Archive for 2005-11

After installing Mozilla’s Firefox 1.5 yesterday afternoon, I began to explore the still familiar interface. The developers kept the basic UI the same. For anyone looking to modify the interface in a major way, look into Firefox themes. There are a few minor changes in the interface for 1.5. The Tools menu features a few new items and still performs as the launchpad for plugin/extension management. The RSS feed subscribe icon was relocated conveniently to the address bar. Also, the search bar includes a few new services by default (you can easily add your favorite search engine or web tool.)

The tab interface is probably the most noticeable change to the UI. In 1.5, Firefox developers chose to implement moveable tabs. This was an extension for 1.0 series, but in 1.5 it is standard.

Speaking of extensions, the one thing that is a downside to a version shift like this is that your installed extensions from the 1.0 series may not be compatible in 1.5. For me, I was very disappointed that my SessionSaver plugin was not yet compatible with 1.5. Hopefully, the extension developer (a third party, not Mozilla) will get the extension up to speed soon. The SessionSaver extension is an extremely practical one and I have become quite reliant on it. SessionSaver allows you to close your browser window and reopen just as you left it, tabs, pages, and page history in place.

Other than SessionSaver, I had no problems with extensions during the upgrade. I also liked the fact that developers included an option to query addons.mozilla.org for upgrades to extensions that were rendered useless during the version shift. Unfortunately, SessionSaver wasn’t available, but it was very handy to check right there without opening a browser window and manually searching for an option post-install.

Another upgrade that hasn’t been apparent yet, but that will be soon, is the updates mechanism. In the 1.0 series, updates were made to the browser by reinstalling a package (essentially the whole application), a tedious and interruptive process. In 1.5, Mozilla is introducing “Smart Updates”¹ which will patch sections of code rather than reintroducing the full corrected source. This is a vast improvement for Firefox in my opinion.

Mozilla also focused on the speed of the browser. While bandwidth and other issues do apply, there are alot of tweaks that Firefox developers employed to help speed up the application itself. For instance, most power users will notice that page loads are now faster. Also, the forward and back buttons produce pages much faster, even instantly. And scrolling has also improved.

One issue I always had with the 1.0 series was the poor response to pages not found or other network issues. For 1.5, Mozilla corrected that response by offering a small help page and even a “Try Again” option when a page or network error occurs. If you are on 1.5, just enter a bogus link and watch the action. I literally discovered this right out of the gate when accidentally typing in “mozilla.rg.”

All of the changes aside, my absolute favorite new feature of Firefox 1.5 is the new del.icio.us extension. In a word, it is incredible. As an avid del.icio.us user, I find this tool very useful. I will leave it at this: if you use del.icio.us to manage or publicize your bookmarks, get this extension.

Mozilla has done a superb job overall with Firefox 1.5. I’m very pleased with this new version and I love open source. Keep up the great work Mozilla. Thanks for revolutionizing the web experience. (And email and calendaring and…)

Firefox 1.5
Mozilla’s new product home, mozilla.com
Addons, Extensions, Themes, Engines
Mozilla Recommended Extensions
¹Mozilla Developers Interview on Inside the Net Podcast

Technorati Tags: Firefox, Firefox 1.5, Review, Update, Mozilla, Developer, UI, del.icio.us, SessionSaver

About 30 seconds ago, Firefox 1.5 was released. Mozilla unveiled a new URL for Firefox and Thunderbird, mozilla.com. This is the first major update of the browser since leaving beta stage a year ago.

Get Firefox 1.5

Technorati Tags: Firefox, Firefox 1.5, Mozilla

A few months ago, I ran across a new service from 37signals. When this company does something, I pay attention. So when they released Backpack, I took the usual test drive. At the time, I really enjoyed the idea behind it, but I didn’t see a real need for it in my life.

Then I embarked on a serious busy season. The summer was over, the church is rocking into Autumn/Winter, and I’ve had some positive publicity. At one event, a pastor announced to a group of about 50 pastors that I was available to build their church websites and he raved about a job well done on the site I had developed for his church. I was humbled, honored and then swamped with phone calls. I also wasn’t truly “available,” but after that announcement I was available by default. As I began to see a real need to scale up my method of project management, I decided it was probably time to stop scratching notes on miscellaneous writing surfaces like Krispy Kreme napkins and start searching for a more efficient, convenient solution.

I couldn’t help recalling Backpack. 37signals offers several tiers of service with Backpack including a free starter service. I signed into the free backpack that I had left vacant a few months earlier, cleaned out the cobwebs and started typing. Within a few minutes, I realized this was the solution I was looking for. Inevitably, I also determined my needs were more extensive than the features of the free service. So, I upgraded. For $5 a month, I get what I need for a nominal fee. Backpack’s premier feature, the Writeboard, really aids in organization. Basically, Writeboards are like independent “digital chalkboards” that you can use to store information, like notes on projects, recipes, message notes, contact information. Anything! The central location and convenient writing and storing methods are a real bonus. You can easily edit a Writeboard and any former versions can be recalled at any time ensuring mistake-free work.

Personally, I use the Writeboards to outline the projects that I am involved in. I include the basic information about the project, contact information for the client, web hosting information and recommended web packages tailored to the needs of the client. Once that information is established, I track my progress on the project and include detailed information about telephone and electronic correspondence with the client. I always know whose court the ball is in. In a few cases, I develop the project collaboratively with someone on the church team who has some experience in web development, in which case I “share” the Writeboard for the project with them. This allows for a team effort in the project development as well as linear communication amongst everyone involved. The writeboards are fully editable by anyone on the invite list and a comments section is available if you choose to make your Writeboard publicly viewable as a web page.

There are many other features of Backpack, several worth noting. It has a neat reminder feature that will send you an email and/or mobile text message to help spur your memory on important appointments or to-do items. Backpack also includes features that manage to-do lists, notes, photos and files.

37signals offers another product, Basecamp, that is intended to be used for project management. It’s a bit pricier than Backpack, but is feature-rich as well. If Backpack ever fails to deliver, I may upgrade to Basecamp. For now, I’m really enjoying Backpacking it.

Additional Notes:
Writeboards completely free at writeboard.com.
Backpack starts free at backpackit.com.
Basecamp starts free at basecamphq.com.
All of this from 37signals.

Technorati Tags: 37signals, Writeboard, Backpack, Basecamp, Organization, Project Management

My dad started blogging this week. Dad’s always been the technical geek of the family and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed following in his footsteps. He’s also been an incredible spiritual leader and precedent setter. By far, his influence has made the greatest impact in my life. His leadership ability is admirable and contagious. I love you Dad and I wish you many happy blog entries!

GradyRussell.com

I wish everyone a safe and happy Thanksgiving holiday. I love this season of reflection and I love giving thanks to God for His great blessings in my life. Missy and I have had a wonderful year! Life moves so quickly. It is so important to slow down and show gratitude for the blessings in our lives.

After much anticipation, WordPress.com is available for everyone. With WordPress.com, you can create your own blog on the famously simple and sharp WordPress platform. It’s free and your blog can be up and running in minutes.

Hit it now.

If you’ve ever wondered about your theological worldview, well now you can stop wondering. Check out the Theological Worldview Quiz at QuizFarm.

Here are my results. I had a tie and had to enter a tie break response. This is fascinating.

Discovered on the NCC small groups blog.

SuprGlu is a new service designed to take all the tidbits you have strewn across the web and mash them together with the wonder and awe of RSS.

Essentially, much of the content that is published on the web today is aggregated using RSS, especially blogs like Wordpress and folksonomy sites like digg and del.icio.us. Now there is a way to mashup that information in one place, SuprGlu.

For me, SuprGlu combines the content published on davidblog, the sites dugg on digg and the links added to my del.icio.us. The combined content is displayed chronologically in a blog-like interface at SuprGlu. You can even subscribe to the SuprGlu RSS feed (XML) and get this mashed-together content in your reader.

If you’re interested in keeping track of more than just the blog entries, check out davidrussell.suprglu.com.

Technorati Tags: suprglu, mashup, service, rss, digg, del.icio.us, wordpress

Google just launched Analytics today. I’ve signed up and deployed the service and I will give a full review soon. Early indications all say “Go!” The signup was easy enough. No telling what all I agreed to in that EULA. Oh well. The statistics should begin pooling soon.

This service is for web site administrators, bloggers, and pastors or executives who need an analysis of web traffic. You will need to be able to modify your code, so if you are on a blog service, or do not have a hand in modifying the source code of your website, you will need to defer to your web administrator or web service for assistance.

Features:

• Free
• Google with Urchin heritage
• Traffic stats
• Visitors
• Patterns
• Geography
• 5M monthly page view cap (almost didn’t make that… ok, not really.)

That’s the snapshot I got on the onset. I will fill in more on the review.

Also, in case you are wondering, I am currently using AWSTATS for all my statistics tracking on davidblog. I refer to it daily and highly recommend some form of web traffic analysis for anyone who owns or manages any site.

Saw this at Tony Morgan the other day. Here are the first 15 songs in random order as shuffled by the Nano: