Creating spinners with CSS transitions/transform and a bit of JS
{css}June 1st, 2011
CSS3 can deliver animations without the help of javascript libraries. Less code, less server requests, so faster loading of your website.
Furthermore CSS will be hardware accelerated by the browser when possible. Not now, but in the near future. So it’s preferable to use CSS instead of javascript. Goodbye to jQuery UI?
We will see, since mobile web is really emerging we’re in the need of a better content/pagesize ratio. Less markup, less JS, less server request, and faster loading.
So a little example here. Compare it to the javascript driven various spinners out there on the internet.
How to create shortcuts for moving windows in Ubuntu (Unity)
{ubuntu linux}May 18th, 2011
Ubuntu Unity is a smart attempt to bring innovation to the the desktop and program handling of Linux users. Actually Linux is far more user-friendly the people think, it has repositories since the last century, and if you don’t know what repository is. It’s an app-store. Yes, Linux invented the app store, this means you just have to search and click to install a trusted and tested program.
Why doesn’t anybody knows this? Because it’s free software, so it lacks advertisements budget, so it won’t make it into the newspapers, because newspapers nowadays are filled with advertisements on one side and press-releases and sensational breaking news on the opposite side. And if they write about innovation it’s about lifestyle and things you can buy.
Another strong and catching feature is the Compiz, a window manager that brings 3D and hardware acceleration to your desktop. Scaling, fading, sliding of programs adds to the fun of daily work on your computer and it works amazingly fast and smooth. Off-course you need a graphics card, but most will do, like integrated Intel.
Unity doesn’t bring all the shortcuts you want, so how do you move program windows from one monitor to another, in a two monitor big desktop setup. Just install wmctrl, you will find it in the Linux appstore. In short;
- Install wmctrl
sudo apt-get install <em>wmctrl</em>
- Open CompizConfig Settings Manager (CCSM),
ccsm
- or install it if you don’t have it:
sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager
- Add this in the command settings
wmctrl -r :ACTIVE: -e 0,1920,-1,-1,-1
and
wmctrl -r :ACTIVE: -e 0,0,-1,-1,-1
- Add shortcuts to this commands in the next `key-binding`tab,
CTRL SUPER RIGHT
CTRL SUPER LEFT
Now you can switch any program that has focus between monitors with your keyboard. Change 1920, if your left monitors doesn’ have that resolution and offcours you need a huge desktop setup with two monitors left and right. And the best, you don’t need Unitu for this it works in all Ubuntu versions with compiz, and even without compiz, you can set the commands with metacity.
Microsoft’s acquisition of Skype is not about Skype but about user data of the Android and iPhone platform
May 15th, 2011With the acquisition of Skype Microsoft pays a huge amount of dollars probably not so much for the proprietary technology of Skype but for the user data of Skype users.
And user-data is the holy grail for advertisement. A lot of phone carries worry about the availability of Skype on smartphones, lowering their gains, and losing turnover, they can’t compensate that with the tariffs for mobile internet.
Phone carriers are becoming mobile internet providers, nothing more, and if they try to exploit that, they take the risk of being out of the game.
Most smartphone traffic is geo-tagged and gives valuable info about users, their location and WIFI-networks. Actually the location services work faster with analysing WIFI data then GPS. Google Streetview wasn’t only for the photo’s, the funny-looking camera-cars did something more important: collecting data about WIFI-networks. The photo’s add to the internet experience, the WIFI networks to the advertisement opportunities of Google.
Skype will give Microsoft access to this invaluable data of the Android and iPhone mobile platform. Together with the Nokia deal that’s worth something. The future will show if Microsoft can make a stronghold on the mobile markets with all these investments. Advertisement offer better gaining opportunities then selling proprietary software, especially in the cloud area.
Are we all going to heaven?
Thoughts about the new Unity user interface in Ubuntu 11.04
{ubuntu linux}May 10th, 2011
Ubuntu has brought a major change to the Linux desktop with their 6 months update of the Linux OS and it’s called Unity. Ubuntu tries to innovate on two fields: maximising workspace for the user, remove clutter form the interface and speed up window and program handling.
Like most new innovations reactions are mixed. Some people like it, and some don’t , mostly because they hate changing their daily habits, or because they lost control how to tweak things.
I like the improvements that Unity brought, so let’s take a look. Read the rest of this entry »
Mobile web data stats, hard to measure and to interpret
{mobile}April 12th, 2011
PPK is a informative source for developments on the web, especially the mobile web. since he turned away from javascript the last years.
Still I doubt his analysis of his monthly Mobile browser stats can stand the test for science. (Webp image screenshot, saved 45% compared to jpg. supported by Chrome and Opera, click to see jpg) or follow link.
A few questions raised:
- What do I actually see, how is the market share defined?
bandwidth, server logs, requests, time, analytics, users, User Agent strings? - There seems to be mixing up of platforms and browsers: I use Opera on Android, in which row do I belong?
Opera or Android. You expect Opera, but in his words he expected Android to have passed Blackberry. Well, they just put me in the wrong category! - Opera is using compression proxy servers that will lower the bandwidth with up to 50%.
Opera is also pre-formatting content (OBML), compressing images to the new WebP pcture format (much better then jpg), and minimizing the amount of server requests, which is slowing mobile web quite severely. That also makes traffic difficult to measure and compare to other platforms. And then competition has started similar services: Bitstream Bolt and UC browser. - I use my Android mostly at home or at my desk using ADSL landlines. Is that mobile web?
Statcounter should break down their numbers to platform, browser and provider/data carrier. We need to differentiate between WIFI, and GSM/UTMS. Is Mobile web defined by device or by usage/location.
Don’t get me wrong, I really like PPK and his works, and I know he is at least trying to get some order in the chaos of mobile life, and he is working with the data provided by Statcounter.
On the other hand, maybe the absolute numbers are wrong, if you don’t change your methods, trends still remain visible. I keep reading PPK Quirksblog.