After having the ability for quite some time, the ability for users to create accounts on Lupinia’s main site is now public knowledge. Please note that this is seperate from Wordpress and Gallery accounts (someday, in the future, these are likely to all be merged), these accounts are for the main site, which is entirely custom-coded by me.

I’m still working on the system, as I try new things, but it currently provides the following features:

• Bypass the human-test on the Email Form
• Available option to send email to my cellphone
• Add new links to the Link Directory, and edit links you’ve created

More will be added later, including a Report Dead Link feature for the Link Directory, database-stored viewing options, and integration with Wordpress.

You can create an account here. Enjoy!

It’s been awhile since I added new pages to the main content sections of the site, but I felt that my review of Google’s Chrome browser would be a good fit. So, it’s now part of the writing section of this site.

On this site, there’s a rather thorough directory of links to external sites, in a variety of categories. And, I’m always looking for improvement in applications I’ve written.

Currently, links in the directory launch in the same window/tab. I’ve been deciding whether or not to change them to launch in a new window/tab, which is a trivial change code-wise. This would keep the Lupinia site open while browsing other sites, and make it easier for visitors to return here after visiting external sites from our link directory.

So, if y’all could vote in this poll to help me decide whether a change is desirable, I’d appreciate it. And, if anyone has additional suggestions, I’d appreciate those as well. Thanks!

 Loading ...

[ Click for Article ]

British Telecom’s early trials of Phorm behavioral advertising technology ended in controversy, when it was leaked that the trials were conducted without informing consumers their browsing histories were being sold. BT’s third, and more transparent trial of the technology is nearing completion, Phorm saying they expect BT to fully deploy the technology shortly. Says Phorm of the recently completed third trial:

“The trial has now concluded and achieved its primary objective of testing all the elements necessary for a larger deployment, including the serving of small volumes of targeting advertising,” said the company in a statement on Monday. “There will now be a period of joint analysis of the results. Following successful completion of analysis of both the trial results and of any changes required for expansion, BT’s expectation is to move towards deployment.”

Deploying the snoopy technology across the carrier’s network delivers a steady stream of cash to Phorm — a former rootkit developer who hopes to expand their snoopy “service” into the U.S. market. BT customers would complain, but BT recently started banning all mention of the technology in the telco’s forums.

Why yes, it has been a slow news week for me, why do you ask? I thought this was worth mentioning, though, because it’s a really dirty tactic. I’ve made no secret of the fact that I loathe internet advertisements in general (you’ll find none on this entire server), so the idea that the ISP can insert ads in my web pages is, quite frankly, disturbing.

So, in the meeting I had today, that I talked about in my last post, one of the main things we discussed was using some code that I wrote as a starting point for new projects. My company is awesome at graphics and layout work, and my boss is pretty good at PHP. However, between him being busy with running the company, and the fact that he typically writes for function over form, the baseline coding for websites we build (that don’t use a CMS) is downright bad. Horribly structured, redundant queries all over the place, tons of redundant code, and a templating engine that, most of the time, actually increases the amount of work necessary per-page. It looks nice to the visitors, but not to us as we’re working on it.

(more…)

This article has been added to the Writing section of this site. View it here.

Recently, I had the opportunity to use Google’s new web browser, Chrome. Since I’m probably the pickiest person on the internet when it comes to browsers (I didn’t start using Firefox until web developers started ignoring IE 6 en masse), and I work as a web developer, I figured I’d write up my thoughts on this new entry to the browser world.

Short Version:
Not a bad start, but it needs a LOT more work to call it “finished”, and has some disturbing installation habits.

(more…)

I’ve added a new poll to the sidebar, I’m curious to see what browsers are used by all of you. You can also vote in it in this post. You may select up to three answers. Thanks!

 Loading ...

After avoiding it for years, I’ve finally decided to modify all applications that are part of Lupinia (Gallery and Wordpress, mostly) to respond to the same colour scheme settings as the rest of the site. This might not sound like a big deal, but both applications are very difficult to perform this modification on, and both of them have highly complicated CSS. But, with a few days of work, I’ve performed the modification on both of them, and everything works fine. I also adjusted the appearance of both applications (mostly the gallery) to make them match the layout of the rest of Lupinia.

I also had to make a modification to Wordpress so it would work correctly with a multiple-domain site, which was far more complicated that it needed to be. It was easy to solve the problem, just a two-line fix, but finding where to insert those two lines took over two hours.

My next project involves some XML (first time ), followed by a module for my front page, and then I’ll be ready to unveil the new-and-improved Lupinia Studios

…I just set Firefox as my default browser.

For those who are just tuning in, I’ve been avoiding using Firefox for a very long time now, and I’ve always preferred IE 6 as my primary browser. This was due to several reasons:

1. The fanboy-factor and zealotry surrounding FF was, and still is, a massive turn-off. It’s just a browser, you fuckwits, shut up about it already.
2. I loathe tabbed interfaces. My taskbar is 1920px wide for a reason.
3. Firefox has a very slow initial start time compared to IE6, even with no extensions
4. Firefox has a few irritating rendering bugs, which I mostly had to deal with while designing.
5. I don’t jump on new technology simply because it’s new; I prefer to adopt new software/devices only if they’re a genuine upgrade/improvement to my existing ways of doing things.

With version 3 of Firefox, item #4 has been resolved, and in my boredom last night, I researched some settings and tweaks to resolve #3 (which was one of the biggest things keeping me from using FF more often) and #2.

Combined with the fact that large Javascript-intensive sites I use regularly, like MyFursona and DeviantArt, are starting to actively say “fuck you” to IE 6 users (a design philosphy I view as lazy, offensive, and premature, since IE6 still has more usage than Opera or Safari), it seemed logical to at least explore the option of switching. I started using FF as a secondary browser a couple weeks ago, in addition to my use of it for web design purposes, and using two browsers side-by-side started to seem a bit silly.

I’ve spent most of the day tweaking settings to my liking (I spent many years learning IE customization, so getting something else to feel less alien is a major endeavour), as well as some minor interface adjustments (why the hell does the Bookmarks menu have so much extra crap?). And, after doing all that work, FF is finally starting to feel comfortable for me and my apparently unusual usage style.

So, yeah. The long-time Firefox hater uses Firefox now. Laugh it up, or whatever. I still intend to continue strong support for IE6 in all my website designs, because designs that work natively in IE6 and adhere to all standards tend to work well in all other major browsers, in my experience.

About Extensions
Extensions are an interesting concept, but certainly not a new one. IE4 even had them, they’re called ActiveX controls (it just didn’t get a handy interface to manage them until IE6sp2). This is not a revolutionary concept, Firefox just has a larger and less malicious developer base for them.

Personally, I feel that a browser should be a single-purpose tool for reading and navigating web-based documents/media. And, I strongly value efficiency and low resource usage. So, I have just four extensions (two that are closely linked, one other major one, and a very small one), with a very small selection of search engines, and I plan to keep it that way. Therefore, if you’re going to recommend your favourite extensions to me, here’s what I’m going to ask:

1. Does it have anything to do with tabs?
2. Does it do something/add a feature that isn’t directly related to viewing/navigating websites?
3. Does it make a primarily cosmetic change?
4. Does it increase the initial load time or overall memory/processor usage of the application?

If the answer to any of those is “yes”, I’m not interested. Thanks.

=================

Note: I drafted this awhile ago, and while re-reading it just now, I realize I probably come across as a bit of an asshole. Well, tough cookies, I’m not changing it, and here’s why. For years, ever since Firefox came out, I’ve had to listen to the entire internet and all my RL friends talk endlessly about how FF is the most awesome browser ever, and only lobotomized orangutans use IE, and so forth. The elitism of Firefox fans is everywhere (even on every page of the admin console of my Wordpress journal), and combined with my inherent repulsion at being constantly told that my way of doing things is wrong when it’s not, the whole subject has stayed very bitter for me.

My response to this, for years, has been “I’ll find a new browser when I’m ready, leave me the f*** alone until then”. So, now I’m ready, and I’ve switched. But, you know what? I still loathe the elitism surrouding Firefox. I don’t want to hear it. And I fear that, now that I’m “one of the club” to those who enjoy that sort of thing, I’m going to hear even more of it.

So, I guess the point of this post is that you people no longer need to try to convert me, I’m already here. But I don’t want to hear the verbal high-fiving that surrounds this particular browser, either. Just let me surf in peace, please. Thanks.

======================

Edit: Relating to my comment about AdBlock below, does anyone know how to prevent FF from displaying “Failed to Connect” errors when ads are blocked? They’re not particularly irritating, but they’re more intrusive in FF than in IE. Google has not been able to help me :-\

I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m getting really, REALLY fucking tired of hearing “I have new art/photos/writings/whatevers to show off, but FA is down, so I can’t”. I see this on LJ, on forums (including one with an integrated image gallery o.O), on IRC, and in IM conversations. I can’t turn around without hearing someone whine about FA being down, and claiming that they can’t share media on the internet without it.

Here’s a bit of a newsflash, people: This is the internet! It was built for exactly this purpose! There are literally thousands of websites out there designed solely to help you share your media, whatever format it happens to be in. Some of them have communities surrounding them, some of them don’t. Some of them like furries, some of them don’t. Some of them have as piss-poor reliability as FA, but the vast majority are more stable. But, they’re out there, and the selection is overwhelming.

Plus, if you can’t find a site out there to your liking, you can even make your own! It’s easy, really, and there’s no complicated licensing or anything. Just decide whether you want to pay for this or not, find a host that doesn’t suck (hint: if it’s not AOL, Geocities, Tripod, or Freewebs, it probably doesn’t suck), and throw together a basic website in the application of your choice. If you can use Microsoft Word, you can build a website; it might not be the greatest, but it’s better than whining about FA and doing nothing.

Or, if you must have social networking feedback on your media, there’s plenty of those sites too! And almost all of them have ways of sharing text, images, and audio. They come in many flavours, with varying degrees of suck, but they’re out there and easy to find.

Even LJ (where you’re probably reading this) has a rudimentary, poorly-designed gallery that, while difficult for random people to navigate, will allow you insert your images into LJ posts.

In any case, there are infinite solutions to this problem that are more productive than whining about FA. So, find one you like, use it, and stop whining! You can always go back to FA if/when it comes back; this is the internet, it’s not like you need a passport to go from one site to another. But in the meantime, if you do something productive, you’ll still be able to share your work (or your commissions; I should clarify that most of the people I hear this bullshit from are not artists themselves), and your internet life will continue. And, who knows, you might even find a new social group to interact with, or you might find that you really like running your own website. Just stop whining about it, ok?