Evening coding

With lots of interesting client work on at the moment, I’ve decided to spend some evening time moving along the next version of Done by When. This is nothing too stressful, but the project is getting really interesting now. I think I’m over the initial conceptual learning curve and now I’m making proper progress. Where the launch version of Done by When was primarily a working proof of concept, this next version is about attention to detail and responsiveness (that’s the speed of interactions as opposed to the adaptive layout stuff that’s already in place). I feel like I’m properly upgrading something when I’m spending as much time removing code as I am writing it new. More updates soon.

For a free and open internet, be quick

“On December 3rd, the world’s governments will meet to update a key treaty of a UN agency called the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). Some governments are proposing to extend ITU authority to Internet governance in ways that could threaten Internet openness and innovation, increase access costs, and erode human rights online.” – src: protectinternetfreedom.net Here are a couple of places you can show your support for a free and open web right away: http://www.protectinternetfreedom.net https://www.google.com/intl/en/takeaction If you have a bit more time, you can get creative with Mozilla’s Webmaker kit https://webmaker.org/en-US/ITU/kit/ You can see who is speaking on your behalf here: http://files.wcitleaks.org/public/S12-WCIT12-ADM-0004!!PDF-E_18Nov.pdf And this article sums up the transparency issues: https://www.cdt.org/blogs/cynthia-wong/1607…

The best online page turning book/magazine

I’ve seen a lot a shiny, fancy and useless online page turner book things, and typically hate them for their reliance on flash, the difficulty of reading them and the fact that we’re combining the worst of digital and non-digital technologies mainly to impress the people responsible for publishing the content rather than the people who are meant to read it. This one was great though: http://opim.wharton.upenn.edu/~ulrich/designbook.html The key difference being the link on the left: “Download the MOBI file directly”. I can flick through the book as I would at a shop, get a feel for the content, and then if it’s worth it, email the file straight to my Kindle for a proper reading experience. That’s more like it now.

Specific thoughts on the @Coursera experience

First, I’d like to say a massive thank you. I really value the chance to study this excellent material at zero financial cost, and more importantly I love the opportunity you provide to people all around the world who don’t have the finances or the circumstances to otherwise consider such an education. I also know what it’s like to maintain and develop a complex online system while supporting active users, so this feedback is by no means an accusation of negligence. You will have thought about much of this already I’m sure, and if it’s already on a project roadmap somewhere then please excuse me. In short, this is not a letter from a grumpy customer; I just thought it may be useful to hear some specific feedback and ideas that could help with the online experience: When viewing and submitting … Continue reading »

On my next pet project and @Coursera

My most recent ‘pet project’, Done by When, grew up today. It’s 3 months to the day since I announced a vague plan to test out an idea that had been floating around my head, and now it’s out of beta, taking payments and I’ve just notice our Mandrill email reputation has crept up to ‘Excellent’. Woohoo. I’m delighted with where it’s going and all the helpful (positive and negative) feedback I’ve had from the first brave group of testers. I’ve added some screenshots to my portfolio on Behance, but the interface has progressed even further since then. Now that Done by When has a “business model” and all that, it will be given a serious amount of time and attention going forwards. But importantly, as it has an active user base I won’t be using it as a playground … Continue reading »

On learning Python, and a style guide

As I continue to learn and work with Python as a programming language, I’m liking it more and more. I feel my code tightening up, and I’m beginning to see why the Python community are so loyal to the vague but useful idea of Pythonic code. I wish I’d seen this Python style guide a little earlier on in my learning though: http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0008/ While I’m not far off with most of this, it makes me want to go back and tidy up a bit now, which never feels like the most effective use of time (though it may be in the long run). And I particularly liked the phrase “A Foolish Consistency is the Hobgoblin of Little Minds”

On 3D printing, and a world unready

With the recent release of the Makerbot Replicator 2, 3D printing tipped into the real world. It moved from a conceptual idea that geeks and tinkerers would try and explain to their doubtful loved ones into something you can have delivered to your door in a matter of working days. It changes everything, and I think the world will be caught off guard. Even now, the ~$2,000 price tag isn’t crazy. It’s more than I would pay, but plenty can afford it. And this time next year the price will halve, the resolution will double and it will print slightly bigger things. Same again the following year. In four or five years’ time, almost anyone who wants one will be able to justify the cost of a 3D printer to themselves. I always imagined playing with Lego with my son when he’s older, … Continue reading »

Done by When (beta) is live

So, I just about scraped in inside my (second) deadline. Done by When is live. Though very much in beta. Never go live on a Friday: Fail Ship early: Succeed Ship often: To be seen In building this to-do list app I’ve learnt a few new things: Google App Engine Python LESS Jinja2 Twitter Bootstrap All of which I can highly recommend. There’s loads more to do. It’s still un-branded for a start and the responsive stylesheets need tidying up, but the basic service offered if fully functional and I think it brings something new to the to-do list marketplace. Please let me know what you think.

Announcing ‘Done by When’

I promised to ship a new piece of software today but I haven’t quite made it. Ironically it’s a tool for managing expectations, and visualizing likely delivery times for a given piece of work. It would have been useful! I hate making excuses, but it’s been a crazy month with lots of good interruptions (lovely clients with interesting projects) and bad interruptions (family emergencies and so on). So while it’s not ready for you to use today, I’ll have to settle with announcing the project title today, ‘Done by When‘. A version of the tool, whether it’s ‘finished’ or not will ship by this time next week. Thought I didn’t make the deadline this time, it’s been very helpful for focussing the mind.

Loading a new version of jQuery without breaking an old version

Sometimes you’re working on a website that already uses an old version of jQuery and upgrading is not an option at that moment in time; if for example the jQuery library is bundled with a version of Drupal and works with a set of existing plugins. The following code will allow you to load in a newer version of jQuery and still leave the $ variable assigned to the old version… The code: <script type=’text/javascript’ src=’https://www.google.com/jsapi’></script> <script type=’text/javascript’> //<![CDATA[ google.load('jquery', '1.7.1'); //]]> </script> <script type=”text/javascript”> // save the new version of jquery to a variable and revert $ to the existing version on the page var jQuery_1_7_1 = $.noConflict(false); </script> The same code with console logging for testing: <script type=’text/javascript’ src=’https://www.google.com/jsapi’></script> <script type=’text/javascript’> // outputs jquery version to Firebug/chrome console to test console.log(“$=” + $().jquery); //<![CDATA[ google.load('jquery', '1.7.1'); //]]> </script> … Continue reading »