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  • SQL SERVER – Maximize Database Performance with DB Optimizer – SQL in Sixty Seconds #054

    - by Pinal Dave
    Performance tuning is an interesting concept and everybody evaluates it differently. Every developer and DBA have different opinion about how one can do performance tuning. I personally believe performance tuning is a three step process Understanding the Query Identifying the Bottleneck Implementing the Fix While, we are working with large database application and it suddenly starts to slow down. We are all under stress about how we can get back the database back to normal speed. Most of the time we do not have enough time to do deep analysis of what is going wrong as well what will fix the problem. Our primary goal at that time is to just fix the database problem as fast as we can. However, here is one very important thing which we need to keep in our mind is that when we do quick fix, it should not create any further issue with other parts of the system. When time is essence and we want to do deep analysis of our system to give us the best solution we often tend to make mistakes. Sometimes we make mistakes as we do not have proper time to analysis the entire system. Here is what I do when I face such a situation – I take the help of DB Optimizer. It is a fantastic tool and does superlative performance tuning of the system. Everytime when I talk about performance tuning tool, the initial reaction of the people is that they do not want to try this as they believe it requires lots of the learning of the tool before they use it. It is absolutely not true with the case of the DB optimizer. It is a very easy to use and self intuitive tool. Once can get going with the product, in no time. Here is a quick video I have build where I demonstrate how we can identify what index is missing for query and how we can quickly create the index. Entire three steps of the query tuning are completed in less than 60 seconds. If you are into performance tuning and query optimization you should download DB Optimizer and give it a go. Let us see the same concept in following SQL in Sixty Seconds Video: You can Download DB Optimizer and reproduce the same Sixty Seconds experience. Related Tips in SQL in Sixty Seconds: Performance Tuning – Part 1 of 2 – Getting Started and Configuration Performance Tuning – Part 2 of 2 – Analysis, Detection, Tuning and Optimizing What would you like to see in the next SQL in Sixty Seconds video? Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com) Filed under: Database, Pinal Dave, PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL in Sixty Seconds, SQL Interview Questions and Answers, SQL Query, SQL Scripts, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology, Video Tagged: Identity

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  • SQL SERVER – DMV – sys.dm_exec_query_optimizer_info – Statistics of Optimizer

    - by pinaldave
    Incredibly, SQL Server has so much information to share with us. Every single day, I am amazed with this SQL Server technology. Sometimes I find several interesting information by just querying few of the DMV. And when I present this info in front of my client during performance tuning consultancy, they are surprised with my findings. Today, I am going to share one of the hidden gems of DMV with you, the one which I frequently use to understand what’s going on under the hood of SQL Server. SQL Server keeps the record of most of the operations of the Query Optimizer. We can learn many interesting details about the optimizer which can be utilized to improve the performance of server. SELECT * FROM sys.dm_exec_query_optimizer_info WHERE counter IN ('optimizations', 'elapsed time','final cost', 'insert stmt','delete stmt','update stmt', 'merge stmt','contains subquery','tables', 'hints','order hint','join hint', 'view reference','remote query','maximum DOP', 'maximum recursion level','indexed views loaded', 'indexed views matched','indexed views used', 'indexed views updated','dynamic cursor request', 'fast forward cursor request') All occurrence values are cumulative and are set to 0 at system restart. All values for value fields are set to NULL at system restart. I have removed a few of the internal counters from the script above, and kept only documented details. Let us check the result of the above query. As you can see, there is so much vital information that is revealed in above query. I can easily say so many things about how many times Optimizer was triggered and what the average time taken by it to optimize my queries was. Additionally, I can also determine how many times update, insert or delete statements were optimized. I was able to quickly figure out that my client was overusing the Query Hints using this dynamic management view. If you have been reading my blog, I am sure you are aware of my series related to SQL Server Views SQL SERVER – The Limitations of the Views – Eleven and more…. With this, I can take a quick look and figure out how many times Views were used in various solutions within the query. Moreover, you can easily know what fraction of the optimizations has been involved in tuning server. For example, the following query would tell me, in total optimizations, what the fraction of time View was “reference“. As this View also includes system Views and DMVs, the number is a bit higher on my machine. SELECT (SELECT CAST (occurrence AS FLOAT) FROM sys.dm_exec_query_optimizer_info WHERE counter = 'view reference') / (SELECT CAST (occurrence AS FLOAT) FROM sys.dm_exec_query_optimizer_info WHERE counter = 'optimizations') AS ViewReferencedFraction Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: Pinal Dave, PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL DMV, SQL Optimization, SQL Performance, SQL Query, SQL Scripts, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQLServer, T SQL, Technology

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  • Multicast delegates in c#

    - by Jalpesh P. Vadgama
    In yesterday’s post We learn about Delegates and how we can use delegates in C#. In today’s blog post we are going to learn about Multicast delegates. What is Multicast Delegates? As we all know we can assign methods as object to delegate and later on we can call that method with the help delegates. We can also assign more then methods to delegates that is called Multicast delegates. It’s provide functionality to execute more then method at a time. It’s maintain delegates as invocation list (linked list). Let’s understands that via a example. We are going to use yesterday’s example and then we will extend that code multicast delegates. Following code I have written to demonstrate the multicast delegates. using System; namespace Delegates { class Program { public delegate void CalculateNumber(int a, int b); static void Main(string[] args) { int a = 5; int b = 5; CalculateNumber addNumber = new CalculateNumber(AddNumber); CalculateNumber multiplyNumber = new CalculateNumber(MultiplyNumber); CalculateNumber multiCast = (CalculateNumber)Delegate.Combine (addNumber, multiplyNumber); multiCast.Invoke(a,b); Console.ReadLine(); } public static void AddNumber(int a, int b) { Console.WriteLine("Adding Number"); Console.WriteLine(5 + 6); } public static void MultiplyNumber(int a, int b) { Console.WriteLine("Multiply Number"); Console.WriteLine(5 + 6); } } } As you can see in the above code I have created two method one for adding two numbers and another for multiply two number. After that I have created two same CalculateNumber delegates addNumber and multiplyNumber then I have create a multicast delegates multiCast with combining two delegates. Now I want to call this both method so I have used Invoke method to call this delegates. As now our code is let’s run the application. Following is a output as expected. As you can we can execute multiple methods with multicast delegates the only thing you need to take care is that we need to type for both delegates. That’s it. Hope you like it. Stay tuned for more.. Till then happy programming.

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  • How many people will be with you during 24HOP?

    - by Rob Farley
    In less than a week, SQLPASS hosts another 24 Hours of PASS event, this time with an array of 24 female speakers (in honour of this month being Women’s History Month). Interestingly, the committee has had a few people ask if there are rules about how the event can be viewed, such as “How many people from any one organisation can watch it?” or “Does it matter if a few people are crowded around the same screen?” From a licensing and marketing perspective, there is value in knowing how many people are watching the event, but there are no restrictions about how the thing is viewed. In fact – if you’re planning to watch any of these events, I want to suggest an idea: Book a meeting room in your office with a projector, and watch 24HOP in there. If you’re planning to have it streaming in the background while you work, obviously this makes life a bit trickier. But if you’re planning to treat it as a training event (a 2-day conference if you like) and block out a bit of time for it (as well you should – there’s going to be some great stuff in there), then why not do it in a way that makes it so that other people can see that you’re watching it, and potentially join you. When an event like this runs, we can see how many different ‘people’ are attending each LiveMeeting session. What we can’t tell is how many actual people there are represented. Jessica Moss spoke to the Adelaide SQL Server User Group a few weeks ago via LiveMeeting, and LiveMeeting told us there were less than a dozen people attending. Really there were at least three times that number, because all the people in the room with me weren’t included. I’d love to imagine that every LiveMeeting attendee represented a crowd in a room, watching a shared screen. So there’s my challenge – don’t let your LiveMeeting session represent just you. Find a way of involving other people. At the very least, you’ll be able to discuss it with them afterwards. Now stick a comment on this post to let me know how many people are going to be joining you. :) If you’re not registered for the event yet, get yourself over to the SQLPASS site and make it happen.

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  • Introduction to Lean Software Development and Kanban Systems – Defer Commitment and Decide As Late A

    - by Ben Griswold
    In this post, we’ll continue the series by concentrating on Principle #4: Defer Commitment and Decide As Late As Possible.   In the next part of the series, we’ll dive into Principle #5: Deliver As Fast As Possible. And I am going to be a little obnoxious about listing my Lean and Kanban references with every series post.  The references are great and they deserve this sort of attention.  

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  • The ethics of aggregating other peoples' content

    - by AaronBertrand
    Content theft Most of the recent - what I'll call - "discussions" about content aggregators have revolved around content theft. I'm not going to flip-flop on that topic: when you use someone else's work, you ask first, and if given the okay, you cite it. You can't take my blog article and post it on your site, implying that it is your own. Likewise, you shouldn't be taking a Books Online topic, changing three words and adding an intro sentence, and making that a blog post. I think this stuff is pretty...(read more)

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  • Inversion of Control Resource

    - by MarkPearl
    Well… this is going to be another really short blog posting. I have been meaning to read more about IOC containers and came across this blog post which seemed to really explain the concept well – based on Castle Windsor. I also  enjoyed reading the replies about IOC on stack overflow and what it meant. If anyone knows of other good articles that explain the basics really well – wont you comment them to me.

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  • Bulk-Batch Email From Microsoft Access

    If your users collect email addresses in a database, odds are before long, someone's going to get it into their head to send out an email "blast" or batch. There are several approaches, but what you really need is an engine to send individualized emails, one at a time...

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  • Devoxx 2011 Trip Report + Pictures

    - by arungupta
    3350 attendees from 40 countries lived in "paradise" for 5 days last week. This paradise had 170+ rock star speakers delivering 200+ hours of technical content in about 150 sessions. And it truly was a paradise with a clear differentiation from other Java conferences. There were several Oracle speakers at the paradise covering the entire gamut of Java platform. I delivered a Java EE 6 hands-on lab (new content), showcased Java EE 7 and GlassFish 4.0 early work at the keynote, and participated in a panel to talk about Contexts and Dependency Injection. The demo in the keynote showed how to deploy a Java EE application in a managed environment. The demo showed a Conference Planner application that can be used by conference organizers to display sessions, tracks, and speaker information. This same application can be deployed and display data from JavaOne 2011 or Devoxx 2011 based upon the SQL chosen for database initialization. If javaone-sf-2011.sql is chosen for datbase initialization then the application looks like as shown: If devoxx-2011.sql is chosen then the application looks like as shown: And of course, clicking on Tracks, Speakers, Sessions shows you information from the respective conference. The complete source code for the application and detailed instructions are availaable at glassfish.org/javaone2011. In short: Download the sample app and unzip Download GlassFish build b05. Download platform-specific Load Balancer template Run "bin/install.sh" to configure GlassFish Pick javaone-sf-2011.sql or devoxx-2011.sql for database initialization You can also watch the application in action in this video: A breaking news shared at the conference was that Devoxx France is coming from April 18- 20 and 75% of the talks will be in French. Stay tuned for more details on that. I'm sure Antonio and gang will put up a great show out there! Just a tip for the first timers to Devoxx ... A bus leaves from Brussels airport to Antwerp city center between 4am - 11pm at the top of every hour, takes about 45 minutes, and costs 10 euros (only cash). Take a tram #6 (going towards Luchtbal) from Astrid station (next to the city center) and get off at the last station for Metropolis. It takes about 15 minutes. Purchase a day pass at the station using kiosks (much cheaper) or you can buy in the bus as well (about double the price). Either way, cash only. Here are a few pictures captured from the event: And the complete album here: Thank you Stephan for giving me an opportunity to speak at my first Devoxx. I hope to be back next year, just in time for Java EE 7 going final!

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  • DHCPv6: Provide IPv6 information in your local network

    Even though IPv6 might not be that important within your local network it might be good to get yourself into shape, and be able to provide some details of your infrastructure automatically to your network clients. This is the second article in a series on IPv6 configuration: Configure IPv6 on your Linux system DHCPv6: Provide IPv6 information in your local network Enabling DNS for IPv6 infrastructure Accessing your web server via IPv6 Piece of advice: This is based on my findings on the internet while reading other people's helpful articles and going through a couple of man-pages on my local system. IPv6 addresses for everyone (in your network) Okay, after setting up the configuration of your local system, it might be interesting to enable all your machines in your network to use IPv6. There are two options to solve this kind of requirement... Either you're busy like a bee and you go around to configure each and every system manually, or you're more the lazy and effective type of network administrator and you prefer to work with Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP). Obviously, I'm of the second type. Enabling dynamic IPv6 address assignments can be done with a new or an existing instance of a DHCPd. In case of Ubuntu-based installation this might be isc-dhcp-server. The isc-dhcp-server allows address pooling for IP and IPv6 within the same package, you just have to run to independent daemons for each protocol version. First, check whether isc-dhcp-server is already installed and maybe running your machine like so: $ service isc-dhcp-server6 status In case, that the service is unknown, you have to install it like so: $ sudo apt-get install isc-dhcp-server Please bear in mind that there is no designated installation package for IPv6. Okay, next you have to create a separate configuration file for IPv6 address pooling and network parameters called /etc/dhcp/dhcpd6.conf. This file is not automatically provided by the package, compared to IPv4. Again, use your favourite editor and put the following lines: $ sudo nano /etc/dhcp/dhcpd6.conf authoritative;default-lease-time 14400; max-lease-time 86400;log-facility local7;subnet6 2001:db8:bad:a55::/64 {    option dhcp6.name-servers 2001:4860:4860::8888, 2001:4860:4860::8844;    option dhcp6.domain-search "ios.mu";    range6 2001:db8:bad:a55::100 2001:db8:bad:a55::199;    range6 2001:db8:bad:a55::/64 temporary;} Next, save the file and start the daemon as a foreground process to see whether it is going to listen to requests or not, like so: $ sudo /usr/sbin/dhcpd -6 -d -cf /etc/dhcp/dhcpd6.conf eth0 The parameters are explained quickly as -6 we want to run as a DHCPv6 server, -d we are sending log messages to the standard error descriptor (so you should monitor your /var/log/syslog file, too), and we explicitely want to use our newly created configuration file (-cf). You might also use the command switch -t to test the configuration file prior to running the server. In my case, I ended up with a couple of complaints by the server, especially reporting that the necessary lease file wouldn't exist. So, ensure that the lease file for your IPv6 address assignments is present: $ sudo touch /var/lib/dhcp/dhcpd6.leases$ sudo chown dhcpd:dhcpd /var/lib/dhcp/dhcpd6.leases Now, you should be good to go. Stop your foreground process and try to run the DHCPv6 server as a service on your system: $ sudo service isc-dhcp-server6 startisc-dhcp-server6 start/running, process 15883 Check your log file /var/log/syslog for any kind of problems. Refer to the man-pages of isc-dhcp-server and you might check out Chapter 22.6 of Peter Bieringer's IPv6 Howto. The instructions regarding DHCPv6 on the Ubuntu Wiki are not as complete as expected and it might not be as helpful as this article or Peter's HOWTO. But see for yourself. Does the client get an IPv6 address? Running a DHCPv6 server on your local network surely comes in handy but it has to work properly. The following paragraphs describe briefly how to check the IPv6 configuration of your clients, Linux - ifconfig or ip command First, you have enable IPv6 on your Linux by specifying the necessary directives in the /etc/network/interfaces file, like so: $ sudo nano /etc/network/interfaces iface eth1 inet6 dhcp Note: Your network device might be eth0 - please don't just copy my configuration lines. Then, either restart your network subsystem, or enable the device manually using the dhclient command with IPv6 switch, like so: $ sudo dhclient -6 You would either use the ifconfig or (if installed) the ip command to check the configuration of your network device like so: $ sudo ifconfig eth1eth1      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:1d:09:5d:8d:98            inet addr:192.168.160.147  Bcast:192.168.160.255  Mask:255.255.255.0          inet6 addr: 2001:db8:bad:a55::193/64 Scope:Global          inet6 addr: fe80::21d:9ff:fe5d:8d98/64 Scope:Link          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1 Looks good, the client has an IPv6 assignment. Now, let's see whether DNS information has been provided, too. $ less /etc/resolv.conf # Dynamic resolv.conf(5) file for glibc resolver(3) generated by resolvconf(8)#     DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE BY HAND -- YOUR CHANGES WILL BE OVERWRITTENnameserver 2001:4860:4860::8888nameserver 2001:4860:4860::8844nameserver 192.168.1.2nameserver 127.0.1.1search ios.mu Nicely done. Windows - netsh Per description on TechNet the netsh is defined as following: "Netsh is a command-line scripting utility that allows you to, either locally or remotely, display or modify the network configuration of a computer that is currently running. Netsh also provides a scripting feature that allows you to run a group of commands in batch mode against a specified computer. Netsh can also save a configuration script in a text file for archival purposes or to help you configure other servers." And even though TechNet states that it applies to Windows Server (only), it is also available on Windows client operating systems, like Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8. In order to get or even set information related to IPv6 protocol, we have to switch the netsh interface context prior to our queries. Open a command prompt in Windows and run the following statements: C:\Users\joki>netshnetsh>interface ipv6netsh interface ipv6>show interfaces Select the device index from the Idx column to get more details about the IPv6 address and DNS server information (here: I'm going to use my WiFi device with device index 11), like so: netsh interface ipv6>show address 11 Okay, address information has been provided. Now, let's check the details about DNS and resolving host names: netsh interface ipv6> show dnsservers 11 Okay, that looks good already. Our Windows client has a valid IPv6 address lease with lifetime information and details about the configured DNS servers. Talking about DNS server... Your clients should be able to connect to your network servers via IPv6 using hostnames instead of IPv6 addresses. Please read on about how to enable a local named with IPv6.

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  • Introduction to Lean Software Development and Kanban Systems – Build Integrity and Quality In

    - by Ben Griswold
    In this post, we’ll continue the series by concentrating on Principle #3: Build Integrity and Quality In.   In the next part of the series, we’ll dive into Principle #4: Defer Commitment and Decide As Late As Possible. And I am going to be a little obnoxious about listing my Lean and Kanban references with every series post.  The references are great and they deserve this sort of attention.  

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  • Show #14 DotNetNuke 5.6.1, Razor/Webmatrix and WebCamps

    - by Chris Hammond
    Once again, it’s been far too long since the last show, this time just over 4 months, For Show #14 I am joined by Joe Brinkman. Take a listen and see what has been going on in the DNN world. Length: 47:56 Size: 43.8mb MP3 Download Welcome back to DNNVoice Welcome to guest Joe Brinkman ( http://blog.theaccidentalgeek.com/ ) Introduction to Joe and Welcome back from Chris Hammond ( http://www.chrishammond.com ) and what he's been doing DotNetNuke Training Free Extensions Module Development Templates...(read more)

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  • How much will .NET Reflector Pro cost?

    - by Bart Read
    Somebody asked about this on our beta support forum earlier, so I thought I'd mirror the information I posted in my response here as well. We're going to make full pricing information available with the product is released, but for now I can say that .NET Reflector Pro will initially cost $195 for a single user license, with discounts available for multi-user licenses, which follows a similar pattern to our other products. .NET Reflector Pro will also be added to the .NET Developer Tools bundle,...(read more)

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  • Search Engine Marketing Ardan Michael Blum, Would You Like to Learn SEO Like a Pro?

    Learning Search Engine Optimization techniques (SEO) along with keyword research is key to marketing yourself, your business, your website or your blog on the internet. Ardan Michael Blum is a Yahoo SEO expert out of Switzerland. He has over 9 years experience as a SEO expert and guarantees his clients first page rankings in the search engines. For a business, first page rankings can mean success! But, outsourcing to someone like Ardan Michael Blum is going to be costly.

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  • Ubuntu 13.10 isn't remembering my passwords anymore, why?

    - by Nik Reiman
    Ubuntu's password management used to be working just fine for me, but around two weeks ago after running apt-get upgrade, I've noticed that now it keeps "forgetting" my passwords. For instance, I need to manually enter passwords to unlock my ssh keys to use git, which previously was done automatically on login. My workplace's 802.11x authentication also no longer works, I need to manually re-auth just to connect to internet. What's going on?

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  • A Perfect Example of Why You Never, Ever Buy a Used Keyboard [Humorous Image]

    - by Asian Angel
    Just go buy a new keyboard…unless you are into masochistic self-torture or other similar pursuits… Note: If you have the stomach for it, you can view the full-size version of the image here. I’m never going to buy a used keyboard ever again. [via Reddit Tech Support Gore] How to Fix a Stuck Pixel on an LCD Monitor How to Factory Reset Your Android Phone or Tablet When It Won’t Boot Our Geek Trivia App for Windows 8 is Now Available Everywhere

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  • When Less is More

    - by aditya.agarkar
    How do you reconcile the fact that while the overall warehouse volume is down you still need more workers in the warehouse to ship all the orders? A WMS customer recently pointed out this seemingly perplexing fact in a customer conference. So what is going on? Didn't we tell you before that for a warehouse the customer is really the "king"? In this case customers are merely responding to a low overall low demand and uncertainty. They do not want to hold down inventory and one of the ways to do that is by decreasing the order size and ordering more frequently. Overall impact to the warehouse? Two words: "More work!!" This is not all. Smaller order sizes also mean challenges from a transportation perspective including a rise in costlier parcel or LTL shipments instead of cheaper TL shipments. Here is a hypothetical scenario where a customer reduces the order size by 10% and increases the order frequency by 10%. As you can see in the following table, the overall volume declines by 1% but the warehouse has to ship roughly 10% more lines. Order Frequency (Line Count)Order Size (Units)Total VolumeChange (%)10010010,000 -110909,900-1% If you want to see how "Less is More" in graphical terms, this is how it appears: Even though the volume is down, there is going to be more work in the warehouse in terms of number of lines shipped. The operators need to pick more discrete orders, pack them into more shipping containers and ship more deliveries. What do you do differently if you are facing this situation?In this case here are some obvious steps to take:Uno: Change your pick methods. If you are used to doing order picks, it needs to go out the door. You need to evaluate batch picking and grouping techniques. Go for cluster picking, go for zone picking, pick and pass...anything that improves your picker productivity. More than anything, cluster picking works like a charm and above all, its simple and very effective. Dos: Are you minimize "touch" points in your pick process? Consider doing one step pick, pack and confirm i.e. pick and pack stuff directly into shipping cartons. Done correctly the container will not require any more "touch" points all the way to the trailer loading. Use cartonization!Tres: Are the being picked from an optimized pick face? Are the items slotted correctly? This needs to be looked into. Consider automated "pull" or "push" replenishment into your pick face and also make sure that high demand items are occupying the golden zones.  Cuatro: Are you tracking labor productivity? If not there needs to be a concerted push for having labor standards in place. Hope you found these ideas useful.

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  • Why We Write #6-An Interview with Kevin Kline

    - by drsql
    Wow, so far in this series, I have interviewed some very good friends, and some truly excellent writers (and usually both), but today, following on the heels of Jason Strate , we are going to hit someone whose name is synonymous with community, a person who really needs no introduction. According to Bing, Kevin Kline ( @kekline ) is the most important Kevin Kline on Twitter (though it clearly could be due to my typical searches, I am giving him the benefit of the doubt… here try it yourself: http://www.bing.com/search?q=kevin+kline+twitter...(read more)

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  • SQL SERVER Find Largest Supported DML Operation Question to You

    SQL Server is very big and it is not possible to know everything in SQL Server but we all keep learning. Recently I was going over the best practices of transactions log and I come across following statement. The log size must be at least twice the size of largest supported DML operation (using uncompressed [...]...Did you know that DotNetSlackers also publishes .net articles written by top known .net Authors? We already have over 80 articles in several categories including Silverlight. Take a look: here.

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  • How should I remember what I was doing and why on a project 3 months back?

    - by TheIndependentAquarius
    I was working on this project 3 months back, and then suddenly another urgent project appeared and I was asked to shift my attention there. Now, from tomorrow I'll be heading back to my old project and I realize that I do not remember what exactly was I doing and where to start! I wish to know how to document the project such that anytime I look back it shouldn't take me more than a few minutes to get going from wherever I left!

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  • Ad-hoc taxonomy: owning the chess set doesn't mean you decide how the little horsey moves

    - by Roger Hart
    There was one of those little laugh-or-cry moments recently when I heard an anecdote about content strategy failings at a major online retailer. The story goes a bit like this: successful company in a highly commoditized marketplace succeeds on price and largely ignores its content team. Being relatively entrepreneurial, the founders are still knocking around, and occasionally like to "take an interest". One day, they decree that clothing sold on the site can no longer be described as "unisex", because this sounds old fashioned. Sad now. Let me just reiterate for the folks at the back: large retailer, commoditized market place, differentiating on price. That's inherently unstable. Sooner or later, they're going to need one or both of competitive differentiation and significant optimization. I can't speak for the latter, since I'm hypothesizing off a raft of rumour, but one of the simpler paths to the former is to become - or rather acknowledge that they are - a content business. Regardless, they need highly-searchable terminology. Even in the face of tooth and claw resistance to noticing the fundamental position content occupies in driving sales (and SEO) on the web, there's a clear information problem here. Dilettante taxonomy is a disaster. Ok, so this is a small example, but that kind of makes it a good one. Unisex probably is the best way of describing clothing designed to suit either men or women interchangeably. It certainly takes less time to type (and read). It's established terminology, and as a single word, it's significantly better for web readability than a phrasal workaround. Something like "fits men or women" is short, by could fall foul of clause-level discard in web scanning. It's not an adjective, so for intuitive reading it's never going to be near the start of a title or description. It would also clutter up search results, and impose cognitive load in list scanning. Sorry kids, it's just worse. Even if "unisex" were an archaism (which it isn't), the only thing that would weigh against its being more usable and concise terminology would be evidence that this archaism were hurting conversions. Good luck with that. We once - briefly - called one of our products a "Can of worms". It was a bundle in a bug-tracking suite, and we thought it sounded terribly cool. Guess how well that sold. We have information and content professionals for a reason: to make sure that whatever we put in front of users is optimised to meet user and business goals. If that thinking doesn't inform style guides, taxonomy, messaging, title structure, and so forth, you might as well be finger painting.

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