mtcodex

Taking Web Agencies Forward

Posted on 19 September (0 Comments)
In May 2006 I wrote a few articles, that upon re-reading I felt were so good they deserved sharing again. Yes, this can also be interpreted as being too lazy to write something new, but I really feel this series...
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Portfolio Updates

Posted on 15 September (0 Comments)
I’ve been a bit lax in updating my portfolio lately, so this evening I’ve uploaded three new items for your enjoyment. I also have a biggie that will hopefully go live next month, probably with a more in-depth analysis from...
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Web Developer Exasperation

Posted on 11 September (0 Comments)
Normally it’s ‘user error’. Today, for me, it was ‘developer error’. I was working on a totally straight forward page. Not even got CSS in to it yet. But some of the images and HTML weren’t displaying. I had valid...
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Multiple CSS classes and IE6

Posted on 22 August (1 Comment)
You’ve written some clean XHTML using unordered lists for that navigation, you’ve created devastatingly efficient CSS to render all the different states using multiple classes, and then you open it up in Internet Explorer 6. What went wrong!? Many people...
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Pretty Error Messages in Rails

Posted on 24 June (0 Comments)
One of the cool things about Rails is it’s easy to use, easily extensible form validation methods. You have a model file which represents a table in a database or a shopping cart and adding validations to the attributes is...
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Three reasons to love Rails

Posted on 6 April (0 Comments)
I’ve finally got back into some proper rails development and finding out about this framework. I’ve been really enjoying using SVN and getting my hands dirty with all the command line stuff as well, but today I want to talk...
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Site broken after updating to Rails 1.1?

Posted on 28 March (0 Comments)
Does it involve an error message like this when you start webrick or lighttpd: c:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/activesupport-1.2.5.4008/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:125:in ‘const_missing’: uninitialized constant LoadingModule (NameError) from ./script/../config/environment.rb:81 from c:/ruby/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/rubygems/custom_require.rb:18:in ‘require__’ from c:/ruby/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/rubygems/custom_require.rb:18:in ‘require’ from script/server:44 Rails 1.1 seems to have an updated way of handling...
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Something Different

Posted on 20 March (0 Comments)
There’s going to be a change of pace around here for the next two weeks. I’m not going to be doing any freelance work but I hope to be updating flickr everyday with a kind of photo journal of my...
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RSS Update

Posted on 1 March (0 Comments)
Hi all, if you’re subscribed to my RSS feed, or would like to, then please could you point your RSS reader to my new RSS location at FeedBurner - http://feeds.feedburner.com/mtcodex5/. Much obliged....
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How to write better HTML than Microsoft

Posted on 16 February (0 Comments)
Well, it’s not that hard really. I just though we would take some time to dissect the footer links from this page on the Microsoft site that tells me I am required to use Internet Explorer in order to use...
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A change of [hosting] plans

Posted on 6 February (0 Comments)
Well, the move to planet argon didn't go quite as expected... the subsequent move to grokthis.net was taking too long (they happened to be building a new server when my account was going through). So, after much deliberation i’m back...
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Another year, another host

Posted on 6 January (0 Comments)
The quest continues into 2006 to find a satisfactory hosting arrangement. A couple of years back I started searching for a more reliable web host. I turned to flashlevel.net (I was into flash in a big way at the...
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Type casting in Ruby

Posted on 3 December (0 Comments)
Okay, you can mock me, i don’t care. I have a cold and am clearly not with it. If you haven’t used Ruby on Rails yet, then this tip will hopefully save you four hours time. That number will vary...
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The Reboot

Posted on 1 November (0 Comments)
Argh, the CSS Reboot is upon me! I, along with 965 others have re-designed my personal site (the one you're looking at now). When I decided to do so I had loads of free time and thought it would be...
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Fine Art on Rails

Posted on 31 October (0 Comments)
Well, this is more of a teaser than anything. I am currently stuck into my first full-blown Ruby on Rails application. It's basically an online art store selling original paintings and prints (both at very reasonable prices). The site is...
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css reboot

Posted on 26 October (0 Comments)
Well, next week is CSS Reboot fall and i'm making touches here and there to my layouts, reviewing copy and generally trying to put together a vastly improved site. I also, hereby half promise, to try and update my blog...
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It's about time

Posted on 10 September (0 Comments)
To do something new, i mean, my upkeep of this blog isn't happening. I'm doing the CSS reboot 1st of November but i'd like some decent content in here before then, i think i'm going to concentrate on what i'm...
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Finally, flash player on OS X doesn't suck

Posted on 10 August (0 Comments)
As someone that develops flash content now and then I am delighted to see that all of the performance improvements promised for the next gen flash player (version 8) seem to have had an effect on OS X also. Maybe...
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Eventful JavaScript

Posted on 6 July (0 Comments)
In fixing an existing script I came across the need to determine what event fired the script. The case was a roll over which used the same function to swap the image source (applied to both mouseover and mouseout). The...
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Setting Primary Display in OS X

Posted on 29 June (0 Comments)
Today, despite having had my cinema display for around a month, I finally discovered that it is possible to choose your 'primary display'. Once you go into to 'displays' from the system preferences then 'arrange' you can actually drag the...
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ruby (on rails)

Posted on 1 June (0 Comments)
I just just got around to installing ruby on rails, the new fangled web development architecture all the cool kids are playing with. Having got my first 'Congratulations, you've put Ruby on Rails!' message i'm feeling pretty chuffed and looking...
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Better 'reverse out' links

Posted on 11 May (0 Comments)
Reverse out links are all the rage now a days (Flickr, Ta-da Lists) even i'm using them (minus the underline, tssk). Well, in implementing them for a full blown accessible website, I noticed that at smaller sizes the descenders on...
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TOCA ME 05

Posted on 4 May (0 Comments)
Any German speaking designers interested in taking a trip to Munich for the TOCA ME design conference on Saturday 18th June?Tickets are 70 euros, flights around £100 from Heathrow plus another £100-150 for hotel and food. If you're interested or...
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Less technology more human

Posted on 26 April (0 Comments)
I'm working on a site today and I have to put in a simple HTML link to another website. However looking at the link I have to do a double take....
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Adobe buying Macromedia

Posted on 18 April (0 Comments)
There are some thing you never expect. Maybe this is something I should have but I really had no idea until now. I am always worried when two big companies merge, the idea is pretty straight forward- two big companies...
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Optimising iTunes style list filter in Flash

Posted on 22 March (0 Comments)
I've recently had cause to have a DataGrid which is not only sortable but can be filtered by typing into a Text Input (much like iTunes). So I decided on using a DataSet to hold the records and then using...
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So, Flash, why do i bother declaring variables?

Posted on 22 October (0 Comments)
I've been increasingly annoyed lately with ActionScript 2.0's treatment of declared variables. I've lately been writing a small class to load application variables from an XML file straight into a class (i.e. a classes instance properties) but I've been confounded...
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