This blog feeds Google with links and words to promote my up and coming bands. Maybe my silly little creations will, at some time, get a push from it too. The point I’m trying to get at is this. What you are reading (if at all you are) is optimised for programs over humans. The grammar isn’t particularly good and the copy is a little dry. However, it’s fun to write and I hope some day in the distant future, real people could enjoy reading it. You never know, enough practice and I might get good at it.

Anyway, on to the geeking. I’ve been messing with my hosting service trying to get WordPress fixed. For various technical reasons I couldn’t update it. So it all went stale. It’s okay now though, it’s all been fixed.

I decided to upgrade my blog to the latest version of WordPress. I’ve also altered the theme again. The one as of this date is called Boxes. Because it’s got boxes in it. Get it? It’s based on my original draft for this blog, just a bit different. It’s also built entirely using CSS3. No images this time. Get me eh?

I’ve also installed a program called Disqus. It’s a threaded commenting system that is really good. Readers can log in using credentials from other web-sites like Facebook or Twitter and post to articles using those details. Disqus is also a service that tracks your comments and replies from all the blogs a reader has contributed to, and notifies them when they’ve received a reply. It also tracks opinion of your feedback, with “Like” and “Dislike” buttons. Neat huh?

Looking ahead

If I can maintain enough self-interest I’ll polish this theme up some more. The problem is my tastes keep changing. (There will be a post on that.) I’ve effectively started thinking about my next theme, even though this one isn’t yet completed.

What I’m about to write gets written by me all the time. I’m aware of this and I’ll keep echoing the same sentiments. I’m looking for a brand. I can’t keep calling me, the blog, my services etc, all madness Jack. It doesn’t mean anything! It originates from before I had Internet access. I was very young, and I dreamt of running a website called madness-at-jack dot com. Yes, I didn’t know the difference between a URL and an email address. I used to write websites in MS Word. One day I got around to writing the raw HTML. It was a good day.

The trend has just kept going, and it’s time for a destruction and a fresh start. I need something catchy, cool and anal. Like all bloggers on the Internet have. I need a strong brand. I have the ability to create it, design it, promote it; just not the imagination to make it original. Also it needs distance from the personal nature it currently has. It’s too mardy at the moment. (OMG you noticed!!?!)

If anyone has any tips to setting up an Internet brand, please let me know. For now though, do admire my cleaned up blog and nice new theme.

Attribution
Photo “The View” by Ludovic Bertron

So there’s a few aims here. Firstly, to communicate events I want to share with the public. Honestly, this doesn’t cover a lot at the moment. Not because I don’t get out much, but because I’d rather not share! Or because I’m too lazy to write the stuff up. Secondly it’s for when I want to rant, assist or review. Say how I do things and share my opinions with the aim of helping others to make their own minds up, be it music or web-sites or something else vaguely interesting. But also it’s an SEO blog. This relates to search engines. Putting more content on my blog makes it rank higher because it attracts more people from a variety of fields. Simple!

As I can see at the minute there are a few issues making the above effective. I don’t have many followers! Now I’m getting a fair few hits from the Ubuntu comunity (where I participate occasionly) and a few folks from Facebooks and King Brick, but not much interaction. I can tell this blog gets looked at from the statistics.

But that isn’t one of my main aims! I wan’t an archive of my outings, put reviews up for a few geeks and musicians but mainly so I can reference them. I’m quite a self-centred person ;)

The SEO bit is working well. My only issue is having it on the King Brick domain. That means King Brick ranks in Google for things like Linux and Firefox.

What’s the plan Batman?

Potentially get a new domain. That requires effort and money so I probably won’t bother. Plus the band is the main thing I want to big up! Talking about geeking and web-design doesn’t relate at-all to my band, but it’s one of my fortes so I want it to! I want to set up a personal brand for my music and digital musings. It’s something to do right? :P

One way to counter all this is to split the categories up into almost seperate blogs. At the minute stuff bleeds into each other too much. So one article will explain about a wicked band I saw, the next about JSON and AJAX management and the next about how much I like the weather today.

So I’ll re-brand, re-skin and re-organise. That’s the plan! :)

Initially I worked with four applications tiled vertically across the workspace. This was very efficient. However, I do a lot of work just using the browser. So a few Firefox extensions and a vertical re-haul later and I’m in business :D

So here’s what I’m doing. First thing I did was switch the Windows task-bar vertically to the left-hand side of the workspace. Because I’ve got so much width, I can easily afford a generous sized task-bar now. I’ve got the task-bar at approximately 96px wide. I can clearly read the titles of at least 24 application tabs with 18 32px icons attached as well. It’s daunting at first, and I still look at the bottom right for the time, but it’s certainly much more efficient. My only gripe is the start menu doesn’t invert with the task-bar, so when you press it you have to navigate to the bottom to find “All programs”.

Setting up Firefox wide was pleasurable. I use Personal Menu to eliminate the menu-bar from the top, essentially hiding the menu-bar (like Internet Explorer and Chrome). Although I’ve got a good height, applications and websites will always scroll down, so having a few extra pixels really helps. (Don’t get me started on stupid side scrolling website :P)

For the tabs, I use Tree Style Tabs. It’s a beautiful add-on that sorts out tabs in a hierarchy, making them easily manageable. By default, it groups them and collapses the tree when out of focus, but I’ve disabled this as it would take me about 60 tabs to get that far :P

I can see the title of each tab very clearly. Because I’ve got sooo much width (brag brag brag eh?) I also keep the bookmarks side-bar always open.

So to conclude: when I’m working, because I’ve got so much width, I have adjusted my desktop and Firefox to use vertical menus and tool-bars, instead of the horizontal by default. At home, I’ll still use Chrome, because I haven’t got the width and I can always scroll for more height. The point is I still don’t have to side-scroll.

Vertical tool-bars and wide screens – it’s the future :P

This website and everything else in my life in under construction

It couldn’t be more accurate!

Blog-wise I’ve got ten topics waiting to be penned. Seven will require screen-grabs, two will need photos and three of them are going to be Linux tutorials. So what am I waiting for?

For one, madnessJack desperately needs a re-brand. Even just some form of brand will do. (That’s eleven topics now! :P) I need to sort it out!

However, if I didn’t work full-time, handle private projects, play in and direct bands, commute by public transport and drink so much I would probably get this blogging thing down!

Expect more, just not right away :P

Before I would use Apache2 with mod_rewrite using a lengthy variation of this script:

RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^GET (.*).php HTTP
RewriteRule (.*).php$ $1 [R=301]
...

At the end I would hide server side files that I wouldn’t want accessible from the outside, such as templates and “spit out” scripts. The actual script I used would search for a PHP file with the requested name in it, and if it existed would spit it out else throwing up a 404.

I’ve thought of doing things differently this time around. I’m gonna do this – just use extensionless files. So for example, /httpdocs/home is now a PHP file that Apache will spit out to the user as HTML parsed from PHP. I just need to tell Apache this. The above code can be changed to this:

DefaultType application/x-httpd-php
...

I’d still need to hide some files but this approach means I don’t have to have as many files to catch the queries. I’ll have the content in the extensionless file with an include to the main script. That catches the content and brings in the templates.

On a different note

When I next get time I’m going to convert a Mac Mini into an Ubuntu server. I’m not sure if it’s PPC yet so it could be interesting. Currently I’m testing everything on the same machine I’m writing the stuff on, an old P4 Presario machine with Ubuntu Studio Jaunty on it, having no problems.

With a dedicated machine I could use another PC in the house, say a Windows one, SSH in and do my thing. I’ll be keeping things consistent. An actual testing server has many more advantages.

I’m busy with my band at the minute. Should really blog more about gigs and bands. Ah well, maybe soon ;-)

I used to use Windows XP as my main OS. I used Internet Explorer 7 to browse the net and was very happy doing so. It was sleek, the interface was good and performance wasn’t a problem. I tried Firefox 3 and like it’s approach to things.

But in no way would I dream of using it for casual browsing because it was slow to load up had a clumsy user experience (I wont get into why I think it does). I thought that the slow Firefox start was Microsoft’s fault but since migrating to Ubuntu Linux I’ve found this not to be the case and I’ve no idea who let the Ubuntu version look like that. I’m using a PC that I consider to have a reasonable spec – a Pentium 4 3GHz with a gig of RAM. I think it’s a shame (but I’m sure I could optimise my system a lot more).

However, at work I need to analyse web pages. Firebug is a dream. You’ve also got the Web Developer Toolbar by Chris Pederick that can do anything you can think of. I wish the functions and interfaces weren’t so fragmented but that’s what you get with an open customisable application like Firefox. As for doing the job it’s good. Aside from the 5 minute startup wait it’s a seamless experience (and this is at work with a Dual Core Xeon and twice the RAM!).

I’ve got my list of add-ons. Each one helps me almost daily. As you can probably see from the window-shot above I’ve made the interface as minimal as I can.

Then there was Google’s Chrome. As you may know Chrome makes me happy. I can develop with it but not as well as with Firefox. Once Firebug and Web Developer work for it it’s goodbye Firefox. Until then, I’m more than happy working with websites using Firefox. In my eyes it’s not a browser, it’s a powerful tool.

It’s fast. Oh it’s so fast. I still use Firefox for work because of the addons but Chrome shows it up big time. Google released it because there was a giant great big gaping hole in the market where folks were either defaulting or giving in to geek propaganda.

Honestly, Firefox is the slowest application to start up that I use. I use heavy applications like InDesign and Photoshop and they do powerful intensive stuff. Firefox is just slow and eats RAM even when closed down.

But this isn’t about that. I’m happy because now I can use a browser without having to take a strole while it starts up. I bet I couldn’t blink before Chrome starts up. [EDIT: Just tried, no I can't - but I am really tired :-P]

Look at it’s sleak interface with minimal fuss and size. Oh I love it. If Google release an OS like this Linux (as we know it) can pack it’s bags. Actually, maybe people with real lives using computers might catch on. :-P

Reasons for doing so? Er, fancied a change really (yeah, bored). I want to be able to control every pixel of output, and I can’t be arsed to hack Blogger to do so when I can just hack WordPress with greater ease. It’s easier to control because I can dig and hack every line of PHP until I get what I want. Okay I admit it hasn’t been easy. The way WordPress manages URLs is beyond me. But overall I can control all of the front-end output and use this beautiful back-end. What more does a man need?

I’m fully aware I can control the domain or URL where Blogger sits. I’ve done it before with my band’s blog. That wasn’t my only reason for moving, even though changing URLs are a good reason not to. Now I’m gonna have to redirect everything. Oh joy!

So reset your bookmarks. The new address is http://www.kingbrick.co.uk/madnessjack/ but it’s probably not ready yet! (As of April 3 it’s looking pretty bare…)

As you may notice, it’s on my band’s site. I’m not paying extra for a domain name. I can’t be arsed to sort out how to share the hosting across it either. I’m sure it’s not hard. Sure, if (or probably when) I set up my own domain, I’ll probably move it over again. We’ll see…

And as for technology and using my own server etc I really couldn’t care. 34sp.com do a great job of hosting LAMP websites. One day when I’m so bored and lonely then I might just go ahead and set one up, or hire one out, or VPS or whatever. For the moment, it’s not an issue. I don’t care for my own server.

If by now you’re still reading this on Blogger be sure to check out the new address, because this one’s gonna be gathering dust!

I love Blogger, it’s just easy to get along with. You click a few buttons, type a few words and hey presto. It’s linked to my Google account so I don’t have to mess around with registering again. However, it doesn’t get a lot of love from the web-dev community. I’m not sure if that’s just it’s association with Google or just because it’s not WordPress.

Okay it’s not perfect. For instance the control you have is limited. I’m sure it’s not hard to create a template and get Blogger to output clean and valid code, but doing that would miss the point for why I use it in the first place. I’m using it because I want something easy, tried, and tested, not because I want something specific and labourious.

It’s enevitable that I’m going to wake up on a Saturday with nothing to do, bored out of my face, and end up creating my own layout. I enjoy creating websites and pages – I don’t get out much! But Blogger isn’t for the side of me that wants total control of every tag that leaves the server. I’m not even sure if I can get that control out of WordPress (I haven’t used it much). Maybe I’ll prefer Movable type. Then there’s the balance – ease of use versus control. If I wanted so much control, I might aswell build the blog myself, or write it out as static pages. Obviously there’s a lot of work in that, the kind of work that Blogger has always kindly kept hidden away for you. I respect that.

I guess the only thing I can do is try and test the front and back of a few CMS. Have a play and a dig. I’ll get some skinning done before hand. I’d want any clean output to be compatible with any CSS theme I write. Ofcourse I’m assuming both WordPress and Moveable Type spit out beutifully clean and sparkling XHTML. From what their fanbase of zealots are screaming about, I’d bloody hope it does.

Feature list wise I’ve got a few preferences. I’d want to get URLs like I like em. Obviously with blogs there are many ways to point to posts (category, tags, date, alphabetical, etc) but to be honest I’d probably have a simple ‘jack.co.uk/blog/title-goes-here’ URL for every post. Maybe some social linking. There’s gonna be a lot of hacking going on…

Anyway, I’m sure you’ll hear something about it soon!

The email in question was asking if I could create her a website to showcase herself as a multi-talented musician. So a few briefs later, a few demos and a bit of PHP framework and we’re off.

Ellie had an idea of how she wanted the site to function. It was to be simple and effective, communicating her skills in a subtle way, almost passive. I kept it minimal whilst trying to make it look fancy, so that people would think about her website. If she has a website, she must be a pro. This was my implementation.

I’m very happy with how it worked out. It does the job well and looks good too. I’ve built it with expandability in mind. Adding images, audio and copy to the site will be easy. I started building this before the Gutteridge family website so it uses the same skeleton. All of it is strict XHTML 1.0 and CSS 2.1, made for Internet Explorer 7 and Chrome. I don’t personally use Firefox, but it does work (as Firefox is good with standards). I plan on expanding it when more content comes.

My next web projects will be building a better blog and if the band gains some momentum I’ll be doing that up. I love Blogger, but I’ve come to a sad realisation that it’s limited. I want to be able to control everything easily, and I probably could use blogger to do that if I put in the time and effort. But getting used to WordPress or MoveableType seems to be the only answer. Suppose I could build my own CMS, like back in the day. We’ll see.

Links
Ellie Saunders website