March 22nd, 2007
Well it looks like I will never ever be installing Windows Vista as their stupid software won’t even let me check to see if my machine is compatible. Not that I wanted to in the first place, you could say I was curious to see if my machine was capable of running it. I just had a chat with the guy in my local computer shop and he said that he had been dealing with a laptop that a customer brougt in because it was running slow… Vista! He checked the compability to find it had a score of 2 (whatever that means) and I figured I would give it a go just for fun…
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha… I am not even allowed to install the checker because I do not have office 2007 which is a pre-requisit to installing it! Tough news M$, I will never install that software because it costs so much, I use Open Office because it is free and of a very high quality, why should I fork out for something just to check and see if my computer will run any of your shonky operation systems.
To think I bought XP just in case I wanted to upgrade! I personally will be going back to Ubuntu once I have the conference out of the way as I am fed up with Windows, it is crap! There is nothing that makes me want to use that operating system other than commercial requirements to run Photoshop, not really much reason to stay with it, I have bought Parallels so I can run Windows 2000 and XP in a virtual environment, my only gripe is the lack of full 3d support at the moment that Mac users get.
Right, rant over… I just wanted to share my amusing encounter with what I see as a doomed operating system, some really cool things are happening in the Linux stable so I know where I am headed, which side of the fence will you be on?
Oh… and Mac users, that question was not for you 
March 18th, 2007
Holy cow! I was just over at Subsector and found a juicy as hell snippet of information that has just made my day. As if EVE Online is not good enough already, it looks like they are going to allow you to leave your ship and walk about space stations in the not too distant future. I have to say this is a really interesting development and you can watch the video over at Ten Ton Hammer.
Eve online is a game of truely epic proportions and it looks like the size went epic+1… That’s big in my book!
March 15th, 2007
Now that I have a little break in my schedule I think it is important that I state my reasons for putting on The Highland Fling - Web Standards in Scotland conference as it is more than just getting kick ass speakers up to Scotland. I am very passionate about what I do for a living, I love building websites, I love talking about websites, I love meeting other people that build websites and what’s more is that I care deeply about the future of the industry.
We as web developers have a duty to do a good job and ensure that we are doing things right, I do not beleive for a long shot that the “standards war” has been won and I know for a fact that there is still a lot of work to be done. So long as your nephew, son, second cousin or even your mother are capable of churning out a website, the very value and stability of the web development industry is undermined and devaluated, I think it is imperritive to raise awareness of how things should be done properly.
Now I don’t want to slate the bedroom developer… heck… I even started as a bedroom developer but there is a difference in quality from what I did back then and what I do now. Over the years I have done one hell of a lot of reading and done my best to stay on top of emerging trends and techniques and pride myself on trying to do the very best I can but now I want to help others do the same.
Scotland isn’t a big place, in fact the UK isn’t a big place and it is invaluable to meet your peers and commrades in arms. By getting together and talking, you begin to build new horizons, relationships are formed, businesses are built, ideas are born and common goals become rife.
By putting on the conference I want to bring together the community in Scotland (and indeed anyone else who wants to come) and help beginning to build a united future of web development in Scotland. I want to help raise the bar of what we are doing day to day though education and help proliferate best practise so that the people doing things right will benefit from doing things right.
The reason I chose the subject of progressive enhancement for the conference is that it is at the very essence of best practice web development. Build for the lowest common denominator and then layer additional functionality / enhancements on top. This philosophy allows you to not only ensure that your websites will work on the widest possible selection of platforms, it will also enable you to add all of the bells and whistles you want to and be able to sleep easy knowing that the site will still degrade gracefully. What more could you ask for?
I read a wonderful article by Andy Rutledge about web standards and how it should be about quality and not standards. I agree, standards should just be how it is done, it should not be the selling point, reaching as many people and devices as possible should be the selling point.
I am really looking forward to the day now, the content of the sessions and the quality of the speakers will be fantastic so I really hope you will take the time to stand up and be counted. At the end of the day it is you that stands to benefit from it if you do…
Roll on April 5th!
March 15th, 2007
Okay, so I was working yesterday and as per usual I heard almighty thumps coming from upstairs. This is not an unusual thing because my daughter, although small has apparently got the mass of 4 galaxies combined with 200 elephants and a couple of tanks and has a tendancy to bang at every opportunity she gets. So what was different about this occasion? On going through to the bottom of my stairs to have my standard moan at her and her friend she emerges from my bedroom to say “What?”. I ask her what the hell she is up in to my my room with her friend to which she replies…
We’re playing badminton!
I have seen many things in my time but this one took the biscuit… Perhaps I should try it if I ever get some leisure time.
February 14th, 2007
Ever found yourself on the verge of meltdown? Holy cow! I have been a busy man of late and life is good, as some of you might know I have been busy organising a web standards conference in Edinburgh but on top of that I have been working my day job and freelancing at night. OUCH!
Well I am quite happy, I just launched phase #1 of quite a big site I have been working on which is a relief. Now onto phase 2 I guess but for now I am enjoying half a night off and figured it was time to say hello. So what have I been up to other than that?
- I read “The Taking” by Dean Koontz on the train to work which was awesome
- I have engaged in 4 wars in EVE Online
- I’ve formed a hatred for commuting during rush hour
- Made lots of new friends and contacts in the web development industry
- I have played a major part in 4 different web projects outside of work
- Avoided Twitter
- Missed writing on here on a regular basis
- Managed to preach web standards at work to a certain degree of success
- I’ve written several partial posts that haven’t made it to the site yet.
- I’ve not managed to get to bed before 1am since the new year due to work and the likes
- Almost learned to multitask (not good though as Caz says I am now half woman)
- I’ve enjoyed life to the full
- Oh yeah… Elsie has successfully poo’d on her own for the first time so I guess I have played my part in potty training too
What have you been up to? How do you unwind? I think my eyes have gone square and fuzzy since the beginning of the year, I don’t mind because I am doing something that I believe in and hopefully not just myself will benefit. The good news is that the conference is being well received and all of the early bird tickets are now sold so onto the next batch…
January 19th, 2007
Well, the cat’s out of the bag, over the last few months I have been a busy little bee trying to bring some of the best minds in web development to Scotland and low and behold I present to you The Highland Fling - Web Standards in Scotland.
The conference is aimed at bringing together the Scottish web development community so that we can all meet each other and have some fun whilst learning from the best in the industry. I’d like to take this opportunity to invite you all along, the tickets are not on sale quite yet but if you would like to register your interest then I will be back in touch as soon as they go on sale. So, on to the details.
The Event
This inaugural Highland Fling conference will cover the topic of progressive enhancement and is designed to make developers aware of both the benefits and pitfalls involved of using such technologies, how to use them, when not to use them, and what the future holds.
The event will be held at the Symposium Hall in Edinburgh on the 5th of April 2007, if you are interested you can track the event over at Upcoming.
The Speakers & Sessions
- Jeremy Keith - What is progressive enhancement?
- Norm - Graded Browser Support
- Andy Budd - Progressive enhancement using CSS
- Christian Heilmann - Progressive enhancement using JavaScript / AJAX
- James Edwards - What has AJAX done for us anyway?
- Drew McLellan - Microformats
- Andy Clarke - Beyond progressive enhancement
Tickets
Early Bird - £99
Full Price - £125
Tickets will be on sale in the very near future, if you want to register your interest you can do so over at the The Highland Fling web site.