Drew Wilson

Firerift has Launched!!

2009-08-16T14:56:39-7:00

That's right! Firerift has launched! It is finally here! I am soooo excited and relieved to have this beast finally out the door :) Head over to www.firerift.com to check it out! You can read up on a little Firerift History and such on the first blog post at the Official Firerift Blog. Currently this is somewhat pre-release or "soft-launch" ... meaning I am not telling too many people yet. I really wanted you all to know first though :) I am waiting until I have the Documentation mostly filled out and some more Screencasts finished before I start spreading the word :) Hopefully that will all be in within this next week :) In other news, drewwilson.com will get a face lift in the next week or so. I can't wait. It's gonna be incredibly awesome, because it really will be more than just a face lift. It will be running on Firerift and showcasing a lot of Firerift's capabilities. Enjoy Firerift everyone! I hope you like it enough to try it out :) Peace, Drew

Titan: a first look

2009-07-29T01:29:22-7:00

Hey everyone! As I said in my last post, here is a screencast on how to use Titan. This is just a brief, unrehearsed overview meant to just scratch the surface of what Titan is and how you use it with Firerift. Enjoy!! Peace, Drew

Macificent has Launched

2009-07-28T12:44:12-7:00

Hey everyone! I am super excited to announce the launch of my latest project: Macificent! What is Macificent? Macificent showcases a collection of hand picked OS X Apps that really shine above the rest. You can read more about it by going to the Macificent site. But the coolest part of Macificent is that it is running on FIrerift!! I have had Macificent sitting on the back burner for months and months. SInce January 9th to be exact. I wanted Macificent to showcase some of the coolness that CSS3 has to offer. But because of the delays in Firerift, Macificent wasn't launched until now. And by now a lot of the CSS3 stuff on Macificent has already been done. Oh well :) It is still cool :) What is really cool is just how EASY and quick it was to get Macificent up and running on Firerift. It uses the Firerift Data section to do everything. Including the submissions! I am going to do a screencast on how I built Macificent later today. That screencast will also give you the first glimpse of Titan!! Until then, Peace! And enjoy Macificent! Drew

CoViews Now with Personal URLs

2009-07-20T16:31:45-7:00

Hey everyone!! I managed to find time to make a really sweet update to CoViews! You can now have your very own personal CoViews URL!! When you create short URLs with your personal URL, you can share this link and others will know it's from you! Also you can keep track of how many visits and comments your URLs are getting, all from a super simple Admin interface. The Admin is WAAAY simplified and not even close to finished. The design of the Admin is also just a quick beta :) Anyhow... GO sign-up for FREE right now!!! Check out the video below for more info on the update. Peace! Drew

Firerift Data Screencast

2009-07-16T23:27:18-7:00

Hey Everyone!! I decided to stay up a little late tonight and do a screencast.. just because :) In the video below I am going to walk you through the Data section of Firerift (and a few other things). Hope you enjoy!! Peace, Drew

New Photo Website

2009-07-03T15:15:16-7:00

Hey everyone! Just thought I would drop you an update and let you know I just re-designed my Photo site! The coolest part is... it is running on Firerift!! I am super stoked with the progress of Firerift, and I am very confident it will be out before the end of July. Also check out another re-design I just did for another photographer Dave Hill. It is running on Firerift as well! Dave is a rad guy and super talented. More updates soon! Peace, Drew

CoViews Feature Update #1

2009-04-24T19:01:15-7:00

Just a quick note on a new feature I have implemented in CoViews. As of RIGHT NOW you have the ability to delete a Comment or Reply that you leave on CoViews. No sign-up necessary, it just works. Go test it out :) Also, there was a bug on IE that prevented users from viewing their comment after they submitted it (some users experienced this on Firefox 3 and a PC). After a bunch of hunting around I found the problem was a caching issue (IE is super duper lame). So that bug has been patched. All users should have no trouble seeing comments now :) That's it for now, though I have already started on some new features and will be announcing their release once I finish them. Be sure to get the CoViews Bookmarklet so you can create CoVIews pages quickly and easily (drag this link into your bookmarks bar): CoVie.ws This! Thanks so much everyone! Peace, Drew

Announcing: CoViews

2009-04-22T21:58:28-7:00

6 Days ago I had an idea for a new web application pop into my head (which almost happens weekly :) 6 days later (today) I am launching the Beta! It's called CoViews I am super excited about it, and hope you all enjoy using it! It is completely FREE with NO need to sign-up. You can start using it right away! So I am sure you want to know what it is CoViews, right?... well: "CoVie.ws is a simple way to share your thoughts about websites with the world." At it's core it is a URL shortening service, but there is much more on top of that. You can leave comments about the webpage you are on for the entire world to see, and even reply to. Not only can you leave a comment about the website as a whole, but you can leave comments about specific areas on the website by creating a "Comment Area". Simply click and drag to create one. Here is a screencast to tell you a bit more: CoViews is currently in Beta, and I have a ton of cool features planned. A few of them were cut from the beta because of issues with XSS (cross site scripting) I ran into that will take some serious time figuring out a work-around. For example, there is no way for me to tell if you scroll the website up or down, since the website is in an iframe and javascript by nature prevents me from doing this. This totally kills some of the basic functionality you would expect.. like being able to scroll to the bottom of the page and create a "Comment Area" on the footer. If you were to do this, the "Comment Area" would show up at the top of the page when someone else views the page... lame I know. But I am working on figuring out a solution. On another note, working on this project has once again solidified in my brain the fact that all IE browsers (6, 7 & 8) are horrendous! They all required fixes. Why oh why Microsoft. Why?... No seriously, why? And just because I know some of you may be wondering.. NO Firerift is NOT dead. I am still working on it, and it is getting close. So no worries there :) Thanks so much everyone! Please go checkout CoViews and and grab the bookmarklet at the bottom of the page so you can quickly create CoViews pages! Make CoViews your URL shortening service of choice! (if you would be so kind :) Peace, Drew

Fullsize: The First Seven Days

2009-04-08T12:25:43-7:00

In my last post I announced Fullsize, my attempt to standardize the way image popups happen in the browser. In this post I want to give you an update on how that project is going and where things are. Over the first 7 days the Fullsize jQuery plugin has had over 1,400 downloads! There have been over 500 supporters (and growing), and the site has gotten more than 13,500 unique visits! For the first 2 days Fullsize was on the front page of Delicious as one of the top 10 most popular links on the internet! It has been featured in numerous blogs including: Webappers, Ajaxrain, Cssbeauty, Cameron Moll, MaxDesign, and a TON more. I was fortunate enough to have it linked up on the WHATWG's blog in those first 7 days as well! Awesomeness! This is super encouraging to know that within the first 7 days the Fullsize site pretty much did it's job :) There has even been a Wordpress plugin created for Fullsize and hundreds of tweets on Twitter all within those first 7 days. Needless to say, it has been a great first seven days. Thanks to all of you who have supported the idea! Another thanks to those of you who have contributed on the Fullsize Google Group. Please continue to spread the word, and I can't wait to see what happens this next week! Thanks again! Peace, Drew

Fullsize | A New IMG Tag Attribute

2009-03-31T08:23:29-7:00

I started a project called Fullsize a few months back, but have never publicly announced it (other than a small post on twitter way back when). So consider this the public announcement: Fullsize is live! What is Fullsize? Fullsize is an attempt to get a new attribute called fullsize into the next version of HTML. Hopefully it will get the attention of the W3C, and they will add Fullsize to HTML and make it a standard. What about now? This is the best part! I am now releasing a Fullsize jQuery plug-in to kick things off! It's totally free and totally rad! Get the plug-in, more info, and vote for it at the Fullsize site: www.addfullsize.com Enjoy! Peace, Drew

The First Firerift Screencast

2009-03-27T13:02:59-7:00

I'm super exited to show this to you all. I know it has been a long time coming, but the wait will be worth it :) This was just a super quick, and very informal peek at Firerift. I will show you more of the app soon. Probably the coolest part of Firerift is how you interact with it on the front end via Titan. It is sooo incredibly easy, and I cannot wait to show you all how to do it. For now, please enjoy this screencast :)

Titan: A Sneak Peek

2009-02-28T16:15:12-7:00

Hey everyone! It's been a long while since my last update, and for that I apologize. But some really great things have come out of the long silence. First up, Firerift. Firerift is still very much alive, but has taken a huge turn. It's foundation has been completely changed and re-written. Why would I spend the time to do this? Simple. The web is changing and I believe Firerift should be ahead of the game. To see where I am coming from I have broken up my thoughts into a couple different points. Where is the web headed? A great indicator of where the web is headed is the browser itself. What are the major browsers spending their time improving upon? Web-Kit (Safari) is spending a lot of time trying to push HTML 5, Mozilla is working on their Mobile Browser Fennec, and IE... well they are just trying to play catch up and not suck. But what are they all spending a lot of resources on... you guessed it, Javascript. They are all trying to make javascript run "the fastest ever" on their browsers. This brings me to my next point. Javascript I am sure you all have noticed the popularity of javascript libraries these days. jQuery is by far the favorite amongst designers and developers alike. In addition, AJAX has allowed designers & developers to create websites that feel more like a desktop application. Javascript is all the rage these days, and for a good reason. People's computers are faster today than ever, most people have High Speed internet access, and the browsers are spending the time to make sure that Javascript can run at blazing speeds. So with with all the computers, internet connections, and browsers primed and ready to make your javascript experience a pleasant one... why are people still using PHP, ASP.NET, Ruby on Rails, etc. to do all their web site/application processing. Good question. Client-Side As of right now we are at a tipping point. Between the old school way of doing things (server-side) and the new school way (client-side or javascript). Up until now, the clients (browsers) have been just too slow to do any heavy lifting. That coupled with slow internet connections makes using javascript a horrid experience. But as things have progressed you see huge & influential companies using the client to deliver their products. For example Apple used SproutCore, a javascript framework, to build their Mobile Me product. Today, it is now far easier to deliver a much better user experience with javascript and the client then ever before. Benefits Using the client to do all the processing takes a HUGE load off of the server. That means literally less traffic going to and from your server. Which translates into money saved. You really only need to have your server side code just save, update, delete & retrieve things from a database. Then you can send back the data to the client via JSON. JSON is great, it is a competitor to XML... But WAY better since it is actual javascript, and looks much cleaner than XML. Just like XML, a JSON file is basically a huge array of data. So once it is sent to the client from the server, you have super quick access to all your data. Doing things on the client can also give your app or website a more "desktop" feel, and it breaks the user experience less, because you do not have to clear the whole screen and then build it back again like you would when you navigate to a new page URL. Though there are times when this is still a good thing. It is becoming clear that moving things to the client is the future of web development. That means everyone better start gettin' familiar with javascript :) And if you are gonna do that, what better way to do it than learning jQuery. jQuery is by far the favorite of all javascript libraries out there, but unfortunately it is not a framework. Enter Titan Wouldn't it be great if there was an open-source javascript framework that had amazing features like a REST API out of the box? So you could just submit data to a URL, and it would save that data to a database, or run commands against the database like update, retrieve, or delete? Then all you would have to do is set up the website, include the framework's javascript files... and it would all work. There are a couple of frameworks out there that do this. As mentioned above, SproutCore does this. But it is VERY restrictive. As a designer I won't use it because you are pretty much locked into their widgets, buttons, graphics, etc. Sure you can customize them... but you have to write code to do it. There is also Cappuccino by the 280 North guys. It is another javascript framework, but who wants to learn Objective-J just to use it? They do have an Interface Builder.. but then again you are locked into their design (which is sweet looking). But where is the flexibility? On either option you are limited. Plus you have to write a ton of javascript code... just like you would have to write a ton of Ruby code in Rails to create a website or app. Wouldn't it be great if you didn't have to learn anything if you didn't want to? Wouldn't it be great if there was a Javascript Web Framework that was built on jQuery, and didn't limit you in any way? Wouldn't it be great if this framework was built in such a way that you didn't even have to write more than 1 line of javascript? Well there is, my partners and I built it, and it is called Titan. Titan is awesome, and Firerift is built on it. And Firerift will be the first and only CMS that lets you build your website or app client-side. You will all be making your own Mobile Me's really soon :) There is so much to say about Titan: how it works, how you use it.. but that is for another post. It will be soon though. Things are wrapping up here with Firerift, and I want to make sure I keep you all informed. So that is the reason for this post and the next few to follow. Thanks so much for sticking with me. It means so much to me! Peace, Drew

Brutal Honesty

2008-09-17T10:18:40-7:00

Hey Everyone! Again thanks so much for stickin' with me on Firerift!! I appreciate it sooo much! As the title suggests, I am gonna give you the brutal honest truth on where Firerift stands: I work on Firerift every single day. It is no way abandoned, nor will it ever be abandoned. As you all know I hired a developer to build the new version of Firerift with me. Unfortunately he greatly mis-quoted me on the timeline for finishing the software. I will not be posting another Coming Soon Date, because unfortunately we have just not been able to meet the deadlines, though I really hoped we could. I have learned a lot about launching a web app through this process, and as I have said before.. it's my first time launching my own app. We are both working hard to get this thing out. But it is "delayed". If I had it my way, all of you would already be using this thing :) But rest assured... you will :) I am going to do a screencast real soon here on one section of the admin for you all :) Hopefully I will have time to do that in the next few days :) Thanks again everyone so much! sorry to disappoint you all :( But I guarantee you will not be disappointed by Firerift. Peace, Drew

Firerift is Coming

2008-09-05T22:29:15-7:00

Thank you sooooo much to everyone who has been keeping tabs on Firerift. I cannot tell you all how much I really appreciate it :) A lot of you are getting annoyed at the delays.. and believe me .. I am too :) But I guess it is better than nobody caring about Firerift at all :) I am working on it every single day. There have been some unfortunate delays that have been out of my control. However, I am 110% committed to launching Firerift as soon as possible, and making it the best it can be. I am really truly grateful to all of you who read this blog and are interested in Firerift! Thank you so much! If I had it my way you would all already be using Firerift :) But I am not a huge multi-million dollar company, so you will have to bare with my delays and bumps in the road. But rest assured Firerift will be out very soon (in the next week), and it will be a rock solid app! I can't wait to show it to you all! Peace, Drew

Firerift on Vitamin

2008-08-05T10:23:12-7:00

Hey Everyone! A month ago Adam Howell asked me to do an article for Vitamin on my project Firerift (previously Firebolt). It is now live on the Vitamin site, check it out! Adam is a great guy and I really appreciate him inviting me to write about my project. My article will be his last at Vitamin, as he is stepping down from his position there as Editor. He has done an awesome job, and I suggest you guys check out his future projects at his website. The article I wrote covers some very basic ideas I think needed to be incorporated into a CMS. It also offers some tips and my "journey" through developing my own software. Hopefully you will all enjoy that part :) Along with the release of the article I have finally finished the Firerift Commercial!! It was super fun to make, and involved very long hours of keyframing and editing :) The commercial was coincidentally shot exactly 1 year (almost to the day) after the previous Desert Shoot I did, except this time it was with video gear and not photo :) This commercial is 1 of 2 commercials I filmed out in the Anza Borrego desert a few months ago. Why make commercials like this for web software? Mainly just because I love making movies :) A lot of good stuff going on! Stay tuned. Peace, Drew

Firebolt Hold Up

2008-07-23T16:07:22-7:00

My apologies to everyone waiting for the beta. Firebolt has been held up due to some legal issues. Nothing too serious, so don't worry it is still coming out. I hate to be that guy who gets you excited and then says: "Delayed" But it looks like I have to. Expect an update real soon, things are rolling along and I will keep you all updated :) Peace, Drew

Want To Beta Test Firebolt?

2008-07-12T13:29:31-7:00

Hey everyone! The time has come to take Firebolt out from under my microscope, and put it under your’s. I will be accepting 200 applicants of all web skill levels (zero to code ninja) for this closed beta round. Please email me at: beta[at]valioinc.com with your brief bio & skill set if you would like to be apart of the Firebolt beta test. I will be selecting candidates for the beta test over the course of this next week. You will be notified by the 21st of July if you were selected for the Beta test. If you were not selected please know that it is simply because this is a small and closed beta of around 200 individuals, and that I really am so appreciative for your interest an email. Peace, Drew **** UPDATE The response has been absolutely amazing! Thanks to everyone who emailed with interest to test Firebolt. And my apologies to anyone who got 5 auto-responder emails from me.. my bad. I have no idea why my Mail program is doing that (using apple's Mail app). Please comment if it keeps doing this to you. Again, I'm very very sorry.

FireFox 3 Text Bug

2008-06-29T11:28:47-7:00

FireFox 3 has been a pain in the neck ever since I downloaded it. Please tell me I am not the only one. I continually come across a nasty text rendering bug when using this browser. At first I expected to see this bug being written up all over the internet. But I never heard anyone else complain. So I threw up some screenshots of my issue on twitter, and came to find out that some other people did not have this issue with their install of FF3. So I completely removed FF3 and then re-downloaded it. Same problem. What is the problem you ask? This: This is what every single Google webpage looks like for me with FF3. Horrible. The kerning is completely messed up, the margins are all jacked up, and look at the links!!! Look at those underlines, unbelievable! And it's not just Google: CNN suffers here as well. Even ThinkVitamin.com gets bitten by the bug. Now the odd thing is that not all text shows up like this. Most websites show up completely normal. Like mine for example: Nothing wrong with any of the text on my website at all. Shows up completely normal. And there are many other websites like this... Just look at the above screenshots. With the exception of Google, all the screenshots have text that shows up completely fine, with some text that is totally ruined by this bug. So what's going on here? You got me. My guess is is has something to do with NOT applying enough CSS to the text. FF3 displays text horribly on my machines (Quad core G5 and an Intel Macbook Pro) by default. So if all you did was change the "color" in CSS, that wouldn't be enough and FF3 would force your text to look like crap. But if you applied a "font-size" property and a "margin"... FF3 would give in and decide to display your text like other normal browsers. Even Mozilla themselves are not prone to this disease: Yes, this is the kind of crap I deal with when using FF3. All I can say is LONG LIVE SAFARI. In my personal opinion, I think every browser should be forcefully shut down, and Web Kit should be the browser we all use. Wouldn't that make things easier :) Anyone else have this same problem with FireFox3? Peace, Drew

What do you want to know?

2008-06-26T19:49:05-7:00

Hey everyone! I have spent part of today witting my 2nd article for Vitamin. Thanks a ton to Adam for the invite :) I am writing about Firebolt, CMSs, and my experience through the whole project. I know some of you will be reading it, so I wanted to throw out this question to you: What do you want to know? Leave me a comment with something you would like to know. It can be business related, CMS related, design or development related. It just has to tie in with the Firebolt project. Thanks so much everyone! Peace, Drew

Another Rip Off

2008-06-23T09:06:31-7:00

Yep, The pirates strike again. My old site's design has been ripped off, and the guy is a... freelance designer??? what!? I think he should swap that title with SCAM ARTIST. I would love to see someone design a site that is inspired by my work.. that would be awesome. By why do people have to straight copy it... they actually take the time to download every single one of my images (I have hotlink prevention), and every line of code. Anyway, check out the thief here: http://www.livestudio.be/ He even has a blog post announcing "his" new re-design: http://www.livestudio.be/fr/index.php?newsid=5 To Jeremy the priate from livestudio.be: Try asking before stealing. Thanks a ton to Colum for the heads up on this one :) Someone needs to create a community site that exposes these types of crooks (like a css gallery), and the ENTIRE design community can know when this happens. Then these guys will "never work in this town again". lol Peace, Drew *** UPDATE: The thief has taken the site down, that was quick! But it gets BETTER!! He put up a coming soon page, and on it there is a light blue gradient background... THAT IS MY BACKGROUND IMAGE for the Valio, inc. site!!!!! Open up my Valio site in one tab and his coming soon page in another. Switch back and forth and you will see it is the SAME repeating image. This is hilarious!! This "freelance designer" lacks sooo much creativity he can't even make his own gradient from scratch... he has to go and download mine... unbelievable!! This is a first, normally people tear down my stolen design, but this guys tears it down only to steal more of my images!! To the Pirate Jeremy: Come on bro, you are better than this. Just open photoshop and have fun.