Recently I have come to the realization that I spend so much time in production that I rarely get to search for things that would be useful, big picture resources/learning for future projects. Basically, I’m bad at keeping up with where CSS and HTML are going. And since I am trying to really push myself to have better skills to contribute to not just my current position, but the world at large, I have found a bunch of great resources. Read the rest of this entry »

Okay, so not much of a big deal for those of you who are actually reading this (which means no one besides myself), but it cracked 57 here in Boston today. I could get used to this. Only a couple months until it gets brutally hot, so I might as well enjoy it.

This is hands down the issue that will covert me to using Safari. I live and die by Firebug at work. It has so many applications, the most amazing of which is the ability to edit styles and see live updates without switching between programs. Plus you get to see all your CSS properties right next to each other, so if you over somehow over-ruling a style you can see how best to go about fixing your problem. Plus you got the DOM right there to help your JavaScript. Read the rest of this entry »

Lately, I am becoming more and more a fan of Safari.

The Past

One of the reasons I never really used it in the past was because it was just a browser, and, as a developer, while testing in it was necessary, I would never actually use it while I was setting things up. Here are some more reasons I never used it:

• I support Firefox for everything they have done to kill IE
• Camino does the same stuff (and is getting better at it all the time)
• Only one theme/skin
• I really enjoy live bookmarks instead of RSS aggregators
• Sometimes Javascript can be a pain (ever use tinyMCE?)
• Web Developer toolbar
• Firebug

The Present

But now that is changing.

• Its fast
• Safari now supports RSS feeds in the browser, still no live bookmarks, but its a start.
• I’ve fallen in love with Aqua, and I don’t mind the look of Safari in Leopard (but I think some of the buttons are a little large and awkward).
• Firefox is becoming a slow beast that is killing my browsing experience, but I’m really excited about 3.0. I have a whole other post brewing about what went wrong with Firefox.
• Camino is still there, but for some reason, it just not exciting anymore.
• Last but certainly not least… Safari has a Develop Menu in the Toolbar!!!!! Its not as advanced as Firebug (yet) but it gives an amazing amount of depth into how Safari renders everything, which is useful (and awesome!)

Stay tuned for more on the Develop Menu in Part 2…

I recently bought a new car, and because of this, I get a lot of mail. Lots of companies want my opinion on 30,000 different aspects of the car, as if my opinion was actually worth something. Sadly, I just don’t have enough time to give to these companies. One of them was nice enough to include a fresh dollar bill in the envelope, which was enough for me to actually look at all 40 pages of questions it had before I trashed it.

Anyway, one company sent me some information on how Volkswagon, I got a GTI, is supporting their movement to reduce carbon emissions. They are called Carbon Fund. Very interesting stuff. But what was more interesting was their logo, which looks a lot like the logo of a certain presidential candidate. I assume, since Carbon Fund as been around since ’03, that their logo came first. Here they are, in all their glory:

I am not a designer, but I do work with designers, and I know that they get inspiration from various places. Both of these are aiming at an awakening, to show that something is on the rise, but its not going to happen with just logos and good intentions.

Check out their websites to learn more, Barak Obama and Carbon Fund.

Okay, I’ll admit it, I didn’t design this template. And I probably won’t design any template you ever see on this site. As gifted as I am, I am terrible at design. I have great attention to detail when it comes to looking at HTML. I can spot the reason your site doesn’t validate in less than 5 minutes (without looking at the validator results). Please don’t think less of me.

Oh yeah, welcome to my blog! I am trying to figure out what voice to use with all of this. I imagine myself sounding very authoritative with everything I point out, trying to sound like I am some sort of authority. I am not an authority on anything, except how not to be an authority. Now that I’ve lost all my potential repeat viewers, I’m going to end this post. See you soon!