Categories
Burningbird Specs

IE8, XHTML, and what am I going to do with my site?

Recovered from the Wayback Machine.

I thought it interesting and even odd how few people have remarked on the fact that Ray Ozzie began the opening keynote of a conference focused specifically at developers by talking about ads.

My source for things geek, Planet Intertwingly, has had very few entries devoted to IE8. I imagine people either don’t care or are trying things out. Or perhaps they’re at ETech or on their way to SxSW. What a way to filter your audience: schedule the conferences at the same time. What sad irony that Ozzie next spoke of the Yahoo deal, as Yahoo itself was launching its latest, greatest tech initiative, which was then overshadowed by Microsoft’s rolling out of the IE8 public beta.

Not to be outdone, Apple has something today probably about its SDK. All we’re missing is something from Adobe, but it preferred to dance alone.

To return to IE8. One doesn’t have to tax one’s imagination to read the purpose behind the ‘advances’ in IE8. All of the new functionality is focused on Microsoft’s new “cloud” agenda, including client data storage support for offline working, and back button navigation. According to the “readiness” document I linked yesterday:

Internet Explorer 8 provides a simplified yet powerful programming model for AJAX development that spans browser, webpage, and server interaction. As a result, it is easier for you to build webpages that have much better end-user experiences, are more functional, and have better performance. APIs are based on the W3C HTML 5.0 or Web Applications Working Group standards. Enhancements or novel intellectual property for AJAX will be made available for standardization before the Internet Explorer 8 release.

The thing is, HTML5 is most definitely a work in progress. What Microsoft has done is cherry picked what it wanted, implemented it, threw in its own stuff and then glossed it over by either attaching it’s own bizarre “open source” license, or tossed the non-critical bits into the public domain.

The proprietary bits aside, it is typical for vendors to start implementing standards before they’re finalized, as a test and a validation. Just as typically, though, the other members of the standards group are usually aware of such plans. I am curious to hear what other members of the HTML5 working group think of IE8 and the HTML5 bits.

As for me, not hard to see that I’m unhappy. I have a choice now: do I continue to serve this site using the XHTML MIME type, in which case it will never be accessible by IE (because I now believe Microsoft will never support the XHTML MIME type); or do I “break” my site by adding back content negotiation?

I wrote previously that I had a plan I was going to implement if Microsoft didn’t support XHTML with IE8. In the back of my mind, I really thought the company would. Not to do so is the company saying that, for all its talk about standards and openness, it will implement only those standards that support its own agenda, and no others. While I expected this attitude, I didn’t expect Microsoft to be so obvious about it.

I really didn’t expect Microsoft to blow off XHTML, and now that it has, I have some work to do on my sites to follow through on my fallback plan. I’m not doing anything earth shattering, or probably all that interesting to most folks (since, seemingly, standards take a back seat to ads for today’s new web developer). I’m just dealing with the situation.

I’m also investigating Drupal, as a content tool–either alone or perhaps with WordPress. I’ve been interested in Drupal since I started looking through the site and the code base. I became more interested when Maki mentioned the SVG Toolkit for Drupal, and Elaine talked about how improved it is. Then Ian Davis at Nodalities mentioned Drupal’s RDF and semantic web commitment yesterday, and that’s all she wrote for me.

The Drupal folks seem more committed to supporting standards, all standards, than the WordPress folk. And when I read something about Drupal, I read about the technology; I don’t read about ads or mergers. This focus on technology appeals to me right now.

Categories
Copyright Web Writing

Something for nothing

Recovered from the Wayback Machine.

I like Andrew Orlowski, though he offered me a writing job once and then yanked it. I don’t always agree with him, and I don’t always agree with how he phrases some of his material, but he typically has a good point.

Take the recent Nine Inch Nails album release. Several songs for free, and the rest of the album costs $5.00. What happens? It’s immediately dumped on Pirate Bay. Bandwidth issues aside, as Radiohead found out, people won’t pay.

The anti-copyright crowd kicked at the music business, because it was complacent, wasteful and reactionary, and no digital download services were available. Then they kicked at DRM-locked music, because DRM was there. Then DRM died, and they’d indiscriminately kick at the music business – indie or major – simply because there was a middleman. But now, with no middleman, they just kick the creator directly. They can’t stop kicking. These zombies are unstoppable. Are they incurable, too?

This goes beyond copyright. Too many people expect immediate access to anything on the Net, or anything that could possibly be put on the Net. They want something for nothing. This isn’t free speech, this isn’t Free the Mouse, this isn’t anything to do with not stifling creativity: people assume a privilege for themselves they, frankly, don’t deserve. Their cry is, “gimme gimme gimme”, existing in a state of selfishness to bring down the band. And by their selfishness, they’ll probably screw things up for the rest of us. After all, DRM doesn’t exist so you can’t copy a song on to your iPod.

Excuse me, while I go put my DRM locked movie into the DVD player.

Categories
Burningbird

Feed problems

The biggest mistake I ever made was to install WordPress at the top level. The second, was to use “smart” URLs.

My site was restricted due to bandwidth overlimit this morning, something that shouldn’t have happened. When I checked my stats, one site, proxyit.com, was hammering my bandwidth. Checking the recent visitors list, this domain was grabbing my feed every minute, except it was grabbing the Burningbird feed, which was then redirected to the new combined feed, at http://burningbird.net/feeds/atom.xml.

This feed, created by the aggregator, Venus, hadn’t changed, but with the redirect, it was coming up fresh and sparkly new. Now, that doesn’t excuse the fact that this site was accessing it every minute, but I’m not sure that my twisted convoluted redirects to feeds wasn’t at least partially responsible. To make matters worse, I used an inline SVG object yesterday, which shouldn’t tax bandwidth limits overmuch…unless your feed is being hammered.

(Not to mention that using SVG inline absolutely killed my entry at Planet RDF…)

Of course, when I redirected my Burningbird main feed, /feed/ to atom.xml, this redirected all other variations of /feed, including /feed/atom, /feed/rdf, and so on. Not just for Burningbird, but all sub-domains, too. So I had to add more redirects, which attempted to bypass WordPress’s programmatic management of URLs. I had to so many redirects in my sites to get feeds to serve correctly, I wasn’t sure who was getting what. So I’ve removed all of them.

One of my site changes is to remove WordPress at the top level. I’m replacing it with a page generated by Venus that combines all feeds from WordPress installations in sub-domains. Each sub-domain gets its own WordPress installation. Some will get the full installation, and others will get my new semi-forked version that I’ve named Curmudgeon WordPress. Curmudgeon WordPress is a WordPress installation that has had all the reader interactive bits, such as ping back, registration, XMLRPC, and comments, and their associated includes and admin functions removed.

When I get all this finished, no more RDF feeds, no more RSS feeds. You get one feed for each WordPress installation, an Atom feed. And you get one overall feed generated by Venus, name and location TBD, generated once per day.

In the meantime, feeds may be a problem. My bandwidth may be exceeded. Yada yada, you know the rest.

Categories
Technology Writing

Tasks, transcripts, and semantics

Recovered from the Wayback Machine.

I’m spending the rest of the week creating plug-ins that will XHTMLate WordPress. I’m not sure how far I can get with plug-ins, but the end result could be both interesting and useful. I still feel that XHTMLating WordPress is at least partially philosophy, as much as it is code. I can’t seem to communicate this clearly, though, so I am dropping the subject and just focusing on code.

I also have a design for my “Painting the Web” book web site, and need to create a lovely SVG paintbrush, as part of the design. Since my artistic skills are more along the lines of telling a program to draw a line from A to B, the effort may take some time. However, the medium I’m using (SVG) is compatible with my skillset, so perhaps the effort will be trivial and the result good. Better yet, I’ll be able to find a paintbrush at Wikipedia to use.

I did want to point out an interview that Paul Miller of Talis had with Tim Berners-Lee. Unlike most other podcasts, this interview also has a written transcript as well as published show notes. I really wish more video and audio podcasters would spend the time transcribing shows into text, as well as providing more in-depth information about the show than posting a video window and telling people, “Hey! Cool Stuff!” In the meantime, I’m going to watch this podcast via my Apple TV, since the Talis series is also listed at iTunes. I wonder if it’s in HD? (Later: oops! It’s not in video. Darn. I was looking forward to seeing Sir Tim in HD.)

In the write-up on the interview, Miller wrote:

We talked for a fascinating hour during which we ranged from past to future, from technology to policy. We covered specifications such as RDF and SPARQL, and we talked about the pressing need for more accessible texts to explain the Semantic Web to mainstream business.

My book, “Practical RDF”, is out of date, and I and my editor have been talking about a new edition. However, a new edition would not be focused entirely on RDF, and probably wouldn’t cover certain aspects of RDF, in order to be a bit more comprehensive. RDF doesn’t function alone in the world, and a book that covers semantic web technologies needs to cover not only RDF, but also all the complementary technologies. This, in addition to the new tools, data initiatives, and companies.

Now is actually a rather exciting time to be creating a new edition of a book on semantic web technologies. I remember when I wrote “Practical RDF”, which was published before the final release of the RDF specification, I had to stretch a bit to find tools and technologies focused on RDF and/or the semantic web. Now, the semantic web is hip, and the challenge is less on finding good material and more on ensuring that the book isn’t too big, or covers too much.

I don’t think the new edition will be called the same, but we’ll be keeping the “Practical” in the title in some way. Maybe something along the lines of “Practical Semantic Web”. I am nothing if not a practical person, and the “practical” component of the title will also be the overall theme for the book. However, even with this constraint I visualize a book bursting at the seams.

We’re also planning a new edition of Learning JavaScript, too. Unfortunately, the first edition was on a bit of a fast track, and I made mistakes in the book; more than I’d like to see with any of my books. I’ve made corrections via errata, but it will be nice to create a new, updated version.

I’m also helping out with a new edition of a third book, but this would be more along the lines of contributing commentary on organization and some chapters than being sole author.

Categories
Just Shelley

Body Changes

Recovered from the Wayback Machine.

We were early to the Body Worlds show and spent time walking around the St. Louis Science Center. It is an impressive place with all sorts of gadgets and interactive displays. The kind of place you can go to as a family and everyone will have a good time. Yes, even the teens.

One of the sections had various medical stuff to try including a blood pressure testing machine. The last time I was checked my blood pressure was normal, but that was three or four years ago. I tried it this time and my pressure ended up at 143/84. To evaluate the accuracy, my roommate tested his pressure and received the reading he normally gets.

A reading of 143/84 isn’t terribly bad, but it’s not overly good, either. In a way, I had a feeling my blood pressure was creeping up. I’ve been far too sedentary the last few months, and feeling a great deal of stress. My weight is not good, I use too much salt on my food, and drink too much coffee in the morning. I also read the weblogs of people who irritate me.

Like my blood pressure, there isn’t anything terribly bad about my lifestyle, but it’s not overly good, either. I read Dave Rogers post about running seven miles in 79 minutes, and know that if I tried it, I’d run it in less because I’d be dead before I was done.

I and my roommate have had to make some lifestyle changes in the last few months, and it’s time to face additional changes. Rather than think of what I have to give up, though, I like to think I’m gaining. I can splurge on those halibut steaks or red snapper, where before I may have drifted over to the fish sticks. Luckily, our stores carry a good supply of foods that are both organic and healthy, if pricey. I can now justify the expenditure with, “cheaper than medicine”.

It encourages me to read about people like Dave, or Elaine, or Ethan and others, who have looked at their lives and said, “Time for a change”, and made it stick. The change didn’t happen for them overnight, but it did happen. I can carry that through with me during those times when change seems to come too slow.

The bigger challenge for me in turning my lifestyle around isn’t going to be walking more and eating better, it’s going to be reducing stress in my life. What am I saying: stress is my life. Which is ridiculous if you think about it, because if I wanted to be stressed, I should have stayed in Silicon Valley. I could have lived a life in the flow, conferenced, connected, and teetering on that next bubble, always hungry for more until burning out. Instead I moved to St. Louis, which lost its bubble just after the 1904 World’s Fair.

The pictures don’t have to be good, the writing doesn’t have to be perfect, programming bugs don’t kill. Usually. I can still read the weblogs of people who irritate me, but learn to take them much less seriously.