Zenning!

Being in the field of IT (Computer Science), it’s necessary to keep pace with the changing landscape, otherwise you would end up rendering yourself obsolete. It’s no different with web development/programming: The landscape keeps changing, either on the user interface front or the browser side or the website back-end.

As of now, we are moving through the era of web application frameworks. That’s the landscape we are surrounded with. Plenty of frameworks have been built during these years broadly categorized under software frameworks, web application frameworks and JavaScript frameworks (or libraries), and plenty more are being developed.

So better learn one now, before you are rendered obsolete.

I am considering the following frameworks:

Read more about the most popular web frameworks that I am considering after the jump.

Read the rest of this entry »

David Ogilvy, regarded as the father of modern advertising, had something excellent to say to companies, and their bosses, about how to make a company, a company of giants:

The choice is obvious, but do we/companies/bosses make this obvious choice? I doubt it. No wonder most companies end up as those of dwarfs.

Ever wanted to have an “Add to Google” button like for your blog or website so that your visitors can easily subscribe to your RSS feed through Google Reader or Google homepage?

It’s actually quite simple. Simply head to Add to Google Button - Information for Publishers and follow the simple wizard: choose the type of content and button style, and provide your feed URL and generate the HTML code. Viola!

I just got mine! Go ahead, try out how it works by adding my feed to your Google .

Or get your own: Add to Google Button

Finally, there is a Firefox theme, which is not just pleasing to the eye with its subtle color theme but also, everything in the theme, every detail of Firefox has been worked upon with outstanding finesse.

The theme is called Silvermel. Here are two screenshots from the official site, showing Firefox and Thunderbird versions of the theme:

Looks great, no? The Silvermel theme fits perfectly on Firefox 3. Download it from here.

More screenshots after the jump …
Read the rest of this entry »

Today, I headed to Extreme Tracking to get a stats tracker for this blog of mine. Yes, I am one of those who can never have enough of stats; I want more!

I have been an Extreme Tracking user since almost a decade now (no I am not that old, I just started out young on the web).

But as I headed for registration, I got this message:

Unfortunately we closed down our sales in Pakistan.

Say what!?

Since when did that happen? And why would an online firm, that deals with tracking website stats and provides free tracking services, would block its ’sales’ in any country?

It’s obvious that they blocked me from registering by tracking my IP address. I thought about emailing them and asking why they have blocked users from Pakistan to register for an Extreme Tracker? But first, I wanted to register, and so I did … by using a proxy server.

Once I passed their ‘IP’ check and entered their registration page, look what I found:

Wow! Now here, they not only have given ‘Islamabad’ as a choice in city selection, but I was also able successfully signup by choosing ‘Islamabad’, without getting told that I am not allowed or something.

The question remains though that why have they blocked Pakistani users from getting a website tracker with them?

Is it because they are a Netherlands based firm (as seen from their given address in the first screenshot), and thus the cartoon controversy and the movie on Islam controversy, is playing a part here?

Aah … that’s probably it! Or am I just being paranoid?

An interesting, and funny, cartoon was published in The Nation a few days ago:

And Samad Khurram, whose claim to fame was his refusal to accept Harvard scholarship certificate from the US Ambassador to Pakistan, takes the lead in popularity! w00t!

Right when you thought that command prompts were a thing of the past for normal computer users, here comes PodiPodi that adds another dimension to user interactivity on websites; through command-prompt-esque interaction on websites!

Here’s the official description from the site:

PodiPodi is an experimental project in Interaction Design born with the aim to give web designers a way to enhance their websites with two new levels of interaction:

1. an additional fast and easy to use user interface for your visitors, inspired by Enso from Humanized Inc.
2. a bunch of new useful services for your website

All you have to do is Press Shift+Space on a PodiPodi-enabled website!

And lo and behold, a command-prompt-esque interface will pop up (dark gray with a blinking cursor) on the top portion of the visible website area:

Now go on and type commands to interact with the site. Type help and you will get a list of the supported commands:

PodiPodi is all JQuery based. So it will fit into any site.

It’s an interesting concept. Although, initially, I couldn’t see any point in providing such type of interactivity on a website, unless nostalgic is what they want the visitors to feel. But looking at it from another angle, websites are not really keyboard-enabled.

Unless we are filling out a web form or have no problem in tabbing our way through, mouse is generally the only way that we interact with websites.

But the concept of PodiPodi will provide keyboard-enabled navigation of websites.

Now that’s cool! I am sure that more such interaction concepts are going to pop up soon.

Go PodiPodi.

The news, and subsequently the Pakistani blogosphere, was abuzz during the last week over a Pakistani student’s refusal to accept Harvard Scholarship from the US Ambassador to Pakistan Anne W. Patterson in an award distribution ceremony in Islamabad.

The US Ambassador to Pakistan Anne W. Patterson was the Chief Guest on the occasion where this incident happened and she was made to face big embarrassment when the whole hall echoed with a loud applause for the student over his decision.

Samad Khurram, a Pakistani student, refuses to accept Harvard scholarship award as a protest

Samad refused the award as a protest on the recent cross border attack by Americans in Mohmand Agency, which resulted in the death of 20 Pakistani soldiers and still many more are missing.

Ms. Patterson and other U.S.embassy officials were shocked and embarrassed when Samad walked to the stage to receive his award but then announced he was refusing the honor to protest the unprovoked American violation of Pakistani airspace and the murder of innocent Pakistanis.

A shaken Ms. Patterson smiled sheepishly and tried to make the best out of an embarrassing moment.

I highly commend what Samad did. Yes, he may still be in Harvard and still getting the scholarship, but he was at least able to bring this incident into the limelight.

Here are a few more links from around the blogosphere:

• Standing Against The Tide - Samad Khurram [Excellent Post]
• Student Samad Khurram Refused Harvard Scholarship
• Samad Khurram Zinda Bad
• Well Done!! Samad Khurram!!
• Samad Khurram: Harvard Student Refuses Award from U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan
• Samad Khurram - a show of convinction for his country
• Three cheers for Samad Khurram

… Because what Samad has done is something that our politicians don’t have the guts to do in a million years! He stood strong and determined and in his own way snubbed the representative of the United States, calling their recent attack on Pakistani soil as that of a coward.

– The WeCite Blog

I have never been able to grasp how the Pen Tool in Photoshop (and other softwares like Illustrator and Flash) works.

But now I do.

I followed this excellent and simple tutorial by David Legett at Tutorial9 website.

After learning the basics of handling the pen, I was able to create the following two shapes with the pen tool:

The cloud shape is a trace from Tutorial9’s logo.

Follow the Tutorial: Pen Tool Basics - Custom Shapes

So I have finally started Twittering.

For those who have been living under a rock since the past year or so, Twitter is a site that makes it easy to let the world know what you’re doing, and see what other people are up to in a fun and social way. Think of it as micro-mini-blogging.

So go on, follow me on Twitter .