Learn Some Things

What matters now?

barreleye — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 01:15:53 +0000

Here is an 80 page booklet that contains insight from some of the best authors on success and business, some of the excepts …

Download and Share What Matters Now (Pdf)

Getting things done is not the same as making things happen.

You can…

…reply to email.

…pay the bills.

…cross off to-do’s.

…fulfill your obligation.

…repeat what you heard.

…go with the flow.

…anticipate roadblocks.

…aim for “good enough.”

Or you can…

…organize a community.

…take a risk.

…set ambitious goals.

…give more than you take.

…change perceptions.

…forge a new path.

…create possibility.

…demand excellence.

Don’t worry too much about getting things done.

Make things happen.

Gina Trapani blogs about software and productivity at Smarterware. Her new book, the Complete Guide to Google Wave, is available to read online for free.

Drew Brees Commencement Speech, May 2010 New Orleans LOYOLA

barreleye — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 23:23:57 +0000

Drew Brees the New Orleans Saints quarterback and Super Bowl MVP speaks about perseverance, commitment, and hope in the 2010 LOYOLA Commencement Speech. There is something enduring about those who can see adversity as opportunity and hardship as a learning tool that will only serve to make the future brighter. Perhaps being hungry is the difference between those who succeed and those who fail, which can be summed up by Brees’s quote, “There are three types of people in this world, those who make it happen, those that watch it happen, and those that wake up one day and say what the heck happened, so which one are you?”

Part 1 of 2

Part 2 of 2

A little bit about JSON

barreleye — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 23:45:56 +0000

A little bit about JSON, or Javascript Object Notation. As you start using the Javascript Ajax libraries, you will certainly run into JSON so it is extremely important that you get a handle on the basics of JSON.

The basic format of a properly formatted JSON string is:

{ name:'value',name:'value',name:[{sub_value:'value',sub_value:'value'},
{sub_value:'value',sub_value:'value'}]}

The values in the example above are in quotes due to the fact that they strings, if you had numeric values the quotes would be optional, as with boolean values and null. Let’s take a look at how this translates in the real world. Suppose we had the following table in a database that contained name, age, and gender.

Name	Age	Sex
Barney Rubble	32	Male
Fred Flintstone	33	Male
Betty Rubble	32	Female
Pebbles	1	Female
Bamm Bamm	2	Male

The JSON representation of this table would then be:

{results:5,data:[{name:'Barney Rubble',age:32,sex:'Male'},
{name:'Fred Flinstone',age:33,sex:'Male'},
{name:'Betty Rubble',age:32,sex:'Female'},
{name:'Pebbles',age:1,sex:'Female'},
{name:'Bamm Bamm',age:2,sex:'Male'}]}

You probably will not want to write the JSON by hand as in the example above, so in real life you would write a function that would convert the data from a table into the JSON format. A sample function might look like :





        Select name, age, sex from flinstones

Of course most languages come with Json support like php: http://php.net/manual/en/book.json.php or cold fusion: http://livedocs.adobe.com/coldfusion/8/htmldocs/help.html?content=JavaScriptFcns_07a.html.

Look for the editable Json grid next.

A better editable grid, how search patterns revealed a desire for a decent drop down box inside a Ajax grid.

barreleye — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 01:33:02 +0000

I have been getting a lot of traffic on the YUI drop down boxes inside of the YUI grid component, which leads me to believe that there are several individuals out there that need a decent editable grid with a decent drop down component. Well, at the risk of offending the Yahoo UI camp, I have to let it be known that many of the desperate search attempts and extensions of the YUI package can be satisfied by using another Javascript grid component altogether, in fact the post below will show you just how simple it is to set up a drop down box in an editable grid, which unlike the hack that was implemented for the YUI grid doesn’t rely on the eval function and can take data from a local array, JSON string, or better yet a data store populated from the database via lookup table.

First, to compare the two apples for apples let’s take a look at the Grid From Markup, to make the following example run in your environment first download the Ext JS package by following this link, http://www.sencha.com/products/js/download.php?dl=extjs321. Unzip the package to the folder where you have placed your website, an example is provided below:

The code for the grid from markup starts off much like the YUI grid, but that is where the similarities end, first cut and paste the lines below to get the example running on your page.



    
        Grid From Markup

        
        
        
        
        

    
    
        Grid From Markup

       
        
            
                Name
                Age
                Sex
            
        
        
            
                Barney Rubble
                32
                Male
            
            
                Fred Flintstone
                33
                Male
            
            
                Betty Rubble
                32
                Female
            
            
                Pebbles
                1
                Female
            
            
                Bamm Bamm
                2
                Male

Not too much to it, there are four Ext scripts that will change this basic html table into a sortable data table ala YUI, and guess what, these four scripts will also do all of the other functions, like layout, menus, drag and drop, ……. No more hunting for the million includes, and no need for a separate app to just find out what order the include files should go in!

Here’s a look at the finished table, complete with sorting and hideable columns.

The simplest Ext grid still has sorting and hide-able columns.

Choices

barreleye — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 02:17:23 +0000

The new HTML 5 Video Tag – How To Embed Video for Mobile Sites

barreleye — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 01:58:46 +0000

One tag and you get a first class video player complete with controls!

HTML 5’s new Video Tag

One of the most talked about features in HTML 5 is the video tag, this tag much like the image tag is used to include a video into a webpage. In the past (meaning now) placing video in a web page really meant placing video in some type of player, perhaps Adobe Flash using a .flv video file to ‘stream’ the video to the user and to provide a basic set of controls, like a play, pause, and stop button, or volume controls. This was time consuming and relied on a plugin. In HTML 5 all you have to do to get the controls and video is to add the following tag:

HTML 5’s new Video Tag
One of the most talked about features in HTML 5 is the video tag, this tag much like the image tag is used to include a video into a webpage. In the past (meaning now) placing video in a web page really meant placing video in some type of player, perhaps Adobe Flash using a .flv video file to ‘stream’ the video to the user and to provide a basic set of controls, like a play, pause, and stop button, or volume controls. This was time consuming and relied on a plugin. In HTML 5 all you have to do to get the controls and video is to add the following tag:



	
		
		Check Out The HTML 5 Video Tag!
	
	
		
			Sorry, your browser does not support the video tag how about an upgrade?

Of course the tag comes with a few attributes that you might want to use in order to get your video display just right.

autoplay=”autoplay” – This will start the video immediately
width=’500px’ – This will set the width just replace the e500 with your desired width in pixels
height=’300px’ – This will set the height, and just like the width, just substitute the pixels for your actual value.
controls=’controls’ – You never know, you may not want controls with that video, you might be programming one of those annoying advertisements that do not have controls.
loop=’loop’ – This is self explanatory, it will loop the video.
preload=’preload’ – this will load the video when the page initially loads, I would not really recommend this unless you want a page delay.
src=’This is your video.video’ – this is the path to your video file.

Marketing by sharing – how telling your story leads to success

barreleye — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 01:30:37 +0000

App Store? Need not apply – Javascript as a cross platform iPhone, Android, and Blackberry development tool.

barreleye — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 22:28:15 +0000

Solitaire written with Sench Touch (Javascript) on Safari 5

Recently Extjs changed it’s name to Sencha and rolled out a new product, Sencha Touch, which essentially takes the Extjs components that may be used to build mobile applications. So what! you may be saying to yourself, the mobile app market is expected to surpass 25 Billion dollars in revenue in 2008, so clearly there are mobile applications, and development tools, right? So what makes this different? What makes this a game changer? Well, first, Steve Jobs of Apple penned a telling article that can be found at http://www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughts-on-flash/ which basically states that the mobile devices produced by apple will support HTML 5 and the latest open web standards, opposed to flash or other ‘closed’ systems.

In his own words, “Rather than use Flash, Apple has adopted HTML5, CSS and JavaScript – all open standards. Apple’s mobile devices all ship with high performance, low power implementations of these open standards. HTML5, the new web standard that has been adopted by Apple, Google and many others, lets web developers create advanced graphics, typography, animations and transitions without relying on third party browser plug-ins (like Flash). HTML5 is completely open and controlled by a standards committee, of which Apple is a member.”

This paves the way for HTML5 / CSS3 / JS applications to become the truly cross platform standard for Apple and Android phones, which I am betting will replace many of the alternatives on the market now. It also provides developers a way to write apps that do not need to be vetted by the apple store, and to distribute apps over the web creating revenue that needs not be shared with the device maker.

Sencha allows you write Javascript applications that behave like native mobile applications. Try playing this solitare game (http://touchsolitaire.mobi/app/) on your iPhone, or browse to it using Safari (http://www.apple.com/safari/whats-new.html) and you will get a true appreciation of what is possible with the new browsers. In fact, I believe that this may show the power of HTML 5 and CSS3 better than many of the ‘HTML 5’ sites that have popped up on the net recently.

Start with why, how passion equals success

barreleye — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 23:03:54 +0000

This explains why some can overcome the barriers to success, and it is very different than most would assume, but it makes sense, start with why, stick with your passion. More from Simon Sinek can be found on his blog http://sinekpartners.typepad.com/refocus/.

HTML 5′s new ‘range’ input type

barreleye — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 00:53:43 +0000

HTML 5 has a new input type named ‘range’ which creates what all would normally call a slider. This input type deals with numbers. The code below when viewed in Google Chrome or Safari 5 will produce the ‘slider’ effect, the javacript will get the value of the slider while it is being moved in either direction and as a bonus change the width of the div that has the new rounded CSS corners. Unfortunately, if you do not view the code in an HTML 5 compatible browser it will simply render a textbox. What you should see can be found below.

New HTML Range input item

 

	
		
		
	
	
	
		
		Input Type Range Example
		
		
		
		0