tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-242237432024-03-13T16:05:26.130-04:00Cranial SoupPeas, carrots, green beans, and gray matter.Apphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04973805741360160102noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24223743.post-26717937140866068212010-07-28T18:14:00.002-04:002010-08-26T08:27:34.900-04:00CaSe Matters<p><img style="margin: 0px 10px 0px 0px; display: inline" title="abc" alt="abc" align="left" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_qlCAUZtia6Q/TFCr20HoErI/AAAAAAAABEk/GzsEXyn3xuk/abc%5B9%5D.png?imgmax=800" width="125" height="125" /> Budding young web designers and developers usually learn this pretty quick, when creating a page on Windows and not using the same case as the files and folders they are linking to. They often will use lowercase in all the URLs, regardless of the case of the actual file and folder names. And this will work fine when viewed on their Windows machine. But as soon as they upload it to a server that is running something else, like Linux, it stops working. Their page is full of broken images and dead links, because they used something like <b>mypicture.jpg</b> in place of the actual file name of <b>MyPicture.jpg</b> and <b>about.html</b> in place of the actual file name of <b>About.html</b>.</p><p>Or they upload an <strong>Index.html</strong> and wonder why when they visit their site they still see the default <strong>index.html</strong> page provided by their web host and why when they check on the server there are now two index files and not one.</p><p>For the domain name part of the URL it doesn't matter. That part is not case sensitive.</p><h4 align="center"><b>example.com</b> is the same as <b>Example.com</b> is the same as <b>EXAMPLE.com</b></h4><p>For the rest of the URL it could matter, depending on what operating system is being run on the server that is hosting the site.</p><p> </p><p><img style="margin: 0px 5px 0px 0px; display: inline" title="windows-logo_c" alt="windows-logo_c" align="left" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_qlCAUZtia6Q/TFCr3Sdw73I/AAAAAAAABEo/uxqLfjQ5f1c/windows-logo_c%5B9%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="32" height="31" /> If the server is running <b>Windows</b>, case doesn't matter. The reason for this is because you can only have a single file or folder of a particular name in a folder, regardless of the case used in that file or folder name.</p><h4 align="center"><b>index.html</b> is the same as <b>Index.html</b> is the same as <b>INDEX.html</b></h4><p>All three will lead to the same page.</p><p>In Windows, adding a file or folder of the same name with a different case to a folder, <i>overwrites</i> the original. Only one can exist.</p><p> </p><p><img style="margin: 0px 5px 0px 0px; display: inline" title="linux-penguin-full1_2" alt="linux-penguin-full1_2" align="left" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_qlCAUZtia6Q/TFCr3zffy0I/AAAAAAAABEs/pwi8knY5Zq0/linux-penguin-full1_2%5B11%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="30" height="30" />If the server is running <b>Linux</b>, case matters, as you can have multiple files and folders of the same name within a folder, each having a different case.</p><h4 align="center"><b>index.html</b> is not the same as <b>Index.html</b> and not the same as <b>INDEX.html</b></h4><p>In Linux adding a file or folder of the same name with a different case to a folder, <i>does not</i> overwrite the original. Linux will allow all three to exist in a folder, and each are considered different. If you change the case of a file or folder in the URL path and the server is running Linux, and that variation does not actually exist on the server, it will result in a <a title="Wikipedia: HTTP 404" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_404" target="_blank">404</a>.</p><p>And if you upload a file of the same name but a different case, it will not overwrite the original. You will have both on the server, and lowercase is the default index file. This is the reason why the place holder <strong>index.html</strong> supplied by your web host is still seen, even though you have uploaded your <strong>Index.html</strong> file, and why you see two index files when you view it in your FTP client.</p><p> </p><p>It is always best to assume the server runs Linux when creating links to pages on the web and when typing URLs into the addressbar of your browser. It is the only way to ensure that if case matters, that you are using the correct URL.</p><p>It is also best to use all lowercase in the folder and file names of your website when creating the files and folders, regardless of what operating system you are using locally. Always assume the site will be run on a server that is case sensitive. That way there is a set standard of practice you follow that leaves less room for error. </p><p>Step 1, before you begin coding, should always be to fix all your file and folder names so you won't have to worry about it later.</p><!--22f8a5fa64cd4b4aae91aa92d7fc4e2a-->Apphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04973805741360160102noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24223743.post-24976566143347482082009-12-09T10:35:00.001-05:002009-12-09T10:35:33.566-05:00It started with a piece of string...<p><img style="margin: 0px 15px 0px 0px; display: inline" title="string" alt="string" align="left" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_qlCAUZtia6Q/Sx_DxLa1WfI/AAAAAAAAA6U/aGnsPMmN_18/string%5B6%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="240" height="160" /> Then evolved into a short elastic strap with a set of snaps at both ends. This was my solution to a problem. </p> <p>What problem was that? </p> <p>When my daughter was just a baby, back in the mid 80's, she kept throwing her pacifier out of the stroller and then would holler like hell, and I couldn't give it back to her to shut her up because it was now dirty. So I tied a string on it and attached it to the stroller. It didn't stop her from throwing it, but it did keep it from hitting the ground and getting dirty or lost. </p> <p>But the string didn't work well for bottles, and untying knots was a real hassle, and something that couldn't stretch restricted her from being able to drink her bottle while lying down in the stroller. A string only worked well while she was sitting up. </p> <p>Elastic and snaps...it was perfect. Other mothers saw what I had done and wanted one for their kids' bottles, too. I made a bunch and kept them in my purse, individually sealed in little zip-lock bags. They cost me less than $1.00 to make, and I sold them for $2.00 each. </p> <p>Then a good friend of mine suggested I get a patent for it and find a company to mass produce them and make mad amounts of money on royalties. </p> <p>He put me in touch with a company that supposedly specialized in helping inventors get their products patented and bringing them to market. </p> <p>Word of advice: Don't deal with these companies. They will do nothing to help you. It will cost you a lot of money and you will get nowhere. </p> <p>After paying $400 for a rather poorly written "market study report", they managed to talk me into paying another $5000 and entering into a 5 year contract with them, promising to contact manufacturers and pitching my idea to them, and if a company was interested, they would get them to pay the cost of patenting it in my name, and I would get a royalty on every single copy of my invention that they manufactured, regardless of whether they actually sold any. </p> <p>They convinced me that it was far cheaper to let them handle it, since they had offices all over the world and could set up meetings with company executives. They said my cost in air travel alone would exceed the $5000 if I tried to do it myself, nevermind hotels, paying for expensive lunches, drinks, etc. They also said they were experienced and knew what to say, so I would have a better chance of getting a deal. And they had their own contract lawyers, specializing in royalty agreements, to protect my interests. </p> <p>I fell for it, hook, line, and sinker. I took out a personal loan to cover the cost, from a financing company that turned out to be owned by them. It took me 2 years of high monthly payments to pay it off. </p> <p>And what did they actually do for me? Did they contact all the big name baby product companies like <a href="http://gerber.com" target="_blank">Gerber</a> or <a href="http://fisher-price.com" target="_blank">Fisher Price</a>? No, they contacted publishers, like the one that produces <a href="http://parents.com" target="_blank">Parents magazine</a>. </p> <p>They mailed out form letters to the editors of magazines targeted at the consumer that would be most interested in my product. They never contacted a single manufacturer. Those "inventors help" companies do this all the time, for any and every product idea that comes through their doors, no matter how good or bad the product idea is. The magazine editors are used to it and know it's all crap and toss every letter in the trash without ever opening them. </p> <p>And they tied my hands for 5 years, preventing me from doing all the work myself, otherwise I'd still have to give them a large cut of my royalties if I succeeded in finding a company willing to manufacture it, on my own. </p> <p>So I decided to wait till the contract expired. There was no way I was going to let these swindlers have another dime. </p> <p>Before my 5 year wait was up, a conversation with someone made me realize that my great little invention had no hope and would cause the death of many innocent babies that had idiots for parents. The more popular my invention was, the greater the potential for it to kill, because stupid people that don't watch their kids properly and don't follow instructions, would end up using it in cribs and playpens and leaving their children unattended for hours, or using it in car seats while they were driving and unable to pay attention, resulting in strangulation deaths. </p> <p>It was perfectly safe for use by parents that actually watched their kids and only used it in a stroller where they could watch what was going on. </p> <p>If my invention had made it to market, I would have no control over it and no way to stop stupid people from buying it and killing their children with neglect. My product would be blamed and not the neglectful parents, and if it became a popular product the <a href="http://cpsc.gov" target="_blank">CPSC</a> recall could have been huge, costing whatever company that produced it enormous amounts of money in recall costs and defending lawsuits, and ultimately, cost me a fortune, too. </p> <p>And I would have these deaths hanging on my conscience for the rest of my life. I would never get a peaceful night's sleep ever again. </p> <p>So that is why you can't buy my invention and why I never became filthy rich.</p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p align="right"><em>Photo credit: </em><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/88249458@N00/3008475029" target="_blank"><em>außerirdische sind gesund</em></a></p> Apphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04973805741360160102noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24223743.post-87571890880146222072009-03-16T23:10:00.001-04:002009-03-16T23:10:21.572-04:007 Reasons Not to Direct Link to a Developer's Download Files<p><img style="margin: 0px 10px 30px 0px" height="169" alt="downloads" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_qlCAUZtia6Q/Sb8UnKwWemI/AAAAAAAAAsk/36AprmLCk78/downloads%5B27%5D.png?imgmax=800" width="240" align="left" /> As a developer, I can't help but be more than a little bit bothered by the fact that some bloggers chose to direct link to application download files (.zip, .exe, etc) in some of the articles they write, rather than the page on the developer's site, in which the download links can be found.</p> <p>If this is how you do things when you write articles & reviews, then I'd like to inform you that this isn't a very nice thing to do, for the following reasons: </p> <ol> <li>You are depriving the developers of the full credit they deserve for the work they have done. If the application is worth writing about, it's also worth giving the developer full proper credit. </li> <li>Some freeware authors have Paypal donate buttons on their sites, and your readers will never see them, therefore never click them. This deprives some developers of their only income and maybe their only incentive to keep making freeware/donationware. </li> <li>Some freeware authors have advertising on their sites, and additional page impressions or clicks generated from the traffic you send them means an income for them, and your direct linking to the files prevents that from happening. This is how some software can remain free, rather than the author resorting to making it payware (or even worse, adware). If you would like things to stay free and clean, you have to do your part to help the developers keep it that way. </li> <li>A blog linking to a page on a small developer's site can mean a big boost in Page Rank, making their software easier to find through search engines. This helps the people searching for the perfect tool to do the job they need, as well as the software developer that created it. </li> <li>You are depriving and cheating your readers of the chance to browse around the developer's site, and perhaps the opportunity to discover more useful software they might be interested in. And in the case of the applications that come from sites like <a href="http://donationcoder.com/" target="_blank">donationcoder.com</a>, you are preventing them from discovering a wonderful software enthusiasts community that they really would enjoy, and can even request custom made freeware, made to their specifications. </li> <li>In some cases, you may also be making it more difficult for your readers to find the info necessary to submit bug reports and get support, not to mention application updates and upgrades. </li> <li>You may also be depriving your readers of important information related to installing or using the application, that they may need to know. </li> </ol> <p>So, could you please be a really nice person to us poor freeware/donationware developers, and your readers, and fix your links to point to the pages and not the file downloads? And in the future, always link to the pages, instead. </p> <p>Your readers and the software developers would really appreciate this.</p> <p>Thank You.</p> Apphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04973805741360160102noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24223743.post-87234204167103763462008-08-23T09:33:00.004-04:002008-12-11T02:24:10.271-05:00When Grandma died, she took her Christmas cookies with herAfter reading <a href="http://wassupblog.com/2008/08/14/why-so-many-people-choose-to-blog/">a post on WassupBlog</a>, it got me thinking again about this issue, and I feel that you should take a moment to think about it, too. You have a will and life insurance to take care of the big details, but are you overlooking another big one that needs taking care of and preparing for?<br /><br />In just about every family I know, there has occurred a similar situation, where a loved one has died and all of the recipes that person was responsible for, that became an integral part of that family's culture and traditions, were lost forever.<br /><br />When a death occurs in a family, it is hard enough to deal with the loss of that person without adding the loss of family culture and tradition on top of it.<br /><br />Sure Christmas will never be the same without Grandma, but now you don't even have her cookies to help keep her memory alive and feel like at least that part of her is still here.<br /><a href="http://momscookbook.blogspot.com/2008/06/16-bean-soup.html"><img style="margin: 20px 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; width: 158px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_qlCAUZtia6Q/SFPxdkPXuzI/AAAAAAAAAVw/PCNaGfOwpPw/s400/16-bean-soup.jpg" alt="My 16 Bean Soup" border="0" /></a><br />I would like all moms, grandmas, and anyone else that has ever cooked any food for their family, from holiday dinners to Friday night pizza, to take a moment to think about what would happen to your recipes if anything ever happened to you. If you are a newly wed, and don't really have many yet, think about what could happen in the future when you have plenty.<br /><br />Are all of your recipes written down and all in one place? Does your family know where to find them? What would happen if your house burned down, taking your paper copies of your recipes with it? Do you have any of Grandma's recipes that need to be protected so they can be handed down to future generations?<br /><br />Consider publishing all your recipes to a blog, maybe including photos of the prepared items, or even better, photos of your family members enjoying them. Make sure every member of your family has the URL bookmarked.<br /><br />You might want to create this recipe blog on a free service like <a href="http://blogger.com/">Blogger</a>, so there will be less risk of them being lost by being deleted by a hosting company, just in case something happens to you and the hosting bill doesn't get paid.<br /><a href="http://momscookbook.blogspot.com/2007/04/easy-mexican-vegetarian-enchilada.html"><img style="margin: 20px 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; width: 206px;" src="http://appsapps.info/blog/EasyMexicanVegetarianEnchiladaLasagna_A719/EnchiladaLasagna013.jpg" alt="My Enchilada Lasagna" border="0" /></a><br />The bonus you will get for doing this, besides peace of mind, is that while you are still alive, all your recipes will be in one place, easy to share with family and friends, protected in case a fire or flood destroys your home, and you will be introducing others to creations that could possibly become part of their own family culture and traditions.<br /><br />But more importantly, should anything happen to you, your family will still have that part of you kept alive. And it will be a big comfort to them to still be able to have that. It will be like you coming back every once in awhile to give them a big hug when they really need it most. All of the good memories that go along with the foods will be well preserved in their hearts & minds, when the taste is still on their tongues.Apphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04973805741360160102noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24223743.post-3593587560316613982008-07-17T13:10:00.005-04:002008-12-11T02:24:11.602-05:00Procrastinators: Beware of magical mops<img style="margin: 25px 10px 5px 0pt; float: left;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_qlCAUZtia6Q/SH-F2nN53uI/AAAAAAAAAXI/mksQ_byyq2Y/s400/magical+mop.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5224041266059796194" border="0" /><br />Some of what makes anti-procrastination tools work, is their novelty. Once that novelty wears off, you are right back where you started, procrastinating again.<br /><br />A hypothetical example:<br /><br />Let's say I hate mopping my floor and I always procrastinate about doing it. Then I see an ad on TV for a wonder mop, with a handle that twinkles when you push it. You stop pushing, it stops twinkling. You push it faster, it twinkles more. And even more amazing, is that it also sings! I order this mop, because it seems like it could make mopping fun.<br /><br />So the mop arrives, and I can't wait to get it out of it's packaging and try it. I fill my bucket with soapy water and begin mopping. The singing & twinkling is pretty cool, and before I know it, the whole floor is clean. Great! Wonderful! Terriffic! It's working. I didn't procrastinate and I got the job done.<br /><br />I like this mop so much, I am having no problem mopping my floor and keeping it clean. I am not even procrastinating about it any more. This is the best mop ever! It's like magic!<br /><br />But a few months later, after the novelty of the twinkling & singing mop begins to wear off, I find myself beginning to procrastinate about mopping the floor again. What happened? This was supposed to be the best mop ever. What went wrong?<br /><br />Nothing went wrong. I just had an unrealistic expectation that some wonder tool was going to make me like doing a task I hate.<br /><br />The truth is that nothing can make me like mopping floors, not even a magical, singing, twinkling wonder mop.<br /><br />So if you try an anti-procrastination tool and it works for awhile, but then stops working...the problem isn't the tool. It's you and how you feel about the task...your real feelings.<br /><br />Instead of looking for a new tool to trick yourself into thinking that you like what you hate, work on the real problem: the task itself, how you feel about it, and why.<br /><br />If you can be honest with yourself, you can begin to look for a real solution instead of tricks. If you fix the root problem, you won't need a singing, twinkling mop to get things done.Apphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04973805741360160102noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24223743.post-37599158472633653982008-07-15T01:57:00.006-04:002008-12-11T02:24:11.803-05:00Bloggers With Comment Forms That Suck a Chunk of Your Life Into a Black Hole<img style="margin: 20px 10px 0px 0pt; float: left;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qlCAUZtia6Q/SHxASAbNBBI/AAAAAAAAAXA/aq_1ucvUNr8/s400/black+hole.jpg" alt="Black Hole" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5223120345938854930" border="0" /><br />Listen up, <a href="http://johnchow.com/">John Chow</a>, <a href="http://www.jackhumphrey.com/fridaytrafficreport/">Jack Humphrey</a>, <a href="http://blogaboutyourblog.com/">Matthew Henrickson</a>, <a href="http://andybeard.eu/">Andy Beard</a>, and the rest of you lazy and/or inept bloggers out there:<br /><br />I am tired of wasting my time on broken comment forms, screwball captchas, lazy moderation, and bad site design.<br /><br />Too many times in the past 2 weeks, I have tried to make comments on blogs that ended up sucked into cyberspace and never making it to its destination, which is the post in which I was commenting on.<br /><br />On three blogs, after taking the time to formulate an informative, relevant, quality comment (one of them was at least an hour of work), it was just sucked away after clicking the submit button, with no indication that it made it to where it was supposed to go, or it being held for moderation, or anything else. Will I ever grace those blogs with another comment again? No!<br /><br />On another blog, after almost the same amount of work and hitting the submit button, I was informed that commenting on that post was closed. Why was there a comment form then? And why was there no visible indication that commenting was closed that I could see,<span style="font-weight: bold;"> before</span> I wasted my time putting together a comment? Will I ever grace that blog with another comment? No!<br /><br />On another blog, after I took the time to make a comment thanking the blogger for his post and tell him how useful it was to me and why, and how I was going to send him some traffic because it was that damn good, his captcha informs me that I must have flunked math in school because 4+3 does <span style="font-weight: bold;">not</span> equal 7. Don't insult me like that. I try to compliment you and thank you, and this is the thanks I get? A screwball captcha that calls me an idiot? Will I ever comment on your blog again? No!<br /><br />On another two blogs, my comment was being held for moderation. Now I can understand the need to do that in order to keep spammers at bay, but don't you think you should check your queue to see if any comments were made, at least once a week, if not more often? Maybe even check it when you are making a new post, at least. Will I be commenting on those blogs again? No!<br /><br />I am tired of wasting chunks of my life trying to comment unsucessfully on your blogs.<br /><br />So to all you bloggers out there, please check to make sure your comment forms and captchas <span style="font-weight: bold;">work</span>, when commenting is closed that it is visibly closed to your visitors <span style="font-weight: bold;">before</span> they waste their time (remove the form if possible), if comments are being held for moderation that <span style="font-weight: bold;">commentors are told this</span>, and process your comment moderation queues <span style="font-weight: bold;">on a regular basis</span>!<br /><br />And if you have no clue what you are doing or how to fix things, <span style="font-weight: bold;">ask someone to help you</span>!Apphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04973805741360160102noreply@blogger.com16