Archive
Google Chart API: Generate Images of Charts
Thursday, December 6th, 2007 | No Comments »
Google has a new tool (at least I haven’t come across it before) which allows you to generate PNG images of charts simply by providing a URL with certain parameters.
The Google Chart API allows you to generate a range of different graph styles; line charts, bar charts, pie …
Letter To YouTube
Monday, April 16th, 2007 | No Comments »
Dear YouTube,
This is just a quick letter to say that I am finally starting to “get” what you’re all about.
It’s taken me a while to really understand what all the fuss was about, but I am finally starting to realise how great you are. Where else could I dig …
Error Messages With Personality
Saturday, November 4th, 2006 | 1 Comment »
Domain name registrar 123-Reg has a fairly unique set of error messages which show an unusual amount of personality. Amongst the errors I have received this morning are:
The server is currently in an intergalactic battle to take control of the universe from the evil …
The Beat Featured In .net Magazine
Thursday, August 3rd, 2006 | No Comments »
Well, featured might be a little bit of a strong term to use, but I was very pleased to find out that The Beat has managed to make its way onto the pages of the latest issue of .net magazine.
A small thumbnail of the site is shown in …
What’s On Your Dashboard?
Monday, July 10th, 2006 | 1 Comment »
Every day, the first thing I do when firing up the internet is load up what I like to call my “web dashboard”. This is a page (web design confession: layed out with tables) that pulls together a load of different stats from my various sites (and client sites), as …
Friendly Database Errors In Wordpress
Monday, February 6th, 2006 | 3 Comments »
I’ve just been thinking about the error reporting in Wordpress, prompted by flicking through 37signal’s Defensive Design For the Web.
Although Wordpress comes with a customisable template for the more common 404 errors, there may also be the odd occasion when a visitor receives a database connection error. These errors …
Forging Bank Notes In Photoshop
Wednesday, February 1st, 2006 | 1 Comment »
If you’ve ever tried to open a scanned image of a bank note in Photoshop, then you too may have noticed the warning about opening bank note images in the application. There must be some clever image analysis going on behind the scenes to detect the fact it is a …
My Firefox Extensions
Wednesday, January 18th, 2006 | 2 Comments »
Myself and little cuz Joe have recently started work on a new site for him (replacing the often neglected Homiesheaven), and along the way I seem to have finally converted him to the joys of Firefox.
“that was the quickest and easiest install EVER!.. How many tabs …
Online Creative Week
Thursday, January 12th, 2006 | 2 Comments »
According to MSN, 23-27 January is Online Creative Week, which according to the official site, “is the definitive industry exhibition of 2006 celebrating online creativity in the UK”.
Nice to see MSN making a great effort to promote this event with some brilliant creative themselves:
Nothing says creativity like …
More Cursor Choices
Sunday, December 4th, 2005 | 2 Comments »
The old debate as to whether web designers should be able to force links to open in new windows was raised in a recent post by Roger Johansson, No more chromeless popup windows.
One of the points raised in the comments was that it is difficult for the user …
Google Analytics One Day On
Thursday, November 17th, 2005 | 1 Comment »
For what it’s worth, I’m going to add my 2 pence to the debate surrounding Google Analytics, the website stats package formerly known as Urchin. And as I’ve only had data for one day, it is very much first impressions.
I’m going to ignore the arguments that webmasters should …
Google Analytics
Monday, November 14th, 2005 | 1 Comment »
The website stats package that used to be Urchin, and is now Google Analytics, is now available for free. Yes, gratis.
The package used to cost $199 per month (hence the reason that I’ve only ever viewed the demo, rather than used the full thing), and it sees Google …
Tabs For Recent Content
Friday, November 11th, 2005 | 5 Comments »
I really struggled with a title for this, but here’s a nice little feature that I’ve come across whilst researching some more web hosting. On WebHostingHandbook, they use tabs at the top of the screen to give you easy access to the last couple of sections that you …
Newsvine
Wednesday, November 9th, 2005 | No Comments »
I’ve just read about Newsvine over at Mike Davidson’s site, MikeIndustries. I’ve got to say, what a bloody neat idea.
I’ve got a lot of admiration for ideas like this, but how come I can’t come up with them? It is essentially a simple concept, letting people easily discuss …
Watch Out For Internet Listing Service “Scam”
Tuesday, November 8th, 2005 | 2 Comments »
I’m not really sure whether I should call this a scam, but I thought I’d bring peoples attention to a mailing that seems to be going out to many domain owners at the moment.
Both myself and some colleagues have received letters from ilscorp.co.uk which, at a glance, appear to be …
What The Flock?
Friday, October 21st, 2005 | No Comments »
Firstly, sorry for the dodgy title, but with a name like that then it’s open to abuse.
The blogging world seems to be buzzing with the beta release (is anything released fully-developed these days?) of Flock - a new browser/bookmark/blogging tool which as far as I can tell promises …
Design Inspiration Reference
Thursday, October 13th, 2005 | 1 Comment »
Garrett at YourTotalSite.com posted up a useful tip about capturing design inspiration - rather than bookmarking pages or screen-grabbing the whole page, the technique they use at Bright Corner is to simply capture small portions of a design which give visual clues as to the details that …
Get The Details Right From Day One
Wednesday, September 7th, 2005 | 1 Comment »
Threadwatch noticed an article on The Register regarding accessibility problems on the F.E.M.A. website.
Now, as The Register rightly points out, this is a minor problem compared with those that F.E.M.A. are currently having to sort out, but it does highlight how accessibility or usability issues can …
Synchronizing Feeds: FeedDemon + Newsgator
Friday, September 2nd, 2005 | No Comments »
As RSS feeds have become more and more a part of my online life (more so now than e-mails, probably), I’ve needed to rely on better software to look after the resulting “river of news” that I’m in danger of drowning in.
After having tried Firefox’s Live Bookmarks (far from …
New Books on CSS
Thursday, September 1st, 2005 | No Comments »
I’ve just taken delivery of 2 new books on CSS from Amazon, Dan Cederholm’s Bulletproof Web Design, and Wrox’s Professional CSS by Orchard, Marcotte, Dominey et al.
I wouldn’t normally shell out for books like these, as I believe that you can …
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