Archive for 'Web Dev/Tech'
IE8 out today
Posted on March 19, 2009, under Web Dev/Tech.
Microsoft has announced IE 8 is out later today.
I still primarily use Firefox for personal usage so far, but am fairly excited by what the IE team has done with version 8 in supporting web standards and adding extra security. I’ll have to give it a good spin.
Book Recommendation: MOSS 2007 Best Practices
Posted on December 17, 2008, under SharePoint, Web Dev/Tech.
There are several books that stand-out in my career where the value is well over the $50 spent on the book. Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Best Practices is definitely one of those books.
P.S. WordPress 2.7 is pretty slick
“Minority Report” computer interaction is here!
Posted on November 21, 2008, under General, Web Dev/Tech.
g-speak overview 1828121108 from john underkoffler on Vimeo
I want one!
Leaving the flower for the Delicious
Posted on October 6, 2008, under General, Web Dev/Tech.
I’ve decided it’s time to leave Magnolia for my bookmarking goodness and move to Delicious.
Originally, Magnolia had the interest and investment (skills if not money) of some people at the core of the web development community. They were focused on building out a bookmarking site that focused on a pleasant, well thought-out user interface. Things started good, but it appears they got distracted over time. Things I’ve noticed over the years:
- It started for me when search wasn’t fully working, and you could only search on tags, not titles and descriptions. This took a long time for them to figure out.
- They have also struggled with tag management, especially when it comes to groups.
- There is no way to do mass tag management in a group.
- It is impossible to match a group’s taxonomy without opening multiple windows to view the group’s tags.
- They have also seen their share of server downtime, which is a bit unfortunate when you are hunting for a work-related resource.
- Now they seem to be focused more on login API’s and an activity stream – which still hasn’t populated for me, my home page has been blank since they launched it – rather than finishing up what I would call phase 1.5 or phase 2 tagging functionality and group management.
I’m sure there are a lot of behind-the-scenes reasons for the above, but my perspective is from an end-user (client). I kept waiting for them to polish up what was missing, but they kept adding stuff that didn’t really matter for the purpose at hand. I think they started developing more for themselves, and began to forget the point of Magnolia.
I liked the concept they were building, with a nicer (ie, more pleasant to the eyes, and easier to user) interface. I really like some of the minor social aspects, like being able to thank users for bookmarks. I also like the concept of groups, although they need a bit more work to see the full value in both user and tag management.
However, the most recent network/server outtage gave me enough time to check out Delicious, and I found my new home. Working through tagging my imported bookmarks has been a pleasure. Very easy and quick. I do miss screenshots of the web sites, but it’s not a huge loss, and would definitely trade for easier tag management. I like the Firefox extension, although in full mode it needs a little work to be able to move icons to different areas of the status bar. Tag bundles are awesome, and I’m just starting to think through how I want to use that. Near-inline editing of an existing bookmark is fantastic. Overall it’s been a great experience so far. I’m also experimenting with the feature to post bookmarked links to my blog. We’ll see how that goes, but I think I like it so far.
And besides, all the cool kids have been here for awhile.
Microsoft apps on VMware ESX will now be supported
Posted on September 11, 2008, under SharePoint, Web Dev/Tech.
Microsoft will now support their applications running on the VMWare ESX platform running version 3.5 update 2. For anyone using both VMWare and Microsoft technologies (like Exchange, SharePoint, etc), this is great news!
Convert PHP Eclipse projects into PDT projects
Posted on May 20, 2008, under Web Dev/Tech.
Found a great quick tip on converting existing Eclipse projects into PDT projects from the globalways Developer Blog.
Essentially you just add a few elements to the .project XML file, and then you have a PDT project! I’d recommend running the “Clean Project” task afterwards just to make sure your project is refreshed.
Free Photoshop Book from SitePoint
Posted on May 14, 2008, under Web Dev/Tech.
SitePoint is giving away their 278 page book The Photoshop Anthology: 101 Web Design Tips, Tricks & Techniques for the next 30 days in PDF format. You do have to give an e-mail address, but then you can download the PDF directly.
The chapters are:
- Getting Started with Photoshop
- Basic Skills
- Creating Buttons
- Creating Backgrounds
- Working with Text
- Adjusting Images
- Manipulating Images
- Designing a Web Site
- Advanced Photoshop Techniques
New HTML and DOM Standards Compliance in IE8 Beta 1
Posted on April 11, 2008, under Web Dev/Tech.
The IEBlog lists new HTML and DOM standards compliance ehancements in IE8 Beta 1. If you mess with JavaScript or the DOM at all, this is good stuff to keep aware of. I’m a little removed from this level of web development as compared to my old role, but I know I would have been pretty excited overall with the enhancements that IE8 brings to the development arena. Hopefully it doesn’t take years to get adopted by IE users once released. 
Apple pushes insecure web browser on computers
Posted on March 31, 2008, under Current Events, Security, Web Dev/Tech.
Apple pushes Safari on Windows via iTunes updater (posted 3/21)
Apple has started offering Windows users its Safari 3.1 Web browser through the same online updater it utilizes for iTunes and the QuickTime video player.
Not just offering, but pushing. As in you must manually un-check the install or ignore it, or Safari will be installed the next time you run the updater to bring your iTunes up to the next release.
MacBook Air hacked in security contest (posted 3/27)
A team of security researchers has won $10,000 for hacking a MacBook Air in two minutes using an undisclosed Safari vulnerability.
Bad decision, Apple. I don’t want that accidentally pushed out on my machines, or any of the family members I help support.
If you want to prevent this from happening on your machine when you run the Apple updater, make sure the Safari option is checked, and then in the top menu, select “Tools > Ignore selected updates”.
Outlook 2007 Gadgets for Windows Sidebar
Posted on November 30, 2007, under Web Dev/Tech.
Always visible tasks and appointments. Sweet.
