Internet

Internet - Web design

I have always had a bit of an obsession with valid markup. My sites always validate, and the tougher the validation the happier I am.

The problem with strict validation is that most, if not all, of the plugins and extensions we would like to use on our websites were coded without a thought towards valid markup. Because of this, you either have to decide to live without certain creature comforts with a strict validating website, or learn how to alter other people's PHP to generate valid code. 

So yesterday while converting this site from valid XHTML 1.0 Transitional to valid HTML 5, I was reminded about a simple issue that makes all the difference between validating transitional but not validating strict.

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Internet - Web design

I have to give credit where credit is due. I used to roll my own Wordpress themes, but early on I started to resent the Wordpress handcuffs and I moved to Joomla! and never looked back. Wordpress guys, no need to get all riled up. Wordpress themes have come a long way since then, and the Wordpress designer has a lot more freedom to create more complex, professional looking layouts.

I can't take all the credit for how great my sites look though, because while I have the skills to muck around with Wordpress themes, I don't think I'd be able to make much of a Joomla! template. There's a lot more going on under the hood in Joomla!, and when I first migrated from Wordpress two years ago I realized I would be a lot better going off with someone else'e template and modifying it to my needs.

When I first got to Joomla! I started looking around for templates. The problem was, there just wasn't the abundance of free designs for Joomla! like there was on the Wordpress side of the fence. I didn't know how much a one-off template would cost me, but I figured it would be too much.

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Internet - Social Networking

Tweetdeck 0.30 is out in the wild. No sooner did I declare Mixero to be Twitter's Killer App, the new Tweetdeck appears to have fixed most of what I thought was wrong with it.

It's immediately apparent upon launching that TweetDeck's Facebook integration is vastly improved. They've also added MySpace integration, and Facebook and MySpace users no longer need to enter a Twitter account to use Tweetdeck. You can now also minimize TweetDeck to the systray or dock instead of just hiding it. I am still waiting for Mixero's Facebook integration. I like Mixero so much as a Twitter client that it stands to reason I will like it as a Facebook client. Tweetdeck is a great app, but it can take over your desktop with all those panes open to make it usable.

This is a substantial update for TweetDeck, and so far I haven't noted anything I thought was wrong with the previous version that they haven't fixed. The gauntlet has been thrown down, and everyone with a Twitter client is scrambling to make it the one on your desktop. TweetDeck is certainly a sound choice.