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

Archive for April, 2005

2005 Archives

Apr 23

Kung Tunes and SilverSpider Play List

As I am slowly switching to OS X, I am adapting to new tools, and working out ways to use my favorite tools on the new platform. I built SilverSpider Play List around the Now Playing plugin, which is a great tool, but sadly, it only works for Winamp on Windows. So, I downloaded Kung Tunes and figured out how to configure it for use with SSPL. In time, I will add instructions for many others options - in fact, if you have figured out how to use an alternate media player / plugin with the script, please let me know, and I will include it in the documentation.

Using Kung Tunes with SilverSpider Play List

Download and install Kung Tunes
Open the Kung Tunes Preferences
On the Uploads tab make the following changes:
1. Upload Method: HTTP
2. URL: The URL to your playlist_builder.php file including a question mark at the end (example: www.silverspider.com/playlist/playlist_builder.php?)
3. File Location: Your Preferences folder within your user directory (example: /Users/alex/Library/Preferences/)
4. Name: trackinfo.txt
5. Leave the FTP info as it is, as you won’t need it
On the Uploads tab make the following changes:
1. Timer: 0
2. Auto-Start Timer: Checked
3. Produce Info Track File at Every Track Change: checked
4. Track List: 0
5. Inactivity Messages: Up to you, but there is not any support for these messages in SSPL - I recommend you uncheck these
No Changes to the Miscellaneous Tab
Save your Preferences changes
Test your changes by opening iTunes and playing a song (make sure Kung Tunes is running
Let me know if this doesn’t work for you and I will review my instructions

Note: Kung Tunes appears to have issues with non-English character sets which can seriously impact some album displays (Björk anyone?). It is also prone to random crashes, so it isn’t perfect, but it is a start.

I would love to hear about any other plugins and media players that you would like to see supported by SilverSpider Play List.

What is SilverSpider Play List?

SilverSpider Play List is a set of PHP scripts that helps you add a recent music list to your Web site. Each time you listen to a song, your media player will send song information to your Web site which will gather the info, and with the help of Amazon, compile it into a list of entries, each containing the name of the song, the artist and the album cover.

The markup provided by SSPL is very clean, and each of the 12 markup formats relies upon CSS and valid XHTML to control layout and style.

More information can be found at the official site, and within my SilverSpider Play List category on this site.

Posted in SilverSpider Play List

Apr 15

1 reply

The Genographic Project

The Genographic Project is an amazing idea. National Geographic is gathering a wide swath of DNA samples from the public to analyze. The goal is to truly map out genetic lineage. The “DNA analysis includes a depiction of your ancient ancestors and an interactive map tracing your genetic lineage around the world and through the ages.” How cool is that?!

I wish I could participate, but the price tag of $99.95 is a bit too steep. Hopefully National Geographic will post ongoing information as more people participate. Hat tip to Stuart Robinson of Design Meme for the link.

Posted in General

Apr 14

0 replies

House Concurrent Resolution No. 29

HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 29 - Napoleon Dynamite, production

WHEREAS, the State of Idaho recognizes the vision, talent and creativity of Jared and Jerusha Hess in the writing and production of “Napoleon Dynamite”; and
WHEREAS, the scenic and beautiful City of Preston, County of Franklin and the State of Idaho are experiencing increased tourism and economic growth; and
WHEREAS, filmmaker Jared Hess is a native Idahoan who was educated in the Idaho public school system; and
WHEREAS, the Preston High School administration and staff, particularly the cafeteria staff, have enjoyed notoriety and worldwide attention; and
WHEREAS, tater tots figure prominently in this film thus promoting Idaho’s most famous export; and
WHEREAS, the friendship between Napoleon and Pedro has furthered multiethnic relationships; and
WHEREAS, Uncle Rico’s football skills are a testament to Idaho athletics; and
WHEREAS, Napoleon’s bicycle and Kip’s skateboard promote better air qual ity and carpooling as alternatives to fuel-dependent methods of transportation;

The bill as a whole is a great read. Hat tip to Cameron Moll for the link.

Posted in General, Law & Government

Apr 12

0 replies

Web Application Solutions: A Designer%u2019s Guide

Web Application Solutions: A Designer’s Guide “is a guide that helps designers, product managers, and business owners evaluate some of the most popular Web application presentation layer solutions available today.”

Posted in Quick Links, Web Development

Apr 12

1 reply

ColorCombos.com

ColorCombos.com - Web Color Combinations Tool and Library

Posted in Design, Design & UI, Quick Links

Apr 7

0 replies

Tables and Dogma

Dave Shea has written a great post about his misunderstanding of when to use (or not use) tables in his post Too Far. For those of you unfamiliar with Dave, he has provided a wealth of information and tools to the Web community (in addition to the CSS Zen Garden, and his book, The Zen of CSS design, there are many posts on this site that point to entries on Mezzoblue). He has taught many in the community about good design, and proper use of CSS, but he made the same mistake that many of us have - taking dogma too far by eliminating the use of tables throughout the site. The freedom and power of Cascading Style Sheets introduced a loathing for tables-based design within the community, and many, myself included, eliminated tables from our sites as quickly as we could figure out how to create multi-column designs in CSS.

Like Dave, I hit a point a while back where I realized that I was attempting to use CSS, Divs, Lists and the like to present tabular data, instead of utilizing the semantically correct table tags. For me, it was one of those “Ah ha!” moments - tables are not bad, they are actually very useful, but like any tool, they can, and have been mis-used within our community. The backlash is understandable, but a sizable portion of the community has since realized that the pendulum swung too far, and are now doing it the right way. This is due in large part to the work of Dave and many others like him.

Posted in CSS, XHTML

Apr 5

0 replies