23 August
The term web 2.0 has been frequently misused and misunderstood, however it is more than a buzz word - it defines a very real phenomenon in which user generated content can be the driving force behind an online site / service.
Some very well known and successful online entities can be considered as such - Wikipedia in which users contribute knowledge, Digg in which users help others find interesting articles by voting and facebook which is the current golden standard for social networking (in which user generated content - UGC - is a given).
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9 August
Internet Explorer development is moving along and and as part of an effort to improve the quality of their next browser, Microsoft has posted a request for bug-testers on the IEBlog.
Beta 2 is right around the corner and we are expanding our reach! If you wish to be a part of making IE better by contributing great bug reports then please email us at IESO@microsoft.com and tell us a little about yourself including why you’d be a great beta tester.
Reading the blog responses and this post on the subtly named ‘Why IE sucks’ blog, it seems the reactions are mostly negative. Aside from some unfortunate phrasing, I have to wonder why.
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26 July
User interface design is my favorite part of the development process. The problems it poses are the most interesting, and thinking up solutions is a form of creative expression. Users consume our applications through the interface - one chance to either deliver a satisfying experience or fail miserably.
It is a topic I have very strong and passionate opinions of, and motivated by this beautiful prose by Jono over at Not the User’s Fault, these are my guidelines for user interaction design:
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20 July
Over the time I have developed for the web, I have read and heard many assumptions about development practices and technologies. This is my list of common misconceptions in (web) development:
1. OO code is less performant than procedural code
The number one argument against OO application design from procedural advocates. This argument is based more on intuition than fact. The usual examples pit short procedural code against equivalent OO code in which procedural code comes out triumphant as more terse and performant.
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18 July
Handling mail is a very common requirement in web applications. Even the most basic sites usually have a contact form that sends a mail through the server instead of putting a contact mail address for spam-spiders to find. Using PHP’s built in function (aptly named mail() ) is relatively straightforward - until you need slightly more advanced features, such as adding and encoding email headers or sending multiple mails efficiently.
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2008 - The Future