• Oct 27, 2003

    Preventing RSI with WorkRave

    When I'm coding or writing reports, I often find myself going into a trance-like state where I can't keep myself from looking away from the monitor. That is majorly bad, and I know it, but sometimes I just don't care because things have to be done. I figured I needed something external to enforce a little discipline in me, so I'd got Break Reminder. I used it for some time. Unfortunately, I'd turned it off when I found it unbelievably annoying. Before you start rolling your eyes, let me say that I find my "unrepentant" behavior very disappointing as well.

    So now having been alerted to WorkRave by Simon Willison, I've decided to install it and enforce breaks no matter what. It isn't a good sign when your wrists, fingers, neck and back start to ache. I needed RSI prevention, fast.

    Enter WorkRave.

    WorkRave is an Open Source application that sets reminders to tell you when it is time to take a break from your work. Oh, and it's free software. I've it set to micropause for 20 seconds every 8 mins, and enforce a rest break of 5 mins every 45 mins. The FAQ has some guidelines for good timer values. If you've ever felt any aches in your wrists or fingers, or find yourself unable to take a break from your computer even though you know you needed it, get it and try it out. There're Windows and Linux versions - having a Linux version is great, because now I can enforce breaks when working in Linux too.

    Source: Simon Willison: Avoiding RSI

  • Oct 27, 2003

    I've got Mini-tab Shapes

    I've always been wanting to try out Mini-tab Shapes and finally got down to doing so. Granted, the whole thing was a no-brainer since all that had to be done was to copy the source in that page and tweak the CSS to suit the rest of the site.

    Initially though, I'd wanted to put up tabs like those in the Sliding Doors of CSS article at A List Apart, but my graphic design skills weren't up to the task - I had problems coming up with tabs that weren't child-like doodles. So I settled for mini-tabs.

    Anyway, for those of you who've been visiting lately, you'd probably also have noticed the new look. Hate it? Like it? Let me know!

    Update: The Sun Report has Vertical Mini-tabs, inspired by Mini-tab shapes!

  • Oct 24, 2003

    Branding Mozilla, IE considered harmful

    This article, Internet Explorer Considered Harmful, is a good read for those of you still using IE. Granted, the rhetoric is somewhat biased against IE from the start, but those are some cold hard facts. Of course, there are more reasons to use a browser other than IE.

    Also, this article entitled Branding Mozilla: Towards Mozilla 2.0 has been going round the blogosphere and I thought to link it for the benefit of those of you who haven't seen it yet, and for myself for archival purposes. That's the tyranny of tabbed browsing for you when using a browser which supports tabbed browsing. Anyway, the article is a very coherent piece on how the Mozilla project should brand (or rather, re-brand) its products and projects. I agree that the Mozilla lizard is a good identity, but I find that it lacks impact outside the developer world. Probably because of the play with the word "Godzilla" in "Mozilla" - having a lizard as an icon just doesn't seem serious enough. Of course, geeks always have a sense of humor, but in this instance, I think it could be hurting the Mozilla project's credibility to a certain extent among low-tech end users.

  • Oct 15, 2003

    Comparing Mozilla Firebird with other browsers

    I don't think this page existed before today's major releases. Interesting to see Mozilla 1.5 in the comparison chart. I haven't used the web browser in the Mozilla suite since Phoenix 0.4 and it surprises me that it doesn't have configurable toolbars and the bookmark panel already.

    Anyway, gimmicky as that chart may seem, there really is no reason to use IE in this day and age unless you're forced to, either by circumstances at work or just because you were born a masochistic Microsoft crony, or because some of the following reasons:

    • You've never heard of Mozilla Firebird - "The Best Browser, Bar None". Yes it may sound corny and somewhat unbelievable, but take my word for it - it's true.
    • You think it's cool and "in" to use IE because everyone you know is using it - hint: it's not cool, it's definitely not "in", and you're probably mixing with the wrong people. Unless, of course, you're one of the following people: Microsoft employees, politicians, lawyers, masochists.
    • You like getting those popup or pop-under ads because you actually click them. Maybe you find them exciting. Like how you find any new advertisements with David Beckham in it exciting :p. Popup blocking? No thanks, I like my popups fast and pornographic.
    • You find that having many IE windows open makes you look busy. Your boss sometimes looks over your shoulder.
    • You prefer obscure error messages when the JavaScript for a website has errors. Who needs a JavaScript console that actually spews out helpful error messages? In fact, you must think fellow web developers wusses when they use Venkman - the JavaScript debugger for Mozilla-based browsers to debug their JavaScript. I'll just use my extreme debugging skillz of being able to guess what is wrong by looking at every line of code, thank you.
    • You welcome websites which install a new toolbar for you, or set your homepage to their site without asking you. You believe that is the Ultimate user experience a website can provide. Anything which deprives you of that experience should never ever be installed on your system. Non-invasive surfing is an alien concept to you.
    • You think tabbed-browsing is just some kind of weird anti-Microsoft "web-browsing paradigm" that actually makes you lose productivity instead of gain any. Why would I want tabbed browsing for anyway? One webpage, one new window is your philosophy. After all, I have lots of RAM.
    • You haven't heard of "find as you type". Ctrl-F, type in search term, click "Find next" is all you know, and you're reluctant to try any of that new-fangled stuff that oh they say would speed up your searching.
    • You enjoy getting Windows updates (that is, if you use Windows). Getting the latest security patches for IE vulnerabilities makes you feel like a geek superior.
    • You are a new computer user and don't know how to install programs - your son/daughter showed you how to use IE the first time you got on the Internet.

    Anyone reading this has any other reasons please to speak up so I can add to this list :).

  • Oct 15, 2003

    Beta version of Mozilla website

    Have you seen the beta version of the new Mozilla website? It's pretty! It's tableless! If you hover over the form elements at the top right, you'll notice that they take advantage of the :focus pseudo-class that works in Mozilla browsers (it doesn't work in IE). And the mini-tabs for the navigation bar at the top are neat too. Ah finally a nice-looking face for the Mozilla Foundation - something I can show converts-to-be without having to hide the ugly-as-my-mug website. Although the current one is pretty decent, but it isn't really that sleek.

    Great job Mozilla.org webmaster, whoever you are!

    Update: I found out soon after posting that the person behind the redesign was none other than Dave Shea, that guy whose blog mezzoblue is one of my favorite reads (thanks to Kyrah for pointing that out too). Dave has made some entries on his thoughts behind his mozilla.org redesign here and here.

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