Category Archives: Dev

Project Idea: Context Free or Processing Header Plugin for WordPress

An iteration or so of the website ago I hacked in a random art generator into the background of the title of my website using ContextFree.js by Aza Raskin.  It was a cool little hack, but what would be really nice is to make it shareable.

I’d like a WordPress Plugin that finds the heading of your website and inserts a little Canvas element, includes either processing.js or contextfree.js and picks a sketch, then plops it in the background of your website’s title.  How cool would that be?

How to show WordPress page hierarchies

Got a request for help from some the Eyebeam list. 1 The folks organizing the Urban Wilderness Action Center for the international Electrosmog festival 2 wanted some usability help.  Navigating between subpages of their projects was too confusing.

If you like the way the sub pages are listed out on, say, the Berlin Micro-Turf Expedition – here you go.

<?php
// Does this even have a parent?
if($post->post_parent) {
$parent_title = get_the_title($post->post_parent);
?>
<a href="<?php echo get_permalink($post->post_parent) ?>"><?php echo $parent_title;?></a>:
<?php } ?>
<?php
//ok let's find our sibling pages, but we don't need to list the current page
if ( ($post->post_parent) && (get_post($post->post_parent)->post_parent) )
$children = wp_list_pages("title_li=&child_of=".$post->post_parent."&exclude=".$post->ID."&echo=0");
else
$children = wp_list_pages("title_li=&child_of=".$post->ID."&echo=0");
if ($children) { ?>
<ul style="display:inline">
<?php echo $children; ?>
</ul>
<?php } ?>
  1. The Eyebeam folks are doing a cool skillshare on how “Tools and Models for Online Collaboration”  (back)
  2. It starts March 20th!  It’s completely free!  Go!   (back)

The Magic Ruby vs the Url of Excel: a short story with long code

Once there was a hacker who needed to rescue a beautiful princess from her prison on a creaking ship moored in the middle of the sky.   He made it onto the noisy old ship, slipped past the guards and tiptoed down the swaying halls to the room where she wept, chained to an excel spreadsheet.
Continue reading The Magic Ruby vs the Url of Excel: a short story with long code

Installing the Android Developer Tools for Eclipse

If you’re trying to install the Android Developer Tools on Ubuntu and it keeps failing on a strange error:

An error occurred while installing the items
session context was:(profile=PlatformProfile, phase=org.eclipse.equinox.internal.provisional.p2.engine.phases.Install, operand=null –> [R]org.eclipse.ant.ui 3.4.1.v20090901_r351, action=org.eclipse.equinox.internal.p2.touchpoint.eclipse.actions.InstallBundleAction).
The artifact file for osgi.bundle,org.eclipse.ant.ui,3.4.1.v20090901_r351 was not found.

Here’s your solution:

sudo apt-get install eclipse-pde

Worked for me, found it here.

Project Idea: Dasher for Android

Dasher is a text entry method completely unlike a keyboard. You just swipe and like a video game you navigate through the possible sentences you could be writing.
Check the demo:

I like the idea that you are just navigating through the Borgesian infinite library to extract your sentences.
Dasher is free and GPL, it just hasn’t been compiled for android yet. Compile it, sell it with source for $.99.

Remember, qwerty is not destiny.

Project Idea: AutoThemer

Blame Carly for bringing this up. 1

I’m terrible at color schemes.   I have a coder’s idea of color.  Sure, people have written careful articles explaining how to pick a color scheme.  Sure there’s even a website that helps you pick color schemes.

But why not make it easier, and have a wordpress plugin that does it for me? Continue reading Project Idea: AutoThemer

  1. Not on identi.ca?  You should be.   (back)

Mixins, Django, Python and adding to Models

I’m working with my buddy ADubs, esq. on a project where we make it easier to add federation to various models. We’re properly lazy programmers, so we don’t want to rewrite federation for each model we are creating, we just want to mix it in as a general set of functionality.  Below the fold, more details, sample code, etc.
Continue reading Mixins, Django, Python and adding to Models

The NYC Government IT has given up.

My buddy Ian has a great post about his experience trying to find out if he had to move his car. Seems the DOT updates this info on Twitter rather than putting it out on their own website.

Retweet by DOT of 311's tweet that parking rules are suspended

Now that’s just crazy, but I know why. Sam used to work for the city and I’ve heard some stories about trying to get things done there.   The municipal IT department is paid below average wages, there are no negative incentives like being let go, and they are given no positive incentives like promotions or bonuses.  IT at the city seems to be a job that you take and show up for until you collect your pension.

So it isn’t that this is a bad strategy, it’s just that the city is so completely incompetent at IT that they can’t even put in a CMS. Therefore, private sources have built really good communication tools that are actually working. It sucks that the city can’t do IT, but it is good that they are doing what it takes to help people know. Twitter is a single point of failure, it falls over all the time, but at least it has RSS feeds and it’s open for anyone to read. I think the city should do better, I just don’t know that they can.