raphy

I am trying to fill in an application form on said website. The company offers five graduate schemes including one for IS. Which probably menas Information Science?? Registering is easy, logging in as well. They tell you to read the help available, but there is none available or I maybe I haven’t found it yet.

Filling in the form is easy too. There is a save button every now and then, which lets you save the form so that you can take breaks and then come back and continue filling it in.  Next to the save button is a “printer friendly” button which should call a pdf generator to generate a printer friendly pdf. But not much seems to happen. This could be for a variety of reasons, I am using Firefox on Linux. Not that it should play a role as the pdf is generated on the server.  Switching to Windows and Firefox has similar results. The pdf cannot be generated. Nothing happens. Internet Explorer 6 should solve the problem, but no, it won’t work either.

When trying to leave the application form I am looking for a logout button/link. But none is available and  it is necessary to click another link or close the window.  Upon logging in again it is possible to go back to the application form or generate a html or pdf version. PDF versions do not work on any browser/OS combination tested. Generation of the html form results in broken html in firefox. It is a mess and cannot be used for printing. Explorer is better at handling the broken html and I was finally able to print the application form out.

This experience makes me think that the company is short of web designers and usability engineers. There might be a job open for me.

The Organic Food Festival is taking place in Glasgow this weekend.

The Organic Food Festival is the first to take place away from the Soil Association’s home city of Bristol. Split between two Glasgow venues, the Old Fruitmarket and Glasgow Metropolitan College, the event is a celebration of all things organic. It includes a marketplace of over 50 stalls selling and promoting food, drink, textiles and skincare. You’ll be able to get lots of information about organic food and why it’s better for you, as well as picking up some fantastic bargains.

For 2 pounds entry fee you get access to a whole range of organic foods sold on over 50 stalls. A lot of them offer free tasters and it is possible to skip a meal by just trying everything. I bought cheese from the Connage Highland Dairy and the Summer Isle Foods company who specialise in smoded fish and cheese. It was also very hard to resist buying some beers from the Black Isle Brewery and I ended up getting one each of Red Kite, Yellowhammer, Blonde, Scotch Ale, Porter and Wheat Beer. Ardna Mushrooms were selling mushrooms:

The newly formed company of Ardnamushrooms in Strontian grows organic, gourmet edible fungi on woody substrates in a climate controlled container and sells to hotels and restaurants, primarily in Lochaber. Currently the business is in the stage of setting up the infrastructure and starting to establish links with hoteliers and chefs in the region.

Ardnamushrooms uses a recently-developed system for growing saprophytic fungi. The system was developed by Richard Edwards of Humungus Fungus and is being used to grow shiitake mushrooms in Skye and Mull. Mr. Edwards is providing both technical support and the inoculated grain.

Oak shavings (60%) and hardwood chips (34%)are mixed with organic bran (5%) and agricultural gypsum (1%), put into polythene bags, sterilized in an autoclave (a large pressure cooker), mixed with inoculated grain, incubated for a few weeks and then placed in a growing room where the fungi grow out of the ‘blocks’.

that tasted really nice. Interesting idea.