by-expression blog

Crossover Mac

The folks over at Codeweavers.com promised if gas prices dropped below $2.79 in their metro area they would give away their software for free for one day.

Well, today is the day so if you have a Mac or a Linux machine you world like to run windows programs or games on without installing Windows in a dual boot or critical machine go to http://codeweavers.com/ and download Your choice of Crossover Mac or Crossover Linux. You can also get the version that lets you play games.

I got my copy for my MacBook Thank you for your law duck over!

Vision

No, in this case I'm not talking about the sort of vision one need to create a great web page but the everyday what you see out of your eyes. Almost 20 years ago I had surgery on my eyes which was one of greatest changes in my life. Before the surgery I would get massive headaches if I wasn't wearing contact lenses because the vision in my eyes was too far apart. The left eye prescription was -8.5 in contacts while the right was -4.25. To put those numbers in perspective my "good" eye was approximately 20/400 and legally blind is 20/200. With contact lenses my vision was correctable to roughly 20/30 however with glasses about the best I could get was 20/50 and usually had a nasty headache due to the differences between the lenses on each side of the glasses.

After surgery I had 20/25 in my good eye and 20/30 in the "bad" one. Everything was great for many years but eye surgery doesn't prevent your eyes from aging naturally as mine have.  My eyes have somewhat reversed themselves so that what was "good" eye now is significantly less sharp than the other" so the headaches have been coming back. My eye surgeon is that my eyes are healthy and a good candidate for a "touch-up" and there have been quite a few advances in the last 20 years. So unlike 20 years ago when I return home later today while my eyes will be somewhat light sensitive I won't have a patch over my eyes and should be able to see better than when I walk in for the surgery in approximately two hours. Also, unlike last time where reading or using a computer was restricted for a week I am only "banned" from using a computer for 36 hours. I may actually try to go the whole weekend without using the computer so see you next week.

Q & A Livemeeting

Well we had our first test of using Livemeeting for a question and answer session. Seems when I posted the link here it was the "presenters" link so everyone attending was a presenter which made things interesting. For those of you who asked if we would be recording it the answer is "I tried" but most of the recording is black, sigh.

I did save the whiteboard with links and some notes on what sort to topics we should consider for future live meetings which I will cleanup so they are readable since some used the drawing tools before discovering the typing tool option. I'll post those over in the forum so you can comment or add to the links and topics if you choose.

For those of you who missed it we talked about workflow, how to use css better and some shortcut ways of doing things that might not be as easily discovered as you would hope. Anyway, we'll try it again sometime in the future after my new computer arrives since it is pretty clear that Livemeeting doesn't like the screen resolution or video card in this tablet. Hopefully, we will see you then.

MS Expression Forums & Safari

Okay, I know there aren't that many people using a Mac in the MS Expression Web forum but there are a few who are using Expression Web using Parallels, VMware Fusion or Bootcamp, and there certainly must be a fair number of Mac users in the Expression Media section since it is the only program in the suite that comes in a Mac native version but there really is no excuse for tread previewing not to work in Safari.

Like most good front-end web developers and designer I test my sites on the major browsers on both a Mac and  a PC. I'm sitting here typing on my MacBook and went to check this forum only to discover that the thread preview arrow doesn't work in Safari.

Come on Microsoft, as the company that sells one of the most popular applications for the Mac (Office for Mac) doesn't make their forum software fully Mac compatible, especially when one of the programs the forum supports is a Mac native program? Especially, when the primary selling point of Expression Web and Silverlight is that they are cross platform web standard.

While you are at it how about:

Improving the speed of the forum?

Fixing login issues, where you type a reply hit submit and get logged out (okay it is only occasionally but it should never happen.)

Add the ability to do everything in the Ajax preview/reply that you can do if you open separate threads to reply.

Fix the "notify" option so it actually notifies you to changes to the thread selected AND doesn't cause the submit button to fail 50% of the time.

Speaking of submit button failures when notify of changes is selected, why does that cause the post to appear not to post or even throw an error that says it was not submitted yet result in multiple posts of the same response?

I could go on about the problems with the Expression Web forums but I think I'll stop now beyond asking why in the world Microsoft changed the url so that it now starts with "social" http://social.expression.microsoft.com:80/Forums/en-US/web/threads/ 

When I want to be social I call friends, go out to dance, to a pub, to dinner, out for a spin on my Vespa or if I want to be social on the web I'll go over to Twitter [http://twitter.com/cdwise] or Facebook or one of the other social networks and check in with friends across the net. I won't go to a technical forum, sigh. 

 Update: after running software update on my MacBook the dropdowns are now working. I also cleared my browser cache. Worder if this is another Forum-javascript-cacke issue or if the probelm will depend on which version of Safari you are running on your Mac?

Live Meeting- Expression Web Q & A

Not long ago I obtained a Microsoft Live Meeting account but I have not yet had time to really learn how to learn how to use it. On more than one occasion I have discussed with Pat Geary and Tina Clarke the idea of hosting a Live Meeting where people can ask questions and get answers in real time.

So we would like to invite you to join a live question and answers session on Expression Web, this is a beta Q & A Session using Microsoft Live Meeting. If you have not attended a live meeting before you will need to arrive early and install the live meeting software if you wish to be able to ask questions using a headset or microphone attached to your computer. Note we strongly suggest that you use a headset and mute your microphone when you are not asking a question to avoid feedback from your computer speakers.
If you choose to use the web client you will be limited to typing your questions.
Note this live conference will be limited to a maximum of 50 attendees so I would recommend getting the software and installing it before the meeting starts to make sure you get a seat.

Note that if you use the link more than 15 minutes before the meeting you are unlikely to find anyone there.

When: Thursday, October 23, 2008 10 am Central Daylight Time
Where: Join the meeting. no more than 30 minutes before the meeting starts

Computer Audio
To use computer audio, you need speakers or a headset. We request that you do not use a microphone unless it is part of a headset to avoid feedback into the system.
First Time Users:
To save time before the meeting, check your system to make sure it is ready to use Microsoft Office Live Meeting.
Troubleshooting
Unable to join the meeting? Follow these steps:

1. Copy this address and paste it into your web browser:
https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/mvp/join?id=P4DM2R&role=attend&pw=7%3A%21dsD-qH

2. Copy and paste the required information:
Meeting ID: P4DM2R
Entry Code: 7:!dsD-qH
Location: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/mvp

If you still cannot enter the meeting, contact support

Notice
Microsoft Office Live Meeting can be used to record meetings. By participating in this meeting, you agree that your communications may be monitored or recorded at any time during the meeting.

Workflow Evolution

I don't know about you but I have a tendency to form workflow habits for each program I use that I carry over from one version of a program to another. True there well be same changes as I discover new features but sometimes I well miss out on a better workflow because sticking with my ingrained workflow causes me to miss how a new feature could improve my workflow.

I have been playing with the Dreamweaver CS4 beta and realized that the time has come to rethink the workflow I use when working in Dreamweaver. Part of the reason is clear to anyone who has downloaded and tried out the publics beta from http://labs.adobe.com . (Note to use for more than one day you need to generate an install key which requires the key from any CS program.)

The new Live View and massive changes to the CSS tools clearly call for a new workflow. Smaller changes like splitting the Property Inspector into two views, HTML and CSS, might  or night not have causal me to re-evaluate my workflow but the combination of new features and changes to the interface are forcing a workflow review. (Personally I really wish they had not gone to the black interface far too hard to read in my opinion, I've changed the Expression Web interface to blue instead of the default black for be same reason.)

The Challenge of Change

You would think that those of us who work in the fast changing world of the web would be constantly adapting my our workflow as the web changes but in many cases even though we expand our repertoire of skills our fundamental workflow changes little.

Instead we shoehorn into our existing workflow. Where we would once have dragged out a code snippet for reuse we now pop a jQuery, YUI or Moo tools library into our site and use it just like we would a piece of code we created for reuse stored in the snippets panel. After all few of us have the luxury of setting down and thoroughly exploring all paths and features available in the software we use daily.

I remember once hearing that most of the feature requests Microsoft gets for Word were already there just not discovered by the user making the request. I know that there are things in any program I use that would improve my workflow if I just spent the time exploring menus I have never look at but like most people my time is limited. Plus familiarity with parts I use all the time of a program tends to keep me in my comfort zone.

So just how do you go about changing well established habits?

Books: Get a good book on the subject but if you are anything like me you will adapt a ignore the book's workflow and use your own. If you do get a book make sure you do the exercises as prescribed if you are trying  to improve your workflow.

Live events: Go to events sponsored by software vendor. Many launch events are good for this if try have breakout sessions. Attend industry conferences whether sponsored by one company like Adobe MAX or Microsoft MIX or events like South  x Southwest and Webmaster Jam Session. You may be fortunate enough  to have a user group for web design, web development or a local Refresh group in your area. Attend the meetings, get involved.

Reworded events: If there are no live in-person events near you many of the launches are recorded and available as Webcasts.

Webcasts:-Such as Adobe TV, Channel 9 (Microsoft) though many of these are more marketing oriented bit there are many thus will help you learn how to use their program effectively.

Training videos: These can be free or paid. For example I have several free training videos on by-expression.com  but this blog post was inspired by watching the Dreamweaver CS4 ideas on lynda.com (note other than as a satisfied user I have no affiliation with Lynda.com but as an Adobe Community Expert for Dreamweaver I can provides you an user group discount code for Lynda.com training use the  the lynda.com user group partner logo link for more info.

Attend classes: ones with instructors available to answer your questions. These can be live in person such as through a training center ($$$) usually up to date but tend to stile to the vendor prescribed curriculum. Community college classes, just make sure they one teaching a modern standards based curriculum too many are stuck in slice and dice tables of last century. Online classes such as chose we offer at Start to Web or the HTML Writer's Guild. As someone who has both taken classes

and taught them online I am constantly amazed at the people who pay for a class yet don't post a single word during the entire class. If you take a class - DO YOUR ASSIGNMENTS - ask questions and participate. You have no idea what it is like to be an instructor and have students who paid money to take the class not participate.

Time for me to shake up and improve my workflow. I will be doing that with Jim Babbage's new Fireworks CS4 book, watching videos and attending conferences.

Milan or San Francisco - Adobe MAX

Even though I have taken the year off from speaking at conferences and events after talking with my partner it looks like I will be able to go to Adobe MAX this year. I've never been to MAX but heard lots of stories about what I was missing. (Seems plenty of folks can't resist putting up video over on youtube either)  Not only will there be great activities Adobe will also be showing off all the new stuff in CS 4. (If you tried the Dreamweaver CS 4 and Fireworks CS 4 betas available on Adobe Labs you know about the exciting changes to those programs.) Heck, I've used the betas and still don't know all there is to know about the two programs that concern me most so I want to learn more.

Okay, so now I have to choose which MAX to attend.

My first thought was San Francisco, November 16-19 here I come. After all I live in the US and Adobe headquarters is just down a short drive south of San Francisco in San Jose so naturally that is the first of the three locations I considered. I check airfare and hotel, decided that in San Francisco getting a car would be a waste (BART means you don't really need one to get in from the airport and San Francisco is a walking city) and while I haven't been there all that often it is easy to get around in. So off to the travel sites to look at airfare and hotels.

Then today on a whim I though I'd check those same travel sites  just to see how much more it would cost me to go to Milan instead (after all I haven't been to Milan in years since I was at university) image my surprise when I discovered that the costs were almost the same - within $100. Oh dear, I love European travel and here's a great excuse to hop on a flight to Italy. Heck, even the dates, December 1-4, fit my schedule slightly better than the San Francisco MAX. 

So what should I do? Go to San Francisco where I will know more people, be assured that all the sessions I would want to attend would be held in a language I understand (my Italian is of the tourist variety - food, hotels, transportation - not design or technical at all) or go to Milan and expand my horizons (after checking that there will be session in English) and enjoying the lovely food and atmosphere if being in Italy while I recover from jet lag  a couple of days before MAX begins.

Decisions

What should it be San Francisco or Milan?

Test Your HTML Knowledge

Molly tweeted about how well she did on the HTML quiz missing only two HTML4 elements. So I decided to try it the other day and ended up with 20 elements I couldn't name.

I waited a couple of days and tried it again to get:

So I remembered 10 more two days after looking at the list of my "missed" items. In case you are curious the ones I missed today were:

DFN, FORM, INS, ISINDEX, KBD, OPTION, SAMP, SELECT, TT, VAR

Yeah, I know I should hang my head in shame at missing <form> but I got it right along with option and select the first time. Too busy trying to remember the stuff that I never really used. Missed the first time were:

AREA, BASEFONT, BDO, BIG, DEL, DIF, DIR, INS, ISINDEX, KBD, MAP, MENU, PARAM, SAMP, SMALL, STRIKE, SUB, SUP, TT,  VAR

I will admit that there were a few I got more or less because I was typing another element such as: B, I, S and U.

XMALFest

Friday and Saturday I was over in Atlanta for Webmaster Jam and today I'm sitting at the Microsoft office back home in Houston for XAMLFest. Talk about different types of events.

Last week it was all about design and front-end developement. Today it is about creating WPF/Silverlight where almost everyone in the room is a developer - specifically a dotnet developer.

True to form the morning starts off with Visual Studio and code. The second session moved into some of the vision behind WPF. I think the two might should have ben reversed but given the primarily asp.net development background of the majority the order is probably correct.

One thread that was in common in both presentations was that while you can do "programmatically" using dotnet (C# or VB.net)  that in most cases it is better to use lookless controls  so that the person with graphics skills (aka a designer) can control the display. It was a pleasant change from most of the developer oriented training I have attended from Microsoft where putting presentation elements into the c# or vb.net is a given. Congratulations to Microsoft, they are starting to get it.

Sitting in a Microsoft event and seeing slides on Typography and a discussion of kerning. Scalable interfaces with portrait orientation tablet pc specifically mentioned, discussion of benefits of vector graphics with transforms and effects (brushes). I feeling slightly disoriented since this is so unlike any MS developer event I have ever attended. Amazing and vey welcoming. Gotta pay attention now and quit typing here.

Microsoft Article on Migrating to Standards

Yesterday on the Microsoft Expression Web Team Blog something that reads closer to  what I consider article or possibly a tutorial on migrating from legacy code to web standards.

I am going to start by saying I do not like blogs as a publishing media for articles and tutorials from software vendors. One reason I prefer tutorials to be in articles on a section of a site is that blog entries wd off andcan be more difficult * discover. Another reason is that typically articles include more screenshots and detailed instructions.To my mind this article starts off fairly well in explaining what a doctype in and why your should use one.

From there I find the rest of the explanations to be on the sparse almost shorthand which is would be difficult to follow for someone who is truly new to web standards, secmantic monk-up and css.

Take a look and let we know if you agree with me or not.

smash_it for Fireworks

Here at Webmaster Jam Chris Heilmann showed this lovely Firefox extension smush-it.com that will optimize images on any web page. It does not change image quality but reduces file size by taking out the information a camera, or graphics editor adds to images for its own use. Kewl, the first new tool I will add from this conference.