No luck using Amazons new web based CloudPlayer on iOS. Wants me to use Internet Explorer. Really? Did Microsoft pay for that?
read more...
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Friday, March 11, 2011
Exclude Images From WordPress Gallery Display
I wrote this post yesterday which had several images as part of the content. One image was used in a different section of the post, but I wanted to group specific images together to highlight a point I was making.
WordPress adds all images uploaded during post creation to a Gallery. Once all the images have been uploaded, you can select the Gallery tab, and insert the gallery right into the post. However, I wanted to exclude one of the images. But there wasn't anything in the image manager that allowed me to exclude an image. (WordPress guys, please add this feature.)
No worries though, the WordPress Gallery is really short code, and the short code allows for parameters. In this case, I was able to add the exclude parameter with the ID of the image I didn't want in the Gallery, and whala, I was able to display what I wanted. You can get the ID of the image in the Library and hover over the image, you should see a value for attachment_id, make note of it. The short code lookes like this:
[ gallery exclude="123" ]
read more...
WordPress adds all images uploaded during post creation to a Gallery. Once all the images have been uploaded, you can select the Gallery tab, and insert the gallery right into the post. However, I wanted to exclude one of the images. But there wasn't anything in the image manager that allowed me to exclude an image. (WordPress guys, please add this feature.)
No worries though, the WordPress Gallery is really short code, and the short code allows for parameters. In this case, I was able to add the exclude parameter with the ID of the image I didn't want in the Gallery, and whala, I was able to display what I wanted. You can get the ID of the image in the Library and hover over the image, you should see a value for attachment_id, make note of it. The short code lookes like this:
[ gallery exclude="123" ]
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Simply Design Your Web Site
I visited the io9.com web site today, after getting there from an external link. I've visited this site before, and mostly read stories they publish via RSS. But today, when I landed on the home page, I was frozen. I had no idea what to do.
[gallery link="file" columns="2" orderby="ID" exclude="1556"]
read more...
Over the past several weeks I've been working on a project where the initial landing page needs to give the visitor enough information about the sites offering, and make it painlessly obvious what options are available. I consider myself an expert web browser, but I must admit when I landed on io9.com today, I had no idea what they wanted me to do.
Experimenting, redefining, shifting, and tossing, has shown us so much can be accomplished through simplicity. Using a sifting method, we have been able to remove the pieces of a web site that shift the focus from the message. Are the elements on your site changing the focus of your message. If they are, remove them, or add elements that speak to the message.
For example, looking at my site, I can see there are several elements that probably distract visitors from my message. Those are things in the side bar. Here are some things that could probably be removed. I wonder if I can find something that would let me track the effectiveness of these sidebar elements.
[gallery link="file" columns="2" orderby="ID" exclude="1556"]
Remember to "simply" design your website.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
First Use Of Amazon CloudFormation
Amazon recently release a new product called CloudFormation. It’s basically an automated build out of several Amazon AWS products, driven by a simple XML file.One of the templates offered out of the box is for a complete WordPress install. After following the wizard like instructions, I had a basic WordPress installation up and running in a matter of minutes.
I played with several WordPress settings, saved changes, added posts and pages, and even modified the theme.
Overall it was a painless experience. I downloaded the template XML so I could modify for future needs, and tuned the server off after about 4 hours. Total charges were around $3. Of course that’s with little data transfer.
One feature I haven’t been able to get working yet is WordPress MultiSite. I kept getting an error pointing to a location on the server that was throwing a 404 error. This could be a problem with a plugin. Further investigation is needed.
What I really liked was I could turn on a dev box for a demo or to work on a new site without having to setup a new web hosting. Not sure yet how feasible it would be to run the site 24/7, but for dev and test it would be great.
Required And Optional Function Parameters
I love using different programming languages. Whether it's C#, PHP, Python or Ruby on Rails, they each have their strengths, which makes finishing projects faster. Choose the best tool for the problem.
Today a project I'm working on required an additional parameter to a Javascript method that was already called in several files. In C# I could write an overload method
Use Overloading in C# versions below 4
[csharp]
public void MyFunctionA (int par1, int par2)
{
//some code
}
public void MyFunctionA (int par1, int par2, string par3)
{
//some code
}
[/csharp]
Use Default values in C# 4
[csharp]
public void MyFunctionA(int a, int b = 0)
{
//some code
}
[/csharp]
A solution I just found today is using named parameters with defaults
[csharp]
public void MyFunctionB(int par1, int par2,
string par3 = "test")
{
}
MyFunctionB(par1: 10, par2: 4);
MyFunctionB(par1: 10, par2: 4, par3: "My Test");
[/csharp]
One way to do it in PHP is through a default value function parameter. If nothing is passed into the function for that parameter, the default is used:
[php]
function myFunctionA ($par1, $par2 = "test") {
//some code
}
[/php]
And in because I'm just starting to learn Ruby on Rails, I wondered how it handled function defaults or overloads. This is what I found on StackOverflow. Pretty clean, and similar to PHP.
[ruby]
def hello_world(name, message="Hello World"):
print "name = "+name
print "message = "+message
[/ruby]
And finally to Javascript, the real piece I needed to solve. Javascript let's you create a method with no defined parameters, but gives you an array you can check for values. Here is an example:
[javascript]
function myFunctionA() {
alert(arguments[0]);
alert(arguments[1]);
}
[/javascript]
This Javascript option worked great for our needs. We were able to leave the code written originally, but allow new references to the function to add in a new parameter. I didn't want to have another method with duplicate code just to handle the one new parameter, and this seemed to be the best solution.
I'm sure some of you would solve it a different way, so please share.
Thanks to Noah Sparks for helping resolve this issue.
read more...
Today a project I'm working on required an additional parameter to a Javascript method that was already called in several files. In C# I could write an overload method
Use Overloading in C# versions below 4
[csharp]
public void MyFunctionA (int par1, int par2)
{
//some code
}
public void MyFunctionA (int par1, int par2, string par3)
{
//some code
}
[/csharp]
Use Default values in C# 4
[csharp]
public void MyFunctionA(int a, int b = 0)
{
//some code
}
[/csharp]
A solution I just found today is using named parameters with defaults
[csharp]
public void MyFunctionB(int par1, int par2,
string par3 = "test")
{
}
MyFunctionB(par1: 10, par2: 4);
MyFunctionB(par1: 10, par2: 4, par3: "My Test");
[/csharp]
One way to do it in PHP is through a default value function parameter. If nothing is passed into the function for that parameter, the default is used:
[php]
function myFunctionA ($par1, $par2 = "test") {
//some code
}
[/php]
And in because I'm just starting to learn Ruby on Rails, I wondered how it handled function defaults or overloads. This is what I found on StackOverflow. Pretty clean, and similar to PHP.
[ruby]
def hello_world(name, message="Hello World"):
print "name = "+name
print "message = "+message
[/ruby]
And finally to Javascript, the real piece I needed to solve. Javascript let's you create a method with no defined parameters, but gives you an array you can check for values. Here is an example:
[javascript]
function myFunctionA() {
alert(arguments[0]);
alert(arguments[1]);
}
[/javascript]
This Javascript option worked great for our needs. We were able to leave the code written originally, but allow new references to the function to add in a new parameter. I didn't want to have another method with duplicate code just to handle the one new parameter, and this seemed to be the best solution.
I'm sure some of you would solve it a different way, so please share.
Thanks to Noah Sparks for helping resolve this issue.
Friday, March 4, 2011
Tumblr Search Killed The Migration
After posting a few things on Tumblr the past few days, I noticed the Tumblr search is broken. At least on my site. Judge for yourself. This is a show stopper for me.
I posted something on my Tumblr site on Seth Goden's new book Poke the Box (Amazon affiliate link). A few hours later, I wanted to see what a user would find if they searched for the word 'book'. I assumed my Pose the Box entry would be at the top of the list. Not so.
read more...
I posted something on my Tumblr site on Seth Goden's new book Poke the Box (Amazon affiliate link). A few hours later, I wanted to see what a user would find if they searched for the word 'book'. I assumed my Pose the Box entry would be at the top of the list. Not so.
Before
After
4 Hot Social Gaming Trends to Watch
Link to article.
More than 18,000 interactive gaming industry pros came to San Francisco for the Game Developers’ Conference this week, an annual event that draws programmers, artists, producers, game designers, audio professionals, business decision-makers and anyone else involved in the development of interactive games.
read more...
More than 18,000 interactive gaming industry pros came to San Francisco for the Game Developers’ Conference this week, an annual event that draws programmers, artists, producers, game designers, audio professionals, business decision-makers and anyone else involved in the development of interactive games.
Book Review: Poke the Box
Stop whining. Stop making excuses. Stop worrying about failure. Stop stopping. In a nutshell, that's what I got out of Seth Godin's new book, Poke the Box. Seth is a great story teller. He's great at painting a picture you see yourself in, and then paints the alternative picture which he want's you to put yourself in. And this book is no different.One of my favorite lines in this book is, "Who's the VP of go?". Organizations have people in all levels of decision making, but no one is tasked specifically to make things go. Not to monitor, or measure, or adjust, but to make things go.
Seth also talkes about companies still opting for conformity in it's work force, over people who will ask questions and take initiative. It's funny to think that organizations still think this way, seeing how we haven't been an industrial nation for several generations. Today, education is delivered the same way it was 50 years ago, yet current and future generations aren't learning the same was as we did 50 years ago.
There is a lot of room for improvement on all levels. I like the entrepreneurial view of fail fast and fail often, It's what helps us see how to make improvements. This is a great book, has lot's of messages, and hopefully get's you thinking about how to start things, consistently. It's only 96 pages long, and it's really cheap. I got the Kindle version to save a tree.
Poke the Box (Amazon affiliate link).
Apple Announces iOS SDK 4.3 For Developers
Developers are getting iOS 4.3 a little early I guess, to make sure there apps run on the new OS. Fun times. http://bit.ly/g3Aimw
Get your apps ready for iOS 4.3 which features faster Safari mobile browsing performance with the Nitro JavaScript engine, iTunes Home Sharing, enhancements to AirPlay, and Personal Hotspot. Be sure to update your iPad apps so they take advantage of iPad 2 features including the powerful Apple A5 chip, built-in front and rear cameras, and gyroscope.
Cool feature of 4.3 - AirPlay: Stream video from your app to a widescreen TV using new Media Player APIs that support AirPlay video. You can also update your web content to support AirPlay.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Popup Video On Page Load
First let me say, there are probably a million ways to do this, and probably 99% of them are the right way, including my way.
Site: WordPress. The need: Pop up a video using Lighbox for a registered user. Record the video was shown to the user. Record in usermeta table. Don't show it again on subsequent visits. And lastly, make sure the video only plays on the Home page.
Works like a charm. The video pops up in a Lightbox window. Meets our needs.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
picplz for iPhone 1.5 released
via picplz:
We have just pushed a new update to the picplz iPhone app.
Changes:
- Speed improvements when browsing photos
- “Pull to refresh” support to update photo views
- Added contact search, it’s now easy to find people you already know on picplz
- New setting to disable GPS Data sharing
- High quality image setting now respects all image sizes
- Proper rotation support even when a user has Portrait Orientation Lock turned on.
- Bug fixes
Screenshots:
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