Chris Shiflett: Planet Chris

mtrack: custom fields, snippets - Wez Furlong

Mon, 06 Sep 2010 23:32:00 GMT

It's time for another mtrack update; here's what's new: Add "Snippets" feature; works like pastebin, but allows for comments to be supplied in wiki syntax in addition to the code or text snippet that you're pasting Add Custom Field support. This is implemented by modifying the schema (custom fields always have an "x_" prefix). Improvements to the "custom ticket query" screens, including ability to select which columns (including custom fields) are included in the results Fix an ...

Keynotopia Wireframing Set: Free Wireframing Templates for Apple Keynote - Smashing Magazine

Mon, 06 Sep 2010 23:01:01 GMT

Lately, Apple Keynote has been gaining popularity among designers as a wireframing and prototyping tool. Features like multiple slide masters, styles, grouping, animation and hyperlinks make it ideal for crafting interactive prototypes and UI narratives. Today’s freebie, Keynotopia, is a free set of interface elements for Keynote that makes it possible for anyone to create these prototypes in minutes. All elements are hand-crafted in Apple Keynote, and organized in nest...

You can’t reliably detect screen readers - Roger Johansson

Mon, 06 Sep 2010 18:07:41 GMT

When I hold workshops on accessibility I am often asked how to detect screen readers. The answer is that you can’t, at least not in a reliable way. The main reason is that screen readers run alongside (or on top of, if you prefer) regular web browsers and do not have a user agent string of their own that you can sniff.Read full postPosted in Accessibility, Quick Tips. ...

"Spontaneous collaboration" and other lessons from the private sector - O'Reilly Radar

Mon, 06 Sep 2010 17:00:00 GMT

Cisco CTO Padmasree Warrior's vision for government's future includes smarter cities, real-time communication over national boundaries and more efficient collaboration with citizens. Warrior touched on these ideas during our recent interview, and she'll expand on many of them during her conversation with Tim O'Reilly at this week's Gov 2.0 Summit. Video highlights from our wide-ranging interview are embedded below. (Note: This interview was conducted via Cisco's TelePresence. Exporting...

Bringing open government to courts - O'Reilly Radar

Mon, 06 Sep 2010 13:11:01 GMT

As court records increasingly become digitized, unexpected consequences will result from that evolution. It's critical to be thinking through the authentication, cost and privacy issues before we get there. Harlan Yu, a Princeton computer scientist, worked with a team to create online tools that enable free and open access to court records that highlight the need for more awareness. My interview with Yu this summer was a reminder that the state of open government is both further advanced a...

On defining UX - Mark Boulton

Mon, 06 Sep 2010 11:51:23 GMT

Well, what a week that was. Off the back of a wonderful dConstruct came a timely discussion (either well-timed, or ill-timed depending on your point of view) between Ryan Carson and the UX community (rebuttals from Andy Budd and Cennydd Bowles). As usual, it’s polarised opinion. But now — a few days later — more thoughtful discussion is beginning to take place. It all started with one tweet: UX Professional’ is a bullshit job title. It’s just a way to over-charge naive clients. Al...

The pollution of UX - Cennydd Bowles

Mon, 06 Sep 2010 10:36:57 GMT

It was only a matter of time until our first high-profile discreditation. Whatever anyone may say about the timing of Ryan Carson’s UX Professional Isn’t A Real Job, I saw one clear upside: I could talk with him face to face, far away from the ambiguities and public politics of the web. So I cornered Ryan at the dConstruct party for a lengthy, good-natured, beery chat, in which I stated my case with respect and passion. He conceded some points (such as that Carsonified apps are writt...

Searching for the HTML5 Search Input - Ajaxian

Mon, 06 Sep 2010 10:30:13 GMT

I recently saw the new HTML5 Search input element and wondered what the heck it does: PLAIN TEXT HTML: Chris Coyier has posted an in-depth article going into this new HTML5 input type to appease your curiosity. The HTML5 spec actually says you don't have to do much with it, but Webkit actually has a range of options. First, it visually distinguishes the input field with an inset border, rounded corners, and typographic controls: Chris has di...

Four short links: 6 September 2010 - O'Reilly Radar

Mon, 06 Sep 2010 10:00:00 GMT

Akihabara (Github) -- open source (GPL2 and MIT dual-licensed) HTML5/Javascript engine for classic arcade games. (via chadfowler on Twitter) Eureka Streams -- open sourced Java app for enterprise Twitter-like activity: build a profile, join groups, post updates, subscribe to updates from individuals or groups. (via dlpeters on Twitter) Open Microbiome -- hoping to build open tools, standard samples, data, and metadata for analysis of the microbiome (all the microorganisms that live in, on,...

Indexes on Tables - Lorna Mitchell

Mon, 06 Sep 2010 09:21:00 GMT

Increasingly I find a very binary split between the professionals I come into contact with. One group of people are very database-aware and take the design of their storage quite seriously - with good results. The other group are more concerned with the functionality of their application, and have little regard for how it is stored other than considering it a keeping-place and making useful table and column names. Too often though, they don't think about how that data will be retrieved or...

Collecting Garbage: Cleaning Up - Derick Rethans

Mon, 06 Sep 2010 08:23:00 GMT

Collecting Garbage: Cleaning Up London, UK Monday, September 6th 2010, 09:23 BST This is the second part of three-parts column that was originally published in the May 2009 issues of php|architect. Part one is here. In this second part of the three part column on the new garbage collecting mechanism in PHP 5.3, we'll dive into a solution to the problem with circular references. If we look quickly back, we found tha...

Fight The System: Battling Bureaucracy - Smashing Magazine

Mon, 06 Sep 2010 08:13:40 GMT

If you work as part of an in-house Web team, you have my sympathy. If that in-house team is within a large organization, then doubly so. Being part of an in-house Web team sucks. Trust me, I know. I worked at IBM for three years and now spend most of my days working alongside battle-weary internal teams.Web designer trying to hang himself.It’s hardly surprising that most in-house teams are worn down and depressed. They face almost insurmountable challenges:Departmental f...

Unit testing controller actions with Zend_Test_PHPUnit_ControllerTestCase - Rob Allen

Mon, 06 Sep 2010 07:52:48 GMT

Testing controllers has traditionally been a hassle due to the requirements of setting up the bootstrap, the front controller and initiating the dispatch cycle. In June, Matthew addressed this with the release of Zend_Test_PHPUnit_ControllerTestCase way back in 2008. Later, Matthew helpfully wrote an article on how to use it and I have used that as a starting point for the information here. (Thanks Matthew!) The project I'm using is TodoIt, which is a simple ZF demo application, which need...

The Viking Song - Jon Hicks

Mon, 06 Sep 2010 03:06:45 GMT

For countries that aren’t lucky enough to have the CBBC children’s channel, and in particular, the Horrible Histories series, I offer the Viking Song to you. You won’t be able to get it out of your head… LITERALLY!! Tagged: comedy, history, metal...

ZeroMQ: Modern and Fast Networking Stack - Simon Willison

Sun, 05 Sep 2010 19:41:44 GMT

ZeroMQ: Modern and Fast Networking Stack. I get ZeroMQ now. I was having trouble figuring out how it differed from things like RabbitMQ—it turns out it’s an entirely new low-level socket abstraction, designed to make common socket programming tasks like message sending/receiving and publish/subscribe a whole lot easier than dealing with raw BSD sockets.

Why I think Ryan Carson doesn't believe in UX Professionals, and why I do - Andy Budd

Sun, 05 Sep 2010 18:50:40 GMT

In a fantastically timed bit of linkbait, Ryan Carson called bullshit on the title of “UX Professional” while attending the dConstruct conference we organise in Brighton. At the conference we announced that we were hiring a Senior User Experience Designer so it would be easy to put two and two together and assume that he was calling us out. However I actually understand where he’s coming from. I don’t agree with him mind, but I do understand. Back in the early days o...

Elsie Lawson 6 June 1920 – 22 August 2010 - Bruce Lawson

Sun, 05 Sep 2010 07:13:31 GMT

My paternal grandmother died two weeks ago, after 90 healthy years. She fell and broke her hip; a week after a hip replacement operation, she was short of breath, had a heart attack and never awoke. This is the tribute I read at the funeral service. My Nan was born in a pub in Sunderland in 1920. Her parents, Jim and Polly Walker then moved to nearby Ryhope to help run her grandfather’s pub, The Prince of Wales, on her mother’s side of the family. These were the days where an extended f...

Apple TV 2 - Jon Hicks

Sun, 05 Sep 2010 04:03:56 GMT

As I’ve waffled about before on The Hickensian, I’m on the never ending search for the right digital media centre setup. For quite a while now, the PS3 has given me what I want, due to it’s ability to do many things in one package. The only areas where it lets me down is that its too fussy about video formats, and a lack of folders to organise videos on its hard drive. It wins over a HTPC for me, because it’s designed to be controlled by a remote, rather than keyboar...

Surgical Staple Remover - Richard Lynch

Sun, 05 Sep 2010 02:28:19 GMT

Today I ran some errands. Well, technically, the girls biked while I walked, as I can't drive for six months...I blogged yesterday about the "fancy" surgical staple remover...I brought it home for my daughters to practice with (not on my scalp, but an old deflated kickball)...Actually, I was gonna let the 12-yo future surgeon practice on one of mine, but Mama said "NO!" [shrug]Anyway, I looked at it, and it's got 3M etched on the handle and a quick Google finds...Yup, that's the thing!...

Brain Tumor - Richard Lynch

Sun, 05 Sep 2010 02:14:14 GMT

Quick Update:The neurosurgeon says the Functional MRI and MR Spectroscopy point towards a tumor rather than infection.Surgery on Tuesday.Don't know what time until Monday night, as they need to keep their schedule flexible until the day before.A biopsy for sure, and removal of as much as seems prudent, hopefully all of it.He can't say for sure until he's in there exactly what can come out and has to stay.Apparently I'll be conscious while he's operating, so he can double-check various brain ...

Richard Lynch Medical Expenses Fund - Richard Lynch

Sun, 05 Sep 2010 02:13:57 GMT

In case somebody prefers a Real Bank to this new-fangled PayPal thingie, my sister set up a fund for me:Richard Lynch Medical Expenses FundFirst Bank & Trust820 Church StreetEvanston, IL 60201Any donations much appreciated...

Brain Tumor - Richard Lynch

Sun, 05 Sep 2010 02:13:37 GMT

Here is a side-view of the actual tumor.That darker gray splotch in the top center, shaped somewhat like a guitar pick, only not.I added a big red arrow, as I realized the the vein above could be mistaken for the tumor....

Brain Surgery Survivor - Richard Lynch

Sun, 05 Sep 2010 02:12:54 GMT

I made it!Even have fully functional hands.I feel about like you'd expect when somebody cuts a hole in one's head... :-)Thanks so much for the prayers of any flavor and donations.Followup appointments next week are still in pencil due to doctor schedule conflicts, but at lest one of them should tell me something some time next week, regarding malignant/benign and grade/scale or whatever.Had a screamer on the same floor last night, so didn't sleep much...Very tired, so I'll end this post here...