Donald Jenkins - Latest Comments

Re: Forget the half-baked Google+, which doesn’t even have RSS: use Delicious to share links from Google Reader

Enguerrand De Roussy — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 10:30:28 -0000

This is pretty harsh on Google, don't you think?

Re: Sparrow Mail: the most elegant, powerful and minimalist Mac email client

Polexzc — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 03:47:34 -0000

I like STHeiti font, but it always goes
back to Helvetica after sending a email, how do I set up the font STHeiti as
default font for sparrow.

Re: Google+/Google Reader integration

Donald Jenkins — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 04:13:10 -0000

@Saqib Ali: that's quite right, I believe one reason Google+ will not gain traction is the confusing and uninspiring nature of its content. Google's obsession with Facebook—which is actually in a completely different line of business—is leading it to partially autodestruct.

Re: Google+/Google Reader integration

Saqib Ali — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 01:15:38 -0000

I actually am little disappointed in Google's decision to kill the shared item following feature in Google Reader. Google Reader provided a way for me to follow what people were reading, and not their personal lives, which is essentially what Google+ will force me to do. If I think of my Google Reader usage pattern, I use it follow shared items, not people –personalities. I am not interested in personal lives of strangers. I simply don't care about what you had for breakfast. I don’t use Facebook, Google+ etc for the same reason. In fact I don’t even like those platforms because of the unnecessary information overload they create. Whereas, I have been actively using Google Reader since the day it was released. Google Reader doesn’t bother me with personal lives of the people I am following on the Reader. It is like going to someone’s place and browsing their library without being concerned with their personal lives. I like that pattern.

I hope that Google Reader lives on in its current form.

Saqib

Re: Why I switched to Byword from WriteRoom for my Mac text editing

Donald Jenkins — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 05:11:25 -0000

@John: Delighted you liked it. Good luck with Byword!

Re: Why I switched to Byword from WriteRoom for my Mac text editing

John Phung — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 04:32:41 -0000

Just purchased Byword because of this post :)

Re: Posting to Posterous from a Mac without sending an email using an Automator workflow

Donald Jenkins — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 00:49:25 -0000

The sequence described prompts the user to fill in the subject and content of the Mail message (which will appear as the post title and text). Filling in the text, if that is what you want, will include the text, with or without any images as desired.

Re: Posting to Posterous from a Mac without sending an email using an Automator workflow

Nina bm — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 19:32:07 -0000

how would you do that if there weren't images but words?

Re: Why I switched to Byword from WriteRoom for my Mac text editing

Donald Jenkins — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 01:16:54 -0000

@Nick: Thanks for pointing out this. Much appreciated.

Re: Why I switched to Byword from WriteRoom for my Mac text editing

Donald Jenkins — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 01:16:05 -0000

@google-87879947e7378e30da8689aa4a14c0b6: Thanks very much for the kind comment! Exchanging about these issues is what makes blogging so rewarding.
Regarding WriteRoom, I have to say it's a great app: it saw me through four years of writing, before minimalist writing became fashionable. It's a pity it hasn't moved on more recently, but if it does, I'm certain the developers will come up with something interesting.

Re: Why I switched to Byword from WriteRoom for my Mac text editing

jjmarcus — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 22:22:07 -0000

This is partly a general comment, Donald, but I want to express my appreciation for your thoughtful and thorough posts on writing and blogging tech. I came across them just as I was struggling through the workflow decisions myself, and you've helped me solidify the process. More specifically, I have just now purchased Byword, and sure enough, it is exactly what I was hoping for. I gave WriteRoom the ol' college try, and was never comfortable with its presentation. I did all the customization, and I couldn't find a comfortable margin to separate my copy from the background. It always felt like I was typing on a Commodore 64. Lack of Markdown preview made me abandon it altogether. I can already tell that Byword is my new friend. Cheers, mate!

Re: Why I switched to Byword from WriteRoom for my Mac text editing

Nick Brawne — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 19:38:38 -0000

WriteRooms full screen mode can in fact be easily customized in the preferences.
The Font is customized in the TextEditing tab, and full screen background and font colors in the Full Screen tab.
http://matter.cc/stuff/writ...
The colors are a warm light gray for text on an 85% black (dark gray) background.

I dont use MarkDown, but am also very frustrated with Jesse's (WriteRooms developer) lack of interest in improving and perhaps simplifying / improving WriteRooms interface. I found this article through Google while research why I might make the move to Byword.

Re: Why I switched to Byword from WriteRoom for my Mac text editing

Donald Jenkins — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 13:38:11 -0000

Sorry: issues with Lion and Cloudapp: I've corrected it.

Re: Why I switched to Byword from WriteRoom for my Mac text editing

Toothyb — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 10:27:25 -0000

Thanks! But link leads to "File Not Found" page...

Re: Why I switched to Byword from WriteRoom for my Mac text editing

Donald Jenkins — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 18:21:03 -0000

@Toothyb: I'm using Courier 15 on a dark background, in plain text. Here's a screenshot of what it looks like: http://i.via.dj/8oBV

Re: Why I switched to Byword from WriteRoom for my Mac text editing

Toothyb — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 17:29:17 -0000

Thoughtful post. What font and size are you using in the screencaps?

Re: Designing an iframe tab for your Facebook page

Bruckeller — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 13:40:30 -0000

Thanks for the quick reply, Donald. Yes I've worked with iframes quite a bit for embedding static content, but a friend had asked if listing blog contents was possible and in my experience I had problems with cross domain issues. Anyway tried Networked Blogs and after you wade through all the hoops and crap they want you to jump through the Networked Blogs app only displays on my Home page not on the fan pages I selected. Judging from the forums I'm not the only one having that problem and no one at the company has helped them. Anyway it doesn't display the way I wanted to, so not a viable solution for me plus its to involved an app for my taste, but my thanks to you for the response.

Re: Designing an iframe tab for your Facebook page

Donald Jenkins — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 12:26:43 -0000

@Bruckeller: An iframe can include pretty much any content, so you could embed any static or dynamic page in one. I think it makes more sense to post my blog articles to my Facebook page using a separate tab generated by the Networked Blogs application, as seen here.

Re: Designing an iframe tab for your Facebook page

Bruckeller — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 12:14:48 -0000

Great tut for the simple stuff...
Any thoughts on how to embed a blogs contents into the FB iframe. Are there cross domain issues? Do you know anyone that has done this?
thanks

Re: Why I switched to Byword from WriteRoom for my Mac text editing

Coder — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 14:55:05 -0000

Writing Kit for iPad has been reviewed on Screencastsonline as a good markdown editor.

Re: Apple’s iCloud could, despite a few quirks, provide the basis for a vibrant, open ecosystem

Donald Jenkins — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 21:14:54 -0000

Thank you for sharing your experience of Apple in the cloud. It's interesting that classical music listeners are pretty disgruntled by Apple's philistinism; I certainly agree with you that we're unlikely to see a fix for the issues raised any time soon.

Re: Orange’s tiny E5832 converts 3G to WiFi, making the iPad 3G superfluous

Dominiquecarol — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 10:33:23 -0000

Thanks for answering my question. The second part of my question was not clear. I apologize. You guessed it right anyhow. With a ipad wifi + 3G purchased in the US, I was told that inserting a French (or any other country) specific micro card could have negative impact on the ipad, from having to update software to damaging the device. I don't see why but again I don't know.
Just checked Orange offers this morning and the device will cost you 49 euros and you can buy a 200MB card for 8 euros. Which is not as good as you 39 euros unlimited deal you got a year ago. We will have to browse carefully.

Re: Orange’s tiny E5832 converts 3G to WiFi, making the iPad 3G superfluous

Donald Jenkins — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 02:57:19 -0000

You can definitely use a US-bought, wifi-only iPad: that's what I use in France without any issues. The wifi connection has started dropping occasionally since the latest software update, but I think that's a worldwide issue.

Not sure what you mean by the risk of inserting a micro-SIM card bought in France on an American model, if that model is wifi-only as you described above. If you mean inserting a French-bought micro-SIM card into a US-bought, 3G-enabled iPad, I can't speak from personal experience: some people have claimed to me that since US and foreign 3G networks use slightly different standards, a 3G device bought in one country may not work smoothly in another, on 3G as opposed to wifi; my experience with my unlocked, French-bought iPhone 4, which I use with my American micro-SIM card when I'm in the US, is that it accesses the AT&T 3G signal without any problems: I'de imagine the reverse would be true—and the worst you could experience would be not pricking up the foreign signal rather than anything more drastic.

Re: Orange’s tiny E5832 converts 3G to WiFi, making the iPad 3G superfluous

Dominiquecarol — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 17:49:41 -0000

Hi there,

I have found your article very interesting. I will go to France next month and recently bought an Ipad WIFi only. Any issues with a US-purchased Ipad? Also I was told that it is risky to use a micro Sim card bought in France on my American model. Any thoughts, Comments?Thank you

Re: Apple’s iCloud could, despite a few quirks, provide the basis for a vibrant, open ecosystem

Joseph Yarbrough — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 13:15:22 -0000

Interesting. I've gone the same route with my calendars and email (Google) while using MobileMe merely for contacts because Google messed them all up when I tried that option. But as you say, $99 a year is way too expensive merely for contact syncing.

So if Apple allows the uploading of music which they don't already carry in the iTunes catalogue for $24.99, the problem of having older, no longer available for sale music is eliminated. But even still, given the size of many (most?) folks music libraries, I just don't see the point of a download-style music-in-the-cloud offering. Now if it were streaming (or both, as an option)....

Possibly your unmatched music in the iTunes cloud will retain your tagging.

I keep sending notes to the Rdio people about issues with classical music. (For where I was at in building a classical music library, around 45 GB, when I discovered Rdio, it made more sense to me, given what the range they offer, plus the streaming capability, plus the cost of buying albums, to go that route.) They tell me that they're thinking about those issues.

For Rdio or iTunes or anyone, it seems like the financial incentive to fix the cataloguing of classical music just isn't there.