Over the weekend I picked up another crackpot project — inspired by PlotKit, I resolved to build a lightweight API (based upon Prototype) for doing client‐side charting with the canvas tag. This could be seriously useful at work, so tomorrow I’ll find out just how well ExplorerCanvas works.
Is it me, or does the process of downloading a single file from any project hosted on SourceForge take about nine clicks too many?
Recent versions of Prototype let you write custom methods for DOM element objects. Here’s how.
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.
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.
Since its release, FireBug has been on my short list of must‐have extensions for any sort of web development, but the recently‐released 0.3 version launches it right to the top of the list. I’m finding I use it even more than the Web Developer Toolbar.
CSS event:Selectors. As CSS selector syntax is used more and more in DOM scripting, I must wonder: why did we settle on the DOM API for client‐side scripting? CSS selectors and XPath are much more terse and versatile.
Since LazyWeb these days is the place where all the trackback spam hangs out, I find I have no choice but to turn my ideas into action. I envy the flexibility of tumblelogs like Projectionist, in which quotations, photos, chatlogs, and links commingle. That said, I don’t want to go…
Because I spun the Buzzword Roulette Wheel and landed on “Ruby” and “Wikipedia” on consecutive spins, I am finding myself writing a Ruby interface to MediaWiki. At work I use a great plugin for jEdit called mwjed that makes it about fifty times less annoying to edit wiki pages, and…
Garret Dimon’s post on front‐end architects is a good read, I think. But I’m usually biased toward articles that suggest that the skills I possess might become incredibly valuable in the very near future. I’m not sure I like the term ‘front‐end architect,’ but now I’m just being a weenie.…