Real Words

This is a guest post by Modi.

• How many times have we all come across a browser that isn’t responding no matter how long we’ve been patiently waiting?
• How many times how most of us lost our precious work, whether a great post to be published in a blog or just an ordinary pretty long email?
• How many times have we all felt helpless, looking at our screen after all those tabs and browsers were gone and all those hours of research have been wiped away?

There’s nothing more frustrating than coping with your work being lost just because of your browser’s malfunction.

Having tried several browsers during the past 15 years, from Mosaic and Lynx to IE9 and Chrome I decided to write a post on an issue that has been annoying me since I started browsing the web. And the questions always remained the same: Why isn’t there a browser that can deal with all (or at least) most of these issues?

Efficiency

An efficient browser isn’t the one that offers hundreds of configuration options so you can go back in your history and retrieve any page you’ve lost. This is pointless for people like me who browse hundreds of pages daily. But the worst aspect is when you actually lose what you’ve been so patiently writing in a web editor and boom… it’s all gone! Sometimes, if the crash is really fatal it can lead to the whole operating system hang, making a reboot mandatory which means that you can lose unsaved data in other open applications…And what is in the clipboard too. Microsoft definitely has some merit of responsibility in this case but this is not a topic to be discussed right now.

Speed

When it comes down to speed the real issue isn’t how long it takes a browser to run or get terminated. The real issue is: How Quickly Can You Recover if things go terribly wrong. I’ve read numerous tests with benchmarks comparing browsers’ response times in nanoseconds but what of a difference is that going to make in my life if I lose that piece of text which I have been typing for hours during some moment of great inspiration?

The Source of the Problem

The main reason why we all lose our data, tabs and pages from time to time has to do with the way the O/S treats our browser application. Traditionally, browser applications run as one process, no matter how many tabs or windows are open at the same time. So, if something goes wrong in one tab or page then usually the whole process needs to be terminated and this is why we end up losing everything – including our faith to technology.

Crash Protection

Obviously, the solution to the problem was in the browser’s architecture. Allowing for more than one process for each browser page or tab would offer crash protection. Apparently, this is a very simple idea but for some reason most browsers still don’t offer! If something goes wrong in Chrome we can terminate only the process responsible for the non-responding tab. Internet Explorer and Firefox only run as one process so terminating the process will result in all the tabs disappearing.

However, if you want to change the default behaviour you are free do to so. A popular choice is to set one process-per-site so all open tabs that belong to the same site will be treated by one process only. So, if you have 10 different Amazon product pages open, they will run as one process, rather than 10, saving resources especially if your system is not very powerful. Nevertheless, if you want all your tabs to be dealt by a single process (e.g. like Firefox and IE) this is another possibility.

Google Chrome Protection

Using the built-in task manager we can view and manage any process. By pressing ‘SHIFT+Esc’ and the browser’s task manager will appear. It contains useful information such as memory and CPU usage as well as the network bandwidth of each tab and page.

Modi is an SEO and web design consultant who works for a cruises company which specialise in oceania cruises and silversea cruises. If you’d like to connect with him, follow him on Twitter at @macmodi.

Note: This is a guest post by James Adams. His contact information is at the end of the article.

You are a good writer. Why then do options to self publish dominate your professional landscape when you could join the ranks of mainstream authors who actually get paid to write for publishers?

Many writers want to see their work in print; the stacks of manuscripts that swamp editors and agents testify to that. The challenge is how to get your writing noticed by publishers. The 9 tips listed here can help.

1. Formulate a compelling proposal. When you submit your work to an editor, formulate an attention-grabbing appeal that illustrates why your work deserves attention more so than the work of othres. Explain what you think your work will accomplish for readers and for the publisher and how you are willing to help make the product a success.
2. Get your spelling and grammar right. Most editors can probably understand one slipup or two when it comes to correct grammar and spelling, but if you submit a manuscript with an error on every page your editor will probably not be impressed. If you are ready for the big time show it by submitting perfect work.
3. Find some help. Experienced authors out there will help you navigate your way around the publishing industry. Some may advise you for free if you establish a good relationship, but many will charge a fee for their services. Before paying, however, check references to avoid a scam and to make sure the person has the credentials and experience to be worth your while.
4. Don’t give up. Every time a publisher rejects your work you have one more reason to quit: don’t. Read the rest of this entry…