Something to be aware of?
Out-Law has the full article
06/12/2008
Opera 10 Alpha is here
An early Christmas present from Opera - Opera 10.
It features
- Support for Web Fonts and SVG font files.
- RGBA opacity - part of the CSS3 spec. If you're wondering how this is different from "regular" opacity, CSS3.info has the info and for a really good book that's "heavy" on CSS, see here
- It scores 100/100 on the Acid3 test
The SVG point is an interesting one. It means you can specify a vector graphic to use as your font-family, as easily as specifying a background-image or color. E.g.
@font-face {
font-family: "My SVG font";
src: url("http://www.myweb.com/fonts/myfont.svg#myFont") format("svg");
font-style: normal, italic;
font-weight: 500;
}
And if the user's browser doesn't support SVG, no big deal - the default text still shows up. Now, we'll be able to use a number of font formats in CSS3, but I feel SVG has real potential, being an open standard and easy to get into. There are tools available like FontForge that let you easily convert to SVG.
Have a look and see how your browser copes with SVG. If it doesn't, complain!
03/12/2008
I switched to Linux and lived to tell the tale
Hello, thanks for taking the time to visit my blog.
As a web designer/some time developer I'm used to logging into far-off terminals, typing arcane commands into the command prompt, and getting lost in the various bins, boots and etcs. It was my first introduction to Linux, and it was not pretty. I could just about accept that websites could be hosted on these boxes, but using one as your desktop computer seemed crazy.
Well, this is the path I have chosen. I came across a version of Ubuntu Linux on a free cover-disc, and one day having had as much as I could take Vista, decided to take the plunge.
The first thing I noticed was how easy it was to install, and set up - just a case of booting from the DVD and choosing how to partition the drive (which Ubuntu does for you). At this stage it's recommended that you take a backup of existing files, which is not a bad idea.
There were some problems with device drivers, and Linux always insists on using open source rather than proprietary drivers. I'm more comfortable using the 'official' versions so I override this feature.
As soon as Ubuntu boots up you notice ... not that much of a difference. It's reassuring that the GUI seems familiar, a mix somewhere between Mac and PC (the top bar is reminiscent of Mac OS, and the bottom bar bears a striking resemblance to the Windows task bar). Ubuntu uses the GNOME desktop - a "free, usable, stable, accessible desktop environment for the Unix-like family" that has been around since 1997.
One of the best things about Linux is Synaptic Package Manager. This lets you search/browse and install software all within the one window. For example you could search for cake and obtain the CakePHP development webserver (a quick way to test CakePHP websites on your local PC).
As mentioned above, Linux insists on using open source wherever possible, and free does not always = open source. Adobe's Flash and Reader software are two examples of where you have to do some digging to get the software.
Perhaps the biggest noticeable improvement is the speed. This is awesome. Vista drags; Ubuntu flies. I can see this being a major benefit when deployed to very basic computers, e.g. netbooks. For someone who only uses the PC occasionally, for web browsing/photo/audio tasks, or maybe uses a laptop as their secondary workstation, Ubuntu would be a great fit. Particularly for web development, where you're more focused on code, it's great because you can
Ubuntu Linux even stands up well against Mac OS. OK, so it's not as shiny, and it will probably not satisfy graphics professionals who need specialist packages that aren't on Linux, but a lot of functionality is replicated. There's audio management/CD ripping, word processing via OpenOffice, photo management (F-Spot), and most importantly web browsing (Firefox).
So if you're curious about Linux, pay a visit to Ubuntu, download the software (did I mention it's free?) and install - you can always go back to your old OS, but I doubt you'll want to.
As a web designer/some time developer I'm used to logging into far-off terminals, typing arcane commands into the command prompt, and getting lost in the various bins, boots and etcs. It was my first introduction to Linux, and it was not pretty. I could just about accept that websites could be hosted on these boxes, but using one as your desktop computer seemed crazy.
Well, this is the path I have chosen. I came across a version of Ubuntu Linux on a free cover-disc, and one day having had as much as I could take Vista, decided to take the plunge.
The first thing I noticed was how easy it was to install, and set up - just a case of booting from the DVD and choosing how to partition the drive (which Ubuntu does for you). At this stage it's recommended that you take a backup of existing files, which is not a bad idea.
There were some problems with device drivers, and Linux always insists on using open source rather than proprietary drivers. I'm more comfortable using the 'official' versions so I override this feature.
As soon as Ubuntu boots up you notice ... not that much of a difference. It's reassuring that the GUI seems familiar, a mix somewhere between Mac and PC (the top bar is reminiscent of Mac OS, and the bottom bar bears a striking resemblance to the Windows task bar). Ubuntu uses the GNOME desktop - a "free, usable, stable, accessible desktop environment for the Unix-like family" that has been around since 1997.
One of the best things about Linux is Synaptic Package Manager. This lets you search/browse and install software all within the one window. For example you could search for cake and obtain the CakePHP development webserver (a quick way to test CakePHP websites on your local PC).
As mentioned above, Linux insists on using open source wherever possible, and free does not always = open source. Adobe's Flash and Reader software are two examples of where you have to do some digging to get the software.
Perhaps the biggest noticeable improvement is the speed. This is awesome. Vista drags; Ubuntu flies. I can see this being a major benefit when deployed to very basic computers, e.g. netbooks. For someone who only uses the PC occasionally, for web browsing/photo/audio tasks, or maybe uses a laptop as their secondary workstation, Ubuntu would be a great fit. Particularly for web development, where you're more focused on code, it's great because you can
Ubuntu Linux even stands up well against Mac OS. OK, so it's not as shiny, and it will probably not satisfy graphics professionals who need specialist packages that aren't on Linux, but a lot of functionality is replicated. There's audio management/CD ripping, word processing via OpenOffice, photo management (F-Spot), and most importantly web browsing (Firefox).
So if you're curious about Linux, pay a visit to Ubuntu, download the software (did I mention it's free?) and install - you can always go back to your old OS, but I doubt you'll want to.
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