Rob Liesland

Internet Explorer Won’t Download Delivered Files

robhyland — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 19:16:57 +0000

Today I came across an issue where Internet Explorer 9, and maybe some earlier versions, won’t download files that were delivered off SSL with PHP or ColdFusion. I was very frustrated as I have been securely delivering files this way for a long time. I eventually found the solution in a forum -

This is what worked for me to resolve the exact issue you are having, and may be useful for anyone else in the same position:

Firstly – Note: this answer only relates to people who are having trouble downloading non-IE files over SSL (https://), such as .exe, .pdf, .msi etc.

Go to Internet Options in IE9 (Tools > Internet Options) or click the cog in the top right of the Browser and go to Internet Options.

1. Choose the Advanced Tab
2. Scroll down to Security
3. Un-check Do not save encrypted pages to disk

You should now be able to download the file that IE9 won’t download.

Have fun.

Email is not a Social Network

robhyland — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 21:44:26 +0000

In June 2006 MySpace was the most popular social network. It was overtaken in 2008 by Facebook, which officially launched in 2004. Google Buzz launched a few years later in 2010 – mostly an add-on to Gmail. These are just a handful of some of the most popular social networks. They allowed people to share thoughts, links, photos, recommendations – the list goes on and on. Different sites allow for different groups (or Networks, if you will) that can be set up for sharing various tidbits. The proliferation of these sites means we can stop using email for this type of sharing, and use it for what it was meant to be used for – useful communication.

In the past two days I have received probably about 7 emails with random links and comments, and I am sure many of you have received many more. As much as I enjoy these, I think that they are more appropriately placed on facebook, or another network, where I can access them and check them out when I want to. There is a hierarchy to how we communicate, and some things aren’t quite worthy of email.

Back in the day you would have to visit, or call on, someone to communicate with them. You would stop by their house or shop and talk to them. Eventually you could write letters, and then call, and finally email. Each of these things has found its place in the social hierarchy. Sure, some people prefer a phone call to an email, or some people will poke their head in my office, rather than calling.

I am proposing a new addition to this hierarchy – the passive world of social networking. Some things deserved to be ‘posted’ for others to look at when they have time. Email in the workplace is rising, and so is its status. It does not need to be cluttered with such things as links to the Double Rainbow video on Youtube.

Why else would Google have created Buzz?

HighEdWeb 2010

robhyland — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 19:13:36 +0000

I am just finishing up my time here at HighEdWeb 2010, here in Cincinnati. I work remotely for Xavier University, also located in Cincinnati, so I had the best of both worlds, being a local and being from out of town. It was a good conference this year, with a sold-out crowd who showed up in high numbers for conference and non-conference happenings.

I saw some great presentations on cool things that universities across the US are doing as part of their web presence, and some presentations on what not to do. I also had the opportunity to present on some of the things that we do at Xavier.

As one of the usually few, but proud, ColdFusion users I spent a fair amount of time defending our use of CF. There are a lot of misconceptions out there about CF, usually stemming from what it was like in 2001. In case you missed it, it has changed a bit since then!

Next year the conference is in Austin, and I am already brainstorming ideas that could win Xavier their first red stapler (best of track) award.

Gboard

robhyland — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 18:58:41 +0000

I just learned about a device that exists called the Gboard, I have never seen or heard of anything like it, and I think it rocks. How cool to have a keyboard just for Gmail shortcuts? Bluetooth would be good, but maybe that will come out with the next one.

Ever seen anything like this? Let me know.

MozyHome

robhyland — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 18:21:50 +0000

I keep a lot of stuff on my machine and I am not interested in spending a lot of money on an external backup solution, so I decided to give MozyHome a try. I like the offsite nature of it, and the fact that I don’t have to do anything other than install their little app.

What I would love to see from the program is the ability to archive files. I have a bunch of pictures that are not on my local machine that I would love to backup off site.

The Wilderness Downtown

robhyland — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 16:43:28 +0000

This is awesome – http://www.thewildernessdowntown.com/ . I really enjoy Arcade Fire.

To make it cooler plug in an address that has good coverage in Google Maps. I had originally plugged in the address of the house where I grew up, but it did not do so well.

-R

Gmail’s Paging Buttons

robhyland — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 19:47:37 +0000

I like Gmail, especially the interface. I feel like every time I use it I discover a slick new aspect to the interface. One thing I don’t like is the paging buttons, to move back and forth between older and newer messages. Almost every time I need to move back a screen I end up scrolling the ad that is right above my messages. I think that a little more separation would be good, or somehow calling more attention to the paging buttons, rather than the ad scroller.

Search and Replace

robhyland — Thu, 13 May 2010 16:29:03 +0000

One thing I love about WordPress is that someone has always done what I need to do, and oftentimes they created a plugin to do it. Most recently I was preparing a site that I developed on one URL to move to another URL and I wanted to make all of the in-content links and image references relative to the site root, rather than absolute. I use the Search and Replace plugin to clean things up in a matter of seconds – nice!

Getting Started with ColdFusion Builder

robhyland — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 15:39:36 +0000

My ColdFusion Builder journey has begun. I am used to working in Dreamweaver, and already there are two things that I miss:

I wish that I could set up a project, give it a URL, and then hit the files in the preview browsers. I don’t like that I have to configure a server. Because of our server setup, this is not convenient. I even went through the trouble of setting one up, but CF Builder doesn’t recognize it when I try to add it to the project, which is odd since it knows it is there and running.
I wish I could Find/Replace in the file system, like I can in Dreamweaver. CF Builder only provides Find and Replace functionality within a file.

I know that I am just getting started and I need to give it some time.

New Google Search Page?

robhyland — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 13:39:52 +0000

I was just reading this article comparing Google Search and Bing and I decided to check out both pages. I usually do most of my searching via the Chrome ‘Omnibox,’ or whatever it is called. When I went to www.google.com I noticed that it had a different, slicker appearance than I was used to. The buttons were styled diferently. And then, after about 3 seconds, more content faded in. Anyone know anything about this? How long has it been like this? There are some screenshots in the review I was reading and they don’t even match the new look and feel.

I think they might also be doing some browser sniffing, because it looked better in Chrome than in IE – and not just the normal stuff. It looked like different styles were being applied.