Alex Jones: Web Technologist, Barbecue Acolyte, Information Junkie, Austinite

Sarah’s Art to be Featured in New Art Show!

Elements Art Gallery has accepted all three of Sarah’s entries to their show E 02. Not just that, they are featuring her piece “Oxygen” on the invitation to the show! The show’s theme is the four elements.

We can’t wait for the opening on December 7.

Sarah is bouncing.

Posted in General

Scriptygoddess

One of the most useful resources on the Web for both the novice and experienced Web Designer/Developer is Scriptygoddess. I’ve utilized a number of their lessons and code bits on this site and others, saving myself many many many hours of work.

They recently redesigned, shifting to a simpler display and utilizing CSS for layouts. Great to see another site join the ranks!

Posted in Web Development

Aussie’s

Well I am finally getting to start on the new site for Aussie’s Volleybar. Danny chose one of the simpler designs which should speed my build a great deal. It’s always nice to start a new project.

I have a couple of good challenges ahead on this one as well. I have to find a way to allow Danny to produce tables of seasonal rankings via MovableType. Which reminds me, time to send Ben and Mena the business license fee for this new site…

In this shrink-wrapped world it’s refreshing to be able to support good software built by people who care.

Posted in Web Development

The Sopranos

I keep hearing grumbling that this season of the Sopranos isn’t as good as seasons past.

Why? Because these episodes are more psychological? Because past consequences are coming slapping all of the characters? Because its getting harder to empathize with the characters?

Or is it because attention spans have become so short that in-depth stories are too long and confusing for the average viewer?

Personally, I love the direction that the show is moving. Emotions are running much higher and we are getting deeper glimpses into the characters than ever before. As much as I like Tony and his issues, its good to see further development in everyone else. How many shows have characters that you can really hate? Not many, and it has only been in the last couple of seasons where they have been visible.

Personalities, relationships, desires and aspirations are set to collide and if you take the time to study all the layers of the current plot lines you will see the powder kegs awaiting that one little spark.

Posted in General

IE 5 on the Mac

Ahh the joys of cross-browser coding. Truth be told, I actually enjoy the challenges of working through the differences between browsers and platforms.

To a point.

Well, after Sarah mentioned that she couldn’t see the content on this site (recently redesigned), I took a look around and noticed that all of the content had been shoved below the side bar. Apparently IE 5 on her Mac had some issues.

I worked through the problem, got the content in place and then discovered other issues which included weird padding in the drop down navigation. But, the most fun challenge of all is the magic scroll bar.

You see, sometimes it appears on a page and sometimes it doesn’t. If you reload the page, (poof!) it will appear.

After some searches on Google and exploration of the excellent lists on evolt I discovered that the issue is common among sites which are pure CSS utilizing positioning. The scrollbars will appear if the browser is reloaded though.

It was the positioning that caused the content to be shoved below the side bar in the first place. So, in order to have the content in the proper space, there’s the possibility that the scrollbars won’t show up.

Great…

I am going to continue to investigate the issue. Until then, if you are viewing the site with IE on a Mac, I’m sorry if you are forced to reload.

Posted in Web Development

domesticat.net

As one of the glorious Scriptygodesses, Amy and her posts have proven quite helpful on a number of occasions. I dropped by her site (domesticat.netl) out of curiousity and discovered that I rather enjoyed reading her entries.

I utilized Amy’s skinning code and tutorial on When We Met.

Good code and enjoyable distractions, what more could I ask for? A great combination in my opinion.

Posted in Web Development

The Internet Bookmobile

Taking a break from my current project, I ran across the Banned Books Project. As I count myself an avid reader I shudder at the thought of censorship and book burning.

Knowledge and learning coupled with curiosity are the reasons that mankind has attained this heightened state of communication we take for granted. If those stories which tease our interest, tug at those innermost emotions and challenge our most basic concepts are removed then we will stutter, trip and fail.

If those same stories are not made available to all of our citizens, then we run the risk of losing or slowing future advancement. The public domain exists for a reason. Authors, artists and companies are entitled to profits from their work. But, it is important that the knowledge and ideas embodied within that work becomes a part of our larger society, to form a stronger foundation for future work.

This is where the Internet Bookmobile comes in. They take public domain works and print them out for students with the hope of opening people’s eyes to the possibilities. As mentioned in the article “The Bookmobile’s message, in essence, is that these are books we can put in the hands of children, through schools, and we can do it at a very low cost. (The material cost for a black and white book with color cover is $1.)”

Amazing.

Libraries could offer so many more works if they were able to publish these books for the cost of materials and time. Schools in poorer areas could provide a wider perspective of the world and a deeper understanding of society and history than is currently available to their areas.

And people might actually understand that The Three Musketeers is more than a candy bar.

Time to do a bit of research around Austin to see if there are any campaigns or projects in the works. If anyone is attempting to get one of these systems up and going I’ll help as best I can.

Posted in General

Server issues

I woke up this morning with the intent to knock out a good bit of work. I even woke up early to get a head start, only to discover several major issues have cropped up due to a recent server change or reboot. So, I’m unable to make some key database changes which would allow me to wrap up a project.

At the same time, I can’t start on the next big project as I will need to concentrate on it and it alone for a day or two. So, I am waiting for a response from the sysadmins and trying to make good use of my time by researching a couple of new technologies.

Posted in Web Development

Galleries are up

Well, I finally have the photo galleries in some semblance of order. They are by no means complete, but they are usable. I can now upload some of the decent shots I take on my Digital Elph. Now, time to learn more about the camera so people might actually want to look at what I post.

Posted in Web Development

American Caesar

Douglas MacArthur was a man of astounding opposites which seem to grow more numerous with each page I flip.

An astounding leader, who stood up in the open to count the number of enemy bombers flying overhead as they dropped their payloads all around him; yet his troops called him “Dugout Doug”. Ouch.

The man was about as conceited as is humanly possible. But he had the goods to back it up.

The book itself is written exceedingly well; it reads like a novel, delving into the backgrounds of the individuals and the thinking behind decisions and reactions. I think I will be picking up other books by William Manchester in the future…

Posted in Reading