figby.com » 2004 » September

September 30, 2004

quick links

Shell (sh,ksh,bash) scripting in 20 pages – A good introduction to shell scripts for programmers. [via] #
Make Your CMS Work For You – Interview with Jeffrey Veen on content management systems [via] #
Good Experience – Interview with Andre Haddad, eBay – Insights into running an incredibly large community site. [via] #

September 29, 2004

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What the Bubble Got Right – Paul Graham on the Internet bubble’s solid, chewy center. [via] #

September 28, 2004

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PHP/SWF Charts – uses PHP and Flash to make cool charts from your data. [via] #
FeedDemon 1.5 Beta 1 with Bloglines Integration – Sounds like a great idea. #

September 27, 2004

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SpamAssassin 3.0 released – Currently saving me from over 200 spam emails a day. [via] #
Cleaning pennies with taco sauce – Once again the Internet proves itself a powerful tool for investigative science. [via] (3) #

September 22, 2004

quick links

Designing 3D buttons with pure CSS – Excellent article on graphic-free buttons [via] #

September 20, 2004

MarkDown vs. WYSIWYG

Filed under:

General

— 11:58 am

When I write for The JavaScript Weblog, I get to use Weblogs Inc.’s nice backend interface, which includes a WYSIWYG editor. Working with it makes me miss the WYSIWYG editor I had hacked into this site before I switched to WordPress.

So, I’ve been thinking of adding a WYSIWYG plugin to WordPress, but there are some issues with the current attempts, and I don’t have time to write my own plug-in. In the meantime, I’ve been using MarkDown to post the last few entries, and after getting used to the syntax, I like it almost as much as WYSIWYG. It’s even better in at least one way: it uses a standard text area, so it lets me type faster than any of the WYSIWYG solutions I’ve seen.

If you use WordPress, be sure to get the latest version of the PHP Markdown plug-in, as there are some issues with the version included in WordPress 1.2.

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quick links

Ten Questions for Jon Hicks at the Web Standards Group – He designed the Firefox logos, among other things. [via] #

September 17, 2004

The JavaScript Weblog

Filed under:

General

— 3:55 pm

I’m pleased to announce that I started writing for the Weblogs Inc. Network (WIN) today on The JavaScript Weblog. I’ll be posting daily about JavaScript and related topics. Some of the topics will probably be posted here as well, but not all of them—considering my posting frequency here, it would quickly be overwhelmed with JavaScript posts.

Hearing about what WIN is doing with weblogs and meeting the staff was one of the highlights of the SXSW conference this year, and the first few moments of working with them have been equally impressive. I hope to do some good work for them for a long time.

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September 16, 2004

quick links

opensourceCMS.com – I keep forgetting to link to this. They have versions of just about every open-source CMS and weblog software you can try online, and they reset them every two hours. A great way to see the backend of various systems without installing them yourself. [via ResearchBuzz] (1) #

September 14, 2004

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isnoop.net gmail invite spooler – Finally a centralized place for people to give away GMail invites. It took me 10 seconds to get my own invite from this service. [thanks Simon] **Comments closed! I DO NOT HAVE ANY GMAIL INVITES** (48) #
Firefox 1.0 preview release – It’s doing quite well for still-not-final software. [via] #

September 13, 2004

quick links

Ten Questions for John Gallant (Big John) – “One thing led to another, and now I’m supposed to be some kind of css guru.” [via] (1) #
Mastery, Mystery, and Misery: The Ideologies of Web Design (Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox) – Nielsen divides the Web into three categories. A good read. [via] #
2-col tableless layout – A well-illustrated summary of two CSS layout techniques. [via] #

September 9, 2004

quick links

Less junk in your in-box? – Spam on the decline. Maybe. #
Naming Services – VeriSign’s DNS Rapid Update – 5-minute DNS updates began yesterday. [via] #
Eyetrack III – Lots of new data on how people view Web sites. [via Scoble] #
How to give and receive criticism – UIWEB.COM – An excellent detailed essay on best ways to contribute and deal with criticism. [via Matt] #

September 8, 2004

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It’s Not Just Usability – Joel Spolsky on social interface design [via] #
VOTE or NOT? – register to vote and win $100,000 – smart politically-active publicity stunt from HotorNot.com #

September 7, 2004

quick links

Overcoming Writer’s Block – Not that I have a problem with that. [via] #
Why I don’t recommend Firefox – Adam Kalsey sums up some of the troubles with Firefox. [via] #

September 3, 2004

Quick Review: CSS Pocket Reference

Filed under:

Web Development

— 4:48 pm

I have an embarrassingly-large collection of O’Reilly’s Pocket Reference books on my desk. They’re the best value for money of any computer book, and I find them more handy than online references in many cases. I’ve probably referred to Eric Meyer’s CSS Pocket Reference more than any other pocket reference. The only trouble was that it didn’t include up-to-date information about CSS2. Now that there’s a new edition that covers all of CSS2 and 2.1, I’ll be using it even more.

The new edition has grown to 128 pages, perhaps a bit bulky for many pockets. It includes simple down-to-earth descriptions for all of the CSS properties in alphabetical order, just like the previous version. The only thing missing are the browser support charts. While I understand the philosophy behind leaving these out, and the next-to-impossible task it would have been to assemble them in the current browser climate, I will definitely miss them.

Along with the alphabetical reference section, the first section of CSS Pocket Reference has the shortest, most accessible explanations of selectors, inheritance, and the box model I’ve ever seen, and I refer to this section almost as much as the property reference. If you have $10 and use CSS, this book is highly recommended.

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quick links

The Age of the Essay – Paul Graham on writing effectively [via Simon] #

September 2, 2004

quick links

The Science of Word Recognition – Far more than you ever wanted to read about how you read, from a Microsoft psychologist. Fascinating. [via] #

September 1, 2004

quick links

Instant Python – A nice introduction to the language for experienced programmers. [via this via Simon] #