Anton Olsen . com

New Life for an Old Domain

As some of you know, I also write (wrote) for a blog at lr2.com.  It was a reasonably popular links blog when I cared to post a few times a day.  In the last two years I have all but ignored the site, and traffic has fallen steadily as a result.

Since I am already stretched to write enough content for here, and GeekDad, I have decided to re-purpose lr2.com as a short url site.  I realize there are a lot of sites out there that do this, but I think there is room for one more.  It should run nearly maintenance free, and eventually provide enough network traffic and ad views to help pay for my web hosting.

So if you need some URLs shortened, give it a shot, and feel free to use them in your emails, IMs, and blog posts.

Google App Engine - Google Code

Google App Engine - Google Code

Run your web applications on Google's infrastructure.
Google App Engine enables you to build web applications on the same scalable systems that power Google applications.

Try it free with 500 MB persistent storage and enough juice to server up 5 million pages a month. Sounds like a good alternative to EC2 and S3 for those on a budget.

[update]  I applied before I went to sleep last night and had an invite waiting for me this morning.  Now I just need to come up with a cool idea.

Google Trends, Java, PHP, Ruby, Python

Henry brings up a good question in the comments on the indeed.com comparison of the languages.  While I don't believe the trends in search terms are a good measure of job possibilities or job growth, they do indicate what people are interested in, or at least what they are having trouble with.

The lines, top to bottom are Java, PHP, Ruby, Python.  Java's popularity is waning and the other 3 seem to be flat lined.  I picked the United States for the last 12 months.  I was hoping this would help reduce the counts of searches for Java Indonesia, but it probably amplified the counts for coffee shops.

Before you get too crazy comparing the graphs here with the indeed.com trends, keep in mind that the indeed graphs show percent of change in postings, not total number of jobs.  The intent is to show which markets are growing the fastest, not which are the biggest.

Read the graph as you will, Java is probably more popular than the other languages but I don't think it is better, nor do I think it is growing.  Java might be all but gone in a decade and we will be looking down on the current agile languages in favor of something better, faster, cheaper and wondering how on earth we put up with the ancient bloated tools like AJAX, Rails, Django, etc.

2008 SXSW Interactive Panel Picker - Testing Two-Step

2008 SXSW Interactive Panel Picker

A humorous look at Why, What, and How to test. Why we should test our web applications. What part of the applications need testing. How to steer development to help with testing. How to use free testing tools to make your applications rock a step or two above the competition. Dual presentation with Mark Morga.

Mark's and my panel suggestion for SXSW 2008 is up for vote on the new and improved panel picker.  If you have a moment and don't mind registering, please go rank your favorite panel ideas.  If enough technical people sign up and vote I think we'll have a reasonable chance at being selected.

We'll have more to post about in the very near future as we get the Testing Two-Step site up and running.

LOLCat Generator

Whoa, that's some crazy growth.

I launched LOLCatGenerator.com earlier this week and the growth rate is crazy. So far I've got just over 200 cat pictures up and ready for captions.

More features should follow this weekend and next week as I get time to work on them.

Beautiful Python: The programming language that taught me how to love again

» Beautiful Python: The programming language that taught me how to love again - DevChix - Blog Archive

Beautiful Python: The programming language that taught me how to love again

Very interesting take on someone's progression from programming in C++ through Perl to Python.

Setting Type on the Web to a Baseline Grid

A List Apart: Articles: Setting Type on the Web to a Baseline Grid

Over the last year or so, there’s been a lot of talk about grid systems and using column grids for website layouts. Mark gave us a lesson plan, Khoi gave us a case study and Cameron gave us a toolkit. The message is clear: we have the browser support, the know-how, and the tools we need to create consistent multi-column grid layouts on the web.

Some good tips and resources for grid layout at A List Apart. Now I just need to find the time to fix this layout.

Saturday 4pm - Ruining User Experience

It's all about the water. Or more specifically it's really the small aspects of one's meal that determine how well you appreciate your waiter. The same holds true for web applications. It's not how well the app does it's job but more about how much it annoys you. Any annoyance is a barrier to entry and will keep or drive your users away.LaLa.com was the first example on the chopping block. It requires javascript, doesn't downgrade at all, and won't work on mobile browsers. While LaLa was a favorite site of Aaron's it was would, and most likely has, driven away others who would find it useful but can't get past the barriers.

When building a web application, start with the no frills set. Be sure everything works and then offer a slightly dressed up version. Cool colors, better layout, and nicer fonts appeal to a lot of people but might hinder a screen reader or phone browser. Be sure they aren't required for a usable experience. Lastly add the whiz-bang items like ajax, javascript form validation and animations. Again, be sure they don't get in the way and that they aren't required.

Usability and accessibility is key. It won't matter how pretty your site is if people can't use it they won't.

Aaron Gustafson Sr Web designer/Developer, Easy! Designs LLC
Sarah Nelson Design Strategist, Adaptive Path

Saturday 3:30pm - Grids are Good

I must have forgot to take a pic during this session so I'll have to steal one from Mark when he gets his processed.

Grids are Good! Yes, they are. Mark Boulton and Khoi Vinh did a great job of explaining how to layout a web page on a grid. They explained the constraint of the browser width, ad unit sizes, and ways to split the page up into multiple columns and bring those columns together as needed for the design.

Mark Boulton Owner, Mark Boulton Design
Khoi Vinh Design Dir, The New York Times