XML 2005 Conference - Unconvential Thoughts

Kurt Cagle has written about the "XML 2005 Conference" in "Understanding XML" on November 21, 2005. To quote:-

Covering a show like the XML 2005 conference has been an intriguing experience in trying to capture the fleeting moments, worthwhile news and impressions while at the same trying to make sense of a technical movement that is simultaneously up to date and stretching back decades.

The story of XML is, for all the dry specifications and eye-crossing syntax, ultimately a very human story of people who recognized a need – the need to communicate, to express ourselves in an open manner that could carry through the ages not just in the dialect of humans but in the often finicky and precise language of computers – and who have spent much of their lives going through the difficult task of getting people to reach come to a consensus on the very nature of language itself.

This was not a conference about XML. This was a conference about content management systems, about services oriented architectures and blogging and electronic business standards, about databases and the Internet, about forms management and programming environments and security and linguistics and interface design and games. In short, it was a microcosm of the IT universe. Somewhere along the line, this odd, ugly little angle-bracket syntax of ours has quietly managed to wend its way into nearly every aspect of computer technology, to the extent that in many ways the challenge in attending this was trying to figure out which technology presentations was more important to you.

XML is not disappearing into the infrastructure as some pundits predicted. It has become the infrastructure, and everything else is disappearing into it. This is not to say that the work of the XML community is done – indeed, by all accounts, the potential of XML is such that we are only just beginning to see the first inklings of what this revolution will bring – only that we are moving out of the phase of building the foundational definitions. The curtain may be going down, but the show, as they say, will definitely go on.

The Feynman - Tufte Principle - Simple Design - Intense Content

Michael Shermer has written about "The Feynman - Tufte Principle" in Scientific American on April 2005. To quote:-

Tufte codified the design process into six principles:

1. documenting the sources and characteristics of the data;
   
2. insistently enforcing appropriate comparisons;
   
3. demonstrating mechanisms of cause and effect;
   
4. expressing those mechanisms quantitatively;
   
5. recognizing the enherently multivariate nature of analytic problems;
   
6. inspecting and evaluating alternative explantions;
   

In brief, "information displays should be documentary, comparative, causal, and explanatory, quanitified, multivariate, exploratory, skeptical."

...asked Tufte to summarize the goal of his work, he said, "Simple design, intense content."

Intelligent Risk Mapping and Assessment System (IRMAS)

Steven Deare, ZDNet Australia, has written about ITMAS on 10th Nov. 2005. To quote:-

Boeing subsidiary Hawker de Havilland is piloting locally-developed project management software which "learns" from past successes and failures to continually upgrade its ability to help managers assess risk.

Hawker de Havilland project managers are using the Web-based Intelligent Risk Mapping and Assessment System (IRMAS), developed by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), to assist with projects related to the new-generation Boeing 787 aircraft, branded the "Dreamliner".

IRMAS is believed to be the first risk management software to link the entire project management process from product or project design, development, manufacturing to delivery, according to a statement from the CSIRO.

Usability Testing Videos

The Better Desktop project has released a set of usability videos, showing testing of Linux applications and operating system. To quote:-

Better Desktop is a project dedicated to sharing usability data with Linux developers. Over the past year, we have conducted many usability tests on different parts of the KDE and GNOME desktops. We created this site to serve as a place where developers can watch videos of these tests. Here you will find over 200 videos of people using Mozilla Firefox, Evolution, Open Office, Banshee, F-Spot and other applications.

Decision Based Design

Dan Brown has written about designing an Information Architecture around the sets of Decisions that the end-users will be making, in GreenOnions.com on 14-Oct-2005. To quote:-

One of the major conclusions of my work in content management theory is that systems designed to enforce decisions will fail. Consider a workflow system that forces users through the same process, regardless of circumstances. Invariably, situations arise where the basic workflow doesn’t hold — authors are absent from work, editors don’t have the right expertise to review a document, the content demands a new structure. Yet the majority of content management systems — indeed, most business systems — prevent humans from accommodating these scenarios because they are confined by the rules imposed by the computer.

I realized that computers should stick with what they’re good at — serving up information — and humans should be allowed to do what they’re good at — making decisions about day-to-day situations.

Scripting XML processing using E4X

DJ Walker-Morgan has written about "Scripting XML processing using E4X" in Builder.AU on 11 October 2005. To quote:-

Enter E4X, ECMAScript for XML, a BEA developed extension to the JavaScript language (known as ECMAScript in its formal standardised form). JavaScript is having something of a resurgence thanks to the AJAX methodology using it to add dynamic elements to web pages. E4X extends ECMAScript by making XML a native type within the language and as easy to work with as other native types.

More signifigantly, E4X capability is implemented in the Mozilla Rhino JavaScript engine using the XmlBeans library. Rhino in turn is a part of the reference implementation of JSR 223 (Scripting for Java Platform) which is in turn incorporated into Java 6, codenamed "Mustang".

JBoss salivates over Drools

Ingred Marson has written in CNET News.com on 11-Oct-2005, about the addition of a business rules engine, known as Drools, to the JBOSS open-source software stack. To quote:-

Marc Fleury, founder and chief executive of JBoss, said in his keynote speech at JBoss World in Barcelona that his company decided to work with Drools after repeated customers requests.

Fleury claimed that Drools is a "very mature project" that is already used by a number of large companies, including Japanese car manufacturer Toyota and French bank Societe Generale. JBoss has hired the founder and lead developer of Drools and will start offering product support and services in the first quarter of 2006.

Drools is a rules engine implementation based on the Rete pattern-matching algorithm. The Drools team has adapted the algorithm so it can be used with object-oriented programming languages such as Java, Python and Groovy.

On My Wish List (USB Keys, bootable and other fancy uses)

Clive Wright has written about uses of USB Keys in his column "The Edge" in The Age on 11-Oct-2005. To quote:-

Perhaps the most useful thing you can do with a 256MB USB key is to use it as the next generation Windows XP rescue platform.

.......

As we were writing this, we read a story about the music industry beginning to look at USB drives as a medium for selling album collections. They're clearly following the lead of Magnatune.

JSR 283: Content Repository for JavaTM Technology API Version 2.0

"JSR 283: Content Repository for JavaTM Technology API Version 2.0" in "The Java Community Process(SM) Program" on 19-Sep-2005. To quote:-

Since this JSR represents an enhancement of JSR-170, the same general goals apply to this JSR as to JSR-170 (from the JSR-170 proposal):

The aim is to produce a content repository API that provides an implementation independent way to access content bi-directionally on a granular level. A content repository is a high-level information management system that is a superset of traditional data repositories. A content repository implements ?content services? such as: author based versioning, full textual searching, fine grained access control, content categorization and content event monitoring. It is these ?content services? that differentiate a content repository from a data repository. Many of today?s (web) applications interact with content repositories in various ways. This API proposes that content repositories have a dedicated, standard way of interaction with applications that deal with content. This API will focus on transactional read/write access, binary content (stream operations), textual content, full-text searching, filtering, observation, versioning, handling of hard and soft structured content.

The Future of Web Design is Content Management

Martin Lemieux has written about "The Future of Web Design is Content Management" in on WebProNews.com. To quote:-

This is somewhat of a call out to all web design companies. If you cannot offer content management to your clients, you may be left in the dust within a few years. The more affordable content management becomes, the more in demand it will be. Without giving your prospects this crucial option, you may lose a great chunk of your potential clients to the next web design company that has a fully automated system that states: "all the consumer has to do is login and get started."

Beans Means XML

DJ Walker-Morgan has written about "Beans Means XML" in "Builder-AU" on 31-Aug-2005. To quote:-

You can read and manipulate XML documents in Java much easier by using XmlBeans. We show you how to get started.

Effective usability inspection techniques

Joanna Bawa has written about Useability Inspection Techniques in Builder-AU on 10 August 2005. To quote:-

Two of the most popular belong to a set of techniques called Usability Inspection methods, and are known as

• Thinking Aloud and
• Cognitive Walkthrough

Killer Ways to Improve Your Chances in the IT Job Market

Gerry McLaughlin has written about "Improve Your Chances in the IT Job Market" in "BrainBox" on 5th July 2005. To quote:-

Those that work in IT seldom use any of the selling techniques that other people or small businesses use. Some of these are to do with marketing and some are to do with salesmanship or upgrading ones skills. Here are ten that can give you a competitive advantage on all of those people looking for work out there.

Views from the smartest people in Sun's orbit

Dan Farber has written about "Views from the smartest people in Sun's orbit" in Zdnet blog: "Between the Lines" on 30th June 2005. To quote:-

A JavaOne panel with some of the smartest people orbiting Sun provided some insight into where Java, porgramming models, Google and man-machine relationships are heading. Guy Steele, a Sun Fellow and a key participant in Java's creation, talked about his latest language project, Fortress, which he described as "doing for Fortran what Java did for C."

Small Projects Rely on Quality Activities Instead of Quality Processes

TechRepublic has written about "Small Projects Rely on Quality Activities Instead of Quality Processes" in Builder-AU on 10-Sep-2004. To quote:-

Project managers of small projects don't have the luxury of a formal quality process. Instead, small projects require individual quality activities.
eg.
* Discussing the importance of quality at team status meetings.
* Using preexisting templates and checklists to manage certain aspects of work.
* Performing walk-throughs and inspections on deliverable components as they are built.
* Getting the client involved in testing as early as possible.
* Identifying simple metrics that can be collected early, with the hope that you can make one or maybe two rounds of improvements before the work gets too far along.

Create A Service Level Agreement

Simon Jackson has written about "Creating A Service Level Agreement" in Builder-AU on 31-May-2005. To quote:-

The Service Level Agreement (SLA) defines the basis of formal understanding and communication between the developer and the client. Simon Jackson investigates why you need one for your project.

Creating accessible bar charts (in HTML/CSS)

Pete Giraffe has written about "
Creating Accessible Bar Charts" in his "Standards-Schmandards" BLOG on 6 February 2005. To quote:-

A lot of chart data is tabular by nature. One of the most common chart types used to present tabular data is the bar chart. On the web we use the table element to present tabular data (and avoid using it for layout!).

Here is what we would like to achieve:

• Present data in an accessible and browsable way for as many users as possible.


• Not give up visual pizzazz for sighted users.


• Stay compatible with server side creation of the chart from dynamic data.

A proposed solution

I would have preferred to make a chart in SVG but we have to accept that SVG is not here yet. So, let's try to make a bar chart by doing some minor modifications to a plain html table. If we keep data in a table we maintain accessibility for screen reader software that allows the user to navigate back and forth between cells.

Validating an entire (web) site

Pete Giraffe has written about "Validating an entire (web) site" in his "Standards-Schmandards"
BLOG on 10 April 2005. To quote:-

Recently I had a siutation where I wanted to validate a large collection of pages. A customer has a rather large site and more than 100 editors are invloved in content creation. Since it is possible to create invalid html in their CMS tool there is a need to check the site regularly. This code could also be the foundation for a continuous testing framework in a GUI development project. In short it includes:

1. Installing the W3C validator on a local machine.


2. Modifying the validator to output XML.


3. Writing a script to collect validator result for all URLs in a text file.


4. Writing a script to crawl a web site and log all page URLs (which will be used as input to the script above).

The modified validator code and the Python scrips are available at the end of this article.

HOW-TO: Make Your Own Annotated Multi-Media Google Map

Barb Dybwad has written about "HOW-TO: Make Your Own Annotated Multi-Media Google Map" in "enGadget" on 8th March 2005. To quote:-

One of the great things about Google maps is it has its roots in XML. To translate for the non-web developers out there, it basically means Google maps are user hackable. This how-to will show you how to make your own annotated Google map from your own GPS data. Plus, you’ll be able to tie in images and video to create an interactive multimedia map. We’ll walk you through the steps we took to generate an annotated map of a walk we took recently through our hometown, now that it’s actually starting to get warm enough to want to walk about!

13 things that do not make sense

Michael Brooks has written about "13 things that do not make sense" in New Scientist on 19 March 2005. To quote:-

1. The placebo effect
   
2. The problem of the Univese's Horizon
   
3. Ultra-energetic cosmic rays above the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin limit
   
4. Why/How/Does Homeopothy work?
   
5. Dark Matter
   
6. Viking's discovery of methane on Mars
   
7. Tetraneutrons
   
8. The Pioneer (spacecraft) anomaly
   
9. Dark energy
   
10. The Kuiper cliff (is there a 10th planet?)
    
11. The Wow signal
    
12. Not-so-constant constants
    
13. Cold Fusion
    

Tips for Staff Directories

James Robertson has written about Tips for Staff Directories in "Column Two" on 7th April 2005. To quote:-

While the majority of staff will access the staff directory online, there will be a number of users with a strong need for a printed version of some (or all) of the directory details.

In particular, there must be a facility to create a printed 'phone list' out of the staff directory, either for all the organisation or for just a single division, business unit, etc. This should be automatically generated as a PDF or Word document, to facilitate easy printing.

Tips...
1. Formalise processes to ensure available printed copies are up to date.
2. Option of entering e-mail address when they download a printable version, so can "push" later updates.
3. Support clean prints of single profile pages - CSS media styles recommended.

Précised from the Step Two Design's Staff Directories report.

adaptive path � ajax: a new approach to web applications

Jesse James Garrett of Adaptive Path has written an essay about "ajax: a new approach to web applications".

Defining Ajax

Ajax isn’t a technology. It’s really several technologies, each flourishing in its own right, coming together in powerful new ways.

Ajax incorporates:

• standards-based presentation using XHTML and CSS;


• dynamic display and interaction using the Document Object Model;


• data interchange and manipulation using XML and XSLT;


• asynchronous data retrieval using XMLHttpRequest;


• and JavaScript binding everything together.

The 18 commandments of Knowledge-conscious managers

Blogged at Mopsos:

1. Don't always challenge. Welcome one another's thoughts and opinions.


2. Experiment constantly. Enlightened trial and error outperforms the planning of flawless intellects.


3. Release the need to be right. It's OK to make mistakes as long as you learn from them.


4. Know by doing, so that there is no gap between what you know and what you do.


5. What you know does matters, but who you know and who knows you matter even more.


6. Don't refer to internal organizations. Talk about specific people.


7. Consider internal client-supplier relationships as the worst possible form of internal collaboration.


8. Before deciding on a plan, always ask with whom the plan was discussed.


9. Involve people collectively in your thinking.


10. Management is not so much about delegating to individuals than about organizing and empowering groups.


11. It's not about giving objectives. It's about making sure they understand your intent.


12. Never give targets without negotiating them first.


13. Deliver high quality information and develop shared situation awareness.


14. Balance planning for the future with learning from the past.


15. Don't promote people that sound smart, but those who make sure that smart things happen.


16. Don't expect dedication from someone who fears for his job.


17. Never manipulate your staff.


18. Get yourself a technology coach.

Representing Data in Wireframes

Dave Rogers, at UXCentric: Wireframe UX introduces Dan Brown's poster, "Representing Data in Wireframes".

"wireframes provide a positive user experience. They're primarily communication tools that depict site layout, navigational elements, content priorities and the site interface. They also act as integrators, bringing content, engineering, visual design, information structure and UX together in a single document. Their most important function is to create a prototype, a 'shared space' that facilitates collaboration and innovation."

"

Online staff directories: survey results and key findings

"Online staff directories" by James Robertson of StepTwo Design:

Online staff directories (also known as phone directories, corporate phone books, or internal whitepages) are generally the most used element of a corporate intranet. They are also one of the few tools that are used every day by staff, and as such, they have a considerable impact upon the efficiency of staff throughout the organisation.

A survey was conducted in 2004 exploring how many organisations have a staff directory, how they had been implemented and to what degree they are relied on by staff. The results of this survey are summarised in this article.

Additional research was then conducted into the design and implementation of staff directories, and the key findings of this work are presented later in the article.

Adding "favicon" to your web site

Dave Taylor has written about "favicons" in "Ask Dave Taylor". To quote:-

Getting Microsoft Internet Explorer for Mac happy is a different subject. From all I can tell, MSIE only grabs the favicon.ico graphic if you bookmark the site. Otherwise it just uses the generic icon that's used for every other Web site on the net.
Just for good luck, you are using the right format for your favicon too, right?

There are two approaches, ".ico" if you want to monkey with the ".ico" graphics format. But it turns out that other common Web graphics formats are supported, including GIF, JPEG and PNG. To use one of those, specify the "MIME" filetype: