Recent Blog Posts
Blogs ยป Archive for October, 2006
Oct 23, 2006 News Wire
-
IE 7 vs IE 6
Based on some in house testing at Zimbra, IE 7 has made some significant leaps forward in memory management and JavaScript performance. Despite this, Firefox still outpaces the browser in their testing.
(tags: ie firefox javascript) -
Dojo 0.4.0 Release Candidate
The final release of Dojo 0.4.0 is slated for release on Tuesday, October 24th to coincide with The Ajax Experience conference.
(tags: javascript software) -
The Virtual Life: IE At Arms Length
An extremely pragmatic guide from Dojo’s Alex Russell on how to set up an environment to test against multiple IE versions. In particular, he presents a very convincing case against the various “standalone IE” solutions making the rounds.
(tags: ie javascript windows) -
Customer First? Maybe not.
“I am so frustrated right now - does it show? This experience highlights to me how important it is to make the customer experience one of your top priorities otherwise you will not get repeat business.” (thanks gnarly)
(tags: business) -
Penguin.SWF: Beta Is Live
Perhaps now the nay-sayers will stop whinging that Adobe have given up on Linux and won’t be releasing a Flash 9 player for the platform? (thanks gnarly)
(tags: flash software) -
The Art of Complex Problem Solving
Idiagram sells illustration services and consulting, visually describing complex problems and their solutions. …
Thanks and goodbye to all!
After over two years writing this blog at Sitepoint, it is time to move on.
First, I think I’ve covered most of what I can say in blog format in past entries. It is time for some “new blood” to provide new ideas for you.
Second, my own professional practice is evolving, and I’m focused on some new product/service ideas and target markets. So I need to invest my time accordingly.
I want to thank all of you and especially the great people at Sitepoint for this wonderful opportunity. It has been a true pleasure, and Sitepoint is a fantastic organization!
Finally, here is the bottom line:
1. Make business development a priority. Less qualified/talented people who market do better financially than more qualified/talented people who don’t.
2. Develop a powerful, compelling marketing message that attracts prospects to come to you.
3. Focus your marketing on a target market.
4. Get visible in low cost, high impact ways, preferably by educating your marketplace about the problems they face and how to solve them.
5. Think big. We have one go-round in life as far as we know, so don’t waste it on small thinking.
6. Do what you love, and if you can find a way to get well-paid for …
Atlas err, uhm, Microsoft ASP.NET AJAX Extensions Beta 1 Released
Atlas has been renamed Microsoft ASP.NET AJAX Extensions. And Beta 1 has been released. Read more for some details, and one big trick to keep it more easily deployable.
BlueCast or BlueSnarfed?
This morning I was browsing some of the more popular recent Del.icio.us links and came across a nice study in contrasts.
The first was this short YouTube presentation on the hottest and newest of hot, new technologies — Bluecasting: The proximity broadcasting system! The core of the system is a snazzy-looking, web-enabled, bluetooth broadcasting unit designed to be installed where “consumers might be likely to experience ‘dwell time’”. ‘Dwell time’ — all these years I’ve been oblivious to that it even existed when, by all reports, I’ve been actually experiencing it for many years at the various train stations, airports, sporting facilities and retail strips I’ve encountered. To think I never even knew.
Once installed the BlueCasting system automatically locates any discoverable, bluetooth-enabled device within range (approx 100m) and then goes about offering it a selection of location-specific content, including but not limited to:
- Images,
- Audio,
- Video,
- Interactive Content
- Games &
- Retail offers
As a potential content creator for and consumer of this service, I thought ‘Hooray for bluetooth!’ and as the presentation faded to black, I flipped my phone to ‘discoverable’ — just in case I might stumble across one of these happy, magical …
Be the First Kid on the Block Running IE7 Final
It has been rumored that IE7 was to be released today. Well, I have not seen anything official from Microsoft yet, but it appears to have hit some partner channels. Yahoo! has released their branded edtion of IE7, apparently optimized for the Yahoo! experience.
But who wants the Yahoo! experience. Fortunately, it is trival to unpack the executable and get the plain-vanilla version using WinRAR or WinZip. Just open the file in either of those utilities, pull the IE7-Setup.exe file, and surf away.
Note this requires a “genuine” edition of Windows XP Service Pack 2 or Windows 2003 Server 2003 Service Pack 1.
So, get the Yahoo! version here; get WinRAR here or WinZIP here.
Ok, so you are not probably the first on the block now. But microsoft has officially posted IE7, so you should probably get it from them now. Thanks to Matt for the update.
Oct 18, 2006 News Wire
-
Migrating from WebWork to Stripes, Pt 1
Stripes is a new upstart in the Java web framework arena, whereas WebWork has been around for years. This chronicle of one developer’s experience migrating from one to the other is of definite interest for those choosing a framework today.
(tags: java) -
Why I start with Java
There’s nothing like a good “my language is better than yours” debate to start the day right! Find out why this web developer still maintains Java as his first choice.
(tags: java programming) -
Designing for Dyslexics: Part 1 of 3
A useful overview of dyslexia and its implications to web design and accessibility.
(tags: accessibility) -
Mozilla 2
A low-level update on where the Mozilla platform (upon which Firefox is based) is heading in 2008 and beyond. Some pretty hefty technical detail, but one thing web developers can expect is a high performance script engine that runs ECMAScript 4 (”JS2″).
(tags: firefox javascript) -
Graphing requests with Tamper Data
Simon Willison tries out Tamper Data, a Firefox extension for recording and modifying HTTP requests, and discovers the well-hidden graphing feature that offers tremendous insight into timeline of loading the various elements that make up a web page.
(tags: firefox software) -
Mozilla Firefox 2 RC 3
The final release candidate of Firefox 2.0 is …
Binaries Belong in the Database Too
Don’t believe the hype–binaries belong in the database too!
I [heart] the ModalPopup
The Atlas Control Extenders ModalPopup control rocks. With some helpful hints.
Oct 11, 2006 News Wire
-
CSS3 Module: Paged Media
The W3C has released a Last Call Working Draft of CSS3: Paged Media, which adds pagination, margins, size and orientation, headers and footers, widows and orphans, image orientation and page numbering. Comments welcome through November 3.
(tags: css standards) -
CSS in the large
Krzysztof Szafranek maps out the approach he has taken to managing a library of assets, including CSS style sheets, shared across a large number of sites. With an intelligent folder structure and some server smarts, he was able to limit duplicate code.
(tags: css) -
MySQL Tools for Visual Studio 1.0.1
A free plug-in for Visual Studio 2005 (Express Editions not supported) for managing MySQL database structures within Visual Studio. Data-driven applications including the DataSet designer are not yet supported.
(tags: mysql .net) -
Java on Vista: Yes, it Works
A great summary on the state of Java in relation to Windows Vista. In short, everything is working except for a few new restrictions places on signed Java Applets when running in IE7 on Vista.
(tags: java windows) -
OpenAjax Update - Addressing Key Challenges for Ajax Adoption
OpenAjax is an initiative to develop standards for AJAX solutions, and includes influential players within the space, such as IBM, Dojo, Zimbra, and Zend. This post reports the work going …
It’s official: Javascript sucks harder than PHP
The surprise outcome of last nights webtuesday - Javascript sucks harder than PHP. I still can’t quite believe it.
Maarten took the PHP corner against me in the Javascript corner, both of us shamelessly advocating each language under various headings - 1 minute max per topic - no outright lies although often bordering on truthiness. Verdicts provided by the audience, based on who could shout loudest from a choice of “OK - 0 points”, “Annoys - 2 points”, “Sucks - 4 points”, “Sucks hard - 6 points” and “Blows - 8 points”, with help from the Suckometer (thanks to the Net-Policy team for QWizard).
Now this might not sound very scientific. For starters, how can you compare PHP (server-side) to Javascript (client-side) - apples to pears? But it’s not quite so black and white, as you’ll see from the slides - there is server-side Javascript just as there is client-side PHP. And if you ignore that distinction and focus more purely on their respective merits as programming languages, there’s plenty of room for comparison. Meanwhile you might argue that a secret ballot is essential for impartial rating but that misses the opportunity for one angry coder to remind everyone just …
Sponsored Links
Logo Design, Web page Design and more!
- Custom logo designs created ‘just for you’.
- Pick the design you like best.
- Only pay if you’re satisfied with the result.
SitePoint Kits
Download sample chapters of any of our popular kits.
The Search Engine Marketing Kit, 2.0
The Web Design Business Kit 2.0
The Email Marketing Kit
The Usability Kit
SitePoint Books
Download sample chapters of any of our popular books.