Ernies Tech Thoughts

The ongoing pain of web development is that a particular OS and browser of the end user is not guaranteed, and so many must be catered for. This is not as bad as it used to be, now that Netscape 4, and Internet Explorer 5 and earlier have been consigned to history. This leave IE6, 7 and soon 8, Firefox, Safari and Opera. This leaves plenty of scope for variation, and the general problem is IE6. So the decision by 37Signals to discontinue support for IE6 in mid August is an interesting development. It is also a bold move, but that is the way 37 Signals so things, by not catering to the entire world.
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For the last 2 years I had planned to attend the Web Directions conference in Sydney, but various work and family commitments have meant this has not happened. Well this year there are no excuses, and I am there. I have signed up for the 2 day conference plus ‘Javascript - The Good Parts’ workshop by Douglas Crockford. From a front end perspective, Javascript is my relative technical weakness, but something I am looking to fill in, now that I have moved past my all javascript is evil mindset.
The one problem I do have with the conference program is that I know there will be clashes between presentations I want to see, as it is divided into 3 tracks, and my interest crosses all 3. But what a problem to have. The presentations I am most looking forward to are : ‘Elegant Web Typography’, ‘Javascript libraries - Putting the cross in cross-browser compatible’ and ‘Web APIs, Oauth and OpenID: A developer’s guide’.

See you there.

After my previous post regarding my struggle to find a Linux laptop in Australia, I have now been given a suggestion that may solve the problem. While waiting for my daughter to finish dance class, I stopped into a company called TopBit Computing. I have never dealt with them before, but the sales guy seemed to know his stuff.
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It is time to get a new laptop for work purposes. The current Dell laptop is now 3 years old, and although it still runs perfectly, it was always a desktop replacement, and never designed to be moved around. And although it originally came pre installed with Windows XP, it has been a Kubuntu machine for most of its time.
So besides being smaller (12-13″ screen), lighter and with much longer battery life, my other requirement was that I do not need Windows installed or pay for the disks. The Kubuntu Linux 8.04 with KDE 3.5 CD was waiting and that would be the operating system.
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For many years now I have been a very happy KDE user when it came to a Linux desktop. Not that I have anything against Gnome, but KDE just felt right. So for a while now I have been looking forward to KDE4 as a big jump to even better functionality, ease of use etc. The KDE developers have been very open that KDE4 is still rough around the edges, but the best way to get the most users and widest use is to take away beta from the title and let it go. Now KDE 3.5 is serving me fine, but with the release of Kubuntu 8.04, this way the chance to give the new KDE a real go. Read the rest of this entry »