Say What!?

The latest version of Adobe Magazine is out.  Some good reading and inspiration. I especially like how they briefly discuss how many of the projects were created.  Go get it, it’s worth the time.

Six Revisions Has a brief, yet good, run-down of development tips using the Chris Pederick’s Web Developer add-on for Firefox.  I especially like that Web Developer will display all of the style rules (despite location) that effect a chosen element.  When trying to help students debug CSS issues, it’s difficult to know where and what in their style sheet(s) is messing with a problematic element.  This will certainly help me narrow down those pesky CSS bugs.

45 freeware design programs

A great list of some well known and obscure free tools. 

I don’t know how long its been available, but Flash 9 beta is available at Adobe Labs. AS 3.0 looks to add some really handy functionality for developing dynamically generated interfaces and binding those interfaces with dynamic content. The document class seems to be a great new feature. It basically allows you to no longer have to add code to the timeline.

Flash and Flex are coming closer together. Can the two products continue to have so much overlap? Isn’t Flex basically Flash 9 in screens development mode?  I’ve only played with Flex 2 beta so I can’t get into any real comparisons between the two apps.

Jen and Peter deHann have a helpful little article on getting your feet wet with AS 3.0 workflow/features. 

Something I need to digg into when I have more time:

AJAX image galleries

Comparison WCAG and Section 508 Web
This is a little gem found over at jimthatcher.com that I need to have blogged. A strong and helpful guide in the process of creating an accessible web. I know if I bookmark this alone, it’ll get lost. Putting it here means I can keep track of it better and point others to it.

It seems that the future (if not already) will bring not only accessibity consultants to aid us in navigating the slope of accessibility, but teams of web standards consultants. These folks will work in concert with web development teams. I know that we are all responsible for understanding and being competent in web standards. The problem is that there are too many standards to keep up with and still be competent in your own area. I know that there are validation tools and accessibility checkers (bobby), but this stuff requires a more forward looking, intelligent interpetation of existing guidelines.

A big problem that I run into is the successful integration of world class accessibility with super usability, topped off with amazing interface design. Thankfully, Yahoo! has started the ball rolling with their release of Yahoo! Design Patterns. We need a much larger library, but at least this high profile stab at the problem is gettings folks fired up.

http://developer.apple.com/tools/rubyonrails.html

Ruby:Rails

Python:Zope

PHP: CodeIgniter

If you were just jumping into the world of online application development, Which would you start with? 

GarbageScout.com
I have a theory as to why mapping apps are such a hot thing right now. Until recently conceptualizing space, online space ( i won’t use the “c” word) has been too abstract. Trying to map 3D spacial metaphors onto an essentially dimensionless void filled only with ideas hasn’t been very satifying. It always ends up being underwhelming and not worth the effort to suspend any disbelief.

Now comes a way to scrub the planet and all of its nooks and crannies. The best part is that there are alot of uncharted territories. Screw virtual reality, this hybrid reality via Yahoo! and Google maps is way more interesting because you actually might find yourself!
Isn’t that what we try to do first?

another cool new thing (http://grou.ps) has an uncanny similarity to the consolidation of net tasks that the original web browser, Mosaic achieved in its time. 

http://www.designdetector.com/tips/CSSPencilsDemo.php
Jacklyn Burgan sent me this little gem.  At first, what’s the big deal, right? Then you realize that this image is built soley of divs.  The mad scientist Chris Hester, has used PHP to “transcode” pixels into VERY small divs. Extreme CSS!

http://www.cyphic.net/zoomquilt/zoom.htm

Karen sent this to me. I think it’s pretty amazing, you make up your own mind.

update: unfortunately the link has rotted. I’m sure that a search would find a miror somewhere?

According to Kevin Yank at Sitepoint.com, Service Pack 2 for IE6 locks down security in such a way as to effect the display of PNG’s.  In addition, it can also affect the display of pages such that they appear differently when viewed locally vs online. (preview in Homesite and Dreamweaver ARE affected!) Here is the bit that Kevin has found hidden in the MS documentation:

“...and buried in the detail is a bit about putting a comment
<!-- saved from url=(0013)about:internet -->
at the top of your document. Indeed, this little tip does seem to do the trick. It’s a heck of a hack, though.”

http://www.apple.com/itunes/affiliates/

They make the coolest stuff, have the coolest services, and do the coolest things.  Is giving the people what they want such a lost art?  Apple is realizing their initial dream laid out back in 1984, “Computing for the rest of us” Computers should be like appliances, easy to use, easy to look at, and easy to own.  The other great thing that Apple has added to the dream is something that wasn’t there in the beginning, interconnectedness.  These great objects, connect us to our great world in every way we require.  My only fear is that I’m hip deep in Apple lala-land. If they turn out to be the devil, I’m toast.  The devil is ALWAYS the coolest dude on the block, and he ALWAYS gives you want you want.  I’m just worried what the price is going to be.  Think about it, wouldn’t it be typical; Bill Gates gets all the hate vibes and Steve Jobs turns out to be Satan?! That’s how I’d write it if it were my novel.

Shiira

From the Shiira Project Website:
“Shiira is a web browser based on Web Kit and written in Cocoa. The goal of the Shiira Project is to create a browser that is better and more useful than Safari. All source code used in this software is publicly available.”

What that all means is; Shiira is a browser that uses the Safari rendering engine, but builds on the Safari interface to improve the overall user experience.  It can be skinned, and it is reported that it might even be a bit faster.  The Shiira site has more info and screenshots to check out.

http://slashdot.org/articles/04/06/09/116237.shtml?tid=113

I quote Slashdot, which quotes billstewart who pulls from Computerworld:
Meta-quotes (ha!)

‘ billstewart writes “A Computerworld Article reports a pair of vulnerabilities to Internet Explorer that allow Windows machines to be 0wned by a single click on a malicious web page. It was discovered by Dutch researcher Jelmer. As usual, the primary workaround is to disable Active Scripting for any sites that aren’t Trusted, but you should have turned off that and Javascript years ago for safety anyway. At least one of the holes is fixed in XP Service Pack 2, but that doesn’t fix previous versions of Windows and it’s still only beta.” ‘

Yikes!  go check your setting folks!

Below are links to online resources that I mentioned to my MM120 class during lecture.  ENJOY!

meyerweb.com

css/edge

Eric’s latest book

brainjar.com (not Meyer, but Mike Hall is great teacher too!)