Having lived day to day with a Mac now for a good few years I thought it was about time I documented some of my pet peeves as a one time Windows user. So here they are in the form of a brief wish list for OS X Snow Leopard. This is in the vein hope that Steve Jobs is a regular reader of my blog (pft – yea right!) and that he will do something about these very minor issues. :)
Fix the ‘Zoom’ button
Seriously what is up with that thing. As a Windows user the expected behavior of a button with a + on it is that it should maximize/zoom the application you are currently running with a single click. With OS X there is no consistency. Clicking + on a finder window reduces it in size (WTF?) and then proceeds to do nothing. Clicking + in iTunes switches between the full and minimal interface. Clicking + suggests to the user that the window will increase in size surely?
Make it easier to email files to contacts
Perhaps I’m missing something obvious, but there is simply no way to just option/right click a file and select to send it to a email recipient? On windows this is an item in the contextual menu, right click, send to email recipient, default mail client opens a new message and attaches said file. Easy. Ok so I know I can write an automator script carry out said task but that then requires a ridiculous number of clicks to execute (Right click > More > Automator > Email Files…).
Show Hidden Files
Please give us OS X users a way to have hidden files within specific folders revealed. I need to see hidden files by default on network shares and elsewhere – but not on my desktop. A simple option under Finder Preferences would be a step in the right direction.
Ok, so steps 1 through 5 pretty much got us to a conclusion but there was one little fact that really had me bugged about the migration. I wanted to persist the article IDs from Textpattern during the migration to ExpressionEngine because they are used in my permalink URLs. Basically I don’t want to break the internet (or my small part of it) by altering the URL structure in the switch. How did I do it?
Open ‘cp.mt_import.php’ form within ‘/system/cp/’ then at line 954 add:
$ids = array();
then at about line 1028 add:
// IDs Hack
if (strpos($parts['0'],'ID') !== false)
{
$ids[$id] = trim(str_replace('ID:','',$first_section[$i]));
}
At about line number 1765 amend the entry id value to:
'entry_id' => $ids[$id],
Now save and upload your amended import script. Back in Textpattern you’ll also need to add one new line to the top of your export script.
ID: <txp:article_id />
So your Textpattern export will now include the original article ID and the import process will maintain this (so long as you have deleted all other weblog entries prior to import).
So, that’s it. I’m all done… I migrated… now I just have to find the time to finish off the new design and implement it! Happy Migrating!!!
Having had a play with the wonderful ExpressionEngine Field Frame extension which Brandon Kelly has authored I felt inclined to port my UK Counties Select Plug-in. Once I can get my head round the reasons for GitHub not working as expected I’ll post it there, in the mean time:
Download: np.uk_counties_select.ff_fieldtype.zip
You might also want to check out the numerous other field frame field types that Brandon is assembling.
Global Personals Limited / WhiteLabelDating.com are looking for Ruby on Rails Developers to work from their Windsor office here in the UK. If you think you might fit the bill drop Ross Williams a line () and be sure to mention that I sent you. Job details follow:
Job Description
Global Personals, the company behind WhiteLabelDating.com, has a fantastic opportunity for talented, experienced Rails developers to join our development team.
You’ll join 11 developers, designers and project managers focused on creating the best online dating platform in the industry. We’re just beginning a series of new projects in Rails – you’ll be joining right at the start to help influence decisions based on your expert Rails skills and experience.
You’ll be based on the top floor of our lovely headquarters at 1 High Street in the middle of Windsor. It’s easily commutable from London (West via Paddington or South-West direct from Waterloo), Reading, Bracknell, Staines or Slough.
We give our people the best tools. You’ll get a brand new 24in iMac and a 23in Cinema Display to work on (or a top-end PC if you insist) and you’ll sit at a big desk on a swanky Hermann Miller Aeron chair. We have a free posh coffee machine in our own kitchen, XBox 360, Wii, LCD TVs, Rock Band, Guitar Hero, Mario Kart, football table and other toys.
Salary will be based on experience, but will likely be in the range of £35k-£60k (negotiable).
We pay a £1000 bonus after your three month probation if you’ve come direct to us. Following your successful probation we’ll pay up to 5% of your salary into your company pension, contribute to gym membership, plus other benefits.
You’ll need the following skills/attributes:
- Ruby on Rails – essential to demonstrate your Rails experience
- MySQL (or equivalent RDBMS)
- Strong communicator, teamworker and best practice stickler
- Excellent knowledge of Javascript using Prototype/Scriptaculous
- Ability to write clean, semantic, well-formed HTML and CSS
- Proficiency with Linux or Unix
- Subversion
The following are desirables:
- TDD and/or BDD
- Experience of Agile working environment
- Open source projects or blogs you’ve written on
- Previous dating or social networking projects
- ColdFusion and PHP
Company Description
The largest private online dating company in the UK with offices in Windsor, Miami, New York and Sydney.
Dear software developer.
This is an open letter which I am writing as a one time advocate of Adobe Fireworks. Fireworks is still, some 10 years after it’s conception, the only package out there which provides web designers with the tools they need to design for the web. At it’s core, a balanced blend of vector and bitmap tools, live effects and slicing with optimized export.
However over the years Adobe have lost their way with this product and it’s become bloated by marketing driven features.
Designers carry on using Fireworks only because there is no decent alternative. The latest release – Fireworks CS4 includes a poorly implemented version of the Adobe Type Engine which has brought with it a bug that quite literally effects all users. The bug is as of today (some 5 months after initial release) still not fixed yet it manifests itself in just about every layout a designer works on.
Personally I have lost faith in Adobe to deliver on the promise that Fireworks has as a product. They have been distracted by ‘rapid prototyping’ and integration with development tools like ‘Flex’ – nice to have features that have drawn focus away from the now neglected core function of the software.
We don’t want another new UI, XHTML and CSS export, a JavaScript pop-up menu generator or a new type engine. We just want a product that is 100% focused on allowing us to put down on the canvas what we are imagining in our heads and then slice up and export that for use in a hand coded layout. That’s it.
Right now there seems to be a huge void in the marketplace which developers are not filling. It’s my belief that if someone takes up the gauntlet and comes out with a product that fulfills the basic requirements of a web designer, they will steal a huge slice of business from Adobe.
If not then I’m resigned to hoping that Adobe wakes up and takes notice, puts the effort where it’s needed and waits until the software is really finished before unleashing it on it’s customers.
Kind regards
Nathan Pitman
Update: It seems Adobe are working on an updater for Fireworks CS4 to rectify the text shifting bug.
Update: Adobe have released an updater, however there’s still a glaring hole in the market for some competition in this space. Come on app devs, someone step up and take on the challenge – I and many others want to give you our hard earned cash.
