n8 Makes Stuff

This is essentially whatever is on my mind that involves anything computer related...but mostly web development related. I will reblog at will, be warned.

[clientsfromhell]

Client: We have great news: we will be hiring an in-house developer. I need you to tell our HR manager what to write in the job posting.

Me: But that is the service I’m providing, front-end coding. Are you unhappy with my work?

Client: Not at all. The sites you coded are amazing! We just have so many things to do that I think you will not have time to finish them.

Me: Oh, I see. So this in-house person will take over some extra projects you think I will not have time to do?

Client: No, they will be taking over your projects.

Me: Again, though, that’s the service I am offering you. The code is yours, of course, but I thought you were happy with my work. Are you trying to tell me you will not be needing my services from now on?

Client: Not at all. I will need you to offer back-end coding for me. And you will be so busy doing that that I will need a front-end coder in-house.

Me: That’s not my expertise, or the service I offer. I am a front-end developer, I am good at it, I have done it for 20 years and I still love doing it. I don’t think I want to change the nature of my services at this point in my career. Why don’t you hire a back-end developer instead?

Client: (yelling) I don’t understand you. I come to the table with these great offers and all you give me is negativity! Why would you want to do degrading work when I am offering you the chance to take over a better project?

[laughingsquid]

Project Tango, A Prototype Phone From Google That Creates a 3D Model of the World Around It

[n8makesstuff]

The Origins of the <Blink> Tag

I (Louis) am widely credited as the inventor of the <blink> tag.   For those of you who are relatively new to the Web, the <blink> tag is an HTML command that causes text to blink, and many, many people find its behavior to be extremely annoying.  I won't deny the invention, but there is a bit more to the story than is widely known.

[n8makesstuff]

Don't be a ... glasshole!

[n8makesstuff]

Chris Bosh Attempts to Make Computer Coding Cool With Will.I.Am and Mark Zuckerberg

http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2013/02/chris_bosh_attempts_to_make_co.php?ref=trending

[n8makesstuff]

Front-End Developer Basics

What the hell does a front-end developer do? Is it a front-end developer, front-end designer, front-end engineer or a UI/UX Developer??? Are these all the same thing? What should they know?

I have been all of these and I still am confused. So I took to the web:

A Baseline for Front-End Developers.

Skills for Front-End Developers

What does a front-end web developer do?

10 “Must-have” skills for Front-End Developers (2009)

Front-end Job Interview Questions

Thank you Google.

[n8makesstuff]

PIE stands for Progressive Internet Explorer. It is an IE attached behavior which, when applied to an element, allows IE to recognize and display a number of CSS3 properties. 

Basically it is a "fix" for IE browsers that don't support some of the fancy new CSS3 elements.

As this was up on my browser, one of my coworkers who had tried it, immediately said "sucks". I asked him to elaborate and he said it is half-way decent, but is not fool-proof. It doesn't function perfectly and some things are basically ignored.

I would still use Modernizr, but I will at least give this a test try.

[n8makesstuff]

Linking to a page of links? yup.

[n8makesstuff]

A humungous CSS page with pretty much all the different types of CSS3 Animations possible. All you have to do is edit at will. ... or "just add water".

[n8makesstuff]

A tool for making JavaScript download and run faster. It is a true compiler for JavaScript. Instead of compiling from a source language to machine code, it compiles from JavaScript to better JavaScript. It parses your JavaScript, analyzes it, removes dead code and rewrites and minimizes what's left. It also checks syntax, variable references, and types, and warns about common JavaScript pitfalls.

AKA it makes ugly giant code into pretty little snippets that reduces space. Awesome.

[soupsoup]

Attention last-minute shoppers: I’ve found the top tech gifts that will set you — and the recipient — apart. Here’s my list of seven cool gifts that come from companies other than Apple.

[poptech]

The headquarters of the Bamboo Bike Studio (one of the featured gifts) just happens to be down the street from our offices in Camden, Maine!

[n8makesstuff]

[n8makesstuff]

Photoshop's new "Chinese Food" tool

[n8makesstuff]

Audio on your Blogs

Have you ever wanted to add a digital voicemail on your blog? A place where visitors or guest can just leave a quick audio comment or a greeting.

A few years ago, SnapVine was the place to go. People could actually phone in to your (your account had it's own phone number!) or record from a webcam ir mic and send you message and leave it on your SnapVince account. You could easily screen the messages and also embed a player on your site!

Chirbit - Recognizes itself as the app that continued where SnapVine left off. Infact it's like a 1000 times better. Not just recording voices, you can upload up to 120mb as well as extract from Youtube and much more. This seems like the perfect audio voicemail for any site/profile.

Approved files are not just wav and mp3 but also mobile files such as 3gp and amr. So you can record on your smartphone and then upload it later.

Speakpipe - Let's visitors leave a message on your site, blog, WP (a slew of Social Media sites) via their webcam or computer mic. It has drops an overlay in the middle of teh screen when clicked on a trigger button. Other than on their site, I have not seen it in use, but it's worth a try.

Those are the only 2 I found that are worth my time.

RIP SnapVine:

[meme-meme]

[n8makesstuff]

Before Instagram

[n8makesstuff]

Google is coming out with a mini Chromebook.

The 11.6-inch Samsung Chromebook — priced at $249 and available for pre-order now from Amazon, Best Buy and other retailers — aims to be the second or third computer in your household. It runs on Chrome OS and is super slim, measuring only 0.8 inches thick and weighing 2.5 pounds.

The device packs a Samsung-made ARM Cortex-A15 processor, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of flash storage. The screen resolution is 1,366 x 768, and the computer supports 1080p video playback as well as Bluetooth 3.0. It also comes with one USB 3.0 and one USB 2.0 port, is rated at hours of battery life and includes 100GB of free cloud storage on Google Drive.

[n8makesstuff]

The NEW MySpace

Justin Timberlake's new venture.