Ramblings and prose on design, publishing, and things of interest.
This is a photograph taken by a friend who has an amazing eye. I really dig this particular shot for too many reasons to explain adequately. The Combination of empty space, lines, form, function, and many other descriptive accolades my amateur photographer mind can’t articulate properly.
This is what I aspired to shoot someday. Thanks Chris for sharing your work with us.
Since the arrival of my Nikon D40, I’ve attempted to find a new theme of perspectives to test my hypothesis that I indeed have an eye for photography. Big words coming from an amateur. However, I do seem to be more willing to try new angles while shooting, or at least finding subjects beyond my comfort zone of flowers, trees, and waterscapes.
I dug this right away because of the color contrasts, but the absence of all but one swing, no kids, a lone, empty bench, and a small slide in the corner was just as poignant for me. So, what creative lessons can I share in this post? Not sure that was the purpose, but in hope that someday more people will visit and explore my site, I leave it for debate purposes.
I’ve always admitted I’m somewhat slow off the mark when it comes to adopting essential skill sets. While I do a good job identifying great tools and practices before the really become popular, I myself can’t seem to get around to actually LEARNING how to put the newly acquired tool set into practice. But, that’s changing soon enough.
So let’s pick up where I left off more than a year ago. To review, there has been a proliferation of frameworks of all kinds throughout the web development community. If you’re coding PHP, then you must have heard of Zend Framework, CakePHP, or CodeIgniter, to name a few. For JavaScripters there’s Mootools, jQuery, Prototype, Dojo, and the list goes on. Now, I’m no where close to being able to authentically provide a comparison and contrast report, but I’m starting to become attached to what’s working for me thus far. My use and experience is by no means at a level of the gurus whose sites I’m visiting most often, or the sages who are writing great user manuals explaining why these frameworks do what they do. The bottom line, they make your experience coding more productive and fun, and make your web sites and applications useful on any browser.
For me, the concepts are starting to take root. For PHP, its the realization that you will accumulate code over time and the older it gets the more it needs updating. But, having a library of code handy saves me the time to have to rewrite it over and over again. Sounds great if you’re already a programmer. For us a little less seasoned, the learning curve can be daunting. However, there’s no sympathy or slack for not wanting to learn the basics of the language you intend to employ in your web or application projects. Better to know what’s in the ingredients than to serve your guest rubbish.
I’m continuing my PHP journey with CodeIgniter framework, mostly because I found its installation easy to implement and the User Guide, wiki, and tutorials helpful so far. I’m sure I’ll get around to the Zend Framework due to it’s enormous popularity, corporate support, and training resources. There are many many open source alternatives as well, but we’ll tackle that another day.
In Part 3 (coming soon, I promise), I’ll have more to say about JavaScript frameworks. At the moment, I have some books on Mootools from Apress, but I also have some great bookmarks for learning jQuery. In a few days I should have a lot more to say about them, and possible something more interesting to say about PHP framworks. Stay tuned. And remember, “Code is Poetry.”
I’m not sure why I’ve been so reluctant to speak about webapps, but now is as good a time as any. The question I wrestle with is which ones are most apt and useful to developers and designers in the trenches. Webapps have come and gone, but now that “cloud computing” is starting its push into the lexicon of web-speak, there are many that make developers and designers better collaborators. And with more on the way, webapps will make learning web development and design much more accessible to the constant flow of newbies.
If you happen to have been sequestered since 2000, webapps, or web applications, is any application that can be accessed and used with your browser. Whether written in JavaScript, PHP, HTML, or Java, they’re becoming ubiquitous and extremely useful. Take JS Bin, as our first example. Created by Remy Sharp, JS Bin is designed to help JavaScript and CSS disciples test and debug snippets of code in a easily collaborative manner.
You can edit and test to your heart’s content using this app. Although my cadre of codenaughts is small, I can write a snippet of JavaScript, tweak the HTML, and view the output before saving the results as a handy url. If I’m lucky enough to have smarter-than-me colleague or collaborator, they simply visit the url and teach me the error of my ways. A similar type of collaborative coding tool is being tested at this moment for Firefox by our good friends and Mozilla Labs. Code-named Bespin, it shows tons of promise. But right now, JS Bin is the best-of-breed and very intuitive to use.
Less you protest too much, don’t think webapps are limited to just code editing. Check out Produle, a web-based visual tool for building and sharing interactive flash applications in the cloud without having to code one line of ActionScript.
Now, if there are any purist reading this and scoffs at the idea before taking the taste test, may you live long and prosper. I may not be sufficiently cred in ActionScript, but if I know enough to understand the basics I can use a app like this to improve my learning curve and wow the bosses at the same time.
And don’t think the coders and Flash folks are having all the fun. Try Aviary if you’re more inclined toward editing images, creating effects, designing logos, or just collaborating about them. Aviary has suite of tools very well suited for novices unable to afford the latest Creative Suite. They’re no substitute for learning an industrial-strength application like Illustrator or Photoshop, but they’ll definitely inspire and encourage a host of new recruits.
Do you see the forest or the trees? I’ve pondered this dilemma endlessly as it pertains to what this site should be about. Should it be a portfolio of my work; a treatise on standards-compliant and accessible web design? Or maybe just the musings of an infatuated software junkie?
One poignant idea of late is to just write about the things I’m doing every day with the technology, tools, and methods used to create sites and applications. That’s still a tall order for someone who often considers himself a novice learner. The truth is that I’ve second guessed my skill sets for too long and it’s time to be less shy about it. I need to shout to the world that I love this medium and love learning everything I can about it.
My “new commitment” is to review and write about what I do everyday: research and review interesting and useful sites; test new applications and learn new techniques; explain things I would have wanted someone to teach me when I first began; and showcase the inspiration and creativity of others as I develop and explore my own. Sounds simple enough.
Now all I have to do is commit.
