tijs.org

This article explains how to parse an XML file, namely an RSS feed, with PHP. Make your own radio! have fun now…

I guess the comparison is quite simple. If you need a simple-n-fast-weblog tool go with CityDesk. If you absolutely need to have your weblog available in RSS format and post RSS feeds to your log automatically go with Radio. But be prepared to delve into manuals a little deeper with the latter. If you want real control over your page and know your scripting languages you are probably better off with neither. I bet there’s some PHP solution available to achieve the same RSS functionality Radio has.

Both Dave and Joel came out with a desktop based CMS/weblog tool and I’m testing both of them right know. I have been looking for a tool with similar functionality for a while know so some choice ain’t bad. Not that I don’t like Blogger. I simply love blogger for what it does best: posting to a weblog. It’s elegant, simple and therefore beautiful. But I need a little more kick for some serious projects involving using blogging in the workplace.

So far CityDesk (Joel’s tool) is way ahead of Radio (Dave’s tool) especially in the User Interface department. Radio’s interface is… well… crap. It’s not friendly or useful enough for novices yet it hides all the good stuff from geeks. Even simple stuff like posting an image simply doesn’t work like you would expect it to, so in the end you end up opening notepad –> editing –> and uploading using your ftp program anyway which is what I need radio to do for me. The race is not over yet though, I’ll need to test them both for a little while before I can really say something sensible about the pair.

well borland made a big mistake with their license for kylix, the opensource version of pascal:

12. AUDIT. During the term of this License and for one
(1) year thereafter, upon reasonable notice and during
normal business hours, Borland or its outside auditors will
have the right to enter your premises and access your
records and computer systems to verify that you have paid
to Borland the correct amounts owed under this License
and determine whether the Products are being used in
accordance with the terms of this License. You will
provide reasonable assistance to Borland in connection
with this provision. You agree to pay the cost of the audit
if any underpayments during the period covered by the
audit amount to more than five percent (5%) of the fees
actually owed for that period.

read more here

User Interface Design for Programmers

“Thus, the cardinal axiom of all user interface design:
A user interface is well-designed when the program behaves exactly how the user thought it would.
As Hillel said, everything else is commentary. All the other rules of good UI design are just corollaries.”

If you want to try out I-mode before it becomes available in Europe try Pixo’s microbrowser for the PC. Think WAP in 16 colours. The I-mode standard is simply a trimmed down version of HTML b.t.w. so if your blog is simple it’ll show up on someones PDA/Phone/gadget/whatever without you having to build a different version of your site.

Computing Made Good, Easy
…In the pre-network days, having a printer substantially increased the utility of a PC. But in the networked world, a PC is only as valuable as the speed of its Internet connection…
…Non-technical users can capture the productivity benefits of the Unix design philosophy without abandoning the standard desktop with graphic user interface…

Feedreader is a freeware Windows application that reads and displays Internet newsfeeds aka RSS feeds based on XML.

Apple - The new iMac, it’s the eighties era halogen desklight in pc form. Excellent.

Ok, I’m back. I had an excellent time in La Gomera filling my vacation mostly with eating, sleeping, drinking and the odd bit of hiking. I even catched a bit of sun. And through mountain views, clean air and the general character of Gomera’s inhabitants became very utterly unstressed. So for as long as I can keep it up I will be taking things easy. This weblog included. Don’t worry though I’ll probably be an internet addict soon enough again. p.s. photos, when they are ready, will be appearing right here in a short while.