mac's weekly disposables..

Somedays.. like the past 40 days.. I hope that a lot of my problems are just PEBKAC, if not, doctrine would be pretty damn doomed..

After a few hickups of MySQL and OpenVZ, one of the lowcost servers we are currently building up is serving as a db-read host for tauschbilder.com. I wish the project all the best during that time.. and if you think about other online paneenee exchange portals: don't look any further, it's the best!

A long time ago and recently, I held 2 techtalks at our office..
One is about `optimizing PHP' and the other is about `mysql 5.1 / 6.0 - some changes'

Optimizing PHP Apps: Download here

Mysql 5.1 / 6.0: Download here

wheee.. i'm not alone..

http://blog.libssh2.org/index.php?/archives/97-Have-I-mentioned-I-hate-Javascript.html

my boss explained me: when you stick your head between others asses, then it is scrum.

Now we can really celebrate. After a long time of work, we were finally able to release v.1.0.0 of Okapi (Which is our preferred framework).
Why another PHP framework you might ask.. A pure sign of the `not invented here' syndrome :)
Why is it better than other frameworks? It's pretty darn fast! And it lets the developer hack a lot of stuff on his own - which, I've been told, is the intended way in PHP :)
And it's still a framework! Not like some other frameworks which are just one big include to get stuff like A() B() C() D() E() and the like..
We actually tend to keep the core very simple and small and try to support as many custom extensions as we can, to keep extensions which are not as documented and tested as we want them to out of okapi. But since we can't do everything on our own, it's actually very simple to include PEAR and ZendFW code into your Okapi application/project.

Find okapi here: okapi.liip.ch
Find the buzz here: blog.liip.ch

And I really want to personally thank Patrice for keeping his flock of sheep (us) together and to make us write documentation and tests! (Actually, documentation required a lot of his effort!) Thanks a lot!

I don't want to write a lot, but since everybody thinks that I hate GUIs.. This is not the case! While it's generally true, that I hate a specific GUI, I don't hate the concept of a GUI. (That means I like eyecandy, even if this might come as a complete shock now!)
The thing I hate about Flash GUIs and JavaScript GUIs and the like is, that they are friggin slow. In the console, everything reacts fast and responds quickly. When I click around in flash, everything gets blurry and the like. This is just hampdydampdy stuff.. For example: I really love to make GUIs on the iPhone because everything is fast and very quick in responding. I think this has to do with the languages they are made in.. I just hate that javascript/flash quirkmode stuff where everything tends to be overengineered today. (This does not contradict the fact, that there are cool JavaScript/Flash UIs out there) There are situations in which it is nice to have JavaScript.. (of course!) Like when you want to customize your Dashboard or do ClientSide input checking or doing collapsable/expandable folder-trees and the like. But please stop when it gets barely usable on a Mac Pro! :)
And this is why I hate to make such GUIs - they just don't scale and I just don't like doing something which makes something else slow just to get some blithering marketing idiot to talk about it.

marc@yoda:/Volumes/hdb1/Work/okapi-core> svn up
At revision 10000.

Urteil der Fachjury: Die Site schafft es, sich von den blichen Tourismusangeboten abzuheben. Sie ist grosszgig und gepflegt gestaltet, ohne Schnickschnack oder unntige Spielereien. Das Gefhl des Winterurlaubs erfasst einen beim ersten Besuch der Website. Laax.com spricht sicher trotz oder gerade wegen des modernen Auftritts ein breites Publikum an und ist fr andere Ferienregionen in puncto Gestaltung und Konsistenz sicher ein Vorbild.

Uhm.. seriously.. What page did you visit? Did you guys visit the site or did you just skim through the screenshots?!
Damn, this is ridiculous and pathetic..

Today, I had to decide what project to vote for in the best of swiss web contest..

Well.. They all look kinda fancy, kinda blingbling, kinda oh-here-we-go-make-it-bumbumbumpengpeng, kinda give the user the chocolate they want..
Have these boys EVER used a shell? I don't really think so.. If you grew up with a shell then you would NEVER turn into that hamptidampti mode, for sure.
Anyways.. hampdidampdi pages are nice for hampdidampdi blingbling style people.. What about disabled people? what about richard stallman? what about THE FRIGGIN IPHONE USERS?!
Sometimes you really have to lose faith in this world..
Just a quick review:

radio 105tv: not usable w/o js/flash.. [Diese Seite benötigt Flash Player 8.0. Bitte laden Sie den Flash Player hier.] .. at least you'll get rid of all the ads (which is about 50% of the page)

cmsbox: works FLAWLESS! (nice job :) I prefer haskell, but who cares..)

freitag: at least you get some content.. but nothing is working.. [ To see the content of this page correctly, you need to upgrade your Flash Player.] at least pictures in the background..

oSkope: yeah, well.. this is of course not working, but flash is kinda the heart of that thing - it wouldn't really work without :) - of course the searching would be possible..

capricorn/remix graubuenden: http://screencast.com/t/PBUWgHlUxEv - that's it :) not even a hint that you need flash

kpt einzeltraining: no personal trainer without flash.. awwwwwww.. but not even a page.. you need flash or get fat! (which is odd, since flash makes everything fat and slow.. usually)

le menu: works flawless.. and even very very nice and usable content.. the register thing bugged me though.. but nevermind

laax.com: MY FAVORITE.. there is not even a comment needed: screencast.com/t/EQiG7eSof

tvprogramm.sf.tv: first I thought: this will never work w/o js.. well, it does! this is quite cool. (i like the project anyway.. nice job) but you don't have the full functionality (you can't add stations and stuff)

iconomix.ch: yeah well, I worked on that thing day in - day out, I can't really rate it.. But.. (facts now) All the content is available without flash/js, except the games.. (people w/o js probably won't care about games anyway)

So boys of the web2.0.. what's wrong with you? This web thing was about information, not about hampdidampdi.. but I guess publicity has a bigger money-weight than usability.. Go on make stuff fancy and useless..

UPDATE:
lejoe_> marca: didn't you mean accessibility instead of usability in your last sentence (blog post)?

- I actually meant both..