Not being ones to blow our own trumpet, it’s nice when someone else blows it for you (apologies to Hugh Grant).
In this instance our trumpet is being blown by NMA magazine.
Oh yeah… oh yeah… oh…don’t stop…
We’re officially “one to watch” in their 2007 Top 100 Agencies survey.
Here’s a thumbnail of the full Blonde entry. Click to enlarge.
I’m actually only writing this blog post to move that picture down the page a bit.
(The blog’s our default virtual host so at the moment any time we set up a new website we get a picture of Rhys Ifan’s arse until the virtual host is configured)
But anyway, today we’re taste-testing new coffee for our coffee machine:
We’ve had this thing for a year and I’ve decided we should try some different types of coffee to make sure the stuff we’ve been using is up to scratch (so far, the verdict is “yes” - the incumbent has won two bouts… one more to go)
Programmers are machines for turning coffee into code. The better the coffee that goes in, the better the code you get out at the end (or possibly the more liable to caffeine-induced psychoses your techies are, details details)
Either way: none of that brown gravel stuff here, thank you very much.
“I’ll be working from home tomorrow. In my pants.”
Quote, unquote.
Thanks Phil. We’ll be conjuring with that image all day.
Back when the web was young (and we all walked uphill through snow both ways to get to work) we web monkeys got by with good old “view source”. If a problem was extra-tricky we’d make a copy of that source and tinker till it worked.
Unfortunately nowadays just viewing the source doesn’t often help - sometimes all you get is two divs and a javascript call to work with… (which then goes on to use XMLHTTPRequest’s and the like to populate the page, generating the document on the fly, rebuilding entire sections by importing a google-maps-flash-GPS-mashup into a floating div… you get the idea)
So we need something better than just “view source”.
Enter Firebug:
This allows you to view the document structure in real time - even if it’s being changed constantly by a bit of Web 2.7 AJAX/Jif[1] Magic. You can also see what styles are being imported from what stylesheets, you can right click and “inspect element” on the webpage and firebug will show you the appropriate bit of code.
Even better - you’re not just limited to looking at what the document is - you can tinker: add new elements, add attributes, change the styles (even with all these fancy toys, ‘border: 1px solid red;’ is still my favourite CSS debugging tool ;)).
After using firebug for a few hours it’s hard to imagine ever debugging a web page without it… and that’s its one problem…
See, Firebug only comes with Firefox - and unfortunately we poor web monkeys have to debug for IE6 and IE7 too (something to do with world+dog using IE still). Having played with Firefox and Firebug I’m now spoiled - I don’t want to look at that page in IE6 because I know something is going to be out of alignment and I’m going to have a much more painful time of tracking it down than if I could just Firebug it…
However, this morning in my inbox I have an email linking to an IE equivalent - the Internet Explorer Developer Toolbar. Its name isn’t quite so snappy and it doesn’t have all the handy network monitoring tools Firebug has (very useful when debugging some Flash apps), but it does let you view and tinker with the document and the stylesheets.
Hurrah!
So, my fellow web monkeys - if you’ve not discovered either of these tools yet - check the links below, they’re just too good to miss out on. Give it a day or two of using them and you’ll wonder how you ever lived without.
The Internet Explorer Developer Toolbar
[1] I can’t help it if people name the latest nifty web-fad after a popular brand of bleach can I? Give it five years and we’ll be talking about using “Toilet Duck” to empower “The Nappy Framework” or something.
One of the guys here at Blonde sent me a link to Wikipedia’s internet slang entry when I asked for help in deciphering a string of capital letters with which someone had ended an e-mail to me.
I’ve never used emoticons. I don’t mind other people using them. Indeed they quite often help to clarify the intended tone of e-mails that can be taken in one of two ways. Emoticons just don’t feel very me.
However, I’m quite taken with this slang malarkey. Especially the ones that have an element of sarcasm, or which sound like words in their own right, or both.
A few random examples.
DILLIGAS – does it look like I give a shit?
IOTTMCO – intuitively obvious to the most casual observer.
TL;DR – too long;didn’t read. In the words of the Wikipedia entry “an admonishment that a post is too lengthy or lacks worthwhile content.” I think we’ve all been there (or here – hope not).
PEBKAC – nice, sarcastic, geeky one meaning Problem Exists Between Keyboard and Chair. In other words the computer user being discussed is a bit of a numpty.
IANAL – I am not a lawyer. Apparently used as a piece of internet slang arse covering when legal issues are being discussed. Pretty apt given that most lawyers are very anal.
There are any number of options for people wanting to make clear that they’ve found something funny. There’s an escalating scale of mirth.
LOL – laughing out load.
ROFL – rolling on the floor laughing.
ROFLMAO – rolling on the floor laughing my arse off.
And my favourite (which has subsequently disappeared from the Wikipedia entry)…
C|N>K – laughing so hard that my Coffee (or Coke) piped down my Nose onto the Keyboard.
As a parent who is only too aware that his kids have a separate language and code when talking amongst themselves, it’s a bit of a worry that there are three entries in the parental surveillance category.
P911 – parent emergency (watch what you type)
CD9 - Code 9 parents nearby.
AITR – adult in the room.
That’s enough.
GBCW
(Goodbye Cruel World)
(“A dramatic leave taking of a forum or site”).
A. They both reduce your inhibitions.
I guess that, like a lot of people my age, many of my early Facebook “friends” are actually current or ex work colleagues.
In an office environment it can take weeks, months or even years to develop a level of familiarity with a colleague that is anything akin to genuine friendship. Even then there’s a level of familiarity beyond which working relationships just don’t go.
Not so on Facebook.
Whilst I obviously maintain an appropriate level of professional detachment whilst socially networking, I’ve noticed that interaction between friends (i.e. work colleagues) and friends of friends (i.e. colleagues of colleagues) can move from familiar to very familiar to mildly flirtatious and beyond at a pace that would be unheard of in an office environment.
None of these people are hiding behind Second Life alter egos. It’s their real life selves interacting (for which read flirting) with real life colleagues that they’ll see in real life the next day.
I know several people who would be worried if their partner saw their Facebook profile. Not because anything bad is really happening, but because some of the content would be hard to explain to anyone unfamiliar with what is clearly a different set of rules.
A. People tend to underestimate or deliberately play down their level of consumption.
This applies equally to the number of alcohol units consumed in a week, and to the extent to which spare time is consumed by Facebook.
Behind every “I’m not that fussed” you can bet there’s a beautifully manicured, regularly updated, application-heavy profile who’s owner spends hour upon dark hour cultivating their friends, groups and wall posts.
Personally I’m not that fussed.
What are you doing after work?