Last Updated: Web Development Archives
Adobe CS2 Bliss
November 10, 2005
Having gone through a somewhat painful upgrade and activation process (thanks Justin) I'm happy to report that Phuture Design (primarily myself and Asia soon) is now using Creative Suite 2. At first glance I'm very impressed. Here are the features I'm currently exploring.
Bridge
Bridge seems to totally rock. Having just re-organzied my client and project data and with the introduction of job numbers into our workflow, Bridge allows me to manage the creative process through a dynamic GUI. Having assets, versions of creative literally laid out before me I am able to ensure files are organized and can span applications. Cool.
Smart Objects
These appear to be awesome. When pasting something from Illustrator into Photoshop I was asked how I would like to paste the object (Smart Object, Pixels, Path, Shape Object). Choosing Smart Object allows the artwork to retain its vector state as well as receive "in-document" updates if you modify the original. Very cool.
More soon.
Permalink
Amazon.com Redesign
May 02, 2005
Upon visiting Amazon.com today I was greeted by a new homepage. I subtle blue header and refined navigation is much easier on the eyes then their previous tab structure. I'm not thrilled with the "Gregory's": Store | Account | Cart, etc... setup though.
Permalink
| Comments (0)
| TrackBack (3744)
CAN SPAM
April 20, 2005
Being that I'm in the business of designing and building websites, many of my clients use email as a way to communicate with their users/audiences and I'm often asked to design and deploy their email campaigns. Many clients, however, are not aware of the rules governing email marketing and are shocked when I inform them of what is or isn't legal.
Here is a link to the FTC website's page regarding the CAN SPAM Act of 2003:
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/buspubs/canspam.htm
Permalink
| Comments (0)
| TrackBack (1619)
Basecode Basecamp Extension
My company uses Basecamp for project management. It's a great tool that has really helped us get projects completed more efficiently. Basecode is a neat Firefox extension for it that provides some interesting functionality.
(the functionality is available through right(control)+click)
Let me know what you think!
Permalink
| Comments (1)
| TrackBack (1799)
Design In Flight
Last year I subscribed to Design In Flight, a quarterly magazine published in PDF form and delivered online. When I first subscribed I did so after reading about the launch of the magazine on a website somewhere. I downloaded the first issue and flipped through it quickly but didn't pay much attention. The most recent issue, April 2005 came out a couple of weeks ago and I paid a little closer attention to it this time.
The magazine is great. Very insightful articles written by smart individuals on topics ranging from marketing, color selection, design, CSS, XHTML and the creative culture. I printed out all (4) of the back issues (actually, my wife printed them at work on a nice, fast, color laser printer) and read them cover to cover. They are laid out very well and are quite easy to read. I prefer reading the printouts as on-screen reading tends to bother my eyes.
Be sure to check them out as a $12 annual subscription fee is a mere pittance for this valuable resource.
Permalink
| Comments (0)
| TrackBack (3478)
Digitalnap
April 18, 2005
My friend Jason runs a photoblog, Digital Nap and has recently relaunched the site. He takes great photos of the tri-state area and is happier when his site's design is less than a few months old.
Great look Jay, although you should have waited for CSS Reboot 2005!
Permalink
| Comments (1)
| TrackBack (1583)
Boxes and Arrows
I used to frequently read the Information Architecture website Boxes and Arrows. The last published piece of content on their site is dated February 27, 2005. I know their were planning a redesign but does anyone know when their new site will launch? Are they gone for good? I sure hope not as they were a great resource.
Permalink
| Comments (1)
| TrackBack (3606)
Safari 1.3 (v312) in Mac OS 10.3.9 Update
April 16, 2005
I updated to Mac OS 10.3.9 today which includes Safari 1.3 (v312) and noticed quite a few changes in Safari's behavior. First there is an improvement in HTML rendering as a page I frequent which uses a position:absolute div now renders properly. Another change I noticed isn't as helpful. The quick-keys for View Source have changed from Command+Option+V to Command+Option+U which will take a bit of getting used to.
NOTE: I updated this article to reflect the correct Safari version number as the one previously posted was part of Mac OS 10.3.8.
Permalink
| Comments (0)
| TrackBack (3608)
MarsEdit Image Management
December 11, 2004
This is a test of the image upload system from MarsEdit. So far it seems pretty rockin! MarsEdit will take care of uploading the file to your sever along with providing you with the proper code to link the file into the post. While I didn't mind managing this process through Movable Type it's just easier to have access through one simple tool on my desktop.
Permalink
MarsEdit 1.0
December 10, 2004
Ranchero Software has just released MarsEdit 1.0 which I'm using to write this post as we speak. This new piece of OS X software allows you to create blog posts right from the OS rather than opening a web browser. This is convenient as it requires less time to create the posts which means that I may be able to keep the site updated a little more frequently. We'll see.
Permalink
Upgraded to MT 3.01
July 29, 2004
So I upgraded my Movable Type installation to 3.01 today to check out the new features and see what all of the fuss was about. The upgrade seemed to work properly and all appears well. Their new pricing structure sure is a little tricky, especially when it comes to not-for-profit, as it is based on the number of full time employees.
I'm going to try (once again) to keep this site updated more often. Promise.
Permalink
Movable Type as An Events Calendar
March 03, 2004
As I've said in the past, Movable Type makes a great, small scale Content Management System (CMS) to manages articles, and in some cases, events. When used for events it is often useful to list upcoming events in ascending order and to limit the display for events in the future.
Stagger Nation produces a number of great plugins for Movable Type, one of which is very useful for accomplishing the above mentioned tasks. Combined with a little PHP the result is a very flexible tool.
Here is the DateTags Plugin
Permalink
Form Elements
February 03, 2004
Ordinary-Life.net has a great Form Element Template.
Permalink
A List Apart
November 06, 2003
A great reesource for learning about web technology, design and the like is available at A List Apart.
Permalink
Running Multiple Versions of IE on Windows
In the process of building web sites it is often always important to check your code on multiple platforms and browsers. This rule should extend beyond the obvious Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator on the Mac and PC. One issue that exists on the PC is that Windows will not, by default, allow you to have/run multiple versions of Internet Explorer. If you try to install an older version of the browser you will get a system error that you have a newer version already installed. A workaround now exists.
Joe Maddalone at Insert Title Web Design has published an article entitled Multiple IE's in Windows. In his article Joe describes, in detail, how to accomplish this, before now, impossible task.
I followed his instructions and now have IE 5.01, 5.5 and 6 all running perfectly on my Win XP Pro PC.
As Joe states in his article you can find previous browser installation files at browsers.evolt.org.
Thanks to Justin for the heads up on the article.
Permalink
QuirksMode
November 05, 2003
Everyone who has ever developed a professional website (or any website for that matter) has been forced to come to terrms with the fact that not all browsers display structured HTML or XHTML properly. The modern browsers are doing a better job with a push towards standards compliance but as all developers know there is a large audience out there using many different web clients. The trouble with developing for this wide of an audience is not knowing if certain HTML or CSS techniques will work with all browsers.
A new resource is available to help developers with this task. QuirksMode is an online catalog of the quirks of many popular internet browsers.
Permalink
508 Guidelines
There is a solid way to validate sites against the emerging accessibility guidelines on the web. The Cynthia Says validation application can make sure your code is up to par using a wide variety of emulators.
I have been very interested as of late in the emerging world of Web Standards and Accessibility. It is a good practice to follow, especially if you are developing for a wide audience with regard to age and usage experience. Many of my sites do not have the most savy users and therefore and accessible site is a great asset.
You can learn more at:
W3C
Web Standards Project
Cynthia Says Portal
Permalink
DNS and Hosting Information
October 15, 2003
I've found that most of my web design/development clients have many of the same questions about getting their websites up and running. What used to be such a complicated task (DNS, Hosting, Email) has become a very efficient process with the better companies in each category providing robust, online tools for account administration.
For example, at Network Solutions, it is possible to consolidate all Domain Names for which you have a contact responsibility (administrative, technical, contact, billing, etc...) into one account. Their Account Manager tool then provides easy, single screen access to each of these domains allowing you to make adjustments yourself. The age-old process of faxing your drivers license for simple changes appears to be leaving us (although good luck if you forget a password and change email address at the same time).
The next venue where I've seen a lot of improvment is in hosting. I've been through a multitude of hosting providers online, Dreamhost, WestHost, XO, to name a few. Until now, I've had the best experience with Dreamhost and was a "Happy Dreamhost Customer" for almost 4 years. Recently I've been using a hosting company run by a friend out in Brooklyn called PlexPod. While I'm sure that I'm biased because he's a friend, it really is the most elegant hosting experience I've ever had. C-Panel is used for account administration and ModernBill for billing. Both are clean, streamlined interfaces putting much needed control in the hands of the developer.
Permalink
| Comments (0)
Server Migration
October 12, 2003
I just completed moving this site from one hosting provider to another and the whole process took just over 45 minutes. That's not too bad. Here's how I did it:
- Install MT on new server
- Move all templates from old server to new server
- Using MT, recreate paths to all template files and set all preferences identical to inital installation
- Export all entries from old server. Import those entries into new server
All that's left to do now is to change DNS records for lastupdated.net to point to the new server. That shouldn't be too hard as soon as I find those passwords.
Permalink
| Comments (0)
Templates
In an effort to clean up the directories on my lastupdated.net server I compacted the template files for this site into one directory. This should create a much more portable site which will help a lot as I change hosting providers over the next week or so. I am leaving Dreamhost. As sad as that may sound it's for no other reason than convenience. I have a friend who has a great hosting company out in Brooklyn. One major benefit of the move is that he is using C-Panel for account administration. C-Panel is a great tool for web developers as it keeps everything we need for our/clients accounts in one organized screen.
Permalink
| Comments (0)
Importing Old Entries
October 11, 2003
OK, so I'm not sure how many will remember but a while back I started using Movable Type for this site. Actually, I think the first post dates back to March of 2002, just as I was returning home from a trip to Whistler, BC snowboarding. I never really got into the software too much and the site started to take too much time to update. I believe this to be due to the fact that I wanted to have the hippest website out there and spent too much time thinking.
The Movable Type Import/Export tool is really great. I simply logged into my older installation of Movable Type and exported all 71 entries from the old blog. Importing them into this blog was just as easy. After a little formatting using the Power Editing Tool, I got them up to speed classifying them and adjusting some type case. I had to do a little manual editing in order to get the two images in the old postings to appear but that's working now also.
It's interesting to go back and read those entries. I wouldn't recommend them per se but it's nice to have a little "insta-weight" to the new site.
Permalink
| Comments (0)
Testing Date Functionality
This is to see if I set a date in the future, will the system display the content now. This will also be very important in deciding if Movable Type is powerful/flexible enough to used as a CMS for a commercial website.
UPDATE
I changed the date of this posting back to the accurate posting time. I didn't like having it at the top of the blog and surely didn't want to wait until October 18th for it to move.
Permalink
| Comments (0)
Defined Category Listings
It appears that you can list categories and their subsequent entries using Movable Type pretty easily. There are limitations in their "out-of-the-box" listing functions though which don't allow too much flexibility.
I needed to be able to list the contents on only one category, photography for example. The people at staggernation have developed a bunch of really useful plugins for Movable Type which are easy to use and very powerful. Their FilterCategories plugin did the trick for me. It's very easy to install. Simply drop the .pl file into you plugins directory and off you go. Then, to use it simply use their tags inline with the rest of your code. You can set either an include or exclude attribute to the tag and the system will respond accordingly. Great.
This may not appear to be a very important discover in the world of personal blogging but what it does allow the user to do is use Movable Type to maintain larger websites. For example, if a site is to have a News and Events section, you will want to list those items in certain areas, let's say the homepage for example. By using Movable Type, you can create a low cost solution. The commercial single use license of Movable Type is only $150. Again, great.
Permalink
| Comments (0)
Moving Along
October 10, 2003
I've just added a really simple, "smart" navigation to the head of the site. I left it easily editable but at the same time powerful...and still xhtml 1.0 valid. The next thing I'd like to do is build out the rest of the internal pages and then possibly publish a different weblog's articles on this one. I'm not quite sure if it can be done yet but if so, that's really powerful.
Permalink
| Comments (0)
New Categories
October 09, 2003
I've now implemented categories into my installation. If they work properly they should provide a greater deal of control over the content on this site. I spend a lot of time on the web. I also live in the center of a major metropolitan city. Those two things provide me with a lot of interesting news and information that may be useful to others. It will be great to be able to post it all. Let's hope there's time.
Permalink
| Comments (0)
Style Sheets Almost Intact
I've decided to get back into building my personal website. There are a lot of things going on in my life right now and it may be cool to start writing about them again. I have built this site using the most current (to my knowledge) version of Movable Type (2.64) taking advantage of their MySQL support. I also created the layout using only CSS, that is to say, there are no tables used in the creation of this site.
At some point I'd like to go in and redo the layout a little bit because I'm sure it could be ALOT cleaner but for now it will have to do. I used a simple two column layout which allows me to keep the blog and all other "page" content on the left and keep the the contextual menus on the right.
Special thanks to Glish.com for the help with the layout code. There are great CSS resources available there that all designers should take advantage of.
Permalink
| Comments (0)
First Entry
October 08, 2003
I'd like to really start experimenting with Movable Type again. There is a lot that it does and every time I get into installing it I get side tracked by either another project or the limitations of the initial install. I also sometimes spend too much time trying to come up with a "cutting-edge" design or something so clean and minimal that the site barely exists.
This time it will be different. I want to build the site around a valid transitional XHTML layout. I will also try to not use tables, if possible. I want to keep the graphic design to a minimum and do as much styling through CSS as possible.
Let's see how it goes, shall we?
Permalink
| Comments (0)
I should have done this a long time ago.
March 27, 2002
It seems as though I've been trying to reinvent the wheel. Many people I know were using publishing systems such as Blogger and Movable Type to run their sites but I was very skeptical. I didn't like depending on someone elses software. It seems though that it's just easier. Movable Type makes web publishing very easy. Simply configure the templates and some simple settings and off you go.
Permalink
| Comments (0)
New and Improved, now with Movable Type
Well, here is the first entry. I'm trying to figure out why it's not being published.
Permalink
For more content visit the archives.