I have been following the ALT.NETers for a while and finally decided to make it official. I got my Geek Code from geek supreme Scott Hanselman’s blog and joined the ALT.NET community.
If you want to decode my code click it. You can learn more about ALT.NET at altnetpedia.com and on Scott’s blog. You can join the community at altdotnet.org. You don’t have to have a Geek Code to be a member, I just thought it was interesting way to define my development style.
I have been looking for a time manager to help make my time at work more productive. The problem with most of them is it takes time to track your time. It’s always a hassle for me. Remembering to start and stop clocks, enter time and projects…I have never been able to do it consistently. Well I have found my time management savior in a service called RescueTime. What is RescueTime? Here is their official definition:
“RescueTime is a software tool that allows businesses and individuals to understand exactly how they spend their time and attention– and helps them spend it more effectively.”
Well that doesn’t really give you the good stuff. Read more »
Microsoft tried, Apple tried, will Google TV deliver. If Google is as good with TV as it is with its other apps there’s nothing else to say. It will be awesome.
I love the fact that this is built around Google’s core competency, search. I have 200 television channels and I hate flipping through the on screen guide. With Google TV finding something interesting is as easy as your basic Google search. Read more »
Lightworks, the same editor used on many large production movies that I’m sure you’ve heard of, is going open source. This means you will be able to use this award winning software for free. You can’t download it yet, but its coming and I’m in line. If you are into video editing and you aren’t on the list, what are you waiting for? Get in line!
I don’t know how interested you are in the tools to measure page performance, but I have been doing some research and thought I would share some of what I found. This is not a strategy for performance optimization, just a diversion I had in my daily fight in this game of milliseconds.
I was given page load test results from an online tool named PingDom. This tool listed all of the images referenced in the tested page’s external CSS file as part of the page load test. All of the images referenced in the CSS selectors aren’t actually used on the tested page. In fact the images belong to many different pages, but they all share the same CSS file (common scenario right?). So why are they all listed in this test. Well I didn’t think that the browser Guru’s would let this happen, but I’m a developer so I can’t assume right? In my mind I know this isn’t so, having looked at HTTP streams daily I know this isn’t happening in the browser. How do I prove it? Do browsers download all images referenced on a CSS file, even if they aren’t needed? Read more »
Problem: We need to use Google Website Optimizer (GWO) to test different variations of an ASP.net contact form. We want to be able to add and remove form fields to test conversions based on the set of fields displayed. Additionally, the solution must meet some basic requirements:
Use Valid XHTML
Work in multiple browsers
Fail gracefully when javascript is not available
Work with client side and ASP.net server side validation
Work within ASP.net master pages and user controls
Track conversions that occur on the same page as the test
Provide information that can be used in third party analytics software to track the results of variations throughout the site.
Issues: Some of our issues include:
ASP.net post back model is causing the initial variation to be lost. After GWO writes the variation to the page, when a user clicks the submit button the page posts back to the server, when the response is returned to the browser the variation is lost and the original content is displayed.
GWO section tag includes an orphaned tag which fails XHTML validation.
ASP.net custom validation with client side JavaScript on multiple instances of a User Control
Problem: You have a page with multiple instances of a User Control that has a form that needs to be validated client side. JavaScript is not calling custom validation on the correct form because of naming conflicts.
In my specific case, I had a User Control that contained a form that we wanted to do multivariate testing on with Google Website Optimizer (GWO). Because we had complex variations that depended on dynamic data we had to work outside of the basic GWO setup. We found a way to optimize the form by including all of the different variations of the form on the page and allowing GWO to display and hide the different variations. First try resulted in the validation being called on all forms because they all shared the same validation group and ClientID. This is what led me to this solution. Read more »
It’s been ages since I blogged. I am 6 months into a new job and just haven’t had that time. Well its time to get back at it.
With my return, I think that I am going to change my focus and concentrate on the web development problems I face on a daily basis. Hopefully something I write can be of help to someone out there pulling there hair out about some web dev problem. I probably won’t give detailed posts on most topics. If you want more info about something I write about, just ask.
If you don’t know by now, I use to be a music producer. I spent a lot (emphasis on a lot) of money building my recording studio. So you can understand my surprise when I came across Aviary’s new free online recording studio, Myna. Not only can you record, mix, arrange, add effects and more to sounds, you can save and share the results with collaborators or people in general. All this happens online so you can co-produce with people around the world. Did I mention it’s free. The jury is still out on the quality of this tool for professional use, but glancing at the video it looks like it should have at least some application in preproduction.
Not only can you create your next MP3 master piece, you can also design the CD cover and tour graphics. These crazy people at Aviary also provide free tools for image creation. Actually these tools can be used for any graphics, not only music related. They have tools similar to Photoshop, Illustrator and others, that allow you to create some stunning graphics all within your web browser.
I’m real excited about this one and I’m going to have to force myself to look away for now so I can get some work done at my day job. You can check out all of their tools at http://aviary.com/ and watch the video below to see Myna in action.
This post is a little different. It may get a little long and confusing too, but I have to start getting this out of my system. I have failed a lot and I am glad I did. I have learned a lot from my failures and I have learned lessons that can’t be taught, you have to learn them. I have a different perspective on failing. You have to understand that I don’t look at failing as a bad thing. To be successful you have to fail. Failure is an education. I embrace the lessens learned in failure and I try not to repeat my failures. Read more »
I’m an Official Geek – ALT.NET Geek Code
Web Development
I have been looking for a time manager to help make my time at work more productive. The problem with most of them is it takes time to track your time. It’s always a hassle for me. Remembering to start and stop clocks, enter time and projects…I have never been able to do it consistently. Well I have found my time management savior in a service called 
Microsoft tried
Lightworks, the same editor used on many 
I don’t know how interested you are in the tools to measure page performance, but I have been doing some research and thought I would share some of what I found. This is not a strategy for performance optimization, just a diversion I had in my daily fight in this game of milliseconds.
Problem: We need to use Google Website Optimizer (GWO) to test different variations of an ASP.net contact form. We want to be able to add and remove form fields to test conversions based on the set of fields displayed. Additionally, the solution must meet some basic requirements:
ASP.net custom validation with client side JavaScript on multiple instances of a User Control
It’s been ages since I blogged. I am 6 months into a new job and just haven’t had that time. Well its time to get back at it.
If you don’t know by now, I use to be a music producer. I spent a lot (emphasis on a lot) of money building my recording studio. So you can understand my surprise when I came across Aviary’s new free online recording studio, 
This post is a little different. It may get a little long and confusing too, but I have to start getting this out of my system. I have failed a lot and I am glad I did. I have learned a lot from my failures and I have learned lessons that can’t be taught, you have to learn them. I have a different perspective on failing. You have to understand that I don’t look at failing as a bad thing. To be successful you have to fail. Failure is an education. I embrace the lessens learned in failure and I try not to repeat my failures. 
