NoviceNotes™ Partner Page on Google!

It’s no secret that the World Wide Web has grown by leaps and bounds, and unlike it’s first decade, has grown in a more structured manner, led by what– through the boom of social-this-and-that, web-too-point-widgets for thing-ah-mash-jig, feeds in syndication and web-services as enhancements available to existing applications, whether PHP or ASP.NET, pioneering with Python or the resurrection of the tome of JavaScript, like a religion having so many new-wave converts– we might agree, although these changes are ubiquitously pervasive on the realm of public, enterprise, educational, and beyond, seems nevertheless to have been driven largely by a few big names which date back to the earliest days of the Web, with the exception of Google perhaps. Take for example, the YUI, the Google Web Toolkit, and other popular, so-called Web 2.0 site builder frameworks, templates (whichever rhetoric best fits your own experience), the ability to create a portal which is both credible and functional, yet may be individually branded by any organization, idividual, or for example, as the NoviceNotes™ Partner Page on Google, is a phenomenon so new, yet so rapidly changing it is enough to make one’s head spin, literally!

On that note– of head-spinning– a few months ago, I created a Google Parter Page, which is essentially like any individual Google-Account-Holder’s “Google.com/IG”, or iGoogle™ page (the personal home page, which can be customized by any google account holder, visible by a user if he or she is logged into any Google application [such as G-Mail, Picasaweb, Google Maps, etc], by following www.google.com/ig ).

The NoviceNotes™ Partner Page on Google® is just a little something (available at the URL, below) which I threw together in a few minutes of pointing-and-clicking, dragging and dropping, what appeared to be (at the time) some very impressive, useful little gadgets, widgets, feeds, etc., all on the subject of Web Application Development, and WebSite Design for Integration with Web Services (SOA), etc.

I could sit here and try to describe it all day, but it’s best to just check this out! Enjoy:
http://apps.novicenotes.com

Your feedback is welcome– rather– greatly encouraged for this one. I’d really like to know what you think about how something like this; like what is becoming available through so many web services solutions, might be further integrated into NoviceNotes™, that NoviceNotes™ itself could become, for you, a more finely tailored web services-reference, and web application development-resource, such that the idea of visiting NoviceNotes™ means visiting a really useful culmination of practical, not just for the sake of mashing-it-up, but real, practical tools to be used during the learning process. Again, give me your feedback. Let’s talk about it, and see how– together– we might make something really great of this. I’ll be waiting by the phone. :-)

09/22/08 | Web Development - Novice Notes | Trackback | No Comments »

jEdit – Word Wrap Icon

Intended Audience:

O/S: Microsoft Windows™, Linux [most] distributions, Mac, and others
Experience: Beginner – Advanced; Everyone
Note: In this context, a “beginner” is any User who is new to Web Design / Web Development, and software commonly used in the practice thereof.

Incl.:
6 img: sizes
1 txt: readme

Word wrap Icon - various sizes
Toolbar Icon: Word wrap

Download Options:

Emancipated by Design :
Software Developed for You

JEdit is a Platform Independent desktop application– that is, jEdit is in a growing class of software which is developed to run on any user’s computer– regardless of the O/S, or Operating System. jEdit is available for no cost at Sourceforge.net . I created this icon because I now use the Tango icon theme in jEdit– a remarkable improvement on the appearance of the editor, in my opinion. (Tango has been available as a native Look and Feel option since jEdit 4.3.14)

:-)

08/28/08 | Entertainment - Software | Trackback | No Comments »

W3C Specification

A Closer Look at W3C Technical Reports and Publications:

Part One view [+]

Standard Frustration

Web Design & Web Application Development + …

In the context of Web Design and Web Development standards, there is one prevailing source of confusion; one primary element responsible for blowing the minds of beginners, and without prejudice for seasoned professionals, that their disagreement upon its proper interpretation should perpetuate the elusive quality of its very definition. Depending upon the media context (e.g. html, xml, rss, microformats, etc.), it may be as tangible to grasp in the palm an idea yet to fully manifest amongst a group of intellectuals engaged in brainstorming– this element (which, I admit, I’m terribly beating ’round the bush to cite) has already been guessed by some readers, and by anyone less patient with my ruse, I must do right now to disclose that it is a document (or body of documents, and drafts) authored by the globally recognized authority on web media; the entity known as the World Wide Web Consortium (aka. the W3C).

The W3C publication† is that element which– often referenced, perhaps less-often truly studied– has been (and likely, will continue to be) the source of misunderstanding, error, difficulty, frustration, and other problems: from a simple disagreement between two users in discussion over the CSS display property, inline-block, to errors in judgement by a professional web author resulting in a grossly distorted rendering of his or her design. Misinterpretation of the guidelines set forth by a published Recommendation (that is, an “official Recommendation”; the publically available document, or draft, designed to establish industry-wide conformance; a set of guidelines, recognized by industry leaders as the Standard by which new products must comply; a working draft, though never to be cited as a Standard Recommendation, may be regarded in general as the most eligible candidate for a standard, forthcoming), or likewise, a proper interpretation continuing to another extreme which may surface as a bug in the latest release of your favourite web browser software– should that software render a miscalculation of the Standard, or as suggested at the start of this article– the prevailing element of confusion of the WWW.

Elemental Dynamic Noise

The W3C Recommendation is that element. It is generally referenced by the community at large when the phrase Web Standards is tossed about, but it is more accurate to differentiate: only the various media listed under the W3C Technical Reports and Publications should be termed a “Web Standard” ; only those communication media, some of which are far from practical use by the general public, and yet unknown to you or I, but for which there exists a W3C Standard Recommendation should be referenced as a Web Standard.

It is that standard element– the W3C Technical Recommendation which, has either caused frustration for the html author wishing to “author valid html markup in compliance with web standards”, as he or she has followed the W3C Recommendation from the start of a project– or, for as many existing documents which became a part of so many revised web sites, the source-code would be painstakingly rewritten so that any formerly invalid markup would eventually comply (i.e. would pass the W3C SGML parser for markup validation).

†The rhetoric used here does take for granted that the reader is aware of the following: though there are many W3C publications, to properly follow the Standard, only one Standard should be followed by a web author for any given project, or instance of a web document, hence the use of the singular, element here, which I’ve attempted to analogize with the concept of a singular standard.

This is the Standard of Excellence

Let the reader make no mistake about the validity of the W3C, its contributions, and the Technical Recommendations; that, whether Web Standards have been the source of confusion or not– it is nevertheless proper to follow those standards, if the technology is to grow and maintain its current role as prosperous element of civilization.

For those who have been familiar with the W3C Recommendations, I suspect that they might agree: it is not enough simply to be known as a W3C publication for such a document to achieve global acceptance, but only those documents which have been passed through various levels of revision, ultimately to become the Standard, which will carry the highly regarded, unique label of Recommendation (e.g. the HTML 4.01 Specification became a Recommendation in 1999)

Part Two view [+]

So Many Specs. So Little Time.

The web development community tends to pass around questions like “…are they ever going to approve ____ ?…”, while others rejoice when a software vendor announces support for one of the pending Specification while its still in draft, or the candidate recommendation state, such as the recent milestone upgrade released by Mozilla, in Firefox 3, and not surprisingly, a little earlier by Opera Software ASA, when we saw Opera 9.2 debut html page rendering support for CSS3. Though it is not yet an official Standard Recommendation (in fact, even CSS 2.1 has yet to achieve that level of support), it’s exciting to witness the potential being breathed into our primary web medium, HTML and CSS, by software engineering genius of companies like Opera and Mozilla: when the text-shadow property sprang to life in Opera 9.2, or the rgba(red, green, blue, alpha); colorspace support so elegantly rendered by Gecko 1.9 in Firefox 3. One might say it seems we have far to go before CSS3 is a reality, in W3C Specification terms, and yet these properties are already showing up in stylesheets across the web, not just being used by font fanatics and typography enthusiasts, but those of us who are more driven by the purpose of staying up-to-date in daily practice, not to mention those who just enjoy playing with the newest toys.

How long till we see a browser which will claim to support HTML 5, giving web developers the opportunity to code for that forthcoming standard? In this marginal epoch, such little time having passed from the release of a Working Draft, for you or I to make predictions concerning the status of the HTML 5 Standard would hardly be quite reasonable. Instead of trying to see beyond our scope, perhaps a more sensible direction to focus energy in the meantime will require a turnabout, toward a retrospective insight: the reader is advised to review the index of W3C Technical Reports and Publications, Configurable Views (note the various criteria made optional for sorting the TR Index).

Think for Yourself. Question Authority.

What is there to gain by looking at a rather unexciting list of Specification documents? Furthermore, what is the motivation for the W3C to offer various ways of sorting the several documents, otherwise known as the TR, or Technical Recommendations– the ubiquitous W3C Standards– the same standard benchmark referenced in HTML Validation software, the pass/ fail test fussed over by so many Web Standards conscious developers, as they test their own work for valid XML / SGML markup (i.e. semantically well-formed code for the world wide web)? (Note: these are, of course, the very specs by which the term Web Standards is able to exist)

Consider the status of a document as it passes through various, structured versions; official updates, as authored, reviewed, and edited by contributing members of the World Wide Web Consortium, where Recommendations are the Standard, and a Working Draft is the first recognized version of a forthcoming Standard:

  • Recommendations
  • Proposed Recommendations
  • Proposed Edited Recommendations
  • Candidate Recommendations
  • Working Drafts

In observation of these various levels, because of its wide use, and that I author this text consider the status of the CSS 2.0 Recommendation, and that of CSS 2.1 which appended some minor changes which basically enhance the existing specification.

If the reader would like to have a better understanding of W3C Specification time-lines, I urge you to review the W3C Technical Reports, and find the answers to the following questions. Good luck!

  • When did the CSS 2.0 spec become an official W3C Recommendation?
  • When was CSS 2.1 passed on from its status as a Working Draft to become a Candidate Recommendation?
  • What is the current status of the CSS 2.1 Specification?


W3C Technical Reports and Publications, the Index. Available at http://www.w3.org/TR/ . Last Accessed: 2008-08-17

07/13/08 | Web Development - Novice Notes | Trackback | No Comments »

HTML 5: the Fate of Style, Decided?

If you are in the habit of authoring valid, forward compatible hypertext markup, then you have probably heard rumors that the HTML element attribute style=“ ”, may be deprecated in HTML 5. The style=“ ” attribute is a valid attribute of HTML 4.01 and XHTML 1.0, and according to the HTML 5 draft in progress, style="" will maintain its place as a valid HTML 5 element attribute as well. However, the reader must take into consideration that HTML 5 is a long way from being the Recommendation by which web browser vendors will design; are designing new prototypes which will some day implement the new standard.

More information about changes to come in HTML 5 is available at the current non-normative, W3C HTML 5 Working Draft

Non-Normative Resources & the Value of Credibility

When reading a W3C† draft, one might notice in the document text, styled in bold type, enclosed in attention-grabbing borders, and in multiple instances near the page head, the sidebar or the footer of each page, that the Authors want everyone to know immediately that the document is a working draft. The W3C uses the term non-normative in reference to their draft documents.
The web development community knows these documents well, but perhaps more commonly referenced, or cited outside of the document itself, is a W3C Recommendation; a working draft which has been submitted for review, has been accepted to be passed on as a Candidate for Recommendation, and finally passed on to become the normative document, as a Standard Recommendation.

The URL above is the HTML 5 Working Draft. While it is written by members of the authoritative entity commonly known as the W3C, and reviewed by other significant contributing bodies, outside sources (such as NoviceNotes) should not reproduce the content because by nature, as a non-normative reference, it is subject to change.

Why might the W3C wish to label their Recommendations, so conspicuously, as non-normative documents? I present the following list, so the reader might consider these issues when he or she makes a decision to copy, or reference material from a W3C working draft.

  • In comparison to those that they label as a non-normative Working Draft, the W3C grants license to reproduce parts of the normative Standards, such as CSS 2.0 (vs CSS 2.1)
  • The content is subject to change, at any time rendering reproduced text invalid
  • Any reproduction of draft material is potentially a misrepresentation of the original author, and the revised text
  • Within the context of scholarly, technical data, what opinion might the reader develop concerning the credibility of a resource which would reproduce draft material?

†The Word Wide Web Consortium – Available at http://www.w3.org

07/08/08 | Web Development - Novice Notes | Trackback | No Comments »

Create Icon-Size Images. Export .ICO Format.

[ note: the following article is incomplete ]
Intended Audience:
  • O/S: Microsoft Windows™
  • Experience: No special experience required.
  • Software: Examples use freeware. Other software is indicated.

Note: Experience, though indicated above to describe a recommended audience, must not be misunderstood to imply an exclusive purpose for the resource. The classification is provided to express the author’s expectation regarding what the article has to offer, in very general terms, to give readers an idea about the depth of the study.

Why our Love Grows for Some Things Soft

Not every Desktop Application is the same. To say so is, no doubt, a statement of the obvious. Allow me to clarify. Of course not all Software is the same! Reflect, however, upon the notion that I’ve purposefully written such an ambiguous statement to excite the reader’s thoughts for whatever is on her mind as a pleasing, preferred attribute of some software she likes, or a thought of frustration for some software which perhaps has become the bane of his existence, as he trys, with great struggle, to get out of it what he so desires. Indeed, not every software is the same, and the NoviceNotes™ audience being a specific sort as well, I trust that each of you have quite a unique handful of Desktop Applications for which you’re proud to show your affinity, and likewise in the other hand, your disdain.

Go Ahead… Make it your Own!

I expect that the reader has probably installed, in his or her time as a web developer, some software which allows the user to customize its Interface in some way (as would be to rearrange the components of a toolbar, a feature probably familiar to you if you’ve used MS Office®). A software program may even target the creative-minded user by highlighting a proclivity for UI(4) customization– even encouraging users to do so, as a core element on which relies the very separation of that product as arguably superior to its counterparts.

The idea of user interface customization will differ, depending upon both the program itself, as well as the user. Have you ever downloaded a custom “skin”, or theme for your O/S, your web browser, or your media player? If so, then you’ve engaged in the sort of customization which is the primary focus of this article. Although “How to create a Skin (or make a custom theme) for _Name_of_Software_here_ ” is beyond the scope of what I wish to discuss, I must not exclude, however, at least one element of that concept. Somewhere in between engaging in a full-blown software skinning project, and being satisfied with the default appearance of our software, lies the practice of creating a custom functionality for the software, and adding it to the User Interface using either a predetermined list of functions and icons, custom code and custom icons, or some combination thereof. The remainder of this article will offer recommendations meant to guide the user in his or her choice of customized UI

Applications which allow, offer, or encourage the user-customized interface, typically require that any image selected by the user must conform to a particular image format designated by that host application (usually identifyable by a preset file mask, if the software offers a facility for us to browse our resources for images, vs manually editing a .conf or .ini file for example). What do we do when we have a really nice icon which we’d like to use as a button for toggling the new function we’ve added, only to find that it will not integrate properly into the host software in its current state as an .ICO format? It is often at this point of image format preparation that our preferred image may in fact become a real obstacle in the completion of the custom button.

Don’t Stop Now!

Whether the intended custom button image is the product of several hours of creative design work, if it was downloaded from an artist’s distributed icon-pack (as in the famous, free-to-download, famfamfam Silk icons(1)), or even extracted from an .exe or .dll file to access existing app icons– we should be able to convert it into the proper format for compliance. We mustn’t let image file format problems be an obstacle, neither in our creative expression in web design, nor in customizing our desktop software with a new shortcut button, however– it is important that we know what to expect from the software we might use for image format conversion. Although many imaging software apps claim to produce the same results (according to options configuration, program settings, .ini files, documentation, etc.), I have recognized distinct differences in what is actually produced during, for example, a batch convert or an export-image to _new-format_ process.

Image Conversion Clinic:

I shall attempt to illustrate the various possibilities, and provide what I have found to be the best possible solution for a proper conversion. In each example, it should be understood that the emphasis is on 1.) the quality of the icon created, and 2.) leaving the alpha transparency intact in those images which are meant to blend with the background, wherever they are placed, because of transparent areas of the image itself.

Tell me about this Image:

“…is there no standard anymore?…” – Pantera

Apparently, there is no real Standard with which a [Windows] software application must comply, in terms of the icons used in its GUI(3). I see evidence of the lack thereof when extracting icons from different software resources– a task which usually requires a special icon extraction tool, such as IconsExtract, by Nirsoft. For example, although icon extraction software will produce results– sometimes hundreds of icons from a single executable binary resource (e.g. C:\programs\corporatemicro\software.exe) — I have found a handful of programs which will not cough-up any icons (but maybe a single image).

Before any effort is spent on format conversion, it is wise to determine first what sort of image file format is required by the host application, however such nformation is not always readily available: In order to determine what type of image format is compatible with our purpose, some amount of experimentation will likely be required. When in doubt, just try it out! If there is no visible image where you expected, you may have the wrong format, but don’t jump to any conclusions. Before resorting to an alternative image, or image format, first try restarting the software, double-checking file-paths, file names, etc.

.bmp – Bitmap
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing
.png – Portable Network Graphics
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing
.ico – Windows Icon File
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing
.xpm / .xbm – X Pixel Map / Bitmap
Neque porro quisquam est qui dolorem ipsum quia dolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit…
.svg – Scalable Vector Graphic
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing
.??? – Others ?
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing

Tell me about your Image Viewer


Image Viewer? Do you mean MS Paint™, or what?

Barring the most valued, detailed photo-retouching jobs which warrant the use of sophisticated, often high-priced digital imaging software, I’ve found a handful of freeware applications which are perfectly capable of producing satisfying results.

What is Freeware (or, similarly, postcardware), and how does it differ from the opposite (which, it is reasonable to assume, is not free)?

Part of working successfully with freeware, I believe, is to accept that– no matter how much we or the developers wish to believe otherwise, it is rather inconceivable for one person, or a small group of developers, to produce the same set of tools as is reasonable to expect from the development teams of the leading Software companies. Aside from enjoying an ample salary for their work, to have the luxury of assigning menial tasks to subordinates, as well as an upper-management team to guide their progress, the potential for greater productivity is probability that’s difficult to argue. However, there is a wealth of quality software available at no charge to you, and I recommend you download, and learn to use the following freeware applications the next time you face one of the tasks described below(2) .

FastStone Image Viewer
If you need an all-around image-viewer, with light editing capabilities, I highly recommend FSViewer.exe for Windows. My favourite part of FSViewer.exe is the Screen Capture Annotation possibilities it opens up for you. FastStone makes it very easy to place styled, custom text right on top of an existing image. I use this feature, more than daily, probably on the hour! If you look closely, you may find a beta-version available for download as well.
XnView
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing
IrfanView
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing
Imagine
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing
  1. At the time of writing, Silk icons are distributed in the .PNG format
  2. If you like what you get, and you are fortunate enough to do so, please consider donating to any freeware project which provides a legitimate facility for sending donations.
  3. Graphical User Interface
  4. User Iinterface

06/23/08 | Software - Web Development - Novice Notes | Trackback | No Comments »

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