Posts filed under 'Web'
activeCollab - making the numbers but not sharing the values
The community backlash over Ilija Studen’s announcement to alter the development path of activeCollab is a typical example of what happens when successful FOSS projects go proprietary. Perhaps it was Ilija’s lack of faith in FOSS values from the very beginning, or perhaps it was simply the lure of venture diesel, but the decision has been made and damage already done. Only time will tell if a free (as in freedom) fork would take off and become mainstream.
Serendipity User Survey
We have reached the first milestone of the Season of Usability project I’m participating in: the Serendipity user survey is now online. If you’re a Serendipity user, please participate! It’ll no doubt help us improve your blogging experience.
Season of Usability 2006/2007
I’ve had no formal training in interaction design, information architecture or usability (not many card-carrying IxDs do anyway, let alone grasshoppers like us). I’m very lucky to gain a certain amount of practical insight through the work we do at Vesess, but that hardly makes up for the lack of theoretical knowledge. That’s one of the reasons why I’m really excited about being selected for the Season of Usability 2006/2007.
Net neutrality survives
Companies like AT&T, Verizon, BellSouth and Comcast spent more than $150 million to push Congress to gut Net Neutrality. But in the end, they couldn’t overcome widespread public opposition. Net neutrality survives, for now.
Forms markup and CSS - Revisited
Earlier this year I posted an article on a CSS-based form template, originally done for the Sahana interface. It was modified based on the feedback I received from the readers who stumbled upon the article, and the final version made it to the Sahana system.
I have come to realize certain shortcomings of that template, hence this modified version.
Nidahas is back
I’ve had a nightmarish experience with my earlier web host, Page-Zone.com. They seem to be going through a Dreamhost period, but three weeks without any response to the numerous support tickets was a bit too frustrating at the end. Hopefully they’ll be able to fix things soon for their existing customers. As for me, I’ve moved elsewhere.
Thank you Google
Google SoC has come to an end. This is not my official thank you note - that’ll come in a later, longer post. This is a pointer to the Thank you Google image created by Manu Cornet.
I was overjoyed to see the blue-green padma of this site, used as my avatar, all over the place - apparently it was a good source for creating the blue letters.
Enjoying Safari
One of the many great things about Google Summer of Code is that we get a complimentary Safari account from O’Reilly. It’s a “Basic Small” account for 2 months, with 10 slots, meaning we could keep about 10 books in our personal bookshelf to be read online at a given time. I logged in today, and got lost among the 3000+ titles. It’s no easy job selecting the best from the high quality tech books O’Reilly is known for. This is a brief look at the five I’ve selected so far.
Accessforall.lk - the irony
Access for All is a commendable campaign that asks for the inclusion of disabled people when rebuilding the nation
. Having seen otherwise healthy people like my mother often having difficulties when managing stairs, I can readily understand the dire need for better informed design decisions in public infrastructure, transport and even places of employment and services. However, what seems to be sadly overlooked by this campaign is the right of access to information for all people, including the differently-abled.
Fossed
The last few weeks have been incredible, for the FOSS community at large, and personally to me as well. First, there was the FOSS-Ed for Hackers conference, where I had a wonderful time (and where Anuradha W presented me with a hard-bound copy of Free Software, Free Society, thanks mate!). And then, a couple of days ago I got confirmation from Google that I was accepted for the Summer of Code 2006. Awesomeness.
