Friday, April 24, 2009

Sometimes, it Sucks Being the Best

I never thought I would say this, but right now, I'm hating Opera for being such an awsome web browser...simply the best.  Why do I hate it?  The two days that I spent developing a Javascript gallery using it and its development tools, and in spite of not using any proprietary Opera code techniques (I don't even know if they have any), it works perfectly in Opera, and not at all in anything else.  Yep.  Firefox 2 and 3, IE 6, 7 and 8, Safari and Chrome all act the same with it...load the basic text and graphics, but then completely fail to attribute any of the actions I linked to the images.

You see, you are supposed to be able to navigate to the different parts of the gallery by clicking on the images, and sift through gallery categories with a drop down.  Kinda useless if it only shows one item to 97% of the world's online community.

I don't know if I should be angry with Opera for kicking so much butt as to actually work correctly, angry with everyone else for sucking so hard!!!, or just curl up in a fucking ball and cry for a while.

.............the last option is sounding appealing.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Of Bullshit and Friends

All right, then, so I've looked back through my archives a little and found something that I feel I need to bring up briefly...it is called the Bullshit Manifesto. Go ahead and give it a read if you haven't already...most haven't.

Yeah, that's pretty much where I am aiming for in this most recent incarnation of the blog...to be more like I once was, though hopefully with better looking wallpaper.  Still working on that part, by the way.

Oh...my review of Head First Javascript?  It rocks.  There, I reviewed it, now go read it.  (Disclaimer: Do not read if you have no intention of actually learning Javascript, or have absolutely no prior experience with HTML/CSS, though if you can tell the difference between a tag and a selector, you can probably get along okay)

Harder material than HF: HTML/CSS, but it IS an object oriented programming language, even if considered loosely so by some and technically under the category of a scripted language.

Next on the docket: Head First PHP and MySQL.  I'm already two chapters in out of twelve, and about to work on number three. 

As a quick aside, if you decide you want to try out PHP, you will need a web server of some kind.  Best way to develop is with one installed on your local machine, and it gives good direction for installing Apache, PHP and MySQL to your local computer, all of which you will need.  I recommend, however, using Apache Friends's XAMPP for this, simply because there is really no installation necessary, virtually no set up, and "Just Works™".  The beauty of this is that you can use this for pretty much any of your web development needs...just don't use it as a production server.

Anyway, that's all I have for today.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Anyone for a Cup of Java(script)?

Okay, GO ME!  I just finished the Head First book on Javascript, literally less than five minutes ago.  I are so happy!

Anyway, whatride!  JS is more challenging than learning HTML/CSS, but I think it will be worth it...it also reminds me that I LOVE programming, and now I think I am going to push myself on that side of things every chance I get.

Anyway, not much else to report, except that if you are looking to learn Javascript, and know a bit of HTML and CSS, Headfirst Javascript is probably one of the easiest ways to learn it, and retain what you learn.

I are so pooped.

So...good night, and good luck!

Monday, April 20, 2009

Oracle Buys Sun

I think I might just cry a little.

My Days at MEPIS

Well, this is a bit frustrating...can't really find much time to post anything, so I'm stuck here, sitting at work writing this while waiting for a scan to complete.

Short update: work is awsome, I love it so far.  Also, finally gave up on my wife's computer and gutted it, replacing most of the guts with new parts.  Upon trying to install Fedora 10 again, I kept having lock up conflicts between the installer and the on-board video, even in text mode.  I'm sorry, but if they can't even get text mode to work, they are too bleeding edge.  So, I set out to find a new distro to put her on, and after some consideration, I settled on one that I've not worked with before but is highly rated as an easy-to-use, easy-to-maintain and most of all stable.  What is this fabulous distro that isn't one with the Beast (Microsoft)?

SimplyMEPIS is the name, and version 8.0 is based around Debian 5 stable, which is more than enough to sell me.  Debian is known for slower development, which translates to more stable and more reliable systems.  Anyway, I won't bore you with the details, but after getting it up on her system, I like it so well that I think I will install it on my laptop.

Anyway, that's all I have for now.  Cheers!

Friday, April 10, 2009

"Into the Nite" by Ex-Members


Into The Nite - Ex-Members


Just a little something I kept hearing on Pandora Radio and wanted to share. Supposedly, it's set to NOT auto-play...I hate it when I open someone's blog and music starts blaring at me unexpectedly. This is part of why I avoid MySpace like the plague.

Thursday, April 09, 2009

And so, it begins....

Okay, no image, just a quick update...mostly because I can't see well enough to even find a bloody image.

So, what's the post about? An "update" to my wife's computer, the one that has been giving me nothing but trouble lately, and was showing no sign of letting up. The system had Gentoo installed on it with KDE 3.5.9, and something on her desktop had a memory leak big enough to drive an aircraft carrier through. I was going to try to stick the course, but it is her computer, and she hasn't been getting very much use out of it. Not to mention, with my new job I really don't have enough time to futz with it anymore, so I decided to install Fedora 10 on it instead.

Fedora 10 has thus far impressed me on other systems I've installed it on, so I decided to give it a shot with this system...after installing (which was hit-and-miss selection of options, since it put the resolution low enough that all the "Next" buttons were off screen), I'm now fighting with it to give me a resolution other than 720x400.

Yuck.

Anyway, updates just finished, so I'm going to try something real fast before bed. Wish me luck!

Monday, April 06, 2009

Random Thought: Strativaruis Fiddles?

Riding down the highway, listening to A Prairie Home Companion on NPR, there was a bit with a song featuring a violin being fiddled.  Being a former violinist, naturally the thought that popped in my head was "I wonder if anyone has ever fiddled an authentic Stradivarius?"

I guess that's what I get for listening to NPR.

This has been a Random Thought of the Day.

Friday, April 03, 2009

So much for THAT idea...

Well, I was going to enforce a one-tech-book-at-a-time-til-it's-read policy, but thanks to my new job, looks like I may have to juggle several to keep up.

On the other hand, I'm not complaining at all about that...I mean, I slaved all day on a project today, all two hours of it.  Yep, two hours...I started working on the project at around 9:30 AM after finishing up a couple of machines, and an hour later stopped for lunch...at 2:30PM.  Another hour later, I had to run out to class, since it was already 5:45 PM and I was going to be late.

I'm positive my math is quite accurate on this one.

The project was a redesign of a website...though "redesign" is probably the wrong word since I'm pretty much building a new one more or less from scratch.  The old one looks like the cutting edge of the net...circa 1994.  About all I'm keeping from the old site is the logo, and I'm even going to be re-doing that.

So, the new site is all shiney HTML 4.01 Strict and CSS 2.1, all new code with nice looking nav buttons, rounded corners, and will probably even have a drop shadow!  All done by hand by your's truly.  By the time I'm done, the logo will be a 3D animated gif that spins, there will be an email form powered by PHP, and a gallery powered by Javascript.  I might even be doing some Flash work, though that is undecided at this point...we DO want to get it done THIS month, after all.

So, that was my day...how've you been?

Wednesday, April 01, 2009

Doh!

Well, I changed my mind about the three column thing when I realized that I would either have to completely rework the site to do it, or sacrifice 800x600 compatibility.  Since my laptop is maxed at 1024x768, and I've set my web browser (Opera) to show its tabs on the side, going to a 1024 format would put horizontal scroll bars on the site for me.  I want to pretend I'm not doing it for all you people out there with a small screen like me, but truth is, I'm not doing it because it would be a significant enough inconvenient for me.

I'm not giving up on my idea of a Webcomic section, however...I have added a placeholder for it, and built a sidebar nav bar into the header to make it a bit easier to get around.  Please let me know if there are any issues with any of it, but of course praise is also always encouraged.

I want to give you a pretty picture here, but it is late and I is tired from my first day at work, so I'm going to have to forgo it for tonight.  Although, if I were feeling less tired (read:lazy) I would give you a symbolic rendering of the Opera O eating a giant IE and wiping its mouth on a (fire)fox.  Oh, what the heck...here, you can at least have the Opera O....isn't she pretty?