Aug 23, 2008

If you develop web pages, and are at all concerned about consistency between FireFox and IE, you must read this post!

I have used the Web Developer plugin for FireFox for quite some time.  It is a lifesaver when you are developing web pages, as you can easily see all of the styles and markup that is being applied to a specific area of your page.  The problem is that it only works in FireFox, leaving IE out in the cold.  Since IE is the real pain in the rear when it comes to Web Dev, the lack of a similar tool has been a major PITA.

Well, a two hour witch hunt for an IE only CSS bug lead me to scour the net for something to make the pain go away!  The fix?

IE HTML Element Spy, an IE7 Add-On.  I LOVE THIS TOOL!!!

It works a little differently than Web Developer, but it really gets the job done.  I litterally spent the last 2 hours trying to debug a DIV that wouldn’t line up with the top of a page.  It was completely impossible to find out why - the thing worked fine in FireFox, but not IE.  Installing IE HTML Element Spy lead me right to the problem - a burried IE only CSS rule that put a 30px padding at the top of the sidebar.

Voila!  Problem solved.

So, 2 hours and not a single clue using my own powers of debugging versus 2 minutes and a fix with IE HTML Element Spy.  Which would you prefer?!  Yeah, me too!

Download that puppy now!

Frackin’ IE.

IE HTML Element Spy, IE CSS Bugs, CSS

Aug 22, 2008

For those of you who like to make and edit Wordpress themes, this bit of information on how to keep your theme upgradeable is extremely cool.

While many people like to make Wordpress themes from scratch, one of the best ways to get the most bang for your buck is to use someone elses hard labor to your own benefit.  There are a ton of talented theme developers out there, and if you are going to use a classic three column design, why would you want to start from scratch.  Lots of great themes exist in the open source realm that make excellent starting blocks for your own work.

There is a bit of a problem though - the theme that you are basing your work off of is likely still changing and getting better.  How can you base your own theme on another, and still be able to seamlessly upgrade the base theme without having to do much work on your own?  Use a Child Theme, thats how!

Simply by adding the following line:

Template: **name of base theme here**

to the header of your style.css file, you can use all of the files of the base theme, and simply have whatever you put in the child theme override the styles, etc. of the base theme.

For more information, check out this article on ThemeShaper.

Wordpress, Wordpress Theme, Themes

Aug 21, 2008

I’m a big fan of this game.

It is set in an extremely immersive world and honestly, simply running around a very beautiful rendition of the medieval Holyland is extremely fun. The fact that you can climb on nearly anything, hide from people and confront nearly any character in the game simply adds to the enjoyment. There are many ways to complete the tasks set before you, and its the openness of the game that really draws you in.

The game itself follows a fairly straightforward plot with additional weapons and abilities being bestowed upon you as you complete tasks for your master. There are no choices at each level up, but completing side tasks can help you gain stamina to last longer in a fight.

The basic plot is that you wake up to find yourself in a laboratory with some people who want to put you in a machine that allows you to live out the memories of your ancestors - one of which happens to be an assassin.

In the memories, each of several cities (Acre, Jerusalem, Damascus) are broken up into 3 sections, each with a plot to uncover and ultimately a target to assassinate. There is also Masyaf, the assassin stronghold to explore and the space in between the cities that is called “The Kingdom”.  A lot can happen there too…

You play the silent hand of power in the larger struggle of the Crusades of 1191- the English king, Richard the Lionhearted wars against Saladin the Saracen for control of the Holyland. You assassinate members of both factions, doing the bidding of the Assassin’s master. In each section, you can either quickly do some basic research and get on with killing your target, or you can take the approach of doing everything there is to do in that section. The more you do, the more you “synchronize” with your ancestor’s memory of what happened, and the more hitpoints you essentially receive. If you do decide to do everything, you’ll probably feel like it is a bit repetitive, as the tasks aren’t really varied at all from city to city - just the same 7 or 8 basic jobs to do.  Still though, I found it enjoyable.

There is also plot to be uncovered outside of the memories, though a lot of it feels very stifled compared to the openness of the memory portions. I suppose that could be intentional, as you are supposed to be held against your will.

Having been to the Holyland a few times, I was endlessly fascinated by the digital recreations of cities that I have seen only in the context of a modern city sitting squarely atop their archeological pasts. Regardless of how inaccurate the representation may be, to run around through that past in somewhat of a first person perspective was extremely rewarding in and of itself.

With such a good setting, the other excellent aspects of the game were greatly enhanced, and the few flaws of the game were effectively minimized.

Some may be offended by some of the games theological musings, but I took that all with a large grain of salt - just as I did the ability of the character to suddenly “disappear” from 20 armed guardsmen by jumping into a pile of hay for 2 minutes.  Seems like they would look a little harder for someone who just killed the ruler of the city.

Overall, it was an excellent balance of “realistic” confrontation and action with a fairly palatable dose of required “suspension of disbelief” to keep things going.

The voice acting of the main character is fairly horrible early on - it either gets better, or I got used to it. Donno which.

I highly recommend this game for anyone that wants to run around and have their way with medieval history in the context of an excellent thinking man’s action game.

Assassins Creed, PC Games, Ubisoft

Aug 21, 2008

AKA: Why I Didn’t Make it to the Olympics

Funny, Olympics

Aug 20, 2008

Well, the title of this post isn’t really fair, as neither AT&T nor RIM have actually given a release date for the new Blackberry Bold.  BUT, according to sources over at Crackberry, its looking like an October release for the Bold on AT&T rather than the nebulous “end of summer” that has been floating around up until now.

AT&T has an exclusive on the phone in the States - whether the exlusive is a permanent thing or only until a certain date isn’t exactly clear.  Doesn’t really affect me either way, as I’m tied to AT&T for the forseeable future.

My reasons for wanting the Bold:

• GPS.  This was the one feature that I had been waiting for them to integrate into the Curve.  My patience ran out and I bought a Curve sans the GPS.  Literally, the day that my Curve arrived at my doorstep, RIM announced the Curve with the GPS.  I haven’t been quite sane since.
• 3G network.   Nice!  Internet speeds that make using a mobile device, well… useable.
• Wi-Fi.   Cool service.  Neat for a quick IMDB while being a couch potato.  I’d say it wasn’t necessary given the 3G network, but see my next comment for why it IS necessary.
• Cell service over Wi-Fi for when I’m in my office.  For those of you who haven’t heard me complain about this in the past, my office is otherwise known as the Bermuda Triangle of cellphone service.  One minute its there, the next minute its gone.  Five Bars!  No Bars!  Two Bars!  No Bars!  Not good for conducting buisness.
• Much faster processor means no waiting for Apps or email to open.
• New BB OS, with such “advanced” features as HTML email.
• The camera is supposed to be a bit better too.

Overall, its a very nice improvement from my current 1st generation Curve.  The Curve made a BlackBerry man out of me - I’d been loyal to my Treo for FAR too long.  I’m hoping the Bold continues the trend, if they ever release the darn thing.

Blackberry Bold, RIM

Aug 10, 2008

Not that many folks would ever need this, but I was doing a little surfing on how to stream media to my Wii (more on that later) and came across this really cool idea for keeping sensitive information hidden.  It involves using TrueCrypt and creating a hidden operating system on your PC.

I haven’t tried it yet but its just too James Bond-ish to not mention.  This adds one more check box on my journey to being a super-spy:

1. Sharpshooter.  Check!
2. Lots of gadgets.  Check! Could use more though…
3. Seeing/married to hot chick.  Check!
4. Crazy cool encryption technology.  Check!
5. Svelte and athletic.  Damn.  Not so much.
6. Wins at poker.  Frack.
7. Insanely fast and expensive car (helps with #’s 2 and 3 above).   Aw forget it!  Who wants to be a super spy anyway!  *sniff*

TrueCrypt, Hidden OS, James Bond

Aug 10, 2008