08.05.99
Minutia
Should it bother me that Ted Kopel just said ‘dotcom’ rather than ‘dot /com/’?
Beyond thee Infinite Beat…
Well it all came together today.
The Nikon people liked my mock-up, and I’ll revise it tomorrow morning before the 2:00pm meeting. The Gango people should be happy cause I figured out how to do something that they hoped they could get but we didn’t promise them on, and the ESCO stuff is well uner control, as long as the translation service gets their stuff to us before… 3:30pm tomorrow.
The Gango thing I’m really proud of because I got a multipage form to work, using the tool we already had installed rather than having to install something else and learn a whole new set of tags. (Basically, imagine I have a form that really long. Instead of putting it all on one page, I split the form up into a number of different pages. But I need to have _all_ the info available at the end of the last form. So each time through, I embed the previous page’s data in hidden fields in the new page. It took me a few moments to figure how to implement it with the scripts we have, but I did, it works, and I’m happy.)
Oh, and I got pictures of my Ghia up! Yes that’s right, Amy bought me a Ghia! Of course it’s only 3 1/4 inches tall, but it’s so cute! Read more about it in the Ghia section:
http://www.ordersomewherechaos.com/rosso/ghia/
Things are really coming together. Now if I can just get my check from PSU, we’ll be all set!
08.03.99
Rave Reviews and Reviewed Rants
I got some preliminary results from the class feedback sheets that each of the students filled out. Woo Hoo. 🙂 The Guy In Charge, John, said that the whole compiling and filing process needs to be gone through before I have anything in my hands, but the phrase “simply fabulous” was used in describing what he read so far.
One of the students personally told me that I have ‘a gift’ for teaching. Wow….. I was dumbstruck.
I’ve got a number of changes that I want to make to the class, but I’m really excited about this fall’s course. I’ve finally made the syllabus http://www.ordersomewherechaos.com/rosso/webdev/psu_sum99.shtml available here. I’ll be rearranging some of the topics, like putting the monitor technology discussion much further towards the begining, but overall I think this first stab worked pretty well.
My brother called tonight. He might be looking at a new job with a significant pay raise. It’s a great opportunity for him, and I hope it works out. He says that he’s a bit more slow to change his situation, as compared to me, the one with 5 jobs in 5 years. 🙂 It would involve moving his family to the SF bay area, but I’m all for him getting what he’s worth.
In addition to the syllabus, I posted a new version of my 404 error page. It now automagically repairs URLs that have the incorrect .html extension and replaces them with .shtml. I’ve updated the Error page article in WebDev to reflect the new capabilities.
(I aught to drop a note to Vicki Jean about this as her site does the same thing.)
The JavaScript is a modification of the one I developed for the ESCO site that will allow people to switch between languages easily. I’m quite proud of it. I don’t deploy JavaScript as a general rule, but I’m making exceptions in the cases where the JavaScript is very small and I’ll be able to easily debug it on other platforms.
I was so proud of the script that I e-mailed Jacob Neilsen http://www.useit.com about it. He had written an article on linkrot that had a sidebar on File Not Found error pages. I thought he might like to share my Automation techniques with his readers. However Jacob liked my Trash Can article more than my 404 error information, and he said he was going to link to it this week. Cool enough. 🙂
Oh and I added a link to my Portal page at http://www.ordersomewherechaos.com/rosso/portal/ It’s a little strange in how it works, and I haven’t even tried it on IE, but I like it, I use it and that’s why it’s a Personal Portal.
I’m still looking for suggestions for Mac image map editors. Anyone? Anyone? Beuller? Beuller?
Watch out. I’ve got tons of stuff to write about and there will probably be a lot of entries this week. Oh, and please note that the Web Coffee at the Millenium Cafe is still on for the 14th. E-mail me for details.
08.02.99
Barrel o' Content
Well after the hell that was last week (just one entry here because of the confusion), I’m back on track for this one. Having Lunch and getting down to work on 3 different projects. Let’s hope I can keep them all going really well.
The class at PSU was a real success. I think I gave everyone a lot of meat to chew on, though I didn’t get as much hands on stuff into the class as I would have liked.
Next time through I’m going to make the examples all work together, encourage everyone to have a floppy disc to keep their files, and build out some HTML and images that they can all work with. As well, I’ll put a like to my WebDev toolbox on the hand outs so people can access the freeware/shareware tools that we used in class.
If anyone knows of a good, stable stand-alone HTML Image Map creation utility for the Mac, drop me a line. The ‘WebMap’ piece of crap I’ve got there now has some serious stability issues and doesn’t output Client-Side Image Map HTML.
From the Respoding-Via-The-Pager file: “Hell is Other People” was dropped into my pager last weekend. It came to me at a rather opportune moment as Amy and I were were having a bitchfest about the problems in our lives and it was nice to have someone chime in…
Oh, speaking of which, those of you who sent in ‘Quotes’ for me to post a few weeks ago, I didn’t forgo… Well actually I did forget, but as I’ve got them in front of me I’ll list out some of the better ones:
“hes mumbling words behind his red right hand”: Obviously from a Nick Cave fan, as this particular passage of the song was only part of the DJ Spooky remix of Red Right Hand from the Scream 2 soundtrack. Else it was from someone who got that disc and therefore the track incedently and knows me well enough.
“hide what you have to hide and tell what you have to tell” was one of several Depeche Mode quotes that floated my way.
Amy sent me a few pages, most of which aren’t quite the kind of content that I post in public forums… 😉
Bo sent me a link to a new project of his, kind of a study in DHTML. I think he learned quite a bit about some of the pitfalls. He built the page in Dreamweaver, and I think it’d be great if he wrote up some of his tips and hints and included them at the bottom of the page. (hint hint) http://www.valleysoft.net/webmaster/autumn.shtml
A friend in the Netherlands has put up a new journal, and I’ll have a link to it later this week when I get it from my bookmarks list at home.
Cam over at http://www.camworld.com/ has redesigned his pages. Very subdude, but better than his last one. And hey, can’t hurt that he’s added me to his list of Weblogs. I don’t consider this a Weblog, it’s much more personal than that.
Anyway, back to the Spanish translations of the ESCO site. (The English portion of which is now online at: http://www.escocorp.com/hammers/ and the URL rewrite using JavaScript is working really well, though I have yet to test it on other browsers.) Wish me luck!
07.29.99
Days of Hell
Jul 29 Thu (07 PM)
Days of hell, punctuated by bright bursts of light and summer rain.
I want to do a ‘Rain’ compilation tape/CD:
“Ain’t Gonna Rain Anymore’, Nick Cave
“No Rain”, Blind Mellon
“But Not Tonight”, Depeche Mode
I’m sure there are others.
07.22.99
Mr. Olson?
Jul 22 Thu (08 PM)
Wednesday was the first class of the course I’m teaching. I didn’t quite realize just how long of a time it is between 9:00 am and 5:00 pm.
By the end of the class my feet were killing me and my mouth was horse. I’m lucky I snuck a water bottle in with me. Otherwise I would have been completely voiceless.
But the class went really well. We got through all the stuff I outlined in the syllabus (to be posted here soon), plus some other tangets that I went on periodically.
And best of all, I got everyone’s names down. Of that I was really glad.
My day job is hanging in there while I’m gone, but I think it was a mistake for both Dan and I to be having days off in the same period of time. It was bad enough that Gango needed to be finished off _today_. It was worse when I came in to find that half of my desk had been moved.
I spent a good portion of the day just trying to get settled in again. It’s a good move because it begins the process of putting the Interactive people all together, but this wasn’t my idea of a good project to start on the busiest day of the past month.
Oh! and I found a used copy of The Dream Academy’s self-titled album. “Life In A Northern Town” still sounds really good.
And of course the obligitory link to the new Apple product: http://www.apple.com/ibook/
07.19.99
Another Referer Entry
As if the link from http://www.CamWorld.com last week wasn’t enough, this week brings word of WebBabble http://mlarts.com/webbabble/ picking up my 404 Error Page essay.
I’ve been reading WebBabble for the last few months, and have always been impressed with the sharp writing that really focuses the information that the Author chooses to present. And he does a great job narrowing down even my superfulous jargon and entangled parenthetical statements.
Today’s mail brought an over-due bill and a tax refund of nearly identical amounts. Ah Life… the ultimate zero-sum game.
07.16.99
Fresh Hot Analysis
Jul 16 Fri (03 PM)
It’s just one day later and already Feed has taken a rather agressive stance on the UN’s e-mail tax proposal:
http://www.feedmag.com/daily/dy071599_master.html
I realize that we’re in a networked world, but for some reason, I just can’t believe that a real analysis of a publication could be conceived, thought through, written and polished in the sub-24 hour context.
Fact Report? Yes. Glib comments by Jay Leno? Yes. Reactionary backlashes by Web sites that can only hope to gain real credibility? Yes.
Good, thoughtful, considered contemplation?
No. I don’t think so.
It scares me a bit to think that analysis will be lost, because it can’t keep up with the Headline News Every Half Hour Network and the Gotta Be Talking About The 10 Minutes In Front and Behind Us Wired News mode of journalism.
The First To Market mentality may end up delivering us all on a plate.
07.15.99
The CamWorld Effect
It’s not as big as the Slashdot Effect, but my hits rose dramatically yesterday when Cam of http://www.camworld.com listed my Trash Can article as a link.
Recently he had been talking about liquid design layout so I sent him http://www.gangoeditions.com as an example he might enjoy. Well from there I told him about some of my other projects and I guess he felt others would enjoy the Trash Can article. That’s pretty cool.
In other news, I got my ‘Firecracker’ pack from http://www.x10.com the other day. They were sending them out for the price of shipping. The ‘really cool’ part of the package is supposed to be the dongle that allows your PC’s serial ports to control the two modules that are included. However, as a Mac user, I’ll have to find someother method. But the package does include a standard remote control as well, so as soon as I pick up 4 AAA batteries I’ll be playing around with the system.
07.13.99
Join Us! / Caffeine
Jul 13 Tue (12 AM)
I’ve scheduled a Web Developer’s Coffee to be at the Millennium Cafe, SE 21st and Clinton, at 11:00 am, on Saturday, August 14th. http://www.millennium-cafe.com People have already started confirming the date. Everyone is invited.
I’ll presenting the materials that I developed for my class, though it will likely be more of an informal chat than anything else. Anyone with an interest in Web development (from beginners to superstars) is invited to attend! Bring a friend and a couple of your favorite URLs.
For those of you needing more juice in your life, this week’s extra is on the caffeine content of soft drinks. Let’s get ready to rumble…. http://www.ordersomewherechaos.com/~rosso/articles/1999/caffeine/