HTML5 bouncing balls animation
Here is a quick post with a very simple HTML5 animation example. This is some random bouncing balls with a little gravity.
It’s not what you do, it’s how you do it
Web architecture boils down to this “Its not what you do, its how you do it”
What I mean by this is that the web moves very fast and maintaining a competitive advantage is all about responding to the market and innovating, therefore its not so important what you do, this will constantly change and will be lead by the product managers not the architects.
Web design methods are created so that the company can very quickly launch, delete and modify a product. Which is great but this dynamic and reactionary approach to design introduces risk and drops quality.
So this is where the “how you do it” comes in. Essentially the right way to make it work is to have a very disciplined design methodology, supported by the right budget and a love of good quality engineering.
This can only be achieved strong leadership in the right culture.
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10 step guide to buying a new CMS
Ive just written this article for the atos origin blog (probably the best CTO blog in the whole world !)
http://blog.atosorigin.com/2010/09/10-point-cms-guide/
Over the past few years I have been involved in many solutions and engagements that need or use a CMS as part of the solution. This invariably will involve some element of CMS product selection, and I have seen quite a few ways to successfully work out what’s right for you. I am a big fan of the CMS matrix which provides a good list of capabilities and features, and presents you with all the information that you will need. However I am not a big fan of counting the ticks and going with the system that has the highest score, as you will end up with a bloated “do everything” lemon that leaves a bitter taste in your mouth. Nor am I a fan of the marketing reports such as the magic quadrant reports as they often don’t include non-commercial products which are the market leading CMS tools…
So, to address this I have written this practical 10 point guide to choosing a CMS.
1 > Avoid the lock in
If you have a significant publishing operation you will be aware the choice of CMS system becomes very important. Your skills, the way your team works and even your capabilities will map onto the decision you have made.
CMS vendors are very aware of this and they will offer you a range of complementary features that make it easy for you to do this or that. But beware it is very easy to get locked in to the technology stack that the vendor offers.
Before you choose try googling and see if others have experienced lock-in.
2 > Give it try
Spending just 5 minutes trying out a system is worth at least a day trawling through vendor presentations or reading the Gartner reports. If the CMS is difficult to use, or its tricky to add a plug-in or change theme then you can find out in minutes instead of hours.
3 > You don’t need training
Choose something to do that is a bit tricky like adding a keyword to the meta data, or adding a widget to show an rss feed. Then try it out! You will learn loads about the CMS and you should be able to achieve the task without googling, user guides or training. If you do find yourself googling, gauge the support that you get from the community.
4 > Can it cope with IE6
Without a doubt the worst and most annoying of all browsers is IE6. It has a completely different way of drawing things to all the other browsers. Give your CMS output and UI a try using IE6. How well does it do? This is a really good indication of how well it is made. If it still works, why not go to the next level and try it on a Nokia.
5 > A good CMS should be invisible
Creating and publishing content is genuinely good fun. Lots of people love to make websites and hopefully your production/editorial team is made-up of people who are like this. If you are one of these people try making and publishing some content. If the CMS is a good one you will notice that you don’t have to think about it, and your mind should be on the content.
6 > A good CMS can import all your content, a great CMS can export it all
Most decent CMS systems have an import feature that should make it fairly easy to get up and going with your content. However, a great CMS system will also provide you tools to allow you to export all the content, taxonomy, users etc. and … use it in another CMS system. This test is associated with the point about lock-in (above) and if your content is not massive this can be a quick test.
7 > Exploit the exploits
If you are going to be using a CMS to run a popular site, then someone will try and hack you.
Google the name of the CMS that you are thinking about getting and the word “Exploit”. Try the first few out on the demo that the vendor has set up for you.
8 > SQL and SCRIPT Injection
When the vendor finally lets you get at the UI try putting this string into the first text box you see:
<script>while(1){alert(“im not going to buy your CMS”)}</script>
the press save, preview publish or whatever and see if the CMS is still working. Alternatively try putting this into the user name field:
smith’); drop table users;
then press save and see what happens.
9 > Look at the showcase
Search for the CMS product name and “Showcase” or “Top 10 Sites” and see if it comes back with something that you know and love. Or, visit www.builtwith.com and put in the address of the site you love and see what CMS system was used to make it.
10 > It should be fun!!!
Using the CMS should be a pleasure. There is no real way to define fun on Gantt chart or in a spreadsheet, but if you are using an actuarial method to decide on your CMS make sure you have a column for how much fun it should be use it!
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The hidden cost of planned obsolescence
The postwar American industrial boom saw car sales take off. But by the time of the moon landings the car manufacturers had noticed that their sales were parked in a steady orbit and possibly were about to fall back to earth.
At that time the automotive industry attracted the most brilliant minds, and collectively they could not figure out why this fall in growth was happening. The most popular car manufacturers had complete control over the domestic car market, and yet their sales figures were falling. After some long and hard head scratching they realized that the reason for their poor performance was due to their past success.
The reason that sales had fallen off was quite simply because they had achieved market saturation. Everyone who wanted a car had a car. The only sales that the market leaders were making were due to the replacement of old worn out products.
As we all know shareholders demand growth and the market leading position was not sustainable.
So what was the solution?
Planned obsolescence
Quite simply the cars had to wear out faster so that they could be replaced faster and sales would start to rise again. Instead of engineering components to the highest quality they were machined to an adequate quality which caused them to expire in a known length of time. By today’s standards we consider this an environmental crime, however this practice and this method of controlling a market is a cornerstone of modern business practice.
Times and fashion change. Since the 80’s the ultrapreneurs and brilliant minds have been drawn into the world of computing. But people are not the only thing that has migrated to the world of computing many of the working practices of the car industry have also made the leap into cyberspace.
How long will my software last?
For the past 10 years computer developers have been toying with the Toyota production system, many of the principles of kaizen are behind google, facebook and other modern world engineering feats.
But automotive business practices have also found a place in the new world of computing. When you look at the releases of windows you will see that closed source companies are clearly using their position as market leaders to make the most out of the principles of planned obsolescence. All the languages, databases, office products and addon packs that they sell all have a shelf life. The next version of a computer language includes fixes for lots of issues, but in order for it to maintain a market leading position it must also introduce new issues. This may sound a little unfair to the big software companies but they are not the only ones, planned obsolescence is a part of the very fabric of the IT market. Step back in time just a little further and you will see that everyone is doing the same thing.
It makes good business sense that your software is just good enough – not great, but just enough to last a couple of years before you need to buy the new more stylish, more secure, more better upgrade.
Take software depreciation into account.
The next time you look at new software think about how long that software is valid for and take the upgrade cost into account. Lots of packages offer free upgrades but do they offer free upgrades to the latest version? If you deploy a Windows 7 license what is the cost of the inevitable upgrade to windows 8, 9, 10 … ? Will your servers be running Oracle 11 for ever? How much will it cost you to change your business processes, how much do your people cost you, do you have to train every time you upgrade? Do you have to rewrite your application endlessly?
Comparing open source to closed source
Many governments and enterprises are looking into opensource as a possible route to cut costs. And I have been involved in a number of conversations looking at just how much an opensource alternative really costs.
The reality is that the short term costs are roughly similar. However when you look at the long term costs the equation becomes very different and this is because of the hidden cost of planned obsolescence.
Designed to fail.
My point of view is that it stands to reason that license revenue model software is deliberately designed to fail. It’s just good business.
However the practice of planned obsolescence is not only anti consumer; wasting their time, resources and money, but it is also anti engineer. If an engineer makes something using components of a computer language that are designed to fail over time then their products will also degrade, effecting the longevity of their product and the amount of time that their product can be retailed for.
I am primarily someone who makes a living by making and selling software, and for me this is the most compelling argument for using opensource throughout the whole delivery chain.
The reason I support opensource is not because it saves me money … it makes me money.
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New media won !
Wow – new media beat old media – RATM is #1 !
What an interesting battle !
It seems to me that old media went down like a sack of s**t. New media hardly had to fight.
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New Media old Media
The two schools of media have finally decided to have a sandup fight.
The Talent Show / broadcast industry have come out fighting against the social media – friend of a friend – internet industry.
X factor vs Rage against the Machine
While the new upstart has plenty of enthusiasm and is making alot of moves arround the ring … it just dosnt have the experience of the old and slightly punch drunk broadcast industry.
The only guaranteed winner is Sony … who get a profit for sales of both records …. Doh. Nothing changes …
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