Extending the Net

Not as pornographic as it sounds… please bear in mind that I am a Geek

For all those of you who are interested in iPhone/Android/iPAD development with a minimum of learning curve, how would you feel if I told you that you could utilise your current web development skill set to build cross mobile, cross platform applications? Interested? Well you should be…

Appcelerator Titanium is a toolkit/middleware utility that provides you with a Javascript API, and a cross compiler that allows you to use HTML/JavaScript to build such applications. If you’re building for the desktop you can use Titanium too, and also incorporate PHP scripts! It’s amazing and getting better and better all the time.

Worthwhile taking a look, having a play. You can be up and running and building apps in minutes!

Take a look: http://www.appcelerator.com

While I don’t visit Adobe’s site www.adobe.com that often, perhaps once a month, I was surprised today to see their new site design in place, and have to say that I approve of the new look and feel.

Now I know they don’t need my approval – who the heck does apart from my children! – but the new design is certainly less cluttered, and offers (IMHO), a better visiting experience. Things are easier to find, easier to read…. overall a job well done (though of course you would expect that, this is Adobe after all!)

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If you’re looking for a complete mail room solution that offers franking machines and postal products, and it seems every service you could possible hope for, you couldn’t go wrong with www.themailingroom.com

From their site:-

The Complete Mailroom Solution

Not happy with your current franking machines supplier? Make the switch to themailingroom.com

• No hidden extras – we don’t charge for topping up franking machines
• A refreshing change to Pitney Bowes and Neopost franking machines
• Extensive range of quality franking machines to suit every business size
• Value for money franking machines and postal products
• Nationwide network of experienced customer service and support engineers
• At the forefront of design, technology and innovation.

Definitely worth a look!

http://www.themailingroom.com

My day-to-day work as a web developer, means that I like to use tools that simplify things for me, but which allow me enough freedom to customize as required, as all of the projects I work on are custom built.

There are, however, times when I use a stock library to perform some form of function, and these days I find that I’m using the SPRY Framework more and more often.

It all started with the form validation widgets, along with their integration into Dreamweaver CS3, mean that I only occassionally have to delve into code to make minor modifications. To be honest, I haven’t really played with the other widgets that much, until now…

The first of the Widgets I’ve been playing with is the SPRY Accordion.

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I was very interested to read today about the ‘Adobe Dreamweaver Developer Toolbox’ today, and how this is in effect a replacement of all of the tools provided by InterAKT’s MX Kollection. Looking through the FAQ’s, it seems to me that this is a very poor deal for purchasers of the MX Kollection, who, in previous Dreamweaver releases were able to enjoy continued functionality with their purchase.

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I know that many of you reading this will be asking this question, so I thought I would provide the answer before you begin asking.

IntelliCART MX has now been discontinued for 6 months, and many things have changed along with the website. First of all, the hosting has been moved to Dreamhosts (who are fantastic BTW). My previous hosts 1&1 were fine and dandy except for the last year, and after a number of major outages (4, where my server was mysteriously unplugged from the switch), numerous support requests which were ignored for weeks (I kid you not) all due to problems with their Plesk admin, I decided enough was enough. They’ve had thousands of pounds out of me over the last few years, and it’s just not on!

Anyway, forgive the rant, with the move, I’ve made a number of decisions. All the old IntelliCART related stuff is now gone. Removed. The support forum was averaging 12 posts a year, and all of the stuff on there is now either out of date, or defunct or both. So there’s no point keeping it live.

I’m keeping the registrations up to date on the domains etc, as I’ve not entirely ruled out a comeback, but given my currently situation at home, time is tight, so I can’t guarantee anything. IntelliCART may return, but no promises.

Welcome to the new-look rawveg.org!

It’s been a long while since I did anything with this site, largely due to time and family restrictions. So, what’s been happening, and where have I been?

Well, it’s been a difficult year. For those of you who don’t already know, there were some major family upheavals in 2006, that caused many things to change. My children from my previous marriage came to live with us Permanently in June last year, which was the culmination of a number of events involving my ex-wife.

I can’t really comment on the precise in’s and out’s of what happened, but suffice to say, that Bethany and Jordan were removed from their mother’s care, and placed in the care of Becky and I at the behest of Social Services. This was initially an interim solution, though the situation was so bad, that we were all preparing for this to be a permanent placement.

This was finally confirmed in January, when Becky and I were granted residency orders for Bethany and Jordan until they reach their majority (age 18).

It’s been a tough time, with plenty of tears, and no doubt there will be more to come. If it weren’t for the generosity and support of our friends and family we would surely have all cracked under the pressure, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their kind words of support and their help.

Thankfully Bethany and Jordan have both settled in very well both in their new home, and in their new schools. Within days of starting her new school Bethany was made a prefect, and we couldn’t be more proud. Jordan has had some settling-in issues, but is progressing well, and thankfully, he’s a bright, intelligent lad, and he’s coming on leaps and bounds, and we couldn’t be happier with their progress.

So, what are my plans with the website now? Well, the hope is that this site will serve as both an oft-used blog, and a repository of knowledge. When I get the time and inclination I shall return to developing extensions for Dreamweaver, though I shall also be working on applications that don’t necessarily rely on that august editor. I’ve not fallen out with the software, though was very surprised to learn about the Macromedia takeover by Adobe. Old news I know, but as I said, it’s been a busy year, and I’ve still got some catching up to do. As the full ramifications of this merger are yet to be felt (though I doubt that will last for long now), I’m really going to reserve judgment until I start seeing some new software versions, before making my final judgements.

I will be honest, though, Adobe’s history with Web Development software hasn’t been a good start IMHO. GoLive was an awful waste of time, I just hope they don’t inflict on Dreamweaver the same fate. Time will tell.

Anyway, update over (for the moment), thanks for taking the time to stop by.