26 Miles

Why’s Poignant Guide To Ruby

// June 22nd, 2006 // No Comments » // Technology

I really know little about the Ruby programming language — myself mired instead in LAMP technologies with a splash or JEE now and then. But I have friends who are zealous in their faith that it will soon be the premier language-du-jour for rapid development. These are the folks who go to user group meetings and regularly curl up with a good programming book for fun.

God bless ‘em.

That said, I think the authors of programming books have something to learn from the author of Why’s (Poignant) Guide to Ruby. Aside from it’s chief value in being free (as in beer), the style of the book is easy to read and very funny. I can’t speak intelligently to it’s value as a real Ruby learning tool as I’m not (yet) interested in going down that road and read it quickly. But man, it was fun to read.

The simple graphics, hilarious cartoons, big fonts, and conversational style make it easy to follow. Some folks prefer man pages or Javadocs, but for me, this format beats the Head Rush® style any day.

Read more at Poignantguide.net.

Mastering AJAX

// May 25th, 2006 // No Comments » // Technology

IBM Developer Works always has great resources for developers. The AJAX tutorial below is no exception.

It’s a great introduction to the technology, conspicuously devoid of exclamation points, which is rare in an AJAX tutorial. Just a simple, easy to follow guide for developers wanting to make their web applications more dynamic and easier to use.

Read more at IBM Developer Works.

Rounded Corners With CSS Roundup

// May 25th, 2006 // No Comments » // Technology

Just dropping a few references (mostly for myself) regarding the whole “Rounded Corners With CSS” issue. There are lots of ways to skin this cat. I’m not going to get into any of them as it’s a busy day… but here are the links….

Scott Schiller’s Method (“Three vertical sliding-doors”)
“Simple Rounded Corner CSS Boxes” by Ryan Thrash
The widely-used Spiffy Corners method
Nifty Corners by Alessandro Fulciniti

…by no means all-inclusive…

Serving JavaScript Fast

// May 23rd, 2006 // No Comments » // Technology

This article has some good tips on how to manage JavaScript and CSS resources in dynamic, high-traffic content delivery environments.

It covers architecture considerations, compression, caching, and leveraging PHP to speed up content delivery and enhance the performance experience for your users.

Read more at Thinkvitamin.com.

AJAX Drag & Drop Web Site Creator

// November 19th, 2005 // No Comments » // Technology

Another cool use of AJAX technology. This site provides a service that allows users to build websites using drag and drop page elements. It’s complete server-based technology and requires no plug-ins to use.

The site below was itself was created using the tool.

Read more at dragdropsitecreator.com.