the bofe blog

So I’m working on getting everything working so I can test.

Lessons learned so far:

-Develop on the platform you’re implement on. Since I was developing this entirely locally with a WAMP server, I’ve run into a few quirks. Mainly with my inconsistent instantiation $nav = new Navigation(); versus $nav = new navigation(); — with PHP’s autoload function it was causing my stuff to die.

- Again with platform… backslashes versus forward slashes … ugh. Let’s also remember some servers have magic quotes enabled and some do not, in case you’re inserting to a database…

- Load times are a little slower than I was hoping for… I am going to try it later tonight to see if it’s an issue here, an application issue, or a dreamhost issue.

It’s not much of a secret that you can use your Mouse Wheel with Google Maps… but you have to love the sense of direction even the smallest UI cue gives you:

Zooming Out:

Zooming In:

I can’t remember where I read this, but alphabetizing your CSS attribute lists is a great habit to get into.

I haven’t quite gotten to the point where I’m abstracting CSS as much as some (one file for color, one for positioning, etc) but I’m starting to go a little batty with all of the style I do have to deal with… one way to help is to alphabetize the CSS attributes so you don’t have to look around as much to find where your margin attribute may be hiding.

Another For Your Sanity Tip: Initial CSS which takes care of a lot of the “default” styling that happens to elements.

- Dreamhost is announcing PHP 5.2.1 sometime soon… that means JSON support… that means I can put “the app” there!

- I was sick from last Friday until yesterday. Yesterday I got back in the swing of things and started running again, too.

- I’ve reached a point where I’m comfortable taking the app live, if I’m the only user…that isn’t exactly the case.

- Dailyshortcut.com has had a post every day since November 3, 2006. That’s at least 112 keyboard shortcuts.

- I get to decide if I want to take some side work on this weekend…

- I’ve started extensive development on a new Owensboro Parks & Recreation Department website.

- I redesigned bofe.org to more accurately reflect my freelance offerings. Included is a infomercial style contact form which took me back to my direct marketing days.

- Two days ago I celebrated my sixth year of blogging. I rock.

Two and a half years ago (GAH!) I posted about needing a Haircut Contingency Plan.

I never implemented a Haircut Contingency Plan (HCP) because I didn’t really think I needed one. I thought the freak occurrence was once in a lifetime…

Fast forward to Friday, in Murray. Haircut scheduled for 2:00pm. 1:15 pm rolls around, and the lady who usually cuts my hair (not the same one as the 2004 post) calls me.

Andy, I don’t think I’m going to be able to cut your hair today. I am on my way to the hospital. I’m having contractions.

All I wanted was a flippin’ haircut. Now I’m stuck looking shaggy until I find someone reputable around here.


<bofe> where is he
<ral0s> no clue
<ral0s> last seebow heard from him he hadn't been to work in a week and was playing wow again


A couple of days ago I mentioned the first indoctrination of “the app” is 95% done. The last 5% is hard. I’m actually spending this time removing a couple of those oh-so-nifty AJAX features.

The problem is they were taking away from page loads. I originally wanted to “deep link” to a couple of features, such as “Edit Content for this Page” and that wasn’t too possible because the WYSIWYG interface was being pulled up through an AJAX response.

So… I’m taking that (and a couple of others) out and fixing them.

I maaaaaaaay have a demo online by the beginning of the next week for review/suggestions. Wouldn’t that be special?

I’m still pretty mad about the 1 mistake. Last “clocked” speed before today was 115.

Boom.

Link to the test.

Almost two weeks ago I wrote “Kick February’s Ass” which outlined a couple of my goals for the month.

The update:

- I’ve mailed Craig his check. He’s completely paid.
- I’ve paid my father partially.
- I’ve definitely kept the workout routine, but I’ve shifted it to the couch to 5k — a lot of Ask MetaFilter denizens gave their vote of approval.

Taxes were a very large pain in the ass.

- Did you move to Kentucky this year? Yes.
- Did you move out of Kentucky this year? Yes.
- Did you live in Kansas this year? Yes.
- Did you work in Missouri this year? Yes.

All of those “yes” answers yields one rather large headache on a Saturday.

Oh, did I mention “the app” (which I still can’t think of a good name) is ohhhh so close to being released. I would say it’s 95% done for this first incarnation.

Examples of [BLANKS] include:

• Musician – Music
• Designer – Design
• Chef – Food
• Writer – Writing

I’m going to say no. I went back and forth with this a while last night, while I was trying to learn to play the piano — which I’m getting decent at…

I feel like I can really appreciate good design on the web, but I’m not a skilled designer.

Same with music. I’m not a great musician, but I can appreciate music’s most significant works.

Anyway, just a question that’s been on my mind.