security
How many times have you returned to your web browser to be greeted by this unpleasant little notification: Your session has timed out. Please sign in again. If you’re anything like me, the answer is lots. What’s worse is that you’re usually kicked out of whatever page
web development
As I work on UI prototypes for the new web venture, I’ve been brainstorming names for the web site we’re building. I’ve surveyed some of the finest minds in the software developer community (for very small values of “fine”), and we’ve come to a collective realization:
internationalization
Software internationalization is is difficult under the best of circumstances, but it always amazed me how often one particular country came up in discussions of internationalization problems: Turkey. For example, this Rick Strahl post from mid-2005 is one of many examples I’ve encountered: I’ve been tracking a really
accessibility
In Where the Heck is My Focus, I wondered why web developers don’t pay attention to basic keyboard accessibility issues. I don’t want to navigate the entire web with my keyboard. That’s unrealistic. I was specifically referring to login pages, which tend to be quite spartan and
keyboard accessibility
The web is quite mouse-centric. Ever tried navigating a typical website without your mouse? I’m not saying it can’t be done – if you’re sufficiently motivated, you can indeed navigate the web using nothing but your keyboard – but it’s painful. There’s nothing wrong with the point-and-click
javascript
In The Day Performance Didn’t Matter Any More, I found that the performance of JavaScript improved a hundredfold between 1996 and 2006. If Web 2.0 is built on a backbone of JavaScript, it’s largely possible only because of those crucial Moore’s Law performance improvements. But have
programming languages
In a recent web search, I found the following comment in a programming.reddit.com thread from eight months ago, completely by accident: I think prog.reddit will continue to move in phases... a couple of days ago, someone complained about a drop-off in Haskell articles, today there were 4
blogging
Anil Dash has been blogging since 1999. He’s a member of the Movable Type team from the earliest days. As you’d expect from a man who has lived in the trenches for so long, his blog is excellent. It’s well worth a visit if you haven’t
browser
Two weeks ago, Apple announced a new version of WebKit, the underlying rendering technology of their Safari web browser. The feature list is impressive: * Enhanced Rich Text Editing * Faster JavaScript and DOM (~ 2x) * Faster Page Loading * SVG support * XPath support * Improved JavaScript XML technology (XSLT, DOMParser, XMLSerializer, and enhanced XMLHttpRequest
video upload
As video on the web becomes increasingly mainstream, I’ve been dabbling a bit with video sharing myself. But I’ve found that publishing video content on the web is extraordinarily painful, bordering on cruel and unusual punishment. The web upload process is a serious barrier to online video sharing,
programming languages
I’ve become a big fan of Twitter. My philosophy is, when in doubt, make it public, and Twitter is essentially public instant messaging. This suits me fine. Well, when Twitter is actually up and running, at least. Its bouts of frequent downtime are legendary, even today. (I was going
performance
I first saw Yahoo’s 13 Simple Rules for Speeding Up Your Web Site referenced in a post on Rich Skrenta’s blog in May. It looks like there were originally 14 rules; one must have fallen off the list somewhere along the way. 1. Make Fewer HTTP Requests 2.
