospace; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; overflow: auto; padding: 6px 10px; word-wrap: normal;"><code style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: none; display: inline; font-family: Consolas, 'Liberation Mono', Courier, monospace; font-size: 12px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; word-wrap: normal;"><img class="image-lightbox" src="images/1.png" data-source="images/A.png" />
</code></pre>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica, arial, freesans, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px;">
The JavaScript function that initializes the lightbox and binds a function to all images for displaying the lightbox is as follows.</div>
<pre style="background-color: #f8f8f8; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); font-family: Consolas, 'Liberation Mono', Courier, monospace; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; overflow: auto; padding: 6px 10px; word-wrap: normal;"><code style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: none; display: inline; font-family: Consolas, 'Liberation Mono', Courier, monospace; font-size: 12px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; word-wrap: normal;">var init = function (lightboxSelector) {
var lightboxSelector = lightboxSelector || ".image-lightbox",
lightboxes = $(lightboxSelector),
content = $(".white_content");
lightboxes.each(function (index, lightbox) {
var selector = $(lightbox);
selector.css({cursor : "pointer"}); // Adding a pointer on hover
selector.click(function() {
var image = selector.attr("data-source"); // Getting the image source
show(image);
});
});
</code></pre>
<h2 style="border-bottom-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; cursor: text; font-family: Helvetica, arial, freesans, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 2em; line-height: 1.7; margin: 1em 0px 15px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
<a class="anchor" href="https://gist.github.com/sdaityari/56c89bd7e235fd312f49#hide-lightbox-on-escape-key-press" name="hide-lightbox-on-escape-key-press" rel="noreferrer" style="bottom: 0px; color: #4183c4; cursor: pointer; display: block; left: 0px; margin-left: -30px; padding-left: 30px; padding-right: 6px; position: absolute; text-decoration: none; top: 0px;"></a>Hide lightbox on escape key press</h2>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica, arial, freesans, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px;">
We can go one step further to improve the usability of this plugin by enabling the support to hide the lightbox on pressing the Escape key. It can be achieved by calling our <code style="background-color: #f8f8f8; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); display: inline-block; font-family: Consolas, 'Liberation Mono', Courier, monospace; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; overflow: auto; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; white-space: nowrap;">hide()</code> function on a <code style="background-color: #f8f8f8; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); display: inline-block; font-family: Consolas, 'Liberation Mono', Courier, monospace; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; overflow: auto; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; white-space: nowrap;">keyup</code> event.</div>
<pre style="background-color: #f8f8f8; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); font-family: Consolas, 'Liberation Mono', Courier, monospace; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; overflow: auto; padding: 6px 10px; word-wrap: normal;"><code style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: none; display: inline; font-family: Consolas, 'Liberation Mono', Courier, monospace; font-size: 12px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; word-wrap: normal;">$("body").keyup( function (e) {
if (e.keyCode == 27) { // Escape key is pressed
hide();
}
});
</code></pre>
<h2 style="border-bottom-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; cursor: text; font-family: Helvetica, arial, freesans, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 2em; line-height: 1.7; margin: 1em 0px 15px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
<a class="anchor" href="https://gist.github.com/sdaityari/56c89bd7e235fd312f49#conclusion" name="conclusion" rel="noreferrer" style="bottom: 0px; color: #4183c4; cursor: pointer; display: block; left: 0px; margin-left: -30px; padding-left: 30px; padding-right: 6px; position: absolute; text-decoration: none; top: 0px;"></a>Conclusion</h2>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica, arial, freesans, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px;">
We have successfully created a light-weight lightbox in this post and it would serve the basic purpose image preview very well. However, this plugin is far from complete and there are different possibilities of improvement. To begin with, you could show a list of images at the bottom of the image preview. Secondly, you could add a different type of a gallery if there is a high number of images available in the page. In addition to that, you could add next and previous buttons to the lightbox and enable navigation through the arrow keys.</div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica, arial, freesans, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px;">
You can find the code <a href="https://github.com/sdaityari/ultra-light-lightbox/tree/gh-pages" rel="noreferrer" style="color: #4183c4; text-decoration: none;">on GitHub</a> and <a href="http://sdaityari.github.io/ultra-light-lightbox" rel="noreferrer" style="color: #4183c4; text-decoration: none;">a demo on GitHub pages</a>. Feel free to create a pull request or an issue.</div>
Shaumik Daityarihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04781340539175177101noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980572469279358195.post-70313370615811725742014-03-01T16:39:00.003+05:302014-03-01T16:41:28.660+05:30And they lived happily ever after... Really?“And they lived happily ever after...”- takes me straight back to my childhood. Mamma by the side of your bed telling you how, against all odds, the princess was rescued; the good ol’ days. There was nothing to worry about, because deep down, I knew that everything would turn out to be all right! However, as the years passed by, I realized that the world was cruel- the thought of a happy “ending” is just a fluke. In fact, there’s no ending, and “ever after” is just a cliche used in fictional works!<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>Don’t believe me? I don’t really blame you. After all, even you were brought up to believe in the concept of good overcoming evil. Ask yourself, why then do we have wars? Why do families sacrifice their own in the name of honor?<br />
<br />
If you think harder, don’t we have historical examples which disprove the very idea of living happily ever after? Shakespeare wrote dozens of plays, and plays like “Merchant of Venice” portrayed happy endings, but wasn’t Hamlet, a tragedy, arguably the most popular and critically acclaimed of all? “Romeo and Juliet” may be a great love story too, but did any of them survive to live a happy life? Talking about the fairy tales, the modern versions are actually very different from the original version published by the Grimm brothers, which were far more gruesome.<br />
<br />
The idea of ever after isn’t just attached to romantic stories. Back in the arly 90s, a promising bunch of youngsters backed by an angel investor started Netscape Navigator (an early version of the modern day Firefox). They were ruthlessly taken over by Bill Gates as Microsoft, quite unfairly might I add, shoved them aside to gain advantage in the famously documented browser wars. There are many such examples of which tell you that the world is just not fair.<br />
<br />
If that was too early for you, let’s rewind six years to early 2008 and the grand success of the maiden IPL season made it look inseparable from its orchestrator, Lalit Modi. It seemed that an eternal bond had developed between the two. Alas, it was not meant to be. With his downfall and eventual sacking from the board, thanks to the controversies surrounding him, even the IPL hasn’t been able to stay away from trouble.<br />
<br />
History teaches you a lot. One of them is the idea that being an optimist is not enough. I take pride in being one, but I always carry an umbrella- there’s always the possibility of rain, no matter how sunny it is! Being a realist is far more important- weigh your options rather than blindly putting faith in the one that suits you the most.<br />
<br />
I realize there was a small error in the statement that I started with- there is an ending, definitely. And no matter what you do, which path you take, you are going to end up the same way- death. Food for thought?<br />
<br />
The point of all this is simple- don’t tell lies. Tell your children it’s practically not possible to climb a fort using one’s hair (or that it would take fifty years for your hair to grow twenty five feet long!) Tell your kids that the prince tried and fought hard, but in spite of all that, it was not possible to win. Tell them that although winning is important, it’s trying hard that matters. Most importantly, good doesn’t always win, but we must try to fight for it. After all, don’t they have the right to know the truth?<br />
<br />
------<br />
This post was written as a part of the creative writing contest for the Literary Fest of Motilal Nehru College, DU. You guessed right- I didn't win. But I did get <a href="https://www.facebook.com/literaryfestmlnc/posts/414835615320339?stream_ref=10">a special mention</a>!Shaumik Daityarihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04781340539175177101noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980572469279358195.post-56550209264485759632014-01-31T19:32:00.000+05:302014-01-31T19:32:00.289+05:3010 Common Mistakes by WordPress Beginners<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">‘</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To err is human and to forgive divine.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">’ Committing mistakes is not a crime, however, not learning from your mistakes definitely is. If you are new to the world of WordPress, it might be intriguing for you to set everything up and your primary focus would be to get things running. In that process, there are quite a few things that you might ignore which would come back to haunt you in the long run. Here is a list of such common mistakes that beginners commit, which you must avoid at all costs.</span></div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<b id="docs-internal-guid-29e75a54-dd6e-2027-a369-c053bf7bdf70" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">1. Choose Wrong Platform</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There are two platforms for WordPress- wordpress.com and wordpress.org. The former is for simple blogs with not much control over the CMS whereas the latter is the source code of the whole CMS which you must use in case you want total control, adding desirable plugins and changing the site in a way you think fit.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Many people who want total control usually end up taking the wordpress.com account whereas the ones who want a simple blog end up with paid hosting. Be careful before taking a decision.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">2. Not Creating Backup</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">No matter how secure you think your site is, nothing is 100% foolproof. In such a situation only periodic backups can help you save your site. There are two things that must be done during the backup- files and database. To backup the files, just copy your wordpress directory. To backup your database, you can use PhpMyAdmin. If you are on the wordpress.com site, you can backup your posts by going to </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Tools > Export</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> in the wordpress adming.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">3. Using default favicon:</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A Favicon is a small shortcut icon, associated with your site, which appears on the browser’s address bar. By default, WordPress displays a favicon by default which is not really great. After all, it is the very identity of your site. You can either make a favicon on your own, or generate one using one of the generators available online. To change the favicon, you need to go to the images section of your theme and upload the new one. Remember, the users associate your site to that favicon! Or else, it would remain just another blog.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">4. Using default permalink:</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A permalink is the URL structure of your website. If you look closely, you would notice that the default permalink structure is something of the form </span><a href="http://www.xyz.com/?p=12" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">www.xyz.com/?p=12</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Not only does that look ugly, it is not SEO (Search Engine Optimization) friendly as well. The reason why I mention it is that Google searches the URLs too and your site would get higher preference if the permalink mentions the page or post title.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Go to Settings > Permalink to change the permalink structure of your site.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><img height="488px;" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/W2Cuikhd8a5E3vpuYgwmPkYZ0EyuZTFEqFP4YHEk8HqYBwipJOGgvWwExBtbk6sFKAQtzPOdnrHRpqkl92hgO_MQmRtlhljUkyhcW5nbggI8Nit6AkaqGQos" style="border: 0px solid transparent;" width="621px;" /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Here, I have selected the structure which is followed by Blogger and most other popular blogging platforms, which includes the month and name of your post. You can also make a custom structure for the permalink in any way you wish. Make a custom permalink only if you are good with regular expressions. Click ‘Save Changes’ after you are satisfied with the structure.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">5. Overusing tags and categories:</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you are a new blogger, you are often tempted to add a lot of tags and categories to your blog posts. It is, in no way, wrong, but at times, it can be misleading. For instance, in this post, there would be hardly two or three tags that I would attach which refer to the overall post. If you add tags referring to each paragraph of the post, then you would have a problem.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Not only does this make your site clumsy and difficult to navigate, it is discouraged by search engines too. It often happens that Google AdSense rejects applications on the grounds of too many tags used for posts.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">6. Hard to find contact info:</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Another common mistake by beginners (that I can very well relate to) is not providing any contact information on your blog. If you are the shy type and don’t want people pestering you in Facebook, Twitter or Email, just put a simple contact me form in your website.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ideally, it would be great if you could put some information through which people can get in touch with you. It can be for the trivial reason of thanking you for a certain post or for something as big as a proposal to publish your works!</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">7. Staying with the default tagline:</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On installing wordpress, you would find that the tagline is ‘</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Just another blog</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">’. There is no way that you can actually like that tagline, just for the simple reason that there are perhaps thousands, if not millions, of blogs on the planet whose owners have failed to change the default tagline that ships with WordPress.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A tagline gives the user a rough introduction to your site and if you select a witty one, you might just tempt the user to stay on your site and browse a few more articles! That being said, do not copy taglines as it is advisable to remain unique.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To change the tagline, go to </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Settings > General</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><img height="283px;" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/4C46oksljP9TPvEQF6fvpDyNt-gHVIXjCc2LOdOb2VGfT8okkz-aubIr6KixvIItULeE6Vc0PS_0tE6kvu4IK1Lk5c3eucK3ytcNdeqJ70fiL3b6B-XLJ0GT" style="border: 0px solid transparent;" width="567px;" /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">8. Keeping the sample page:</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Just like the tagline, people forget to remove the sample page that generally ships with WordPress. A simple google search would reveal hundreds of thousands of sample pages on the web.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In most cases, you would not be using it. Please delete it in that case.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">9. Changing Site URL often:</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The worst part of the life of a blog is when the site URL is changed. It is mostly seen in new blogs, especially on wordpress.com, as changing the sub-domain is free. However, if your site is mature, and you are planning to change the URL, be advised that you would lose all your readers unless you have a way of informing them that your old URL is not functional anymore!</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">10. Skip the use of Google Analytics:</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To monitor traffic and other analytics of your site, the WordPress admin area is not enough. The best tool available today is Google analytics. To register your site, </span><a href="http://google.com/analytics" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">sign up</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> to Google Analytics using your Google Account. On adding your site, you would be provided with a small snippet of code that you need to manually enter under the HTML <head> of your website. That would set Google Analytics.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Google Analytics offers a wide range of services that you can use to monitor data. What’s best is that all of it is free!</span></div>
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<img height="543px;" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/g8oZ7zenUmKJRRF-PckPvieK2aqhjvtkDINozw5jnZ_KNdEx6Z1KXKGZVX1tOmz0mCKRD4jOi0RMzD9OFL4m85Y_0o3H0IJ-ZwHjUigj7EkbufnoJEk3sK4p" style="border: 0px solid transparent;" width="620px;" /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Recently, Google Analytics has also come up with real time views, where you can analyse what users are doing in your site in real time!</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 17.25px; white-space: pre-wrap;">I hope you see that by not using it, you must be missing out on a very big thing!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 17.25px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 17.25px; white-space: pre-wrap;">There you go! I have covered quite a few number of mistakes that WordPress beginners do. Let’s hope that reading this article has made you aware of these mistakes so that you can remain careful and avoid them! Have a great time with your WordPress site!</span></span></div>
Shaumik Daityarihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04781340539175177101noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980572469279358195.post-10781043631104214682014-01-18T13:34:00.000+05:302014-01-18T13:34:50.372+05:30The Dream<div style="text-align: justify;">
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Five minutes left for the final whistle. Trailing by a goal in the Champions League Final in Munich, Torres is brought on for Kalou. The commentator promptly reminds us for the 645th time that for all the minutes Drogba and Torres have played together in the pitch for Chelsea, neither of them have scored. Torres manages to win a corner though, Mata approaches the corner flag to take it. As the ball curls in, Drogba gets free from his marker and heads the ball. Neuer gets to the ball, but it still goes in...</div>
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... and then the goddamn alarm goes off!<br />
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It was not a dream; it was a memory- it had truly happened on the night of 19th May 2012- I was alive to watch it unfold. It was their home, their city, but the cup was ours. For as long as I can remember, I have supported Chelsea. I have had other passions- but nothing takes over the feeling of watching a Chelsea match. </div>
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I have always wondered whether I would always remain just a big football fan, or if I could associate with it professionally at some level. If you look at the birthdays of famous footballers surrounding mine, it shows a really nice pattern!</div>
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20th June: Frank Lampard</div>
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21st June: Michael Platini</div>
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23rd June: Zinedine Zidane</div>
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24th June: Lionel Messi</div>
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25th June: ME</div>
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26th June: Paolo Maldini</div>
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27th June: Raul Gonzalez</div>
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28th June: Fabian Barthez</div>
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That made me wonder if I would ever make it to professional football, forget being even a fraction of one of the finest in the list above. <a href="https://www.facebook.com/shaumikdaityari/posts/3970350064440?stream_ref=10">Back then</a>, I would console myself by saying that Didier Drogba was a late boomer and signed his first professional contract at the age of 21 (apparently, he struggled controlling his food habits!). The day I turned 21, I realized this would not happen as there is no such story to cheer me up. Thankfully, I found something else on the internet.<br />
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I found out that there existed one little thing in this world that would enable me to be professionally connected to Football, even after getting a masters degree from a technical institute. The one little thing that would make my dream come true of doing something I really love for a living.<br />
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<a href="http://www.liv.ac.uk/media/livacuk/study/postgraduate/FAL_LU.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.liv.ac.uk/media/livacuk/study/postgraduate/FAL_LU.jpg" /></a>Enter the <a href="http://www.liv.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/taught/football-industries-mba/overview/">MBA (Football Industries) at the University of Liverpool</a>.<br />
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I am not a big fan of doing an MBA after toiling for years in an engineering college. I have always asked my friends who are dying for an MBA one simple question- do you want to be the manager of State Bank of India for as long as thirty five years? You can say that in a way, I absolutely despise the idea.<br />
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Why long for this one then?<br />
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For starters, it is a one-of-a-kind course in the whole wide world- the one and only focusing on the business and management of football ('Soccer' for you Americans!) It can either be pursued as a full time for a year or a part time for two years.<br />
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The best part of this course, in addition to the affiliation by the English FA, is the exposure. You get to interact with high profile guys in the football industry including former Chelsea CEO <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Kenyon">Peter Kenyon</a> and former Liverpool CEO <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Parry">Rick Parry</a>! Graduates are promptly recruited by top football clubs (yes, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premier_League#.22Big_Four.22_dominance_.282003.E2.80.9304_to_2008.E2.80.9309.29">the Big Four</a> included) and other governing bodies. What more could I ask for?<br />
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Naturally, I had a lot of questions about the course the first time I encountered it and if you are interested, you probably have some too. Feel free to shoot your questions to <a href="mailto:j.c.m.byrne@liverpool.ac.uk">Julie Byrne</a>.<br />
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The only hiccup that I notice is the three year work experience requirement. Although I have internships and freelance assignments, there is no definitive rule as to what constitutes the work experience, or what is transferable. Let's just say I am at the mercy of the Director of Studies.<br />
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I am certainly not a Liverpool fan, but studying in Liverpool is certainly a small price to pay considering there could be a lifetime of football ahead!<br />
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Oh yes, and I absolutely love the bloody British accent.<br />
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This post is a part of the <a href="http://knowledgeisgreat.in/">#KnowledgeIsGreat contest</a>.</div>
Shaumik Daityarihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04781340539175177101noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980572469279358195.post-75885448133794915712013-12-17T02:04:00.000+05:302013-12-27T19:07:19.366+05:30Of Elections in the Largest Democracy<div style="text-align: justify;">
A certain boy in a certain corner of the country once told his father, "I want to be a politician."</div>
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"Stop this nonsense and go back to study," came the reply.</div>
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Do you know what was the mistake of that kid? He was unfortunate enough to be born in India, ironically the world's largest democracy.<br />
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The general politician is an illiterate. He gets up lazily in his big mansion, which a party salary can not buy even in ten lifetimes. He is surrounded by servants, who take care not just of all his needs, but those of his family, uncles, nephews and sometimes neighbors. Unless it's campaigning, he would probably not even bother to step out of his villa. He watches the day making calls to get things done, including and not limited to intimidating witnesses in the criminal case pending against him.</div>
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src="data:image/jpeg;base64,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" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Manik Sarkar</td></tr>
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India is a really big country and that is not true for every politician. Take for example Tripura Chief Minister, Manik Sarkar, whose affidavit for the 2013 Tripura Assembly Elections valued his bank deposits at just over ₹10000 ($165), which is perhaps the lowest among all the chief ministers in the country. He donates all his income to his party, and takes just a stipend of ₹5000. He also doesn't have any property to his name.<br />
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The general idea of Indian politics highly discourages the bright minds to go into it. It's generally seen that the sons of existing leaders are given party tickets and it's presumed difficult for a good individual to get into the fray. Politics is considered dirty, but no one seems to be ready to clean it. That being said, the need of the hour is to get certain things right. Perhaps, the youth can be targeted by portraying a clean image.</div>
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One important step is to get the right people out in the spotlight. As Chetan Bhagat said in a recent newsroom debate after the Delhi elections, "Being good is the new cool," I guess it's time the political parties project the right people and encourage their candidates to do it the right way! Only then will the marketing strategies work. However, that is just half the work done- how do you encourage the masses to vote?</div>
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The other day, a friend (who is also a web developer) asked me if I waned to hear something funny and forwarded me the link to the background music of the website of a well known political party. And yes, it was damn funny. Can't you guys hire a decent web developer? Or better, use WordPress!<br />
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If you want to involve the youth, you have got to appeal to them through a medium that they see fit- and whether you like it or now- it's the internet. Ironically enough, by ignoring such channels, political parties are losing out a fair share of exposure. Technological advancements have made the world a global village and reaching out to the masses hasn't been any easier.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPqkKNGr7dYvig8sgijpSX2cKckUXOylSHixR3vchac4BZ0DCdKE0981EfgjFtsw3zPrZ-WNAQw7ZJoSL27uaSb5Kx_x438GdubFe_F36SHQZXa_RddEADmI5PAn_mUF0LWE8a5lzITS5p/s1600/mama.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPqkKNGr7dYvig8sgijpSX2cKckUXOylSHixR3vchac4BZ0DCdKE0981EfgjFtsw3zPrZ-WNAQw7ZJoSL27uaSb5Kx_x438GdubFe_F36SHQZXa_RddEADmI5PAn_mUF0LWE8a5lzITS5p/s320/mama.png" width="219" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A snap from Didi's Facebook page</td></tr>
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The power of the social media can't be ignored. Many politicians have taken to Facebook and Twitter to engage with their supporters. Be it <a href="https://www.facebook.com/MamataBanerjeeOfficial">Mamata Banerjee's Facebook page</a> or <a href="https://twitter.com/ShashiTharoor">Shashi Tharoor's Twitter feed</a>- the response has been pretty strong! Naturally, the simple conclusion here is that social networks are an integral part of campaigning now.<br />
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At the time when people tweet from the washroom and every Tom, Dick and Harry owns an Android, a BlackBerry or an iPhone, mobile apps are the way to go. For instance, the <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bjp&hl=en">BJP Android app</a> seems to have gained 10k-50k downloads, and has a good rating. This enables people to get information, including photos and videos of each and every rally! What that does is make the idea of campaigning popular among the users.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMp0f9h37wY_i-ZguryKsHR5h0m4rVv1oIdni4xfJ-HdnCd9YB7g8dJaudARHv-yRzwYCBl1uoL_Q3WDfocSTSuvM1-noDzB4CPgQVTDROWJkRyf9XeExBJJyGlTPMCjR0UJ_H8INYSHtt/s1600/donation.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMp0f9h37wY_i-ZguryKsHR5h0m4rVv1oIdni4xfJ-HdnCd9YB7g8dJaudARHv-yRzwYCBl1uoL_Q3WDfocSTSuvM1-noDzB4CPgQVTDROWJkRyf9XeExBJJyGlTPMCjR0UJ_H8INYSHtt/s640/donation.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The AAP donation list</td></tr>
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The popularity of the Aam Aadmi Party (I'd have preferred a better logo though) has a lot to do with its online presence. Founder Arvind Kejriwal has been very active on <a href="https://twitter.com/ArvindKejriwal">Twitter</a>, so has <a href="https://twitter.com/AamAadmiParty">the official account</a> of Aam Aadmi Party. When there were allegations of illegal funding, AAP replied with publishing the list of all the donations on their website. Such actions only make you look better.<br />
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<a href="http://www.narendramodi.in/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/3dtec-140313-inner1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://www.narendramodi.in/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/3dtec-140313-inner1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Coming back to other uses of technology, Narendra Modi took the use of technology in campaigning to an all new level during the Gujarat elections last year. His 3D interactions guaranteed him a place in the Guinness Book of World Records for the most simultaneous broadcasts of a 3D illusion (53). Not only does that make you look fancy, it also saves tremendous amounts of time wasted in travelling!<br />
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Times are changing and politics must change too! The Delhi elections show that laying back doing nothing will just get you counted in '<i>Others</i>'. The old vote bank politics do not work any more because the common man has become frustrated and in turn, is coming out to vote. The jump in voter turn out is a sign of better things to come. After all, we are the biggest democracy and it's high time we form a people's government.</div>
Shaumik Daityarihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04781340539175177101noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980572469279358195.post-69209970617095932372013-12-16T00:36:00.000+05:302013-12-27T19:08:47.344+05:30Math the #1 reason why we waste study time<div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 17px; white-space: pre-wrap;">We have all been in that situation. You fixed 6 PM as the time you would sit down to study, after watching that all important TV show. You feel lazy and switch off the TV five minutes late. You stretch your limbs, have a soft drink, check your texts and before you realize, it’s 6.15 already. You decide to start off at 6.30 with a fresh mind. Although you wasted half an hour, you would still get off at 8 for the birthday party of your friend.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 17px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Although unknowingly, you wasted a good half an hour; in fact, we all do. It’s almost an everyday routine- wasting time. However, it’s interesting to note why you really wasted the precious time. The true culprit here is Math!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 17px; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s a human tendency to round off time. If someone asks you the time, you are likely to round it off to the nearest 5 minute. If a football match starts at 1.25 AM, you are probably going to report it as 1.30 AM. In most of these situations, you do it unknowingly. In fact, we don’t just do it with time, we do it with almost everything- no one says that the cost of a Chevy Camaro is $24343!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 17px; white-space: pre-wrap;">This impulse catches on during your study time as well. If you waste a little bit of time, you tend to round off to the next half hour before you start! Sadly, time is unidirectional and once it’s lost, you can never get it back. Therefore, the process of rounding off your study time can only lead to its loss!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 17px; white-space: pre-wrap;">You should probably avoid getting late in the first place, but there are times when it’s inevitable and you get off the right track by just a few minutes. The right thing to do then is try and ignore the urge to round off the time. If you have wasted a few minutes already, why waste more? Why not start it off right at that moment?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 17px; white-space: pre-wrap;">The next time you face this situation, remember this advice and make sure you talk yourself out of wasting the few extra minutes. Just give yourself the extra push to get over it. After all, half the battle won is just showing up!</span></span></div>
Shaumik Daityarihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04781340539175177101noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980572469279358195.post-61573024620090700072013-12-15T16:52:00.000+05:302013-12-27T19:05:47.960+05:305 Must-Have Android Apps<br />
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I wouldn't bore you with my story of the ChaCha, how it (or rather HTC) betrayed me (Yes, HTC has pathetic after-sales service), or how I got my hands on a shiny new Galaxy S4 (or perhaps, I already have!) Let's just cut on to what I am about to tell you. Back to using the Android for over a month now, here are my favorite apps!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMjWz-8LM_7kctr8espsMYL8mqrx9P4C6GJ4Haqj928ou_2msijPVH1Ail9DtiLOsE9FkERiX4NlsTFe9DvtrMFUGrqMOOH4MJLZnylbHRR2vXXIBgzRlF-isaDJUPFl_xH4nElXGnuXWo/s1600/pocket-555_large_verge_medium_landscape.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMjWz-8LM_7kctr8espsMYL8mqrx9P4C6GJ4Haqj928ou_2msijPVH1Ail9DtiLOsE9FkERiX4NlsTFe9DvtrMFUGrqMOOH4MJLZnylbHRR2vXXIBgzRlF-isaDJUPFl_xH4nElXGnuXWo/s200/pocket-555_large_verge_medium_landscape.jpg" width="200" /></a><b></b></div>
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<b><b>Pocket:</b></b></div>
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Ever got that cool link from your friend and wanted to stash it away until you had the time to read through it? Wanted to watch that funny video but you are late for class? Well, Pocket comes to the rescue. What's better is your phone, tablet and computer get synced. Yup, if you have Pocket, well, you don't have Pocket.</div>
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<b>BlackBerry Messenger:</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT1eXvwto9AcRl4qzy8fhLPRkrti6xnExTxxdye0ToXuX5u7hymcyFD4zXa8IFAzxA6sDDJfuR-7GzUiRt8nBQ8jv7CutiAmRDCkFrLjRnkfkA2lsCt7S8WaTsauqnWq0mm6Tonm9xg4dX/s1600/andyios_142110584815_640x360_171539318402.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT1eXvwto9AcRl4qzy8fhLPRkrti6xnExTxxdye0ToXuX5u7hymcyFD4zXa8IFAzxA6sDDJfuR-7GzUiRt8nBQ8jv7CutiAmRDCkFrLjRnkfkA2lsCt7S8WaTsauqnWq0mm6Tonm9xg4dX/s200/andyios_142110584815_640x360_171539318402.jpg" width="200" /></a>Up until last week, if you checked out the list of the popular free android apps on Google Play, you would find that WhatsApp topped the list, and quite rightly so. However, as soon as (the dying) BlackBerry decided to put up their most popular app for free on the Android Market, the scenario has changed. With BBM, you get the much needed privacy and well, the annoying people stay away. Oh, and there's the BlackBerry encryption too! (<i>Psst, I hear that Obama had to fight tooth and nail to keep his BlackBerry because the encryption was too much for the Secret Service.</i>)</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjzuWWLen8HRT1wazPetlcxJPeZGjMumipyDxFTvzozKhATKvTQmCT3glugNE6OjTi4k1PyYsOq7-qzrZ1v-I47bCnp46B1lByI-t4E3hcoP9GOnxRosXV5kFXsEzXTzldvETOTM9PyDQn/s1600/3_minion_rush.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjzuWWLen8HRT1wazPetlcxJPeZGjMumipyDxFTvzozKhATKvTQmCT3glugNE6OjTi4k1PyYsOq7-qzrZ1v-I47bCnp46B1lByI-t4E3hcoP9GOnxRosXV5kFXsEzXTzldvETOTM9PyDQn/s200/3_minion_rush.jpg" width="120" /></a><b>Minion Rush:</b></div>
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Temple Run lovers, stay away. Minion Rush has everything that Temple Run did and does even better! What makes the gameplay even better is the fact that there's a movie associated with it. There's a little downside though. Owing to it's high system requirements, it usually runs without lag only if your device has a Quad core processor (Nexus 7 for instance runs it smoothly, but the experience is really bad in the Galaxy Tab 2). Either ways, my phone runs it well and it's quite addictive.</div>
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<b>Todoist:</b></div>
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There's Google Keep or a load of other applications to manage your to-do list, but there's hardly anything as good as Todoist. Having used it for almost a year, first its website and then as a Chrome extension, there is nothing better to remind me to do that little thing that I always wanted to.</div>
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<b>Hill Climb Racing:</b></div>
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I save the best for the last. And I won't say anything for this. Just install it (doesn't need any fancy hardware) and go haywire!</div>
Shaumik Daityarihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04781340539175177101noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980572469279358195.post-9764384948599922502013-12-15T00:18:00.000+05:302013-12-27T23:26:58.416+05:30The Tablet Times<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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With the microprocessor chips getting more powerful, yet smaller, smaller devices are getting smarter and more capable of doing things that couldn't be imagined even a few years ago. Could you imagine coming home late from work, sending a signal to your television to automatically start recording your favorite program? Well, the things that we can do are going beyond our imagination!<br />
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As of late, I have been doing some things with my Android device which has succeeded to make life difficult for others. Did I tell you about the time that I switched off the canteen TV with my Android device? (Yes, it has an infrared sensor which does the trick!) The bewildered look on the canteen owner’s face with bulging white eyeballs was priceless! There was this other time when I used a Bluetooth mouse to control my Android device because I was too damn bored of the touch-screen. Those may be interesting times, but what I am about to tell you is far more exciting…<br />
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Once upon a time, in a land far, far away lived two brothers- Crazy and Cranky. They were known to terrorize the poor villagers. One day, the villages cast a spell which bound them to a millennium of good deeds. Two superheroes were thus born. Over the centuries, they have been known by many names and appeared many times in history, but fast forward into present time and Crazy has become became Tenie, the modern Genie and Cranky took up a life of fighting crime...<br />
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... with a tablet.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggJ1V7Fft2pBGHOvxmoA4SekWBW82SPyoQWR19VG1KDW94AXFDupS53rYyj9R15sMJTTqiYcP9wiq04sM-He94BkZSv3xWhNT1VBqketgf8aB8xPDf2VOQDgT-y_xoTlfFs028aIu4TP2o/s1600/DSC01087.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggJ1V7Fft2pBGHOvxmoA4SekWBW82SPyoQWR19VG1KDW94AXFDupS53rYyj9R15sMJTTqiYcP9wiq04sM-He94BkZSv3xWhNT1VBqketgf8aB8xPDf2VOQDgT-y_xoTlfFs028aIu4TP2o/s320/DSC01087.JPG" width="320" /></a>Meet The Tabeteer. He intercepts police chatter by hacking into their channel, and gets to the crime scene before them. He then scans the vicinity with his tablet and using 3D reconstruction, tries to deduce how the crime took place.<br />
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The Tabeteer then uses his tablet to get satellite data to track the villain to his lair. On confrontation, it's battle to the death with the villain! But our hero has an advantage- the tab! One smash and the villain is defeated. The Tabeteer saves the day. Oh wait, the day is not complete yet. Tabeteer then posts a selfie fighting crime on this Facebook page!<br />
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This gem of a person eats tablet, drinks tablet, prays tablet, sleeps tablet… lives tablet. Tablet is his Religion!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaG3NWb0BxaHQiLsFr4-E9Mr8gwgme9yYB1YVOIGlXQMM_UkSmxAihqHImb9sIuHQPOVEgolimXRkW1CQIt60Nc6ATtdc0Lc5h-x8sm-wwunOMTIgt7fsnf1VElcYAaNxvcK5hQ-QnFL8y/s1600/DSC01088.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaG3NWb0BxaHQiLsFr4-E9Mr8gwgme9yYB1YVOIGlXQMM_UkSmxAihqHImb9sIuHQPOVEgolimXRkW1CQIt60Nc6ATtdc0Lc5h-x8sm-wwunOMTIgt7fsnf1VElcYAaNxvcK5hQ-QnFL8y/s320/DSC01088.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
Tenie, on the other hand, is the modern tech-savvy Genie who comes with a Tab. He carefully chooses his master after rounds of shortlisting among potential candidates all over the world, who apply through his website.<br />
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He is summoned not by rubbing a lamp, but by clicking the lamp icon on your Tab. He can give you all the wealth in the world, thanks to the Tab again, which gains him access to Swiss bank accounts in a flash.<br />
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Tenie can speak in a variety of languages- well, at least all the ones present in Google translate. He can also transfer you to the nearest restaurant serving your favorite food! Huh, who needs Siri and her suggestions?<br />
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He even encourages youngsters to use the latest technology. He gives away mobile phones and tablets for free to children to encourage them to get in groove with the latest technology. However, little do these unsuspecting kids know that it's Tenie's big brother way to keeping tabs on their activities and creating a database which even God would envy!<br />
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It's been centuries and the blood brothers still have over half their sentence to complete. Till then, you can lean back on your chair and rest assured that if something happens to you, they will have your back!<br />
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This post is written for the <a href="http://www.indiblogger.in/topic.php?topic=93">BetterWay contest</a> by IndiBlogger and <a href="http://facebook.com/LenovoIndia">Lenovo</a>.</div>
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Shaumik Daityarihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04781340539175177101noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980572469279358195.post-61800297559503401832013-12-01T12:34:00.003+05:302013-12-01T20:22:14.364+05:30Wlinkster's new scam<div style="text-align: justify;">
Over the past few weeks, I have been doing some freelancing, due to which my blog hasn't got my attention as much as it used to in the past (when I had a lot of free time), but today, being a Sunday, I thought let's give it some well deserved attention. Although I wasn't going to write on Wlinkster and Sagar Rana, a message in Facebook compelled me to tell the people what exactly the Wlinkster team has been doing since their "<i>high potential</i>" startup literally failed (who boasts of an Alexa rank now?)</div>
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I have had a history with Wlinkster. Back in July-August, I wrote a series of posts on what they were doing so wrong. Over the course of time, that post has gotten me a few sincere readers and people who have told me about how they hate Wlinkster and the founders. The founders contacted me, and we had a nice little conversation, but I didn't bring my post down. Although, I did mention that I would write an apology on this very blog if they could prove me wrong. As it seems, that's not going to happen any time soon. All that was five months ago.</div>
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A certain <a href="http://careymartell.com/">Carey Martell</a> pinged me on Facebook late last night. Here's what he had to say.</div>
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This Sagar Rana guy is connected to me on FB. I noticed he was a friend of a business acquaintance. </div>
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He asked me to donate to a hurricane relief project posted by Kathy Savitt by sending my personal info to an email address, but he sent me to a profile that doesn't look legit. <a href="https://www.facebook.com/kathy.savitt">https://www.facebook.com/kathy.savitt</a> is her real one, I think, but the one he sent me to is <a href="https://www.facebook.com/kathysavit">https://www.facebook.com/kathysavit</a></div>
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When I pointed this out he sent me this angelist profile <a href="https://angel.co/kathysavit">https://angel.co/kathysavit</a> that also looks odd and not verified, but links to the suspicious FB account.</div>
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Feels like a scam that a lot of people are falling for. He told me she was a friend of his and if I donated she would plug my startup to investors.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA-hwPpgb6ZoXPFAS7H5pSFuz2DXD7p6o035g0VrybvXKWE0ZIIOLqlzXO5JLw7IqQntm81RoLRu3KenBNqvCjvmiQjSipVG9WMhwNHUjVxMLPiMEAyaPybj0ENnImsHEVbpLeOKTqEjmt/s1600/fake-wlinkster-profile.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA-hwPpgb6ZoXPFAS7H5pSFuz2DXD7p6o035g0VrybvXKWE0ZIIOLqlzXO5JLw7IqQntm81RoLRu3KenBNqvCjvmiQjSipVG9WMhwNHUjVxMLPiMEAyaPybj0ENnImsHEVbpLeOKTqEjmt/s400/fake-wlinkster-profile.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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Let us see why her Faceook profile looks fake. Firstly, a certain Kathy Savitt is definitely Yahoo's CMO, but this is not the one. The CMO of Yahoo, is certainly going to have thousands of followers, but this profile has apparently nothing. Secondly, the English gives the Wlinkster people away. No CMO of a big company would have such grammatical and punctuation errors to come up with the following post.</div>
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I'm Trying to Help out New Startups and Business companies to get a good Reputation in Business if you need help PM me Thanks.</blockquote>
I have reported that profile, I suggest you do too.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtHCsDu8Th7AJv0o7egXfsTW-yR2an5oAjR53mf23OZXtsKkjMegcPxqcQLOPUuxTsPIDN9-cKrNJP2Akq8t1x46_uvDoCR1Xp4cl60kgdwEJ3Z-TzdMVT5b9b8pG8yN8o5jVphXNfqSuB/s1600/fake-wlinkster-profile2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="356" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtHCsDu8Th7AJv0o7egXfsTW-yR2an5oAjR53mf23OZXtsKkjMegcPxqcQLOPUuxTsPIDN9-cKrNJP2Akq8t1x46_uvDoCR1Xp4cl60kgdwEJ3Z-TzdMVT5b9b8pG8yN8o5jVphXNfqSuB/s400/fake-wlinkster-profile2.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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The corresponding Angel.co profile seems fake too. Just 7 followers when there are 159 people you are following? Come on, the CMO of Yahoo definitely has more influence than that. Also, the interests seem to be listed in a very unprofessional way!</div>
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Coming back to Carey Martell's that I got, Sagar Rana says that Kathy was a "<i>friend of his</i>". Well then, Sergey Brin was my chaddi buddy, you know.</div>
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Also, if you are the founder of a startup, ask yourself why would someone want money to introduce you to investors? If they believe in your startup idea, wouldn't they rather want to be a part of it? Either ways, since Wlinkster has failed now, they are resorting to cheap tactics to make some fast cash. If you are wondering whether to trust them, you have your answer.</div>
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If the Wlinkster team is reading this. I have some advice. Please try and improve your English- because that's what gives you away. Every. Single. Time.<br />
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<b>Update:</b><br />
Carey Martell was kind enough to provide me with screenshots of the actual conversation.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ02J5U_ZMWRSuhlUoKLIshxbUF9Z05yoUEtLevnXnRuP2oFUW_49eihFGYbfSOK0OuS9symx5zVO_6xnSrPqFbDSM7e0blXyUfqpHe0zFE17lwI5YV62VBPJMvC8dKCWM-1YNfRAgmxqQ/s1600/1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ02J5U_ZMWRSuhlUoKLIshxbUF9Z05yoUEtLevnXnRuP2oFUW_49eihFGYbfSOK0OuS9symx5zVO_6xnSrPqFbDSM7e0blXyUfqpHe0zFE17lwI5YV62VBPJMvC8dKCWM-1YNfRAgmxqQ/s1600/1.jpg" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgGcL_VGlr8aLi3_4lexyFcQeuLQm_Q3ncBTifiknXImnynEfb3eXs5G41MjAjXswHsRPSd8rUutcq5v1_TyySBV8Qo72C88HqH3YA4am4J6CLNW7eC05fEw2bV8pcbDVXMepZYWnHE6wq/s1600/2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgGcL_VGlr8aLi3_4lexyFcQeuLQm_Q3ncBTifiknXImnynEfb3eXs5G41MjAjXswHsRPSd8rUutcq5v1_TyySBV8Qo72C88HqH3YA4am4J6CLNW7eC05fEw2bV8pcbDVXMepZYWnHE6wq/s1600/2.jpg" /></a></div>
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Shaumik Daityarihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04781340539175177101noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980572469279358195.post-25103995280720525182013-11-08T13:55:00.002+05:302013-11-08T13:56:38.403+05:30It's time for HomeShop18 to play spoilsport<div style="text-align: justify;">
Frankly speaking, I have never liked HomeShop18's website. Every single time I visit it, it shows that I am logged in, but requires me to re-login before doing anything else. I wonder why they don't log me out completely! Why then did I order stuff from the site?</div>
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The first time I ordered from HS18, it was sometime last year when I was redirected by <a href="http://www.indiabookstore.net/">India Book Store</a> as I wanted Walter Lewin's '<i>For the love of Physics</i>' (physicists write great autobiographies, by the way). It reached me in a short time, along with loads of bookmarks and a pen. Naturally, I was happy! Sadly, they didn't live up to my expectations ever after.</div>
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Then again, I am not writing this for a few lousy bookmarks. It's about how poor their service has become. A few months ago, they had decided to <a href="http://blog.homeshop18.com/2013/05/27/free-shipping-is-back-you-asked-we-listened/">restore free shipping</a>, which made it my preferred choice over Flipkart for single book purchases. That started the chain of events that make me write this.</div>
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I purchased a book <a href="http://www.homeshop18.com/just-married-have-you-applied-bail/author:suresh-p/books/fiction/product:30510391/cid:12756">Just Married- Have you applied for bail</a> from HS18 (Don't judge me, it was the worst 100 bucks I have EVER spent). Although it was supposed to reach me in 2 days, it took them a good 6 days. On tracking it, it seemed that the package made three round trips from Mumbai to Delhi before reaching me (no calls from the delivery guy to confirm anything though)! Naturally, I was pissed off and HS18 sent me a gift coupon worth 100 bucks shortly thereafter as a token of appreciation for my patience. After finally receiving the book, I thought it would be worth the patience, but my disappointment is something that belongs to a separate blog post altogether.</div>
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After a few months, I thought of finally using the coupon as it was about to expire in less than a month. Just to check that it worked, I entered it as the payment and the order was placed automatically. How on earth did that happen?</div>
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I promptly wrote to HS18 customer "<i>care</i>" asking them to cancel the order, which they did within hours of my request. However, the next time I wanted to use the GC, it didn't work. Shouldn't it have been restored automatically?</div>
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I contacted HS18 again, and this time they had an interesting response.</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;">Dear Mr. Daityari , Warm greetings from HomeShop18!</span></blockquote>
Nothing warm about this.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;"></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;">Thank you for writing to us. In regards to your query, this is to inform you</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;">that we would not be able to provide you with the GC as the cancellation has</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;">been done form your end.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;">Thanks & Regards, Varun Dhall HomeShop18 Customer Support Executive Phone</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;">Number - </span><a href="tel:%2B91%20120-2441918" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;" value="+911202441918">+91 120-2441918</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;"> Extension – 173 (Please press ‘#’ after punching the</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;">extension)</span></blockquote>
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Right. Due to a glitch in your site, you put the blame on me? Quoting their policy,</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
For orders placed through Gift Certificates / Vouchers of HomeShop18, refund would be provided in form of a fresh Gift Certificate / Voucher of the same value.</blockquote>
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It's not that they don't have a system in place for this, it's just that they are just not willing to do it.</div>
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Frankly, I am disappointed. Also, their book prices have been increasing rapidly. A simple search for the book '<i>The Google Guys</i>' reveals that HS18 is second from the bottom in the list, just above Crossword (which never provides any discounts!) It's safe to say that my last ever transaction with HS18 is in the past.</div>
Shaumik Daityarihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04781340539175177101noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980572469279358195.post-86702342544851964522013-11-05T02:41:00.001+05:302013-11-20T01:10:55.433+05:30Onward toward an immune life<div style="text-align: justify;">
<h3>
<b>The Battle Starts</b></h3>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5XTdosIHlbIqaC32W4OcOElCROVIIF8zwccp6GIuflw9Y_UYc9QxmZEo4AjEPVaxu78436tCxXP4Ytjh5MFmkNpSkJyuw8PEgdAeV92Cmad73fzgBs1Fq2ZG6QmUkbWaJ_NK_SXpofOgF/s1600/Edward_Jenner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5XTdosIHlbIqaC32W4OcOElCROVIIF8zwccp6GIuflw9Y_UYc9QxmZEo4AjEPVaxu78436tCxXP4Ytjh5MFmkNpSkJyuw8PEgdAeV92Cmad73fzgBs1Fq2ZG6QmUkbWaJ_NK_SXpofOgF/s200/Edward_Jenner.jpg" width="152" /></a>In the late eighteenth century, an English gentleman observed that milkmaids were generally immune to smallpox. He deduced that smallpox immunity was generated through a cowpox infection, a disease common to milkmaids. To test his hypothesis, he tried it out on his gardener's eight year old son. The test was successful and after testing it on several other children, including his eleven month old son, it was finally accepted. His name was Edward Jenner and he later came to be known as "<i>the father of immunology</i>."</div>
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Thus started humanity's war with these tiny little almost invisible creatures that were capable of causing havoc to our biological systems! Centuries on, as the battle between mutating pathogens and exceedingly cunning humans escalates, we can't just depend on that to help us out. New strands in microbes which are resistant to existing antibiotics are regularly discovered and the challenge to find a cure for them is increasing.<br />
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<b>How does the body work?</b></h3>
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It turns out that there's a better way than using antibiotics or any other drugs for that matter. The human body is a wonderful biological machine which senses that something is off and responds to it by killing off the threat. It's like a battle between your body's immune system and the microbes.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ1TrqwsczvxP9TVlhPnVdkVj6aYZGOyELXDX98ESg37QZ9lNTpq2OYzfAxhE_uKg4lGJbgyRUKFYJtbo-wq9t4eWRy3WwAdgIL1R_OihLZSoPp-5zKqAT6-v2xzkVcpf0OcoOKhCEZ3zk/s1600/8-white-blood-cells-fighting.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ1TrqwsczvxP9TVlhPnVdkVj6aYZGOyELXDX98ESg37QZ9lNTpq2OYzfAxhE_uKg4lGJbgyRUKFYJtbo-wq9t4eWRy3WwAdgIL1R_OihLZSoPp-5zKqAT6-v2xzkVcpf0OcoOKhCEZ3zk/s400/8-white-blood-cells-fighting.gif" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">White Blood Cells are the body's first line of defense</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
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There's a downside though- the immune system, in general, works really well once the microbe is identified. That is exactly the philosophy behind vaccination. Dead or weakened pathogens are injected into your body to trigger an immune response, which is enough for your body to learn <i>the signature</i> of that pathogen.</div>
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Rest assured, you will be attacked and once you are, your first line of defense is your immune system (naturally, you can't take a random drug before you have identified the cause!) The key to staying fit, thus, is having a strong immune system.<br />
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<h3>
<b>The Immune System:</b></h3>
There might have been a kid in your neighborhood who, you could swear, would never get ill no matter how much he ran around in the cold, had ice creams or even played in the mud. Blame his parents for that. The simple reason is this case is the hierarchical or innate immunity that is inherited from your parents- in other words, it's something that you can't do anything about.<br />
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Induced immunity, however, something that you have control over, well, at least partially. The different types are listed in the infographic below.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK-K99V6GgHTq3s78JTqE43C5rfmt2M-hWRbNKcovJIjT5DexqXOR2kRM28rcDzSA_7U6klB-9RmdGyqbW7b8D8sMy96TEh-rFlTC_fQmpS2FaFltj_1Hu2zHarZumV8ZMfBvzjsq2Gl3M/s1600/image005.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK-K99V6GgHTq3s78JTqE43C5rfmt2M-hWRbNKcovJIjT5DexqXOR2kRM28rcDzSA_7U6klB-9RmdGyqbW7b8D8sMy96TEh-rFlTC_fQmpS2FaFltj_1Hu2zHarZumV8ZMfBvzjsq2Gl3M/s1600/image005.gif" /></a></div>
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<h3>
<b>Tapping the full potential of the immune system:</b></h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4fT0dn4LCAgnr026FRI3f2tDweI3oOQ02fRb-xWpFWObqfcc7LxoZUNz5N98n4tf9SSK1u8WXkyIAxev1_x8KHEh8G94YRthCOMvvsTNs-R954zs-8VN6HenpRn34zoO5pgFOQEuNezTN/s1600/insomnia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4fT0dn4LCAgnr026FRI3f2tDweI3oOQ02fRb-xWpFWObqfcc7LxoZUNz5N98n4tf9SSK1u8WXkyIAxev1_x8KHEh8G94YRthCOMvvsTNs-R954zs-8VN6HenpRn34zoO5pgFOQEuNezTN/s200/insomnia.jpg" width="193" /></a>There are various ways to stimulate your immune system so that it works at the best of its ability. In addition to vaccination as described above, the best practices are listed below.<br />
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<b>Adequate Sleep:</b><br />
Do you feel really cocky when you don't get a full dose of your normal sleep? Blame the internal system. A lack of sleep has been associated with proteins that lead to inflammation, thereby making your body weak, bringing your natural guard down. It's important that you get your fair share of sleep!</div>
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</div>
<b style="text-align: justify;">Get your Vitamins right:</b><br />
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As children, I am sure you were taught of how the vitamins and minerals help you in keeping your body safe. Vitamins are known immunity boosters. Keeping a balanced diet is a must. Stray away from it and you are inviting unnecessary trouble.<br />
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<b>Go for Probiotics:</b><br />
Probiotics are micro-organisms like bacteria and yeast that are believed to improve health. Stefano Guandalini, Professor of pediatrics at the University of Chicago Medical Center <a href="http://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/features/what-are-probiotics">says</a>, "Introducing friendly bacteria in the form of probiotics is believed to challenge the immune system in healthy ways." <a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/10/121022162335.htm">Recent study </a>relating probiotics and college students (who are sleep deprived and stressed in general) and found that those with probiotic supplements had colds that lasted for a shorter time.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs8Sb3oW28Y-AVqjdebF612ci6SmUF_Bdet7gl6InUDoWpt6QSNN_LdpI_3RAROL5PiUVJL2FSV6c2iGx9shMomqPsLCkbkYYZDp8LrZp3Q9CmmcclrhGcqWcCEyeJrp1iOrzr8igZa9_u/s1600/o-TEA-570.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs8Sb3oW28Y-AVqjdebF612ci6SmUF_Bdet7gl6InUDoWpt6QSNN_LdpI_3RAROL5PiUVJL2FSV6c2iGx9shMomqPsLCkbkYYZDp8LrZp3Q9CmmcclrhGcqWcCEyeJrp1iOrzr8igZa9_u/s400/o-TEA-570.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<b><br /></b>
<b>Have a healthy breakfast:</b><br />
Fruit salad, sunny side up eggs or yogurt- all of them are known to boost your immunity. Top if off with a cup of warm, comforting liquor tea and you should be off to a great day! Oh, and don't forget to drink lots of water!<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe7tf5ZDUCfM5wcIHh_sEqIlZZvpNdEmJTJRXaYbLISNaxx3ORFv0xkOTZ6QsAD-JfIJXmPBYAVs_1rqXrNk_Qfd9YAPSPQaNXeaCanqLTuZHzXAagnL1QL8TZGdfS5UjJ10y12rfwMxVh/s1600/ginger_benefits.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe7tf5ZDUCfM5wcIHh_sEqIlZZvpNdEmJTJRXaYbLISNaxx3ORFv0xkOTZ6QsAD-JfIJXmPBYAVs_1rqXrNk_Qfd9YAPSPQaNXeaCanqLTuZHzXAagnL1QL8TZGdfS5UjJ10y12rfwMxVh/s400/ginger_benefits.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ginger- A known antioxidant</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>Let it be gingerly:</b><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTdkvFMrBIpEcGNo9uzhWHCOTxwJmztTZIBMwsmh3P2hnplCVCnfqatJzpE3kASjYmplN98jd2leh0q-cv_IgSHCGIyfLyyn97QBStNTSS2XbrtA8gUfqcfAghyphenhyphenxijqayMY-3AZacDAfMn/s1600/flower-sage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTdkvFMrBIpEcGNo9uzhWHCOTxwJmztTZIBMwsmh3P2hnplCVCnfqatJzpE3kASjYmplN98jd2leh0q-cv_IgSHCGIyfLyyn97QBStNTSS2XbrtA8gUfqcfAghyphenhyphenxijqayMY-3AZacDAfMn/s200/flower-sage.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sage Flower</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Ginger is known to warm the body and break down the toxins in the organs, the lungs and sinuses in particular. Ayurveda also says that ginger helps in cleaning the body's lymphatic system, which is responsible to kick our dirt from the body.<br />
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<b>Say no to the nasal spray:</b><br />
The moment I realize I have a blocked nose, the first thing that I do is try and find my nasal spray. As sad as it may sound, life feels incomplete without it now! The right way though, would be try some sage extract in tea or hot water- it helps move the mucus out of the system.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ2A-1DbzebAwjGYD9uArmuXsmGVqKCDMRw7Aj9EH1lcbe6X7SbRQWudCsrvRHTEKCq6W0A4Hu6AlmP1Bu4qM_3SJapPkGKhEqmyPAgRYxVCTjJKprzJN5PBV6RTna6sdwKfTax9tUFHSa/s1600/Graviola720.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ2A-1DbzebAwjGYD9uArmuXsmGVqKCDMRw7Aj9EH1lcbe6X7SbRQWudCsrvRHTEKCq6W0A4Hu6AlmP1Bu4qM_3SJapPkGKhEqmyPAgRYxVCTjJKprzJN5PBV6RTna6sdwKfTax9tUFHSa/s400/Graviola720.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Graviola</td></tr>
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<b>Do it the Samba way:</b><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAMtxkoPY07rNjPEgUYzcSzSWYSEEj1KvN8-mcwfdeTfzjL65nay7UVdoacZ4WZ_Fmnd4QlH2P4bSEcuThVMeeSwcFuip1XDpaKL46e85ITuGtCrAFJwG4VP7JVWc6eYNLC_6nYyCjKRDV/s1600/No_smoking_sign.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAMtxkoPY07rNjPEgUYzcSzSWYSEEj1KvN8-mcwfdeTfzjL65nay7UVdoacZ4WZ_Fmnd4QlH2P4bSEcuThVMeeSwcFuip1XDpaKL46e85ITuGtCrAFJwG4VP7JVWc6eYNLC_6nYyCjKRDV/s200/No_smoking_sign.jpg" width="200" /></a>Graviola, a fruit native to the South Americas, has been traditionally used from killing parasites and treating the flu. Although many websites preach that graviola treats cancer, there has been no evidence or related research that supports the fact. However, it is known to contain acetogenins, which help boost the immune system.<br />
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<b>No Smoking:</b><br />
Smoking adversely affects almost every organ in the body- increasing the likelihood of various diseases including and not limited to cancer, stroke and heart disease. So it's safe to say, the farther you stay from your tobacco, the healthier you remain!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoBPpwaFlVdJ0Xi-F_hpgShvB6Mi48lsBJdUn6i2sjJPLmKOhhQVyEYMIlJ0wn81jC89MiDctM_4L0AOecB4SMa1Uks8XoKLz7OwGnle7cnjfaRm2ejRStPaIJAgdRpYQF8Sr8D8Yqirnh/s1600/dhoni-chyawan1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoBPpwaFlVdJ0Xi-F_hpgShvB6Mi48lsBJdUn6i2sjJPLmKOhhQVyEYMIlJ0wn81jC89MiDctM_4L0AOecB4SMa1Uks8XoKLz7OwGnle7cnjfaRm2ejRStPaIJAgdRpYQF8Sr8D8Yqirnh/s1600/dhoni-chyawan1.jpg" /></a>The Chyawanprash:</h3>
The Dabur Chyawanprash is a product that is a mixture of herbs and spices prepared as per Ayurvedic traditions. It is believed to boost immunity in children, helping them battle common ailments.<br />
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Although it has a sweet-sour-spicy taste, the color is not really encouraging. As a kid, you are bound to be mischievous and your mother running after you with that is pretty natural. However, if Amitabh Bachchan and MS Dhoni tell you to have the Chyawanprash, you do that quietly without asking questions.<br />
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<b>The Awareness:</b></h3>
Naturally, I know what I am talking about in this post. You probably do as well. But what about the millions of others deprived Indians who don't? What is the use of all the research if just the top 10% of the population gets the benefits? Doesn't it help in increasing the gap between the rich and the poor? The high population is definitely one of the big factors for this pitiable condition, but there are other factors to blame as well.<br />
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The need of the hour is to promote health awareness in the community and the lack of a proper structure is perhaps the biggest hindrance. We need to follow a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top-down_and_bottom-up_design#Public_health">bottom-up approach</a> where smaller units adapt to the local community and work together rather than a rigid set of rules decided at the top! This is possible when there is proper coordination between the government agencies at the top and smaller NGOs at the grass root levels.<br />
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With so many initiatives like <a href="http://volunteeringindia.org.in/health-awareness.html">Volunteering India</a> or <a href="http://www.pfizerindia.com/enewswebsite/provide_health.aspx/">Pfizer</a>, I believe the day is not too far when we can have a healthier and immune India.<br />
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This post is written for the contest 'An Immune India' conducted by <a href="http://indiblogger.in/">IndiBlogger</a> and <a href="http://www.daburchyawanprash.com/">Dabur Chyawanprash</a>.</div>
Shaumik Daityarihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04781340539175177101noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980572469279358195.post-28017292314470786932013-11-04T00:01:00.001+05:302013-11-04T00:01:17.190+05:305 things that make me unique<div style="text-align: justify;">
If you are an avid reader of my blog, you would probably know I am obsessed with the number five by now (or did you miss the five guitar solos, five worst covers and a few other scattered here and there?) Let's cut to the chase, shall we?<br />
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<b>The Dubliners:</b></div>
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The reason why I listen to The Dubliners is simple- Luke Kelly. Who was Luke Kelly, you ask? He was an Irish folk singer who made some wonderful music at his peak. Although he died back in 1984 at a relatively young age, his legacy still remains. Here's a sneak peak into his world of music (this song was a part of the Sherlock Holmes soundtrack). You might still not like Irish folk, but it remains a fact that someone like him won't walk on this planet even in the next hundred years!</div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/TwjDXwHbLfc?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<b>Winamp:</b></div>
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Back when I got my first PC, the computer guy who came had a few fixed applications that needed to be installed in a Windows 98 machine. One of them was Winamp. Although the looks have changed since then (but remained the same for the last five years or so), I still prefer using that little music player that got me addicted to music in the first place.</div>
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I have had to use iTunes since I got an iPod, but Winamp still remains an important icon in my taskbar (whenever I am on Windows).</div>
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<b>GOM Player:</b></div>
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Not long back, when the MKV filesystem gained popularity, and the Windows Media Player was rendered obsolete, there was a need to shift to a new, much better video player. I switched to GOM Player. Although I am an open source enthusiast, this remains an exception as I prefer GOM over VLC. Maybe it's a mental block, but that's just the way it is.</div>
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<b>Sublime Text:</b></div>
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Come to programming and you need to have a favorite text editor. People start off with VIM and the smart ones eventually move on the Emacs. What makes Sublime Text different from the rest is the appearance- it gives you a Mac feel over the very basic looks of the counterparts. There is one disadvantage though- I can't run it on a remote server, but that is not enough to stop me from using it on my local machine!<br />
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<b>Music in languages I don't understand:</b><br />
Although I get hold of most of the music in foreign languages through FIFA, Take International Love by Fidel Nadal (I presume it's Spanish), or Peponi (that's in Swahili)- people actually laugh at my choice, let alone listen to it. But I have got to say, if you do not like these, you are missing out on some great music!</div>
Shaumik Daityarihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04781340539175177101noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980572469279358195.post-74499593095751707362013-11-03T22:47:00.000+05:302013-11-14T21:12:47.306+05:30What goes around comes around- My tryst with HackerEarth<div style="text-align: justify;">
Roughly two years ago, I had just begun work on the placement and internship portal of the college, for which I had started learning Django. There's this senior who called me asking me that he wanted to discuss certain things. Since I had worked with him on the NSS website in the past, it seemed like an opportunity related to web development. I was curious to know what it was.</div>
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He redirected me to two of his friends <a href="https://www.facebook.com/sachingupta006?fref=ts">Sachin</a> (not Tendulkar) and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/gurbinder.gill?fref=ts">Gurbinder</a>. (No, I wasn't being ragged!) They had launched the website of their startup, <a href="http://mycareerstack.com/">MyCareerStack</a>, which catered to needs of students preparing for technical interviews, preparing them for the questions asked in interviews, to be precise. They already had a few hundred users and tens of thousands of clicks.</div>
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They explained further. The current site had been developed in PHP and any person who has been in web development knows Python is better. Naturally, they wanted to change it to Python/Django. But that was not all. Their ultimate aim was to make something like an online code testing platform, where you could code within your browser, and get the results.</div>
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On the offset, it sounded pretty impressive.</div>
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But...</div>
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I SAID NO.</div>
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There were many reasons for doing that. First, I was just a Django newbie, with no idea how to write code which would cater to tens of thousands of people. Hell, I didn't even know much Python then (I can safely say I learnt Django first and then Python!) Back in the day, I was also hooked to the game FIFA. A daily dose of it was certainly necessary to keep me in my good senses. Add to it the responsibility at IMG, I couldn't shy away from it. There's one more reason though. Deep down, I thought that maybe, just maybe I couldn't do it- it might have proved too big for me. Perhaps it was a mental block of never working in something like that before.</div>
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Two years on, things have changed a lot. Sachin eventually made it to Google and left it soon thereafter. Gurbinder left the startup for higher studies (he's in the University of Texas now), whereas <a href="https://www.facebook.com/vivekprakash17?fref=ts">Vivek</a> (also an IMG senior) joined it. MyCareerStack is now HackerEarth, the original idea a part of it. They have successfully implemented all their plans their point of time and done even more.</div>
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I learnt Django at my own merry pace (looking at Sandeep's code though.) I played FIFA to such an extent that it doesn't really need to be a part of my life anymore (more on that some other day). I did a GSoC in the meantime and learnt my fair share of JavaScript. I also started freelancing.</div>
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Even though I have been involved with HackerEarth in the past regarding some other things, there was something else in store for me. Just a few days ago, Vivek came up with an interesting proposition(do note that I have been in contact with him every single step of my programming career). They were looking for someone to work remotely for them and he asked whether I would be willing to do it. I didn't think twice before replying. Turns out I have to work on the MyCareerStack code base yet again. Do you believe in destiny or fate? Well, you can't fight fate.</div>
Shaumik Daityarihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04781340539175177101noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980572469279358195.post-67159392651862175322013-10-06T16:45:00.000+05:302013-10-06T16:49:18.415+05:30On the Indian 24<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvSxh_OOosMmR4or1i6hAqZ0-liHRlWIt0thokWaXCYzekpNN4RjPujCO4W1mrEv-V-uOsy3XlePmx07OIqmtZKg1W9E5TBAwonvtYMEamzWDnRA7YZt6Dm_CzrMmpVLV4LUZ7CDSMC2pM/s1600/24-show-goes-carbon-neutral.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="140" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvSxh_OOosMmR4or1i6hAqZ0-liHRlWIt0thokWaXCYzekpNN4RjPujCO4W1mrEv-V-uOsy3XlePmx07OIqmtZKg1W9E5TBAwonvtYMEamzWDnRA7YZt6Dm_CzrMmpVLV4LUZ7CDSMC2pM/s200/24-show-goes-carbon-neutral.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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Being a 24 fan, I was never really enthusiastic about Anil Kapoor playing the Indian Jack Bauer. Those of you who never reached the final season of 24, Anil Kapoor played Omar Hassan, President of Kamistan (who would fondly pronounce country as "<i>kauntry</i>"). Oh, and he was assassinated in the middle of the season, executed on live television (if I remember correctly) by Kamistani terrorists as even <i>the</i> Jack Bauer, with his Rajnikanthish abilities, couldn't save him, as he was busy figuring out links to the Russian mafia.</div>
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Jay Singh Rathore, starts the show reminding us of the different attacks on Indian soil and how the Anti Terrorist Unit was formed. Really, Anil Kapoor? ATU? Couldn't you just keep us 24 fans happy by naming it CTU? (especially that there are so many other minor elements that are kept the same, like hacking into his daughter's email to find out where she went- who uses email to discuss that?)</div>
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Anyways, coming back to the character portrayal of JSR (can I please use this acronym?), I'd say he has done a fairly good job at the age of 53! Although the supernatural powers of Jack Bauer haven't been shown yet (especially how he survives in the subsequent seasons), so far so good.</div>
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The family of JSR has been roughly the same as that of the original version and somewhere deep down, I feel bad because I know who would survive and who else would die and how. There was no mention of a son of Jack Bauer though, although JSR has one.</div>
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There is a striking resemblance in the character of Nikita Rai, played by Mandira Bedi with that of Nina Meyers from the original one. I wouldn't go into any more details because I would end up giving you spoilers, but I would say that the 24 crew got this one right.</div>
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That being said, Tony Almeida, second in command in CTU, was by far my favourite character in 24. Unfortunately, he is being portrayed by some chubby guy who just doesn't have the badass attitude of Almeida. How will be take command of the CTU in Jack's absence? He doesn't even have minions!</div>
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US Senator David Palmer and Indian Prime Ministerial candidate Aditya Singhania share a lot in common, but there is a missing link. Singhania doesn't have a wife yet and Sherry Palmer's role is played partly by his sister and mother, who take on Sherry's good and bad parts, respectively. Makes me wonder if he would divorce his mother at the end of the season! The political scene is very much inspired by India's situation, I believe but let's not get political on my otherwise very politically indifferent blog.</div>
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Where does that leave me? Considering they made the plot nearly 99% same as the original one, I know what is going to happen, who is going to die and by whom, and also when that is going to happen. Kind of sad, right? You guessed right, there is no point following the show because I am certain after watching the first two episodes that the story is going to be exactly the same.</div>
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This show is, however, better than the average <i>saas-bahu</i> serial that has plagued Indian television for decades now. Maybe, the people deserve something better, even if the plot's just a carbon copy of the original (it's an official remake though- Anil Kapoor has purchased the rights). Let's hope we get remakes of some more shows- do I hear chants of Prison Break or Friends? Well, if bringing in a popular shows makes the television better, then why not?</div>
Shaumik Daityarihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04781340539175177101noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980572469279358195.post-70097982205190842172013-09-28T12:26:00.000+05:302013-09-28T12:26:20.971+05:30Wrapping up the summer's work | Google Summer of Code 2013<span style="font-family: inherit;">Although it has been quite some time since I last blogged on my work on the GSoC (blame the exams and then the last minute work I had to do), it has just been confirmed that I have passed my final evaluations for the same. I would use this blog post as an overview of the work that I have completed in the summer.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: 19px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">1. Changing the ATutor search</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Branch- ui_search (</span><a href="https://github.com/sdaityari/ATutor/pull/14" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://github.com/sdaityari/ATutor/pull/14</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">)</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Libraries Used- jQuery, jQuery UI</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Current search in ATutor involves a search link at the top right of the page. The main purpose of the work provided in the branch is to add an easily accessible and easily to spot control on page which allows to create an instantaneous ajax search request. The Advanced link allows to input more data for a more concise search by reusing an existing ATutor search functionality.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Previously, a user would have to click the Search link on the top to get to the search page, where he would search and the results would be shown. Now, a user needs to enter the search term directly on the search bar at the top and, for any advanced searches, (s)he can click the advanced link next to the search bar. Thus, user can spawn a new search with lesser interactions as well as familiar with search through various online resources and web sites.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This layout has been inspired from a number of websites on the internet which use a similar idea of providing a search bar and a separate advanced search page. Some examples include but not limited to:</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Apple (</span><a href="http://www.apple.com/in/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://www.apple.com/in/</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">)</span></span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ubuntu (</span><a href="http://www.ubuntu.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://www.ubuntu.com/</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Possible improvements:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Since, there was no button next to the search bar indicating the user to press Enter to search, a tooltip was added which the screen reader reads out properly. This is a quick solution to to provide a support for AT. A designer’s insight into this feature would help in making it more intuitive.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 19px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">2. Changing the Help page</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #cc4125; font-size: 19px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Branch- ui_help (</span><a href="https://github.com/sdaityari/ATutor/pull/12" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://github.com/sdaityari/ATutor/pull/12</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">)</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Libraries Added- New versions of jQuery and jQuery UI.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The look of the help page was changed, bringing in all parts (help, external help, accessibility and contact) into the same page and providing anchors at the top to the different parts and links of back to the top for all the parts. Bringing different parts into the same help page reduces the total amount of user interactions in order to access the various help features. New UI is also simplistic and reflects an overall existing ATutor structure.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The basic design of this page was inspired by:</span></div>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mozilla (</span><a href="http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/products/#innovations" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/products</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">)</span></span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: 19px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">3. Restructuring Browse Courses Page</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Branch- ui_browsecourses (</span><a href="https://github.com/sdaityari/ATutor/pull/4" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://github.com/sdaityari/ATutor/pull/4</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">)</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Libraries Used- jQuery, a11yAccordeon (</span><a href="https://github.com/anvk/a11yAccordeon/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://github.com/anvk/a11yAccordeon/</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">)</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To avoid clutter in Browse Course PAge page, the decision was made to use an accessible accordion control using an open source version supported by Alexey and me. A similar control could be found in AContent browse course page. By using this widget, we help users to focus on a single course at a time rather than the detailed cluster of information about all available courses presented on a page. The a11yAccordeon was built with accessibility in mind as a product and inspiration for ATutor and AContent projects.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Using a11yAccordeon makes the website more familiar to users who have worked in AContent as there is a similar feature for displaying courses.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As for the search feature in the browse courses, it utilizes jQuery in order to start search by hiding and showing rows in the widget. This functionality remains the same as it was initially created in the original Browse Course page. The search is accessible by using a jQuery tooltip which is read by AT depending on the search.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Possible improvements:</span></div>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The a11yAccordeon lacks a pagination feature</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A custom created theme for a11yAccordeon which reflects the overall ATutor theme would be a nice touch.</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 19px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">4. AJAXification</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #cc4125; font-size: 19px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Branch- ajax_demo (</span><a href="https://github.com/sdaityari/ATutor/pull/1" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://github.com/sdaityari/ATutor/pull/1</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">)</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Libraries Used- jQuery</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">AJAX is a modern way for providing fluid and seamless user interactions on a website. AJAX also improves accessibility since users don’t have a trouble of seeking for the previous focus place on the page after they performed and action and page has refreshed. This process helps to preserve a state of the page’s data and inputs as well.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This branch which is a part of this project could be the beginning for an overall future ATutor AJAXifying. The task of AJAXifying the whole interface of ATutor is a very complex and hence, too time consuming for the given GSoC time period. Therefore, only a part of this work was accomplished to serve as an example for future work on how to add AJAX to the ATutor UI.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ATutor previously redirected to new pages for simple tasks like deleting comments. One of the main tasks for this branch was to add AJAX behaviour to into some of the frequently used pages. The plan was to modify existing pages and use the same logic for doing these small tasks, but to send responses through AJAX to php pages and perform ajax ui changes in the page for the user.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">All the ajax js files are present in jscripts/ajax. All PHP files which handle AJAX requests are under the ajax directory of their corresponding modules (like mods/_standard/file_storage/ajax).</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A separate function, check_ajax_request, was created in include/lib/vital_funcs.inc.php to check the presence of an AJAX request by accessing the $_SERVER variable. This function returns true when the request was made through an AJAX function (xmlhttp request) and false for all other cases. This function is used in the PHP files where the AJAX requests are sent and helps avoid users open such urls in the browser directly.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Tasks completed under AJAXification:</span></div>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Add, Edit and Delete comments in File Storage</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Delete Reply or Thread in Forums</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Add, Edit or Delete terms in Glossary</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Possible improvements:</span></div>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Almost the whole ATutor project does not support AJAX but could be possibly converted into more responsive ajax based UI</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 19px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">5. Changing the Instructor’s Manage Page</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #cc4125; font-size: 19px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Branch- ui_instructor (</span><a href="https://github.com/sdaityari/ATutor/pull/20" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://github.com/sdaityari/ATutor/pull/20</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">)</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Libraries Used- jQuery, Masonry (</span><a href="http://masonry.desandro.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://masonry.desandro.com/</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">)</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The basic idea is to make boxes stacked against each other which would contain the main module at the top and the sub links one below the other (inspired by </span><a href="http://pinterest.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">pinterest.com</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">). The change focussed on making different sections of the manage page modular and isolated from each other, which helps the user find the necessary links together.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Also, it is generally seen that users have less trouble understanding and reading data which is sorted in columns rather than rows. Those areas also make the logic split for the links on the manage page clearer by splitting them into separate sections.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We used JavaScript library Masonry in order to get closer to the styling similar and seen in pages like Pinterest. Custom CSS was added to flavor the page with a more suitable color scheme. This redesign is responsive and changes with different screen sizes.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Possible improvements:</span></div>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A designer’s insight into this would help in making the page look better.</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: 19px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">6. Changing the System Preferences Page (Experimental)</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Branch- ui_system (</span><a href="https://github.com/sdaityari/ATutor/pull/15" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://github.com/sdaityari/ATutor/pull/15</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">)</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Libraries Used- jQuery, jQuery UI, a11yAccordeon (</span><a href="https://github.com/anvk/a11yAccordeon/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://github.com/anvk/a11yAccordeon/</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">)</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The first task in this regard was to group a big set of options into four groups: Website, Course, Instructor and Miscellaneous Settings. Grouping was accomplished with a familiar control - a11yAccordeon mentioned in the browse courses page.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Secondly, the enable-disable radio buttons were converted to on/off flip switches. An attempty to use the ones on Proto (</span><a href="http://proto.io/freebies/onoff/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://proto.io/freebies/onoff/</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">) or the slide buttons in the Google Melange site, but none of them turned to be AT friendly. Finally, the desired control was found in a basic CSS from Ghinda.net (</span><a href="http://ghinda.net/css-toggle-switch/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://ghinda.net/css-toggle-switch/</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">) with an addition of custom Javascript in order to make controls more keyboard accesible.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The left and right arrow keys was chosen as control interactions since they feel more natural for such sliders. The sliders occupy less space than radio buttons and allow users to read and comprehend quickly which options are ON and which are OFF, without spending time by reading radio button labels. Furthermore, flips witches are widely used online, on smartphones and tablets. This fact makes them easy to understand and would bring ATutor one step closer to a better look on mobile devices.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Possible improvements:</span></div>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A designer’s insight into look and feel of the flip switches.</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 19px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">7. Adding SASS to ATutor</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #cc4125; font-size: 19px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Branch- ui_sass (</span><a href="https://github.com/sdaityari/ATutor/pull/21" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://github.com/sdaityari/ATutor/pull/21</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">)</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Libraries Used- SASS (</span><a href="http://sass-lang.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">sass-lang.com/</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">)</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Modern technology demands modularity not only from the functionality of webpages, but from the styling files as well. With dynamic CSS styles, styling features could be configured in one style sheet and then reused in others. This can potentially help developers and designers to reduce style repetition and duplication significantly. As the result it could simplify new theme creation and CSS maintenance of the project. This change could help designers reconfigure style sheets through changing just few variables instead of various places with static hardcoded values in various themes. The latter is an inefficient way and is prone to errors.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #cc4125; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The main aim of this branch is to convert two existing ATutor themes to use SASS and create a common file for both of them (_base.scss), which would contain all the common styling rules (functions, modules, styling variables) between the themes.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Possible improvements:</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></div>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Just like the AJAXification, it is not possible to convert the whole existing CSS in ATutor to a dynamic CSS (SASS) for GSoC time period. This branch should serve as an example of how other styles are going to be converted.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This branch was created the last so it might not be fully implemented and might need more optimizations within.</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 19px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">8. Changing the basic navigation (experimental)</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #cc4125; font-size: 19px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Branch- ui_dropdown (</span><a href="https://github.com/sdaityari/ATutor/pull/8" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://github.com/sdaityari/ATutor/pull/8</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">)</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Libraries Used- None</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This task can be divided into two parts- adding dropdown menus, removing the sub navigation tabs and changing the breadcrumb structure.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Following the high accessibility standards of ATutor, a CSS only dropdown implementation was selected (based on </span><a href="http://staff.washington.edu/tft/tests/menus/dropperdown/index.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://staff.washington.edu/tft/tests/menus/dropperdown/index.html</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">). This menu uses CSS floats and margins to get the dropdown effect. Since it uses proper markup, it is fully keyboard accessible and read out clearly by screen readers. Since it added the sub navigation items in the dropdown menu, the sub navigation system was removed.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The main aim in this branch was to remove extra layers of tabs and perfectly conceal them in the drop down navigation menus. Doing this would not only comply with modern web styles, but also remove extra controls from the page and reduce information clutter. Users would have to do less interactions in order to get the desired data, making the process faster too.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The current breadcrumb system in ATutor shows the current page and its parents. The work done in this branch modifies the breadcrumbs by showing the siblings of the current page, in addition to the parents. This system of adding siblings of the current page to the breadcrumbs was inspired by the following sites:</span></div>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Guardian (</span><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/obama-administration" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://www.theguardian.com/world/obama-administration</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">)</span></span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bleacher Report (</span><a href="http://bleacherreport.com/chelsea" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">bleacherreport.com/chelsea</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Possible Improvements:</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This branch requires is some intervention from a designer’s perspective</span></div>
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Shaumik Daityarihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04781340539175177101noreply@blogger.com0