April, 2006

Apr15

 

Objectified: Custom element methods in Prototype

N.B.: This article assumes basic knowledge of JavaScript and familiarity with a very recent version of Prototype (ideally 1.5_rc0). For an introduction to Prototype, try Sitepoint’s Painless JavaScript Using Prototype; to get a recent version of Prototype, download Scriptaculous or follow the instructions for Subversion checkout on the Prototype homepage.
The Scandalous De-Objectification of the

Apr14

 

I wish it had had more meat to it (a lot of the characters could’ve used more dimension), but Thank You For Smoking is an excellent commentary on spin, bullshit, and diffusion of responsibility. Aaron Echkart is, as always, one part hilarious and one part creepy.

 

Plainly, the human fetus presents a practically unlimited number of utilitarian scenarios.

Stephen J. Dubner

Apr13

 

RMagick installation instructions on OS X. Cliffs Notes version: “Compile everything from source.” In all fairness, though, this worked flawlessly on my new Intel Mac (props to DarwinPorts), and it’s pretty much the only way to do it that actually works.

Apr10

 

My MacBook Pro arrived today, ahead of schedule, as if to symbolize how goddamned fast this thing is. It can run laps around my iBook. Everyone who uses one of these has been saying how “snappy” and responsive the interface is — “snappy” is the perfect way to describe it. “Snappy” is one of the things I like about Windows XP, despite all its flaws. If this is the future of OS X, then I’m all for it.

 

Web 2.oo

I really don’t know whether Webaroo is useful or not; and, to be honest, it’s not their fault that I suddenly decided this was the last straw. But I’d have to make flash cards and study them for days before I could distinguish between Asoboo, Cluckoo, Gumshoo, Orangoo, Picaboo, Polloo, Qooxdoo, Reevoo, Renkoo, Sabifoo, Springdoo, Squidoo, Webaroo, and Wufoo.
I know

 

At work, I’ve started to test stuff in IE7 in addition to Firefox and IE6; this has forced me to figure out how to pass certain CSS rules to all versions of IE and nothing else. (Virtually all known CSS hacks for IE have been fixed in version 7.) I know conditional comments are usually the way to go, but what if you need to override just one or two rules? Not worth the trouble of creating a separate stylesheet, in my opinion. After some hunting around just now, I realized that IE’s expression property is what I want: instead of postion: relative; one can do position: expression(’relative’);. Tell your friends!

Apr9

 

My iBook has died. Actually, it’s just got whooping cough, or something like that, and I’m unwilling to expend the energy and/or money to fix it. It’s two years old, and I’ve loved every moment of using it, but a brand-new MacBook Pro is on its way and should arrive on Tuesday. I’m giddy.

Apr7

 

Mark Pilgrim has returned from his blogging sabbatical, which he seemingly spent vacationing off the face of Earth. (Or raising his “child.” Or something.) I’ve missed his rhetoric.

 

There are exceptions, of course, but the attitude of Ruby on Rails users toward Ruby skeptics or critics has been less than kind. This is a crowd convinced that it has found the ultimate answer to everything, and they are not afraid to let you know. I only have a simple advice for these people: you might be right, but just be humble. It never hurts.

Cédric Beust

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