Jun29, 2009
Have this week off — my first since Christmas — and guess what I did?
Nothing.
Nothing at all.
I played a couple hours of RollerCoaster Tycoon 2, and read Equal Rites (Pratchett) again but otherwise did nothing to tackle my backlog of e-mail, the many items on my todo list or the piles of housework.
I'm going straight to hell.
Jun16, 2009
Firstly, CSSbake was very recently featured in a Smashing Magazine post on 40+ Helpful Resources On User Interface Design Patterns, which is a huge boost to CSSbake as a website and growing resource for webmasters. Huge congratulations to Ben, obviously, and to Melissa, who've both been putting in all the work lately to keep it ticking over while I lounge in pregnant misery.
In other news, I have been desperately trying to roll out some updates to my own site in what little free time I have, and because of Amelie's PHPAskIt, have now got a fully working FAQ (except not) script for the first time in about 6 months. Alongside that I've updated a few articles (typo corrections only), and published Common Windows Myths in which I attempt to be as neutral as I can (so it's not a "XYZ sucks please use something else!" article) while still correcting a few misconceptions.
Desperately trying to get through a backlog of projects, 5 month old emails and other such delights while I have a little energy in the evenings, so bear with me if you're waiting on something. Cheers!
Jun15, 2009
The success of rev.iew.me's launch has opened my eyes to a multitude of websites I never knew existed. Unfortunately, it has also made me realise that the age of the dodgy tutorial is not over, and now more than ever younger webmasters are "educating" each other with terrible code for the sake of scraping in a few extra visitors.
If you have a tutorial section, you could be one of many hundreds of people negatively affecting the websites of those who don't know any better!
Open up your tutorials page, look for "Basic HTML". Is it there? Does it contain instructions on how to code "<b>" and "<u>", using <textarea>s to display the code? Your tutorials are bad.
Now look for "Changing font colour", or "Changing text colour" tutorials. Are you recommending the <font> tag — a tag that was deprecated in HTML 4.01 no less — or the color attribute? Your tutorials are bad.
Do you have a section for JavaScript tutorials, all of which are formed using code from Dynamic Drive, and you don't really have a clue how it works? Your tutorials are bad.
If you have a tutorial on "Bulleted lists" that tells people to use <li> without an <ol> or <ul>; if you have a "CSS beginner's guide" that doesn't explain the different between a selector, property and value; if you have a PHP includes tutorial but don't know the difference between include(), include_once(), require() and require_once(): your tutorials are bad!
Unless you plan on spending precious time learning about deprecated tags, semantics, why you shouldn't use presentational tags, and the value of validation and optimised code, there is only one answer: get rid of your bad tutorials. Delete them, remove them, eradicate them. They offer no meaningful value! They're useless to your visitors, Google doesn't care enough about your site to rank you higher than real tutorial sites, and you're only damaging other people's chances at learning proper code by keeping them. Stick to a subject on which you clearly know best, preferably one that isn't HTML or PHP.
Jun12, 2009
As a web developer and general computer geek, I frequently find myself involved in discussions with other devs, designers and power-users over what operating system they're using. I find myself in a minority, being a Microsft Windows user by choice. This isn't inherently bad, especially given that the choice of one's OS can be an incredibly personal one. It becomes frustrating, however, because of the tendency for some non-MS users to focus on common myths surrounding Windows as justification for their choice (simply liking another OS is apparently not enough...)
Despite lengthy searching, it appears that there are very few articles debunking these Windows myths, or in fact any attempt to share positive (albeit anecdotal) experiences relating to Microsoft's offering of operating systems. So, it is with over 10 years experience managing and running Windows of varied versions that I share my thoughts, with hope that non-Windows users can find a way to justify their choice of operating system without resorting to inaccurate attacks.
Important note: I use the term "Windows computer" several times below. This is merely a convenience term; in fact, a standard PC can generally run any operating system (including Mac OS, commonly referred to as a "hackintosh").
Windows doesn't just crash for the fun of it. Unfortunately, a multitude of dodgy 3rd party software, conflicting drivers or problematic hardware is normally the cause. These faults are easy to troubleshoot, but the average user prefers to blame the operating system. Given the huge array of hardware and software available to run (and running) on Windows it is no surprise this crops up quite frequently.
It is an undisputed fact that there are more viruses created for Microsoft operating systems than for any other (due to the popularity of the OS). This, however, does not mean that it is fact that you will automatically be affected by them (or, that non-Windows computers are immune!) Avoiding viruses is 99% common sense and 1% anti-virus. If a user finds it necessary to attach unknown media devices or download suspect files on to a Windows install running with full administrator privileges, it is almost inevitable that at some point they will bring a virus or piece of malware upon themselves.
Avoiding viruses isn't hard:
I personally ran Windows ME for several years with no anti-virus software. Safety isn't rocket science.
The most annoying part about this misconception is that the age of a computer is absolutely irrelevant to the operating system running on it. Even so, there is no reason why a Windows computer can't run for many, many years. Case in point: Karl's Dell Inspiron 3800 was released in June 2000 and yet, with a hardware setup that can only be considered sub-standard by today's standards, it still manages to run two operating systems (inc. Windows XP SP2).
Productivity and speed are tied into using the best tools and the best hardware for the job at hand. You wouldn't give a racing driver a 20 year old Ford and expect it to perform at the same speed as a tuned up Formula 1 beast car. Likewise, comparing a 5 year old Windows computer to a brand new shiny Apple (or brand new PC running a Linux distribution) is always going to leave the computer running Windows looking like a poor runner-up. Identical spec machinery runs at identical speeds.
Some Windows power-users choose to format their computer on a regular basis to free up hard drive space, and to give Windows a fresh slate to work from. I personally find that by not clogging up my computer with unnecessary applications (specifically "cleaner" apps that claim to make Windows run better/faster) and by occasionally removing software I no longer use, Windows retains the speed it has post-install.
It is, however, worth noting that a computer which has been infected by viruses or malware will very rarely run at its previous speed even after a full clean-up. I always recommend backing up your important files and doing a full format.
The number and variety of open source programs and utilities for Windows is absolutely huge. There is no reason to spend any money on software after purchasing Windows unless you specifically require programs that are only released commercially (and, in these circumstances, versions for an alternative OS cost just as much). For more information, check out my blog post on Free Software I Could Not Do Without.
Jun12, 2009
After much nagging and one amusing — and wholly accurate — unrequested review I finally decided to get off my arse and finish changing my layout, something that has been on the cards for months.
However, failed design after failed design led to much frustration. In my weakened, feeble state I decided that spending hours of an evening in front of Photoshop was simply not an option I wished to continue playing with. Instead, I resorted to the dreaded option of downloading a template (*gag* / *vomit* / etc). I bought the BLOG THEME GREEN PSD (descriptive name, I know) and did some heavy tweaking to make it look more Jem-esque (the irony being I spent more time tweaking this than I did creating my previous layout.)
Credit for the cheesy comment icon goes to DryIcons, the ninja to IconBuffet (as usual) and of course, the base layout 'iMike'... and I'm sorry for doing this to your lovely design.
At this point the only tasks left are to style the comments (in progress), and to liven up the dreaded sub-navigation (see the sidebar on any of my main sections). The latter of which I'm all out of ideas for and therefore welcome input from all of the design geniuses that read my blog.
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