Community Server can be a pretty powerful tool if you take your time to setup a decent site for your users.

Here are a few tweaks I've made to SCCAForums.com to make it a bit more user friendly.

On the home page there are sections for active, unanswer, and my posts(if logged in). These controls don't provide much information to the user though, by default only a link and portion of the subject of a forum post.

On SCCA Forums I've setup the controls to display the user who made the last post, link directly to the last post rather than the first post, and also display and link to the particular forum that the post was made in.

To do this you need to add the following script to your default.aspx page.

<script language='C#' runat='server'>

 int getPageNumber(int replies)
 {
  int page = 1;
  if (replies > 14)
  {
   page = 1 + replies /15;
  }
  return page;
 }
</script>

You also need to change the ItemTemplate section of the ThreadRepeater controls to look like the following

<ItemTemplate>
        <div class='CommonSidebarContentItem'>
    <strong><a href='<%# ForumUrls.Instance().PostPaged((int) DataBinder.Eval(Container.DataItem, 'MostRecentPostID'), getPageNumber((int)DataBinder.Eval(Container.DataItem, 'replies')))%>'><%# DataBinder.Eval(Container.DataItem, 'Subject').ToString() %></a></strong>
    - <%# DataBinder.Eval(Container.DataItem, 'MostRecentPostAuthor') %>
    (<a href='<%# ForumUrls.Instance().Forum( ((Thread) Container.DataItem).SectionID ) %>'><%# DataBinder.Eval(Container.DataItem, 'Forum.Name') %></a>)
        </div>
</ItemTemplate>    

More tweaks to come.

Python and X10 Home Automation, Part 1.1

I wrote previously about Project WiSH, which gives you access to X10 computer interface controllers via device drivers.  I also wrote about uprading my home system to Mandrake 10.  Mandrake 10 has the new 2.6 kernel.  Sadly, WiSH does not (yet) work with that kernel.  So, I had to find an alternative.

From googling around, and comments from readers, I found the 'bottlerocket' software, for accessing the CM-17a 'Firecracker' X10 computer interface.  This gives you a simple command-line program for issuing X10 commands via the CM-17a.  It lacks the ability to watch for an X10 command coming in from a sensor, or querying the status of a status-capable X10 controller, so it's not a complete replacement for WiSH (but that functionality is not supported by the CM-17a anyway, so you don't get it with WiSH either), but it will do me for now.

When you are doing time-based automation under Linux, it makes sense to leverage Linux's built-in abilities.  The 'cron' system lets you schedule tasks for execution based on date/time, either periodically on a period of your choosing, or at one particular data/time.  The 'at' command lets you schedule a command for execution at one particular time in the furture.  For example, typing the following command at the Linux command-line prompt will schedule the running of the command '/usr/local/bin/br a2 on' for 8:00pm today ('br' is the bottlerocket command):

at 8:00pm today <<EOF
/usr/local/bin/br a2 on
EOF

To test the usability of 'at' for X10 home automation, I wrote a simple shell script that issues two 'at' commands -- one to turn on my driveway lights at dusk, and one to turn them off at 10:30pm.  I then set up a 'cron' job to run this shell script ever day at 00:05 in the morning.  Thus, each day the two 'at' jobs are reissued for the current day.  It's necessary to reissue the commands each day because an 'at' job is a one-shot deal, while 'cron' is what you use to run commands at regular intervals.

This system of 'at', shell scripts, and 'cron' works fine, and demonstrates the simplest Linux/X10 home automation setup.  For your needs, this may be all that you require.  For me, this was just baby's first steps.

What I want is a more capable solution to the X10 home automation problem.  I want to be able to schedule both periodic and one-time events.  I want a system that understands how to deal with times like 'sunset' and 'sunrise'.  I want to be able to alias the X10 house/unit code that controls my driveway lights as 'driveway lights'.  I want to be able to create macros that trigger multiple commands, so that I can execute macro 'wakeup', and have the commands sent to turn on the TV, the coffee maker, and the window blinds opener(insert images of George Jetson being ejected from bed like toast from a toaster).  I want to have a web interface to all of this.  And, of course, I want to do it all with Python.

Sure there are several other pre-existing Linux solutions for X10 home automation.  For fun and learning, stay tuned as I put together my own solution using Python.

One of the more enduringly popular articles on this site has been “Simple CSS drop shadows,” which explains how to use progressive enhancement techniques to create drop shadows on text and boxes. Although the technique still works, support for complex DOM scripting and CSS as improved dramatically, making these simple CSS drop shadows even easier to do.

Using client-side scripting, this duplicated content is no longer required (unless support for version-five browsers or lower is still required) and a drop shadow can be created on any element accessible via the DOM. Also, this revised method purposely avoids using class names to trigger effects in order for the effect to be as non-intrusive to the basic markup as possible.

(The W3C has proposed two CSS methods to handle text and block shadows, and these are discussed later in this article.)

DOM-styled Drop Shadows

Like the original technique, this method duplicates the headline text and offsets it creating a drop shadow like effect. The box shadow effect places the targeted box slightly offset within a grey div.

In both the examples, there is a unique id attribute associated with the element, but this is not required. The script duplicates the content (and child elements) of the element targetted and requires five values when initiated:

• the DOM node (e.g., the text or box);
• the shadow color;
• an array with the horizontal and vertical offset;
• and the type of shadow wanted (i.e., “text” or “box”).

A headline with a drop shadow

The headline HTML:
<h5 id='pullquote'>A headline with a drop shadow</h5>

To create a text shadow in the example above, the script is called this way: dropShadow(document.getElementById('pullquote'),'#AAA',[1,1],'text');.

The script looks for the element with an id of “pullquote” (this could be any DOM node reference, though); sets the shadow color to a shade of grey; and offsets that shadow by 1px both vertically (the first value) and 1px horizontally. Positive numbers place the shadow to the bottom and right of the text; use negative numbers to set the shadow in the opposite direction. The final value ('text') tells the script a text shadow is desired.

The box HTML:
<div id='box' style='float: right; width: 100px; height: 100px; border: none; background-color: #9FC;'>A headline with a drop shadow</div>

The box shadow was created by calling: dropShadow(document.getElementById('box'),'#CCC',[2,2],'box');.

Again, the script looks for the DOM node reference; sets the shadow color to a different shade of grey; and offsets that shadow this time by 2px both vertically horizontally. The final value ('box') tells the script to create a shadow on a block element.

The JavaScript:

function dropShadow(shadow,shade,offset,type){ var color = new Array(  getStyle(shadow,'background-color'),  getStyle(shadow,'color'),  shade ); if(type=='box'){  document.createElement('div'); } else {  document.createElement('span'); } var els = [container,shadow]; var content = shadow.childNodes; switch(type){  case 'box':   container.appendChild(shadow.cloneNode(true));   for(x=0;content.length>x;x++){    shadow.removeChild(shadow.childNodes[x]);   }    for(x=0;els.length>x;x++){    els[x].style.color = color[1];    els[x].style.position = 'relative';    if(x==0){     els[x].style.width = getStyle(shadow,'width');     els[x].style.backgroundColor = color[0];    } else {      els[x].style.margin = offset[0]+'px '+offset[1]+'px';     els[x].style.backgroundColor = color[2];    }   }   break;  case 'text':    for(x=0;content.length>x;x++){    deep = (content[x].childNodes) ? true : false;    container.appendChild(content[x].cloneNode(deep));   }	   for(x=0;els.length>x;x++){    els[x].style.position = (x==0) ? 'absolute' : 'relative';    els[x].style.color = color[x+1];   }   break; } for(x=0;els.length>x;x++){  els[x].style.top = (x==0) ? (offset[0]*-1)+'px' : offset[0]+'px';  els[x].style.left = (x==0) ? (offset[1]*-1)+'px' : offset[1]+'px'; } shadow.appendChild(container); function getStyle(obj,style){  if(obj.currentStyle){   return obj.currentStyle[style];  } else if(window.getComputedStyle) {   return document.defaultView.getComputedStyle(obj,null).getPropertyValue(style);  }  }}

If you are using a JavaScript framework, you can remove the getStyle function and replace those calls with ones to you preferred method.

CSS3 Drop Shadows

Safari 3 became the first mainstream browser to support both of the W3C proposed CSS drop shadow techniques: the text-shadow property and the box-shadow property. The former is nearly standardized (and also supported in Opera 9.5), the latter is still a draft so implementations are still considered proprietary.

A headline with a drop shadow

The headline HTML:
<h5 style='text-shadow: 2px 2px 2px #999'>A headline with a drop shadow</h5>

The text-shadow property allows for multiple sets shadows, each with up-to four values: the colour preceded (or followed) by the horizontal offset, the vertical offset, and the blur radius. The blur radius, or the “fuzziness” of the shadow is optional, as is, technically, the colour (although Safari seems to require it). No drop shadows will appear if this method is used and the browser rendering the page doesn’t support these properties.

The box HTML:
<h4 style='float: right; margin: 0 4px 0 0; width: 100px; height: 100px; border: none; background-color: #9FC; -vendor-box-shadow: 2px 2px 2px #999'>A headline with a drop shadow</h4>

Again, like text-shadow, the box-shadow property takes multiple shadows, each with up to four values (colour, horizontal and vertical offset, as well as blur radius). Since this is still a draft, those browser who have implemented it are prefix the property with a vendor id. To use it with a WebKit-based browser like safari, replace “-vendor-” in the above example with “-webkit-” — once the standard is set, this would not be needed.

It is probably old news to the JavaScript experts among you, but since I recently ran into this problem myself and pulled my hair in frustration before a coworker hinted at the solution I think it's worth mentioning:

When using getElementById to get a reference to an element via the id attribute, Internet Explorer for Windows (and some versions of Opera) will also match an element whose name attribute contains the same value.

This doesn't always cause any noticeable problems since in most cases you're not all that likely to have identical name and id values for different elements, but when it does happen it can lead to errors that are very hard to debug.

Here is a simple example HTML document that is susceptible to this problem:

1. <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC '-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN'
2. 'http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd'>
3. <html>
4. <head>
5. <meta name='description' content='A brief description of the content on this page.'>
6. <title>The name and id attributes in IE</title>
7. </head>
8. <body>
9. <div id='description'>
10. <p>A description of something.</p>
11. </div>
12. </body>
13. </html>

Now imagine that you want to use JavaScript to do something to div#description. For simplicity's sake, let's say you write the following script that hides the div element by setting its display CSS property to none when the page is loaded:

1. function hideIt() {
2. var obj = document.getElementById('description');
3. obj.style.display = 'none';
4. }
5. window.onload = hideIt;

That works as expected everywhere except in Internet Explorer, where nothing happens. The reason for that is that in IE, getElementById finds and returns the meta element whose name attribute has the value description before it gets to the div element.

You can avoid this either by making sure that there are no name and id conflicts in your document or by using a script that fixes the problem by overriding IE's native getElementById method.

If you were aware of this already, good for you. If not, I hope I saved you some frustration.

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Posted in Browsers, JavaScript.

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1. FOAF to hCard via SPARQL "So I used the scutterplan from the FOAFBulletinBoard, going 2 steps, producing 17382 statements, containing I think it was 2035 foaf:Person nodes...To the results I applied sparql2hcard.xsl using xsltproc, script was sparql-hcard.sh (I do hope this was the latest SPARQL XML results format...), producing these hCards." XLST, querying - sounds like descriptors.


2. Timeline "...a DHTML-based AJAXy widget for visualizing time-based events. It is like Google Maps for time-based information."


3. iris: open your eyes to the future of the desktop "Iris is a java open source source integrated desktop environment including email, calendar, file browser, web browser, chat, and a data mining toolkit (clustering, indexing, and lots more)." Uses Jena.

Three simple and quick ways to increase your conversion rates.

I recently read a nice little list of ways to increase conversions . While this list is nothing compared to reading "Call to Action ", this is a nice concise list. I'm only going to share a few that I felt are most important.

• Remove Website Clutter - Every page should have a distinct, clear, call to action. Anything that draws people's attention away from the call to action should be removed. This includes poorly worded copy, distracting ads, and images that don't add value to the page.
• Resolve Concerns at the Points of Action - Pair your Points of Action (POA) with appropriate statements that address your customer's concerns. These could include testimonials from previous customers, reviews from experts, reliability indicators (such as associations and memberships), and statements about your privacy policy.
• Remove Checkout Roadblocks - Make it as simple as possible to checkout. Why do you think that Amazon has their own "One Click Ordering ". People are extreme impulse buyers. The checkout stand of your local grocery store is proof of this. Don't make people jump through hoops to purchase.
  

While these are fairly simple concepts to understand, implementation is a different story. Don't become overwhelmed. Just make one change a week. Compare your conversion rates week to week to make sure that you are moving in the right direction. Increasing your conversion rates is one of the simplest ways to get more money out of your existing web viewers.

It's the latest digital media murder mystery: TiVo Series2's TiVoToGo enabled limited portability of recorded content to PCs and other devices, but the TiVo Series3 HD did not include this feature when recently released. In other words, if you want to upgrade to HD, you have to downgrade your TiVo's features.

You don't need to be Sherlock Holmes to guess that this story somehow involves Hollywood, the FCC, and 'digital rights management' (DRM) restrictions. EFF has opposed these restrictions every step of the way, and, in an EFF white paper released today, we'll explain digital cable DRM's sordid history, how digital cable and satellite DRM may affect you, and what you can do to fight back.

In short, get ready for copying limits on cable and satellite content that won't stop 'Internet piracy' but will stop you from making legitimate use of lawfully acquired content. You'll be forced to only buy devices with limited features, and restricted digital outputs could break compatibility with your current HD displays and receivers, even though you may have already invested thousands of dollars in them. Innovators will have to beg permission before inventing new digital devices that help you get more from your satellite and cable content.

Unfortunately, TiVoToGo's disappearance is just the tip of the iceberg. But you can still take steps to fight back -- use EFF's Action Center to stop cable providers from making DRM even worse, and check out the other action items on our cable and satellite DRM page.

(Cross-posted at EFF's DeepLinks)

For whatever reason, Amazon’s S3 has captured my attention since the day it launched.

I want to use S3 for an online backup of my most important files. (I already do nightly local backups of everything, but that’s not enough. I’m paranoid.)

I’m finally close to reaching this goal, but it’s not been terribly easy.

Here’s a brief recount of my trials with S3 so far:

1. s3DAV. It didn’t work so well on OS X. The developer was really helpful, so we traded a few emails while he attempted to get it working on OS X from across the Atlantic. No luck.

2. JungleDisk (via Steven Frank). Much, much better. Of course I jumped in head-first and ran my backup script immediately, which attempted to copy 10GB of data to my S3 account. That took all night and then some; I finally had to cancel the operation. But somehow I managed to bork (technically speaking, of course) my S3 bucket so JungleDisk beach-balled every time I tried to connect.

3. S3 Browser. I found this while looking for a way to get into my account and delete the screwed-up bucket. Too bad there was no way to delete more than one file at a time — I would’ve had to press “Delete” 15,000 times. Not fun.

4. jSh3ll. Like most things of this nature, I had to turn to the command-line to get anything done. In a rare moment of competency, I downloaded and built jSh3ll (using Ant, no less) on my Power Mac and connected to my S3 account. I deleted the troublesome bucket from the command-line and now I’m back to square one (mostly).

I’m running a much smaller backup to S3 right now. Wish me luck.

(Oh, and have a good weekend! Michelle and I are headed to Green Lake for the holiday. How about you?)