Download Squadhttp://www.downloadsquad.comDownload Squadhttp://www.downloadsquad.com/media/feedlogo.gifDownload Squadhttp://www.downloadsquad.comen-usCopyright 2008 Blogsmith, LLC. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only.Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/Does software piracy hurt the open source community?http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/30/does-software-piracy-hurt-the-open-source-community/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/30/does-software-piracy-hurt-the-open-source-community/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/30/does-software-piracy-hurt-the-open-source-community/#commentsFiled under: , , , , ,

microsoft office pirate search
Louis Suarez-Potts, the community manager for the open-source Open Office project, says software piracy also hurts the open-source community, and though it can be argued that open-source is bad for innovation, most of us love the open source community. So does the occasional pirated piece of software really hurt our beloved open source projects?

Suarez-Potts thinks it's bad for everyone including the open source community since pirated software theoretically takes "customers" away from open source projects. For example, a college student may never end up downloading Open Office since he copied Microsoft Office from a friend, but that's not to say it hurts the money-makers like Microsoft at all. A little bit of piracy helps to establish big company's products as "the standard", hurting open source projects even more and making it harder for them to get their foot into a user's door.

Now we'd like to pose a question: Like the college student used in the example above, does pirating software generally prevent you from trying Open Source software or would you have put the cash down anyway even if you couldn't get it for free?

View Poll

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]]>communityhackhackerhackersopenopen sourceOpenSourcepiracypiratesoftwareDanny Mendez2008-07-30T11:00:00+00:005pm - Project management on time (so you don't have to be)http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/21/5pm-project-management-on-time-so-you-dont-have-to-be/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/21/5pm-project-management-on-time-so-you-dont-have-to-be/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/21/5pm-project-management-on-time-so-you-dont-have-to-be/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

5pm - Project management on time
The clock just turned 5pm, and if you are like us, everything you have worked on all day has instantly evaporated from your mind (yes, this just happens, we don't need alcohol). Luckily, we left all those papers on our desk, the scribbled whiteboard, and a monitor-o-sticky notes to help us figure out where we left off.

5pm by QG | Software is a web-based project management suite that provides us the tools needed to get back on track at 8am.

The underlying features of 5pm are fairly standard in the project management world. You create projects and assign them to one or more users or groups. The project can have a deadline, a client, and a priority level. Once you have created a project you can add items such as tasks and files. Tasks can be assigned to individual team members and emails can be sent to the group when tasks are completed. etc...

To help visualize your project over the course of its life, there is a timeline feature that shows your projects and tasks in a "Gantt" style chart. In addition, there is a reporting section that can help determine who is completing their projects on time and who isn't.

Continue reading 5pm - Project management on time (so you don't have to be)

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]]>productivityproject managementProjectManagementweb servicesWebServicesAlan Silcott2008-07-21T16:00:00+00:00A different take on lifestreaming: SweetCronhttp://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/20/a-different-take-on-lifestreaming-sweetcron/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/20/a-different-take-on-lifestreaming-sweetcron/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/20/a-different-take-on-lifestreaming-sweetcron/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

SweetCron is a bit of self-hosted lifestreaming software from Yongfook, the creator of opensourcefood. It's kind of like a hybrid of Tumblr and Friendfeed. While SweetCron hasn't officially been released yet, Yongfook is already using it on his own blog, so we have a pretty clear idea of what you can do with it: feed in photos, videos, status updates, bookmarks, etc, each with a distinct look, so a reader can distinguish content types at a glance.

If this sounds a bit like Tumblr, that's probably because part of it uses the Tumblr API. SweetCron is customizable and extensible via new PHP classes, though, and it lives on your own domain, so you have greater control over the data you're feeding into it. The basic theme can be seen on Yongfook's blog, where he's testing it out, but he says you'll be able to develop your own themes through a template editor. If you're interested in SweetCron, sign up to be notified when it launches.

[via ReadWriteWeb]
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]]>blogginglifestreamSweetCronTumblrYongfookJay Hathaway2008-07-20T16:00:00+00:00Flexigrid: slick Web 2.0 data grids with jQueryhttp://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/20/flexigrid-slick-web-2-0-data-grids-with-jquery/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/20/flexigrid-slick-web-2-0-data-grids-with-jquery/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/20/flexigrid-slick-web-2-0-data-grids-with-jquery/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Flexigrid is a jQuery based way of making flexible data grids, either by inputting fresh data or grabbing it from an existing table, XML, or JSON source. The "flexi-" in Flexigrid refers to its resizable height, width and columns. Flexigrid also now has a toolbar, a search function, and its own API.

Although the API isn't documented yet, there's enough there to figure out how to do the most important things Flexigrid does: collecting and sorting your data. It'll use Ajax to populate your new grid from an XML source, and there's an auto-resizing function so you don't have to mess with your columns too much right off the bat. The CSS should also be editable, so you can hack in your own theme if you're ambitious.
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]]>data gridDataGridFlexigridgridjqueryweb 2.0Web2.0Jay Hathaway2008-07-20T14:00:00+00:00BitTorrent streaming gets a test-runhttp://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/20/bittorrent-streaming-gets-a-test-run/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/20/bittorrent-streaming-gets-a-test-run/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/20/bittorrent-streaming-gets-a-test-run/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Bittorrent has become pretty popular as an efficient, decentralized way of distributing large files, and now the same technology is being applied to streaming. P2P-Next is working on an experimental .tstream format that will share streaming video using a minimum of bandwidth. It works like a regular torrent -- users who have part of a file 'seed' it for download by other users -- but with a twist. Each user grabs the blocks of data that make up a video just before they need them to play the next minute of content, upload it to the next user right away, and then "undownload" it.

The undownload functionality turned out to be the key breakthrough for this project, since part of the appeal of streaming is that you don't have to keep a massive file on your hard drive all at once. The Tstream format has a little help gaining widespread adoption: one of the organizations currently testing it is the BBC. If you want to try it for yourself, check out this trial run of SwarmPlayer. Windows and Linux versions are out right now, and the Mac version is due next week.

[via Torrentfreak]
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]]>.tstreamBitTorrentp2pP2P-NextstreamingtorrentvideoJay Hathaway2008-07-20T10:00:00+00:00Flipping the Linux switch: Linux web tools - Pt. 6http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/18/flipping-the-linux-switch-linux-web-tools-pt-6/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/18/flipping-the-linux-switch-linux-web-tools-pt-6/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/18/flipping-the-linux-switch-linux-web-tools-pt-6/#commentsFiled under: , , , , ,

Small image map example with my skype avatarHave you ever looked in a real DIYers toolbox? Or maybe even the toolbox of someone who's pretty handy, but who has a messy streak? So all the hammers might be together, or all the screwdrivers will be together, maybe even with some sort of arrangement as to Phillips or Torx heads... but there is almost inevitably, in some corner compartment of the toolbox, or some drawer (and maybe several of them, even) an area set aside for what amounts to a whole lot of miscellaneous "everything" bits. These pieces might logically be found with hammers, or dry wall tools, or about a million other things... But they aren't quite the same, and they aren't always used in the same manner. So they end up in a big pile, that you hope stays manageable enough you can find them again.

This week's Linux switch, the last of the web development stuff for a bit, is like that compartment. These are all nifty little tools, and great when you need them. But they are mostly small, and have a strange distinction of not always being associated with any one particular type of task.

Some, like FTP programs and plugins, are associated with other programs. But what if you love your editor and hate the uploading functions it has? Image maps can be a nuisance to set up, and we think that's probably part of the reason why you don't see a lot of them. But sometimes, they just fit the project at hand.

And you know how we said we'd go easy on the editors? Seriously, we meant it. However, there's one more editing tool we want to mention that's probably beyond most casual users, but will make Linux users who want to develop SWF9 applications pretty happy. We are not covering it in any great depth, because we are not any sort of whizzes with Flash development -- but we have to point it out. It's been a long time coming!

So welcome to our odds and ends compartment of web tools!

Continue reading Flipping the Linux switch: Linux web tools - Pt. 6

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]]>filezillaflashftpftp-clientimage mapImageMapkimagemapeditorlinuxlinux-switchopen sourceopenlaszloOpenSourceKristin Shoemaker2008-07-18T18:00:00+00:00iPhone App Review: Twitterrific exercises your EDGE connection and your patiencehttp://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/12/iphone-app-review-twitterrific-exercises-your-edge-connection-a/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/12/iphone-app-review-twitterrific-exercises-your-edge-connection-a/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/12/iphone-app-review-twitterrific-exercises-your-edge-connection-a/#commentsFiled under: , ,

TwitterificSlick UI seems to be the norm for most 'big name' iPhone applications on the AppStore. Twitterrific easily gets the top spot in terms of having attractive UI and navigation. However, UI and usability are not synonymous. When I use my phone, I want to accomplish what I want to do quickly and easily. Unfortunately Twitterrific falls short in a few area which makes it one of the most frustrating apps to use on the iPhone.

Until recently, the only way for developers to test an iPhone application was to use the simulator. While it does a great job in allowing developers to see and interact with the app as they develop it, it doesn't show how the app performs in real-life situation.

There are two major differences between the simulator and the real iPhone that are at play here. One is the computer speed and the other internet connection speed. Even the slowest MacBook Air runs faster than the iPhone and thus any performance issue would be masked. Likewise with internet connection, there is no straightforward way to simulate the speed and latency of a EDGE connection and therefore any deficiency of the code in the app would not be exposed until the developers try it out on the real iPhone with spotty EDGE connection.

Twitterrific suffers from both of these problems. The scrolling performance of the message list is so jerky and slow that initially I thought there was something wrong with my iPhone. As I waited patiently for the list to scroll up and down, I also noticed that Twitterrific loads and re-loads every single user picture, even if it has previously been loaded. I stared at my iPhone in dis-belief because I could not comprehend how any sane developers would be as inefficient as that. My hunch that the reloading issue is tied to connection speed was confirmed last night when I got home and connected to the net via wi-fi. Both scrolling and picture reloading sped up because of the much faster connection I have at home.

Continue reading iPhone App Review: Twitterrific exercises your EDGE connection and your patience

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]]>appstoreedgefacebookiphoneiphone2.0NetnewswiretwitterrificAlex Hung2008-07-12T15:00:00+00:00Flipping the Linux switch: Linux web tools, Pt. 5 - Readers love editinghttp://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/11/flipping-the-linux-switch-linux-web-tools-pt-5-readers-love/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/11/flipping-the-linux-switch-linux-web-tools-pt-5-readers-love/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/11/flipping-the-linux-switch-linux-web-tools-pt-5-readers-love/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

Komodo EditSeriously guys, we love you. Okay, fine, maybe not in the way your mom loves you, or your dog loves you, or your significant other loves you. But we definitely love you in that totally uncomfortable, care-free, "Hey, let us buy you a Red Bull and Pop Rocks next time we're at the convenience store" sort of way.

We don't just love you for your looks, or your superior intelligence, or because you can totally creep out little kids with that thing you do with your left eye. We will even go so far as to say the fact that you use Linux doesn't play into it one bit.

We love you because your suggestions rock. We scour the web ourselves daily, but you know, it's a big place, and we just can't know every single bit of software or tech goodness out there. We think it's way cool when we get suggestions from readers about applications for Linux (or Windows, or Mac, or Palm...) because you aren't only cluing us in on applications we may not be familiar with, but a lot of you are avid users, and can vouch that the application you are suggesting really works for every day use.

This week, we think it's only appropriate to wrap up the editors section of our Linux web tools discussion with a couple of reader suggested gems. So a big thanks to Tim for suggesting we look at Komodo Edit and kingkool68 for pointing us towards Aptana.

Gallery: FtLS Komodo and Aptana

Komodo Start ScreenCommon Komodo LanguagesKomodo Languages are UncommonKomodo displays it allKomodo suggests tags

Continue reading Flipping the Linux switch: Linux web tools, Pt. 5 - Readers love editing

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]]>aptanacodecodingeditorsjavajrekomodokomodo editKomodoEditlinuxlinux-switchKristin Shoemaker2008-07-11T18:00:00+00:00jGrowl: Growl-like notifications in your browser windowhttp://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/08/jgrowl-growl-like-notifications-in-your-browser-window/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/08/jgrowl-growl-like-notifications-in-your-browser-window/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/08/jgrowl-growl-like-notifications-in-your-browser-window/#commentsFiled under: , ,

A lot of OS X users are familiar with Growl, a customizable notification system with all kinds of uses. New e-mail, iTunes track changes, new instant messages -- Growl handles all of this stuff. Now there's a Growl-like jQuery plugin called jGrowl that lets you apply the same sort of notification in your browser window.

jGrowl supports different animation settings, as well as sticky messages that need to be clicked to close. The styling appears to be done with CSS, so plenty of customization should be available. If you're looking for a way to notify that's not obtrusive and doesn't require a pop-up window that steals attention from your site, give jGrowl a try.
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]]>cssGrowljgrowljquerynotificationJay Hathaway2008-07-08T08:30:00+00:00Expose hidden OS X preferences with Secretshttp://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/07/expose-hidden-os-x-preferences-with-secrets/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/07/expose-hidden-os-x-preferences-with-secrets/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/07/expose-hidden-os-x-preferences-with-secrets/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

There are tons of useful preferences in OS X and popular Mac apps that aren't part of the GUI, but you can tweak them by using the command-line. That Terminal stuff isn't for everyone, though, so it's a good thing there's Secrets. This little preference pane from Blacktree Software (the makers of Quicksilver) is worth a thousand mini-tutorials. It comes pre-loaded with preferences for the Finder, as well as for apps like Twitterrific, iTunes, Safari, and NetNewsWire.

Among many other tricks, Secrets can change the orientation and pinning of the Dock, set how often Mail refreshes RSS feeds, show all hidden files in the Finder, and switch Safari's loading animation to a circle instead of a bar. One of the cooler Secrets is turning Dashboard on or off with one click. Back in 2005, we reported on the struggle to get rid of Dashboard, including apps dedicated to the purpose. Well, this is 2008, so get Secrets. You'll be able to do that and lots more.
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]]>Dashboardhidden preferencesHiddenPreferencesMacOs XOsXprefpaneSecretsJay Hathaway2008-07-07T16:00:00+00:00FreshAIRApps becomes RefreshingApps, under fire from Adobehttp://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/07/freshairapps-becomes-refreshingapps-under-fire-from-adobe/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/07/freshairapps-becomes-refreshingapps-under-fire-from-adobe/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/07/freshairapps-becomes-refreshingapps-under-fire-from-adobe/#commentsFiled under: , ,

FreshAIRApps is, as its name would suggest, a directory of new Adobe AIR applications. As AIR has grown in popularity, we've started following the site more closely to see what's new in the AIR world. The only comparable site out there at the moment is Adobe's own AIR showcase. Because FreshAIRApps is such a great resource, it surprised us to hear reports that Adobe is upset with the site's owner over his use of the "Adobe(R) AIR[TM]" trademark.

According to a message on the front page of FreshAIRApps, the site will continue as RefreshingApps.com, with the purpose of promoting the work of the developer community, not promoting Adobe. The site's owner says that the move caused him financial loss. No word from Adobe, although the message claims that the company's community evangelists think FreshAIRApps is good promotion for AIR.

[via ReadWriteWeb]
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]]>AdobeAdobe AIRAdobeAirFreshAIRAppsRefreshingAppstrademarkJay Hathaway2008-07-07T13:00:00+00:00Adobe makes Flash searchable, Flash designers rejoicehttp://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/01/adobe-makes-flash-searchable-flash-designers-rejoice/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/01/adobe-makes-flash-searchable-flash-designers-rejoice/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/01/adobe-makes-flash-searchable-flash-designers-rejoice/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

UPDATE: E.W. Scripps SEM Manager Paul Petersen weighs in on the SEO impact of Adobe and Google's announcement.

Adobe's Flash technology has long been the bane of efforts to create a Web site or application that can be indexed by Google, Yahoo! or other search engines. What it lacked in search engine optimization (SEO), Flash made up in offering designers an infinite playground for creating rich-media apps, games and video.

But what good is an application that users can't find?

Yesterday, Adobe and the two search engine leaders came out with an answer: A special Flash player that opens up content within applications and translates it for search engines. Flash content owners and search-engine users should notice results immediately.

This news was also mentioned in today's Googleholic.

Continue reading Adobe makes Flash searchable, Flash designers rejoice

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]]>flashseoPatrick Beeson2008-07-01T15:15:00+00:00Flipping the Linux switch: Linux web tools, Pt. 3 - Intro to HTML editorshttp://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/06/26/flipping-the-linux-switch-linux-web-tools-pt-3-intro-to-htm/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/06/26/flipping-the-linux-switch-linux-web-tools-pt-3-intro-to-htm/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/06/26/flipping-the-linux-switch-linux-web-tools-pt-3-intro-to-htm/#commentsFiled under: , , , , ,

DLS in Quanta PlusAn XHTML editor is a lot like a teacup dog breed or a designer pig. Okay, so they don't tremble incessantly or have the tendency to pee in the corner of your living room. They are really just highly specialized, souped-up versions of something else. Chihuahuas are pack animals, just like wolves. Potbellied pigs know instinctively how to root around for tasty things, as do wild boars. And XHTML editors edit text.

They have many tools to make editing XHTML (and other bits of code geared specifically for web use) faster and easier, but there's nothing says you need to use an XHTML editor for web coding. Text editors can do the job as well. If Kate, gedit, or Cream do the job for you, either on their own or with a few plugins, that's got you ahead of the game.

But there are some XHTML editors that manage to bundle the basic functions and a whole slew of handy extras into a nicely finished package. There are quite a few of them, and we'll be touching on more of them next week.

This week we'll take a peek at Bluefish and Quanta Plus. Why? Because they are the two most often included in Linux as the sort of "came with the distro" web development applications. Even if they aren't installed by default, many people try them first.
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]]>bluefishcodeeditinggnomehtmlkdelinuxlinux-switchquanta plusQuantaPlusxhtmlKristin Shoemaker2008-06-26T11:00:00+00:00Microsoft Visual Web Developer Express makes website management easyhttp://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/06/24/microsoft-visual-web-developer-express-makes-website-management/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/06/24/microsoft-visual-web-developer-express-makes-website-management/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/06/24/microsoft-visual-web-developer-express-makes-website-management/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

Visual Web Developer
Our friends over at Microsoft have a knack for hiding really cool stuff right under our noses, and they certainly didn't deviate from this policy with their Visual Studio Express Edition line of products. Included with the programming and database tools that would make the layman cringe is an interesting gem called Visual Web Developer Express Edition.

While the other Express Edition products focus on programming and application development, Visual Web Developer provides a hybrid set of tools; its versatile HTML and CSS editing tools are paired with the power of ASP.NET to allow users to quickly build web applications. However, what a lot of people don't know about Visual Web Developer is that the ASP.NET development tools can be ignored, turning it into a very impressive website editor.

Visual Web Developer includes Visual Studio's powerful WYSIWYG page editor and CSS style builder functions. Also provided is Microsoft's developer sanity-preserving IntelliSense technology, which makes editing HTML and CSS a breeze by providing immediate access to things like common markup and style attributes and values. However, one of our favorite features of Visual Web Developer is that you can point it to an FTP server, and edit your website right on your web server without worrying about uploading changes or using a separate FTP client. In fact, Visual Web Developer can, for the most part, replace your external FTP client, because the Solution Explorer allows you to upload and manipulate files right in your editing environment.

All of the Visual Studio Express Editions are free of charge; they don't do quite as much as Visual Studio, but they are worth looking at if you're interested in getting started with software or web development.
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]]>Adam Maras2008-06-24T12:00:00+00:00Get Twitter comments for your blog with Chirruphttp://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/06/23/get-twitter-comments-for-your-blog-with-chirrup/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/06/23/get-twitter-comments-for-your-blog-with-chirrup/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/06/23/get-twitter-comments-for-your-blog-with-chirrup/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

Back before the days of FriendFeed, it was pretty common to see people post things like, "Just wrote a new blog post. What do you think?" to Twitter. That's a good way of getting your link out there, but if anybody actually wanted to answer your question, they'd probably do it in the comments, not in Twitter. Chirrup is a way of tweeting back at someone and commenting at the same time. A neat trick!

Installing Chirrup is as simple as uploading a bit of PHP or installing it as a Wordpress plugin. Most webhosts support this, and the HowTo on the Chirrup site has straightforward instructions for getting it working. Once it's set up, Chirrup will grab any replies to you that contain a URL from your site, and associate the right comments with the right pages. It also knows how to unpack TinyURLs, which eases character-count concerns considerably.
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]]>blog commentsBlogCommentsChirrupTwitterwordpresswordpress pluginsWordpressPluginsJay Hathaway2008-06-23T15:00:00+00:00Versions.app - OS X Subversion with Stylehttp://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/06/19/versions-app-os-x-subversion-with-style/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/06/19/versions-app-os-x-subversion-with-style/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/06/19/versions-app-os-x-subversion-with-style/#commentsFiled under: , , ,


One of the fundamental tools for developers is not just their development environment of choice, but also their version control system of choice. The debate over just which version control system is undoubtedly set to rage on for eternity, however one of the more popular systems is Subversion. On the Mac, up until now there's been a number of choices: Terminal (command-line) which is built into the OS and includes Subversion as part of OS X Leopard, svnX - another open-source graphical user interface, or using the built-in Subversion support in Apple's OS X development IDE Xcode.

For some of us here at Download Squad, a fear of the command-line, compounded with a little loathing of the svnX interface made the announcement of Versions.app - over a year ago - more than a little exciting. Promising an elegant and truly OS X interface to work with Subversion, it's taken a long time to come to fruition - however the betas to date do appear to deliver.

After having used Versions on a daily basis since its debut 2 weeks ago, it's certainly showing a great deal of promise - and makes version control far friendlier. As others have noted, the application not only makes working with existing repositories easy, but also has quick links to Subversion web-service Beanstalk, allowing you to easily create a new online repository and add it to Versions.

Pricing for Versions will be set 'when version 1.0 ships', and currently all (free-to-use) betas expire on July 1st.
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]]>osxsubversionsvnversion-controlversionsNik Fletcher2008-06-19T18:00:00+00:00SproutCore gets huge buzz ahead of MobileMe launchhttp://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/06/16/sproutcore-gets-huge-buzz-ahead-of-mobileme-launch/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/06/16/sproutcore-gets-huge-buzz-ahead-of-mobileme-launch/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/06/16/sproutcore-gets-huge-buzz-ahead-of-mobileme-launch/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

Since it was revealed that Apple's recently-announced .mac replacement, MobileMe, was partially built on something called SproutCore, the buzz around this hot new JavaScript framework has been growing. Although this is the first that many people will have heard about it, SproutCore has actually been around for a while, powering services like .mac's Mobile Galleries. Now it's getting so much attention that SproutCore.com has been unreachable all day, a week after the WWDC announcement.

So, why SproutCore? Daniel Eran Dilger, over at RoughlyDrafted, has a great rundown of things to love about this open source JavaScript framework: it will allow developers to build web apps that look more like desktop apps, function offline, and take advantage of modern browser features. Apple's using SproutCore to build a front end for WebDav and its own WebObjects, but other developments could easily add PHP, JSON or XML data to the mix, to name a few.

[via RoughlyDrafted]
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]]>appledeveloperframeworkjavascriptMobileMeopen sourceOpenSourceSproutCoreweb appsweb kitWebAppsWebKitJay Hathaway2008-06-16T18:30:00+00:00Flipping the Linux switch: Linux web tools, Pt. 2 - Using LAMP for testinghttp://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/06/13/flipping-the-linux-switch-linux-web-tools-pt-2-using-lamp-f/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/06/13/flipping-the-linux-switch-linux-web-tools-pt-2-using-lamp-f/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/06/13/flipping-the-linux-switch-linux-web-tools-pt-2-using-lamp-f/#commentsFiled under: , , , , ,

small apache2 install graphicThere was a toss up this week about whether it would be better to dig right in to the Linux HTML editors, or to wax poetic about setting up LAMP so that those choosing to go the content management system (CMS) route could test any changes they made with such editors on their local machines.

We ultimately decided to tackle setting up a LAMP testing ground. This will certainly not be necessary for every single person out there who just wants to put up a web site. If your site is not using PHP-driven content that interacts with or requires a database backend, and you just plan on designing static web pages, there is absolutely no need to do any of this.

If you are perfectly content to upload your site and integrate any supporting elements (once again, things like databases) live and on the web and make changes there, where it is possible that everyone can see your style sheet testing or things may be temporarily broken, you don't need to do this either.

Some people, though, really like to get things on their CMS tweaked to near perfection before releasing their content on the world. Other people need to know exactly what a dynamic site is going to look and act like before it goes live. The combination of Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP (LAMP) makes this possible.

Continue reading Flipping the Linux switch: Linux web tools, Pt. 2 - Using LAMP for testing

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]]>apachecontent management systemContentManagementSystemLAMPlinuxlinux-switchlocalhostmysqlphpservertestKristin Shoemaker2008-06-13T10:00:00+00:00Tests confirm CSS selectors slow load timeshttp://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/06/11/tests-confirm-css-selectors-slow-load-times/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/06/11/tests-confirm-css-selectors-slow-load-times/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/06/11/tests-confirm-css-selectors-slow-load-times/#commentsFiled under: ,

Most Web designers make liberal use of CSS selectors, but that spec's sibling, descendant and child selectors can cause what designer/developer Shaun Innman calls a "significant, negative impact on page rendering." This is confirmed in tests done by UI Specialist Jon Sykes that are published on his blog.

Fortunately for most designers, the performance impact is only in extreme situations. But it's definitely something to be aware of when writing CSS.

The test was based in part on a comment by Dave Hyatt on an entry from Inman's blog.

Continue reading Tests confirm CSS selectors slow load times

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]]>csspage loadPageLoadperformanceweb designWebDesignPatrick Beeson2008-06-11T08:00:00+00:00Flipping the Linux switch: Linux web tools and HTML editors, Pt. 1http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/06/09/flipping-the-linux-switch-linux-web-tools-and-html-editors-pt/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/06/09/flipping-the-linux-switch-linux-web-tools-and-html-editors-pt/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/06/09/flipping-the-linux-switch-linux-web-tools-and-html-editors-pt/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

Flickr user Craig RodwayIn many ways, I'm pretty old school. When I learned HTML, I painstakingly handcoded my pages in the esteemed Notepad. Only when I became a master of HTML-fu did I allow myself to try Dreamweaver. (Okay, fine, the ability to buy a license with educational pricing may have had a lot to do with it, too.)

I loved Dreamweaver. One of the things that always made me a little sad when I first tried Linux was that there wasn't a real Dreamweaver-esque type application. Times have changed, however. There are a number of HTML/web development applications out there that are free (as in speech and beer) and feature filled.

But I'd be really amiss if I just mentioned Linux HTML editors in a vacuum. There are a number of tools readily available in repositories that make coding, layout, uploading, and testing easy and (dare I say it) fun.

Because seriously, if it isn't fun, what's the point?

Over the next few weeks we're going to take a look at web development tools in Linux. We'll do a run down of some popular XHTML/HTML editors, FTP and transfer software, and neat little tools for creating content that make some of the drudgery of "back-end" web work less painful.

Continue reading Flipping the Linux switch: Linux web tools and HTML editors, Pt. 1

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]]>FTPHTMLinternetlinuxlinux-switchweb developmentWebDevelopmentXHTMLKristin Shoemaker2008-06-09T19:00:00+00:00