Last month, there was quite a bit of discussion around how URL shorteners are bad for the internet, and what we developers and users might be able to do to minimize the potential damage. One big idea was to use HTTP headers and rel(or revrel attribute has been called into service in other areas, namely in defining relationships between people (or to other sites you own or have a profile on), and in telling robots how to treat a link.

The first suggested solution to the short URL problem to get broad exposure was rev=”canonical”, which proposed that a page should define a “reverse” relationship to a given short URL. In other words… “You see that short url over there? well, I’m the canonical version of it, so nyah.” (In my head, web pages are full of attitude. This probably comes from years of having to physically subdue rowdy CSS.)

rev=canonical was picked up by several major sites, and has some traction. When I was looking into the issue myself, thinking about what I wanted to do for this site, I found an alternate recommendation that seemed to make more sense to me.

Read the rest of this entry »

I am not certain of the pedigree of the Koan, but am familiar with it primarily as a feature of Zen practice. Essentially, a koan is a word, phrase, anecdote, or story which is intended to illustrate a particular point, or which is intended to, by virtue of it’s profundity or logical disconnection, trigger at least a momentary glimpse of awakening in the student.

Obviously, there is quite a bit of context underlying the above paragraph, which I am not going to get into in this post, but I do encourage you to investigate Zen further if you are so inclined. Zen is a fascinating branch of Buddhism in it’s own right, and is probably one of the more “commonly known” forms here in the States.

What I do want to do here, is feature one of my favorite koans. It takes the form of a story:

Read the rest of this entry »

The Tale of Peter Rabbit is one of those classic books that probably every kid has read at some point. It is also a story that has been told and retold in children’s stories, probably since there were stories. It’s the classic tale of the mischievous child—Peter—who, when given clear instruction and a compelling reason to not do something, proceeds to do exactly what he was warned against. As if that weren’t enough, Peter’s total lack of self-control extends to his eating habits, such that, when presented with an abundance of food and no supervision, he eats himself sick. As could be expected, his situation goes from bad to worse, and he ends up naked, wet, cold, and alone, with the hidden enemy lurking somewhere between him and the freedom he seeks, which lies in some unknown direction. Upon finally arriving home, Peter’s only punishment is his own self-inflicted illness, despite his having lost yet another set of clothing, and having obviously been up to no good. As near as I can tell, the moral of this story is that you can be as disobedient and mischievous as you like, as long as you’re smart about it.

This and the final track on the 2004 CD were a bit of a concession, in that this isn’t necessarily one of my favorite stories. I think I felt that three stories wasn’t quite enough, so I picked the last two to fill out the list a bit. I do like this story, however, and there is just something fun about saying “Flopsy, Mopsy.”

Enjoy the reading.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 5:43 — 2.6MB)

Back when I was strictly a front-end guy (meaning HTML/CSS/JavaScript, ya potty-minded sleezebags!) I had to muck around in Photoshop every day. A big part of my job was taking files—usually from people who had little to no idea how I did my job—and cutting them up into building blocks for a webpage. Over the years, I’ve seen a lot of sloppy Photoshop files, and have figured out a few things that a lot of designers apparently never seem to notice.

When I started, table-based layouts were the gold-standard, as they were really the only way of exerting any form of control over a layout, HTML-wise. Because of the way tables worked, elements in web layouts had to be sized and aligned to pixel-perfection, otherwise, things just ended up looking all screwy. Unfortunately, back then, getting pixel-perfect layouts was like winning the dollar lottery with a fifty cent ticket. (It didn’t happen, see.*) Today things are a bit better, and the rise of CSS allows for both more and easier layout control, and for a somewhat reduced requirement for pixel-perfection.

This is definitely not to say that designers should be let off the hook—if you’re executing a gridded layout, or a series of thumbnails and the edges don’t line up or the thumbnails aren’t all the same dimensions, then you’re being lazy, or sloppy, or both. The fact that Photoshop gives you fairly elegant tools to avoid these problems means that there’s really no excuse for it.

That being said, there are some things that can make a designer’s job harder. I’m planning to post a few of the Photoshop tips, tricks, and guidelines I’ve picked up as a web developer, starting with this one, dealing with a particularly annoying and quirky behavior of Photoshop’s guides.

Read the rest of this entry »

If there’s one thing I’ve learned about becoming a more productive computer user, it’s this: keyboard shortcuts are the holy grail. In my average workday, I would guess that I could shave over an hour off my time on a lengthy project, just by learning and judiciously applying keyboard shortcuts.

Obviously, this will be most effective for people who already spend most of their time with their fingers on the home row (writers & coders), but many of the best mouse-centric programs often have single-letter or one-handed shortcuts that are very beneficial.

Though I’m planning to write a few posts dealing with specific applications that I use every day, and my favorite or most frequently used shortcuts in those applications, there is also quite a bit that is available by default in most modern operating systems. In this post, I’m going to try to give you a few common shortcuts that will work on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.

Read the rest of this entry »

The third book from the 2004 Christmas CD is the ever popular Green Eggs and Ham—a presumed favorite of the mothers of picky children.

The story involves a gruff, grumpy presumably older person. Set in his ways, and flush with life experience, he knows what he likes, and—more importantly for this story—what he doesn’t like. This gentleman, from the outset of the story is beset by a pestering, annoying interloper who insists on shoving the same plateful of foul looking food in his face for the next several hours (or perhaps days). Despite our protagonist’s gruff—but polite—rebuffs of the pushy peddler, he is continuously harrassed with ham.

In the end, after being stalked, run over by a car, kidnapped against his will onto the roof of a speeding train, and finally crash landed onto a boat which is utterly destroyed, our protagonist gives into the classic “how do you know you don’t like them if you won’t try them” ploy. When he does try them, and realizes that they haven’t gone rancid yet and are actually palatable, he quickly scarfs down the entire plate so that that annoying and mentally unstable Sam character can’t even have a bite. Revenge is a dish best borrowed full and returned empty.

The fun aspect of this recording, which I barely remembered but was pleasantly surprised to rediscover, is that my wife pitched in as the voice of Sam-I-am. Of course, we recorded it together, sharing the same cheap’o microphone, so there are a few instances where you can just about catch us cracking each other up. As with most of this stuff, I cleaned up as much as I could, as I didn’t want extra noises to distract from and possibly muddy the voices. This was a fun read, and I’d love to have done more with Sara, but her schedule, and the fact that I always seem to be recording these at the last possible moments, has since precluded her involvement. More’s the pity.

We hope you enjoy this entertaining and spirited reading of an entertaining and spirited book.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 5:11 — 4.2MB)

Of all the teachings of the Buddha, the core and seed is the Four Noble Truths. These comprise a statement of the problem, the nature of the problem, the hope of a resolution to the problem, and the means of reaching that resolution.

As a religion born out of the Hindu tradition, Buddhism’s chief concern is with ending the cycle of rebirth—of reaching nirvana. This might also be expressed as enlightenment, or the universality or end of self.

Simply stated, the Four Noble Truths are these:

1. There is suffering;
2. there is a cause or origin of suffering;
3. there is an end to suffering;
4. and there is a path to the end of suffering.

Read the rest of this entry »

I’m going to kick off the Linux Toolbox with a relatively simple one.

Command: alias
Purpose: create command-line shortcuts
Benefit: save time and effort by simplifying complicated, commonly-executed commands.

If you spend any time at the Linux command-line, chances are that you are going to type the same commands repeatedly. Or, there may be long or complex commands that you enter only rarely, but you don’t want to have to look up every time you need them.

Alias allows you create temporary command shortcuts within the current terminal session.

Read the rest of this entry »

The second reading from my 2004 Christmas present to my niece, is another childhood favorite—Harry the Dirty Dog, by Gene Zion and Margaret Bloy Graham. This great little story features an intelligent and adventurous dog—a combination that appeals to just about any young boy. The story skillfully and entertainingly illustrates a common aspect of human psychology, and ends with a positive resolution that still manages to maintain an air of mischief. As a kid, the two greatest aspects of the book were Harry’s joy at romping around the city, and his elation when his family finally recognized him. The latter always seemed very heartfelt and touching.

In this reading, you get a bit of my somewhat cursory attempts at different character voices, while the quality reflects the low fidelity of the equipment used. All-in-all, it’s a fun read, and, I hope, a fun listen.

My audio items should appear as a podcast within the regular subscription feed, but you may subscribe to the “Podcast Only” feed if you prefer.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 3:38 — 2.6MB)

Let’s face it. My record at getting things done is not exemplary. If you looked up procrastinator in the dictionary, you would most certainly not find my picture, because I never managed to send it in. On the other hand, I desperately want to be productive. There are so many things I want to do, that I can’t find the time to do them, and when I can, I can’t think of what to do!

A few years ago, I was introduced—mostly through this dude—to the GTD phenomenon. As seems to be the case with a lot of GTD’ers, I’ve flirted with a few different implementations of the system. I was obsessed for a while, also, with ubiquitous access to my crucial data—email and calendaring—so this would be a crucial part of any GTD system for me as well.

When I first found Remember the Milk, I dismissed it as a limited, web-based to-do list. Over time I heard and saw more positive mentions in GTD circles, and eventually, after attempting to setup my own linux command-line-and-text-file based system (more on that later), decided to give RTM a shot. A couple of items (I think the first and fourth) in the list at the bottom of this post set me on the path of a workable, personalized GTD implementation. I’ve continued to tweak it a bit, and feel like I’ve arrived at a system that works well for me (when I remember to use it—funny how that works, eh?). Anyway, enough setup, let’s get started.
Read the rest of this entry »