John Topley's Weblog
February 2004 Article ArchiveDoing It With StyleSaturday, 28 February 2004I'm working on prototypes at the moment of the user interface for the J2EE application we're developing at work. As it's going to be a browser-based interface, I decided it was high time I learned more about Cascading Style Sheets. I've had enough knowledge to get by but hadn't delved into some aspects, such as when to use an ID selector and when to use a class selector, or floats. I've found some brilliant resources on the Web to help me. Over at Max Design they've a series of great tutorials and articles explaining style sheet fundamentals, such as how rule sets are applied and the document tree, as well as showing how to turn plain HTML unordered lists into a horizontal menu bar complete with rollover effects. I also had a more thorough look at an old favourite, A List Apart, which is also stuffed full of useful techniques and advice. My CSS editor of choice remains TopStyle from Bradbury Software, although I'm using quite an old version now (version 1.5). There really is nothing I've seen to touch it. Having spent a few days immersed in this stuff I'm struck anew by what a breathtakingly elegant concept Cascading Style Sheets are. I feel quite inspired to create a compelling user experience. Some of the interfaces that are being created now using this technology are amazing. Unfortunately, the predominant Web browser where I work is Internet Explorer 5 on Windows, which is the browser that your mother warned you about when it comes to CSS support. At least nowadays the bugs are quite well documented and some clever people have come up with some ingenious workarounds. At home I seem have ended up using four browsers on a regular basis: IE 6, Opera 7.10, an old build of Mozilla and the brand spanking new Mozilla Phoenix Firebird Firefox 0.8. However, I'm trying to move most of my surfing over to FeedDemon—especially now I've just purchased it—although I still like to visit sites the old-fashioned way to see how they look.
Mozilla Firefox is shaping up to be a great browser and I love the new branding. Their website is so much better than it used to be, too. Mozilla really seem to have got their act together after a few years in rewrite hell. Along with Opera they show us just how stagnant the old Microsoft warhorse has become. I love all the new-generation browser paraphernalia, such as tabbed windows, pop-up blockers, download managers and my personal favourite, mouse gestures. Firefox also comes with a particularly lovely Web Developer toolbar. Yes, I know there are upteen browsers you can download that bring all this to Internet Explorer, but I'd rather have the standards-compliant Gecko engine underneath. To the outside world it looks as if Microsoft have tossed IE into a drawer, like a broken toy a child has lost interest in. They're really going to have to pull something special out of the bag for Windows Longhorn. No Time Wasters, PleaseTuesday, 17 February 2004One of the things that really annoys me is when people ask questions and then disappear off the face of the Earth. During the nine months that this site has been running, I've received a number of technical questions either as comments or via my Contact page. Invariably these questions have been too vague for me to be able to answer immediately, and so I've ended up having to ask for more detail. Then I hear no more. Why do people do this?! A few years ago when I first had access to the Internet, I was also starting out as a Windows programmer and I posted no end of questions to newsgroups asking for help with various problems. Without fail I eagerly checked back the next day to see if I'd received an answer. Later on, I started answering other people's questions too, which was quite rewarding. I just can't imagine a situation in which I'd ask for help online and then not respond when a person trying to help needed more information. Even if I'd solved the problem myself in the meantime, I would have the courtesy to make this known. It's interesting observing how programmers go about things when they're stuck. Some will cuss and bang their head on the desk for days before asking for help, whilst others will give up straight away and ask the brightest person at hand. Over the years I've observed that people are much more inclined to ask a colleague for help than to try to find the answer out for themselves, even though the latter is often quicker if you have a strategy for doing it. I'm convinced that this phenomenon directly led to the creation of the Microsoft Office assistant. Microsoft noticed this behavioural pattern and thought it would be a great step forward if they could distill the office expert into Word. I wonder if the people I started off complaining about leave Clippit hanging on for more information?
Microsoft Installer And RunAsSaturday, 07 February 2004I recently installed the ActivePython IDE from ActiveState. Yes, I'm playing with Python, but more on that in a future blog entry. Being a good Windows citizen, the installer for ActivePython is a Microsoft Installer (*.msi) file. I was logged on using my regular user account, which has Power User privileges. As an aside, the Power User group is still available in Windows XP, even though it's not surfaced by the simplified User Accounts Control Panel applet. I believe that Microsoft used to recommend for Windows 2000 that everyday user accounts should be members of the Power Users group, which is equivalent to the old Windows NT 4 Users group.
Anyway, I double-clicked the setup file and got a message informing me that as I wasn't logged on as an Administrator I could still install the software, but the DLLs would be installed into the program folder and not in system32. Also, some other features would not be available. At this point I gave praise that someone had finally written a setup routine that accounted for the capabilities of the current user account. I aborted the installation and right-clicked on the setup file with the intention of using the handy RunAs command to re-run setup as an Administrator. I couldn't do it though because the command wasn't there. Then I tried holding down the shift key and right-clicking but it was still no good. So I had to log off and then log on as Administrator, all because it appears that Microsoft Installer files don't support RunAs. Now things are usually the way they are in Windows for a reason (honestly), so perhaps Raymond Chen knows the reason? Domain VulturesMonday, 02 February 2004During the past week I've received two letters from entirely unrelated companies who both want the same thing. My johntopley.com Internet domain name. A few years ago I invested in the .com, .co.uk and .net versions of my name. I bought them through Freeparking because they were cheap and the computer magazine that I read recommended them. I know there are slightly cheaper deals to be had nowadays but I stay with Freeparking because it just makes life simpler for me and because I know that I can rely on them to e-mail me when the domains need to be renewed. The first letter I received was from the Domain Registry of America, which I binned straight away because I've heard from them before and they're a known scam. The second letter was from EU Registry Services and it said: “Domain Name: JOHNTOPLEY.COM The domain name shown above is due for renewal. Please renew this domain immediately to ensure service continues uninterrupted. If payment is not made to the registry before the expiry date the domain is subject to immediate suspension and deletion without further notice. Important Information: It is vital that domain renewal fees are paid promptly to avoid registrants losing domain ownership. If it becomes past due then the domain name is deleted from the Internet and open for purchase by other parties. We request you provide us with up-to-date contact information to be able to contact you when payment is due. We will send no further warning of your domain expiry before it is deleted.” —The tone of this letter actually caused me to stop and think about what was happening with my domain name. A quick check on Freeparking told me the real story, which is that I've a little breathing space yet. I read the letter again and noticed that not only was it not addressed to my current address, but it was also very carefully worded to avoid any mention of the fact that I don't have an existing business relationship with this company. No doubt the text had been thoroughly checked by a lawyer. The letter had a tear-off slip at the bottom to be sent back to them along with a cheque with the domain name written in block capitals on the reverse. If I had been absent minded and forgotten who I'd originally used to register my domain names, then I may well have fallen for this piece of opportunism and ended up paying through the nose, possibly in exchange for nothing. I wonder how much money these companies make, simply by harvesting addresses and expiration dates from WHOIS and then sending out official looking letters asking for cheques by return? Are they accountable to anyone? The Internet is perfect for building a business out of using publically available information to scare the innocent into sending money. The whole process of buying domain names seems to be bereft of consumer protection, with cowboys and domain vultures ready to take advantage at every turn. |
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