Firefox 1.5
November 29th, 2005
Firefox Version 1.5 came out today. If you’re not using it already, you really should give it a try. Pages load faster, tab browsing lets you manage your open windows more easily, and best of all—it’s more secure than Internet Explorer which means less problems from spyware, worms, and viruses.
For web designers and developers—Firefox 1.5 features improved support for CSS2 and CSS3, APIs for scriptable and programmable 2D graphics through SVG 1.1 and canvas, XForms and XML events, as well as many DHTML, JavaScript, and DOM enhancements. It’s also the first browser to meet government requirements that software be easily accessible to users with physical impairments.
Foxy!
Website Moving Day
November 29th, 2005
Well, Design Meme has more of less been transfered over to the new host.
At first I wasn’t sure which hosting service I was going to pick. My friend Aron had good things to say about GoDaddy, but I decided to go with Dreamhost again. I’d used Dreamhost for some other sites, and I knew I could get things setup pretty quickly. They’ve recently added Ruby on Rails to the list of goodies you get with hosting, and I’d been wanting to check that out. DJ and Nate are also on Dreamhost, and they seem pretty happy with it. Of course the biggest incentive for going with Dreamhost was the price—much lower than I had expected. When I saw their new prices I signed up.
Having a proper webhost is something I should have done years ago. When I was updating the site a bit more frequently, around the time I was writing articles for A List Apart, I figured it was a good deal not to have to pay for any bandwidth bills so I used my free account from the University. Similar thinking went into moving the blog to blogspot.com. Now I’m thinking that wasn’t the best idea after all. Links to Design Meme are spread across three different sites.
I’ve started moving everything under the designmeme.com domain, but don’t want to have people’s links, bookmarks and search results get messed up. Fortunately I found a quick tutorial on using htaccess to redirect links and it seems to be working nicely. I’m thinking about adding a Google Sitemap as well to see if that helps as well.
Webcomics Book
November 26th, 2005
Last year Steven Withrow asked me to contribute to a book he was putting together on webcomics. I was flattered to be asked, and wrote what I thought would be good advice for someone getting started with using a computer to publish their comics. At the time I thought the book would probably be small press or self-published, and after a few months I forgot about it entirely.
A few weeks ago I was at Chapters, our local bookstore, and saw a really nice book called… Webcomics : Tools and Techniques for Digital Cartooning
I spent some time reading through my copy today, and it makes me want to pick up my sketchbook and pencils again.
Moving to the New Host
November 24th, 2005
After chatting with DJ earlier this afternoon, I decided that today was the day I’d finally move the site to a proper host, rather than have the domain forward visitors to my personal webspace at the University. It’s probably something I should have done years ago, but kept putting off. There may be some issues with the site over the next few days as I move files between servers, but I’ll try and keep the chaos to a minimum.
Windows Live
November 2nd, 2005
Microsoft has a new Portal-like web service: Windows Live Beta
Windows Live will integrate with MicroSoft’s new Email and Instant Messenger software. The new Instant Messenger will offer the following features:
- users can sign up for Windows Live Call to easily call landline and mobile phones
- full-screen (640×480) video chat, with fully synchronized audio
- Sharing Folders:
Sharing Folders will be a new and simple way for you to share personal photos, documents, and files with your Messenger contacts. You will be able to create a Sharing Folder by simply dragging files onto a contact name in Messenger. This will create an exact copy of the files on both you and your contact’s computers, and create a Sharing Folder that can be accessed from Messenger, and on the desktop.
The Windows Live service also uses the same Gadgets which will be found in the next Windows OS. These will be similar to the Widgets found in Apple’s OS X and Yahoo’s Konfabulator
From O’Reilly Radar
During the Q&A, I asked specifically if this meant that data and services could be syndicated out as well as in (that is, that Microsoft software wouldn’t just be consuming services from other web providers, and allowing users to syndicate them into their experience, but also that developers on other web platforms could as easily integrate data from Microsoft applications and services into their user experience.) Bill Gates replied with puzzlement, “Of course. There’s no difference between syndicating out and syndicating in. It’s just XML.”
Still Lurking About…
November 2nd, 2005
It’s been a very busy fall. Being a new dad, teaching, working on monstrous projects—leaving little time to keep my blog updated. Someone mentioned to me that A List Apart is featuring my Night of the Image Map article as the Editor’s Choice right now. I had forgotten I wrote it with a spooky theme, to complement the spooky project it was developed for.
Hopefully I can start making more time for the blog again. Maybe update the design too.
