BoatLogger - iframe issue

Integration of BoatLogger into this site has been a goal of my BoatLogger experiment. Since I want to maintain a single online presence, it is one of the high value aspects of the service. 

Inserting a datapane into a website should be easy. You simply click on "Copy URI", select the code and paste it into your HTML of your blog/site. Easy, right? Unfortunately, from the start, I have had issues getting the data panes to display properly in Internet Explorer.

The basic symptom that I was experiencing was that the iframes would display correctly in Chrome or Firefox but not in Internet Explorer. 

There would be no error, they just wouldn't display. 

Chrome iframes

IE Not displaying iframes

After a LOT of digging into a variety of weird IE iframe eccentricities, I finally discovered the issue...and it wasn't specifically an IE or a BoatLogger problem!

The template that I currently use in Blogger is based on the "Simple" template. In the head of the source code of the template is this META tag:

And it is as simple as that... IE is being forced to think that it is an earlier version that isn't compatible with the iframe content. 

Removing that tag has fixed the problem and it hasn't seemed to have broken the site template. I assume it is there to resolve some specific issue that the template designer was facing. 

While I'm happy that I've resolved the issue, it has shown an issue with the BoatLogger service, their support forum doesn't receive any attention. After 2 weeks of the issue being outstanding, I received 5 views on the forum but no response. Even a "We're not sure but we'll think about it." response would have been more reassuring than nothing at all. 

They seem to think they have good support, judging by the dialog box shown above. I've just submitted a direct question about a problem I've had paying for the service. We'll see what the response is for that...I expect it will be quicker.

100th Post

This is my 100th post on afloat.ca! 

Well, that isn't totally accurate. I do have a few small sub-domains with a few posts as well, but this is my primary site. FYI, those other sites are:

• scouts.afloat.ca - a site for the scout group that I am a leader with. Also hosts our adventure racing page.
• staying.afloat.ca - a site for general business commentary. This isn't very active these days.
• android.afloat.ca - this is a new project where I am going to document the use of android apps for sailing.
• ar.afloat.ca - a sister site for the adventure race that my scouting group hosts. General adventure racing tips and tricks.

I started this blog in January 2009. I wanted a place where I could document the bits of information that I found useful or that I thought others might find useful. If there is a topic that I need to figure out, I may as well make it easier for someone else to find the same info.

In May of 2009 I purchased the domain afloat.ca to make it easier to find.

My topics, over the years, have been varied. Generally my top categories have been:

• Product reviews
• How-Tos 
• Documenting my own projects 
• My own plans

Since inception I have received, as of January 12, 2014, 92,534 hits on the site. Basically I am averaging around 1000 hits per page. I am now averaging approximately 110-150 hits per day. This isn't a high number compared to big blogging sites but I am definitely happy to think that I might be having some sort of helpful impact with my posts.  

If you look at the top hit counts on my pages and posts there are definitely some high hitters. I think this tells a lot about what people find useful. In order of hits, here are the 5 top posts:

1. Loft Bed Plans
2. Book review: Around the world in 18 Years
3. Craftsman 1350 B&S 27" Snowblower
4. 2006 Jeep Liberty Diesel - Major Service
5. PVC Pipe Winter Boat Cover Frame

The loft bed plan page is my highest hit count by almost double. Apparently people are attracted to free things. Who would have thought!

What I have found is, since I don't have a lot of subscribed users, people are finding my site when they have a specific problem they are trying to solve or when they are making a specific buying decision. 

I have found, not surprisingly, that there is a definite seasonal pattern to hit counts. Snowblower hits skyrocket in the winter of course!

Also not surprisingly, if I put some effort into posting links to my articles, my hit count goes up. I'm not really interested in optimizing my SEO so I don't really do this often. 

I don't have infinite amounts of time. I enjoy writing but there are a lot of other things to occupy myself, like actually doing projects. The benefit of watching the stats on posts is that I can actually tune my topics to what people find useful. I have no desire to post for the sake of posting. 

I have enjoyed the first 100 posts on this site and look forward to putting out another 100. 

Focusing on service

http://staying.afloat.ca

I have been blogging on this site and posting content for approximately 2 years now. I enjoy creating this content and hope that it is interesting. Originally I started this blog as an experiment in blogging, SEO and advertising. Since I hadn't had any exposure to these areas I thought I should try it first hand.

I've been pretty happy with the results. I have a fair number of hits every month but, more importantly, I've gotten some excellent feedback on some of the articles I've written (especially the ones on boat building and my loft bed plans).

However, I've decided that I would like to write more about a career oriented passion of mine, service. Service quality is something that I deal with daily at my job. It is something that I spend a lot of time thinking about and I've come to have opinions about.

So, I have launched a sister site called "Staying afloat" (a play on words on my domain name and the topic). I will continue to post to this site with items that are related to general life, music, sailing, boat building and similar content. However, I will start posting (hopefully regularly) to the new site.

Come visit Staying Afloat (http://staying.afloat.ca) if you have an interest in service delivery and customer satisfaction. Otherwise, stay here and continue to enjoy this less focused content.