January 2012
1 post
1 tag
Rails 3.x Assets Pipeline Tip - Any file can be a...
I’ve just started playing with Ruby and Rails, and one of the cool things I’ve been tinkering with is the new assets pipeline. It does a few neat things:
Compiles multiple JS/CSS files into a single file and minifies it
Evaluates things like Coffeescript or SASS/LESS
Allows you to logically store your assets whether they be images, JS or CSS files where they belong - be it with a...
September 2011
1 post
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January 2011
1 post
4 tags
Asked on Quora: "Drupal Users who were formerly... →
I recently answered this question on Quora. I feel I came across a tad more aggressive than I intended. I think it’s clear I’ve had some pent up frustration with the Joomla project and community.
There’s also a little back and forth between myself and Amy Stephan (Quora | Twitter) in the comments of this answer as well which flesh out my opinion on the current state of Joomla...
August 2010
2 posts
3 tags
Stop Making Massively Multiplayer Online Games
Dear Aspiring MMO Game Developers,
Stop trying to make MMO games. You will not be successful. Even if you get a GREAT first couple months, players will drop off when they run out of content, get bored, and/or can’t convince their friends to quit Word of Warcraft.
You will never get a critical mass of subscribers to not only recoup the costs you wasted building the game and setting up...
1 tag
July 2010
1 post
1 tag
GNU Needs New Philosophers →
This page on GNU’s site as part of their published philosophy has been making the rounds today on Twitter encouraging users to avoid licensing their next open source library under the less-restrictive LGPL license, and instead opt for GPL instead.
The main difference between GPL and LGPL is that GPL prohibits the code from being used as part of commercial and/or closed source projects. The...
June 2010
3 posts
2 tags
Marco.org: iPhone multitasking and background... →
Sad but true. Even I was under the impression that when Apple said iOS 4 was going to support multi-tasking, that it was actually going to support multi-tasking. That’s not to say Apple’s solution is bad - in fact, it’s quite brilliant. It’s just missing a critical ability; the ability for apps to make requests for data over the Internet in the background.
Most iPhone...
2 tags
HDH Invitational Starcraft II Beta Tournament
Those who follow me on Twitter are likely very aware of the fact that I’m a big fan of Starcraft, or more specifically the recently closed Starcraft II beta.
Given that beta keys were in limited supply and I didn’t manage to get a key until about half-way through, I found there were several YouTubers casting high-definition replays with commentary of high-level play.
With the...
2 tags
May 2010
1 post
3 tags
We require more vespene gas...
It’s funny (sad) because it’s true
caitlinomg:
Patrick: Starcraft 2! Did we really need to wait 12 years? Probably not, but it’s still totally awesome.
Caitlin: i lost my boyfriend to the starcraft 2 beta
Patrick: You better spawn more overlords, Cait.
April 2010
3 posts
4 tags
Microsoft No Longer a Barrier to Using Open Source... →
My latest post on the Fenix Solutions blog about Microsoft’s growing support for PHP and several high-profile open source projects.
6 tags
Apple is not a champion for the open web
This has bothered me since the day Apple started throwing around their anti-Flash, pro-HTML5 rhetoric.
Today, as things stand, there is NO open substitute for Flash on Apple’s mobile devices (iPod, iPad, iPhone). The alternative is the equally closed iPhone OS platform.
Trading the Flash platform for the iPhone OS platform is the SAME DIFFERENCE. Pushing HTML5 video is a cop-out and a...
2 tags
KFC's Double-Down "Sandwich"
Me: The Colonel is either rolling in his grave or laughing in it
Chenry: I think it was his idea.
Chenry: Like his last idea
Chenry: They stored it in a vault because it was JUST TOO CRAZY, but last year, under slumping sales, they decided they must open the vault and create the forbidden Chicken Bacon Cheese Saucey Chicken heap
Chenry: ...and changed the name because fuck, that was stupid. What was the Col. thinking?
Me: I'm putting this on tumblr
March 2010
3 posts
1 tag
Perfect Dark - in Retrospect
I was talking to thechenry today over IM when the topic of the joys of turning digital soldier’s faces into raspberry jam came up (as it always does).
This conversation inevitably turned to the recent re-release of Perfect Dark on Xbox Live Arcade. I remarked how I missed the days when FPS games let you Rambo through levels, indiscriminately piling bodies in fits of homicidal glee justified...
2 tags
Don't Rewrite, Refactor →
An old article from Joel Spolsky, but one that offers some timeless advice to all developers and product managers.
Actually, my title is wrong - it should say “Don’t Rewrite WORKING code, Refactor”.
Like Joel says, developers have an automatic urge to destroy an unfamiliar codebase and re-build software in their own image. Part of this is simple ego, but mostly it comes down to...
2 tags
Marco.org: Overdoing the interface metaphor →
This is an excellent post and something I think a lot about when it comes to instituting metaphors in a piece of software.
While it is often helpful to build on a user’s prior knowledge via the use of an interface or workflow metaphor (the excellent example given in the post is that of calculator apps), these metaphors may ultimately cause developers to lose sight of the fact that we...
February 2010
9 posts
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Axe Cop: He'll Chop Your Head Off! →
For serious - read this comic. Written by a 5 year old, illustrated by a 29 year old
thechenry:
READ THIS OR HE’LL CHOP YOUR HEAD OFF
January 2010
9 posts
2 tags
Why you'll hate Drupal
I have a search I monitor in my Twitter client for “drupal”. As the awareness of the tool grows in traditional and new media (especially following the high-profile relaunch of whitehouse.gov), the relative backlash in the feed is startling.
I don’t really blame people, though. Drupal probably isn’t for them, and drupal.org and most Drupal advocates are doing a terrible job of setting...
4 tags
1 tag
This is WAY more common than you'd think
clientsfromhell:
Client: “I want my website to have a forum, and a blog, and e-commerce, and photos, and videos, and podcasts, and a place where people can make their own profile and talk to other people like Twitter.”
Me: “Ok, what is your budget for this project?”
Client: “Oh, well, I mean, like $200.”
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5 tags
Why Drupal Themes Suck vs Wordpress, Joomla, etc
People often criticise Drupal for having a poor design/theme community behind it - at least in comparison to Joomla or Wordpress. There’s actually a pretty straightforward reason for why this is the case, and no, it has nothing to do with the technology being unfriendly or difficult.
Drupal assumes very little. In fact, Drupal assumes next to nothing about what kind of site you’re...
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This one hits close to home...
clientsfromhell:
Client: We like the design, but could you make the blues all the same.
Me: It’s the same blue through out the design.
Client: It looks like different blues.
Me: That’s because colors are perceived differently dependent on neighboring colors.
Client: That’s stupid.
1 tag
December 2009
3 posts
1 tag
New Years Eve Dinner Menu
Main
Sloppy janes on rosemary ciabatta Homemade coleslaw Sweet potato fries
Wine
Coppola Blue Label Merlot (if we can find it)
Dessert
“Something chocolate”?
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Rant: Gamers with Lives
Dear game developers,
As the gaming population ages, they have less time to game. Asking a gamer with a full time job, relationships, family, children, cats, to spend “60+ hours” on your game just isn’t happening.
Make shorter, more concise experiences. This isn’t an excuse to be lazy. In return I want better production values, more elaborate encounters, better level...