Tag Archive / html

• Endgame

  After two years this month, I have decided to end Project Charles in April. This will also mark the 10th anniversary of The Wilson Project.

  @iwilsonjr (4:59 PM · Mar 14, 2011) – https://twitter.com/iwilsonjr/status/47401561944637440

  Depending on the ever changing schedule, Project Charles will be ending this year, if not sooner. After a long two years, I should be happy.

  I'm exhausted.

  I've carried this thing around, weathering all the stuff that gets thrown at me in the course of human life. This project became the internal motor of change, reflection, and experimentation. And a number of people have really benefitted from the results.

  The basis of Project Charles was redesigning The Wilson Project with the state of the art techniques in front-end development. No, we are not talking about the dazzling canvas experiments and all the fireworks. It was about learning all this new stuff to be able, like an experienced chef, to use this wider pallette to improve their work. Well, I'm still doing that. But Project Charles brought about an urgency to the process.

  Well, that urgency has come full circle. It's at a point where this project needs to end in order to go further on with other things. And since The Wilson Project Site is a working blog (and soon-to-be) portfolio site, I needed to end this thing to start doing new projects. And basically, I just need this monkey off my back. So why am I writing this blog entry?

  Because I feel that the need to apologize [to myself].

  This project was started with the idea of using XSLT via Symphony CMS. It's a very interesting application that I am sure will grow and improve. The cast of characters over there are currently working on the third version as I am writing this.

  Now, I'm in a time crunch. I cannot, at this time, learn XSLT and learn a new CMS without some focused time and effort. Unfortunately, considering the numerous hiatus periods in this project, that will never happen. So I took the hard choice and decided to move the project back to WordPress to speed up completion. I'm relieved at be removed of this burden. But I also feel sad, as I made some sort of bad compromised to complete this project. I know I shouldn't, but I'll live. I may feel bad for not completing the project in the way that I wanted fully but I have to move on.

  The other reason for Project Charles was conceptual. The "residue" of studying and observing the work around me of interaction design and front-end development. Yes, I have a few ideas that I've squirrel away.

  It's called The Information Layer.

  Ideally, Charles would have been the best demo, especially with Symphony/XSLT. But with the external changes of the last two years, there is a real need to share something now and not wait further down the road for an actual demo model.

  So, I'm shipping now. Everything can wait.

  I need my life back.

• Plymouth

  After months of delay, progress is finally speeding along. The graphic comps now becoming full-fledged X/HTML5 templates.

  Presenting initial set of templates – http://www.deltatwp.com/plymouth/

  Note: these have not been sufficently tested on IE8-6 browsers. Hopefully, these templates will be finalized by next month.

• In London

  

  Currently attending the Future of Web Apps conference here in London, UK. The first time that I have gone outside the Americas in my life. Got off to a bad start by missing the first day due to the Tube strike (thanks for a memorable start, guys…) and mobile phone problems.

  Hopefully, things will get better. Even as a write this, planning to do a few new things and the next two days will still hold some importance with regard to the work that I will be doing for the rest of the year.

  And then, two free days in the city…yes!

  Later.

• Another Blog Entry for CDG’s Book Club

  

  On the train back from NYC last Sunday (8/22), I got a chance to write not only the last blog entry (26.08.2001) but also one for CDG. In this case, it is the third CDG Book Club review. The book was Jeremy Keith’s HTML5 For Web Designers, a brief intro into the hottest topic on the web – HTML5.

  To buy this book – go to A Book Apart

  Interview with the author Jeremy Keith from The Big Web Show (5/7/10) – http://5by5.tv/bigwebshow/2

  BTW – The author will be in Washington, DC for An Event Apart conference on September 17th. Unfortunately, the conference has been sold out for months. However, there are some tickets still available for the one day workshop on Saturday, September 19th for HTML5/CSS3 with Ethan Marcotte.

• HTML5 for Web Designers Book Review

  (Originally published on CDG Interactive/Innate blog)

  It’s back-to-school time, so here’s a pop quiz on today’s new buzz word: HTML5.

  1. What is it?
  2. Should I care?
  3. Should I worry?

  Answers: 1) see below, 2) yes, 3) not yet but soon enough

  So, now that you’ve taken the quiz, may I suggest a textbook? Specifically, HTML5 for Web Designers by Jeremy Keith.

  Now, I’ve known about HTML5 for a while (and some of the preliminary work around it). But when I heard about this book, I was curious how much more information could I gleam from its pages about HTML5. Judging by the title, I thought that it would be just an introductory text for web designers (not necessarily for experienced web developers).

  But, I took a chance. I ordered a copy and waited. And the package arrived.

  And when I first opened the box and held the book, the first thing that popped into my head was “Wow, this is a pamphlet!”

  OK, not a pamphlet but a brief, concise book (under 100 pages).

  However, from the very first page, it was evident that conciseness is the intent of the author. What Jeremy Keith does, with good effect, is to give the reader a brief synposis about HTML5, bypassing W3C language. (Alert: W3C documents are so precise, they could turn a cake recipe into a DVD instruction manual.)

  Of course, he starts off by answering what HTML5 is and is not–not a new version, but a much-needed upgrade for building future web applications. This means it not only adds/removes features, but also adds more semantic meanings attached to the current set of tags (important for Internet devices like mobile phone or screen readers.)

  For the remainder of the book, Keith highlights some important features and gives bits of advice for the newly introduced. The best thing is that he engages the reader enough to encourage further study in HTML5, which is not easy. This book could have easily become just another five pound dictionary. Of course, he remarks that there are others more experienced with this and points to some online resources. (As I am writing this, a number of new HTML5 books have popped up in the stores.)

  In the end, the author does what he planned out to do – give a nice gentle push in the right direction towards HTML5.

  Now, if you don’t mind. I have a list of HTML5 books to read.

• Call Me Regent (or What’s In A Name?)

  Next week, I am going to move this site to Linux server.

  Not a hard process – its just a little more complex in my case since it will involve domain(s) names, file transfers, and dealing with Linux/Window server (well if you dealt with both you know what I mean). But since I am here and I made an important decisions two weeks ago, I might as well talk about it.

  The “it” being…what’s up with the name “Charles”?

  The Wilson Project/Site Versions

  The name Charles refers to Charles Darwin, whose bicentennial was in 2009, the same year the project started in March. It also added some inspiration because of the introduction of new ideas and concepts that slowly gestated and altered during the course of the project.

  But the best thing about working on these projects is that it is sort of like my own research lab. It is where I get to try out new ideas before doing in the real world.

  One part research scientist, one part Olympic athlete.

  As for this version, I decided two weeks ago to name this version “Regent” because of its transitory nature. Unlike “H3”, it was never meant to be a final version and was always going to be more of a functional placeholder for the upcoming Charles.

  And there it is.

• UI or UN? The Life of a Front-End Developer…The Lecture???

  No. Really.

  Basically, it originally started as an idea for me to do something close to work but outside the office.  However, there are a number of ideas that need fleshing out. Not just about work (dealing with bad HTML code) but also about ideas about Charles, TWP, front-end developement, and IxD.

  And linguistics.

  More news to come.