WordPress 2.6 release

WordPress 2.6 was recently released and Hiveminds has a video with the new features.

Several new features include the abiliity to Post revisions – and go back to an earlier version to see if you might like it better. This works for collaborative blog entries as well as your personal entries. Just scroll down past options for a list of revisions – including dates and time written.

Press This is a bookmarklet you can install on your browser. When you are visiting a web site and want to copy some text, an image, or a video, press the bookmarklet to open a page and drag and drop the item(s) to a new post!

You can also now add captions to your images. When you place an image in your post a space for adding a caption will be there to capture your descriptions.

Other smaller changes and bug fixes are part of the release.

WordCamp Dallas

Today was the first day of WordCamp Dallas which began with the release of WordPress 2.5 and an introduction to its new features by Matt Mullenweg, founding developer of WordPress. This is a major release with a totally reworked administrative area and a greatly enhanced ability to manage images with a gallery function. The WordPress website is totally new also, featuring a simpler, more effective interface that gets right to the point.

I have been working with the new version for several days now (it has been available in a pre-release testing format) and it is an exciting product which is much more efficient and yet more sophisticated. It is easy to get used to the simpler menus and the great new writing section. So far my new blog is only operating on my development environment on my laptop, but it should be ready to go in a few more days.

There is another full day of presentations Sunday (March 30) with registration beginning at 9:30 am. Check the site for details if you have time to attend. The participants are leaders in blogging and bring a lot of experience to share with those who are new and beginning bloggers. There should be room for anyone to attend Sunday if they show up for registration.

Inexpensive Video

I just learned about Flip Video, a $119 video camera that appears to produce good enough quality video (30 min) and it plugs directly into the USB port of a computer. It could be a real value for IMD students to implement original video clips in projects which would add meaning and value to your communication.

Check them out at http://www.theflip.com/products_flip_video.shtml

The models shown below are $149, but there is also a model for $119.

User-Centered Blogs

This collection of top web sites includes some of my regulars, so I figured this list of sites are worth sharing with others. Jessica Hupp of Virtual Hosting offers 100 blogs related to user-centered issues in the design and development of websites. Categories include the top 10, accessibility, human computer interaction, web standards, user experience and interaction, user-centered design, and user-centered Writing and content. Surely you will find a few new gems for your collections in this list!

Have Camera, work your own schedule, as a Google contractor!

Google Business Referral Representatives will be paid up to $10 per business by visiting “local businesses to collect information (such as hours of operation, types of payment accepted, etc.) for Google Maps, and tell them about Google Maps and Google AdWords. You’ll also take a few digital photos of the business that will appear on the Google Maps listing along with the business information”.

And you participate in one of the most interesting and resourceful services on the planet! And if you haven’t heard, Google Maps now has a sky, you can look up as well as down.

Thanks to Bruce MacVarish’s blog where I first read an article about “Google’s social network powered Local ‘Sales Force.’”

CSS Frameworks

A framework is a “set of tools, libraries, conventions, and best practices that attempt to abstract routine tasks into generic modules that can be reused” (Frameworks for Designers, by Jeff Croft, A List Apart, June 12, 2007). Basically a CSS framework, such as Olav Bjorkoy’s Blueprint, is a CSS framework that is designed to cut down on your CSS development time. It provides a CSS foundation to build your project on, with an easy to use grid, with typography and a print stylesheet. I have been reading about frameworks of various funtions including ajax, JavaScript, HTML, and Web 2.0. The concept smacks of templates for hire, which is having someone else do the hard work of designing a stylesheet(s) and you just plug it in and write the HTML structure and save a lot of time in the process.

I think using a “hired hand” to create your CSS is not a good idea for anyone learning the deeper aspects of coding with CSS and XHTML. You simply have to experience the process to become proficient at it. But I like the idea of developing your own framework that includes a lot of CSS features you use over an over. This would be an obvious advantage to anyone working on a large group of projects where there is a lot of similar code. Programmers have used libraries forever to keep various coding components available so they don’t have to repeat themselves over and over. I assume this is the key to object oriented programming also.

So I encourage students wishing to become competent with web design, to study the frameworks out there and learn what it means to design and create your own. In the long run I think it could provide a good learning tool, and give you ideas about how you would want to create your own and eventually, become much more efficient at building creative sites. Below are some resources to get you started learning about these tools and processes of designers.

I would enjoy hearing your responses to these articles and the potential of “frameworks”.

“Design with Web 2.0 frameworks”, .net/July 2007, p. 47-51.

Launching the Web 2.0 framework

A CSS Framework, by Mike Stenhouse

Blueprint Tutorial, Olave Bjorkoy

YUI Grids CSS, Yahoo UI library: Grids CSS

New e-book service

Actually I am not sure DailyLit is new, but it is new to me! I just learned of a web-based service that sends you selections of books (you choose from e-books available on all topics) on a pre-determined schedule. DailyLit provides books that are beyond copyright (most titles I scanned) including many classics which have been scanned into digital formats. I also found Lawrence Lessig’s “Free Culture” which was made available as an e-book. I have always wanted to read Lessigs work as I think his Creative Commons alternative to traditional copyright is a brilliant concept that I totally value and support.

So, if you don’t have lots of extra time but would like to venture into reading some classic books, give it a try!

A test of the Netvibes plug-in for WordPress

A new plug-in from the Netvibes ecology allows you to check the statistics of your blog, create a post, bookmark, and log out of your blog. Simply copy the following code into an external widget -> HTML type:

Intermediate Scripting Langs: website moved

The website for Intermediate Scripting Languages has been moved to the aid.aiistudentwork server located at the school. The full address for the site is now: http://aid.aiistudentwork.com/wb/isl/web . The old site will still be active for a few weeks, but please note this new location.

Top 40 Web 2.0 Applications

.Net the magazine (in our library) has created a list of applications that would qualify for the anticipated WebTools section of this site. The article appears in the August 2007 issue (p. 46-50) which arrived recently. I won’t bother to list all of them, so I encourage you to pick up the magazine and read the list. I will point out some of my favorites from each of the sections, to entice you to discover these products that await anyone interested in making their life more efficient and organized.

Google Calendar is a recent application from Google and is far more than just a calendar as it allows you to import information from desktop applications as well as Google Mail. Another is Google Docs and Spreadsheets, though not in my user box, I know they are powerful web-based applications based on Writely, a product I have used in classes, and now owned by Google. My favorite office type productivity tools come from Zoho with a stable of many different applications similar to “office” type products, but they are far more creative and perform many more duties than just writing and spreadsheets. Zoho Notebook (Podtech: Zoho Notebook Demoed video below) is fast becoming my favorite of this group of applications as it allows the aggregation of many different kinds of online content.

Gmail is my favorite email application by far (except when I am at our Colorado cabin and am forced to use dial up internet services). It is capable of organizing your email in ways most never thought possible and it brings connectivity to Google increasing set of desktop applications. VodPod is a new product that I am still investigating, but video lovers will find it is a nifty aggregator of video’s – youtube style or your own. It makes putting your videos into blogs, websites, etc. easy.

Delicious and Furl have been a part of my “social networking” toolbox for several years now, and I highly recommend everyone get involved with their social bookmarking specialties. Netvibes is a personalized portal or home page for individuals who wish to collect their favorite tools, and services into one space often used as a startup to the browser. I recommend this one for beginning a concept of a personalized learning environment, and use it in some of my classes. Other great products await your discovery, so check out the article in the Aug 07 issue of .Net.