Recent Posts

926

Living Room / Re: Best Freeware FTP client?

« Last post by iphigenie on August 15, 2007, 05:17 AM »

Trying to think about what ftp clients I used over the years.. quite a few are now no longer freeware   

I used visicom's aceFTP (http://software.visi...en/productsfreeware/) (hated the cheesy sounds it makes but the tool is competent enough) and I have also used ftp commander (http://www.internet-soft.com/ftpcomm.htm) and coreftp (http://www.coreftp.com/) , and those two are still freeware. Or more precisely a freeware version of a shareware pro version. But for many needs they work well. I think my favorite was coreftp (and cuteftp but that is now quite pricey)

Nowadays i don't use much ftp, it's all scp/sftp (for which i use penguinet -paid for- and tunnelier -when on someone else's machine-) so when i need ftp i just use what comes with my file manager.

No tool I found for sftp/scp offers full directory comparison, so I am stuck using rsync. I wish one did. I noticed when getting the urls for those tools that many of them now do scp/sftp so i might have a peek at them again

PS: If you ever need to let someone non technical to upload/download a few files regularly from their windows machine, data freeway is quite cool, since it creates a folder within the normal windows interface for the target. That's not very special for ftp but this is one of the only dummy proof scp/sftp tools I know of (http://fileforum.bet...Freeway/1107503093/1)

927

SMF Forum Mods / Re: DC SMF Search Mod - an improvement search for smf forum (codename Zillarank)

« Last post by iphigenie on August 14, 2007, 06:38 PM »

ironically, i tried installing the package and it detects a conflict (probably with tinyportal)

 

928

Developer's Corner / Re: Best Language for Employability?

« Last post by iphigenie on August 14, 2007, 04:00 AM »

Once you have learned 2 languages it is easy to pick up new ones. I'm a language bulimic, I find it so interesting

I am also a framework bulimic, again I find it so interesting - the key dilemnas are always the same, and seeing what choices and compromises people choose to make and what the resulting strenghts and weaknesses are is fascinating.

I'm hoping to go back to more purist stuff, and learn lisp next - I doubt it will improve my employability but with about 12 languages under my belt i don't think any other language would. Besides I kind of moved out of development for now, except as a hobby - i just keep up to date so I can still jump in and help and keep my developers on their toes.

Any one in southeast london/kent want a relaxed perl job, let me know

929

General Software Discussion / Re: Some HomeSite Replacement Help?

« Last post by iphigenie on August 12, 2007, 06:25 PM »

I have registered versions of homesite 1,2,3,4,5,5.5 then topstyle 2 and 3 (i missed 1 somehow) - i would be so happy if he did revisit it

930

General Software Discussion / Re: Do you know a good image viewer with CMYK support ?

« Last post by iphigenie on August 12, 2007, 09:26 AM »

strangely, zoner shows the right colors in browse/thumbnail mode, but then the wrong colours when you open the file, warning you that it has opened the cmyk image in rgb

931

General Software Discussion / Re: Do you know a good image viewer with CMYK support ?

« Last post by iphigenie on August 12, 2007, 09:22 AM »

I don't think it is a cmyk issue, it is if the program can recognise and use the additional photoshop profiles. I think a lot of the software oriented at professional photographers (and they are not all expensive) should be able to handle this.

I suspect ACDsee should as well - under color management there is an option to "use color profiles when found embedded in a file" (not ticked by default)

932

Developer's Corner / Re: Best Language for Employability?

« Last post by iphigenie on August 12, 2007, 09:12 AM »

Well from my perspective there seems to be (in the UK) a lot of jobs for all languages - that includes old timer languages like C and Perl, and more recent ones like python, java, c#, ruby and resurgent old style stuff like erlang (telcos) - although knowing IDEs and frameworks (and listing them) will often help your CV hit the right keywords.

According to a recruiter I spoke to last week, Perl is very hot at the moment (I am trying to recruit both junior and senior programmers) so is Java again

933

General Software Discussion / Re: Some HomeSite Replacement Help?

« Last post by iphigenie on August 10, 2007, 04:05 AM »

My web designer here seems to swear by a shareware called Webuilder http://www.blumentals.net

934

General Software Discussion / Re: A "Wiki Word" add-in for MS Word?

« Last post by iphigenie on August 10, 2007, 03:39 AM »

a wiki word is a "hook" for links within a wiki.
In a typical wiki if I type ANewPageAboutWikis then the wiki will recognise it as a potential link and either link to this document (should it exist) or create a link to allow people to create the document.
Nowadays most wikis have realised that this is a pain to read for humans so they also support a syntax like [A New Page About Wikis]

935

General Software Discussion / Re: Web 2.0 Poll

« Last post by iphigenie on August 10, 2007, 03:32 AM »

It also depends how you define web2.0
Web 2.0 covers several things - from a new "fad" in design style to the asynchronous way of doing things in the browser (not needing to reload the page) to the use of style sheets and standards, to the extensive use of user interaction and contribution, to the new "rich internet applications" technologies like flex, silverlight etc.

All of these mean web2.0 to some people

Since it seems we are talking mostly about RIAs and whether they will
* turn out to be a fad and go away
* stay and take over the world
* become part of a mix

I think the obvious idea is that they will certainly become part of a mix - and might take over more than you think

The advantages they have to the user are
- access the same thing from any computer, independent of OS, including (over time) PDAs and mobile phones
- moving some of the processing cost to the server, i.e. you dont need as powerful a PC
- cost, no need to shell up £400 up front and no need to pay for software you might only need once in a while
- convenience, no need to install software that you might only need once in a while
- their server is more likely to be backed up and safe than your typical computer

The disadvantages to the user are
- you have to be online, should you end up stuck with no connection you cant do a thing
- you dont have as much control over your data/tools
- typically slower
- less choice than in desktop apps
- the cost of developing and making these tools is higher so they will typically be fee based or advertising based, and there wont be the equivalent of the simple-tool-that-does-one-thing-well long term

I tend to prefer offline, desktop tools for the speed, responsiveness. But the biggest problem is cost and the hassle if you work on multiple PCs (i have a laptop at work, a home desktop and a private laptop...) - paying n licenses, sync'ing.

To me the killer apps will be the ones who are online, so you can access them from anywhere, but have some sort of offline component, so you can mirror to your main computer or PDA should you have to be offline (on a plane, train, at a friends house). All within the tool.

936

Living Room / Re: Software download sites - scrapers and non-scrapers

« Last post by iphigenie on August 08, 2007, 02:53 PM »

Ah, none of those are in my bookmarks 

937

General Software Discussion / Re: Do you use any Desktop Theme Software on Windows?

« Last post by iphigenie on August 08, 2007, 02:35 AM »

I have been using Stardock software for 10 years, and I often have windows blinds on - although usually on a more minimalistic, feature rich skin than on eye candy  

938

Developer's Corner / Re: Recommended/Best/Most Useful IDEs for Language *insert language*?

« Last post by iphigenie on August 08, 2007, 02:32 AM »

I used to think that SlickEdit was overpriced too.  But then I really got into it and started using it.  And the time it saves for me as a contractor more than justifies the price.

-wraith808 (August 07, 2007, 01:17 PM)

I would agree - slickedit is an extremely well thought out programmers editor, which has been worked on and refined for over 10 years now.

A lot of commercial software is "overpriced" if you don't need to use them. For example I think Photoshop is overpriced, because there are many tools that can do at least 80% of what photoshop can do and sometimes even better. But if you are a pro and know the tool then the speed and ease at which you can do the work is well worth the price.

I just don't code as much nowadays so I cant quite justify shelling for slickedit privately. Neither can I justify asking the company to buy it for me. Ah well.

939

Developer's Corner / Re: Recommended/Best/Most Useful IDEs for Language *insert language*?

« Last post by iphigenie on August 07, 2007, 08:55 AM »

I never had much luck with eclipse on windows

It's not really an IDE but I really like visual slickedit. It's quite pricey so I am a few versions behind as I can't justify the upgrade price for what I am doing at the moment. It works well even for perl/php knowing enough of the syntax that it can analyse your entire project and give you definitions/hints on your own classes and methods. Many editors do this for C/Java but few bother to do the same for perl/php/python (unless dedicated to one language)

940

Living Room / Re: Article: Please don't steal this Web content

« Last post by iphigenie on August 06, 2007, 05:14 AM »

I never thought about that, the software sites.
I would see why a software site would go and copy the product description from the developer's site without thinking... but now that you mention it, I can see how if done badly it can be harmful, and as you say it can also hurt you with search engines, as those sites have the higher pagerank and your site might get penalised.

And some of those sites don't even post a link to the developer's website, and as someone who always checks the developer's site prior to downloading, that is really infuriating. I can imagine that as the developer of a product if they nick your copy and dont even link back to you this would be the most harmful thing (search engine wise, but also from a marketing point of view)

Is there a thread somewhere on this site on the good, average and less good software sites, based on how they treat the authors, link back (or not), nick copy without asking (or not)? I'd be curious.

941

Living Room / Re: Article: Please don't steal this Web content

« Last post by iphigenie on August 03, 2007, 04:12 AM »

I can understand.
Where I work, we have writers, editors and researchers employed all year round to produce and keep up to date information.
You wouldnt believe how many people but, even worse, companies, just nick it and dont even bother to change the wording 

942

The Getting Organized Experiment of 2006 / Re: Achieve Planner + Goals to Action

« Last post by iphigenie on August 01, 2007, 03:08 PM »

does it do task juggling? sounds interesting

Best tool i ever found for this was "above and beyond" where you entered priorities not only by class (a,b,c) and number (a1,a2) but also entered numbers about the value / cost of the task (value of doing it vs cost of not doing/delaying it) and then the system would dynamically rejog your tasks based on those priorities and time available to suggest what you could be doing in the 2 hour slot you had now

It doesnt seem to get developed anymore, just when i finally could justify the cost of registering it

I cant remember whether i tried achieve planner or not in my long quest for a similar tool

943

General Software Discussion / Re: General brainstorming for Note-taking software

« Last post by iphigenie on August 01, 2007, 08:00 AM »

What i like in evernote is that i spend time tagging things rather than organising - and it is a lot more powerful and less time consuming (that and something can have 2 tags, but 2 locations is less simple). In email, file management and note management you eventually grow tired of constantly dragging things around, creating new folders, reorganising etc.

I have hundreds of thousands of emails going back 10 years, images in similar proportion, bits of information accumulating... and lots of bits i dont capture/save cause i just dont have the time to organise them. Being able to dump them somewhere and tag them would be a lot quicker than anything...

I think i would love a document management system that
- works on the tagging/virtual organisation model rather than physical location (by type, by date, by keywords in the document, by tags)
- makes it easy to capture/create quick notes as documents

that could work quite well as a note taking system (making all the notes as individual documents) as well as document management

944

The Getting Organized Experiment of 2006 / Re: Achieve Planner + Goals to Action

« Last post by iphigenie on August 01, 2007, 07:52 AM »

I'm  kind of curious, but just have to point out that you can transform emails into tasks in outlook just by dragging the email to the tasks tab - it can even take the attachments with it and all

You also can give emails a deadline and make them appear on your calendar without making them into tasks, by using the due date and the "flag for follow up" option (you can make all emails flagged and with due dates appear on your calendar )

945

Best E-mail Client / Re: Best IMAP Client

« Last post by iphigenie on July 31, 2007, 04:38 PM »

if opera allowed me to tag mail (i.e. type additional categories and then search/group by them) then i think i would not bother looking for anything more - i dont care it doesnt do rules, beyond what you can do with filters. I do like a lot of the live meta organisation and filtering it does, and the fact that i dont waste time moving things in folders. As a casual mail client it is one of the easiest and quickest.

It is not a business tool though - lack of processing rules, the difficulty to sync/restore email, and a few quirks (at the moment it just wont show me 2 of my imap folders). works wonderfully for all my family and friends and shopping stuff, but i need a bit more when it comes to work stuff

but i must admit i like outlook again
in outlook i have one inbox, one big "processed mail" folder, custom views, category tagging and the "flag for followup" function, and i have a routine that both allows me to keep on top of things and not drop any ball without at least knowing that i am dropping it...
Since i used poco for years (until it slowed down too much and then wuldnt do fastmail) so I tried barca (and it now works ok with fastmail!) but the imap misses some basic option, and there seems to be no category tagging or flag for response functionality that integrates with the calendar

might end up buying outlook, the irony

946

General Software Discussion / Re: Some HomeSite Replacement Help?

« Last post by iphigenie on July 30, 2007, 06:21 AM »

The problem with homesite 5.5 is that it doesnt know anything about the evolution of html, and when you work in xhtml+css homesite isnt that productive

Trying acehtml this week, will see if it is better than topstyle on the html side

947

Living Room / Re: Thank You To The Members Of DonationCoder.com

« Last post by iphigenie on July 30, 2007, 06:18 AM »

was there ever civility?

Back when the internet was newsgroups, irc and bulletin boards we already had flame wars and trolls.

948

Find And Run Robot / Re: new launcher just released

« Last post by iphigenie on July 29, 2007, 04:18 PM »

I think the biggest "weakness" of FARR is that none of the clever magic is obvious when you install it, so out of the box it looks like it can do less than some of the other tools.

There is no easy way to get a "how to think in FARR" tutorial to help people get around to applying the clever tricks to make it do its magic for you. Some parts of this forum have examples and ideas, but even after reading them I am not sure where I would start to do something which would integrate with my browser or mail client or anything...

As a result, FARR has joined Wirekeys as a software which i use a lot and appreciate a lot just as a simple launcher but know I am not scratching the surface of what it could do, because I just havent taken the time to dig in the forum and help files to try to make it work with my other toys....

PS: the phone number trick i am curious about, as i cant type 011 in farr without it launching something

949

General Software Discussion / Re: Some HomeSite Replacement Help?

« Last post by iphigenie on July 28, 2007, 01:01 PM »

Free editors:
Context has macro and snippets, but i don't use it for HTML much. Not sure why. when i need free and html i tended to use pspad (which has templates which partly work as snippets). Neither are similar to homesite though, although pspad might be closer.

shareware:
for more html oriented work i tended to use shareware - coffee cup's editor is pretty good (link: http://www.coffeecup.com/html-editor/), and so is visisoft's aceHTML (link: http://software.visi.../en/products/acehtml), both are clearly inspired by homesite and worth a try since both are actively developed. The first has more wizards and help tools, the second is probably more customisable. One of my friends likes firstpage, which is very homesitey too (link: http://www.evrsoft.com/1stpage3.shtml) but i havent tried it since 2004

But in the end I often end up in topstyle pro, in spite of it not having much help to speed up typing of HTML, because i do a lot of CSS.

950

General Software Discussion / Re: General brainstorming for Note-taking software

« Last post by iphigenie on July 28, 2007, 10:17 AM »

I'm starting to like evernote

In a way it is a path i am on which relies less on my having to impose structure, and more on tag and search.
I went from a traditional folder based mail software to using opera m2 (private) and Outlook with everything in the same folder and use of tagging / filtering / searching to create a virtual organisation
I went from organising my images in topical folders to storing them by year/month/day and using tagging and metadata
And now I might go from using an outliner type product to one where the structure is all tags

seems to all fit