The addition of Twitter and Facebook streams looks beautiful – I can browse (in a newspaper-style layout) the tweets, links, photos, and messages from both services quickly.

While I do love the layout (I’m a print guy, after all), I did find one problem with two areas of worry: The content from your Twitter and Facebook stream is presented in Flipboard’s own choice of layout. Meaning, some photos or links from your friends might show up as small boxes, or nearly fullscreen.

In the section view, this means any NSFW content uploaded by your friends (and we all have friends that post non-work safe images, or is that just me?) could be nearly fullscreen.
In the photo-slideshow view (which is displayed on-launch), that same content could appear fullscreen.

I use the slideshow view while my iPad is docked in my homemade cardboard dock at work, that way I can quickly glance at any given photo as it comes across and tap to read more. It’s a nice feature 99% of the time. That is, until a friend’s photo of a night out drinking or another’s link to a punk show (displaying an angry panda) might take some explaining to a hovering boss (as just happened to me).

Flipboard in the dock - showing the angry panda

Flipboard in my hand - showing a photographer-friend on a night out

Twitter stream - yes, that says 'warm weather humping' with a nude photo

As much as I’m enjoying Flipboard, I can’t recommend one using it as a work-safe slideshow or browsing app if anyone could be hovering in your work area.

That said, totally worth the wait for my custom access. I’m looking forward to the ability to add in news feeds in the future (hint at a request there, guys and gals), video and more.

I’ve written a plugin (for CodeIgniter) that handles the string as input, checks for empty lines (excessive \r\n’s), cleans e-mail addresses (pretty), and converts URL’s to their full ‘a href’ layout.

The problem I’d like to solve: many of the URL’s I’m finding are “long” – meaning, they are over 100 characters long. I’d like to shorten them to, say, the first 20-30 characters, followed by ellipsis (eg: “http://www.chadedge.com…”).

Using substr() inside a preg_replace() will not work (substr chokes or preg_replace chokes – neither like being wrapped up that way).

Any ideas?
–

Here’s a before:

its hard to find a good one and most of us are not to thrilled with some of the local repair shops. i have found a really great guy in north seattle. he does beautiful full restores, maintenance, rebuilds and great work all around. have been using him for a while (including correcting some of TL's work). He also sells NOS and repro parts for a better price then anyone local. the is the best i have found and really a great guy to work with. feel free to email me and i can tell you why i like NCVH better then TL. 

http://northcityvintagehonda.wordpress.com/

http://www.northcityvintagehonda.com/servlet/StoreFront

And the after:

its hard to find a good one and most of us are not to thrilled with some of the local repair shops. i have found a really great guy in north seattle. he does beautiful full restores, maintenance, rebuilds and great work all around. have been using him for a while (including correcting some of TL's work). He also sells NOS and repro parts for a better price then anyone local. the is the best i have found and really a great guy to work with. feel free to email me and i can tell you why i like NCVH better then TL. 

http://northcityvintage...
http://northcityvintage...

Update (2010-07-26): I have written a solution by editing (a bad idea, of course) the url helper (system/helpers/url_helper.php) in the function auto_link.
I highly recommend you do NOT repeat my process; however, as this is a one-time hack for a special circumstance, here’s what I did:

In url_helper.php – at the function_auto_link: There is a section of code that parses any found URL in to it’s “bits” (stripping http:// etc). I checked for the length of the url, and if it’s +20 characters, I substring it down to 20 and add an ellipsis to the string before returning the full linked-url chunk.

The code:

Again, I don’t recommend you follow my example – it’d be better to subclass the helper, but in my situation this works just jim-dandy.

This is getting crazy.

What chaps my ass is when a designer/developer takes credit for a design that was not theirs – one that they have made adjustments to, while leaving the core design in-place. Further, when the core code lives on, with some adjustments, I also get a rash.

The case here is Muumuu Heaven, a Web site that a buddy of mine were hired to develop by an employer of ours. It was a rough time in our development lives – with difficulties in communication, slipping deadlines, design changes, underbidding, etc. A lot of the hardships were my fault, but in the end I was happy with the result. Not the best development in the world, but I applaud the designer I worked with for his color choices, images, etc.

It’s been a few years, the Web site has gone through some updates and changes – both in design elements and code, but much of my designer’s look/feel remain (meaning: the exact images he designed are still in-play; the scaffolding is the same); the code for navigating the site is the same.

On the footer of the Web site is a link for “Site Credits.” I had no supposition that Muumuu Heaven would credit the designer or myself, but I was surprised when the new designer and developer took credit for work that was (at best) half theirs.
This continued on the developer’s own Web site (which is where the following screenshot came from).

I’m not asking Muumuu Heaven to give us credit now, I’m just ranting about the ass-rash that things like this give me. I’ve contributed on many projects and do my best not to boast about being “the man.” If you’re going to claim ownership of a design or development, then make sure it really is YOUR design/development.

(end rant)

Details over the next month.

using jQuery plugin “scrollTo” locks a UIWebview position from chadedge on Vimeo.

I’m working with the jQuery plugin “scrollTo” and I’ve come across a problem:

When I fire the $.scrollTo('.a_class_item',{duration:'800',axis:'y'}); the Web page I’m viewing on the iPhone does scroll correctly (very nice!).

However, once that first position has been scrolled to, control of the Web page is toast – meaning, if I try and touch-drag anywhere else, when I release my finger the Web page “snaps” back to the first scrolled postion.

I cannot duplicate this in any browser (in a desktop browser, the behavior is as expected, again, very nice interaction).

If I default back to a window.scrollTo(x,y);, then the Web page retains control and the UI responds correctly – it seems that the scrollTo plugin is “locking” the page position.

Any ideas on how to “release” that lock so I can scroll, resize, (even scroll to a different area on the page)?

I have a document that I’m traversing that has a “B” (bold) element, containing both text and an image “IMG.”

When I search the document, I’m not coming up with the text within the B as a match, and I’m wondering if it’s because the element.nodeType isn’t responding to type “3″ (which should be a text node) properly (as the text node also contains an image).

Any ideas on how I can traverse to find the text within that “B” as a matching string, excluding the img in my result?

(Note: I’m doing this as an update to searchy in order to make it more robust for both the iPhone and iPad).

searchy: a one-day iPhone app from chadedge on Vimeo.

Yeah, there’s LOT’s that should be done to an app like this (#1 being “hire a professional”), but this was a one-day project, completed in an afternoon, folks!

I have a successful PDF repository browsing/ftp/download system at work that checks for updated PDF files, inserts the filename and some basic file data into a MySQL database (using a Watched Folder/Perl action), and allows [internal] Web users to browse the repository and FTP a batch of files to a destination or ZIP the files for local download.

What I’m working on now is an addition that will allow a regular schedule (using CRON) to run that will grab the latest days files, create an XML manifest (with basic information about the ‘Company’ as well as individual file blocks) and FTP the bundle to a destination.

Most of the new addition is just a CRON addition to what already works: grab a group of PDF’s based on the date, change the filename to the desired naming schema (the schema’s are stored in my local database) based on the chosen destination, and send them on their way.

The problem I’m having is I need to add an XML manifest file along with the PDF’s, and while I could code the whole mess in PHP, I’d like to keep as much abstraction to the process as possible – that way I don’t have to go into the PHP code much (if ever) once the update has been implemented.

My brain doesn’t handle abstractions very well (as seen by most of my Web work being very “blocky,” and the fact that I’m using a third-party template on my own blog – and I call myself a developer!). I need some serious help with how to generate the manifest without coding the whole thing into the PHP itself.

I’m using CodeIgniter as my PHP framework (LOVE it!), and I’d like to allow for a DTD or XSLT to be setup that will define the XML’s “parts,” then in the future a manager (with XSLT/DTD knowledge) could adjust the template as needed from a Web interface.

I guess the tough parts for me are to assign some kind of CRON kickoff to run the custom search, rename, manifest-generation, and FTP.

Sigh, I’m just not smart enough some days.

While browsing Jquery resource sites, I came across http://www.subzane.com.
No, I’m not going to hotlink the Web site for the following reason:

While I fully support a domain owner’s decision to limit access due to features, etc. I don’t support the choice of language that Norman chose.
Sure, he may have been trying to be cheeky, but it failed.

The company I work for (thankfully) has relaxed requirements when it comes to browsers used on a desktop – while there are company standards, we have been able to work with Firefox, Safari, and others. Still, the company only supports Internet Explorer for bug and error support.
That standard may not be correct, but it’s simplified the support requests to only a few versions (6 and 7 and their children).

On another note, I wasn’t too thrilled about the layout of the site when I finally loaded up Firefox. Not that my layout is anything to write home about (I’m using a theme for WordPress for Christ’s sake!), but I’d personally rather have deep content presented at the homepage than having to decipher what a post/article/tutorial/whatever may contain merely from the title.

(end rant)

Sure, the Times already has a Web mobile site, but using it on an iPhone can be a pain (the layout has improved over the last few months, but not enough for a newshound like me). The new iPhone app improves the mobile site by allowing visitors to e-mail articles, browse deeper, and see a much cleaner formatted layout.

I talked to the developer today and he says there are updates coming down the pipe (better user settings, a possibility for more media like photos, etc).

In the meantime, it’s worth the price of a download (free).

The idea was this:

Designers and developers – known surely for the amount of time they scour the Net – often come across poorly designed Web sites.

If a poorly designed Web site was found, a URL could be grabbed and submitted to my portal, where we (site admins and moderators) would scan the site, removing and identifying information (replaced with Lorum where possible), and post the screenshots of the site for other designers to comment, rate, and pitch a one-page redesign (think “Worth1000″).

Once enough one-page designs were submitted and rated (by the users), the best two or three designs would be submitted in a friendly mannor to the actual site-owner (we’d be as pleasant and gentle as possible – nobody wants to receive an e-mail saying “Your site sucks! Here’s some better ideas”).

The site owner would have the option of contacting the developer directly for design work.

Well, that was an idea I hatched a few years ago, and as with many of my ideas it never went anywhere.

That’s why I’m a little tickled to see these two new services/portals:

Should Redesign (http://www.shouldredesign.com/) and  Concept Feedback (http://www.conceptfeedback.com/).

Both allow for the submission of URL’s to be reviewed, with Should Redesign having a simple “yes/no” ranking selection, and Concept Feedback allowing for members to deeply comment on the design and workings of a submitted site.

I’m impressed with the depth that some comments reach on Concept Feedback, and also just as impressed with the simplicity of Should Redesign.

Both make me feel like my idea might not have been worthless after all. While neither allows for the “pitch” from designers/developers, the sites do make good use of screenshots, comments, rankings, etc.

Update:

Probably not what they wanted to be seen

After tinkering with Should Redesign a little further, I noticed they have a session/cookie problem: Once you submit a vote for a site, you will have a hard time navigating the Web site (as you’re redirected to a “recently voted on” page). Looks like somebody’s MVC framework is a little wonky. Hopefully this will be corrected soon.

I started a new skunkworks project, called “#bibleincode” (The hashtag is in reference to Twitter).

Programmers can take any verse from the Old Testament (KJV, currently) and re-create the verse using their programming language (or “garbage code”) of choice.

It was just a few hours of work, but totally worth it – and if others get involved, I think it will be hilarious!

Only 23,000+ verses left to write!

Basically, they have put together a list of profiles – developers, designers, Web gurus and “newbies,” based on various work and lifestyle types.

While the personas on their list are quite good (I found that my persona matches the “Google Geek” type most), I feel they’re missing one important profile: The Utility Player.

In my daily work, I have to leverage several programming languages, from Objective-C for desktop and iPhone development; PHP for server-side scripting; ColdFusion for legacy application support; Javascript and Ajax for damn-near everything; InDesign scripting (Again, in JS), and more.
While I’m no master at any one technology, I would list myself as advanced in at least server-side scripting and Javascript, while being beginner at desktop/iPhone development (C-based, or Obj languages still baffle me).

The person that works as a Utility Player has to balance coding, design, interfaces, users, workflows, various file formats, login and security systems, all while “selling” their ideas and work methods to business and department managers that may have little to no technical experience.

These people seem to be less represented by Sitepoint.com “officially” (the forums have tons of posts from people I would identify as Utility Players – those looking to solve a specific problem or issue in order to drive a larger project). I’ve found – not just with Sitepoint.com, but with most Web/tech blogs and products – the focus has been on the freelancer, or the career developer/designer. Those of us that work in all fields at all times with our employers often fall through the cracks.

So, if anyone from Sitepoint.com happens to take a gander at my rant, consider adding a profile type that better resembles my chaotic work-life. I’ll still buy your books, subscribe to your Twitter and RSS feeds all the same, but I’d like to know you care about us too!

Update: Looks like Sitepoint cares! Talk about a quick reply (see the comments).
Thanks for validating us many-hat-wearers.

I suppose using language like “ignored” was a bit harsh; I think I meant more like “under-identified.” when part of my day involves Mac and PC server administration, then work with PHP and IPTC editing, then possibly some mobile or Final Cut work, it’s hard to feel like you belong alongside seasoned developers that have mastered a particular platform.

Anyway, thanks for reading my little corner, and for the good reply.