JaZzy JunGgle

google g1 android (first impressions, review)

2008-12-14T08:11:00.013Z

I got my first android device about a week ago and I haven't yet got the time to fully explore it but here are my first impressions:

i love...

the display (very clear, bright, sharp, fantastic...)
the touchscreen (works nicely, althought multitouch for zooming would be appreciated)
mail, instant messaging, notifications
dialer (voice/numeric/log/contacts/favs)
contacts manager (synced with google contacts)
some great apps (shazam, wiki, book reader)
android ui (scrolling, status bar, stability, simplicity)
youtube video player
marketplace

i hate...

short battery life (counts in hours when on wifi/edge)
absence of profiles (street,home,browsing,powersaving,gps,silent...)
web bookmarks not synchronized with google notebook's bookmarks?
absence of native clients for google notebook, reader...
keyboard ergonomy (the keyboard is somewhat hard to use, typing is obstructed by phones cable and lower part of the phone, keys hard to locate in dark...maybe adding a usable virtual keyboard would be an option)
no gps tracking/user maps?

my overall impressions are very positive as i believe most of the issues will be solved by software updates soon.

links: t-Mobile g1 - a guide to the world’s first android powered mobile phone

google chrome (review)

2008-11-26T16:29:00.006Z

google chrome is a next generation, user-friendly web browser. currently it's not available for linux, but i had to do some work under windoze so i used the opportunity to try it out.

i love...

the simplicity
the speed
the search bar (which is a universal bar for keywords, shortcuts, urls, config..., enhanced by very smooth auto suggest)
the new tab (where you can choose from many options what page you want to open - bookmarks, most visited with previews, history, recently closed, history search...)
the hideable bookmark toolbar (ctrl+b)
history manager (ctrl+h)
the automatic and smooth import of my firefox profile
memory usage stats (about:memory)
dom inspector (right click, inspect element)

i hate...

absence of linux version
lack of integration into google services (bookmarks, notebook...)
lack of support for atom, rss feeds
absence of bookmark shortcuts (even if i type full name of bookmark, chrome offers to search the web first
no option of master password, instant incremental search...

overall, i had very good feeling using chrome. i believe most of my complaints will be addressed in the future versions.

ubuntu installation + configuration (howto)

2008-11-05T06:10:00.019Z

The following guide is suited to my personal preferences and serves as a memo how to fluently install and configure ubuntu linux system (in this case ubuntu desktop edition 8.10 Intrepid Ibex on Thinkpad X41 Tablet).

preparation

backup old system (/etc, /home, export mysql databases, /usr/share/jedit, package list...)
download freshest ubuntu image
create ubuntu bootable cd/dvd or bootable usb flashdisk (memory stick)

installation

boot from ubuntu live cd/dvd/flashdisk, choose "install ubuntu"
set disk partitioner to manual, create two partitions:
- swap (~1GB)
- ext3 mapped to "/" (>2.2GB, which is the size of installed ubuntu 8.10 system)
finish the installation, reboot and install updates

configuration

terminal
- create profile jjblack (black bg, no menu, no scrollbars)
- keyboard shortcuts (disable F10,...)
keyboard
- add czech keyboard layout
- import my layout from backup (/usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/cz)
  in older versions of ubuntu: (/etc/X11/xkb/symbols/cz)
firefox
- create profile jjmini (addressbar right from menu, mini icons, no toolbars, blank start page, downloads to inbox, master password, instant search typing)
- import bookmarks from backup (bookmarks/organize bookmarks/import and backup/restore/choose file
install essential packages sudo apt-get install mc vim lynx sun-java6-bin jedit p7zip-full p7zip-rar subversion
config files
- .bashrc, .vimrc, .lynxrc, .gtk-bookmarks...
customize filesystem
- setup mountpoints (sudo gedit /etc/fstab), reboot
- customize names of special dirs (gedit ~/.config/user-dirs.dirs)
- rename and create home dirs (desktop, inbox, outbox, template, public, music, speech, pic, vid, temp, bin, ...) and mount dirs (/mnt/winxp, /media/lib, /media/voyager
- import my data and settings from backup (inc. dotted files+dirs, /usr/share/jedit/jars, ...)
hardware
- set up Thinkpad X41 Tablet, fingerprint reader, trackpoint scrolling, etc...
- networking (/etc/hosts, eth, wifi, bluetooth, ...)
desktop
- theme (gdm, gtk, icons, wallpaper, sounds)
- keyboard shortcuts
- panels
- system/preferences, system/administration
- compiz config manager (sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager)
dev
- apache (sudo apt-get install apache2 libapache2-mod-php5 libapache2-mod-python mysql-server mysql-client php5-mysql php5-mcrypt phpmyadmin)
- ide (eclipse)
productivity
- drawing/sketching (xournal, gogh, tux paint, open office drawing)
- graphics/publishing (inkscape, xara extreme, Scribus)
- mind mapping (freemind, vue, labyrinth)
- project manager (Project Management)
- handwriting recognition (CellWriter)
communication
learning
- japanese dictionary (gjiten)
- flash card learning (mnemosyne)
multimedia
- audio/video codecs (gstreamer extra plugins)
- player (mplayer)
- audio editor (audacity)
- character map viewer (charmap)
- music player/scrobbler (last.fm)
- guitar tablature player/editor (tux guitar)
filesharing
- dc++ client (DC++)
performance tweaks (see also ultimate ubuntu performance tweaking)
- disable unnecessary services (anacron, atd, apport, klogd, sysklogd)

shazam - music recognition app for android

2008-10-19T10:19:00.004+01:00

Shazam is an app for android platform that identifies music you hear wherever you are. Just press a button and in a few moments Shazam displays song name and links to song info and videos. Neat!

crayon physics deluxe - tablet game

2008-10-10T22:59:00.006+01:00

I definitely wanna check out this tablet game: crayon physics deluxe. You draw objects on the screen and they immediately become part of the physics model and interact with already existing objects.

Knol - google's social knowledge base

2008-07-27T09:36:00.006+01:00

Google launched Knol, a social knowledge base similar to wikipedia. The idea looks very promising so I immediately jumped in to check it out.

The interface is (as usual with google) very simple and straightforward, it is very easy to write your own article in a minute.

pros

great idea
simple (usable, easy to learn, easy to use)
google-integrated
colaboration (each article has clearly defined owners, authors and reviewers)
licensable (for now you can choose from (cc-attribution, cc-attrib-non-commercial, all-rights-reserved)
revisioning (versioning)
commenting
article summary
reviews (you can post reviews on anything and link to your review will show up on the original page)
referencing
adsense integration

cons

no tagging? ...oh wait, there's an alternative titles field, but I think this is a bit confusing, the tagging should work more like what we're used to from other google products, e.g. mail, notebook...
too long and confusing urls (e.g.http://knol.google.com/k/jazzy-junggle/tagging-best-practice/8d1khziecqie/2#edit - maybe its just me and there's a way to view the article url, but i believe the addressing of the articles should be more clear to the user and/or simpler)
lack of semantics (defining meta tags, relations to other articles, etc.)
limited presentation options (styling, css, page layout, templating...)

I think Knol is on the right track but still needs a lot of work to become the only and ultimate knowledge base.

Python basics

2008-07-13T20:12:00.017+01:00

Comments

start with (#)

Types

numeric (int, float, long, complex)
iterator
sequence (str, unicode, list, tuple, buffer, xrange)
set
map
file

Numbers

integer=7, long=9999999999L, float=1.34, complex=0+1j

Strings

'single quotes', "double quotes", r'raw\n', u'unicode\u0020', 'multi\ line (end of lines must be escaped)', '''strings in triple quotes can span multiple lines without escaping newlines'''
can be concatenated ('dirty ' + 'monkey') and repeated (4 * 'lol')
literals next to each other are automatically concatenated ('you' 'tube')
can be sliced (word[4], word[0:6], word[1:], word[0:-1])
cannot be changed (unmutable)
()

Vim cheatsheet

2008-07-10T11:03:00.040+01:00

modes

normal (command) - enter editor commands (default mode)
visual - like normal, but movement commands extend highlighted area
select - typing a printable character deletes the selection and starts insert mode
insert - everything you type is inserted in the buffer until you press Esc
cmdline - you can enter one line of command at the bottom of the window
ex - like command line, but after entering a command you remain in the ex mode

commands

quit: without writing changes :q!/ZQ, write changes & quit :wq/:x/ZZ
file: read :e {file}, write :w {file}
cursor: j/k/h/l, word w/b, WORD W/B, word-end e/ge; to first/firstnonempty/last char in line 0/^/$, to first/last line in window H/L
insert: before/at cursor i/a, at line beginning/end I/A, new line below/above o/O
complete: word C-n/C-p, line C-xC-l
delete: d, char at/before cursor x/X, line dd
undo: u, redo C-r, undo changes to current line U
search: pattern forward/backward //?, word under cursor forward/backward */#, next/prev match n/N; char fF, till tT, match bracket %
repeat command: .

Google App Engine

2008-07-10T07:39:00.008+01:00

Google App Engine is a free webapp hosting service that allows you to create and run web applications on google's infrastructure.

Features

free
hosted on google's infrastructure
easy to get started
500 mb of space
Python support (more languages to come)
enough CPU and bandwidth for 5 million pageviews/month
Datastores as data persistence layer (limited SQL databases)
user authentication via Google's Users API (Google accounts)
Django web framework with templating support

More info

Developing and deploying an application on Google App Engine - video tutorial

Tagging best practices

2008-07-08T06:40:00.031+01:00

Tagging (folksonomy) is a popular and powerful way of organizing stuff on the web. But as your tagbase grows, it itself needs to get organized...

lowercase (use google, css, zend framework instead Google, CSS, Zend Framework, even with names)
english (describe the object in english words, transcribe all non-english characters and punctuation to alphanumeric characters [a-z0-9], tags like 2006, 90s are ok)
simple (don't use multi-word tags unless it's a name or a well established phrase)
singular (use map, monkey, video instead maps, monkeys, videos)
noun (use drawing, meditation, design instead draw, meditate, designed)
system (build a personal framework, a set of tags based on your areas of interest, level of abstraction, word preference, etc. and stick to it. Ask yourself what's the most appropriate set of tags for your purpose. Remember, whatever object you are tagging, there are possibly millions of tags applicable. Pick only the tags that fit your paradigm)
balance (when tagging an item, choose the most relevant tags from your set. If you are tagging article, ask what is it about, not what's mentioned in it. If you create too few or too many relations, your system becomes ineffective)
action tags (one thing that works for me are action tags like 2check, 2read, 2explore, 2print...)
consistency (whatever rules you pick, stick to them)
reuse (try to reuse words you have already in your tag base before adding new word. Avoid having multiple synonyms with same meaning)

If you are not sure what tags to use, ask yourself "What keywords would I enter into search engine when searching for item like this?".

Web 2008 popularity

2008-06-24T19:05:00.004+01:00

Here is a scheme i created as a result of my website popularity research:

Top 10 productivity tools

2008-06-24T15:34:00.007+01:00

Here is my current list of tools that I use on a daily basis:

google (search engine)
thinkpad X41 (tablet laptop)
firefox (web browser)
google mail (gmail, mail client)
google calendar (calendar)
google reader (feed reader)
google notebook (note taking + organizing)
jedit (text editor)
ubuntu (operation system, open source)
blank sheet of paper + pencil

irregular flow (-4khz)

2008-06-22T21:04:00.002+01:00

irregular flow from 4khz on Vimeo.

Top ten blogs of 2008

2008-06-21T14:12:00.011+01:00

As a part of my mission to map the web, I did some research of blog popularity. Here are the top 10 most visited blogs according to technorati:

huffington post - politics
gizmodo - tech & gadgets
TechCrunch - web startups
engadget - gadgets
boing boing - hodge-podge
lifehacker - productivity tools & tips
ars technica - tech news & analysis
icanhascheezburger - lolcat imageboard
Mashable - social networking
SMASHING - web, design

The most popular subjects are politics, tech, web and social networking.

How I organized my music library

2008-06-14T16:37:00.006+01:00

This is how i organized my music library (mp3 files):

i deleted thousands of tracks and albums that don't inspire me/are not to my taste/make me feel bad/...
i renamed all files to the following format: %artist - %title.mp3
i moved all files to single folder named music
i used utils like mp3renamer, musicbrainz tagger, etc to fetch tags from the internet and tag all the files
now whenever i listen to music in amarok, i add tags to tracks i listen to. i use the comment tag to store my own tags (e.g. meditative, relaxing, flute, dreamy, ambient)

I really love the way my music is organized now. I can't wait for filesystem which will native tagging support (maybe future version of ubuntu?)

Linux glossary

2008-05-25T19:37:00.010+01:00

svn: tool to manage source code changes (version control system)
xmodmap: utility for modifying keymaps and pointer button mappings in X
bash: Bourne Again SHell, a command line environment
cron: program scheduler
daemon: service
lilo: LInux LOader, boot manager
grub: boot manager
binaries: executable programs
CLI: command line interface
gzip: file compression utility
grep: regular expression based line filter
init: first proces run after OS load
kernel: core of the os, interacts with hw, manages resources
MBR: Master Boot Record, first physical sector on a bootable disk drive
mount: identify disk drive to the file system before use
NFS: Network File System, filesystem that allows sharing of files across the network
open-source: software released with source code
OSS: Open Sound System, sound hardware driver, supports most-popular devices
pipe: |, symbol used to chain commands in shell
POSIX: Portable OS Interface for uniX
redirection: >, symbol used to send program output to a text file
script: set of commands stored in a file
session: period between login and logoff
shell: OS CLI
shell script: script designed to run automatically when a shell is started
superuser: root (admin)
syslog: system logger where all system errors/messages are stored
widget: GUI object (button...)
alias: shell command that allows user to create alias for a command
acroread: pdf viewer
802.11: wireles network (WLAN)

Setting up Thinkpad X41 Tablet in Ubuntu

2008-05-21T12:44:00.029+01:00

Fingerprint reader

install thinkfinger (sudo apt-get install thinkfinger-tools libpam-thinkfinger)
acquire fingerprint (sudo tf-tool --acquire)
verify fingerprint (sudo tf-tool --verify)
update pam config (sudo gedit /etc/pam.d/common-auth so it contains only these 2 lines: auth sufficient pam_thinkfinger.so auth required pam_unix.so try_first_pass nullok_secure
update for ubuntu 8.10: change the according lines in this file so it looks like this: ... # here are the per-package modules (the "Primary" block) auth sufficient pam_thinkfinger.so auth [success=1 default=ignore] pam_unix.so try_first_pass nullok_secure # here's the fallback if no module succeeds ... here is fix for situation when auth won't proceed until you press enter

(thanks to wiki.ubuntu.com/ThinkFinger and thinkwiki.org/wiki/How_to_enable_the_fingerprint_reader_with_ThinkFinger)

Back/Forward keys

update for ubuntu 8.10: you can skip this step as the keys work out of the box

run sudo gedit /etc/X11/Xmodmap,

add:

keycode 234 = XF86Back
keycode 233 = XF86Forward

for immediate effect run xmodmap /etc/X11/Xmodmap (Note: this works in hardy, you may need to use Xmodmap instead in older versions of Ubuntu)

Trackpoint scrolling

sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf, locate section InputDevice with identifier Configured Mouse, add

Option   "EmulateWheel"  "true"
Option   "EmulateWheelButton" "2"

update for ubuntu 8.10: how to enable trackpoint in ubuntu 8.10

Stylus

install wacom driver (sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg-input-wacom wacom-tools)
sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf, add Section "InputDevice" Identifier "stylus" Driver "wacom" Option "Device" "/dev/input/wacom" Option "Type" "stylus" Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4" EndSection Section "InputDevice" Identifier "eraser" Driver "wacom" Option "Device" "/dev/input/wacom" Option "Type" "eraser" Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4" EndSection Section "InputDevice" Identifier "cursor" Driver "wacom" Option "Device" "/dev/input/wacom" Option "Type" "cursor" Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4" EndSection, locate section ServerLayout, append InputDevice "stylus" "SendCoreEvents" InputDevice "cursor" "SendCoreEvents" InputDevice "eraser" "SendCoreEvents"
update for ubuntu 8.10: Section "InputDevice" Driver "wacom" Identifier "stylus" Option "Device" "/dev/ttyS0" # Change to /dev/input/event for USB Option "Type" "stylus" Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4" # Tablet PC ONLY # Option "KeepShape" "on" # Option "TPCButton" "off" EndSection Section "InputDevice" Driver "wacom" Identifier "eraser" Option "Device" "/dev/ttyS0" # Change to /dev/input/eventfor USB Option "Type" "eraser" Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4" # Tablet PC ONLY # Option "KeepShape" "on" EndSection Section "InputDevice" Driver "wacom" Identifier "cursor" Option "Device" "/dev/ttyS0" # Change to /dev/input/event for USB Option "Type" "cursor" Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4" # Tablet PC ONLY # Option "KeepShape" "on" EndSection Section "ServerLayout" Identifier "Default Layout" Screen "Default Screen" InputDevice "stylus" "SendCoreEvents" InputDevice "cursor" "SendCoreEvents" InputDevice "eraser" "SendCoreEvents" EndSection
sudo gedit /etc/acpi/resume.d/20-setserial.sh, append #!/bin/bash /bin/setserial /dev/ttyS0 port 0x0200 irq 5 autoconfig and sudo chmod +x /etc/acpi/resume.d/20-setserial.sh

Display rotation

Ubuntu Thinkpad X41 tablet screen rotation

Windows XP installation guide

2008-05-19T23:20:00.002+01:00

This guide was written 2 years ago and it might be still useful.

install system (Boot PartitionMagic from floppy. Create 3x 20GB partitions. Boot from WinXP Install CD. Install system from CD to first partition)
install file manager (Total Commander)
install hardware drivers (Install chipset, LAN, graphics, audio, USB, additional hardware,...)
install service pack and updates (SP2 is available as a download)
set up system
- Move swap file to dedicated partition (swap) on secondary disk
- Set fixed letters to disk drives
- switch off indexing of drive C: (system) and X: (swap)
- Check startup auto load list: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
- Change audio card's buffer to 128
- Disable fast user switching (control panel/user accouns/)
- Disable unnecessary services in services.msc (Indexing service, Webclient, Time, System Recovery, ...)
- Speed up menus (HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop)
- Disable NTFS Last Access Time Logging (NTFS Only) (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CURRENTCONTROLSET\CONTROL\FILESYSTEM\NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate=1)
- Disable Notification Area Balloon Tips (HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\EnableBalloonTips=0)
- Disable CDROM Autoplay (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Cdrom\Autorun=0)
- Disable kernel paging (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\ Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\DisablePagingExecutive=1 , LargeSystemCache=1)
- Switch on Folder Options/View/Launch folder windows in separate process (increase stability)
- ...
back up system with Ghost
install applications
- image mounter (Alcohol 120%)
- cd burner (Nero)
- web browser (Mozilla Firefox)
- ...

Ubuntu hotkeys

2008-05-19T20:20:00.010+01:00

global

alt + F1 = open panel menu
alt + F2 = open panel run dialog
ctrl + ins = copy
shift + ins = paste
(alt) + printscreen = take (window) screenshot
ctrl + alt + arrow keys = switch workspace
ctrl + alt + tab +arrow keys = cycle between panels and desktop
ctrl + alt + d = desktop
ctrl + alt + backpace = restart session
shift + F10 = context menu

windows

alt + tab = switch windows
alt + F4 = close window
alt + F5 = unmaximize window
alt + F7 = move window
alt + F8 = resize window
alt + F9 = minimize window
alt + F10 = maximize window
=
=
=

Installing PhpBB 3 forum

2008-03-26T17:00:00.010Z

Today I installed PhpBB 3 forum on my linux hosting with MySQL database. Here are the quick steps:

download the package from www.phpbb.com/downloads
upload the contents of the package to the server
write-enable certain directories:
chmod 777 cache chmod 777 files chmod 777 store chmod 777 images/avatars/upload chmod 666 config.php
open installation script in the browser:
http://site.com/forum/install/
fill in the preferences and db connection details
delete the install directory
proceed to administration control panel (http://site.com/forum/adm/)
walk through all the settings, create categories and forums...

Links

PhpBB 3 Quick installation (original documentation)
PhpBB 3 users home

User interface design for web-based applications

2008-03-26T16:49:00.009Z

In this article, I will summarize the general rules that I learned during years of designing web application user interfaces.

Keep it simple and clear.
Users need to solve tasks efficiently and quickly. The interface should be as simple and straightforward as possible. Each component should have it's clear purpose and the visual structure should reflect the logic behind it.
Make it intuitive
Don't make user stop and think about how it works. Let the layout and appearance of the components speak for themselves.
Know the rules.
Users expect a certain visual layout as well as functionality of the components. If you break the rules and make things look or behave differently, you should have good reasons for it and make sure user understands it.
Use hints where necessary.
When you are not sure, create hints that will explain the purpose and how it works.
Look through user's eyes.
Try to look at the interface from user's perspective. Think about what is the important information for the user and what is not so important. The most common tasks should be always at hand.

User Interface Design for Web Applications (by Jean Tillman)

Starting with Ubuntu linux

2008-01-15T18:33:00.025Z

Installation

download image from ubuntu.com
burn image to cd (using nero)
boot from the cd
install ubuntu
download updates
add essential software (see below)
disable pc speaker beep sudo rmmod pcspkr
enable numlock at startup: gedit /etc/gdm/Init/Default add: if [ -x /usr/bin/numlockx ]; then /usr/bin/numlockx on fi
set screen resolution and refresh rate
customize names of special dirs: gedit ~/.config/user-dirs.dirs (renaming/moving them in nautilus should work too)
uninstall open java and install sun java instead (to solve jedit display problems)

Essential software

file manager: Krusader (+krename +kdiff3 +rar), Gnome Commander, Midnight Commander
web browser: Firefox (+firebug)
text editor: jEdit, vim, cream, GNU Emacs, XEmacs, Eclipse
media player: amarok
p2p: LinuxDC++, KTorrent, eDonkey 2000
im: Pidgin (gnome), Kopete (KDE)
graphic editor: GIMP
audio editor: Audacity
video editor: Kino
drive partitioning: GParted
antivirus: ClamAV
firewall: Firestarter
email: Thunderbird (sudo apt-get install mozilla-thunderbird)
dvd burning: K3b
pdf reader: KPDF, Evince, KGhostView
desktop: SuperKaramba (KDE only!), Beryl, Compiz
asio: JACK
daw: Ardour, Hydrogen, Rosegarden
games: Advanced strategy command

How to …

find a text file?: locate filename
view a text file?: more filename
edit a text file?: gedit filename
find a file containing …?: locate *.txt | grep sometext
install a package?: sudo apt-get install packagename
uninstall a package?: sudo apt-get remove packagename
define custom keyboard shortcuts?: ...
mount a disk partition permanently?: sudo gedit /etc/fstab, add e.g. /dev/disk/by-label/IBM_PRELOAD /home/jj/sys_xp ntfs-3g locale=en_US.utf8,user,noauto,uid=1000,gid=1000,dmask=0000,fmask=0111,dir_umask=0000,file_umask=0111 0 0
set environment variables?: /etc/environment
edit keyboard layout?: sudo gedit /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/cz
set permissions recursively + conditionally?: find /home/user/demo -perm 777 -print -exec chmod 755 {} \;
make xampp start automatically after reboot?: sudo ln -s /opt/lampp/lampp /etc/init.d/lampp sudo update-rc.d -f lampp defaults
...: ...

Filesystem

bin - essential user binaries (for use by all users)
dev - device files
etc - config files (host-specific system config, environment vars...)
home - home dirs of individual users
lib - essential system libraries and kernel modules
root - home dir of root user
sbin - essential binaries used for system administration
tmp - world-writable dir for temporary files
var - variable data files like logs
media - mount point for removable media
mnt - mount point for temporarily mounted filesystem
opt - add-on application sw packages
srv - data for services provided by this system

Web predictions for 2008

2007-12-28T11:39:00.003Z

What will be popular on web in 2008?

semantic apps (ish ?)
mobile web, mobile office, mobile web apps, services
behavior monitoring, better personalised ad targeting
OpenID
content recommendation
facebook platform
distributed social networks
open platforms?

source: various and 2008 Web Predictions - ReadWriteWeb

Bootstrapping PHP application

2007-12-15T11:24:00.004Z

What?

Bootstrapper is a single access point (index.php script located in the web's document root) of the web application. Its purpose is to handle all incoming requests by 1. setting up the application environment, 2. routing the request to the correct action controller and 3. dispatching it.

Why?

Easy application configuration (all that is common is in single bootstrapper file).

How?

Setting up the application environment

set up php environment if necessary (error reporting, include paths,...)
set up class loader (and register is as autoloader within php)
load common classes
load configuration into registry
setup db and store db handle into registry
set up caching
set up front controller
set up router
dispatch front controller

Routing the request to the action controller

set up router

Dispatching the request (dispatch loop)

dispatch front controller

ReacTable (music controller)

2007-10-29T19:47:00.000Z

Today I discovered a music controller with a unique user interface. It is called ReacTable and it looks like a round table with blue backlight on top of which you place various types of blocks, each of them representing different sonic modules (VCO, LFO, Sample player,...). The parameters are controlled by rotating the blocks and moving them on the table. As you put new block to the table, icons and links between blocks are displayed on the table under each block. Here are some links: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0h-RhyopUmc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPG-LYoW27E http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEDia3CFdfg http://mtg.upf.es/reactable/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reactable

Prototype javascript framework

2007-09-20T21:24:00.002+01:00

What?

Prototype javascript framework (prototype.js) is a library of front-end javascript classes and class extensions (Array, Ajax, Event...) aimed to help building interactive web pages. The library (current version 1.6.0) was originaly written in 2005 by Sam Stephenson and is published under MIT License (same as Ruby on Rails) which means it can be used in any project almost without limits.

Who?

Prototype core team consists of web developers from all around the world (USA, Canada, Austria, UK...) - Sam Stephenson, Thomas Fuchs, Justin Palmer, Andrew Dupont and others.

Why?

What makes this library so good?

published as single 120kB file
lincense allows free use in almost any project
easy to use, simplifies many standard tasks
standard compliant, supports all current browsers
good documentation (e.g. official api docs, tutorials or Using Prototype by Sergio Pereira)

Where?

The latest version is available at prototypejs.org/download

All round webdesign tips

2007-09-18T19:28:00.005+01:00

site logo on top of every page (linked to homepage)
search bar on top of every page
personal bar on top of every page (login/logout, profile (prefs, favs, watchlist, friends,...))
top tags or tag cloud on homepage
top searches suggestion on homepage
search... text in the searchbox to save space
clever (color coded) tabs
breadcrumbs nav (path from homepage or session history)
flag/spam button on every article/comment
article filtering by age (24 hours - 7 days - 30 days - all)
flexible column width with defined min- and max-width (in em)
all important information must be placed above the fold
the optimal column width is 30-70 characters
↑ go to page top link at the bottom of the page (using up arrow)
thumbing/starring of articles/comments/users
never define only single color. always define the whole set (color and background
choose page <title> carefully
every action that adds/updates/deletes data on server should be accessed by http POST method (html form)
use em units when setting font-size. Don't use px because it does not respect user's preferences (is not relative to parent object's settings)

CSS global reset

2007-09-08T22:29:00.006+01:00

When creating a style sheet from scratch it's a good thing to start with a global css reset to avoid problems with possible different presets of margin and padding properties in different browsers. The code (inspired by Andrew Krespanis's article) can look like this (notice the asterisk above h1):

/* global reset */
* {padding: 0; margin: 0; }
h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, p, pre, blockquote, label, ul,
    ol, dl, fieldset, address { margin:0.6em 4%; }
li, dd { margin-left: 4%; }
fieldset { padding: .6em; }

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Prototype javascript framework

What?

Who?

Why?

Where?

All round webdesign tips

CSS global reset