anotherbyte.net

As a wider range of devices are able to access the internet, designing a website to work everywhere becomes more and more challenging. Desktop design is pretty much covered - it's the standard. Small screen design is slowly increasing in uptake, but it's still usually a second-thought, rather than a prime consideration. Unless a website is intended primarily for small-screen use. Now we're getting devices in between, such as tablets. Add with most of these new devices comes touch.

PPk's investigations and comments on touch support in mobile browsers shows a few things - more work is needed to make touch really work with websites, and web site developer will need to start supporting more than just mouse events. There are now three event types that need to be taken into account: mouse, keyboard and touch.

This area may be much more important than some other parts of HTML5. It is interesting to note that although Firefox and Opera are moving quite quickly in some area regarding HTML5 and added features, they score badly on touch and mobile browser UI support.

Some possibilities for late night snacks:

Chocolate
CC-BY, Toasted Bread, René Ehrhardt

Cookies
Fruit
Yoghurt
Toast
CC-BY-SA,B52 Chocolate Pastry, Kirti Poddar

Juice

Two very different topics, related by a small but important point:

Basing decisions on aggregate data can be a bad idea.

IT project failures can cost a lot, and no company is safe from massive failures. However, the huge failures can easily hide all the successful small or medium (or even other large project) successes when analysed in aggregate numbers. Even projects classified as failures may help or cause significant gains in other areas. As the Techdirt article notes, it is a better idea to take the lessons from the successes, failures and anything in between. This knowledge can be used to help create a successful IT project, or minimise a failure.

In the area of fundamentalism and violence, there are some dominating events. There are also a huge number of other events that may receive very little reporting, or may be reported with the emphasis in a different place. It is just not possible or necessary to include all the details about the perpetrator of an action, so people reporting attempt to choose the most relevant information. Unfortunately, this can often mean stereotypes or discriminatory perceptions are perpetuated.

The aggregation of these 'snippets of stereotypes' can lead to a perception that there is substantially more than there actually is. Here is where the IT projects and reporting on violence and fundamentalism meet. In looking at the 'big picture', and forming ideas from very processed pieces of information, we risk missing the real conclusions.

A reversal of a well-known saying: Can't see the trees for the forest.

I've recently had the very exciting experience (yeah...) of attempting to diagnose and fix a wireless connection in Windows XP on a laptop. I think I've tried every trick in the book, but nothing's worked. For the sake of completeness, I'm going to list out my plan of attack. If I've missed anything, please let me know in a comment!

In order from most likely/least drastic to least likely/most drastic:

1. Repair the Local Area Connection.
2. Use the command prompt to ping the router and another computer on the network
3. Use ipconfig /all to show the current IP address and adapters. This helps identify the problem.
4. Using the command prompt:
   1. ipconfig /release
   2. ipconfig /renew
5. Disable and enable the wireless card (usually with a switch on the laptop).
6. Disable and enable the Local Area Connection in Network Connections.
7. Turn the wireless router off, wait for 10 seconds, and turn it on again.
8. Check the DHCP settings in the router - DCHP table, start and end IP addresses.
9. Check the Device Manager to make sure the hardware is recognised, the drivers are functioning and up to date.
10. Use PC Wizard (from a flash drive if possible) to check the condition and type of wireless card.
11. Check the manufacturer's website for updated drivers; sometimes it is also worth checking for updated generic drivers. This includes trying out alternate wireless managers that replace the built-in Windows wireless manager.
12. Reset TCP/IP - netsh int ip reset c:\resetlog.txt

If all this fails, then there is a hardware problem with the laptop, a problem with the router, or interference between the laptop and router. These issues require a whole separate set of troubleshooting steps.

I hope this can help someone!

On that note, I think my objectives for this blog aren't to make people spend more time reading it, but to get my thoughts down. There are quite a few things I would love to record and get feedback on. I am going to make a concerted effort to write more... but no promises.

In other news, Firefox 3.6 RC is out. It's really only incremental updates, but there are some interesting things in there, like async Javascript, WOFF fonts, Personas for changing appearance and numerous changes to how Firefox deals with plugins.

Let's just hope there's fewer crashes.

I've been enjoying some Steam Demos recently, including Plants vs Zombies and Mightier, which is freely available on the creator's website. Today, and the next few days, there's a sale on some Steam games - I've just picked up Plants vs Zombies for half price ($5USD), and Osmos for ($2USD). There are a bunch of other games on sale too. There will apparently be different sales over five days.

For some reason I'm coming to really like the indie games and casual games more and more. I used to think casual games were flash games, but they can also be desktop, and they can certainly be great fun! I especially like the Steam Achievements - things to work towards.

It would be nice to see some more emphasis on independent games on Steam and other services. Right now as far as I can see, most or all of the advertisements are for the more expensive or more hardcore games. Other stores such as Impulse also include other software, like design apps. Right now they're mostly all from Stardock Design and Corel, so there's not much that's interesting.

Hmm.. so, with all these neat ways of getting software online (including the mother of them all, the Debian Application Tools), there's no reason anymore for boxed software.

This Age news article just makes me angry: Cyclists do not have the same rights as motorists on roads. Really? Most Australian states consider a bicycle a vehicle, with the same rights and responsibilities on the road: NSW WA QLD Many more here.

Yet bikes have always been stuck in a sort of limbo. It's a vehicle, so we ride on the road. But other vehicles annoy us and get annoyed, often refusing to acknowledge that cyclists do in fact have the same rights as any other vehicle. Or we ride on shared footpaths, whizzing past and weaving around pedestrians who often take up all of the path.

It seems like we just can't win.

I'm very glad to see that many state governments, and even the Federal Government are beginning to put more effort and money into cycling infrastructure.It's been a long time coming... cycling accidents are common, and the incidents are often blamed on the cyclists, no matter what the cause may have been. It is also true that cyclists often do risky things, and obey only the road rules they want to.That's what happens when you're given no room by vehicles and treated as a vehicle off the road by pedestrians.

Hopefully a greater awareness of cyclists will mean higher safety and better infrastructure. We could start by getting some studies of what the actual issues are.Or perhaps it's just that we need more cyclists. Maybe adding to the emphasis placed on looking for cyclists during driving licence tests could help.

"[In] both Australian and international contexts [,] the greater the level of community cycling the lower the cycling crash rates become." SA Cycling Strategy 2006 - 2010.

In any case, there are some points in the Age article that ring true. Cyclists do not pay anywhere near as much towards roads and transport infrastructure maintenance as drivers do. Maybe it would be safer to only ride a certain times.

The main point in all this is that cycling can be very dangerous, yet it is one of the best ways to get around, get exercise, and leave no effect on the atmosphere. It is agreed that cycling is beneficial, so it should be encouraged. It seems like this is actively being addressed, despite articles like this.