Best Tool for the Job

Biggest Cruise Ship in the World...

We spent the last 7 days and 7 nights on the Mariner of the Seas touring the Caribbean and getting some sun (burn) on the islands of the Bahamas, St. Thomas and St. Marteen. My favorite island of the three was St. Thomas--it was the most tropical and I liked the fact that it was American--I felt more at home there than in Nassau or St. Marteen which is French and Dutch.

Jenny got a 10gb iPod for Christmas, making a grand total of 1,300,001 iPods sold this Christmas. I'm very curious to see what the new, smaller iPods that are supposed to be released in a couple weeks will look like.... I can't wait for an Apple handheld either.

Best OS for Web Design and Development

In this article, I'm taking Linux (Debian and others), Macintosh OS X (Panther) and Windows XP and comparing them to find the ideal operating system for web design and development. After using Windows, Macintosh OS X and Linux (in various incarnations) each for extended periods of time over the last 4 1/2 years, here is what I've found.
Linux
Advantages: The obvious advantage to developing on Linux is that you're working on the OS that you'll probably be running your site on. It's nice to be able to save locally and view your content on a local webserver. This is also possible in Windows and OS X so it's not necessarily a major advantage but it's nice.

Other advantages of Linux are that it has great text editors (Quanta, Kate, gEdit to name a few) and there is no lack of FTP tools. In my mind, that's about it as far as advantages go.

Read on for disadvantages of Linux and my insights on OS X and Windows.

Disadvantages: The biggest disadvantage of designing for the web in Linux is the utter lack of good graphics software. Sure, there's the Gimp which isn't a bad piece of Open Source software, but in all honesty it does not compare to Photoshop or even Fireworks. For one, it's lacking any "save for web" feature to make optimizing images a quick and easy process. That alone is enough to make me choose photoshop over the Gimp, but there are a host of other disadvantages to the Gimp which I won't go into here. You can now run Photoshop in Linux using Codeweavers Crossover Office but in my experience, Photoshop does not run nearly as fast under Crossover Office or as well as it does using it on a native platform.

If you're looking for vector graphics software, you'll also come up empty handed. I do 99% of my layout work in Illustrator or Freehand and there is nothing even close on Linux. SodiPodi and a couple others may be contenders later on down the road, but right now they are far from being serious competitors to either Illustrator or Freehand.

Macintosh OS X (Panther)
Advantages: One of the principal advantages of using a Mac to design is that the GUI of OS X promotes good design. You may disagree, but I feel that working in such a clean, polished environment helps you clear your mind and focus on design. I personally have changed the theme of OS X to the iPod inspired theme using ShapeShifter to remove some of the bright colors OS X has by default making the OS X experience even better.

Exposé. Exposé makes working with several applications (which is very common in web development) a breeze. It even makes working with the Mac version of Photoshop tolerable. Many of the Mac users I work with love how there is no "gray box" behind Photoshop for OS X. Personally, I like the gray box on the PC--it blocked out all the clutter of the desktop and other app's while working on graphics. In addition, double clicking it quickly brings up the "Open File" dialog and by minimizing it, you quickly clear your desktop.

Another advantage with OS X is that it has a native SSH client. I love being able to open the Terminal and ssh to the server without having to use Putty. This is also (obviously) available in Linux. In addition to SSH, Apache, PHP and MySQL run well on OS X (probably better than on Windows)

Disadvantages: I use Dreamweaver MX 2004 and Flash MX 2004 quite a bit. On the Mac, the interface to both of these programs is not nearly as nice as on a PC. On a PC, using the numerous panels and palettes necessary to use both of these programs is almost effortless. On the Mac, I find myself constantly rearranging them. While both Dreamweaver and Flash allow you to save your panel layouts, using the programs in OS X is not as efficient as using them on a PC. I also miss the tabs you have on a PC when working with multiple documents. In addition, I have found Flash MX 2004 to be much less stable on OS X than on a PC, with semi-frequent crashes of the sort where the entire program just disappears.

Windows XP
Advantages: I've already mentioned several of the advantages to Web Development on a PC (Dreamweaver/Flash interface advantages, Photoshop "gray box" etc.). In addition to these, there are a few other things that make designing on Windows nice.

Browsers. This is a big one. The majority of Internet users use Microsoft Internet Explorer on a PC. It's essential to be able to test your sites on IE, whether or not it's the browser you use (I prefer Firebird) and IE on a Mac is significantly different from IE on Windows.

FTP clients. I've had much better luck with using FTP clients on Windows than on either Linux or OS X. Maybe it's that I haven't searched hard enough, but I haven't found anything that I like better than (now discontinued) Leech FTP and FileZilla. Both are free, fast and fully featured.

In Windows there are also dozens of great text editors - from basic to advanced, many of them free.

Disadvantages: Well. Say what you will, and your comments are welcome, but there really aren't many disadvantages. If cost isn't an issue (and it almost always is), most good software is written for Windows. With Windows XP stability isn't an issue anymore (hasn't been for me anyway). You can run most web servers you can run on Linux or OS X on Windows, Apache being the most important, (though I'd never consider using Windows as a server). The only thing left to complain about is the proprietaryness (is that a word) of Windows and Microsoft, but as far as the OS itself, in a strictly utilitarian sense, there isn't much to complain about. On the server side of things, I'm 100% for open source software and I use it exclusively there. On the desktop, it's a different story altogether.

Conclusions
While web development is possible, even enjoyable, in all three OS's, I've found Windows to be the best all around. Really, what it comes down to is the available software and it's ability to run well on the OS in question. All three are very stable operating systems with all the necessary server side tools to work with. However when it comes down to the availability and usability of software, Windows still can't be beat.

Kung-Log

If you use Movable Type, Nucleus or Blogger for your weblog and you work on a Mac, check out Kung-Log. It's a desktop application that will retrieve past posts as well as enabling you to post new entries to your weblog. I'm using it now and if you're reading this... it worked :). This is another feature - it lets you insert the song you're listening to in iTunes. I'm listening to: To Protect The Family Name from the album "Winners Never Quit" by Pedro The Lion

Best Pocket PC Readers

After using the Pocket PC for awhile now and looking high and low, here's what I've come to the conclusion as to what some of the best and most useful pocket PC readers are (in order of usefulness):
µBook - http://www.gowerpoint.com/ - One of the best all around readers. Supports several file types, auto scrolling, annotations and highlighting. It's fast, skinnable and free. There is also a full desktop version available.
YanCEyWare Reader - http://www.yanceyware.com/ - If you're LDS, this scripture reader is the best. Fully featured, but only works for books in the .ybk format. It's also free.
Vade Mecum - http://vade-mecum.sourceforge.net/ - The only eBook reader that reads the Plucker (http://dave.pluckerbooks.com:81/) format. It supports highlighting, annotations etc. It's still in Alpha, but it's the most stable alpha software I've ever used.
MobiPocket - http://www.mobipocket.com - Commercial software. The standard reader is pretty pitiful as far as features go, but it opens several formats and you'll find lots of content geared specifically towards this reader. There's a pro version for $20 but I haven't purchased it.
Microsoft Reader - http://www.microsoft.com/reader - Slow and bulky and a pain to install and authorize. I personally can't stand this reader but unfortunately many eBooks you purchase only work in this format because of DRM issues.

Saddam

Yes. We FINALLY got him! It took 8 months, but we have him. Now it's anyones guess what will happen to him. Twenty or thirty years ago, I don't think there would have been any question. Hopefully our President will do the right thing, execute him and make him an example to the rest of the world as to the fate of those who would threaten our great nation.

He's not looking so hot now is he...

Best Tool for the Blog

From last night:
Installing MovableType... starting at 10:45.... finishing at exactly 11:45. Wow. That took longer than I expected, but alas it's done. I probably would have been find sticking with Blogger, but in my never ending quest to have the latest and greatest software, MovableType was a necessity.

Now I have this itching wonder in the back of my head why I can't upgrade MCPAN. That will have to wait for another day...

Truth

This is a great quote by John Taylor on embracing truth (emphasis added):
.In regard to our religion, I will say that it embraces every principle of truth and intelligence pertaining to us as moral, intellectual, mortal and immortal beings, pertaining to this world and the world that is to come. We are open to truth of every kind, no matter whence it comes, where it originates, or who believes in it. Truth, when preceded by the little word .all,. comprises everything that has ever existed or that ever will exist and be known by and among men in time and through the endless ages of eternity. And it is the duty of all intelligent beings who are responsible and amenable to God for their acts, to search after truth, and to permit it to influence them and their acts and general course in life, independent of all bias or preconceived notions, however specious and plausible they may be..

He went on to say:
.If there are any good principles, any moral philosophy that we have not yet attained to, we are desirous to learn them. If there is anything in the scientific world that we do not yet comprehend, we desire to become acquainted with it. ... If there is any branch of philosophy calculated to promote the well-being of humanity, that we have not yet grasped, we wish to possess ourselves of it. If there is anything pertaining to the rule and government of nations, or politics, if you please, that we are not acquainted with, we desire to possess it. If there are any religious ideas, any theological truths, any principles pertaining to God, that we have not learned, we ask mankind, and we pray God, our Heavenly Father, to enlighten our minds that we may comprehend, realize, embrace, and live up to them as part of our religious faith. Thus our ideas and thoughts would extend as far as the wide world spreads, embracing everything pertaining to light, life, or existence pertaining to this world or the world that is to come. . They would soar after the intelligence of the Gods that dwell in the eternal worlds. They would grasp everything that is good and noble and excellent and happifying and calculated to promote the well-being of the human family..
The Teachings of John Taylor - Chapter 23

Mind Mapping

Both my father and father-in-law have spent time extolling the virtues of Mind Mapping--basically brainstorming on paper. I have come to realize the benefits of doing it, but for me, doing something on actual paper is just too reminicent of high school or filling out a form at the DMV or something horrible like that. I prefer to do things the digital way.

The other day, I discovered Nova Mind for Mac OS X which is a way of doing it digitally. I was pretty impressed with the functionality, but due to the fact that I don't have a Mac at home (yet) it's not much use. Plus it costs $59 dollars, which I suppose isn't bad, but it's more than I'm willing to pay. I also found Concept Draw but their MindMapping software is $149 and not quite as elegant as Nova Mind, though probably more functional.

Tonight I discovered a couple Windows products--both freeware/open source that look like they will do the trick. The first is appropriately titled Freemind. It's very functional, decent looking and you can do pretty much whatever you need to do with it right from the keyboard so there's no interrupting your train of thought by reaching over and missing the mouse. In addition to it being great on the desktop, there's a feature that lets you publish fully functional mindMaps to the web in without even having to export them. Here's an example.

The next one I found was called KeyNote (not to be confused with Keynote. It's more of a tool for outlining and creating hierarichal documents (like this blog for example). So far, I've been impressed with it. It's seems about as fully featured as any Office XP application, including Macro capabilites. Hmm. maybe I should write a macro to enable publishing to this Blog. Then it would be some serious competion to MacJournal.

I'm happy. If you're interested, I'd say check them both out. You can't go wrong with free :)

Benefits of Fatherhood

Today was one of those days where being a daddy seems like the best and easiest thing in the world. We took a trip down to Williamsburg to visit friends and house-hunt and Max was an angel. He sat in the back seat talking, singing and sleeping the whole time.

Having a baby also makes trips to Burger King much more fun/interesting :) He loved it! We enjoyed watching the faces he made as he tried ketchup and mustard and how he reacted with the other kids in the play room.

I suppose it's all part of the parental rollercoaster previously mentioned here. I love the peaks like today.

X11 on Panther

Today, in an effort to connect to the corporate exchange server from my Mac at work, I've decided to try to install Evolution [http://www.ximian.com/products/evolution] an open source product similar to Microsoft Outlook. It's been an interesting process.

If you decide to try it, you'll probably have to take these steps (assuming you're using Mac OS X 10.3 Panther)
1. Install xCode (comes with OSX). NOTE: Make sure you install the X11 SDK - it's not selected by default.
2. Install Fink -[http://fink.sourceforge.net/] Just go to the download section and pick the binary package and install it. The process is pretty straightforward. Make sure you drag the FinkCommander application that comes bundled with Fink to your hard drive. I found a couple projects that seem to try to do the same thing as Fink, but none seemed as complete.
3. Find the package you want to install and wait awhile.
4. Open a Terminal and you should be able to type the name of the program you installed and have it run.

At the time I'm writing this, Evolution has not been ported to Panther. So I decided to install KMail. Since I am installing it from source and it's Friday after 6pm, it looks like I'm going to have to wait until Monday to see how it looks :).

Other things that are nice to know is that X11 is installed by default in the Applications > Utilities folder. At this point there are quite a few applications that have been ported to OS 10.2 but not 10.3. I imagine it won't be long before they are ported to Panther, especially with the new X11 optimizations made by Apple. [http://www.apple.com/macosx/x11/].

Other X11 applications I'd like to be able to use are Nautilus (a cool file manager), kedit (a text editor) which reminds me, if you haven't seen it, SubEthaEdit [http://www.codingmonkeys.de/subethaedit/] is an awesome editor for OS X (I'm all over the place) and the Gimp (an image editing package). There are others...

Fink uses a package manager based on apt-get which is used in Debian. Basically that means that in order to install any application you only need to go to the command line and type fink install applicationname. It automatically finds dependencies (other packages needed by your application) and installs them. This is one of the reasons I won't even consider Linux distributions that are not based on Debian.

If you're curious about Debian, try Lycoris, Lindows, Libranet, Knoppix, Mepis or Xandros. There are Debian based distros as well, but to my knowledge these are the most common. Of these, only Mepis and Knoppix are free. The reason I would not recommend pure Debian to anyone is because it is very, very difficult to install, though they are slowly working on that issue.

I'm beginning to like OS X even more every day :)

MacJournal

Right now, in my mental dilemma between Mac and PC, I'm still sitting on the fence. This program (MacJournal) has definitely just added a plus onto the side of Macs. The simple elegance of it is nothing short of amazing. It's this type of program that makes using a computer pleasant. So... for now chalk one up for the mac.

Rollercoaster Rides

Having a baby has been more of a rollercoaster ride than I ever imagined. It's insane to me how many times a minute he can go from completely happy to screaming mad--forgetting altogether the emotion he was feeling in the previous second but leaving his parents somewhat befuddled. For daddy, it's a feeling of strong love, then confusion and eventually... I'll admit, strong frustration. What can you do?

He doesn't understand in the least what he's doing, It's just how babies are. I think as time goes on, my patience lasts longer and longer, but when it gets to a point, I just have to leave the room. Ahh... the life of a first time daddy :).