Beta 3 is out and the new OS fixes the non-working Youtube from the previous beta.
[Update: and also breaks syncing, which now hangs on “Syncing contacts…”]
[Update2: Seems like the contacts syncing hang was a temporary issue…]
Development Standards: Intro
I’ve decided to write an occasional series of articles on coding and development standards. It will be how *I* see them – the standards *I* myself follow – so it might not be for everyone. What it will be is a guide to what to expect if I’m working for you, and what to expect if you’re working for me.
I’ll write separate pieces for CSS, HTML, PHP and possibly for server administration-type stuff too – Apache configuration, and so on.
Expect the first instalment in the near future…
Screencast as development tool
I’m in the middle of the first phase of building a new webapp and like most web developers (I would bet) when I show someone what I’ve done, it’s not apparent what marvels of engineering I’ve pulled off! So, in order to actually give a quick run-down of where we’re at with the application, I thought about making a screencast of the login, profile creation, module, video upl– well, I’ve said too much already ;)
After thinking about that for a bit, I wondered if any methodologies, agile or otherwise, use screencasts specifically as a tool. I could just Google it, I know. In any case I think it’s a nice way of showing progress on the development – or bugs in the app.
Webshop launched
As the first example of my [Tienda.co.uk](http://tienda.co.uk/) project, we’ve just launched [slant1996.com](http://www.slant1996.com) which sells slightly mad t-shirt designs!
ACCEPT LANGUAGE, DAMMIT!
This is probably an oldie-but-goodie to a lot of web devs, but as search indexing bots don’t always send `HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE` to the server with the request, it will cause an error if you depend on its presence, which can and will be reflected in the search results, even though not in “any” browser.
Oh! The humanity!
Lovely redesign of jquery.com.
"Gibbons' council shake-up option"
Tracking my time
*Photo by Csaba_Bajko*
I’m not too bad with timetracking these days. I use Billable for invoicing and as long as I keep a vague eye on the time, and add the hours into Billable as they’re spent it’s not too much of a bind.
Recently, though, I’ve started using a solution that seems obvious, but I’ve never heard of it used (I haven’t Googled it, either, so I can very easily be proved wrong!) I’ve set up a screengrabbing utility to take a shot every 10 minutes, then if I have any doubts about what time I started on something – or more usually, until what time in the middle of the night I worked until – I can have a quick look back at the screengrabs and it’s all there.
The side benefit is that while I’m looking at the screengrabs as thumbs I can see the ratio of Google Reader to TextMate (for example) is quite obviously not balanced how it should be ;)
Hmmm… latency…
3G?
Arthur C. Clarke
Hero to every geek, most likely, and certainly one of mine.
90 isn’t a bad age for anyone, I think, and if you happen to be able meld science fiction and “real” science for most of that time, unbeatable. I think the fact that he wrote sci-fi that was so fact-checked and rigourous that it forms the basis of modern life is inspirational on so many levels. (Like now, sat in a hotel, using a phone to make a connection, seems like a very “Arthur moment” ;)
To infinity and beyond, brother!