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Blogs » Archive for June, 2006

Do you use video taping to your advantage?

I recently videotaped myself and a self-defense pro for my latest educational web site.

While the content of the video was fine, I was pretty nauseated at how I looked. Aside from the weight I’ve gained in the past two years, my facial expressions were stiffer than Al Gore’s. Painful though the experience of watching this video was, I learned a lot about how to improve my facial expressions - starting with relaxing and smiling more in front of others. I used to be good at that, but not on this day.

Anyway, it’s a great idea to get yourself videotaped once in a while, to see how you come across to others. You might be surprised to find that your intent (come across as a brilliant, happy, enthusiastic person) doesn not match your impact.

Tuesday, June 20th, 2006 | Posted in Selling Web Design Services | 10 Comments »

Jun 19, 2006 News Wire

by Kevin Yank

Using XStream to forward JSON to a browser
XStream is a Java library for easily converting Java object hierarchies to XML data. But now a specialized version of the library has emerged that can output data in JSON format, easily readable by JavaScript code in an AJAX application.
(tags: java javascript ajax)
Sun joins Open Ajax Initiative and Dojo Foundation
Though I remain skeptical at some of the nonstandard approaches being taken by the OpenAJAX Alliance, Sun has joined the initiative, which can only be a good thing. Sun has also announced its sponsorship of the Dojo Foundation.
(tags: javascript ajax)
Microsoft AJAX framework forges ahead
Despite some reliability issues with certain components of Microsoft’s Atlas framework for AJAX, Microsoft is committed to releasing the framework with the next version of Visual Studio. Some of its ideas have security experts worried, however.
(tags: .net ajax)
Google AdWords Help Center: What is ad scheduling?
Google launched the new ad scheduling feature for AdWords on Thursday. “With ad scheduling, a campaign can run all day, every day, or as little as 15 minutes per week. A campaign can also run and pause several times each day.”
(tags: google advertising)
Web accessibility soon mandatory in Europe?
Much of the European Union has signed on to …

Tuesday, June 20th, 2006 | Posted in Industry Links | 1 Comment »

Insta-block with Symbol#to_proc

by Tim Lucas

Something that might have slipped your radar in your Ruby readings is Symbol#to_proc, something that’s been in Rails since 0.14.4.

Using this nice little tidbit of Ruby tricky you can simplify code such as:

articles.collect { |a| a.title }
articles.sort { |a| a.created_at }

articles.collect(&:title)
articles.sort(&:created_at)

…and just in case you’re wondering why &:ruby_is_the_new_black doesn’t work in the beautiful ruby shell script you just wrote, it’s because Symbol#to_proc isn’t a standard Ruby thang. To quote Mauricio Fernandez who noted it’s recent inclusion in the upcoming Ruby 1.9:

Symbol#to_proc: first discovered by some anonymous Japanese Rubyist (fairly certain), rediscovered by Florian Groß (I saw that happen back when I wasted my time on #ruby-lang), then popula rized by Pragdave and Rails, finally adopted officially. It’s been a long journey.

“That’s nice,” you say, “but I still don’t really understand what all this Proc and block stuff is about.” Well, let me indulge you in some Ruby block mumblings.

I think the best way to describe a block if you’ve come from web-design-land is to think of it like an anonymous function in Javascript.

For example, the following piece of Ruby:

socceroos.each do |s|
s.congratulate
end

is the equivalent to the following Javascript:

socceroos.each(function(s) {
s.congratulate();
})

The block passed to a …

Monday, June 19th, 2006 | Posted in Ruby on Rails | 4 Comments »

DRY your Migrations

by Tim Lucas

Use Ruby’s method_missing madness to add some DRY to your ActiveRecord migrations. Rails 1.1 introduced Object#with_options which allows you to remove duplication for method calls with common options, but wouldn’t it be nice if we could use this in migrations too…

Sunday, June 18th, 2006 | Posted in Ruby on Rails | 1 Comment »

Jun 16, 2006 News Wire

by Kevin Yank

Copy ‘n paste between Excel and Flex
Based on Google Spreadsheets, which amazingly supports pasting spreadsheet content from Excel, this technique uses a hidden text field to support pasting spreadsheet data into a Flex DataGrid.
(tags: flex)
Oh, Apollo!
After the dismal failure of Macromedia Central, Adobe is gearing up for another run at the desktop application development space. Apollo will let you build cross-platform desktop apps using your web development skills (HTML, Flash, PDF).
(tags: flash)
ZeroOne Community Talks
Training company ZeroOne is hosting a series of free online seminars for developers on topics related to ColdFusion, Flex and Flash. The first is on June 28th. Registration required!
(tags: coldfusion flex flash)
Model-Glue:Unity Public Beta 1
Model-Glue is a framework for building ColdFusion web applications using the Model View Controller (MVC) design pattern.
(tags: coldfusion)
Ajax anti-patterns
A list of five things not to do when developing AJAX applications.
(tags: ajax)
The Adobe and Builder AU Flex Developer Derby
For Australian developers, build the coolest Flex application and win a plasma screen or an Xbox 360.
(tags: flex)
Tech·Ed Offers Previews of Powerful Tools
A good overview of what Microsoft is showing off for developers at Tech·Ed 2006 in Boston. New Entity Data Model capabilities of “vNext” the next version of ADO.NET, the latest news on WinFS, …

Saturday, June 17th, 2006 | Posted in Industry Links | 3 Comments »

Fill out our developer survey and win a 20″ LCD monitor

by Kevin Yank

Dell 20 Are you involved in the technical aspects of Web Development?

Tell us what technologies and development practices you use for a chance to win a 20″ wide-screen LCD monitor from Dell.

The results of the survey will be used to guide the development of sitepoint.com, our blogs, forums and books.

As a bonus, you’ll get a copy of the full survey results, so you can see what your peers (and competitors) are doing! Complete the survey before July 15th for your chance to win.

Friday, June 16th, 2006 | Posted in Web Tech | 15 Comments »

Jun 15, 2006 News Wire

by Kevin Yank

ZK 2.0
A toolkit for writing AJAX applications in Java, which generates the client-side code (JavaScript and HTML or XUL) for the user interface automatically. The demo seems a little sluggish and the docs a little rough, but otherwise pretty slick.
(tags: java ajax)
Eight Problems That Haven’t Changed
This excerpt from Jakob Nielsen and Hoa Loranger’s new book “Prioritizing Web Usability” looks at eight usability problems that have been known for years but continue to be a frequent problem today.
(tags: design usability)
AOL-Netscape Launches Massive “Digg Killer”
Netscape hitches its star to a Digg-like community-powered news service. With the next version of digg.com featuring general categories slated for launch in three weeks, the competition will be interesting to watch.
(tags: socialnetworks)
eBay Adds Blogs, Wiki
eBay is launching a wiki powered by JotSpot for its users to share information about the auction site. Other new features to the site will include user blogs and telephone alerts (U.S.-only for now).
(tags: ebay)
What users hate most about Web sites
A nice top five of annoying design mistakes, if a bit on the obvious side.
(tags: design usability)
The HTML Report Engine
A nice-looking open source library for generating HTML-formatted reports from a .NET DataSet object.
(tags: .net asp.net opensource)
WCF RSS Toolkit
A toolkit for use with …

Friday, June 16th, 2006 | Posted in Industry Links | 3 Comments »

Jun 14, 2006 News Wire

by Kevin Yank

Yahoo! Maps API, now for commercial use too (by Jeremy Zawodny)
Hot on the heels of Google’s announcement of Enterprise licensing for its Maps API, Yahoo! releases its API for commerciall use free of charge.
(tags: yahoo apis)
MxGraph Thin Client - JGraph in a browser!
Impressive in-browser vector drawing tool for assembling 2D diagrams. Impressive use of SVG (in Firefox) and VML (in Internet Explorer).
(tags: javascript ajax svg)
AJAX and Java
A live webcast about implementing AJAX in Java. Hurry in and register — it’s at 2PM EDT.
(tags: ajax java)
Sun’s Tim Bray Discusses “AJAX Behaving Badly” and Other Misconceptions
Does use of AJAX intrinsically lead to heavier server load? As Sun’s Tim Bray explains, such claims are only valid when developers aren’t thinking about the consequences of their design decisions. AJAX can actually provide a net win.
(tags: ajax)
eBay unveils keyword ad system
eBay announces it will launch a keyword advertising system similar to Google’s AdSense that will direct web surfers to auctions related to the sites they visit.
(tags: ebay advertising)
Maps, Microformats and LPG
Case study of a Google Maps mashup, using the hCard microformat as a data source.
(tags: microformats apis javascript)
Mapstraction - a javascript library to hide differences between mapping APIs.
Lets you write a single application that …

Thursday, June 15th, 2006 | Posted in Industry Links | 4 Comments »

Finally a little Railz’d

by Harry Fuecks

So finally had a first hand run-in with Rails at last nights webtuesday, thanks to Patrice, based on his experiences of putting together list.blogug.ch.

Was interesting but sadly we didn’t really have enough time with the game starting at 6 - Patrice was able to give us a demo of what Rails (and rake) provides, the selling “Wow!” factor but there wasn’t enough time for much critical questioning, which has become part of what marks webtuesday - there are some very experienced hands attending regularily now, such as Urban, who only had time to question validates_uniqueness_of in regard to full table scans.

The next mission is tracking down some Python developers in Zurich - tip offs appeciated.

A big thanks to Eurospider for hosting it and kindly providing bbq and beer and the live match - couldn’t have been better.

Wednesday, June 14th, 2006 | Posted in Ruby on Rails | 3 Comments »

Jun 13, 2006 News Wire

by Kevin Yank

Google GBuy payments system on June 28?
Google is set to launch a direct competitor to PayPal’s payment processing services.
(tags: google paypal)
Google gets ready to say GBuy; PayPal on the hit list?
Ars Technica doesn’t see GBuy as a direct competitor to PayPal, since it doesn’t target individuals or small businesses like eBay sellers.
(tags: google paypal)
emergetk
A new open source, web application development framework for C# 2.0 that generates browser interfaces using the dojo toolkit. A promising alternative to Atlas and ASP.NET for AJAX development on Windows servers.
(tags: javascript opensource)
Google Earth Blog: More Detail on the Announcements
Google Maps now supports Google Earth’s KML file format, which can bundle annotated placemarks, image overlays, and vector graphics. This opens some new possibilities for combined Google Earth and Google Maps mashups.
(tags: google apis)
Is Adsense Killing Google?
With alternatives to Adsense on the horizon for content site owners, will Google’s cash cow ultimately prove to be self-defeating?
(tags: google advertising)
Is JSP/JSF debugging supported in Sun Java Studio Creator?
With the upcoming release of the Creator Pack for Netbeans 5.5, the answer will be yes.
(tags: java netbeans)
jGuard 0.80 - Web Authentication and Authorization Control
A new stable release of a library for adding user authentication into any Java web application with …