Category: Other

Textpattern 4.0.0 was released yesterday. I’ve not had the chance to use it, but I understand it’s one of the best pieces of “blog” software out there.

It’s been quite some time since I posted something design or programming related. I need to change that. I’ve sort of lost focus about what I’ve wanted this blog to be about.

O’Reilly has made a number of books freely available on the web at ebook911.com. This collection includes: “HTML: The Definitive Guide”, “Cascading Style Sheets: The Definitive Guide”, and a number of others…

It’s very cool that these have been made available to the public.

A new updated on the IEBlog has revealed a new logo update for Microsoft Internet Explorer 7. It’s not too much of a departure from what IE currently has, but it’s not bad.

(Hat tip: foO)

Last night, my dad, my father-in-law and I went to see Ron White at the Bell Auditorium. Damn, is that guy funny or what? It’s one thing to see him on DVD, Audio CD or on Comedy Central. Ron is genuinely funny in person. I really glad he came back to Augusta.

Ron had a lot of new material at the show. I was glad that he did. Having seen his DVD multiple times, and having watched the Blue Collar Comedy Tour vids several times, I was worried he wouldn’t have anything else funny to talk about. I’m glad I was wrong.

The Sprint Nextel merger went through yesterday. They’ve launched a new website and new identity for the merger. Visit Site

It looks like Network Solutions just launched a new look to their website. A quick glance at the code shows the layout is mostly done without tables… (and it almost validates as HTML 4.01 Transitional) …but I’m not sure I like the new direction.

I liked the simplicity of the previous design. The new look seems forced. The gradients used in the top nav remind me of Office XP. The mouseover menus seem half done. I think the layout would work a little bit better if it were centered. I’m going to assume they needed to force a left-align to get some of the menu stuff to work.

The new layout is definitely cleaner than before. They’ve consolidated the homepage significantly, and it works in their favor. The homepage is much more organized too. I think clutter is what kills sites like GoDaddy.com… They try to jam way too much onto the homepage. NetworkSolutions definitely did the right thing by taking the “less is more” approach here.

Overall, I think the new look is okay… but I’m not overwhelmed by it. I’m most happy to see that they are adopting standards in this new layout.

It’s definitely a benefit to the Web Standards cause to have high-profile sites such as NetworkSolutions.com adopting web standards in their layouts.

Not sure when it was posted, but just saw that ActiveSync 3.8 is now available for download from the Windows Mobile website.

Download ActiveSync 3.8

Macromedia announced a new version of its Studio suite of application that will soon be available. This suite, which contains Dreamweaver, Flash Professional, Fireworks, Contribute and FlashPaper is available for preorder now, and will become available mid-September.

“The new release improves workflow features and includes new video encoding tools, new CSS enhancements, visual authoring tools for XML, and new tools for authoring and testing mobile content, said Jim Guerard, VP of Product Management for the tools business at Macromedia.

For more information on this announcement, check out this eWeek article, or hop on over to Macromedia for more Studio 8 goodiness.

From CNN.com: Nearly four months to the day since he announced in a hoarse voice on his evening newscast that he had been diagnosed with lung cancer, longtime ABC “World News Tonight” anchor Peter Jennings died Sunday, according to the ABC News network. He was 67. Read more…

Rest in peace, Peter.

I mentioned last night that changes were coming. I wanted to show off a small glimpse of a design I am working on for a new version of cdharrison.com. It may be a while before it gets implemented, because I still need to work through some technology considerations before I take the plunge and invest in building out this new layout.

I am going to take a new approach with this new design. Traditionally, I have isolated my blog away from my content. This new design sets the blog as its primary focus, because, let’s face it – I’m not really trying to get new business from my site anymore. I haven’t bothered to update the portfolio in God knows how long. You get the drift.