Jack Baty - the archives

Years of jackbaty.com - archived

PHPetal 0.6

I know I said I was no longer going to work on PHPetal.

I lied.

In response to overwhelming demand (which means I wanted something),

PHPetal now features editing of existing weblog posts.

    • Added ability to edit past posts!
    • Added toolbar
    • Abstracted all HTML generation into separate functions
    • A separate configuration file can be used
    • Added header with PHPetal logo
    • Increased size of title field
    • Size of body field is configurable
    • Story date is always displayed in date field. This makes it

easier to modify and reduces errors.

Download it here

Slewpop Reboot

It’s no suprise to anyone that I love RSS Aggregators. One of

the reasons is that some weblogs are only posted to rarely, and it’s

not easy remembering to check in and find out when something has been

updated. Such is the case with Steve’s Slewpop. His most recent

entry is simply a note that says he’s “rebooting” slewpop and bringing

it back more focused, although he doesn’t say on what he intends to

focus. While a great idea, especially if you know Steve, it made me

think about weblogs and focus in general. Do blogs need focus? I’d

like to think that they don’t - they only need to be interesting. This

is assuming that the blogger gives a shit about his readers. Many

don’t, and that’s okay too. I read some blogs that are all over the

map. But they’re fun to read. Others are focused and I learn quite a

lot because of it. Some are both.

It boils down to voice. If people like your voice, they’ll ready you. If

not, they’ll find something else to read. Personally, I love it that

some folks enjoy reading this weblog, but if others don’t, so be it. I

hope Steve finds his voice.

KNOPPIX Install

Knoppix is

a very complete Linux distribution which runs entirely from a CD. It

does a great job of detecting hardware and comes configured to run

KDE. Just put in the CD, reboot and you’re running Linux with all

sorts of software to play with. It never touches your hard drive, so

when you’re finished, just remove the CD, reboot and you’re back to

using boring old Windows. But did you know you can also install it

directly from the CD to your hard drive? I was trying to install

Debian 3 on an older PC at my house and it was having trouble running

KDE and the sound card wouldn’t work. With nothing to lose, I popped

in Knoppix 3.2, typed /usr/bin/kpx-hdinstall and followed the

instructions. In no time I just rebooted into a working Debian Linux

system. It detected all of my hardware just fine. Nice.

Working With a Designer

Daniel Will-Harris writes a great piece about working with a designer. It nicely describes how a client should manage it’s relationship to a design firm.

  1. Choose your designer carefully

  2. Leave your preconceived notions at the door

  3. Tell your designer what you want to say rather than how you want it to look

  4. Be clear about specific features you need

  5. Do your research and be specific about your needs

  6. Make sure your message and content are clear

  7. Design for your customer, not yourself, your friends or your colleagues

  8. Have good reasons for your preferences

  9. Don’t design by committee

  10. Don’t tell your designer how to design

li>You can’t please all the people all the time

  1. Trust your designer

Blogstop

Blogstop: “The last word from the latest post is up for grabs. It’s the acronym for the next.”

It’s fun.

This Is Zara

zara

This is also not my dog - technically. Mary left for Ireland the day after

Zara was brought home from the breeder. What could I do but volunteer to

take care of her. She’s not housebroken, she chews everything, and she

kept me up all night for a week (Zara, not Mary.) I also couldn’t help

falling in love with the little monster.

Useit: Information Foraging

The latest alertbox, [: Information

Foraging: Why Google Makes People Leave Your Site Faster](//www.useit.com/alertbox/20030630.html), claims

that “Information foraging is the most important concept to emerge

from Human-Computer Interaction research since 1993.”

And correctly, in my opinion, states that “…it’s healthy to remember

that users are selfish, lazy, and ruthless in applying their

cost-benefit analyses.”

Changes in PHP 5/Zend Engine 2.0

Since PHP 5 beta 1 is out, now might be a good time to review the long

and interesting [list of

new features](http://www.php.net/zend-engine-2.php).

Tom Robbins at It Again

“It has been reported that Tanuki fell from the sky using his scrotum as a parachute.”

So begins Tom Robbins’ new novel, Villa Incognito. My first thought was, “Here we go again!” which is a very good thing.