Austin JS: JavaScript is your friend
A week ago (8-16-11) at Austin JavaScript I gave a presentation about the basics of JavaScript and jQuery. In case anyone is interested I have made the slides available.
Whoops
So, I upgraded the db version on this blog and in doing so, I forgot to backup the comments. I apologize to both of you that lost your comments. Lesson learned, back up the db before I upgrade it.
Cross domain XHR
Recently I had to learn a little bit about CORS (cross origin resource sharing). I had sites on different domains I had to get data in between. I like to try to be foward thinking, so when I learned about a better option than JSONP, I jumped all over it.
Using OAuth for Comments
I had been trying to decide what to do with comments. I like to give the ability to people to make comments but I just did not want to deal with keeping track of people's username, passwords, etc. Furthermore, I absolutely abhor CAPTCHA or anything of the sort.
My little bash prompt
I've been helping some of the guys at work get acclimated to macs and with that, helping them customize their bash prompt. With much thanks due to mschout, I have finally got mine setup more or less how I like it (until I change it again).
Relaunching With Node
So, over the weekend, I relaunched my blog on Node.js. I tried Tumblr, Blogger, Wordpress (hosted and self), Django, Rails and was just about to rebuild it in Sinatra when a friend suggested I just build it in Node.
Learning Rails
So, I've been doing this Rails tutorial off and on for the last month or so, time permitting. People ask me "Why are you learning Rails?". I tell them it's an easy way for me to get introduced to Ruby. I'm not a proper developer by training.
New Design
Yes, it's that time of the year. Time for me to do another half assed design. This one looks particularly half baked, I know. But this one has rhyme and reason where the others were just laziness. This is still a transitional design, but instead of going naked, I'm going for a few simple design principles and then will fill in the rest as I go.
Getting the gist
I really like Gist, a lot. They are full on git repos and as such have version control, remote updating, all of the things you would expect out of a github repo including most of the social aspects. They also have the best syntax highlighting I have seen.
Character Countdown
I had some spare time today, a really nasty plugin I had written for jQuery a while back to do character count downs and a desire to play with the widget factory. Let's get it on!
Prototype Methods
When I mentioned the GLGUI Toolbox repo I failed to mention some of the content already in it. I'm gonna give a quick rundown of the two prototype methods I contributed. Date.toGenString This is a prototype method from the Date object that just puts the Date out to a string formatted like '10/10/2010 21:15:07'.
GLGUI Toolbox
As you may or may not know, I work for Gerson Lehrman Group as a UI Engineer. While this is more of my professional site, I don't talk a lot about my work. Truth is, I really dig it here.
Back to Wordpress
So, a quick note letting you know (in case you couldn't tell) I moved the blog back to Wordpress. I tried out Tumblr because it is very convenient and simple. I wanted something with less upkeep. But the lack of flexibility really started to bother me.
Austin Metro Init
Since Austin has opened up their rail "system" I have really embraced mass transit. I happen to be in the sweet spot of living 3 miles from the park and ride and working 3 blocks from the downtown station. However, I noticed that for Austin being such a tech savvy town, the mass transit mobile app situation is awful.
Resilient Modals
Modals: Love them, hate them they are a current fad (and have been for a while). Modals are usually implemented via javascript for older browser support (though there are some cool things being done with CSS3 on the matter). I've seen it done lots of ways, but here's a simple way to make modals "work" on a browser without javascript.
Git SVN Setup
So I've been using Git-SVN for about a month at work now thanks largely to a gist put together by the magnanimous Lachlan Hardy. Honestly, if you are getting started and have a standard SVN layout, that has all you are gonna need.
Craveytrain Progress: Content
So, as it makes sense, I'm gonna blog about the progression of my site. First things first, I am working on the content. First, I'm trying to write it. Nothing groundbreaking, but worthwhile, hopefully. The content is structured in HTML5 (hopefully semantically).
Making Inputs Behave (Like a Block Level Element)
Anyone who has styled forms understands the frustration that is the input/textarea (or whatever your weapon of choice for masochism). They can be frustrating to make behave consistently. I found a technique I used today that I thought I would share.
July Austin JS Meetup
Tonight I made it to my second Austin JavaScript Meetup and I left thinking "Dammit! Why have I been missing these?!" Well, I know why but the point is, I'm there now and plan on making the rest of them.
Craveytrain Naked
You may have noticed the new digs. You may have noticed I actually posted something. You may have a noticed a terrible mental visual in your head. Yeah, sorry about that last one. I am starting my blog anew. I have ported over the last few posts that were worthwhile and am primed to get going.
Styling the stove
I would have never guessed I would be blow drying my range out this evening. Apparently the cleaning lady came today and while she does a fantastic job, apparently she got the cooktop too wet. When electronic ignitor switches get too wet, they just start igniting.
Accessible Inline Form Labels
Update: Added the check to make sure the input is empty before showing the overlayed label the first time. I recently read Trevor Davis‘ post on inline form labels.
Adventures in Honeymooning: Bidet
We are back and it was a great, albeit long, trip. It was a beautiful wedding and a blissful honeymoon. However, I have tales to tell. Really, just my perspective on things. Though these aren’t in chronological order, I thought I would start with the story that has been told a couple times already so it has some form.