Pushing to the edge of insanity and then reeling it back in

XML Whitespace: FireFox

Is there anything more gratifying than failing over and over in finding a bug and then discovering the problem in a single moment?

Not normal fare for this blog, but many, and I mean many hours of stumbling through cross-browser JavaScript XML parsing and I finally discovered the culprit.

Node selection was ok in IE but failing in FireFox. When I get down to a count of nodes found, there was a difference between IE and FireFox - weird is that there were no problems with a preceding XML selection function.

When I count all the possible nodes in the XML doc to see if the child nodes are selecting differently, there is always 1 more than what's there???

Finally, I check the 2 different xml docs and notice that 1 has no spaces or tabs - the one that works. When I remove all spaces and tabs, everything syncs back up between both browsers.

I look and cannot find an equivalent to preserveWhiteSpace = false for FireFox, so I have to either ensure there is none, or write a function that strips it prior to xml parsing.

This post is in dedication to anyone struggling like I did. I did a lot of searching and didn't find anything that gave me any clue as to the issue. Hopefully this will save some time for anyone in a similar situation.

Cybersquatting

You look up an obscure name, find it's available, then go to register it the next day and it's gone.

There is plenty of evidence to suggest that groups are sniffing searches and then purchasing the domain name and "Squatting" on the domain to profit from resale.

It just happened to a client of ours.

He researched several options at Network Solutions, sent me is choice on Friday. On Monday, we went to register it and it's been purchased by a firm in the British West Indies - a domain squatter.

I've moved to using NSLOOKUP as a more secure method of checking names

nslookup www.clipmybigtoe.com





















To get more details, change NSLOOKUP

nslookup -querytype=ANY www.orbisdesign.com

E-Strategy

Many clients have been dubbing their new approach to their Internet plans as their E-Strategy. E-Strategies are nothing new, but what seems new is this wave of actually walking the talk. Not only has the Internet become a central strategy from top to bottom, many have expressed an almost equal desire to reduce (some even trying to eliminate) the hard printing (and distribution) of information.

The following is a collection of what seems most commonly called out.

• Content must move quicker from thought to site
• Collect and/or improve upon profiles of visitors
• Visitors desire quicker access to new product (service) information
• Visitors need better indexing of sub content as site becomes more complex
• Related content (i.e. see also) linkage between products are needed
• Web analytics is more prevalent within planning
• More flexibility in changing the structure or look of the site as business plans change
• International treatment: multi-language, different product offerings depending on region

Balance

There seems to be a battle that may never be won but if balance between both sides can be maintained, perhaps that's the win.

I want the site to look just so, I want my message to be expressed in just this way, I want to be able to post this information as fast as possible.

As there seems to be 2 stages of posting information - the creation of the vehicle (stage 1) and then the ongoing updates (stage 2), the old saying of planting a large garden is completely different than maintaining one rings true.

Consistency in patterns and organization cannot be expressed in great enough terms. While many will agree with the statement, how many of us actually follow that plan.

It seems the flow of thoughts and ideas cannot be harnessed in any definable repeatable pattern as their expression in products, services and offerings is in constant flux.

We try to build templates that can economically span a large garden and easily be weeded but it seems all to often the theory is half of what it wants to be before it's even put into practice.

I know there is an answer, I'm just not sure which areas to explore to find it. Accepting the battle of theory against practice helps ease the search.

Fundamentals of Programming

A colleague asked if I would define the fundamentals of programming. Here's a first stab.

The fundamentals are such that when a body of code is written to perform a set of functions, it's organization and structure is such that as the functionality is changed or augmented to extend it's capabilities, the code base remains as small and traceable as possible. Future changes or bug tracking by the original author – or better yet, by a different coder, are quick and easy to follow and understand. Multiple versions (i.e. dev vs. live, vs multiple hosting versions) are easily and effectively managed.

* Code base is as small as possible
* Logic can easily be traced
* Multiple versions are synced.

Can this be distilled down any further?

Welcome

"I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free. "
-Michelangelo

While great artists go back hundreds of years, how many will emerge in one of the greatest times to be alive - now. The Internet is perhaps the largest canvas and the tools for creation are ever appearing.

To the end that we build sites - for clients, the story already exists and our job is to illuminate and then tell that story - or provide our customers the ability to effectively tell the story. But like Michelangelo, we cannot create what isn't already there. That's the interesting challenge in that many come to us wanting to create the greatest website ever built. The extent by which that is possible is so tied to who they are as an organization, it's an interesting journey taking them on the trip.