Comments Off on Thoughts about the new Unity user interface in Ubuntu 11.04

Thoughts about the new Unity user interface in Ubuntu 11.04

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 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 »

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Comments Off on Mobile web data stats, hard to measure and to interpret

Mobile web data stats, hard to measure and to interpret

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 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:

  1. What do I actually see, how is the market share defined?
    bandwidth, server logs, requests, time, analytics, users, User Agent strings?
  2. 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!
  3. 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.
  4. 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.

Posted in Webtechnology | Comments Off on Mobile web data stats, hard to measure and to interpret

Comments Off on HTML5 date type input fields, not perfect yet

HTML5 date type input fields, not perfect yet

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 February 25th, 2011

One of the most handy improvements of HTML5 will be the added functionality to forms. Sliders, spinners and datepickers are foreseen and IMHO will be extremely valuable. No need anymore for the Jquery datepickers, which are nice but quite a hassle for a thing that should be standard: inputting a date.

Opera is the only browser that supports the HTML5 type=datetime attribute at the moment.
Unfortunately there are  some pitfalls.

What is the right date-format?

The HTML spec states several valid datetime formats. Opera doesn’t parse these correctly.

Birthday of Nero: 0037-12-13T00:00Z

Why is this a valid date 2010-09-30T12:00:00 while the default MySQL output 2010-09-30 12:00:00 isn’t? That’s just plain stupid.
It means that every webdeveloper needs to add extra steps to parse the database fields with extra code in scriptlanguage.
For PHP:

<input type="datetime-local value="<?= date('Y-m-d\TH:m',strtotime($event_start)) ?>">

That’s not very HTML5-wise; what works is OK, don’t make it more difficult than that. Now the most intuitive thing doesn’t work, that’s no good.

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Comments Off on Google webfonts for everyday use?

Google webfonts for everyday use?

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 October 19th, 2010

Let’s try some webfonts again from the Google Webfont api. Tangerine and Canterell. I like the webfont idea from Google. Read more about it on their blogpost.

This text is Tangerine

This text is Tangerine italic

This text is Tangerine bold

This text is Cantarell

This text is Cantarell italic

This text is Cantarell bold

A tad small compared to the default font. And Opera 10.63 renders all font-styles bold and italic as normal. Weird, for  the inventors of the webfont.

Posted in CSS3, HTML5, Webtechnology | Comments Off on Google webfonts for everyday use?

Comments Off on Can you trust Google translate? Ehh..

Can you trust Google translate? Ehh..

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 October 19th, 2010

Dunno, maybe it’s a new kind of spam. Or another quick and dirty SEO trick.

Maybe the two beautiful cities London and Amsterdam are battling to lure German tourists into their hotels. The English national tourist-agency just scored a superb goal:

London – Amsterdam: 1-0

A `wandeling door amsterdam` in Dutch  (`a walk in amsterdam`) is translated by Google to `London Walks` in German.

Really?

Trust me

Really!!

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in SEO, Webtechnology | Comments Off on Can you trust Google translate? Ehh..

Comments Off on The shadow of the invisible: AKA How to create fuzzy fonts with pure CSS

The shadow of the invisible: AKA How to create fuzzy fonts with pure CSS

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 October 7th, 2010

No, I wasn’t drunk writing this post, just had a long hot shower.

No, you don’t need new specs, this text is slightly blurred.

Scrubbing my back I was thinking about the new CSS3 stuff, and what you can do about spicing up the layout.

After my hot shower, steam filling my bathroom, I looked at myself in the mirror, razor-blade in hand to deliver a fast and clean shave.

Stop!

No shaving in the mist, no blood in the tub, but EUREKA
Fuzzy fonts with CSS!

How? Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in CSS3, HTML5, Webtechnology | Comments Off on The shadow of the invisible: AKA How to create fuzzy fonts with pure CSS

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