Adobe CS3 Web Edition looks amazing
Posted on April 18, 2007. 9 comments.
First, take a look at this video.
Now, if Adobes new suit of web development apps work as well as this video proclaims, consider me stunned. Just look at how the different apps come together in the presented workflow: Designing core assets in Illustrator and Photoshop, mocking it up in Fireworks, and importing it all into Dreamweaver for the HTML.
Of course, the video is advertising, and I, as most people, know not to touch anything that claims to deliver perfect WYSIWYG web development with a fairly long pole. However, the direction in which the industry seems to be heading, and how far it seems to have come, has really made me have to think this statement through.
However, the best slice of this upgrade seems to be Fireworks. This long neglected designers tool, always in the shadow of the colossus that is PhotoShop, really seems to be coming into its own, with it being a tool to mock up web designs, while PS sticks to photography.
(Which is as it should be; I’ve always considered Fireworks far superior to PS in terms of web design development, despite the fact that most designers clings to the latter).
Displaying your Todo.txt on the desktop
Posted on April 12, 2007. 15 comments.
Having worked on way too many projects lately, I needed a way to keep track of my todo-list, and a way to be constantly reminded of my upcoming tasks.
So I turned to GeekTool, a small app that can display any shell command directly on your desktop. I use it to print out my todo.txt file, and update every 60 seconds. With the text-editing module activated in Quicksilver, this means that I can add todo-items to my desktop directly through QS.
How to set it up
- Create a file named todo.txt, and add your tasks.
- Download GeekTool, and install. It will be added as a pref-pane.
- Add a new entry, and chose “Shell” as its type.
- Enter this command (edit the path):
more /Users/username/Documents/todo.txt- Set the “refresh” option to something like 60 seconds.
- Place the new window where you want it on your screen.
- Use Lucida Grande as the font (If you ask me ;).
That’s it! You’ll now be continuously reminded off all the work you have yet to do.
Perspectives gained from switching CMS and redesigning the blog
Posted on April 09, 2007. 7 comments.
SimpleLog claims to be too simple for most people, yet, after a few days using it, I don’t think it lacks anything. Posts, pages, tags, comments and Markdown is really all you need.
Markdown is a great way to mark up text when you’re writing to a blog. It’s weird, but the whole process of actually writing this into a textarea is much more enjoyable now that the markup looks good even at this point. I don’t think I’ll ever go back to anything else.
I still can’t decide wether I want links embedded in the main stream of recent entries or not. I’d need some sort of bookmarklet like the one you get from Del.icio.us to post links quickly, if this is to happen. I could perhaps find a way to import Del.icio.us links as they get posted, but that seems a bit tricky.
I keep coming back to the issue of who I should write for. Do I want as many readers as possible, or do I simply want an outlet for whatever I feel like imposing on the world? As always, it’s going to be a bit of both.
Above it all though, I’m wondering if people will get the new title.
Quake-console style IRC, with Terminal, Visor, and Irssi
Posted on April 09, 2007. 5 comments.
Anyone who has played the old Quake games or one of their many spinoffs has seen the Quake console; a pane that slides down from the top of your screen, displaying the games inner workings. I’ve always wanted to have this in my OS, with IRC instead of the game information. So I set out to create this in OS X, with the help of the Terminal, the Visor plugin and the IRC client Irssi.
Warning: These instructions involves diving into your Mac’s inner workings, so proceed with caution. I take no responsibility for what you might end up hurting, man nor machine.
Installing Irssi
These instructions are lifted from the Irssi site. Go there if you require a more detailed explanation.
- Download and install Darwin Ports.
- Enter Terminal, and type in “sudo port install irssi” (this took a while on my machine).
- Type in “irssi” to start the IRC client, and configure it to your needs (you’ll find the documentation needed on their website).
Installing Visor
Visor is a Terminal plugin created solely for achieving Quake console effect. Install it by following the instructions on the Visor website.
After installing Visor, give it an easy to type shortcut. I used Command+<.
Putting it all together
You may now start up terminal, bring down Visor with the shortcut, and type in “irssi” to start the IRC client. Voilá!
There’s still a lot of configuration and tweaking you can do, but this should get you up and running with your own Quake-style IRC console.
Twitterrific
Posted on April 08, 2007. 4 comments.
I’ve been laughing at Twitter for a long time now, laughing because I honestly couldn’t see the point. We already seem to have so many ways of staying in touch over the net, that continuously swapping posts under 140 characters about “what are you doing?” simply seems like too much. But that was then.
I am now smitten. With the help of Twitterific, a marvelous tool for reading and posting twits, Twitter is now an integral part of my daily procrastination. It’s true what Kottke says when he compares Twitter to what blogging once was - it’s about the people, not the technology or how to get (hits|money|zealots).
Twitter may seem like a great waste of time, and it is just that. It’s great, and it’s a waste of time. It’s great because you’re learning something new about friends, maybe about friends you’ve only met through a blog, a friend that is a friend because of your matching views on the W3C or whatnot. It’s a waste of time because it’s addictive.
Now you friendships can mean more, because the friend behind the blog is suddenly visible, through his or hers daily routines, boring as they may be. So thanks, Twitter. I hope you’ll stay just the way you are.
So go ahead, add me! :)
A new hope
Posted on April 08, 2007. 0 comments.
Apparently, a new blog post from me requires a change in the underlying publishing system. As I’ve now switched from my own home brew to SimpleLog by Garrett Murray, it’s then time for another post. SimpleLog seems like a great app so far, and I hope it’ll re-invigorate my interest in blogging. (I know, cheesy).
SimpleLog is the kind of blogging system I’ve been looking for. It’s light-weight while still having all the features I’ll need (although it could have been even lighter). It also seems to be well coded, with a lot of smart solutions; a great way to learn more about Rails, in other words.
I’m mocking up a new design for this third incarnation of the bløg, so stay tuned for that. :) For now, enjoy my ridiculously wide-read post on PNG transparency in IE6.
The easiest way to PNG support in IE6
Posted on April 08, 2007. 63 (comments closed) comments.
&tGo here for everything about this script, including support forums and proper packaging.
This must be the easiest way to get full support for PNG-transparency in Internet Explorer 6. The technique even works for PNG-transparency in CSS backgrounds. Credit goes to Angus Turnbull for creating this workaround. My hat is thoroughly tipped.
Here’s what you do
- First, put
this fileandthis filein your CSS directory. Update: Angus is releasing new versions, so grab the files from his site. - Second, paste this code into your CSS file:
img { behavior: url(iepngfix.htc); }
Enjoy! Really, that’s it.
Transparent backgrounds
As I said, this can be used to make transparent PNGs work on CSS backgrounds as well. Say you have this code:
#header { background:url(header.png); }
All you have to do is apply the background behavior to the #header element:
img, #header { behavior: url(iepngfix.htc); }
You can do this with every element you’e using PNG-transparency on:
img, #header, .class, blockquote { behavior: url(iepngfix.htc); }
The asterisk also works, but I don’t know what it does to rendering time:
* { behavior: url(iepngfix.htc); }
I found this via the Apple site, which demonstrates some beautiful use of transparency, for example on the Mac Pro site (the tower picture), and the Leopard Spotlight Preview page (the big Spotlight icon).