2007/12/04
Just found this superb jQuery plugin - Flot allows you to quickly create graphs and other plots, complete with interactivity.
click image for more examples
2007/12/05
Just found this blog showing how to namespace events in jQuery:
(function($){
$.fn.extend({
clicked: function() {
return this.bind('click.clicked', function() {
$(this).addClass('clicked');
});
},
unclicked: function() {
retun this.removeClass('clicked').unbind('click.clicked');
}
});
})(jQuery);
The same blog also contains a Plugin Development Pattern which I highly recommend for anyone developing jQuery plugins.
Here's another jQuery plugin I've been using recently - Heat Color
It allows you to apply a colour "heat map" to a series of HTML elements:
The same author is also working on a time picker called Clock Pick.
Labels: jquery, wai, aria, jaria, javascript, accessibility
Well, it looks like the jARIA plugin is going to make it in to jQuery's UI library sooner rather than later.
ARIA stands for Accessible Rich Internet Applications - it's a fairly recent initiative to deal with the ongoing problem of making AJAXified applications and web pages accessible.
The jARIA plugin adds the following methods to the jQuery object:
- ariaRole() – Returns the ARIA role of the first matched element.
- ariaRole(role) – Assigns the ARIA role role to each of the matched elements.
- ariaRoleFilter(role) – Returns the set of elements that have the given ARIA role.
- ariaState(state) – Returns the value of the given ARIA state for the first matched element.
- ariaState(state, value) – Sets the ARIA state state on each matched element to value.
- ariaState(obj) – Sets the ARIA states and values in obj to each of the matched elements, where obj's keys are state names and its values are state values.
- ariaStateFilter(state, value) – Returns the set of elements that have an ARIA state with the given values.
The following custom event is also defined:
- ariaready – Fired on the document object when the document has been parsed for ARIA information.
The plugin is still a little buggy, but it's a huge leap in the right direction.
Over time, this plugin (and obviously support in jQuery UI) will not only make the standard jQuery UI controls more accessible, it will also allow developers to easily add accessibility features to their own custom UI elements.
2007/12/06
Labels: money, dichotomy, network, mob, rules, equity, social, participation, opensocial
Just a brain dump before sleeping...
Read these blog posts, from my favourite blog by Mark Pesce, in the following order:
- Mob Rules - your foundation class
- Hyperpolitics - delve deeper
- Qui bono? - The dichotomy begins
Is it me or does money, as a concept, need to be deprecated if not abolished?
In the networked world, money seems to be the cause not only of all evil but also the barrier to innovation and ultimately a new world order where altruistic behaviours reign supreme, transforming the human race beyond recognition.
It's blatantly obvious that "us mob" will tear down every form of institution. It's also blatantly obvious that in the networked world altruistic behaviours are of far higher value than selfish behaviours - or they would be if we didn't need money to put a roof over our head and food on the table.
Money is an institution, but an institution like no other (except, perhaps, religion). It's the polar opposite to the network, to us mob.
Imagine for a moment that money did not exist. Copyright law and patents would cease to be a meaningful concept. In an instant the human race would be sent in to overdrive. It would create a singularity – not a technical singularity (although it would help) but a social, cultural and knowledge singularity.
Think of all the patents preventing competing solutions from achieving perfection combined with the almost unimaginable amount of time saved from no longer needing to infect our every activity with the pursuit of money.
But there would be some huge challenges to overcome. How would you "buy" a house? How would you stop people from consuming vast quantities of electricity and goods, just because they can?
While money needs to be abolished for the human race to evolve further, it needs to be replaced with something to maintain some form of balance. But what?
In this age of Web 2.0 and social networking there does seem to be one obvious choice - community and/or participation equity. This choice seems obvious only because I've experienced it on a project we've worked on for Sun Microsystems (yes, that's me on one of the screen grabs).
- Community Equity is gained when you contribute to a community - eg. adding content
- Participation Equity is gained when you interact with a community - eg. rating content
It's possible that there would need to be a third kind of equity - something that tracks housekeeping or management of the community (otherwise the work of admins and moderators would go largely unnoticed).
Find some way to merge these things in to just "Equity" and you're sorted.
If each social network tracked the equity of it's members, then high standing members would be in a good position to ask for assistance from that community: I need help finding a house to live in
But that obviously wouldn't be enough - you'd also need to track the equity of communities with respect to other communities. For example, a small community may be of fundamental importance to larger community (which is in turn of importance to other communities, etc.) and therefore have it's equity (or the equity of it's members) amplified by the number and standing of communities that it is of benefit to.
Greed would mandate altruistic behaviour not only within a community but also between communities.
All it would take is a consistent mechanism for assessing equity and a standard API for calculating and transferring inter-community equity - the beginnings of a replacement for money?
We've already seen Google release OpenSocial - maybe someone will release OpenEquity?
All wishful thinking I guess, but something I'm sure I'll dream about tonight.
2007/12/08
It costs just $0.90 USD (about £0.45 GBP) to send a letter by Air Mail from USA to UK.
In contrast, it costs about £4 GBP or more (about $8.00 USD) to send a letter by Air Mail from UK to USA.
Why on earth is everything so expensive in the UK?! Grr!
2007/12/10
Reports are coming in about an invasion of HashCode Warriors at JavaPolis 2007.
Adaptavist's resident Sith Lord, Dan Hardiker, was spotted at Antwerp airport on 8th December:
On Sunday, padwan Alain Moran was found lurking in the projector hall in Metropolis.
Closely followed by me...
And the inevitable light sabre fight...
Labels: javapolis, opera, java, conference, belgium, antwerp
UNDER CONSTRUCTION: Networking JavaPolis
Everyone knows what a conference is like, but have you ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes? Who are those people with radios? Where do those mysterious doors go at the back of cinema rooms? And why are CAT5 network cables coming out of air vents?!
The JavaPolis team start work on the Conference months in advance and when the Conference starts they work throughout the week to ensure the conference is a success.
One of the busiest days is the Sunday before the conference - and Adaptavist were there to lend a hand.
This blog post shows just a fraction of the work carried out the day before the conference which, until now, has probably never been seen before...
There are obviously some things that are on display for all to see, like the huge banners outside the entrance (which nearly ripped off in the strong winds on Sunday):
Metropolis Business Centre
And the smaller banners inside the building, like this one being unwrapped in the main cinema hall:
Stephan Janssen and Dan Hardiker unwrapping signs for the stairwells in the Cinema Hall
But these things are just distractions to what's going on in the hidden Projection Room above:
The Boiler Room
Film reel (left), digital projector (right)
Throughout the year, this is where the latest movies are projected on to well over a dozen cinema screens at the Metropolis cinema complex in Antwerp. It's filled with huge projectors - both a digital and old-school film reel projector for every screen - each of which can be seen through the small window next to the projector (look for it next time you're in the cinema):
We're watching you...
But for one week each year, JavaPolis takes over...
Controlled Pandemonium
From left to right: Someone I didn't get the name of, Stephan Janssen (BeJUG), Valérie (Javapolis), Dan Hardiker (Adaptavist.com)
Me (dressed in my Jedi robe) chatting to Kenneth (who works for Opera)
A vast array of equipment is required - everything from network routers though to video switching:
And you thought your video was complex!
It's a bit more advanced than my hi-fi
Valérie messing with her camera
One of the most important clumps of cable is the DSL link - without this there'd be no Internet access...
DSL Lines
Before we could start on the network cables, we had to make sure the DSL cable was out of harm's way:
The DSL is linked to the network routers and switches which in turn are monitored by a few computers:
From left to right: Linux, OS X, Windows
And then there's the cabling. Lots and lots and lots of cabling. We didn't count how many miles/kilometers of cabling we used, but it was lots.
Video and audio cables
The network cables were particularly "fun" to install. From the projector room cables have to be taken to each of the cinema rooms and also the cinema hall on the first floor followed by the exhibition hall and reception on the ground floor. This sounded easy at first, but then we started to realise what was involved...
This year things were more complicated than usual because all the cinema rooms (where presentations are held) were full of people watching the latest movie releases.
Waiting for the room to empty
Getting to the cinema rooms was fairly easy - there's a door at the back of each room that leads directly to the projection hall:
Dan about to dash in to cinema room 5
As soon as a movie finished, and enough people had left the room, Javapolians would leap (literally) out of the door at the back of the room and frantically start cabling.
There's no ducting in the cinema rooms (or indeed most other places within Metropolis) so you just have to route cables around whatever obstacles are in the way.
Getting the cable around the chairs
Cabling round the doors
Cabling down the stairs
Cabling the cinema rooms was pretty easy, albeit hectic.
We then had to cable the hallway where there's two rows of tables for laptop users. This proved to be a little more tricky as there was no easy way to get the cable to the exact location where we needed it. So, we found an air vent and carefully pushed the cable through - it comes out from the roof and down one of the support posts.
Alain carefully cabling around the light trellis.
Anyway, I'll leave it there because another talk is about to start but as you can see there's a LOT going on behind the scenes to make JavaPolis a successful conference.
2007/12/19
Seems Facebook has a group for everything, including Bolton.
Some of the listed highlights of Bolton include:
7. Bolton has one of the top mountain rescue team in the country – despite not having any mountains.
10. Little known fact: The ice cream wafer sandwich was invented in Bolton.
19. Bolton is one of a handful of towns whose roundabouts are featured on a new cult calendar which has sold thousands. We share the 'honour' with the likes of Milton Keynes and Swindon.
23. Little known fact two: Most disposable bedpans in the world are made in Bolton by Vernacare.
36. Bolton can hold its own in the eccentricity stakes. Darcy Lever residents recently vied to see who could throw a potato the furthest over a disused railway viaduct.
37. We have arguably the most zealous parking wardens in the world!
They're all mad as toast (ie. "completely hatstand") over in Bolton, but you gotta love 'em. A town that spawned Fred Dibnah is a worthy place IMHO.
2007/12/20
To celebrate we dressed up as elves and dance for your viewing pleasure: Adaptavist Elves
click picture to watch us dance
