Blog Archives

Updated Best Of Architekwiki

4/27/2015

I have been dragging my feet on this update. Partly because the chore is getting tedious. It used to be exciting to see the changes. Partly because the results are about 90% predictable now after 2-1/2 years.

Enough whining.

Here are the top 25 pages based on number of page views over the past three months.

WHEN TO KEYNOTE

4/19/2015

WHEN TO KEYNOTE

For some reason I have been thinking about keynoting, although I have been retired for 2-1/2 years now. We were not cutting edge with CAD by any means since we were still using AutoCAD 2002. Maybe we were missing out. We were definitely missing out on the opportunity of paying Autodesk every year for the privilege of using the same program that we purchased in 1986.

How well does keynoting work these days?

Shared Contact Management Solution

4/13/2015

SHARING CONTACTS - THE SOLUTION

Last week a reader asked me for a recommendation on Contact Management software. (Thanks for the idea, Michele.) She uses Outlook, but doesn't have access to group (shared) contact lists. I can relate because I had the same issue when we moved away from Outlook Exchange with public/shared folders to Google Apps. The loss of access to a shared contact list was THE ONLY thing I missed. Our solution was to import all 1,500 contacts into everyone's email account and then use blind copies on emails and other tricks to keep the lists up to date.

So I did a search of products out there. The problem I found is that many solutions aren't designed for sharing; and the ones that are have a per user cost that makes them pretty pricey for what they do.

And then I found ZOHO CRM.

Using Typical Wall Details

4/6/2015

Typical Walls and Partitions

My early design experiences were mostly masonry buildings. Masonry exterior walls and masonry interior walls. Distinguishing among wall types wasn't an issue. Exterior wall sections defined the exterior walls, and dimensions defined interior walls - just plain old concrete block of different thicknesses. The more usual case, I learned, was a bit more complicated. Exterior walls were still covered by wall sections, but interior wall differences were exploding. Fire rated construction. Sound separations. Plumbing concealment. Chase walls. Abuse-resistant walls. Shaft walls. Furred walls. My example below shows 26 interior wall types!

How do you keep all the types organized and clearly defined?