New frontiers

What a busy, trying time! With many projects on the go, logo's, banners, themes (and more themes), showcase sites, tutorials, photography gigs to wrap up before Christmas... It's no wonder the holidays never feel restful to me. So why then would I go and do something as crazy as learning Obective-C programming at such a time? I guess I am just a little crazy that way. That and because Chris has taken up making plugins and wants me to join him in our continual quest to take over the world together. I have to admit I have wanted to make RapidWeaver plugins for quite some time and this was the fire that needed lighting under my proverbial behind. Will I actually make any plugins and how soon? I can't/won't make any promises. It's a little far beyond any limit I have stretched my self to in the past and I do have a theme store (or two) to support. So here it to the new year and all that it may (or may not) bring!

The cats out

Well the project I had alluded to in the last post is starting to see the light with it's first public peek-a-boo. The site, RapidWeaved.com, is a showcase project for RapidWeaver users by RapidWeaver users. It's kind of a backyard sandbox, if you will, instead of the elitist, high-brow playgrounds that other showcase sites seem to be. The premise is that no-one gets rejected so long as the contest is G-rated and the site is built with RapidWeaver. It's not a new site or project by any means, I actually took over the domain and concept from Gary Byrd who found it was getting unwieldy. And indeed it was. I had a few ideas how to better manage this kind of data and put a plan into action. Only time will tell if I really know what I am doing or just talking through my butt. My intent is to make it an attractive site with attractive content but also make it as pain free as possible to update. We'll see about that I guess. There are a few other finer details that will come to light later as well. But first things first. Oh, and by the way, if you are a RapidWeaver user and have a site built using RapidWeaver, feel free to submit it to RapidWeaved.com.

Showcase site project is back in the mix

A while back I had taken over a particular showcase site (I'll keep that quite at the moment) and was charged to take it to the next level. Well real paying jobs kept getting in the way, support kept getting in the way, life kept getting in the way... So I've recently had pause to look into this project again and was surprised at just how close I was to completing this site the first time around. So with that said, I am amping up to get this thing done early in the new year. I'll keep you posted.

Unobtrusive is great but what about unencumbered?

So in the last few years javascript libraries and snippets have popped up like spring flowers gasping for light. One will round corners for you, one will make an image pop out at you, one will make a box spring open, one will make a drawer slide, and so on... All of these libraries, it seems, have their struggles and inadequacies much the same way a CSS/XHTML developer does; browser behaving badly. Where it gets infinitely more complicated with the javascript is that some libraries and snippets will inadvertently interact with one another from time to time, and that's where a whole bag of ugly gets thrown upon the table. What makes this worse? The fact that we can now just throw these bits of javascript sweetness in our html projects without the foggiest notion of how it works and how to fix it should the need arise. And since these are all open source projects, don't expect great support, or any at all, for that matter. And so this is the muddy water I currently stand in, waiting to sort out a scripting issue on a product while I tell my client base that we are doing everything we can.

The long road is getting shorter

You ever get to the end of a project and just let out a sigh of relief? I just finished one of those. It was the kind where there were variables that would go one way, but then needed to come back to another. I shopping cart was required, but it had to be easy to use, but then it had to be expandable for the future. One choice broke one aspect, another choice would break something else. Tax calculations, shipping calculations, inventory calculations... You see, I am a digital download guy and exempt from all those bothers. But on this project I had build a store for tangible goods in a state that doesn't take tax lightly.

Anyhow, this job is complete with the exception of a few tweaks here and there. I'll let you know when you can see it.

I shall not follow the heard

I can't begin to describe my frustration! Once single javascript library is throwing a monkey wrench into my entire process! The venerable MooTools, who I have no use for, but many services I use do, is not a team player it seems when it comes to rounding corners in javascript. They don't believe rounding corners is the job of unobtrusive javascript and instead think that bags full of poor markup, redundant, empty tags, place holders and css should be our only method of rounding a corner in a layout....

So WCAG says we ought not use tables for layouts if we can avoid it..."Tables should be used to mark up truly tabular information ("data tables")." So by that guideline one can only assume that using <b> tags (which is for bolding or adding strength to type) for layout would be equally offensive. I have now tried every javascript library and snippet I can get my hands on to round corners and not a single one will work with MooTools and a Lightbox window. Arghhhh!

Sorry, I just had to vent.

I must be famous

So what does it say about ones perceived popularity when there is a squatter on your domain name. That's right, at long last I decided it was time that I register adammerrifield.com (thought about for years) and when I tried I was turned down with the message, "ADAMMERRIFIELD.COM is already taken."

Oh poop! I am sure it's simply a coincidence, but I can't help but think that someone has taken to squatting on any domain I might be interested acquiring. I won't go into which ones, but they are all closely associated to me or my company. What for? Oh well. I will just go and register a WAY cooler name (lets see if the squatters can read my mind).