Archive for March, 2011

Windows 8 Shipped to OEMs

Windows 8 Shipped to OEMs

Microsoft has shipped copies of it’s next Operating System, Windows 8 to OEM partners via Microsoft Connect.  There’s no release date as of yet, but I’m sure details will come sooner than later.

There are very few details about Windows 8 at this time. Among the rumors floating around are tighter integration with Microsofts cloud service Windows Live as well as a System Restore called “History Vault”.

Windows 7 is rock solid and hasn’t caused me any problems thus far so I can’t wait to get my hands on Windows 8.

March 31, 2011 0 comments Read More
Google Android Wave to Pay checkout system

Google Android Wave to Pay checkout system

Google has teamed up with Mastercard and Citigroup to created a mobile payment system for Android based phones. This system should be released later this year and there are a few phones being made with this technology.

For the phone owner payments would be simple, just wave your device in front of a NFC reader.

I can’t wait to stop carrying around multiple cards!

What do you think about waving your Android device to pay at stores? Is it secure enough? Let me know in the comments below.

March 28, 2011 0 comments Read More
Coders who care

Coders who care

I was checking out reddit.com this morning, looking for some cool new jQuery plugins to mess around with when I stumbled upon a post by kelli shaver that’s started a site for non profits that are seeking experienced developers and coders.

The site is http://coderswhocare.org/ and has just launched. I will be donating some of my time to help out those that are in need of my services in the near future.

Instead of  telling you about the site I’ll just post a snippet from their “about me” page so you can have a look for yourself.

“Coders Who Care is a website dedicated to the idea of connecting nonprofit organizations with talented developers and IT professionals willing to donate their time and skills to a good cause.”

I’ll keep you guys updated as things progress with their site.

March 28, 2011 0 comments Read More
Freelance Fridays: How to get paid what you’re worth.

Freelance Fridays: How to get paid what you’re worth.

I’ve been a freelance website designer/developer for the last 6 years, on and off and have figured out a few things that I’d like to share regarding how much you can earn as a freelance developer. I’ll make the list short because I know that your time is valuable.

  • STAY AWAY FROM CRAIGSLIST!
    People on CL are trying to get something for nothing. DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME!
  • Treat your customers right.
    This is the most important thing you could do in business. Treat your customers with respect and help them achieve their goals. If they like your work and see a return they will refer you to others.
  • Check out the competition.
    Figure out what they charge and adjust your pricing accordingly. If you have the same skill set as your competitors there’s nothing wrong with charging as much as them.
  • Learn new things.
    Jquery, CSS3 and HTML5 are all great places to start. You can set yourself apart from your competition using enhanced techniques.
  • Make it known on your site how much you charge.
    If you want to make more money you have to show people that you’re worth the price you are charging.
  • Contact local advertising/web development companies.
    Get in good with the bigger guys, show them that you can do freelance work at a good price.  You will get more work than you know what to do with. The best thing is that it will be GOOD work.
March 25, 2011 0 comments Read More
Firefox 5 information

Firefox 5 information

According to this video ( around the 28 minute mark ) Paul Rouget has put out some information on Firefox 5. It will be built on the Firefox 4 engine. It will basically be an upgrade to FF4 with a few new things.

Firefox 5 will be released “this summer”.

They will have a fullscreen API.

There will be an “account manager”.

They will be using SSE.

Firefox team has been working with the Google Chrome team to change their release schedule.

March 24, 2011 0 comments Read More
Firefox 4 more popular than IE9

Firefox 4 more popular than IE9

Statcounter.com has data that states Firefox 4 is already more popular than IE9 with over 7.1 million downloads in its first day.  The main factor why Internet Explorer 9  is losing the race so far is that IE9 doesn’t support Windows XP or any other operating system. FF4 is spread out amongst numerous OS’s including Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows 2000,Windows Server 2003,Mac OS X 10.5,Mac OS X 10.6 and Linux.

March 24, 2011 0 comments Read More
Recta theme in action

Recta theme in action

A while ago I released a few templates to the web development community. You can view and download the RECTA Slide theme if you go to  http://www.rectathemes.com/templates.html . I got an email today from the nice people at  http://www.fpcathens.org/. They explained that they were using my framework/template for their site.

 

I put out templates/frameworks every once and while to the community because I believe it’s good to give back to those that have helped me get into the position that I’m in. Without hundreds of other web designers/developers giving away their code and sharing techniques I wouldn’t be doing the job that I love today. I probably would be, but it would be a lot harder.  It’s the least I could do.

I always like to get emails from people telling me that they like my work.  Thanks for supporting the free web!

March 24, 2011 0 comments Read More
3 plugins I always install: WordPress

3 plugins I always install: WordPress

Every time I install WordPress I have a few select plugins that make my life a little easier.

  1. All in One SEO Pack
    A great SEO plugin with tons of features.  Get it here.
  2. Google XML Sitemaps
    This automatically creates an XML sitemap for your WordPress site. Get it here.
  3. WP DB Backup
    The easiest way to back up your WordPress Database. It’s automatic and has a ton of settings to fine tune. Get it here.

What are your favorite plugins? Tell me in the comments.

March 22, 2011 0 comments Read More
Organize WordPress Pages Easily

Organize WordPress Pages Easily

Do you use WordPress as a CMS and have many pages to deal with? It’s a headache sometimes.

I found this great plugin that will help you organize your pages into a tree view structure simple and quickly.

The plugin is located here if you want to jump in head first.

Here’s a quick explanation of what it does.

Instead of using WordPress’ native admin menu on the left where you have to click “Pages” and sift through your pages until you find the right one, this plugin puts them in a nice and clean tree view on the landing of the Admin page.

It’s simple to edit pages : Hover over the page title and click on “edit”.

You can also move pages around very easily, making organization a snap. Just grab a page and drag it to where you want it.

For more information check out this video.

March 21, 2011 0 comments Read More
How to get IE9 on Windows XP

How to get IE9 on Windows XP

As of right now there’s no way to run IE9 on a Windows XP machine. For me that’s not a problem because I develop all of my websites on my Windows 7 machine. If I need to fall back to windows XP with IE6, IR7 or IE8 I have a laptop with all of them installed for testing. I don’t need IE9 on that laptop.

I have been using IE9 off and on since it’s been in Alpha and I have to say that I’m impressed with the Internet Explorer teams attention to Web Standards as well as their support for HTML5 and CSS3.

I am more impressed that the team has left XP users by the wayside this time in hopes of advancing the web in general. Thank you Microsoft! If  other browsers would do the same the web could move past an operating system that’s over 10 years old, filled with security holes and lacking support.

Of course they have a more important goal here, to control the web. The company that has the largest browser share will control the flow of information. Microsoft is definitely interested in that, who wouldn’t be?

If you are using Windows 7 and don’t know which version of Internet Explorer you are using you should definitely check out IE9.

Good job IE9 team, you rule!

 

 

March 21, 2011 7 comments Read More
Stop SOPA