Part II of my Open Source vs. Shrinkwrapped Boxes review focuses on web page development software. For the same price as Micro$oft Office, web developers can purchase high-end graphical user interface web content development software (roughly $400), in the form of Dreamweaver. For about $100, they can purchase a textually-based content developer - not just a tag insertor, but a whole-site developer that tracks stylesheets, images, links, etc. Is it worth it? First, let's look at websites on the cheap, or text-based editors.
There are two freeware programs that I've used on my Mac to develop HTML and XHTML websites, both of which have great strengths. SEEdit and Taco HTML Editor are freeware (although SEEdit offers a $40 tech-supported edition with a vast number of very nice templates) programs that check your code against W3C standards. Of the two, I prefer SEEdit for large projects, because it keeps track of your entire site - even provides basic CSS templates that you may edit to customize your output. It automatically develops your site to XHTML 1.0 transitional standards (the new industry standard); although it allows you to develop HTML 4.01 as well.
SEEdit tracks your stylesheet tags, so if you create subclasses, say "p.nav," for a navigation area, it will include your subclasses within its toolbars, which are very extensive. It reads your images, and also allows you to preview pages within several different browsers, all of which you can select yourself. To take a look at SEEdit software and downloads, click here to go to the developer's website. He has screenshots and links to the downloads of both paid and freeware versions.
Taco HTML Edit is more useful for on-the-fly editing, for a simple reason: SEEdit will not open non-SEEdit pages, unless you go through a very tedious process. Taco will open any page, of any code type, and allow you to edit the specifications to update quickly, say, if you forget a form field, or make a simple textual booboo: it uses very little memory and has a wide range of tag selection. It also has a color wheel to allow you to be exact when choosing colors to include on your site. To visit and download the Taco program, click here for the developer site. You can see screenshots and more to help make your decision, although with the program weighing in at 3 MB or so, what do you have to lose?
To help you learn to write your own code, check out Sunrise Browser, the Developer's web browser. This one's lightweight (684kB), and FAST! It allows you to view the source and perform sample edits in a transparent screen, and displays the changes you make in the browser window: it won't change the real code, but it will allow you to experiment and see your own changes as you type. This is a really nifty piece of software, and considering the price (free) and size (less than 1MB), it's truly worth a look.
On the GUI side, there have been few offerings in the open source world until now, with the advent of N|vu (New View), a GUI web developer similar in interface to Dreamweaver and Front Page. As the developer states, "it's not the same as Front Page or Dreamweaver, but if you're familiar with these programs, N|vu will pose few problems." It is an extremely powerful program, but, since it's fairly new, I would save my work FREQUENTLY, because newer open source programs have the tendency to crash occasionally. To take a look at the developer website, where you can download Mac OS X native, Windows native, and Linux package versions, as well as look at screenshots, click here. This is a pretty exciting development - nobody has had time to develop such a program until now - and it may well improve web standards.
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currently on miPod - "It'll Never be the Same," Gene Krupa
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
Monday, March 20, 2006
The (Mis)Communication Age
For a society that lauds itself as being one of instant and mass communication, Americans have poor communication skills. We are surrounded by previously unimagined modes of communication: cellular telephones, fax machines, e-mail, express mail, and the Internet are prevalent and each day becoming more dominant. We are seconds away from communicating with other human beings, but for some reason the more accessible communication becomes, the less able we are to communicate meaningfully with one another.
I’ll begin with the mobile phone. Privacy seems to be a thing of the past. When people are walking down the street, arguing with their phones (or worse, crying into it), they don’t seem to realize that other people will stare. They’ll shoot a dirty look in the direction of an onlooker, as though that individual has no respect for the privacy of folks who decide to air their personal affairs at top volume in the middle of the street. Pardon me, but when I hear someone shouting, “I can’t believe you fucked her!” it is inevitable that I will stop and stare, usually with great amusement.
Another facet of the mobile phone is the absolute mundanity of what people choose to say to one another. In days past, nobody ever needed to know that I was entering Blockbuster, taking a shit, or reading the paper (sometimes the latter two are combined). We seem to have a constant need, nonexistent ten years ago, to know the location of every known individual in our lives, as well as his current activity. We don’t make plans; we just feel the need to occupy someone’s valuable time.
For some, this desire to be in constant touch with everyone else means that they must keep their phones with them and on in settings where quiet or privacy were once expected. It seems that I cannot go to a movie, show, or library without someone’s phone ringing. It becomes truly annoying when the ring is some piece of shit from popular music, as though everyone in the world has a great need to know your taste (or lack thereof) in music. Another irritating asshole is the person who must have his telephone in a restaurant. When I decide to pay for the privilege of having someone else bring the dinner and the wine in order that my wife and I can sit and talk for a few uninterrupted hours, the last thing I need is to hear a phone ring at the next table followed by some loud asshole yelling into his phone that the party on the other line must speak up because he is in a restaurant and is getting poor reception. These people never talk about anything important, anything that couldn’t wait until after dinner, they just babble incessantly about some relatively minor incident. Be forewarned: I do not pay seventy dollars for the privilege of hearing about your pathetic life; and if I hear your phone ring in my proximity, you will soon find out how well that cheap glass of Merlot you ordered compliments the flavor of your Nokia.
I am a big fan of e-mail, however, I believe that it is slowly ruining the ability of individuals to communicate meaning in concise written speech. Corporations have actually had to issue memorandums regarding professionalism in official communication because some of their employees have sunk so far into e-speech that it reflects poorly on the corporate image. Abbreviated words look adolescent. In fact, when u write like this, it makes me :,(. BTW: 8 -> stupid bastard who doesn’t kno ENGL. Briefly translated for those of us who are familiar with and love the English language, that last passage read, “In fact, when you write like this, it makes me cry. By the way: look at the stupid bastard who doesn’t know English.”
I’ll begin with the mobile phone. Privacy seems to be a thing of the past. When people are walking down the street, arguing with their phones (or worse, crying into it), they don’t seem to realize that other people will stare. They’ll shoot a dirty look in the direction of an onlooker, as though that individual has no respect for the privacy of folks who decide to air their personal affairs at top volume in the middle of the street. Pardon me, but when I hear someone shouting, “I can’t believe you fucked her!” it is inevitable that I will stop and stare, usually with great amusement.
Another facet of the mobile phone is the absolute mundanity of what people choose to say to one another. In days past, nobody ever needed to know that I was entering Blockbuster, taking a shit, or reading the paper (sometimes the latter two are combined). We seem to have a constant need, nonexistent ten years ago, to know the location of every known individual in our lives, as well as his current activity. We don’t make plans; we just feel the need to occupy someone’s valuable time.
For some, this desire to be in constant touch with everyone else means that they must keep their phones with them and on in settings where quiet or privacy were once expected. It seems that I cannot go to a movie, show, or library without someone’s phone ringing. It becomes truly annoying when the ring is some piece of shit from popular music, as though everyone in the world has a great need to know your taste (or lack thereof) in music. Another irritating asshole is the person who must have his telephone in a restaurant. When I decide to pay for the privilege of having someone else bring the dinner and the wine in order that my wife and I can sit and talk for a few uninterrupted hours, the last thing I need is to hear a phone ring at the next table followed by some loud asshole yelling into his phone that the party on the other line must speak up because he is in a restaurant and is getting poor reception. These people never talk about anything important, anything that couldn’t wait until after dinner, they just babble incessantly about some relatively minor incident. Be forewarned: I do not pay seventy dollars for the privilege of hearing about your pathetic life; and if I hear your phone ring in my proximity, you will soon find out how well that cheap glass of Merlot you ordered compliments the flavor of your Nokia.
I am a big fan of e-mail, however, I believe that it is slowly ruining the ability of individuals to communicate meaning in concise written speech. Corporations have actually had to issue memorandums regarding professionalism in official communication because some of their employees have sunk so far into e-speech that it reflects poorly on the corporate image. Abbreviated words look adolescent. In fact, when u write like this, it makes me :,(. BTW: 8 -> stupid bastard who doesn’t kno ENGL. Briefly translated for those of us who are familiar with and love the English language, that last passage read, “In fact, when you write like this, it makes me cry. By the way: look at the stupid bastard who doesn’t know English.”
Friday, March 17, 2006
Software Soapbox - Part I - Word Processors
Word processing is among the oldest and most commonly used software groups in the computer industry. Although WordPerfect still has its adherents, and AppleWorks has improved enormously in recent years, Microsoft Word is the dominant word processing package in the industry. It's also enormously expensive: around two hundred bucks. The code is bloated: they seem to have built upon the same version for over a decade, with each release adding another "feature" that users cannot turn off. Microsoft doesn't care if its software is slow or buggy, because Bill Gates knows that people feel as though they have to buy it anyway, because they've filled software review pages with propaganda stating that other programs can't adequately interpret .doc documents, and since .doc is the most ubiquitous file format for word processing, well, you get the picture.
Word is not user friendly. I've taken courses in technical documentation and interface design, and the basic rule still holds true: the more features, the less usable. How many people can honestly say that they use all parts of Word? One of their most annoying toys is that idiot box that pops up when users begin typing: a creepy little anthropomorphic animatron jumps onto the screen, does a little dance, and says, "It looks like you're trying to do X. Can I help?" Experienced users know how to turn it off, but the beginner can waste a lot of time on this. I don't like autocorrect: when I type in a long and difficult word, as part of an academic assignment, I don't want to go back and tell it to stop autocorrecting that word. I also don't want to have to continually tell it to stop autoformatting for me. When I want a format, I'll choose that option in your handy little menubar - that, coincidentally, has nine thousand microscopic icons, ten of which I use. Oh - let's not forget that Microsoft includes a grammar checker that fouls up punctuation and makes the most horrendous stylistic suggestions possible.
Today's challenge: Open source word processing software in native code (will run without a unix shell on Windoze or OS X) that has all of the features needed, without the overkill of bigbox software. Keep in mind: I'm not discussing office software, just word processors.
The winner: AbiWord - an award-winning, full featured, small (35 MB for the full edition in Mac OS X - the download is about 10MB) and FAST word processor. Visit the AbiWord download page: they have versions available for Mac OS X (versions 10.2 and up), Windows (95 and newer) and Linux - all versions are native code.
My Take: It actually has superior features to MS Word, and can open all Word docs. It can save in Word and better formats. Take a look at a shot of the "Save As" window in the base edition for Mac OS X to see the formats. They were not kidding about the speed: it opens and operates much faster, because it uses less memory and doesn't need the fastest processor on earth to run. Windows users, take heart: you only need a 486 processor to run it. It will open massive documents from Word with no format loss: to test this, I opened my Master's thesis (about 110 pages, 309 kB) and looked through it. Not only were there zero formatting problems, it actually opened the document faster, the interface never slowed (like it does in Word when it's "Paginating"). You can look at a screenshot of the basic version of OS X here.
Features: This was the key test. Did it have usable features? Did it have the requirements we've grown to expect in a streamlined word processor? Yes. It actually has better dictionary functions than Word, and has the added benefit of wikipedia access. You can open the "styles" window to sit beside your document awaiting your command. Best of all: it didn't have unneccesary accoutrements. AbiWord has tons of plugins available for users who want to add features that they want. This was the kicker: they provide a baseline model that has all basic features, and users can add features that they want. They do not force us to clutter our menus with things we don't need. It is fully customizable: the list of plugins was incredible, and they all integrate without problems; furthermore, even with every add-in possible, the program is still smoother and faster than Word. A shot of the basic tool menu, and a shot of the basic style box, can be found here.
Quick Ratings Comparison: On a scale of one to five, with five being best:
Size & Speed: AbiWord: 5 MSWord: 2
Price: 5 (FREE!) 1
Interface: 4.5 3
Customization: 4.5 2.5
Stability: 4 3.5
Ease of use: 5 2
Support: 3.5 (but free) 3.5 (and you pay for it)
Overall Average: 4.5 2.5
'
AbiWord is definitely high on my recommendation list. You can't beat the price, the speed, or the accessibility. Of course, if you like bloated, overcomplicated word processing software, then by all means pay Microsoft a few hundred bucks.
Word is not user friendly. I've taken courses in technical documentation and interface design, and the basic rule still holds true: the more features, the less usable. How many people can honestly say that they use all parts of Word? One of their most annoying toys is that idiot box that pops up when users begin typing: a creepy little anthropomorphic animatron jumps onto the screen, does a little dance, and says, "It looks like you're trying to do X. Can I help?" Experienced users know how to turn it off, but the beginner can waste a lot of time on this. I don't like autocorrect: when I type in a long and difficult word, as part of an academic assignment, I don't want to go back and tell it to stop autocorrecting that word. I also don't want to have to continually tell it to stop autoformatting for me. When I want a format, I'll choose that option in your handy little menubar - that, coincidentally, has nine thousand microscopic icons, ten of which I use. Oh - let's not forget that Microsoft includes a grammar checker that fouls up punctuation and makes the most horrendous stylistic suggestions possible.
Today's challenge: Open source word processing software in native code (will run without a unix shell on Windoze or OS X) that has all of the features needed, without the overkill of bigbox software. Keep in mind: I'm not discussing office software, just word processors.
The winner: AbiWord - an award-winning, full featured, small (35 MB for the full edition in Mac OS X - the download is about 10MB) and FAST word processor. Visit the AbiWord download page: they have versions available for Mac OS X (versions 10.2 and up), Windows (95 and newer) and Linux - all versions are native code.
My Take: It actually has superior features to MS Word, and can open all Word docs. It can save in Word and better formats. Take a look at a shot of the "Save As" window in the base edition for Mac OS X to see the formats. They were not kidding about the speed: it opens and operates much faster, because it uses less memory and doesn't need the fastest processor on earth to run. Windows users, take heart: you only need a 486 processor to run it. It will open massive documents from Word with no format loss: to test this, I opened my Master's thesis (about 110 pages, 309 kB) and looked through it. Not only were there zero formatting problems, it actually opened the document faster, the interface never slowed (like it does in Word when it's "Paginating"). You can look at a screenshot of the basic version of OS X here.
Features: This was the key test. Did it have usable features? Did it have the requirements we've grown to expect in a streamlined word processor? Yes. It actually has better dictionary functions than Word, and has the added benefit of wikipedia access. You can open the "styles" window to sit beside your document awaiting your command. Best of all: it didn't have unneccesary accoutrements. AbiWord has tons of plugins available for users who want to add features that they want. This was the kicker: they provide a baseline model that has all basic features, and users can add features that they want. They do not force us to clutter our menus with things we don't need. It is fully customizable: the list of plugins was incredible, and they all integrate without problems; furthermore, even with every add-in possible, the program is still smoother and faster than Word. A shot of the basic tool menu, and a shot of the basic style box, can be found here.
Quick Ratings Comparison: On a scale of one to five, with five being best:
Size & Speed: AbiWord: 5 MSWord: 2
Price: 5 (FREE!) 1
Interface: 4.5 3
Customization: 4.5 2.5
Stability: 4 3.5
Ease of use: 5 2
Support: 3.5 (but free) 3.5 (and you pay for it)
Overall Average: 4.5 2.5
'
AbiWord is definitely high on my recommendation list. You can't beat the price, the speed, or the accessibility. Of course, if you like bloated, overcomplicated word processing software, then by all means pay Microsoft a few hundred bucks.
Software Soapbox - Intro
I've posted comments about the open-source software movement before, but raving about it isn't enough. Software megagiants Microslut, Adobe, and Macromedia (macro says it all, don't you think?) have far too many advertising dollars to attract users, to tempt them into paying six hundred dollars for the newest update of clunky, bloated codeware, and their user bases believe that in order to read or edit documents made in these programs, one must own the software. "Translation doesn't work! It screws up formatting!" This parrots the garbage that software companies spew in press releases disguised as warnings.
This is trash: code is, in the end, only code: it can be deciphered, it can be compiled, it can be rewritten. The code that tells your computer that this "document.doc" is a Microsoft Word document can be written by other word processors. Another complaint is that end users frequently feel as though they have to switch to Unix or Linux, or run open source software within a "shell," such as the X11 shell for Macintosh. In fact, there are a number of open source programs that have been ported into absolutely "native" formats - they don't require the shell.
I am, as you all know by now, a graduate student. Economically, this places me somewhere between the illegal immigrants working at Wally Martin and the cashier at the grocery store. I've had to resort to alternative programs for years, but I am able to access (read: temporarily steal from the university) full editions of regular programs to test the open source alternatives against the big box brands. Periodically, I'm going to review native open source software, comparing it to much more expensive versions. Since I work my computer to death, often running it at 95% load, I think that if it works for me, it will work for most users. I won't advocate that graphic design firms working for multimillion-dollar corporations switch from Photoshop to GIMP, because I can't say that I'm coming from that angle; however, I will advocate that people who want to perform relatively high-end graphic work (as I do, often) and who understand the interface of image manipulation software should switch to GIMP.
This is trash: code is, in the end, only code: it can be deciphered, it can be compiled, it can be rewritten. The code that tells your computer that this "document.doc" is a Microsoft Word document can be written by other word processors. Another complaint is that end users frequently feel as though they have to switch to Unix or Linux, or run open source software within a "shell," such as the X11 shell for Macintosh. In fact, there are a number of open source programs that have been ported into absolutely "native" formats - they don't require the shell.
I am, as you all know by now, a graduate student. Economically, this places me somewhere between the illegal immigrants working at Wally Martin and the cashier at the grocery store. I've had to resort to alternative programs for years, but I am able to access (read: temporarily steal from the university) full editions of regular programs to test the open source alternatives against the big box brands. Periodically, I'm going to review native open source software, comparing it to much more expensive versions. Since I work my computer to death, often running it at 95% load, I think that if it works for me, it will work for most users. I won't advocate that graphic design firms working for multimillion-dollar corporations switch from Photoshop to GIMP, because I can't say that I'm coming from that angle; however, I will advocate that people who want to perform relatively high-end graphic work (as I do, often) and who understand the interface of image manipulation software should switch to GIMP.
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Scum, Inc.
This article from the Washington Post is the reason I avoided Law School. Ask most undergraduates in the humanities what their career choices include, and the top two answers will be "Law" and "Public Service" (PS in the form of social work, writing, or government-related grub labor). I applied, jumped through all the hoops, and talked to lawyers. Most of the lawyers I respected as people told me to stay away from law. It would make me hate myself. Now I know why.
Is the term "legal ethics" truly an oxymoron? It certainly appears so. Recently in North Carolina, two prosecutors in a 1996 death penalty case - who had withheld evidence, lied, and coached witnesses, all to get the win - were let off the hook for felonious prosecutorial misconduct. They face NO penalty for what, in my opinion, was attempted murder on their part - all part of that win win win mentality of Americans. The reason? Charges were brought against them after the deadline. Funny, there's no statute of limitations for murder, but what those assholes did was just fine.
Now we have government attorneys. The woman had a confession. She had the united anger of an entire nation on her side. Yet she still felt she had to coach witnesses against a confessed member of the September 11 plot, Zacarias Moussaoui. What was she thinking? In breaking ethics codes, she makes it possible that this evil, murdering bastard will not have to face the death penalty. It makes me sick.
I know, not all lawyers are like this. Many are much brighter. This woman had the case in the bag, yet she threw the conviction and the trial away because she needed a little "insurance" that the FAA employees would toe the party line and say exactly the right thing. Who in the hell would worry about FAA employee testimony against airline hijackers? I understand Judge Leonie Brinkema's ruling, and commend her for it. I think Carla Martin, the idiot, the jackass of the week, should be forced into some sort of legal crap job, defending feces from allegations of stench by vomit.
---
currently playing on miPod - Dvorak, Symphony no. 9, 2nd movement
Is the term "legal ethics" truly an oxymoron? It certainly appears so. Recently in North Carolina, two prosecutors in a 1996 death penalty case - who had withheld evidence, lied, and coached witnesses, all to get the win - were let off the hook for felonious prosecutorial misconduct. They face NO penalty for what, in my opinion, was attempted murder on their part - all part of that win win win mentality of Americans. The reason? Charges were brought against them after the deadline. Funny, there's no statute of limitations for murder, but what those assholes did was just fine.
Now we have government attorneys. The woman had a confession. She had the united anger of an entire nation on her side. Yet she still felt she had to coach witnesses against a confessed member of the September 11 plot, Zacarias Moussaoui. What was she thinking? In breaking ethics codes, she makes it possible that this evil, murdering bastard will not have to face the death penalty. It makes me sick.
I know, not all lawyers are like this. Many are much brighter. This woman had the case in the bag, yet she threw the conviction and the trial away because she needed a little "insurance" that the FAA employees would toe the party line and say exactly the right thing. Who in the hell would worry about FAA employee testimony against airline hijackers? I understand Judge Leonie Brinkema's ruling, and commend her for it. I think Carla Martin, the idiot, the jackass of the week, should be forced into some sort of legal crap job, defending feces from allegations of stench by vomit.
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currently playing on miPod - Dvorak, Symphony no. 9, 2nd movement
Monday, March 13, 2006
Soviet America
I am ready to move, once more. Remember my last entries about the first amendment? Well, kiddies, the Washington Post has recently written an article about a piece of shit legislation proposed by Senator Mike "WINO" DeWine of Ohio. Old WINO's bill will make it a crime to report that the President and his administration are committing crimes. The summary paragraph from the Post states:
What the hell kind of hypocritical nation are we living in? We're gonna spread McFreedom all over the damn landscape, but by doing so, we are going to deny our own citizens the free press that is guaranteed them by the First Amendment. This is not a gray area: Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech; or of the press. This law, that Congress could pass as early as next week, WILL ABRIDGE THE FREEDOM OF THE PRESS. We cannot make it a penalty to open our government to citizen inquiry. Remember that whole "redress of grievances" thing? What about that? We can't ban assault weapons, because that would violate the second amendment. So: Terrorists can be armed with AK-47's, I can keep an Uzi in my house, but if I know my government is breaking the law and violating due process, I cannot share this information?
Everyone sing with me:
Oh Canada!
Our home and native land!
True patriot love, in all thy sons command.
With glowing hearts we see thee rise
The True North strong and free...
The lyrics to Oh Canada are found here. Immigration isn't so bad... hey, cheap healthcare!
I love my country, but sometimes I hate my "demagoguically" elected leaders.
----
Currently playing on miPod - "Oh Canada," dammit.
Reporters who write about government surveillance could be prosecuted under proposed legislation that would solidify the administration's eavesdropping authority, according to some legal analysts who are concerned about dramatic changes in US law.The draft of this lovely bill states that people who knowingly broadcast or print information that discloses any information about Comrade Bush's surveillance programs can be subjected to felony prosecution and penalties of up to fifteen years in prison and one million dollars. The language of the bill does not specify whether or not the information may be classified or not. It also removes the burden of keeping secrets from the government: if the secret must remain secret, the press cannot print anything about it.
What the hell kind of hypocritical nation are we living in? We're gonna spread McFreedom all over the damn landscape, but by doing so, we are going to deny our own citizens the free press that is guaranteed them by the First Amendment. This is not a gray area: Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech; or of the press. This law, that Congress could pass as early as next week, WILL ABRIDGE THE FREEDOM OF THE PRESS. We cannot make it a penalty to open our government to citizen inquiry. Remember that whole "redress of grievances" thing? What about that? We can't ban assault weapons, because that would violate the second amendment. So: Terrorists can be armed with AK-47's, I can keep an Uzi in my house, but if I know my government is breaking the law and violating due process, I cannot share this information?
Everyone sing with me:
Oh Canada!
Our home and native land!
True patriot love, in all thy sons command.
With glowing hearts we see thee rise
The True North strong and free...
The lyrics to Oh Canada are found here. Immigration isn't so bad... hey, cheap healthcare!
I love my country, but sometimes I hate my "demagoguically" elected leaders.
----
Currently playing on miPod - "Oh Canada," dammit.
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