October 2007 Archives

I created a quick Opensearch file to add the PHP Function search to my search bar. If anyone is interested it's available here.

Update: To make life even easier, use ctrl-k to select the search box, ctrl-up and ctrl-down to select the different search providers.

I ordered a nice new toy from Komplett over the weekend and got a email with a "Track And Trace" code for DHL Europlus. I went to www.dhl.ie, saw a nice DHL Fast Track search box on the top right and entered my code. I got a page entitled "Tracking Good Afternoon" (at 6 in the evening) and search boxes all over the place. Besides not looking well in Firefox, it didn't show the code I had just entered anywhere.

I put my code in the top search box (Air Express), pressed search, and up popped a box saying entitled "DHL Road Express Shipment" telling me:

You may have entered a DHL Road Express Licence Plate Number / Identcode Number.

Please use the European Road Express Parcel Tracknet below to track this shipment.

The main page also had a section entitled "DHL Road Express Parcel Tracking", so out of interest I tried the code there and got the same popup. I then clicked the European Road Express TrackNet as they wanted, and figured out how to add my code and submit as needed. The tracking as it turns out is pretty dire. According to them, my package is in Tilberg, NL since yesterday morning. It better be wrong!

The point of this rant? Their system was smart enough to realise that the code I entered was a European Road Express TrackNet code. Why didn't it simply redirect to the proper page from the main page rather than carrying me into a page with multiple search boxes? Instead of a popup explaining where I need to go, why doesn't it redirect to the right page? Or even a link to the right page in the popup? Was there any UI testing done at all on the site?

I was talking to someone who once worked in a company bought by DHL. I was told that their biggest problem is that as they are buying up smaller local companies to do local deliveries, they are aren't integrating the new IT systems properly. This does explain why the tracking mightn't as great as it should be. However it doesn't explain why they can't add a small bit of intelligence to their site.

alias whois='whois -H'

Put that in your .bashrc (or equivalent) and get rid of the legal disclaimers which usually mean that you have to scroll up two pages to get the actual results! I should have looked at the whois man page ages ago.

I'm in Heuston Station for a while and I have had to use Eircom wireless to access to the internet. What was disappointing was that the login page for Eircom's wireless does not have a valid SSL cert.

I logged in anyway (naughty, I know) as the IP it was pointing at was an eircom ip, and I am stuck. I am surprised that Eircom can get away without using a valid SSL cert for pages that have to handle credit card details.

I would have thought that one of the requirements for Credit Card processing would be having a valid SSL cert!

For those of you who have been following the Monster Spam saga, Grandad's summary of it is a must read!