All things technology-related.
March 8th, 2010
I’ve been waiting for a Ben-centric episode, and ever since season 3, I’ve wanted Ben to be “one of the good guys.” Let’s hope that Ben has finally mended his manipulating ways and puts his life on the line in order to thwart the evil ways of the man in black and his minions.
I fear this may be the last episode with an alive Ben in the island timeline (MTL). If so, we always have the good cheer to note he’ll probably still be alive in the alternate timeline (ATL).
March 1st, 2010
According to Darlton (the producers: Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse), this week’s episode of LOST, titled “Sundown” is about the time given for the folks in the temple to surrender. Up until now, most genres have been played out in this wonderful show: the mystery, action, romance, horror, sci-fi, and now…the western. It seems the idea might be taken from the ‘57 film, Decision at Sundown; either that or other similar westerns (High Noon, etc.)
It looks like MIB (Man in Black, aka Flocke: Faux Locke, aka the Lockeness Monster) and a wigged out Claire are heading for a showdown at the temple, and the other others (including Sayid, Miles, Dogan, and the rest) have until Sundown to surrender the fort.
February 16th, 2010
As we rush headlong into the finale for the best television show of all time (and I will gladly defend the honor of LOST to anyone), let’s pause and cherish the last few episodes. Let’s not be in such a hurry to get answers that we fail to enjoy the mystery.
Let’s not forget to savor the character development. When was the last show to have such richly drawn characters as the hotpocket toting, lottery-winning, dharma van jump-starting, I see dead people Hugo Reyes?
Some day–not far from now–we’ll miss the eager anticipation we had each week to find out if we’ll hear the godzilla-like rumblings of the smoke monster, or debate over the water cooler if Henry Gale is really an other, or ponder the meaning of Jack’s tatoo, or even choose sides as to who Kate will end up with (come on, you know you did that once upon a time). In under half a year, we’ll no longer share Charley’s (excuse me, Cholly’s) interogative: “where are we?” You’ll be sad; you’ll compare every other show to LOST only to find them sorely lacking. You’ll watch seasons of shows with some kind of twist languish on because their writers won’t have the guts to end the show .
No, you’ll wish you could go back to that time of wonder, but it will be tougher than convincing the Oceanic six to return. Then, you’ll fondly recall this moment.
February 10th, 2010
So what does Kate do? What is it that she does in this episode? We know that Kate will go after Sawyer; is that what she does, or is it something else? I hope it’s not just go after Sawyer; that sounds a little boring, and we all know that the writers are incapable of boredom.
What Kate does is not as big of a question as the ones last week brought up:
February 3rd, 2010
We’re back live blogging the premiere of LOST’s final season, titled, “LAX” parts 1 and 2.
Now, I’m a proponent of Faraday’s original time travel theory (Whatever Happened, Happened), but I fear that may not be the case. Alas, if so, there’s not much I can do, but watch. Either way, it promises to rock the free world. I’ve got my LOST t-shirt (the Arrow station), and I’m gearing up for the first hundred visions live blog of LOST for 2010. I hope you join us: You can View LOST: Season 6 Premiere: LAX Live Blog Here.
December 19th, 2009
No web designer or web design class is complete without Notepad++ (my favorite tool for working on web pages). Download it here: http://sourceforge.net/projects/notepad-plus/files/
Warning: setting Notepad++ theme to “Hello Kitty” may cause seizures.
August 17th, 2009
After my previous post comparing Word Press to DNN to Drupal, I realized there would be Joomla folks out there crying foul, and as well they should.
Why compare Drupal and DNN yet leave out poor Joomla?
My reason seemed good enough; after all, I had no experience with Joomla, as opposed to hours upon hours of work with the other tools; however, that was no excuse. If you look at trends, you cannot ignore the data: since 2005, Joomla has surpassed Drupal in popularity.
So, if according to the trends, Joomla is the CMS of choice for most websites, how could I leave it out? Not only that, but if Joomla is so popular, why have I not worked with it yet? And that last question is what’s been bugging me for the past few days, and it has led me to my latest project: The Drupal v. Joomla Challenge.
The challenge is to put Joomla and Drupal in a head to head competition of content management systems (CMS) in ‘a no holds barred’ smack-down fight. I have the perfect opportunity to test the two out: I’ve been commissioned to research which CMS platform is the best for my client’s needs.
I’ve been the webmaster for a not-for profit organization for some time now, and we have decided it’s time to increase the power and functionality of the site (it’s currently a static website, and I’m the only webmaster). I’ve been given the task to research what system we should go to, and if you ask me, the best way to research is by doing.
Over the next few days, I’ll create 2 separate sites: one using Drupal and the other using Joomla. I’ll include the same content and general functionality, and I’ll compare each experience and take notes on the process. I’ll begin with the out of box set-up: I’ll compare the features, code, administration tools, and ease of use in getting content posted.
Next, I’ll explore the themes and modules created for each CMS. I’ll look at the variety, ease of implementation, functionality, and code they produce.
I’ll then see if I can create the functionality I’m aiming for, and I’ll be taking notes on the process, and of course, see if it’s even possible.
Finally, I will make an assessment of the overall experience and choose the winner.
We need a way to compare the two. I have decided to look at the following criteria:
Functionality: Our website highlights a number of programs, classes, and clubs around the entire state, and we want the user to be able to easily find exactly what they are looking for by filtering content by location or cost or some other factor. We therefore need a flexible, yet powerful CMS, and the specs for our needs will be a good test of the overall system.
Ease of Use: I want to know how well each one works out of the box, how easy it is to add modules and themes, how easy it is to customize (both layout and features), and how easy it is to administer users.
Standards Compliance: the site I’m working on is tied in to education, and so compliance with w3 standards will be important from an accessibility standpoint. Of course, I hate tag soup anyway, so I’m always interested in how clean the code is. I want to know how easy it is to produce table-less xhtml code, and so I’ll be specifically looking at how many errors the two systems produce and how easy it is to fix those errors.
I’ll be posting my experience over the course of the next few days (or possibly weeks). Stay tuned…
August 14th, 2009
I’ve been working with drupal testing out it’s power, and I have to say, the more I work with CMSs like drupal or DNN (dot net nuke), the more amazed I am with Word Press and how much easier it is to create and customize sites.
First and foremost, Word Press is open-source, so are a myriad of modules and themes that go with it. Not so with DNN. Even though it bills itself as open-source, pretty much every developer charges for their modules and skins (WP’s version of themes). Drupal is also open-sourced, so it’s a tie in this area.
Secondly, Word Press, or at least the theme I’ve chosen is standards-compliant. It uses <div>s and not tables for layout. DNN almost exclusively uses table-driven layouts (ugh!). I’m not a fan of tables, mainly because nothing appears in a table until the entire table has loaded. With <div>s and CSS-driven layouts, the HTML will load even if the CSS has not loaded. Just like with the previous note, however, Drupal is pretty much the same as Word Press.
Third, Word Press works out of the box with minimal set-up. DNN works fairly well this way, until you want a theme that isn’t provided, and then, if you want a table-less setup, you might as well clear your calendar for the rest of the day or two, unless of course, you want to spend some money and just pay for a CSS-driven layout (they range from $40 – $125). Drupal, because of its power as a CMS, requires much more set-up. I’m fine with that because it allows me to charge more for setting up someone with a site, but there’s a huge learning curve involved, and you have to understand what taxonomy is and what it has to do with developing a site.
Fourth, customizing Word Press is a breeze, provided you are comfortable with php. Modules are easy to add as long as you are comfortable unzipping files and working your way around folder structures (note: don’t use a cpanel type program to upload modules, it will take you an eternity, you absolutely must work with an ftp program, which does feel ‘old school’ but it’s a must). Themes are even easier to customize (provided you are handy with html and css).
The trick to themes, however, is php include files. They are very simple to work with. Basically, your page is made up of sections or modules, and each one is a separate PHP file. You just need to familiarize yourself with the 4-6 files to see how they all work together (e.g. main index, side bar, header, etc.). Think of each php file as a division (like a div tag) on your master page. If you want to tweak your theme, you just have to concern yourself with the html tags on the php (leave the php code alone), and work on the CSS. In fact, in many cases, you can leave the php files alone and simply work on the CSS. The best part is that the entire CSS is accessible to work on directly. This is clearly NOT the case with DNN.
In DNN you are forced to work on skins and containers. For some reason, the developers decided to separate half of the layout into skins and the other half of the layout into containers. The skins are made by adjusting both the html and CSS for main divisions, headers, etc. However, if you want to decorate the various CSS decorations around individual page divisions (like image boxes, side bars, etc.), you need to work on the containers separately. I won’t even mention how controls come into play. The worst part is that to develop a skin &/or container, you need to compress your files into a zip file, upload it, unpack it, and then see if it works the way you intended. If it doesn’t, you need to work on the files, zip them, upload, unpack, & test. Rinse & repeat until it works. Note: I’m leaving out technical details that are also required, but I think you get the point.
Drupal is great, and I suppose it’s goofy to even try to compare a CMS to a blogging software; there is barely a comparison. The only reason why I’m comparing it to Word Press is that I wish customizing Drupal were as easy as customizing Word Press. It’s not nearly as intuitive, but I suppose you get what you pay for (in time and development). Drupal is more complex, but that leads to a more robust and powerful tool. DNN might make the same argument, but since it barely supports standards-compliant sites, and that with a hefty added cost, it’s not friendly to browsers, users, or developers.
July 3rd, 2009
Okay, astronomers, you’ve had your fun. We’ve all had our good laugh. Hardy har har!
Now, it’s time to bring Pluto back. We can and must restore it to a full-fledged planet with all the rights and privileges that come with planet status.
Did we drop Saturn because of its rings or density? Did we just relegate Uranus’s rank as a gaseous giant because of it’s odd rotational axis and potentially embarrassing pronunciation? No.
So Pluto has it’s eccentric orbit and doesn’t “sweep” enough debris from it’s orbit. Can you sweep enough debris from your orbit? I think not. So maybe Eris is larger than Pluto. Pluto still has multiple moons. Earth can’t say that.
And so, IAU, enough is enough, bring our beloved Pluto back. The joke is over.
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