Category / General

by Aaron

Need to criticize …? Think first.

Even with avatars and accounts, and …, many web-visitors feel empowered to be critical. Is it the lack of face to face?  The need to feel like a contributor, even if it’s negative?

Why is there a completely irrational need to analyze someone else’s web page innards, rather than the outside? I know, we’re often taught to look for inner beauty in other people – but in the case of web sites, the opposite is true. Seriously – does the fact that a new web site uses a table layout somehow truly impact the usefulness of the web site (even a table layout can be made accessible).

Read “Hey, lose the pedantic negativity.” from Vitamin.

by Aaron

How to set Internet Explorer 8 View Source Tool/Editor

IE8 includes a new syntax highlighting View Source tool similar to what is available in other web browsers. However, you may not want to use the built-in, view-only tool. It’s easy to change.

1)

Start Internet Explorer 8 if it isn’t already started. Within IE8, click the Tools menu, then select Developer Tools (or just press [F12]).

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2) Then, from the developer tools, select File, Customize Internet Explorer View Source, and then Other….

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A file open dialog is displayed. Navigate to the application you want to use … for example Visual Studio 2008:

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That’s it!

 

Note (how to completely reset Internet Explorer 8 View Source option):

When I first installed IE8, after having installed earlier builds of IE8 (beta and RC), I wasn’t able to reset the view source option back to the Default Viewer. (I’ve later noticed that even after selecting Default Viewer, it never actually leaves the Default Viewer option selected, even if that is the current option). After some registry hunting, you may need to clear out a registry setting that is incorrectly set.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\VirtualStore\MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\View Source Editor\Editor Name

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The Key’s (Default) value was set to Notepad on my machine, which would cause IE8 to always use Notepad to view source, even though I wanted to use the built-in view source option. I cleared the value (but did not remove the key) and everything began working as normal again. Using the menu option within the developer tool’s in IE8 does not appear to set this value correctly, even though it is used as a potential supplying key/value.

Hope this helps someone!

by Aaron

Places NOT to stay in the United States

If you’re bored … read a few of the reviews posted on Trip Advisor for some of these hotels located in the United States… YIKES!

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Read: 2009 Dirtiest Hotels

Years ago, I stayed in a Vegas casino hotel, the Stardust, that had been remodeled so many times, that the ceiling panels in the hall ways in one of the hotel towers actually dropped lower than the top of the frame of many doors!!! (And reports from other fellow travelers were that they wondered if the rooms had been cleaned after the last few people had slept there).

Thankfully, it’s no more (read).

by Aaron

5 Great Online Color Palette selection and design tools

Can’t find the color that matches your favorite cyan? Use one of these web based color palette selection tools to help you find the perfect match!  My current favorites are the first two, Color Scheme Designer and Kuler.

Color Scheme Designer

Easy to use and has a simulation of what some people may see who have various color vision deficiencies.

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Kuler

A slick Adobe Flash based color selection and sharing site.

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ColorJack

Although not as easy to use right away, a very powerful color selection tool with many different features.

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Color Wizard

Although the actual selection of color isn’t as much fun as some of the other online options, the Color Wizard has lots of onscreen colors at one time for easy identification of options without a lot of fuss. (The worst part is that the page is heavily loaded with advertisements).

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Sessions Color Wheel Color Calculator

The link to this is actually mid-way down the middle of the page. This is a another nice interactive color selection tool. I would have prefered that they hadn’t picked an orange/gold color as the base color for their selection application.

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And a bonus,

SitePro Central’s Colour Scheme Chooser

Simple and efficient.

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