25December2006
Posted by Gary K under: Operating Systems; Web design.
Stay away from Microsoft Vista, the new version of the Windows operating system, for as long as you can. A Russian programmer has already found holes in the system that would allow an unscrupulous programmer access to your machine. From today’s New York Times:
SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 24 — Microsoft is facing an early crisis of confidence in the quality of its Windows Vista operating system as computer security researchers and hackers have begun to find potentially serious flaws in the system that was released to corporate customers late last month.
On Dec. 15, a Russian programmer posted a description of a flaw that makes it possible to increase a user’s privileges on all of the company’s recent operating systems, including Vista. And over the weekend a Silicon Valley computer security firm said it had notified Microsoft that it had also found that flaw, as well as five other vulnerabilities, including one serious error in the software code underlying the company’s new Internet Explorer 7 browser.
Read the rest of the article and then stick with what you’ve got for the time being. Windows Vista is not safe.
21December2006
Posted by Gary K under: Web design.
I came across a site this week that provides a true service to the web design community. Total Validator was set up by Andy Halford in 2005, and allows the designer to not only make sure his/her pages produce valid code, but also to view a rendering of the page tested in a number of different browsers. The site itself is a solid CSS layout.
Why validate?
On one, concise page, Andy makes argument for having valid code in your pages:
Top three reasons to use Total Validator
Why test at all if your website looks okay in your browser? Here are the top three reasons:
Number One: Search engine robots/spiders are very fussy and will not search or index some or all of a site if they come across invalid HTML. So if you want to be properly listed you need to be sure your HTML is valid.
Number Two: This should be reason number one, but unfortunately it’s not yet considered as important as search engine listings. Just because you can use your website doesn’t mean that someone with a disability can. You should ensure your sites conform to the W3C WAI Accessibility Guidelines, (and that also means strictly W3C validated HTML), or US Section 508 standard, if you want your site to be accessible to all.
Number Three: Just because your website looks okay in your browser, doesn’t mean that it will in someone else’s. There are many different versions of different browsers out there. What works for IE6 may not work for IE5. Using standard HTML can help, but for the ultimate test the screenshot (snapshot) feature can help ensure your site looks okay in browsers you don’t have access to.
For more reasons see the Validator blog
An excellent, free service.
But there’s more, and this deserves mention and your consideration as well. Andy also has a Pro Tool for sale, GB£20 (approx US$36, or €29), a desktop version of his free validator tool, which you can use to validate an entire site. The Total Validator online version only validates one page at a time, and Andy limits you to 5 pages per visit because of the popularity of the site. Most certainly worth the expense.
Perhaps a holiday stocking-stuffer for the web designer in the family?
19December2006
Posted by Gary K under: Education.
Business Wire reports today: Internet Anti-Jamming Technology Companies Reach Milestone Agreement
The story effectively covers a plan on the part of four companies to help residents of China out-fox Chinese government efforts to censor the Internet. From the story:
ATLANTA–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Four world-leading companies in Internet anti-jamming technologies reached an agreement today that starts full-scale cooperation in their technology and business operations. The four companies are the World’s Gate, Inc., the Dynamic Internet Technology, Inc., the UltraReach Internet Corp, and the Garden Networks for Freedom of Information Inc.
Internet users in China are unable to access blocked overseas web sites without outside help from the free world. Several companies, including the above four, have successfully developed and implemented technologies (anti-jamming services, also known as anti-blockade services) to enable Chinese users to break through the blockade and access overseas web sites.
In recent years, hundreds of thousands of users have been visiting web sites outside China through services of these companies on a daily basis, and the accumulated number of visits has reached beyond one billion. The four companies that entered into this cooperative agreement have been providing services to many overseas web sites on many topics, such as news, education, entertainment, human rights, and politics. These companies act as a bridge between the Chinese Internet users — thirsting for news from the outside world — and the blocked overseas web sites.
“Funding of these anti-blockade tools and services, in addition to the income from various service contracts, comes from donations and in-kind contributions in different forms from people from all walks of life. Many talented people work for these companies as volunteers,†said Mr. Bill Xia, President of the Dynamic Internet Technology, Inc.
The agreement is truly an astounding effort. The four companies are:
- The World’s Gate, Inc. is a private IT company offering Internet solutions for information freedom in China and other regions under suppressive regimes. Its current products include Internet based content, communications and anti-jamming platforms (web site: http://www.edoors.com). Its two major anti-jamming tools, GPass and FirePhoenix, are available for download as freeware for personal use in China from http://gpass1.com and http://firephoenix.edoors.com, respectively.
- Dynamic Internet Technology, Inc. (DIT) is a private technology company incorporated in North Carolina in 2001. DIT is at the forefront of anti-jamming technology for Chinese users, a leading researcher of Internet censorship in China, and an expert in mass-emailing to China. It has been providing mass mailing services for Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Asia (RFA) since February 2002, and for Human Rights In China since 2003. DIT has also provided short-term mass mailing services for China Information Center and The Epoch Times Inc. DIT’s web site is at http://www.dit-inc.us.
- UltraReach Internet Corp. has created a method for the connection and reconnection of users to enable website access without being blocked, and has also invented the technology platform called the Global Internet Freedom Technology (GIFT) system — a dynamic node-proxy anti-jamming system. UltraReach’s major anti-jamming product, UltraSurf, can be downloaded from their web site at http://www.ultrareach.com.
- Garden Networks for Freedom of Information Inc. is a not-for-profit organization that focuses on providing cutting-edge technologies to help people inside countries with censorship on Internet. Garden Networks has developed a series of software tools that have been introduced to Internet users and widely used in China since 2001. The software tools are available at http://www.gardennetworks.com.
14December2006
Posted by Gary K under: Web design.
I use Dreamweaver at Shire Enterprises. Some of you, however, may wish to explore Expression Web, Microsoft’s version of web design software. I understand it’s a step or two above Frontpage. I don’t understand the popularity of Frontpage for web design. In my book, it’s just a step or two above publishing pages from Microsoft Publisher or directly from Microsoft Word.
But Expression is supposed to be better, and I do have a place in my heart for Lynda.com. Always quality at Lynda.com.
At any rate, here’s the news from BusinessWire:
OJAI, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–lynda.com, the company specializing in self-paced career and computer training in digital media and design, today introduced Expression Web Essential Training, to coincide with Microsoft’s recently published design tool.
Microsoft’s Expression Web represents the company’s first web authoring tool that supports web standards, CSS design, and the integration between design and development teams. From understanding the concept of smart web design, to creating, editing, and maintaining a web site, instructor Joe Marini, Group Product Manager at Microsoft, shares his insider tips for real-world web site design using Expression Web. From creating forms and tables, creating and modifying templates, making sites accessible, using CSS and XML data, to creating dynamic pages and publishing a site, Joe demonstrates how to use Expression Web through each stage of a web site’s design and development. Exercise files accompany the tutorials.
So, some of you may be interested in checking out the tutorials at Lynda.com. Enjoy if you do.
14December2006
Posted by Gary K under: Web design.
The following is just in today from BusinessWire:
Privacy Experts Suggest Approaches for Managing Personal Information
http://www.w3.org/–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Today W3C published a Privacy Workshop Report and minutes that recommend next steps for keeping privacy promises when exchanging sensitive information on the Web. Privacy and access control experts from America, Australia, Asia and Europe met in October 2006 in Ispra, Italy to study Web privacy issues and solutions. W3C would like to thank the Joint Research Center of the European Commission for hosting that Workshop on Languages for Privacy Policy Negotiation and Semantics-Driven Enforcement.
“The joint effort to organize this event and the active contribution of the participants on a high scientific level demonstrated the importance of the subject,” said Jan Löschner, Head of Cyber Security at the European Commission’s Joint Research Center. “I appreciated the constructive atmosphere of the Workshop to discuss privacy issues and wish to see proposed solutions being implemented and used in the future.”
Read the entire release here.
7December2006
Posted by Gary K under: Web design.
And worth the upgrade. The following came yesterday from Business Wire:
ADOBE ANNOUNCES AVAILABILITY OF ADOBE READER 8
Free Software Enables Greater Customization, Streamlines Trusted PDF Interactions and Facilitates Online Collaboration
Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced that Adobe® Reader® 8 software is available as a free download. Adobe Reader 8 enables trusted information exchange between enterprises, government agencies, constituents and consumers who view, print, search, digitally sign and collaborate with PDF files. Adobe Reader 8 also features a new “Start Meeting†button that launches Adobe Acrobat® Connect™ (see separate press release issued today), an Adobe-hosted software service that provides real-time online collaboration through Adobe Flash® Player.
Adobe Reader and Adobe Flash Player, installed on over 700 million connected PCs and devices worldwide, engage people across a wide array of different channels, enabling collaboration and delivering richer, more interactive experiences that work consistently across multiple platforms.
It’s a large install, especially if you download the free Adobe image viewer. But most certainly worth the time to upgrade for the reader, always a reliable product.
Get the upgrade here.
26November2006
Posted by Gary K under: CSS; Web design.
Designers have many more options today for doing layout than the early days of web design when tables ruled. The terminology can seem rather confusing. On the surface, absolute positioning may seem like the ideal. Just tell the layout where to live on the browser window. Everything can be measured right down to the last pixel.
But absolute designs can be, well, absolutely horrifying. Increase font size just one click and the layout breaks. What do you do with those who surf the web with the browser window over-riding the font size set by the designer?
An article at Autistic Cuckoo lays it out: Relatively Absolute. It’s worth a study. Keep in mind it’s dated, and one of the bugs it mentions in IE6 and Opera 8 have been fixed in versions 7 and 9 respectively. However, there are plenty of people still using IE6, and I’m not ready to recommend installing IE7 anywhere yet.
So, read the article and let me know what you think.
7November2006
Posted by Gary K under: Web design.
Sometimes we want to reinvent the wheel. If you’re a “coder,” meaning that you write code and enjoy writing code, couldn’t see yourself doing anything but writing code, then you might like to start from scratch every time you want to implement something new on your website. Creating a clean program from nothing is very rewarding. If you have the knack for it, you might have little use for the PHP Junkyard.
But I do.
The nice thing about the junkyard is that there’s enough to play around with. And, even after you download one of the many free applications on the site, there’s still a lot of coding that needs to be done. That’s enough to satisfy the geek in all of us.
Nice site. Stop by and shop around.
4November2006
Posted by Gary K under: Computer hardware; Operating Systems; Windows.
Have you ever forgotten licensing information for a piece of software, or stumbled when you had to call tech. support for an item on you PC? There is a free utility from BeLarc that builds a detailed profile of your installed software and hardware, missing Microsoft hotfixes, anti-virus status, CIS (Center for Internet Security) benchmarks, and displays the results in your Web browser. All of your PC profile information is kept private on your PC and is not sent to any web server.
It’s a simple tool to install. Print the information from the screen, and, just in case you have a system melt-down, you’ll have all the information you need when you take your PC to the doctor.
3November2006
Posted by Gary K under: Education; Web design.
If you are surfing the Internet using DSL or a cable connection, you may forget the days of dial-up connections. Did you ever surf the internet using a 24K modem? 12K? There are still plenty of users surfing the web with 56K modems, although the numbers are dropping.
A recent PEW report from May 2006 indicates:
Adoption of high-speed internet at home grew twice as fast in the year prior to March 2006 than in the same time frame from 2004 to 2005. Middle-income Americans accounted for much of the increase, along with African Americans and new internet users coming online with broadband at home. At the end of March 2006, 42% of Americans had high-speed at home, up from 30% in March 2005, or a 40% increase. And 48 million Americans — mostly those with high-speed at home — have posted content to the internet.
But 42% of Americans with high-speed internet at home leaves 58% without, and with a population of more than 300 million, that leaves a lot of people still sitting at home watching images load slowly on their machines. We literally can’t afford to forget them.
There is a very nice tool that analyzes web pages, calculate page size, composition, and download time. The script calculates the size of individual elements and sums up each type of web page component. Based on these page characteristics the script then offers advice on how to improve page load time. Web Page Analyzer is worth the time to diagnose your site. Especially if your surfing fast.