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Archive for December, 2004

PHP Predictions for 2005

30 Dec

Sitepoint features a blog entry about PHP Predictions for 2005. Some are very doubtful (like Perl, Java and PHP developers uniting and XUL becoming mainstream), but others are very likely to occur.

I hope that the predictions about PHP5 adoption hold true. However it will be extremely hard, from an administrative point of view, to upgrade from PHP4 to PHP5, when you cannot be sure that you will not break thousands of customer-scripts.

While I believe some better known PHP applications will do a version bump and begin to require PHP5, it is likely to depend on the overall adoption of PHP5, rather than the need of the features it provides. A project is after all nothing without its users.

I hope to be able to upgrade the servers, which I manage, to PHP5 in 2005, maybe one at the time to see if it can be done without breaking too many scripts. However before applications like WordPress starts to fully support PHP5 (not require it, just support it), it will be tough.

 
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Posted in Hosting, PHP

 

I’m on zend.com

29 Dec

How cool is that, I’m on zend.com :)

Edit: Hrm, it doesn’t say I maintain notes — oh well.

… tip from jacques

 
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Posted in Uncategorized

 

Depending on JavaScript

26 Dec

Some time ago Sebastian Nohn started removing some JavaScript dependencies in Serendipity 0.8. This in itself is a welcomed action and I totally support it as long as it does not lower the functionality of the product.

I myself have been doing a lot of work on the 0.8 administration, changing its overall design and functionality. So when I noticed that we, in some places, used these new fake buttons (as I call them) and in some places did not, I – from a graphical point of view – became very frustrated. I think it sends a wrong and bad signal to the end users. I’d personally think the developers was complete morons if they used fake buttons 4 out of 20 places, and thought they could fool me into thinking they were normal input buttons. It would come off as cheap.

Nohn seems to be rather mad at me for openly questioning his changes (his blog is in German, so I’m just guessing). My problem is that while removing JavaScript dependencies in itself is good for usability, the method in which it was done, only decreases it.

My questions are… why not:
1) Do it everywhere. Removing JavaScript dependencies 2 out of 10 places doesn’t really do much for the overall usability.
2) Do it with thought. Why not try to come up with a solution that also serves the design aspect, rather than trying to fool the user with fake CSS buttons?

So Sebastian, my problem is not with your idea of removing JavaScript dependencies, just the method used to achieve it.

PS. Sebastian also comments on other things in his article, but I don’t read German – I’ll be happy to comment if someone translates it.

 
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Posted in Serendipity

 

Word on World of Warcraft european final beta

11 Dec

Update from blizzard:
The Blizzard Europe team is working day and night to bring World of Warcraft to you as quickly as possible. Very soon we’ll start testing the localized versions, and as soon as we’re sure this works correctly we’ll move on to the European Final Beta Test.

There will be no additional batch of beta testers added with the start of the localization testing. The next batch of beta testers will include those who bought the pre-order box through the official Blizzard European Pre-Order campaign. This batch will be added at the start of the European Final Beta Test.

My beta-kit arrives on the 17th of December, so let’s hope that marks the beginning of the beta.

 
1 Comment

Posted in World of Warcraft

 

World of Warcraft benchmarks? You’re kidding, right?

09 Dec

When I first read about benchmarking World of Warcraft I thought it was a joke. The graphics is not even close to Half Life 2 or Doom 3, so why bother if you cannot push your computer to the limit?

But acording to GameSpot, it seems you can indeed make World of Warcraft more beautiful by upgrading your machine. Check out the benchmarks.

I thought World of Warcraft was great when I played the beta, but it never occured to me that I could tweak the graphics. That’s got to tell you something about this game. I’ll have to look into this when my BetaKit arrives, and I can play World of Warcraft again. Might be time for a hardware upgrade :)

 
2 Comments

Posted in World of Warcraft