Recently in Code warrior Category

I logged in to Gmail this morning to discover that a large number of bounced emails from email addresses I don’t know, in response to an email that I never sent.

It was a fake AdWords email asking these strangers to click on links to modify their AdWords account details. But when you hover over the links, they point to a different website!

So is this one step worse than the original phishing? This time, someone ELSE’s email address (i.e. mine) is being used. Someone even replied to me to ask what’s going on as he never had an AdWords account. I even received an autoresponder from a British MP!!! This is getting out of hand.

I reported all the bounced/autoresponded emails to Google’s phishing team already. I hope they won’t go fishing on this one…

The worst that can happen, I suppose, is Google decides to suspend my email address or I get some hate mail from these unintended recipients. Tomorrow my exams begin and that’s all I care about now. One thing at a time. No point getting upset as it won’t help anything.

[Update: After checking my Sent folder, It appears my Gmail account had been broken into at 5.27pm yesterday, beginning with a ‘test’ message sent to an email address with a Russian domain, and from 12.17am today, a series of fake AdWords emails were sent. This is terrible! I have changed my password and also reported the first ‘test’ email to Google.]

I’m catching up with Gmail blog posts and thought this tip was particularly useful. You can modify your Gmail address when you give it out to different organisations, so the next time you get emailed (or spammed) you know who the source is.

You can add a ‘+’ or ‘.’ after your Gmail username and emails will still be delivered to your main account. The benefit is that you can filter these modified email addresses. I’m going to start doing it now when I sign up for new accounts and newsletters.

Just saw this when I logged into Facebook. Maybe Mark Zuckberg did listen to the hisses at SXSW initially meant for him (before the audience turned on the journalist for being more annoying).

Check out the new privacy page and also the options to block specific Facebook apps from accessing your data.

Thank you, Facebook.

After weeks of feeling things were out of control, I said my prayers and my eyes were opened to all the bugs I had missed previously. Now most of the design elements are working fine. As of 20 minutes ago I managed to get the site to validate. Every page tested so far is perfectly valid and looks great. At least, in Firefox. Har har. It's mostly the same in IE, shoudn't be noticeable but I'll see if more can be done.

The problem can, of course, be resolved if the world were to come to its senses and stop using IE. I wish.

I've had mixed feelings working on this project. During conflicts of opinions at meetings, I felt like retorting, "Who's the designer - me or you?" but held myself back. It made me remember why I stopped working as a web designer by profession and started managing vendors. It is tedious work. The designer is not always appreciated or noticed - until something goes wrong. Usually it is not something plain 'wrong' either but somebody didn't like the look. It's very subjective.

Some things I had planned to do were changed, after I had done them. I felt it looked like I was delaying the project as I made the extra changes that weren't planned. Also, I hadn't planned to spend so much time on the project as I had other work to do. Spiritually, it got me feeling down for a while and I didn't feel like going to church anymore. I actually skipped the previous week's service, but it was also partly because I was unwell. I haven't skipped a church service in years, apart from the times I was on holiday.

4 years ago when I designed the current church website, it started off difficult as people didn't know I could design - until I just went ahead and designed the site. Then they cut me some slack and we got things done quickly. This time round, we started off well, but then things got almost impossible for me. While moving to a CMS is definitely a step forward for us, I don't want to look at another Joomla template in a long, long time. I am not a programmer, and never claimed to be. I prefer building my own code from scratch, not starting off with someone else's multiple stylesheets. It's been a messy affair especially as everyone has a say in the design I'm working on. The team's nice; we just have very different ideas at times.

Still, ultimately we aim to please God and not men. I hope everything turns out for the better and we can look back on this and learn from it.

I hope to wrap up this project soon and get on with other things. I have too many ongoing commitments and too little time to myself. The little time I have left, I blog. Sleep is usually sacrificed, like what's happening right now.

Signing off...

Our church website presentation was generally fine. I only had the past week to figure out the stylesheets and templates and make some changes. Considering my working hours and band practice, I've probably only spent several hours on it.

We thought the council members would generally be more senior in age, thus we had to keep things simple for them. From what I saw, none of them had used a content management system before, so they were fairly impressed with Joomla. So far, so good.

We had just told everyone about how the CMS could update web pages instantly, when Auntie M - a family friend and grandmother - spoke up.

"What about indexing for search?"

I've started to wonder increasingly what my ideal modus operandi would be, and how I can find or create the most optimal environment for it.

For one, I like sharing information. However, I've learnt over the years that not everyone reciprocates or uses the information for good. That's when I share my ideas selectively with those who do respond positively - for instance, with some Gahmenbloggers and the Social Media folks. Otherwise, I'd feel stifled. Web 2.0 begins in the mind, and not in a line of AJAX code.

For another, I realise that I increasingly look at the origins of rules and don't just follow them blindly. If we did, we'd be no better than Pharisees, to borrow a Biblical term. I recall vaguely, from what I learnt in law school, that some judges interpret the law by looking at its raison d'etre, while others go by the book, word for word. That explains the difference in judgments, some lenient and understanding; others harsh.

I've been using Google Analytics for a while, and was absolutely thrilled to hear they were upgrading the services. After waiting with bated breath for a few days, my account was upgraded. After a quick look-over, here's my take on it.

The new user interface is lovely! Don't think Google is only good at back end stuff. They're catching up with Yahoo! in this area (though a lot more can be done to dress up their Gadgets to compete with Yahoo!'s Konfabulator).

My favourite new Google Analytics feature so far is the ability to export graphical reports to PDF. This is useful for presenting reports in a more attractive manner. Previously, I would either settle for an Excel spreadsheet or screen capture the relevant pie charts.

In the new version, all the graphs remain in Flash, but with more dynamic features like a new date range selector. I like the larger world map which gives an overview by region (Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa, Oceania). Clicking on each region lets you zoom into states and cities.

Another feature that will prove to be very convenient, is email notifications. You can now schedule emails to be sent to you regularly, with an attachment containing the latest statistics report. This means you no longer have to remember to log into Google Analytics at a certain date each month and extract the report manually.

However, the new version isn't entirely bug-free. There was an error message when I tried viewing the map with a date ranging from Jan to April 2007, despite my account being active and gathering data for the last couple of years. I hope this is just a temporary kink since a lot of migration is currently taking place.

Another area that can be fine-tuned is the 'Add to Dashboard' feature. When you first log in, you'll see the Dashboard which is very much like the personalised Google News page that has summaries of each topic. Likewise in Analytics, you can drag and drop different windows showing various types of data on your website to re-arrange them. Also, when you go to a specific section for more info, you can click on the 'Add to Dashboard' button to add that data. This in itself is fine.

However, the 'Add to Dashboard' button appears even on sections which have already been added to the Dashboard. You only find out when you click on it, and a message informs you that it's already there. Google should remove the button where it is redundant.

More info on the new Google Analytics from the official blog and their consultant evangelist.

Technorati tags: Google Analytics

I am working on more detailed blog posts on the following topics, which are of great /increasing interest to me:

1. Web 2.0 - How it is the mindset (of sharing, collaboration, contribution etc) and not just the technology that makes something truly Web 2.0
2. How planning to have 'viral marketing' can quite often be an irony
3. Why local vendors seem to like pitching search engine marketing as just buying keywords, when we should also be ensuring our own websites' content is engaging and code is optimised for search engine indexing (I'm still doing research on this topic but these are my initial thoughts)

There, I've laid it all out so that I will be obliged to blog. You have permission to nag me if I don't write anything about this in the next month or two.

I just installed version 1.3.5 of Performancing for Firefox. All's well so far. No hanging, hooray.

OK, here come the tags...

Technorati Tags: technorati, performancing, firefox, tagging

I've tweaked the formatting for tags. Let's try again.

In the words of Cartman, "Respect mah authority!"

[OK, removing all the tag formatting has led to a 'server error'. I don't think I like this program. I may go back to adding tags manually.]

Based on an old recommendation by Steve Rubel, I decided to try out Ecto. Since I tag some of my posts manually I thought why not try some software that tags things for you.

Previously I used a Firefox extension called Performancing, but it kept on hanging my system, so I uninstalled it. Anyway it didn't handle break and paragraph tags accurately.

So far, what I do not like in Ecto is the fact that it could let users switch to any font in their system, rather than limit them to using web-friendly fonts. Also, the program took ages to start. I'll see how it goes and whether it generates any code bloat on my blog. Anyway it's just a 20-day trial.

OK, time to end this post and get some sleep. Here are some test tags! I hope they appear in the right places.

Technorati Tags: blogging, Ecto, software, tagging

Just added Google Co-op's customised search engine to my website. You can try it on the right nav bar (if you're viewing it from the home page, scroll down further).

Customised some of the layout but need to tweak it further. It's time to sleep...

Who hasn't tried Firefox before, but might if I sent them an invitation?

Let me know and we can get our names immortalised in Firefox 2. Note: I can only send this to one friend. So make it good.

I haven't tried Writely yet, and am eager to see what tweaks Google has made since acquiring it. However Zoho looks like a good competitor. Like Writely, you can use Zoho to post to blogs and export to PDF, among other formats. It does searches and you can import documents (Microsoft Office, Open Office).

Zohoshow is another AJAX-based web application which creates slideshows similar to Eric Meyer's s5. [Update: View my first slideshow. Looking at the code, they really ARE using s5! This is going to save me time. Absolutely cool!]

Microsoft should start to get worried soon...

[Update 2: I managed to convert a simple PPT file with graphics and bullet points. However the graph did not get imported. ]

Technorati Tags: web 2.0, zoho, writely, office, s5

I decided to try out Flock, possibly the most personal browser you could ever experience. I installed it, and authorised it to connect to my Flickr and blog accounts. Imported my Firefox bookmarks. Went to my MT admin and it logged me in immediately.

Now I'm dragging and dropping an image from the Flickr display to my text field.

Ooh! It works! How convenient. Only thing is it didn't add any ALT tags, so I created my own.

Flock uses tabs and feels very much like Mozilla Firefox. You can drag and drop more text and photos into a clipboard at the bottom of the window. You can also use the uploader, which looks bigger and friendlier than Flickr's own uploader.

However I might just prefer sticking to Firefox out of habit. Also, Performancing is already embedded inside Firefox which makes it convenient for me to blog from there - and quickly append Technorati tags, to boot. And as a Mac user, I'd prefer to keep it simple and export my photos to Flick via iPhoto.

(More manually inserted) Technorati Tags: flock, mashups

... is being able to file my Income Tax on a Mac.

Using Firefox.

And doing it in 1 minute.

I must qualify that this happened after several attempts to log in. First, using Firefox - when the system kept taking me back to the home page instead - then Safari, where nothing progressed, then Internet Explorer, where the home page layout got busted and I had to scroll horizontally to click on the Login button.

After entering my password, the page just hung for minutes and the Submit button had been de-activated, so I couldn't do anything but quit the browser and try again with Firefox. That was when everything suddenly worked. It was erratic, but I've done my duty as a citizen and that's what matters.

Looking at the page code, they're using more styles now ... but they can do so much more with stylesheets than simply colouring table row backgrounds.

But yeah. Overall, this is progress.

[Update: I went to another public web page on the site and realised they could cut down on a lot of code, still. Lookie here:

Full-sized screen shot]

Finally after all these years I got to meet Jeffrey Zeldman face to face. He's a really nice guy and I was flattered that he remembered who I am.

I told him we started a Web Standards Group in Singapore but it kinda fizzled out. But now I'm all inspired to get our group going again!

Forgot to bring Photoshop with you to SXSW? Don't fear - Pixoh is here.

Pixoh is an AJAX (phweet!) application that lets you easily resize, crope, rotate images and save them to various image formats. I managed to crop and save one of my Flickr images in a matter of seconds.

Mark G was showing me his favourite Firefox extensions and I was mightily impressed. It's been a while since I last installed any new things in Firefox.

One of the most awesome tools is the Tab Preview. You hover over a tab in Firefox and see a screen shot of the web page.

I checked out the Extensions page and found another gem by Performancing, which allows you to post to your weblog via a built-in editor. It's pretty convenient. What I like most about it, is that it automatically adds Technorati tags. Like this!

Technorati Tags: Firefox, extensions, Technorati

It's disturbing to read that a relatively obscure web design firm has gone and patented an invention involving rich media apps like AJAX. What's also disturbing is how they were even awarded the patent in the first place. This would definitely hamper the development of more innovative web services.

This article is too important to plonk into my "Asides" column, so here it goes: Five Architectural Flaws in Windows Solved In Mac OS X. I'm not security expert so let me know if this makes sense.

[Update: Shaun's fixed the bug. It was something I hadn't configured properly. Mint is working fine now. As I'm typing I'm refreshing the lovely stats window and noticed that in 10 minutes, 3 unique visitors (not counting myself) have come to this site. Welcome.]

Shaun Inman will be checking my server today, to help figure out why Mint isn't working properly.

I don't expect the rest of my site (including this blog) to be affected in any way, because he's the maestro. I just wanted you to know, that after months of experiencing ignorance (huh? what CSS) and apathy (we don't do Firefox) with some local web developers, this is certainly a refreshing change.

I honestly can't wait to see how Mint will look like on my system!

But it's time to sleep ... the blogging conference awaits. [BTW to others who are thinking of attending the conference or workshop (if there are places left, and you have the moolah), the venue's been changed to Furama City Centre hotel. The PDF programme on the official website/blog, lists the old venue. ]

This is my third weblog post about Mint. Read my previous post about Mint.

A couple of programming-related incidents happened today, but it also boils down to the mentality of 'just enough is enough, I'm not doing any extra for you'. It's disturbing because it's a mentality I still notice in Singapore, and we have a lot to learn from counterparts in the US.

Another geek post, because I am in a geek mood. What's your favourite project management software?

I used PhpCollab sporadically, creating different accounts for different clients while I was freelancing. However I didn't really end up using most of their features.

Then I tried out Basecamp, which is good for basics but somehow I felt it wasn't powerful enough. It is the prettiest that I've come across so far, though.

I just discovered Dotproject. Their demo looks more interesting - close to how Microsoft Project works, but less complex.

Would you recommend any other good open source products?

Just a little update about Mint. I decided I was OK with the licence and purchased a copy for my site. (Textism's Refer has been rendered 99.9% useless due to referrer spam which I've given up trying to block manually.)

However, after setting up the database, username and configuring the appropriate file, then uploading all files in the correct modes, all I got was a blank page. A lemon. A different sort of tingling sensation in my mouth that I wasn't expecting.

Fortunately, some other Mint users also have the same, or similar, problems. I've run the server compatibility suite, which replaces the single PHP file previously used to indicate if our servers could run Mint. The more comprehensive suite got my mySQL version wrong, though it did confirm that my database was set up properly.

Anyway, Mint users were asked to post their server config details in the Forum. Hopefully this information will help Shaun pinpoint exactly why some installations aren't working the way they should. Don't get me wrong, I love Shaun's work and I'm sure he'll fix the problem soon.

This is just a friendly warning that, even with some tweaks to Mint 1.0 (at present it's 1.07) it may not be hunky dory for everybody. At least, not just yet.

This is my second post about Mint. Read the first post.

I was looking for a new computer table for my studio. I Googled for pages in Singapore, but saw an intriguing-looking article by the Computer Times (now called Digital Life) on creating web pages.

Dated February 2004, I was surprised and slightly perturbed at the statement, "When building a website, keep in mind that everything is formatted in table form." (Oops. My own website doesn't use tables. How??) Fortunately he does warn against using too many nested tables.

However, I was encouraged to read the first sentence on CSS: "Think of CSS as a master template." However, I soon realised that IRAS aren't the only ones who have a limited concept of stylesheets. The writer advises readers to use stylesheets to change text formatting and link hover effects. Which is true, but there's so much more you can do with it. This is 'pre-elementary' (and unfortunately most agencies in Singapore only seem to know how to do this*).

And let's not get into the advice on image rollovers and javascript tickers. That is so 1990's.

Of course this is a beginner's article and most beginners would probably start off by using tables and whatever HTML editor gives them the visual effects they want. And no journalist is necessarily an expert in their field of work. Further research is difficult especially with tight deadlines. But it's slightly annoying to read something that's already out of date the moment it was written.

And what about usability? Browser compliance? Accessibility? Well-written web content? I'd think these would be more important than any fanciful effects on a web page.

Maybe one day, someone should write an article on how the rest of the developed world has been catching on to new coding techniques and approaches, while most of commercial and public Singapore is still left behind.

*If you know of any agencies with a semblance of familiarity with web standards, stylesheets, accessibility and usability, please let me know ... I'm dying to meet them.

This is what futility looks like.

I have tried to file my income tax several times on both my Macs, but to no avail.

Before I reach the final page, it always lands with an error message.

A few years ago, e-filing was 'revolutionary'. However, with each passing year the online user base grows, and I really wonder if their server(s) can take the load now. For financial transactions particularly, it is very, very important that nothing crashes.

Surely something can be done. Millions more people visit Amazon.com. Why can their system cope so much better? It's not like the e-filing website displays lots of images of books, either. I can access my local bank accounts with less problems. If the private sector can do it for their customers, why can't IRAS?

I examined their code and it was wasteful.

A sample from the main section of a page: <td class="sub_menu_item" colSpan="2"height="21">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

They used nested tables for their nav bar, as well as extra spaces. Stylesheet classes were used but were very basic. You can tell they don't really understand the potential of stylesheets because font tags (gasp!) were used too.

Now think: If a few million people logged in within these couple of months, several kilobytes per page could make a difference to the server load.

I do appreciate the fact that most of my tax calculations have already been done for me. They did improve on that aspect. And usability-wise, I can understand what they're showing me.

But urgh, I hope the team is working on a revamp for next year. They should do something, pronto.

[Update 15/4/05: Wow, almost 700 visits from Mr Brown so far!]

It's now official. The whole company has been informed that on 1 Jan 2005, the new Copyright Law would come into effect, with criminal penalties for offenders. At the same time, the new company IT security policy would also be implemented.

Mozilla Firefox was listed as one of the programs not allowed on our systems. Much has been sacrificed in the name of security. So I thought I should at least write my favourite web browser a farewell message.

Dear, dear Firefox. How did I love thee?

Let me count the ways.

Opening multiple tabs so I could view all ongoing web projects simultaneously. It was neat. I knew what was going on, real-time.

Viewing text in any size that I want. No pain. No eye strain.

Blocking popup windows. And having the option to allow popups for trusted sites.

That nifty web search toolbar. Doing editing work was fast - I could do a Dictionary.com search in a jiffy.

It's officially the end of an era, dear Firefox. But in my house, on my computer ... you'll still rule.

I'm trying to switch back to using Thunderbird, but it seems that I am unable to import various .rge Entourage files (containing mails only / mails + contacts + settings).

Thunderbird only seems to have options to import data from Eudora and Netscape. I seem to be having the same problems as this guy.

Can anyone help?

[Update: Somehow this post has been linked on Macsurfer.com, hence the unusually large number of comments. I know I've offended some Mac lovers and I expected the Mac OS to be more intuitive than Windows in most things.

Long-time Mac users are surprised that I would have expected anything more than a replacement of files from one folder to another. After using Windows for most of my life, and using FTP programs which also add on but do not delete files, I thought it was a natural process.

Anyway, I publicised this so that other Windows users who have switched to Mac will not make the same mistake as I did.

One thing I have experimented with, is locking files and folders and enabling read-only access. When I simulate a folder replacement I am then prompted for my password. We should do this to all our important files.

Thanks to other Mac users who have sent me lots of tips on file recovery programs. I'm currently searching for my documents... ]

Windows is better at one thing than Mac - file preservation.

I lost my bank statements (PDF) on my new Mac, because the folder holding these files was overwritten by another (emptier) folder of the same name, which I was transferring from my iPod.

I was prompted that there were two identical folders, and should I 'keep' or 'stop' the action. However, since Windows has usually been smart enough NOT to erase my files during a transfer, I assumed Apple's operating system would be smart enough to do likewise. I expected it to keep existing files and add on the new files. So I proceeded with the folder replacement.

Then I realised I could have tried an 'undo' but it was too late - I had already performed too many additional actions in my Finder for its amazingly short 1-step memory to undo my mistake.

Now it's going to be so expensive - $15 per document lost for the last year. It may not be worth it. I'm also miffed that the bank cannot send me soft copies of the files I lost. It's quite demoralising.

But just in case any of you have an idea how to restore my lost PDF files, I'm leaving my Mac on for a day. The files did not appear in my Recycle Bin, so I'm feeling pretty helpless now.

Apple - your file transfers suck.

Update: I found a post that confirms my suspicions: "This behavior has never been a native thing in any Mac OS. I guess we longtime (or exclusive) Mac users just take this for granted. So if you're a switcher, this is one thing that you will have to get used to being different and find a 3rd party application to do what you want."

A third party application just to make sure the files in one folder, don't get deleted during a transfer?! Windows users who are switching to Mac OS X - beware!

You love Macs. You use one at home. It runs on OS X, which is a breeze to use and a sight to behold. But over at the office, everybody uses drab PCs. Staring at the screen eight hours a day makes you want to explode. You feel that your productivity and creativity is slowly being whittled away. What do you do? You customise*!

1. Replace the Windows taskbar with ObjectDock. (Not advised for slower PCs. Also, stick with the free version. ObjectDock Plus looks like the product of some geek who tried too hard.)
2. Visit WinCustomise and re-theme your desktop.
3. Download some nice, Aqua-ish icons from sites like this.
4. Smooth your fonts by activating ClearType (Works in Windows XP. Fool-proof instructions for XP users.)
5. Download and install the OS X font set on your system

WindowsX looks like an interesting customisation site but the download link was broken. Maybe it got pulled by Apple. Contribute your customisation tips and links by leaving a comment!

*Warning: Not to be implemented in contravention of draconian IT security policies. Not a complete substitute for a real Mac.

Thanks to Kristen, who granted me one of my geek wishes by getting me a Gmail account! I'd shout "Yahoo!" except that it would be entirely inappropriate :)

I've been away from the Blogosphere for so long that I didn't even realise Zeldman redesigned. I like it!

I'm also toying with the idea of tabbing for my next redesign (which is not going to happen in a long, long time but I still like to think about it). A tip from me: I don't like the way Photoshop renders rounded rectangular shapes. The corners are pixelated, last I checked (version 6 or 7). Instead, I much prefer Fireworks for designing user interface elements. Try drawing a rounded box in Fireworks and you'll see how pretty anti-aliasing can be.

Unless you're going for the pixelated, k10k look ;-)

Jay Allen has released version 1.5 of his esteemed comment spam eradicator, MT-Blacklist, which works on Movable Type. When zipped, this little bundle of happiness is only 32kb.

I just upgraded my version in, like 1 minute. *Yawn* Can it get any easier than this? Never mind what Wired omitted to say. We'll say it: The man's a genius. Three cheers for Jay!

It's just been relaunched, and it's beautiful, inside and out. Kick off to issue 160.

I feel pre-eety, oh so pre-eety...

Satisfaction is re-coding a large intranet you designed over a year ago, transferring design elements into the common stylesheet, removing spacer images, using header tags, and ultimately reducing the file size of each document in the process, thereby reducing the amount of bandwidth taken up on our clients' already busy server.

Aaaah! :-D

I received an email today from Microsoft. At least, it looked like a Microsoft email, telling me to install a cumulative security patch for the month of September.

But something looked dodgy.

1. If it was from Microsoft, why was the sender's email address julzsiqpkxb-zrtwmnhn@updates.com?
2. Why would Microsoft send an exe file, when we usually download updates from their website?
3. Why would Microsoft send an exe file to its users, many of whom use Outlook, which blocks exe files in the first place?

So I did a keyword search on Google, and came up with some interesting results. If you get this error message on your computer, you've been hit by the worm:

Error occurred Memory access violation in module kernel32 at :"

Turns out this worm's been spreading since Sep 18! And Microsoft issued a warning on Sep 19, on suspicious-looking emails claiming to be from them.

My list of regular reads, bookmarked in Newsmonster, disappeared mysteriously today. I didn't install any new software before that, so I am still wondering why it happened. I re-installed Newsmonster and rebooted my computer, but it didn't help.

Strangely, folders containing data on my list of newsfeeds still reside in my hard drive. I tried dragging each file into Newsmonster (a little unscientific, I know), hoping something would get imported. Nothing did. That irked me. I was not going to manually add 62 links back into the program and re-create my folder hierarchies.

The other thing is, ever since installing Newsmonster, Mozilla has been crashing and/or eating up CPU power, big time. It didn't cause enough problems on a regular basis, but it did start to irritate me. The missing bookmarks are the final score. Sure, I liked the fact that it was embedded in my favourite browser, but there's no way I'm going to upgrade to the Pro version, judging from the way it's been performing so far. And it looks like I'm not the only one with problems.

I'm still tinkering around with the system, hoping that something will work out. But in the meantime, my search for a better feed reader, begins.

[Update @ 1am: I was dutifully in the act of submitting a bug report when Mozilla crashed on me. I will try one more time.]

Macromedia's senior product manager, Lucian Beebe, demonstrates how easy it is to motion tween an object in Flash MX 2004 Professional. There were lots of other cool features too. Pity there wasn't much time to see them all.

Benjy Choo of Kinetic Interactive - arguably Singapore's best web design company, specialising in Flash. We got to view their impressive portfolio.

Macromedia launches the new Studio MX 2004, available for purchase and download. Trial versions (Studio, and Studio with Flash Pro) are available. Tell me how you find it, because I don't want to install anything new on my system until I've finished my big project.

Microsoft announces yet another security flaw, which needs to be patched. From Wired:

The company cautioned that hackers could seize control of a victim's computer by attacking these flaws, which affect Windows technology that allows computers to communicate with others across a network.

"We definitely want people to apply this one," said Jeff Jones, Microsoft's senior director for trustworthy computing.

You don't say...

Call it perfect timing. After grappling with Actionscript at work today, I ended up in evening class learning the nature of computer languages from the first to sixth generations, and how Java (on which Flash Actionscript is based) operates: In three logical forms - Sequence (do this then this then that), Selection (If this, Else that) and Iteration (Do while...). Things we've all seen before in a less-than-basic Flash file.

So I learnt how to combine these three forms of logic, and how to target a nested object. Things I sort of knew, and applied more out of rote than understanding. Now at least I understand how Java in general works. [Update: A post on how Actionscript 2.0 is becoming more like Java.]

Yet I, like my classmates, feel a sense of impatience as the classes progress, because we all signed up for a more advanced course, but have to attend a fundamentals course first. I thought it'd all be over in one week, but I was mistaken. I hope to start my Application Developer's course by next month. There are a lots of things I want to do, and so little time!

So for two weekday evenings, I go for class, and for the other weekdays I've been staying late in the office. I don't know how much longer I can continue like this. I only have God to thank for giving me work I am interested in doing, and pray things will get better soon.

To those in the know, I wish to achieve the following:

onClipEvent (load) { actionscriptprogrammers._visible=true; actionscriptprogrammers._quality=high; }

In short, I've always wondered if there were any good Flash Actionscript programmers available here in Singapore. Apart from those already in elite design houses such as Kinetic ;-)

'Good', meaning you can do more than me, which means writing and customising, not reusing code downloaded from Flashkit.com. The people who write components, not the ones at the end trying to figure out how they work.

I do not specialise in Flash, and I'm not ashamed to admit it. I've decided to focus on semantics and open source technologies instead, because I believe they will create an intelligent future for us. Hence my attending IT school for training in networking, ASP, PHP, a bit of SQL, and finally, XML.

Of course there are ongoing developments such as Flash Markup Language (FML) which will bridge the divide between visual impact and dynamic, structured data. And after months of not using it, I remember now how fun Flash can be - when you DON'T have a tight deadline hanging over your head :-P

And hopefully, come next Friday I might even still be alive to attend the Macromedia MX 2004 launch conference, to see what they have to offer.

Right now, I have a Flash game to complete, and my fingers are numb (same as yesterday). There are some things I've just learnt how to do, without using other people's scripts. Yet there are many more things I have yet to figure out, and very little time. I can brag that I've finished most of the game in less than two days. I just pray that people will appreciate the effort I've put in.

But back to my main question. On a personal basis, do freelance Actionscript specialists exist, and what would their rates be?

While in IT class, I noticed how deeply Microsoft has penetrated the minds of people. Certain generic terms have been substituted (mostly by classmates) by product names. Sure, I'm being anal, and apart from that the course has been pretty educational, but I think we should be careful with our use of terms, especially when in a learning environment.

Example #1

Instructor: And when you want to set up a web page, what do you do? You write a program -

Me (interrupting): No, you write a document which you upload to the web server!

[At this point I got overruled because it turns out he was referring to web editing software. Still, you don't need to use web editing software to write a web page. But I decided to shut up after that.]

Instructor: (continuing to addres the class) "You use Frontpage..."

Aaaaaarrghhh!!! Well, I know most people would've heard of Frontpage and therefore would understand his explanation better - although as a professional I still view it as an inferior product. I felt he should have said, you can use either a [generic term] web editing program or even Notepad to write a web page.

Example #2

Student: So when I want to register a domain name, I go to Singnet or Pacnet or Microsoft ... ?

Example #3

Instructor: And when you want to surf the Internet, what do you use?

Student: You open up your IE!

(Student proceeds to substitute the generic term, 'web browser', with IE for the rest of class.)

Example #4

Student: But don't most people prefer Windows OS because it is the easiest to use?

Me: (mildly surprised and trying to be polite) No, I think most people prefer Windows because that's all they've ever used. It's because they're familiar with it. But if you want something that is really easy to use, I'd go for the Mac OS.

Is it just me being fussy, or is this disturbing? Are geeks like me so far removed from the reality of life ('MS Life') that I can no longer speak the same language as other human beings? Has the rest of humanity resolved themselves to the fact that there is no alternative operating system or browser in this world?

Anyway, I'm going for an afternoon session today, followed by the usual jazz piano lesson, so I'd better do some revision now.

Yours truly has been terribly busy of late, and has to muster up enough brain power to think of something to write every day.

Hmm.

*mutters to self* Come on! You can think of something.

Okay, here goes.

After coming back from IT class (more networking, this time TCP/IP principles), I gulped down some soup that was my dinner, practised some jazz piano, and am now once again using someone else's computer to post this message, because my darned PC can't seem to detect my network card. At least that's what I suspect, because it isn't showing in my list of hardware.

I haven't had the time or energy to tamper tinker with my laptop the past couple of days, but I really appreciate everyone's advice. A good Samaritan may be paying a house call to fix things, so here's a big thanks in advance to him!

[Update @2.15am: Lord be praised, my connection has finally come back on. I still haven't figured out exactly why, but I'm not complaining.]

So, my laptop's died. I have finally come to terms with the fact that it no longer is able to run Windows, and hangs at exactly 31% during ScanDisk in DOS, refusing to continue. It cites a long filename to be the problem, and proceeds to hang. Obviously if Scandisk was run in Windows there may not be such a problem. It is a sticky, vicious-cycle sort of situation.

While in DOS, I tried to recall what I knew about DOS commands but was unable to figure out how to transfer my documents to a floppy. Help, anyone?

If not, then it's goodbye to my old university contacts, my MSSA minutes and newsletters, ALL my law essays, notes, my first websites, song lyrics and other precious files. My laptop was a time capsule chock full of fond memories. Its (then powerful) AMD 300MHz processor and 64MB of RAM was the envy of schoolmates, who were still running on Pentium 150s and 32 MB of RAM. It generated my first 3D landscapes. Small consolation that the company that manufactured it went kaput years before this baby went brain dead. My machine was going strong for over five years, making it the human equivalent age of 102 (or thereabouts). I should've known its time was up.

It gave me the best years of my life. It once made me the eighth most busy user on ResNet (a dubious accolade which I still like to brag about). It convinced me that I had an interest worth pursuing. It was the device through which I earned my very first cheque as a student, by loading advertisements from a legitimate program while I surfed. Subsequently I earned enough money to buy a domain name and pay for web hosting for two years. The rest, as you can see, is history.

Until some genius comes up with a better idea, may my poor little laptop rest in peace. *sniff*

Macromedia has revamped its website (nice!) and released a new version of its popular Studio MX series. The product name is a bit of a mouthful: Studio MX 2004. But the specs look good.

As I had hoped, Dreamweaver MX 2004 has more integrated CSS support. Among other useful tweaks, you can now import Office Documents while preserving their appearance, and check your code's validity in different browsers.

Flash has been split up into Flash MX 2004 and Flash MX Professional 2004. The latter version has extra features for application development, video, presentations and mobile devices. Blow my mind! Obviously Macromedia is moving Flash beyond computer screens, with growing support in other devices and mediums. [Update: Check it out, CSS support!]

Fireworks may still not be a complete substitute for Photoshop, where image manipulation is concerned, but it is still pretty dynamic. It now has a Javascript API which works with Flash. I guess the best way to find out how good MX 2004 is, is to play around with the software and find out.

Now, how do I wheedle my IT department into getting me an upgrade? :-P

[Update: Webmonkey has a review of Studio MX 2004. Go read. ]

This afternoon during lunch, a visually handicapped man carrying a fistful of ballpoint pens came up to our table. There was an uneasy silence, the shy glances around to see if anybody would do anything or turn the man away. He claimed he was supporting his parents and he looked pretty sincere about it.

All the years of pent-up guilt, of not giving to beggars or buskers overwhelmed me, and I bought a pen from him. In fact I felt so guilty that I told him he could keep the change if he didn't have any. He gave me my change, nevertheless. He said a few God Bless You's to everyone, then left.

Does the pen work? Someone joked. I drew a blue line on my napkin. I was glad it worked. On our way out of the coffeeshop, I noted that he managed to sell three other pens in a matter of minutes. Going by the rate of sales, we calculated that he could very well earn over S$200 an hour, in crowded areas.

However when I went back and tested the pen again, it dried out. On normal paper. And on other, normal paper. I was starting to worry. Was my faith in that man misguided? What if all those stories I've been hearing about fraudsters pretending to collect for charity, or beggars who live in condominiums (there was such a guy in Bristol who used to beg outside the Hawthornes), were true?

Finally, my last scribble on a Post-It pad proved that the pen was still working. My mind was put to rest. I felt a little bad for doubting the courteous man.

I then decided that the next time I feel the urge to give to someone, I'll do it. There's no point wondering whether the handicapped beggar is really handicapped. Or whether he's earning much more than you are by just sitting in an underground passageway, playing a keyboard. If they tell me they really need the money to feed their family, as far as I'm concerned, I'll believe them. Call me a fool, but it's their own conscience they have to answer to, and to God as well, if anyone was deceived. It's not like they want a million bucks from us, anyway, just some loose change. I should be grateful that I still have a job, that I'm still getting paid, that I still have some money to spend.

At Bible Studies class this evening, we covered the final chapters of the book of John, where Christ visited the 'doubting' Thomas to prove He had risen from the dead. I realised I've become cynical myself, led by stories of deception, of trust being breached, and doubt becomes a human defence mechanism. What you don't believe in, won't hurt you. So, we tend to not believe in anything, or hardly anything, at all.

In a world full of deceptions, what we need is the power of discernment. That is something I should pray for.

Disturbing politics.

Today I touched on material that was certainly not relaxing. I continued reading Guardian journalist Greg Palast's book, The Best Democracy Money Can Buy [rated 4.6 out of 5 stars with 74 votes so far], and was both disturbed and enlightened - probably because I didn't expect crooked politicians to be even more crooked than I thought they were. I haven't finished reading the book, but it does cover the US election fraud, how 9-11 could've been avoided, and how the energy crisis really happened.

Disturbing and misguided CSS rant.

I also had the misfortune of reading a Builder.com forum post overrun by web builders who seem to be taking a personal vengeance attack on Cascading Stylesheets. Oh, please. They say CSS won't work because some browsers don't support it. Welcome back to the Stone Age, I say. We might as well stop innovating entirely, because nobody will support your new technology in the immediate future.

One of these guys (no real name) even put up a web page listing down its defects. Allow me to quote:

[CSS advocates assert that] TABLES are for TABULAR DATA and not meant for Layout whereas CSS is more suited for this.

Last time I checked, most web sites use a database. Hence, tabular data. Furthermore, there was typically more than one column in a database. Thus, ROWS and COLUMNS. Otherwise why even use a database?

Is this guy serious? The nutter got his databases mixed up with layout tables! I only have pity for this kind of people. Wait - no. He's selling Dreamweaver templates on his website, too. I detect an ulterior motive. And BTW, bud, it's still easier uploading one CSS file than uploading all your web pages every time you change the design.

When I step back and take a look at everything that's being done, that doesn't make sense and doesn't benefit the common people ... I realise that in the end, no matter what field you're in, it's all about money, isn't it?

There are so many things I'd like to do and learn. And so little time!

Hopefully by tonight, I'll complete a big photo gallery as promised for a friend. Over this weekend, I need to pack for my forthcoming business trip. I also need to get my presentations and tutorials sorted out. And come next month or two, I'll be learning PHP, ASP and XML (yes, I found a computer school). Imagine having a former web designer who can develop web applications.

Serious work aside, I'm awaiting the 'Summer 2003' arrival of MT Pro and have been lurking suspiciously around Typepad beta blogs (Ben Mena Anil). I love looking at user interfaces. I've come to appreciate them even more, now that designing intranets and CMS administration panels have become part of my daily routine.

By special request from a dear friend of mine, I stayed up this morning writing lyrics to music I wrote years ago (think: university) and didn't complete. I wish I had 48 hours in a day, so I can spend half my time locked up in my studio!

Update #1: Check out Zempt, a weblog editing program which runs on your PC. I've seen others about, but not as pretty. Know of any other cool tools?

Update #2: Supa-dupa coolness! I've installed the program and it's connected successfully to my MT script. This update has been written and posted using Zempt. It has standards-compliant formatting tags and a spell checker with lots of language variations (I'm sticking to good old GB English). And it makes it easier for you to assign attributes to your links. What's more, you can sync this baby up with Winamp. I've done that already but this is certainly a very convenient tool.

Update #3: OK, I managed to install the more famous Bloggar at home and it looks a little prettier. It must be the icons. On first glance however I have found it less easy to use - perhaps because it has more features. But it's superior in the sense that it can be used with many other weblog programs, not just MT. However it uses' b' and 'i' instead of 'strong' and 'em', which admittedly isn't a heinous crime but makes me think it's a little dated. You can create custom tags and insert Javascript, which is handy. I'll post this now and see how things go...

It appears that a beta tester of Macromedia's forthcoming Flash 7, couldn't keep his mouth shut. Screen shots and more data are posted on the Flashmove forum. Well, it's either a leak or a very clever marketing ploy, because it's got me hooked.

Ogle, everybody, ogle.

Seems there'll be two different versions of Flash 7, one for web designers and one for serious developers. In Flash MX all we had was a different panel layout.

[written while blog was being revamped]

So, I tried to purchase a Jazz Fake Book at Borders yesterday night. My jazz piano teacher told me it was available there.

Someone ought to tell the Borders staff that. The first employee I approached, gave me an incredulous stare, and made me repeat the title a few times. He couldn't believe there was such a thing as a fake - Fade??? no, Fake, spelt F-A-K-E book.

Why don't you check with information? He gestured briefly and walked off.

Fine. The girl at Information gave me a funny look. Er... everything's there, she gestured vaguely at the music shelves. (Yes, I thought ... that's why I'm asking Information, because you guys can tell me exactly WHERE it is?)

She keyed in a query on her computer. 'We only have one book, Charles Mingus, More Than a Fake Book. Is that the one?'

No, I said. I didn't just want Charles Mingus (even if he is a great bassist). I did see a Fake Book on the top row of a shelf, but it was more evergreen than jazz, cost S$100 and was thick enough to kill someone with a slug on the head.

Instead I picked up a Bills Evans biography going at S$34+, and left.

This morning, I decided to check out our local bookshops online. Kinokuniya had an efficient books database system, and priced the title I wanted at over S$70. Deliveries over S$50 are free, and made the next working day.

Times didn't stock anything with the word 'Jazz' in it, but I'm certain they stocked the Idiot/Dummy series in-store, meaning that their database is probably out of date.

Borders doesn't seem to have a local website. The MPH website is sparse, a far cry from its heydays.

Online bookshop Acmabooks, however, gave a 10% discount on the original price, bringing it down to about S$60. Deliveries over S$50 are free. I expect the book to arrive anywhere between 1-14 days. Woo-hoo. (Incidentally, the biography I bought was going at $29+. Dang.)

And here ends one of my they-could've-been-so-much-better rants.

I'm thinking of getting proper IT certification, in line with my new job title. There's only so much I can learn on my own. While my role now requires more 'overseeing' than simply 'doing', it would certainly increase efficiency and productivity at work.

I'll be doing some research on my own, but if anyone knows of any good courses or schools, do recommend them. Thanks!

Another flotilla of mass emails from various friends. Another likely story of how, should you forward this email to five people, you will get a free flight on British Airways. Everyone, please, stop passing this around and raising false hopes! *stern look*

Read more about it from everywhere else on the internet.

• Read what the original email sounds like
• Read what British Airways has to say about it

I scored 27.81065% which makes me a Total Geek. Take the quiz and tell me your score!

Funny how a US senator who's been calling for computers with illegal software to be smoked, used unlicensed Javascript code for his official website's dropdown menu (the code has since been registered).

[Senator Orrin] Hatch on Tuesday surprised a Senate hearing on copyright issues with the suggestion that technology should be developed to remotely destroy the computers of people who illegally download music from the Net.

Hatch said damaging someone's computer "may be the only way you can teach somebody about copyrights," the Associated Press reported. He then suggested the technology would twice warn a computer user about illegal online behavior, "then destroy their computer."

Tangential thought: Nationwide, the majority of Singaporeans' home PCs would go up in smoke.

Seriously, though, it goes to show how important the integrity of the design / IT company you've hired to create your website is. The cost of a software licence may be a hefty amount to some, but it is a small price to pay for upholding your reputation.

I returned home from Bible Studies this evening to find my father sitting at my computer with a triumphant look on his face.

He turned to me and beamed, "I just deleted three viruses from your computer."

I was surprised. I'm fairly fastidious about my antivirus scanning and usually scrutinise my firewall logs. He told me that he'd deleted some files on his own computer with 'teddy bear' icons, called JDBGMGR.EXE. He was about to do likewise on my computer as well as mum's.

I told him it was a hoax at once. I looked at my screen and saw that the files were still in my Recycle Bin. Thank God I came home in the nick of time (we actually finished class punctually today). I restored the harmless Java files.

I had received an email from someone else just a month ago with the same bogus message. In fact I think I was still in university when I first received the hoax warning. So there's been a resurgence of sorts!

So, just in case any of your friends send you the same email, take a look at what the leading antivirus and security companies have to say about this prank.

• Symantec
• Network Associates
• MacAfee
• Trend Micro

The Urban Legends website also has a page dedicated to this hoax, along with other fanciful tales of yore.

Fortunately, according to this article, your system won't die on you should you have already cleared your Recycle Bin, as it is not an essential file:

For those hapless folks who've deleted the file, there is good news. Unless you are a Java developer, the file is not essential to normal operation and its absence should not create any adverse affects. If you do encounter problems with Java applications, you will need to either contact the vendor of the application for a new copy of Microsoft Virtual Machine or you can download Sun Java Virtual Machine instead.

I finally fixed that buggy thumbnail problem in my photo gallery. And I am continually amazed at people who are inspired to make life easier for the rest of us, by creating the means for this to happen.

The photo gallery system I'm using, is called 'Singapore' for no apparent reason other than the fact that it used to be titled 'Simple Gallery', then became 'sg' which as you know is the domain suffix for the country in which I was born.

Even more interesting is how it came to be, because its creator, Tamlyn, felt the need for a photo gallery for her Photo society at the University of Manchester that looked a little more arty, and which also had extra fields for serious photographers to write their notes in, such as camera model, manipulation and copyright.

Likewise I am deeply impressed by the work of a client, who in his spare time learnt programming. He used his knowledge to reorganise his company's highly specialised scheduling system. Let's just say his job is like a zillion miles away from web development. (Side note: I had a lot of fun redesigning his user interface.)

It's these kind of people who make technology matter. Go, geeks!

Title: UN Weapons Inspector

Role: To investigate possible violations of UN regulations with regard to the possession of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). The weight of the world will be on your shoulders as your official verdict may very well determine the outcome of a war.

Occupational hazards: Will be frequently taken to task seperately by the prosecution and defence, both sides accusing you of bias no matter how neutral you try to be. May be hindered and denied necessary access and resources. May be forced to meet impossible deadlines, which will somehow appear to be entirely your own fault.

Outcome: Will please nobody.

Mr Blix, thank you.

Additional goodies:

• Play the UN Weapons Inspection game (.exe file, zipped)

The Poynter Institute reports that Dave Winer is in negotiations with the New York Times to open their archives to people linking from weblogs. Now this may be good news for some of us, but I forsee that this permission may be exploited. It's asserted elsewhere however that this benefit will apply only to Userland weblogs.

I wonder what Ben and Mena have to say about that.

And this is a somewhat 'sniffy' attitude towards blogging, IMHO - at least, from the way it began:

Diaries were once meticulously handwritten private logs of self-reflection... Now they are haphazardly typed public logs of self-advertisement.

Back to the future. In 'If you really want to know, ask a blogger', the Guardian / Observer discusses the growing influence of weblogs as an alternative to traditional media. I'm sure this is now a popular topic in Communication schools, and a source of consternation for stodgy broadsheets.

The paper also reports that moblogging is becoming increasingly popular. I'm just waiting for my phone contract to run its course, so I can upgrade my buggy little Nokia 6510. Then we'll see.

For laughs: Check out the dullest blog in the world. (Thanks to Jiamin for sending this!)

Yesterday at the gym, while in the middle of my final stretching exercise, I was almost overcome with pain. My contorted body was screaming at me to stop, but my instructor was mercilessly holding my limbs down.

Suddenly, he shot me a question.

"What is ASP? and .NET?"

My pain subsided a little, as I answered in in gasps: "ASP ... is an application ... which runs on the Microsoft Windows platform ... .NET is a new form of ASP ... extension is .aspx as opposed to just .asp ... .NET is geared more towards XML, which is the way to go ..."

Needless to say, I wasn't very lucid, and I suspect he became even more confused. He told me he was learning how to use Dreamweaver, but that version MX looked rather complicated. I advised him to pick up some basic HTML before he tried to move on to application servers, or else he'd really be lost.

I think my new job title's going to be pretty interesting. I have to learn how to teach people, which means I really have to know my subject matter well, and express concepts clearly.

So the thought struck me: why not compile all the questions that people have been asking me over the years, onto my site?

Watch this space in the weeks to come.

Sick of spam? Finally, some lawyers are doing something useful.

That's something I'd still consider studying - Information Technology law. Pity there were only 15 places per course at NUS, and none of us overseas grads had the chance to apply for it.

Next time someone sends you an email virus warning, think twice before forwarding it on. Do a quick Google keyword search at least, using the subject line of the email in question.

Some antivirus companies have their own hoax pages: Symantec (Norton), McAffee, Trend Micro. Also, check out Urbanlegends.com.

This afternoon, I installed Windows 2000 Professional with Kok Hong's help. Actually, he did all the work - so a big thanks to him!

Made it really early for my second jazz piano lesson. Fortunately, despite a few slips here and there, my playing was fine and Victor was really encouraging. He can scribble chords on paper like it's second nature to him. Once again I have lots of homework to do, but I guess it'll be fun.

Now I'm installing all my software on the new OS, and am wondering why on earth I ever bought an original copy of Office XP, because I probably have to call up Microsoft to request them to unlock my registration code, which has already been submitted twice ... Gaah. Why do they penalise legal customers?

Days ago, I was looking at a website powered by Textpattern (beta) - a Textism project.

Today, I was reminded by Kristen about the Movable Type creators' new venture into web publishing, Typepad - a tier-based system targetted at people who are less familiar with raw HTML code:

'If you're interested in a system where you can modify the code to suit your needs, Movable Type is still the right choice for you, but most users without some programming or scripting experience will be very happy with TypePad.'

I couldn't help but recall that Textpattern had a template page similar to Typepad's. Or vice-versa, whichever came first. It also appears that they both have many features in common. Hmm. Well, both are still in development stages, and I can't wait to try them out. Textpattern (beta) is free; Typepad is not, at least for now. But they'll host it for you.

"What is needed is not more technology design but more 'value concept' design. Technology can deliver almost any value we design - but we are lagging far behind in the design of value."

- Edward de Bono (from his book, Simplicity).

After giving the issue some thought, I have decided to upgrade my system from Windows 98 to Windows 2000 Professional.

As an ardent multitasker, I've found it disconcerting that every time I want to open a new program, I have to decide which existing programs can be closed first. I have loads of RAM, but it isn't going anywhere!

I was told that XP Pro and Win 2000 Pro were very comparable in terms of performance, and of course, XP is the newer technology. However, a friend who builds computers and runs both systems, tells me that Win 2000 has crashed fewer times than XP.

And visually, XP looks like somebody tried to emulate Mac OS X and didn't quite get it right. Win 2000's interface is cleaner, and I am very familiar with it at work.

The next thing I had to do, was to contact my company's trusty ol' software vendor, since we already knew each other (I don't believe in installing pirated operating systems). Fortunately they had one last licence for a full installation, going at half the price. And they're going to deliver it to my office! Can't wait.

In the meantime, there will be a massive file backup in progress. Any last words? Speak now, or forever hold your peace!

This is a little late, but I thought I should draw your attention to the list of winners at the 18th Annual Codie Awards.

Winners include Macromedia (thrice), IBM (thrice), Apple, and Adobe. It is interesting to note that Microsoft didn't win in any categories, although they did get a few nominations.

Local creative online collective, the2ndrule, is organising an online protest:

Click through the teaser (it's really cute).

It all started off with K10K syndicating their content and showing us how to do use their newsfeed. As part of the learning process, I've taken some of your RSS / XML feeds too, and regurgitated them on this website. More details on the page itself.

It's the end of the month again, and time for my monthly statistics report. March 2003 has been my busiest month so far, chalking up 18,639 pageviews.

You may notice that my front page's nav bar has a new section - Now Playing. Well I was browsing through the Movable Type forums looking for interesting tweaks, and came across this tutorial which teaches you how to sync up your Winamp player to your weblog.

Essentially you configure Winamp to send a trackback ping which can then be displayed, as an include file, on your website.

I'm so excited I can't sleep. I've been a supporter of Winamp since its shareware days (where I convinced dad to let me use his credit card so I could make a voluntary donation of US$10 to Nullsoft's cause) - and I am an ardent supporter of Movable Type, so I'm doubly happy that they can now be connected to each other.

(shrivels up with enthusiasm, curls up on floor)

Somebody obviously got hold of my office contact details, because I received a letter from one of those Nigerian fraudsters today. A paper letter, not an e-mail. Signed by a human hand.

The stamps from the letter came from Cameroon, but the author claimed to represent a Nigerian petroleum company. The amount was US$30 million and I was promised 20% of it for helping him transfer the money.

It is really dodgy.

[ Update: Here's a scanned copy of the letter in question. ]

Remember that No War wallpaper I designed last year?

It was featured at Italian website Digital Ultras, then it got taken down. I drew the picture of Bush myself, but used a corner of a map of Iraq which was taken from an academic site. I gave them due attribution when I made my submission. However I just HAD to add that I noticed another designer had submitted the entire map, untouched, save for his URL which he added on one side of the graphic, as his own work. Strangely they reacted by keeping his wallpaper / stolen map on display while they took down mine.

Unfair brutes. Maybe it was because he was Italian, too.

Anyway, apart from the fact that my name still resides in the middle black column of this site, that wallpaper of mine has laid low until someone from Austria wrote in yesterday to ask for it. So here it is folks - in its full (and former) glory, all 195 KB of it.

Before the war even begins, our computers may face a virus attack via email.

The W32/Ganda-A worm surfaced on Monday and affects users on the Windows platform only. To quote from The Age:

'Anti-virus firm Sophos said it had noticed the following four variants:

Subject line: Spy pics.
Message text: Here's the screensaver i told you about. It contains pictures
taken by one of the US spy satellites during one of it's missions over iraq.
If you want more of these pic's you know where you can find me. Bye!

Subject line: G.W Bush animation.
Message text: Here's the animation that the FBI wants to stop. Seems like
the feds are trying to put an end to peoples right to say what they think of
the US administration. Have fun!

Subject line: GO USA !!!!
Message text: This screensaver animates the star spangled banner. Please
support the US administration in their fight against terror. Thanx a lot!

Subject line: Is USA always number one?
Message text: Some misguided people actually believe that an american life
has a greater value than those of other nationalities. Just have a look at
this pathetic screensaver and then you'll know what i'm talking about. All
the best.'

Judging from the content of the email variants, I'd say the virus could very well deceive those who are for and against the war, as well as others who are curious about it.

Which just about covers almost all of us - save for a few apathetic Singaporeans who have told me that as long as it doesn't affect them, they don't really care.

Thanks to Dawn Lee (who refuses to reveal her secret blog address) for the breaking news.

Happily, Vanessa Tan has finally learnt how to centre her CSS layout to display in IE, courtesy of Bluerobot.

Duh!

Her mission complete, she can finally to go to sleep.

Macromedia has relaunched in Flash,taking on a light champagne hue. Its search engine is powered by Google.

You might notice how the Flash site actually remembers the item you selected on your dropdown menu, when you refresh or go back to the main page. Clever. That's another step forward for Accessibility, which they've been taking rather seriously since its previous redesign.

From the Accessibility link you can toggle between Flash and HTML versions of the site, which is also pretty nifty.

As an aside, I'm proud to announce that I've managed to display this MT weblog in Flash (viewable in Flash Player version 6), although I think it's not very practical. So HTML still rules for this site.

I tried to e-file today, only to find myself waiting for 27 images to load. They didn't. The largest image was 700x800 pixels in size, and there was no ALT text indicating what each of the images stood for.

There was a text-based nav bar, but some links were broken or led to pages with more missing images. A red scroller declared, 'Our website will be under maintenance on 8 February 2003 to 9 February 2003. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.'

While the idea of making citizens file their income tax online was pretty visionary a few years ago, it takes much more intuition to realise that you don't just have to get people to key in your URL for the magic to work.

Instead, visitors should be able to identify where they can log in at once. They shouldn't have to download huge and meaningless graphics, or read press releases about e-filing deadlines when such information could be easily summarised.

Maybe as I type, somebody's frantically trying to fix all the bugs. But even if the site required maintenance, why couldn't it have been done before we received our notice from the IRAS to e-file early ... and increase our chances of winning, um, cash prizes?

[ update: after writing in to the IRAS, I received a reply this morning telling me that the new site is up. Hurrah! Although they should have put up a placeholder in the meantime, so nobody would see all the ugly broken images in the first place. ]

[ update #2: Don't worry. E-filing commences Feb 22, not immediately as I misread it. Such was my excitement upon receiving a letter from the IRAS. Doh. ]

I think my rights as a web designer have been blatantly disregarded of late, so allow me to draw some attention to an article on how (NOT) to work with designers. Better communication, understanding and support = better creative output, I say.

Cheers to Kottonwool Kim for mentioning this article.

As for me, I think I need to be firmer in my decision-making and not allow other people to keep on changing their schedules. I was spoon fed at Eyeball, with my schedule all planned out by the web coordinators. Now I have more independence - tempered by a greater propensity for panic attacks. What I do (until I find a more meaningful vocation) often lands me smack at the end of the production line, so if content isn't in on time or clients change their minds, I'm screwed.

It isn't fair.

Back to the church website *yawn*.

In an amazing turn of events, our biggest client has changed their minds and signed us on for another year to design their new website. Hurrah!

The church website is about to clear its last hurdle or two. I'm restructuring lots of content off the existing site for uniformity. The content was obviously accumulated by different people over the years. And the code is vintage Frontpage, with font tags galore. *squint*

Today I created an alternative stylesheet for printing, so the more traditional churchgoers can make legible copies of it on paper. This would be handy for sections which have lots of info like the sermon notes, which people might want to carry along with them.

Ricky will be coming over tomorrow morning to sort out the pages with me. Then Dad and I will be off to Perth in the evening to visit my mum and sister.

The presentation went well this evening, better than expected. However the church team has a few technical issues to clear up, before they decide whether or not to adopt the system we've built with Coldfusion, or stick with a purely static site. We'll leave it at that, and in the meantime continue to fine-tune our engine.

Currently the church is hosting with Antioch, who have been charging them about S$80 a month for 5 MB of web space, several email addresses and aliases. No CGI-BIN folder, no PHP, just plain HTML. Antioch is a non-profit organisation.

The church IT team was also looking into Lotus Notes for emailing and scheduling, but frankly with less than 20 office staff, the system would've cost several thousand dollars, and required an administrator. Our system does both of those things, keeps track of equipment and books, sermons, members' details, and updates web pages - for less money - with more customisation to come.

Anyway, we are marketing this to other churches who wish to upgrade their IT systems as well, so if anybody wants a demo, let me know.

I'd like to assert that this is NOT a profit-making project. We're doing it because our boss decided last year that we should give something back to society. So we've put together an engine that would've cost commercial clients hundreds of thousands of dollars, but have tailored it to the specific needs of churches, which are more people-oriented.

However, we have to pay our expert Coldfusion programmer - who, incidentally, completed most of the system in one working week.

Whatever the decision, the new (static) church website should be launched soon, courtesy of yours truly.

Today my company will be presenting the management system we've been working for on the the past few weeks, to my church.

I've decided to put the matter entirely in God's hands. So this afternoon, let the best decision be made. Whatever it may be.

A conference will be held in Austria on corporate weblogging. Find out more about the event at Blogtalk. Many bloggers are preparing papers for this event, including the creators of the ever-so-wonderful Movable Type.

This morning's best discovery: Full As A Goog, an all-in-one resource weblog for Macromedia applications.

Go geeks, go geeks...

My General manager just called. I've been told to hand over my source files to our most important client.

Which probably means we're losing the account, which accounts for a good portion of our paychecks.

After over a year working on their regional account, I never managed to revamp their website officially (due to factors beyond my control). That was a pity because I actually completed 90% of the new site, only to be told to put it on hold. It looks like my work will never see the light of day.

I just don't know what to say.

My inbuilt thrift-o-meter kicked in, and I decided NOT to buy most of the books on my list this morning.

When I flipped through the web design book, I didn't think I really needed the new edition. Besides, why buy it for the extra chapter on XML when I could just buy a book on XML, which would be more comprehensive? (I did just that.)

Meanwhile, my sister really, really wanted the Javascript book, but I told her it wouldn't be of use unless she, erm, learned HTML first? After some deliberation she chose the web design book for herself. She'll need it when she proposes to revamp her school's website.

The CSS book wasn't as advanced as I thought it would be, and I left it back on the shelf. I wanted Moock's actionscript book but it hadn't arrived yet. 'Figures, as the new title was launched on December 19. So I'll go back some time in January to pick it up.

Fortunately, we managed to collect our goody bags past the promotion date. So we now each have an O'Reilly T-shirt (ooh, uber geekdom!), a badge and a catalogue. The T-shirt will be relegated to the pyjama department, because the designers (and programmers) would probably stone me if they saw me walking in with the word 'XML' on my back. Heh.

Folks, if you own a book published by O'Reilly, do register with them online. It's worth your while.

I have six O'Reilly discount vouchers to be used by next month. Now I really like their publications and I fully intend to put the company's generosity towards its registered readers, to good use. Silly me however forgot to collect my free goody bag a few days ago. *whacks head*

So if we wake up early enough, Vicki and I will be visiting the Computer Book Centre tomorrow to pick up some good reference materials. I'm getting one book (at least) for my sister.

Now, I'm tempted to buy the second edition of Web Design in a Nutshell by Jennifer Niederst, even though I already have the first edition (well, it's lent to someone else at the moment). It's invaluable for the serious web designer and covers more 'advanced' topics like CSS, XML and Javascript. In fact it was the first book I bought on web design.

Next, I love Colin Moock and his work. I might just get his latest book, Actionscript for Flash MX as well, since I am supposed to learn how to integrate everything with our new Coldfusion MX server. I don't think the company's going to fund me for proper lessons.

And since I'm moving my websites towards total CSS reliance, CSS: A Definitive Guide may come in handy - if the book can teach me twice as much as what I already know, it should be worth it. We'll see. Else I'll fall back on online tutorials.

Yawn. My head is spinning and I still have to work on the church website. Apologies to people I've been ignoring, I'll get back to you when I can.

A Jan 2003 Wired article highlights the conflicts facing the world's most popular search engine - even as it continues to post millions in profits. Everybody wants a piece of the Google pie, but not all are getting it.

For one, I find the notion of using search engine optimisers amusing. In the pre-Google days, lesser search engines were easily fooled by word repetitions. Now, people have come up with all sorts of devices to boost their listings and PageRank points. Then, when Google performs its monthly spring-cleaning, customers of these optimisation programs get angry, and Google gets sued. It's ridiculous!

If you're willing to fork out good money to move your site up several notches, then you might be better off channelling your efforts into providing more relevant content for your visitors instead.

As an aside, I stumbled upon Froogle. I think it's cute. Let's see how this new project of theirs takes off.

[ Hmm ... Then again, it isn't a good idea to name an e-commerce site after something that sounds like 'Frugal'.]

Today, I checked my 'catch-all' email address (where emails sent to nonexistent email addresses at my domain are bounced to). And I had the shock of my life: a fellow churchgoer's username was supplanted onto my domain to form a fictitious email address, and countless emails were sent to other people. Many were strangers to me, but some were familiar names at church. The emails 'bounced back' to my server, thanks to corporate antivirus scanners which blocked them from being received by the individuals concerned.

But I was very alarmed because I thought that my mail server or PC was somehow infected with the virus, and I was responsible for infesting my church's network with it!

Then I re-read my original post on the Bugbear virus, and revisited the McAfee website to learn more about its modus operandi:

'This virus spreads via email and via network shares. It makes use of [a bug] in Microsoft Internet Explorer (v 5.01 or 5.5 without SP2). Simply opening or previewing an infected message in a vulnerable email reader can result in infection.

This virus can "spoof" the "from" field, by combining random elements to form a fake "from" address.'

A-ha! So that's what it did! I wasn't the originator of the virus, but my domain was used in its second stage attempt to propagate itself further.

Just to be safe, I called up Ricky from the church office to let him know what happened. I hope we can all be more vigilant in the future.

I haven't been posting much recently, because I've been frightfully busy at work. Staring at the office computer from 9+am to 10 pm isn't funny anymore. This happened on Tuesday, and today (Thursday). I made it a point to leave on time on Wednesday, because I didn't want to miss Alpha (God knows I need it!).

What was I up to? My ears. In what? A site for a new car, entirely in Flash, that was assigned to me at the end of last week, to be completed by today.

On Tuesday when I got home at 11+pm, my left hand was numb. It was pressing shortcut keys the whole day (cut, copy, paste, publish, etc) and I had difficulty typing the next morning! :-P

Anyway, the site launched today. I know it isn't perfect (yet), but if you want to see it, it's here. You need the Flash 6 player to view it, and it's not because I'm one of those designers who doesn't know how to publish to a lower version (or wants to show off that I use Flash MX). It's because there's video in it.

Let me know if you come across any bugs in the meantime, because I'll be fine-tuning it at work.

We can live without Microsoft.
We can live without Microsoft.
We can live without Microsoft.
We can live without Microsoft.
We can live without Microsoft.

If we say it enough times, maybe we can live without Microsoft.

Nothing else we've tried (government-backed lawsuits, counterclaims, appeals, yadda yadda) seems to work. And no matter how many times we curse Windows for crashing on us just before we've saved our 10,000-word document, we still persist in using it.

Either we don't have the time to find alternative software, or we're plain chicken about it (I still am, but Linux looks increasingly attractive), and we worry about things like incompatibilities and the fact that everybody ELSE is still using Microsoft products.

Maybe we can live without Microsoft.

And since I talk so much about the Consortium, here's some info about its founder - who happens to be the same guy who conceptualised and 'invented' the World Wide Web.

I never run out of opportunities to preach to web coders who still haven't a clue what web standards are about. So listen up to this public service announcement:

The latest issue of Cre@te Online, the UK web design magazine, has a good tutorial on writing compliant XHTML 1.0 which is a transition between HTML (design) and XML (structure). Essentially we are progressing towards the separation of content from style.

The first thing we need to do is to keep our HTML clean: no overlapping tags; backslashes to close each standalone tag (such as 'br /'), use of 'strong' and 'em' rather than 'b' and 'i' respectively, naming of all images with ALT text for accessibility... you get the general drift.

For instant gratification (and further information), go look up the W3C.

As for my new new NEW re-design, the pages coded in HTML so far are totally compliant, right down to the CSS, but nobody can see the new site until I stop changing my ... mind.

I watched a pretty interesting show on the National Geographic channel about the makers of Netscape, covering their phenomenal rise and subsequent fall to Microsoft, and their buyout by AOL.

What struck me most on the show, however, was the dedication of Netscape employees to their work. Some of them would stay over for weeks in the office as their homes weren't in the same city. But they were working for a cause they believed in - and they were willing to fight for it.

Pity they took ages to produce Netscape 6. Skipping one version number didn't exactly make a big impact on consumers, who were already using Internet Explorer by default on their PCs. In the meantime, as Microsoft's lawyers battled it out in with the DOJ, Internet Explorer kept on improving itself. It got developers hooked onto its support for DHTML, for instance, and it loaded much, much faster than Netscape 4.

[Note: Netscape 5 BTW did exist internally, but the engine was scrapped in favour of the open-source browser I affectionately call Mozzy. Maybe they wanted to play catch-up with Microsoft's IE 5, but this confused consumers initially as they were expecting 4 to go to 5 and not 6 - which is reasonable. I came across some popular websites which stated that they required 'Netscape 5 and above', or listed that browser version in their error page feedback forms. As of today, the Guardian website still lists Netscape 5 as a browser even though it isn't available publicly for download. Click here to go to a fictitious link on their site, to see what I mean.]

I also had doubts when I heard AOL was buying it over. When I tried AOL in the UK a few years ago, I didn't feel comfortable with it - probably because it was meant for web beginners, not 'power users' like myself. I wondered briefly how Netscape was coping with the culture change. Well the documentary confirmed that some Netscape staff left after the behemoth swallowed them as the AOL culture was not really that of a 'dotcom'. I probably would have done the same.

Anyway, AOL didn't quite merge seamlessly with Netscape at first. For instance, their AOL browser was based on Internet Explorer's engine, not Netscape's. And when I used it, it certainly felt like an IE browser with the AOL logo slapped on it. AOL later came under criticism for this and I believe their browser has been suitably amended. Correct me if I'm wrong on any point, because I doubt I'm going to install AOL again so I'll never know.

But what I disliked most about the post-AOL takeover was how Netscape's approach towards consumers had changed. Now there are AOL popup windows whenever I visit netscape.com and every time I install a newer version of Netscape, I get AOL icons on my desktop, AOL shortcuts in my bookmarks panel, AOL shortcuts in my start menu. I mean, quit cluttering my screen; I'm back in Singapore now and there's no such service in my country!

Soon I found myself reading up on how to delete all references to AOL Messenger in my Windows registry. I even trashed that pesky aim.exe file which kept on activating whenever I ran the browser. I never asked for it! Like the very giant they were both battling against, they started using Microsoft-like tactics to push their own products, whether you wanted to download them or not.

But don't get me wrong - I'm not anti-Netscape per se (although I don't quite like AOL). I still use their browsers. Versions 6 and 7 are fairly web standards-compliant. I'm even using Netscape 7 to post this entry. But the company has retained less than 10% of the market share as of now. Many web designers don't even bother testing their sites using this browser anymore. I don't agree with this attitude but you get the general idea. On a similar note, in my undergraduate days I used Netscape Search ardently, then I discovered something called Google, which was even better.

Netscape's website now makes me feel like I'm entering another of those typical news portals, with content syndicated from various news sources such as CNN, whose websites I'd rather be visiting directly. The website also went through numerous redesigns, many of which I don't care to remember because they had no impact on me. I just went there to upgrade my browser and found I had to click more times to get to my destination.

Netscape did announce a change its direction for its website a couple years back, from being browser-oriented to becoming an all-in-one news provider, but frankly I would rather have the company focus once again on what they used to do best.

There was some hullabaloo this morning after I returned from church. My dad had, for the first time in his life, purchased serious software online. To be precise, it was an antivirus and firewall package he was trying to upgrade to, and somehow the installation screwed up, rendering his computer useless, making him grumpy and swearing never to buy online again (I'm serious).

All we had to go by was an error message about some faulty driver. After an hour on the phone with the guy who configured my dad's computer, I did a web search using keywords from the error message, and sure enough, found the instructions needed to backup and replace the driver.

In the meantime, I would like to report that I've completed my SECOND section of the yet-to-be-unveiled new website, after validating it in XHTML. I can't believe how many man-hours I spend just producing a couple hundred lines of code. I really should get back to my application essay on communication theories. Like, now.

Well, they're ALMOST there. To all the web designers who don't think they need to adopt the standards set out by the World Wide Web Consortium, think again. K10K managed to do it, and their website is much more complex (and pretty) than anything else on the web. If they can do it, so should you.

And I will too. This website will soon be completely W3C compliant (ALT text, printer-friendly, CSS 2.0...) and some elements will be redesigned for faster loading.

I'm posting this in case the friend who sent me an email containing the W32.Bugbear virus (inadvertently, I presume) at about 2.03 pm today, is reading this. Could you kindly check your inbox again and delete any strange-looking emails from unfamiliar sources. And while you're at it, do install a decent antivirus program which scans emails and web pages as they're downloaded, that is, in real time.

The Bugbear virus infects users of Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5, who have not yet updated their browser with a security patch. It exposes your PC to hacking and will try to shut down your firewalls and antivirus programs. Hopefully, my system has prevailed :-)

I use Norton Antivirus, and it's worth every dollar I've spent on it. It immediately quarantined the aforementioned email and told me what virus it was infected with. For cheapos who want a quick fix, try Housecall. But remember that you get what you pay for.

Read about this virus on the McAfee website, which has comprehensive documentation of it.

I'm currently working on conforming this website to W3C standards. Unfortunately this will penalise users of Netscape 4 and below - but since they're using a browser version that's becoming increasingly irrelevant in this day and age, they might as well be encouraged to upgrade.

But there won't be any major changes to the look of this website as yet - in fact I'm working from the outside in, on a new section which will cover (what else but) web issues. I hope I'll get to study that topic next year >;-)

In other news: I donated to Movable Type. After a couple months of running MT, I have come to the conclusion that there is very little more I'd want in a personal publishing system. And it looks good to boot. I have yet to try out their tech support but maybe one day I'll be daring enough to install all the upgrades... and probably do something really dangerous.

And I can see that posting new stuff gets me on the front page of movabletype.org. What a cheap thrill ... It took all of ten seconds before this website was displaced from the top position. That's how many people are blogging right now. I thought those Americans would be too busy watching the Emmy awards.

For those interested, I also donated to K10K. Aren't I an angel?

{ url } And the winners are ...

If you've ever worked in a corporation before, chances are your company has a website, and perhaps even an intranet. A good intranet enhances employee productivity, encourages communication between different departments, and keeps everybody up to date. Read the article to learn about what makes these intranets the best in the world.

Brendan Dawes, one of our foremost Flash experts, has just written a very relevant article on how content and ideas still prevail over the technology which is used to convey the message.

What is heartening to note is his down-to-earth attitude towards work. Like he says, know your target audience, the client, the brief ... before you even think of the design. Don't take technology in itself so seriously, but use it as a means to an end.

After a most excellent dinner with Ricky, Alex and Ricky's son Marcus, I learnt more about databases than I ever thought existed. I also learnt two disturbing things:

1) My church still uses a predominantly paper-based filing system - which means migration to electronic records (for integration with the new website) is going to be one living ... hell. I'm popping over to the church office next Saturday to see for myself how the administrators do their paperwork.

2) My church is being fleeced S$75 per month for 5 email adddresses and 5 measely megabytes of web space. What makes it worse is that this web host is supposed to be a non-profit organisation whose purpose is to build a community of Singapore churches on their server(s). It seems that the original intention no longer holds true.

Basically, we have our work cut out for us. God give me strength.

Tonight I'm having dinner with the rest of the church website team. My company may be able to give them a content management system with minimal charges. But it would've been fun to see how far we could've gotten, completely free with PHP/mySQL and Perl.

After reading Jakob Nielsen's latest article on Style Sheets, I thought, okay, I know designers are guilty of fixing font sizes so that everybody without perfect screen vision won't be able to adjust the size of the text they're trying to read.

So how do we alter our style? We use relative (percentage) size specifications. Instead of setting the fonts on this website to 11px, I changed its size to 70%, and voila, it looks the same, but now you can change the font sizes in your browser. Simple as that!

Sure, it may not look so pretty anymore, but get your priorities right. If people can't read the content on your site, then it defeats the purpose of having one.

The upholder of Web Standards is also a champion of web designer rights. And I thought I was the only one suffering from dealings with people who don't know how to work a browser properly.