Alex Hardy

This is a well-worn issue by now, but I thought I’d throw my two cents worth in.

The American list price for Adobe CS3 Web Premium is $1599, which is £798 (give or take a few pennies). Yet mysteriously it is £1404.12 (inc VAT) in the UK! What’s even stranger is that if you select the ‘download’ option instead of ’ship the box to me’ on their website, it costs £1,445.95.

Let me recap: It costs more to download it than to get the boxed version!

In the UK we’re quite used to being overcharged. They don’t call it rip off Britain for nothing, but do the sums for yourself. You could book a return flight to America to buy it and have a night out with the change!

Adobe’s excuse for this appalling behaviour is the cost of localisation. Yet I look around my Adobe apps and find US English with ‘color’, ’stylize’ etc. So that is clearly a bare-faced lie. Adobe CEO Bruce Chizen states:

Our customer is not typically price sensitive. The cost of the tool isn’t what’s critical – it’s the productivity and what their output can be. They want to pay for value as long as we deliver innovative features that allow them to be more productive and creative.

Which sounds to me like “screw you guys, we’ll charge whatever we want.”

In an ideal world, designers and photographers across Europe would exercise the only power we have as customers and boycott CS3. Since that’s unlikely to happen, we can at least sign the petition on the matter.

It seems to me that Adobe has lost the plot and the acquisition of Macromedia was detrimental to the industry. They’ve turned from a company that cared about creativity to a fat, arrogant monopolist that should be taken down a peg or two.

Having considered the options, we just bought an upgrade license (for me) and a new full license (for Ian) to CSSEdit 2.5.

It really is a fantastic piece of work, made doubly so by the fact that it is the work of just one developer. It makes a total mockery of Dreamweaver’s CSS tools and outdoes Coda and Style Master. At least for now

Panic have celebrated their 10^th birthday and released Coda in time to submit it for the Apple Design Awards. As a long-time user of Transmit and fan of Panic, I didn’t waste any time in downloading the trial.

In a nutshell, Coda aims to smoothen your web development workflow by replacing your HTML editor, CSS editor and FTP client with one slick, unified app. It’s inexpensive at only $99 (£49.50).

My own process comprises of Dreamweaver 8, CSSEdit 1 and the aforementioned Transmit. I’m very fond of both CSSEdit and Transmit, with DW being my main stumbling block to adopting Coda.

I use only a fraction of DW’s bloat functionality. I don’t use the sites list, behaviours, FTP functionality (after a couple of bad experiences I don’t trust it)… I use it as little more than a HTML/PHP editor with colour coding and predictive input.

DW finds itself on my Mac more for the company it keeps than its own merits. I need Photoshop, Illustrator and Flash and Adobe CS3 is the most economical way to buy them. DW comes in the box, so I augment it with CSSEdit and Transmit and get to work. Ironically this means that buying Coda would be an additional expense.

If a new tool or approach makes you more productive then $99 is nothing, so I’ll note a few of my observations. I base my opinion on the functionality I need. I manage quite happily with my software trio and don’t dream of one do-it-all app, quite the opposite in fact! My favourite thing about shareware is that the best apps do one job well, rather than trying to be a jack of all trades…

Eye candy and other cute features

• The little sticky pages that represent sites are sweet, as are the 3D effects that open them. I’d like the option to turn this transition off, because I’m sure the novelty will quickly wear off.
• Tabbed windows are most welcome, but CSSEdit’s implementation is better.
• Coda remembers the state you left your project in (ie: what files were open), a nice touch.

Searching

• Search CSS in visual editing mode filters the selector list in a similar manner to CSSEdit. Disappointingly it doesn’t work in edit mode though, you have to call up the Find panel. This feels clunky.
• Search Files looks only at file names (not content) which isn’t terribly useful. It only operates in the directory that you are viewing.
• Find & Replace only works within a document or a selection. DW can also operate on all open documents, selected files, a specific folder or the entire site.
• I’d like to be able to save Find & Replace operations. I use saved F&Rs in DW to expand and collapse XML files for a Flash app I work on.

HTML editing

• Just about everything I want is here, good job Panic!
• It would be nice to be able to browse for images as you embed them.
• DW is aware of the classes and ids in your CSS files and suggests them as you code. I’d like to see Coda implement something similar.

CSS editing

• The visual tools are well thought out, but I couldn’t find a way to resize the selector list. I have one pane wasting space and one that I can’t fully see
• No simple way to add comments.
• I miss CSSEdit’s ingenious system for defining ’subfolders’ within a CSS file.

FTP

• Panic have incorporated their new Transmit Turbo engine for whizzy-fast FTP.
• The Publish All button is a cool feature for when you’ve updated multiple files and want to upload them all.
• I’ll have to experiment with this a bit to overcome my misgivings. I tend to feel like I’m losing control of my files…

If I was a freelancer on a tight budget I’d seriously consider Coda. I’ll be sticking with my current toolbox for the time being, but I look forward to future versions.

[rating:3.5]

A nice little victory for people power

The BBC’s plans for the iPlayer were put on hold earlier this year after its regulators, the BBC Trust, asked the corporation to look at whether the iPlayer should be platform agnostic.

As the article states, support for Mac and other systems will come after the initial launch, but better late than never. As someone who signed the petition on this issue I’d like to thank the BBC for responding to the public’s wishes.

BBC to open up archive for trial

Strange thoughts enter my head from time to time… Today, while working on a client presentation it occurred to me that if there isn’t a compilation album for predictable event music then there should be. I have some suggestions for inclusion:

1. 2001: A Space Odyssey theme (Also sprach Zarathustra) - Richard Strauss
2. Let Me Entertain You - Robbie Williams
3. Moving On Up - M People
4. Rocky theme - Bill Conti
5. Simply The Best - Tina Turner
6. Star Wars theme - John Williams
7. The Final Countdown - Europe
8. The Launch - DJ Jean
9. The Only Way Is Up - Yazz
10. Things Can Only Get Better - D:Ream

Any other ideas? Hopefully if we can get this album made and some royalties to George Lucas he’ll no longer feel compelled to milk Star Wars dry…

There is a common notion that the Content Management System (CMS) is the ideal solution to keeping a website current. It saves the client money by relieving their dependency on the designer/developer. Sounds great on paper…

I think this is a misconception.

“Off the shelf” or custom-built, a CMS is a just a program. Content production is the heart of the matter. This is a creative process that no machine can automate. If you’re starting from scratch then forcing template structure onto undetermined content seems rather like putting the cart before the horse.

You don’t know what your content will be until you write it.

Only the client can decide what messages they want to put out. They are the expert in their field. A pro-active designer or copy writer should be able to support them by advising on tone and terminology. They could go so far as to suggest messages (such as an opinion piece on an industry development), but the onus is on the client.

You don’t know how much you will be able to write.

A business whose website I have worked on has produced five news stories in almost three years. They couldn’t have known at the start of the project that they would be so infrequent. It may be that they just don’t have much to say.

Mr client, do you really want to update your own website?

A client should be too busy doing more urgent things like pursuing sales and supporting customers. There’s value in helping them move workload from their desk onto yours. We often build systems for our own convenience, because the client returns to us to update the website.

For many projects that an independent developer or small company would take on, I’d suggest the following thought process:

1. Consider building the website in static form.
2. Set a milestone where that approach becomes undesirable. If this milestone is reached quickly (or immediately), then so be it.
3. Review the content. Get your crystal ball out and do your best to foresee requirements. Accept that you can’t anticipate everything.
4. Evaluate off the shelf options eg: Could my news section be built on a system like WordPress?
5. If not, build and populate a database that delivers the content. One dynamic page and a database table is easier to maintain than a hundred HTML pages.
6. If the client wants to get hands-on, then build a CMS. Keep it simple, with minimal functionality.

Am I trying to talk myself and other developers out of work? Hardly! There’s no satisfaction or long term gain from selling someone something they don’t use. What I recommend is looking after your clients by helping them to not spend more than they need to at a point in time. I’ve found that the goodwill and trust it creates will benefit your relationship and the courses of actions that you do advise will be taken that much more seriously.

This might seem like a strange thing to post under inspirational, but I stand by it. I’m probably not alone when I admit that I have a tendency to focus single-mindedly on something (such as the completion of a project or the achievement of a personal goal) to the exclusion and detriment of other things.

Ironically, this is not the best way to get something done. Lack of balance makes you weary and uninspired. One thing in particular that I’ve neglected this past few months has been my health. I’ve spent most of my time outside of my job either socialising or working on personal projects. As a consequence, I’ve gained a small (but nonetheless annoying) amount of weight which I’m now working hard to lose.

So I’ll suggest three things that have nothing whatsoever to do with work, that may help you to work better.

Physical exercise

You know that gym that you pay almost £50 a month to? What if you actually went? It’s amazing how a run on a treadmill or a swim after work can make you feel energised. If you’re going home to someone they benefit too, because you’ll be less disposed to grumble about your day since you’ve got your stresses out of your system.

Tiring yourself out through healthy exercise rather than staying up too late in front of the telly will also help you get a decent night’s sleep. Otherwise you roll into work tired the next day to go through the routine all over again.

A change of surroundings

Steph and I visited friends in Essex last weekend for a 30th birthday. We went to Adventure Island at South End and went on the go-karts and the rides. The sea air and chance to be big kids for an afternoon made me feel like I’d had a short holiday. Coming back, I felt relaxed and able to make progress with my current project.

Enjoy other activities

When I was younger I had many hobbies. These days my main one is playing cornet in an orchestra since I took music back up a couple of years ago. We rehearse once a week and Summer is our busiest season for concerts. I can’t overstate how valuable it is to have “extra-curricular” interests - without them I felt shallow and bored.

So there you go. It’s Spring, and the sun is shining. Go for a walk or a kickabout in the park. Have lunch outside. Get away from your desk. You’ll return with a clearer and more creative mind.

Looking at my blog, it appears that I’ve had a bit of a lapse in posting this last week or so. I can only blame it on sunshine and good times (not so much the boogie). It makes me think about consistency though…

For a website to be worthwhile it should be updated on a frequent basis, or a general schedule. People quickly stop returning if they find nothing new of interest. So I thought I’d set myself a schedule that I can try to keep to from now on. It goes like this:

Once a week (most likely Monday)

A fairly substantial post on a subject relevant to design, development or interactive media in general.

Once a week (most likely Friday)

A post about something I find inspirational.

Random Ramblings

I will also post my thoughts here and there outside of this routine, but I think a little bit of self-imposed structure will do me and this site good.

As a web developer I’m asked to build the ubiquitous “contact us” form on a regular basis. As I sit at my desk reinventing the wheel, thoughts occur to me:

• Most people want to capture the usual suspects, information-wise
• There are plenty of formmail scripts out there, which are fine for what they do – but they don’t do very much
• If you’re not familiar with programming, these things can be hard work to build. Even if you are, the time it takes could be better spent

There are lots of things to consider, and mere scripts don’t cut the mustard. It’s really not rocket science to write a few lines of code that send some posted values to an email address. But what about input validation? Database storage of information? Personalised automatic responses?

A web-based interface with user login would be nice

I’m at work building a system to handle all these tasks and more besides for web designers like myself. It will be easy to set up without programming: no more work in fact than installing a tool like WordPress.

Development of this system is well underway, and I intend to release it publicly as donationware through this website on May 1^st. This is an experiment for me on many levels, so please check back around that time and try it for yourself.