the unobstructed view

Macworld Spoilers Suck

Tomorrow I’m taking the day off work and heading to Macworld at Moscone Center in San Francisco. Yup, that’s right, I’m taking the day off work. So you get the hint that I:

1. Like going to Macworld
2. Enjoy surprises

I really look forward to “the new thing” being introduced and gawked at by the geek masses. That is one of the best parts of Macworld, the surprise. I’m too old to believe in Santa Claus, birthday party magicians, or unicorns (although part of me holds out hope). But I can count on a cool new gadget from Apple every January and whether I ever purchase said new gadget, the surprise is always worth it.

I must be in the minority however, because everywhere you go on the web, people are telling everyone rumors about what Steve Jobs will deliver tomorrow morning at the “Stevenote”. Yes, I know it happens every year. Yes, I know that the rumor game is just as fun as the surprise for some people. However, I believe breaking the secret of what will be revealed is akin to telling the kids there is no Santa Claus, that party magicians are fake, or that there are no unicorns (NOOOOOOO!!!). It sucks the wonder out of the event and the surprise. We should be thankful that Uncle Steve still comes to Christmas with something new. The fact that Apple has been able to maintain this kind of hype and surprise for the last several years is amazing. We should enjoy it and live inside of the wonder, not kill ourselves trying to spoil it for everyone.

Surprises are special gifts. Whether you actually get something tangible or not usually doesn’t matter. It is a moment when — despite your expectations — life catches you off-guard in a joyous way. You smile bigger than normal and usually a piece of your true self is revealed for everyone around you. I love surprises.

Uncle Steve’s coming to town tomorrow and he’s got a few surprises. I’ll be offline until then.

Rob

January 14, 2008 – 9:49 pm

By Rob|Apple, Geekness, In my mind, Rants| Comments Off

2008

Photo of a flower in bloom

Howdy folks and welcome to 2008. This place has been a virtual ghost town for most of the last 16 months. Essentially since I started working full time in August 2006, I’ve been in that world and neglected this one despite the fact that, on most levels, they tend to be similar.

I have thought numerous times about closing down my blog and simply redirecting you to my Twitter page. I’ve spent most of the last year posting my thoughts in the form of 140 character “Tweets”. Fun to look back on, but not the same as blogging.

I miss writing. 2008 finds us in an presidential election year. It was 4 years ago that I started blogging (Not my first post, but the oldest I have). I had been sending my thoughts on the 2004 election via email to friends and family. After losing a couple of friends to my political rants (I’m pretty sure they were on their way out anyway, maybe I just gave them a push), I decided to just let people read at their discretion by blogging instead.

So this marks my 4th year of publishing my thoughts. I spent some time over the holidays thinking about this site and my presence on the web in general, which has drastically increased over the last 12 months or so. I have more thoughts on that I’ll save for another post. Needless to say, I’ve got some goals for this site in 2008 and what better way to get going on them than to state them here so I can hold myself to them in 12 months.

2008 Goals for This Site

I will be redesigning this site. Adding some things, subtracting some things (like the banner, ick).
Add video. I’ve done plenty of video work and I plan to bring it here.
Add audio. Can you see a theme? You may not know this, but I am 1/2 (the other half being my favorite new dad, Rick Corbal) of the rock/folk/metal/acoustic band Massive Shovels. We have a decent sized catalog of quite awful songs that I’d like to share with you.
Add my resume and professional portfolio. I’ve been fortunate enough to develop web sites professionally for 16 months and I’d like to share what I’ve done and what I’m doing.

So, you can see this site will continue to be about me. After all, it is named after me. It’s just that I’ve become quite spread out on the web amongst social networking sites, photo sharing sites, video sharing sites, and everything else in between. I’d like to maintain one spot that exists to help you find all the others should you so choose. Additionally, I’ve set a writing goal of 50 posts. This, of-course, pales in comparison to the writing volume of my favorite blogger in the whole world. But I wouldn’t even try to take her out.

I’m looking to jump on some of these goals soon. I’ll see you soon with a rant or two. It is an election year and I get all excited and mouthy every 4 years (some would argue I get mouthy every 4 minutes).

Cheers, Rob

January 8, 2008 – 4:39 pm

By Rob|In my mind, Vacation, Video, Web Development| Comments (1)

2007 Bridge School Benefit

Saturday night we attended the 21st annual Bridge School Benefit Concert at Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View. It was our first trip to this show since 2003 and it was wonderful to get reacquainted with such a special music experience. It is an annual gathering of Neil Young and invited guests (usually 5-7 other artists) playing mostly acoustic versions of their music.

Regina Spektor at The Bridge School benefit concert , October 27, 2007 The Bridge School was started by Peggy Young, wife of Neil Young, and is “dedicated to ensuring that children with severe speech and physical impairments achieve full participation in their communities.” The annual benefit concert provides the school with funding. It is without a doubt my favorite music event of the year and Saturday was my 9th trip to see Neil Young and friends rock out for The Bridge School.

Overall, this was a rather subdued show compared to past years. The last show I saw, in 2003, featured Billy Idol, so it was unlikely to be more energetic than that. Still, it was more calm and the music was more relaxed, even the headline appearance by Metallica.

Regina Spektor

She was awesome. An amazing vocal talent, her first song was just her and a microphone singing to The Bridge School students; who, as always, were seated behind the artist’s area of the stage. A good vocal presence is always rewarded at Shoreline, where the sound seems to fill the entire venue beautifully. [Video of Regina performing Fidelity]

John Mayer

I used to hate John Mayer. I admit that. But that dude can play guitar. And he can play well. He was stellar. Backed by two other guitarists, he played mostly stuff from his latest album, which I have to admit to enjoying quite a bit. His set felt too short, and I found myself wishing he could have played a few more tunes. He ended with a easy-does-it version of Tom Petty’s Free Fallin that I got on video. [Waiting on the World] [Free Fallin]

Tom Waits & Kronos Quartet

Tom Waits at The Bridge School benefit concert, October 27, 2007 Holy shit. I haven’t seen Tom Waits live since he performed at The Bridge School show in 1999. To say his performances are unique would be a gross understatement. He was illuminated by red light and growled an amazing set, invoking dark moods and scary places. Watching Tom Waits perform really makes you feel like you are living in a Tim Burton film. I’m not sure how else to describe it.

Jerry Lee Lewis

Jerry Lee started off slow with some of his more mellow tunes, then got everyone on their feet with Whole Lotta Shakin Goin On. It was the first time all night we were on our feet, which gives you an idea of how mellow the show had been up to that point. He finished with Great Balls of Fire, which totally rocked the house.

I’m almost ashamed to say that my entire impression of Jerry Lee Lewis was formed by my dad’s jokes about Jerry Lee’s marriage to a 13 year-old. After skimming Jerry Lee’s entry on Wikipedia this morning, I realized that he is a rock legend and brilliant musician. Mental image revised, I’m real glad I got to see Jerry Lee perform. He was awesome.

Metallica

I have to respect Metallica for “playing to the venue.” They showed up with a polished acoustic set. They opened with several covers, including a pretty nice cover of Only Happy When It Rains by Garbage. Notice I said nice. The early set lacked the kind of energy you expect from Metallica. On an otherwise mild evening of music, I think the crowd (especially the dudes with beers wearing Metallica/Guns N’ Roses tour shirts from 1992), wanted some dive bar thrashing on acoustic guitars. They didn’t get it until the very last song, when Metallica played Nothing Else Matters. After that, they were gone, and everyone was screaming for more. As much as the set might have been a bit too mild, watching Lars rock out on the drums was worth it. And James Hetfield’s voice sounded crisp and rested. I can’t wait to hear the next album.

Summarized

At a Bridge School show, you’re always reminded of the power of music and the power of the art form. The Bridge School students benefit from this show and the artists play these shows with that in mind. While this show lacked the rare music moments that sometimes come when you gather so much talent in one show, it was still a treat and an experience I will hold dear for the next 12 months until the next show.

October 28, 2007 – 11:27 pm

By Rob|Music, Video| Comments Off

Bad Code is Expensive

The city of Palo Alto recently launched a $240,000 redesign of cityofapaloalto.org. The response from the community has been less than enthusiastic:

So far, with this website as a great example, we have managed to create a image of a city that could be aptly described by Gertrude Stein, when she said about another city, “there’s no there, there”.

Image of the City of Palo Alto Website In all honesty, when I first took a look at the site, I didn’t think it was that bad. It is simple, not cluttered and gives access to important information about Palo Alto. I agree with many who worry it doesn’t properly portray the vitality and beauty of the city, but all in all I think they came up with a good, functional design that can be built upon. I’d start by replacing the images used for text (interior page navigation) with real text so those of us who don’t enjoy reading 10pt fonts can resize the text as needed. A government website should definitely avoid image-based text because it must accommodate visitors of all ages and vision quality. There are accessibility guidelines for stuff like this.

As a web developer though, I can’t stop at the visual design. I am compelled to see what’s under the hood. So after a few minutes of clicking around, I decided the view the HTML source in my browser. That is where this website, IMHO, is a failure.

Too Much Javascript

The source code, up and down the page, is full of Javascript. All of it could have been enclosed in external documents linked from the head. Instead, it’s sprinkled throughout the HTML like M&Ms in a root beer float. Not pretty and not functional. Debugging a Javascript error on that page would be like sitting in on a foreign policy meeting with the president.

Given the haphazard location of the Javascript, it’s no surprise that it is also used for image rollovers. Tell Marty to fire up the De Lorean! We’re headed back to 1998! Meanwhile, in 2007, the same thing can be done with simple, unobtrusive text links, CSS background images and NO Javascript. It is simply poor code and poor form to use Javascript for rollovers.

Table-based Layout

There is no reason to use HTML tables for layout. Semantic HTML and CSS work in all major browsers and, if properly coded, can degrade gracefully in older browsers. The layout for the site is not complex enough to make an argument for the use of antiquated layout techniques. On top of that, the HTML source of the front page is all on a single line, which made it quite difficult to find in that sea of Javascript.

We Don’t Need No Stinking Validation

W3C Validation screen showing 28 validation errors The DOCTYPE being used on the site is HTML 4.0 Transitional. This is about as forgiving a DOCTYPE as you can use without just leaving a DOCTYPE declaration off altogether. Yet, as I write this, the front page has 5 validation errors. These are simple errors that should have been fixed before the site launches. I will freely admit that W3C validation is not always on your mind as you’re coming down to launch day. But it is something you should always do before a site launches, just so you don’t leave any embarrassing bugs for the world to see/experience.

But wait, there’s more:

HTML alt attributes are missing on some images
blank.gif, an empty image file, is used throughout the layout where text links could have been used.
Some HTML tags are in uppercase
Some pages fail to render properly in modern browsers (Firefox 2.0.0.6, as of this writing) (28 validation errors)

All of this points to one thing that particularly frustrates me. The city of Palo Alto spent a lot of money on an antiquated Content Management System (CMS) that spits out dreadfully bad code. After $240,000, I’d expect more and I’m not surprised that the residents of Palo Alto are upset.

August 15, 2007 – 12:14 am

By Rob|In my mind, Web Development, Websites| Comments (3)