SiteCrafting, Inc.The Browser Wars Expandeth
Though adding another browser to our already rigorous bevvy of website testing doesn't appeal to me, having new such programs help drive web innovation is always welcome. Case in point: today's beta release of Google Chrome.
Read more →Google cache as quick fix backup
No matter how protected your website may be, sometimes you still need a helping hand when an accident happens. Delete a page while fumbling with FTP? Someone else in your office write over your work on a webpage? Heck, maybe your entire site is down! Google Cache may be able to help.
Read more →Rock it as well, if you must
This time of year you either get hooked or get sick of everything politics. That's right, it's a Presidential election season and the 24-hour news cable channels are firing out tons of info both via your TV and online. Some worthy strides in web development practices have also come about on one news site in particular that may help political junkies get their fix anytime, anywhere.
Read more →To nerdly go...
That's what we did a couple Fridays ago here in the office. Brian's wife Julie is an avid Trekker and was excited to plan a Next Generation marathon with us. And we definitely put her complete series DVD collection to good use. From about 5:30pm on we watched episode after favorite episode. After a pile of snacks, some great pizza, sharing Star Trek memories, 7 episodes, it was half past midnight and time to wrap it up.
Thanks to Julie for making the trek (ha!) up and for those killer communicator cookies. We'll definitely have to do it again sometime.
Pics after the break.
Read more → There's always plenty of tech-speak flying around among developers in the office. I certainly try to keep such language at a minimum when working with clients but sometimes it just works its way in there. DNS and other domain-related processes can be pretty confusing, period, let alone to someone anxious for their website to go live. So how to explain DNS propagation?
Fully one-third of the staff at SiteCrafting participated in our office Halloween contest today. Though we dressed up to win today's prize a few of us even wandered about the streets of Tacoma on our way to and from a party at local design and architectural firm BCRA. A software pirate, blogging ninja, head-crab zombie, and "J" blockhead walking down Pacific Ave. certainly drew a bit of attention.
Read more →Current clients not surprised
Dan Voelpel begs the following question in yesterday's Tacoma News Tribune: "If I asked you to name the most underrated business in Tacoma, what would you say?"
First on Voelpel's list was SiteCrafting. The article defined "underrated" by those local firms that are either well-known but who's contributions are deeper than at first glance or others, like us, who fly somewhat under the radar but do great business.
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Maybe next we'll break into song
Who knew a seemingly innocuous internal email would make for some good laughs and groans? I sure didn't when I invited folks from the office to join in a Friday after work pseudo-tradition.
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SiteCrafting'er Joe and his band This Shirt Is Pants had a gig last Friday here in Tacoma at Hell's Kitchen. A gaggle of co-workers and friends showed up and had a great time playing some pool and listening to the band.
Read more →More form, less space
Some really large forms can be a bit of an eyesore especially to the people filling them out. One thing that always bothered me was how bulbous most textareas had to be just to make enough room for a user to feel they could type what they needed. So I set out to figure a good way to clean up my forms a bit while still allowing the multi-line input of textareas.
Read more →The fewer the queries the better
I always enjoy trying to do my work creating web applications using the fewest number of database queries possible. It's kind of a pride thing, I guess. That and I suppose it makes to improve an app's performance and reduce the load on a server. If you're into that kind of thing. ;)
A technique I use subtitutes the temptation of using queries whose results call queries and instead uses only two.
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I'm working from home today mostly because Ma Nature dumped about six inches of snow on my house. In an area where an inch will shut down the city, this is a bit more serious. It really pays, however, to have a flexible employer so I don't have to brave the hills around town. The beauty of the web and digital communication is that it allows for these kinds of opportunities whether the weather, saving some fossil fuels, or even emergencies are concerned.
Read more →With all the storm-induced power problems in the Puget Sound area a few of us were able to make it into the office today. The area is a patch work of service availability -- I know of houses with power and phone but no internet access, some with no power but the phones work, and yet others with power but no phones. A stroke of service my co-worker Ken displayed today was brilliant in its simplicity but it probably meant the world to one of our clients.
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I never enjoy finding quirks in something so seemingly simple when I'm coding but it certainly happens. The following is a tale of how I ran into trouble with a couple attributes that should be worlds apart.
Read more →At least it's clean code!
Why butter fingers break apps
header("Location: ...") function should pose no danger of messing up my app -- but today it did.