Seventytwo

Improving Safari 4's Tab User Interface

Thu, 26 Feb 2009 00:42:13 +0000

Like many people I downloaded Safari 4 Beta with some excitement (is that sad?) as soon as it was released a couple of days ago. My first thought upon opening the shiny new browser was that the user interface was a bit crazy (are Apple going cover flow crazy?) but there was something else that felt really wrong.. what was it? Then it hit me.. it was the new tabs UI where Apple have now positioned tabs at the top of the window, in fact they’re located so close to the top of the window that they have entered the sacred area of the window title and become one with it, eugh.

As far as I know this is the first time this has happened in OS X and I think it is a really bad idea. I know its takes up less space, I know its more compact than Camino, but I don’t care. I think it is at best, an ugly solution, and at worst, a confusing interface implementation for users. It goes against every other window seen in OS X (yes, even those sexy transparent black HUD windows) and after a little digging in Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines on Window Elements I found the following:

The only controls that belong in a title bar are the close, minimize, and zoom buttons. If a title bar is combined with a toolbar, the unified area can contain the toolbar control and the toolbar customization contextual menu (these controls are described in “Title Bar Buttons”). Do not place other controls in a title bar.

There you go Apple. You’re violating your own guidelines by putting other controls, i.e tabs, into the window title. I pray that Apple will rethink this interface design. Anyway, I present (da da daa!) my idea for the tab interface implementation. It’s no more compact that Safari 3’s tab UI but it does have the correct hierarchy of Window Title, Tab with Page Title, Address, Content and it doesn’t violate the Human Interface Guidelines.

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Gotcha when setting expires on cookies in Merb

Wed, 14 Jan 2009 15:23:34 +0000

I’ve just finished implementing ‘remember me’ functionality in a Merb app I’m working on and I came across a gotcha when setting cookies that I thought I’d post up for anyone coming across the same thing.

You can set a cookie with and expiry date in Merb using something like:

cookies.set_cookie(:foo, 'true', :secure => true, :expires => 3.days.from_now)

I was setting a cookie using the value of a DateTime property on my model, something like this:

cookies.set_cookie(:auth_token, session.user.remember_token, :expires => session.user.remember_token_expires_at)

Unfortunately the above code didn’t work. I eventually found out that it was down to the DateTime property on the model that I was using for the :expires option. The #set_cookie method expects :expires to be supplied with a Time object, not a DateTime object. If it isn’t given a Time object then it will not convert the value to the correct format required for a cookie. Thus you end up with a cookie that will expire at the end of the browser session instead.

Merry Christmas!

Thu, 25 Dec 2008 22:23:44 +0000

Simon and I would like to wish you all a very merry Christmas!

Merb and Rails evolve into Rails 3

Tue, 23 Dec 2008 20:58:09 +0000

Wow. This is exciting. Rails and Merb have got it on and are carrying a love child, its called Rails 3. Merb has been a great thing for the Rails world helping to push Rails in a better direction. Many ideas from Merb are already appearing in Rails edge but from now on they’ll be combining the great minds of both frameworks to create a killer ruby web framework. More information can be found at the official rails blog announcement. Exciting times ahead!

Rails 3 is going to kick ass.

Working with Wireframes for the Web

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 19:08:17 +0100

Having recently discovered the joy of using wireframes for web development I thought it would be nice to write a little post about them and how you can make use of them in your development process.

Brighton Ahoy!

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 22:28:18 +0000

We’re on the roll again, heading back to Brighton for a few days later this week. Next year Alistair and I will be moving to Brighton so that we can work on our devious plans more efficiently and set up Makito Labs HQ, so we’re taking this trip to check out more of what Brighton has to offer and figure out boring things like how much moolah we’re going to be taxed for renting office space.

We’ll be in Brighton from Thursday 30th October until Saturday 1st November, so if you’re a Brighton local and fancy joining us for a pint or two then please give one of us a shout or drop us a direct message on Twitter. We’ll be heading out on Thursday evening for drinks, so if you’re able to drop by and fill us in on the best and worst that Brighton has to offer, you’re more than welcome to a pint on us!

Installing beanstalkd on Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)

Sat, 25 Oct 2008 16:54:26 +0100

We recently had to install beanstalkd the messaging queue system from Philotic, Inc on our development machines. MacPorts didn’t work so we decided to build it ourselves but any guides for installing on OS X are pretty thin on the ground so I thought I’d share what we had to do.

Happeningapp is accepting beta signups!

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 11:33:35 +0100

If you’re wondering why It’s been a little quiet around here for a few weeks, its because Simon and I have been working flat out on our first big web app, Happeningapp, for our newly found company, Makito Labs.

The site went up yesterday and we’re now accepting beta signups!

Happeningapp is the missing glue between you and all those lovely websites you’ve developed. Whether you need to know a little more about what’s going or prevent something catastrophic that’s waiting in the wings to trample all over your chi, we’re sure that Happeningapp is the answer.

Note: We have a new comments system

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 19:01:04 +0100

Just a quick note to tell everyone that we’ve changed the way our comments system works. It previously required you to create a user account before being able to post a comment and featured nice things like threaded comments. After a brief discussion we decided that the user accounts feature was probably inhibiting user participation and that we didn’t really need threaded comments right now – so bang its gone!. Now there’s no excuse for not participating. ;)

TextMate Plugins and Bundles Goodness

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 01:08:23 +0100

Alistair and I are both major fanboys of TextMate and espouse its use wherever possible. We thought it would be nice to share some of the TextMate bundles and plugins that keep us coding with optimum efficiency, so without further ado…

Another week, another geek fest

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 12:08:17 +0100

I’m still recovering from the fantastic dConstruct conference, but already rared up for BathCamp this coming Saturday. I’ll be doing a wee talk on how we built PingMyMap in five days, and the trials and tribulations we encountered on the way.

You will likely be able to locate me hovering around any beer/food related areas, so please come over and say hi. I’ll even give you a 72 sticker for your troubles.

See you there!

Back from dConstruct08

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 17:47:44 +0100

We’re back from the mighty dConstruct 08 in Brighton! There were some fantastic talks, my personal favourites being ‘Designing for the Coral Reef’ from Matt Biddulph and Matt Jones of Dopplr fame (really funny guys) and Jeremy Keith’s epic ‘The System of the World’ which was rather mind expanding indeed.

We met some really nice people, had some fun with our stickering antics (if you found the 72 stickered banana I hope it was tasty) and we really enjoyed the after party even if it was a bit of a squeeze.

Hopefully we’ll see some of you again soon. If you want to follow us on twitter (who doesn’t like following new people) you catch me at twitter.com/alistairholt and Simon is at twitter.com/allidid

Super Simple Database Migrations with Subversion and Bash Scripting

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 22:38:03 +0100

Recently I’ve decided that I really need to get some kind of solid database schema versioning system in place for my PHP apps. Rails has its lovely migrations system, but sadly there’s no equivalent functionality built into the PHP Zend_Db component at the moment. This is probably due to the fact that Zend Framework is a decoupled framework, instead of being a full stack like Rails, so migrations may well never see the light of day. I’m taking matters into my own hands…

Blood, Sweat and a Taste of Things to Come

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 17:30:46 +0100

Sitting here relaxing on a grey Sunday afternoon, it’s been to nice to reflect on how far things have come with Seventytwo in just a few weeks. Our articles have been featured by the Rails Envy Podcast, we’ve launched our first mini web app and there’s plenty more in the pipeline.

New Feed URL.. again

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 17:56:21 +0100

We’ve had to change our RSS feed URL again, it is now http://feeds.feedburner.com/seventytwocouk.

PingMyMap Launched!

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 16:07:31 +0100

The One Day Web App Hack finished yesterday after 5 days (yes, you read that right!). Much sleep has been lost, many things cursed and possibly a few tears shed to bring you this pingtastic web app! You can check out the fruit of our efforts over at PingMyMap.com.

To get all the details on our API you just can tuck into the Documentation, or even better go ahead and sign up (it’ll only take you 30 seconds, we promise). We’d love to know what you think, so drop us a message over at Get Satisfaction.

Next week we’ll be telling the saga of the One “But Really Five” Day Web App Hack, sharing some handy design and development tips that we learnt in the process of building PingMyMap. For now we’re going to get going with promoting the site and enjoy a few well deserved beers! Cheers!

Update: One Day Web App Hack

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 18:38:53 +0100

We thought we should let you know where we are up to on our ‘One Day Web App Hack’ adventure. Simon and I have been working flat out for two days solid, apart from the odd break for food and beverages, and we’re probably about 90% there at the time of writing.

Unfortunately we’ve had a few issues getting the Zend PHP framework to do exactly what we want in certain places. This is the first time Simon has really used the framework for a serious project and he’s learning as we go, but pretty rapidly I might add. Simon tells me “its beautiful but I’m just stupid”.

Things are going pretty well on my side of the app, the designs are done, builds are almost complete and the UI is looking good. After that, all that remains to be done is some cross-browser testing and implementation of alpha PNG fixes for IE6.

Overall we’re really pleased with progress so far and the app is shaping up to be very nice indeed. Stay tuned for more updates soon!

One Day Web App Hack Begins!

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 09:52:03 +0100

Our one day of web app hacking madness has begun! Alistair’s in Chester, limbering up to pump out some sexy eye candy and I’m down here in Plymouth, poised to code the heart of the beast that we’re naming PingMyMap.com!

You can keep track of the mayhem via our Twitter feed (as long as it doesn’t go down…).

Catch you on the flip side!

Twitter Updates

Announcement: One Day Web App Hack

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 15:41:50 +0100

As a follow up to my article on getting your sites indexed with Sitemaps and search engine pings, we’ve decided to develop a simple web app that will handle all the pinging for you. The challenge is that we’ve only got one day to design and develop it in. On Wednesday (30th July), Alistair and myself will be designing, coding and building a pingtastic web app from scratch.

Tune in on Wednesday evening (GMT) to share our triumph (or watch us fall flat on our faces)!

Seventytwo at dConstruct 08

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 11:28:46 +0100

Both Simon and I will be attending the dConstruct 08 web conference on the 5th September in Brighton, UK. Please say hello if you see us there, we’re quite friendly.

If you haven’t booked your place it looks like there are some tickets still available.

New Feed URL

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 18:19:24 +0100

With the site re-launch comes a new feed URL! The old URLs are getting redirected but if you’re having any trouble then the new URL to subscribe to is http://feeds.feedburner.com/seventytwo

Making SWFUpload and Rails work together

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 22:36:57 +0100

Unfortunately Rails and SWFUpload don’t work together without a little bit of tweaking to our Rails applications. We’ll show you how to make it work.

How to Reach Enlightenment and Get Your Site Indexed by Search Engines

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 21:23:10 +0100

Since the dawn of web search, getting your site well ranked in search engines has been the holy grail of web spinners everywhere. In this world of proprietary algorithms and SEO speculation, there is (gasp) a simple standard between search engines that has the power to unite us all and bring world peace! Well, at the very least it can give your site a fighting chance at getting indexed. Behold, Sitemaps, the standard.