Last night I was working with Consummo to build a client’s website and I ran into a stumbling block. CSS3 does not allow for colors to be declared alongside images (except as the last value). What does this mean? A website can have several background images, each with or without transparency, and a background color behind all of it. Personally, I assumed (you know what they say about assume) background colors could be defined on top of background images (in the same element), but I was wrong. In the CSS3 Candidate Recommendation, the background shorthand property can have a value as follows: [ <bg-layer> , ]* <final-bg-layer> where color can only be defined in the place of <final-bg-layer>.
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Posted in Conundrum on January 3rd, 2010 | 2 Comments »
A while back, it was suggested that limiting links to anchor tags (a) should be avoided in HTML5. It was declined due to backward compatibility issues and also because it would be difficult to implement. Not only that, but no one could bring forward a test case where using a different tag as a link was necessary. Well, I believe I have found one, and I am curious as to whether anyone has a solution.
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Posted in Conundrum on December 4th, 2009 | 2 Comments »
It’s been nearly two weeks since the release of Ubuntu 9.10, and I am proud to announce that I have performed a fresh install of Ubuntu 9.10. I haven’t used Windows in months, due to lack of designing in Photoshop and the abundance of programming I’ve been doing recently, so I thought it was time to get rid of it entirely. Now that I have, I must say I couldn’t be happier. With 20 GB dedicated to the main install and nearly 40 GB for my home directory, I doubt I will ever run out of room. Of course, if I do, I always have a 120 GB external drive waiting to be filled up.
With my bragging out of the way, it’s time to give my review of Ubuntu 9.10. Firstly, I would like to thank the Ubuntu team for delivering amazing results for this release. Everything runs faster and smoother than ever before, even before my fresh install.
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Posted in Reviews, Ubuntu on November 10th, 2009 | 4 Comments »
Today is the day. No, not the 20th anniversary of the birth of Elizabeth Kampwerth. Well, yes, but that’s not what this article is about. Today is the release of Ubuntu 9.10, Karmic Koala. For those of you that have not had the pleasure of having personal relations with Ubuntu, I apologize and encourage you to abandon Windows on the curb. Or at least send Windows to the other room while you gaze upon Ubuntu in all of its glory.
If you haven’t used any of the nightly builds (aka you’ve been using Ubuntu 9.04 until today), you’re bound to notice some major changes. The first change you’ll notice is the faster boot time, thanks to Upstart. Then, of course, the upgrade to the new GNOME release (which uses Empathy instead of Pidgin by default). On top of that, Ubuntu also ships with a new Linux kernel. With the expected changes out of the way, I’ll introduce a few things that you may not have been expecting.
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Posted in Ubuntu on October 29th, 2009 | No Comments »
As many already know, I’m not a fan of limiting an application to be backward compatible. I am, however, a firm believer of forward compatibility. I believe applications (any product actually) should be prepared for the future. Sure, something new and unexpected will inevitably pop up sooner or later, but that isn’t the point. The point is, preparing for the future will make expanding the application in the future a smoother process. This is why many web applications provide some way (however limited) to change the look and feel of the front-end. With Consummo, I’m taking this one step further.
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Posted in Features on October 21st, 2009 | No Comments »
Have you ever visited a website with the intent of reading an article, only to see a full page ad? After clicking ‘continue’, or waiting fifteen to thirty seconds, you finally reach the page of the article. But wait, what’s this? A banner ad, a skyscraper ad, and a huge square advertisement smack-dab in the middle of the article itself. Just when you think you’ve seen it all, you notice a new window has opened under your current window with an ad in it. After closing that, another window pops up with another ad. If you hadn’t closed the article already, you probably will now. This example may seem extreme, but it really has happened. Luckily, it is not nearly as common as it used to be.
I mentioned unobtrusive advertising last year when I was ranting about copyright complaints by blog owners, but I believe a bit more of an explanation (and rant) is needed. Let the world know how you feel about advertising by leaving a comment or three below 
Maybe we can get the word out about unobtrusive advertising (or at least get into a debate with someone who has no class whatsoever).
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Posted in Ethics on October 16th, 2009 | No Comments »
Most every web developer has asked himself (or herself) this question at least once. While some applications only need one method of parsing, many should support at least two. There is rarely a need to include support for more than two methods on any single part of an application though.
In this article, several parsing techniques will be covered, including Textile, BBCode, and HTML. WYSIWYG editors will also be discussed. Pros and Cons of each technique will be examined to provide you with facts and my own opinion.
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Posted in Application Development on October 14th, 2009 | 3 Comments »
It’s been nearly a year since I last spoke of Consummo, so I’d like to get rid of any doubts. Consummo is still an active project of mine. Over the past year, work and life in general took prescedence over Consummo and I’d like to apologize for that. I’ve decided to cut down on the amount of hours I work and focus more on Consummo.
Now then, let’s discuss Consummo a bit more in detail. As with any application, Consummo has grown much bigger and more in-depth than ever intended. I originally designed Consummo to simply replace existing forum software, but I’ve come to realize it should be able to do so much more. Since Consummo means to sum up or make perfect, it is only fitting that Consummo offers complete functionality. What do I mean by that? Well, imagine yourself as a web designer or website owner. What functionality might you want? I hope to provide that and more.
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Posted in Features on October 5th, 2009 | No Comments »
I’ve changed my mind a bit regarding the themes. I was originally going to have the themes set up similarly to other forum software, with a bit more functionality. Today, while working on another website, I came up with another idea. The new idea is similar, but a lot different as well. Other forums separate it like this…
- /cf-themes/[theme-name]/[theme-files]
Consummo will be set up similar to this…
- /cf-templates/[template-files]
- /cf-themes/[theme-name]/images/[image-files]
- /cf-themes/[theme-name]/css/[css-files]
- /cf-themes/[theme-name]/media/[media-files] e.g. Flash
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Posted in Features on September 26th, 2008 | No Comments »
If you have an answer to any of the questions below, please leave a response and help to add some more competition to the forum sector.
What are some features you couldn’t live without in a forum?
The following features will most likely be available in the application or as an add-on.
What are some features you would like to see, but don’t really need?
The following features will most likely be available as an add-on.
What are some features you don’t see a point in having?
The following features will most not be included in Consummo, but possibly as an add-on.
What are some features you absolutely hate?
The following features will most likely not be included in Consummo.
Posted in Consummo on September 26th, 2008 | 1 Comment »
